W ILSON — At Monday’s meeting of the Central Plains USD 112 board of education at Wilson School in Wilson, superintendent Greg Clark had exciting news regarding Central Plains Elementary School in Holyrood.

The school, one of just six in Kansas and 362 nationwide has been named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education.

“That’s a real honor,” Clark said.“It takes a lot of hard work. Those students and teachers need a big pat on the back for their hard work.”

The other schools in Kansas are located in Clear Creek, Shawnee Mission, Hays and Blue Valley.

Principal Jane Oeser and two CPES teachers will accept the award in November during a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The board approved the two day trip. The expenditure will be less than $3,000.

In other business:

• Clark provided some figures requested by the board for the building in Bushton.

At a previous meeting, the board rescinded a motion to offer to sell the building to the City of Bushton for $1 after being informed by board attorney John Sherman they needed to consider additional options to limit any liability or future issues regarding the 10 year lease-purchase agreement with Wilson State Bank for the new boiler, HVAC and LED lighting installed in the Bushton building.

Michelle Brokes, board president, said she didn’t feel it was a waste to put that equipment in the Bushton building to begin with. She felt it was very economical to now take it out and put it back into another facility in the district.

“If the (HVAC) unit goes down in Holyrood, we don’t want to come up with another $600,000 or whatever it was,” she said.

Brokes said for $5,000 an HVAC unit can be put back in Bushton, keeping it a viable, usable building, ready to be walked into tomorrow by any entity that would like to buy it.

Clark said the district still has the original light fixtures removed from the Bushton building when the new LED lights were installed.

“We could get some lights put in the old Bushton building if the board so desires,” he said.

After some further discussion, board members instructed Clark to get a final proposal to remove the LED lighting, boiler and HVAC from the Bushton building and reinstall them in another district building. The future of kitchen utensils and equipment at Bushton will also be considered.

• Three candidates were approved for induction into the USD 112 Hall of Fame — Bob Powers, Kathy Powers and Sherie Sloan.

• A Wilson School Family and Consumer Sciences fundraiser consisting of selling Pampered Chef items and pies during the holidays was approved.

• An online chore auction for Central Plains High School students to raise funds to attend an April 17-19 music festival in Winter Park, Colo. was approved.

• Gary Everett of Wilson thanked the board for their work on behalf of the district.

“Most everybody disagrees with a lot of things probably that you do,” he said. “But nobody has all the information like you do.”

• After a 20 minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel, specifically Clark’s performance evaluation, the board approved a three percent increase in Clark’s current salary.

• Approval was given to Susan Barker as the CPJSHS Scholar’s Bowl sponsor, Alexis Sneath and Ariel Fluke as substitute cooks, and also Fluke as a para-professional at CPES.

The next meeting of the Central Plains USD 112 board of education will be at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 11, at CPJSHS in Claflin.