After the Hutchinson City Council accepted the report last week from the special committee assembled to give direction as to the future funding of the Hutchinson Rec Commission, and then sent the issue back the Hutchinson School Board. They decided that they would need to visit with legal counsel prior to bringing to a vote as an agenda item as to how they want to proceed.
That suggestion coming from Superintendent Dr. Shelly Kiblinger who agreed she would set up the meeting with the board for an executive session item. Then it would eventually come to the board later as an agenda item to vote on.
The board also received good news on Monday during the Superintendent’s Update. Dr. Kiblinger told board members full-time-equivalency enrollment was up 187.9 for 2011-12.
Total weighted FTE for the district is up 413.9, which would result in about $1.5 million of additional state funding. Of that $1.5 million, however, about $660,000 comes from new facilities weighting for recently completed bond issue projects. This will be the last year the district receives any significant new facilities money.
She says they will have to wait and see, but may decide after the first of the year whether they will use the cash reserves for the budget as previously thought.
Dr. Kiblinger also told the board that last week’s parent-teacher conferences drew between 90 and 98 percent of the K-6 parents, about two-thirds of Hutchinson Middle School parents and 60 percent of Hutchinson High School parents.
They also heard the annual review of how the district communicates with the public. Called Operational Expectation No. 9, communication has evolved through the years from primarily paper and mass media to electronic communication supplemented by more traditional methods – a high tech/high touch approach.
The district maintains a wide range of high-tech communications tools, including AlertNow, email, the district website, Facebook and Twitter. For example, the public can access the next Board meeting’s entire agenda packet online on the Friday before the Monday meeting on the district website, providing the complete background for the meeting in case a parent or patron wants to make a comment during the meeting.
Augmenting those electronic tools, however, are high-touch methods, including community meetings throughout the year, superintendent meetings with staff and school and district paper newsletters.
Also during Monday’s meeting, the Board heard a continuous improvement report on Hutchinson High School. HHS offers one of the richest high school curriculums available in Kansas, including the International Baccalaureate Programme and the Hutchinson Career and Educational Academy. HHS students have the ability to take college classes for on campus or at the adjacent Hutchinson Community College.