Jan. 16 Special BOE Meeting Minutes
January 21, 2010
The board met in special session on January 16, 2010 in Baileyville, KS.
The meeting with the USD 451 Board of Education was called to order at 8:00 a.m. by B & B President Dale Sudbeck. USD 488 appointed Brent Lortscher as chairperson for the meeting.
Discussions were held with regard to consolidation. Options and ideas were discussed between the two districts 488 and 451 and included:
- The Agreement to Consolidate. This agreement must specify; home county, date of election, method of election, description of member districts, temporary board, date to transfer assets of previous district, and responsibility of bonded indebtedness.
- Discussion on USD 488 current bonded indebtedness not being taken on by USD 451.
- Thoughts were shared on location of buildings. There was discussion in reference to grades pre-K-8 at Axtell, 9-12 at Baileyville. There was discussion about Bern keeping their current facility and/or grades pre-K-6 with benchmarks.
- USD 451 initiated discussion on elimination of rental agreements with each Catholic parish in USD 451 district.
- Board members were in agreement that it would be beneficial to set a date to tour the Axtell & Baileyville facilities.
- Board members from both districts agreed there should be a new identity for a newly formed district.
- Board members felt it would be very attainable for the current students to achieve high academic standards and success in extra-curricular activities if a consolidated district was formed between USD 488 & USD 451.
- Boards from both districts realize that district configuration will most likely remain the same for 2010-2011. The timeline for a consolidation of USD 488 & USD 451 would be at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year.
- Both boards agreed to continue with discussions on consolidation.
USD 488 Board of Education and patrons voiced the positive points for a three way consolidation between USD 488, USD 451 and USD 441. USD 451 board members were unanimously not in favor of a meeting to discuss consolidation with USD 441.
The meeting adjourned at 11:08 a.m.
