HOLYROOD — At Monday’s meeting of the Central Plains USD 112 board of education, approval was given to begin a study to determine the best long-term (20-25 years) school configuration for the district to provide a quality educational experience for students.

The nine-month, $11,356 study will be done by the Kansas Association of School Boards.

Dr. Brian Jordan, KASB deputy director, said the study would be accomplished by a group composed of 25-30 community members, parents and students. Jordan said the group would be charged with answering two key questions — what experiences must be provided for every student to be successful in life, and what must exist in the USD 112 educational system for those experiences to happen.

“The purpose behind using the community group with this ... is to keep a pulse on what the community wants in this process, and to give you another channel of communication on what their desires are,” Jordan said.

The group would consider costs and potential school configurations for the district.

Jordan said the goal will be to bring information to the board in December for possible action.

He said one of the things the board will need to consider is if it wants to revamp its Futures Committee as a starting point for the process.

“We’re going to start with a blank slate with this process; Jordan said. “There are no magic bullets in this process. There is not going to be a magical configuration that comes out that makes everyone 100 percent happy.”

Superintendent Greg Clark said the Futures Committee is a good group of people and he would like to add students to that group.

Most board members were eager to forge ahead, except for board member Jacob Charvat, who wanted to digest the information for a month and then make a decision on whether to proceed.

Charvat said he supported the study. But he argued, ultimately unsuccessfully, that the board needs to gather more information before committing to spend $11,356 in an uncertain financial climate.

In other business:

Clark said he conducted a district meeting on the Corona virus last Friday with building administrators, custodians, maintenance personnel and school nurses. The goal was to develop a plan in case the virus reaches Central Plains schools.

“First and foremost, we will take direction from the Kansas Department of Education and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment,” he said.

“I receive e-mails daily. I am proud to say we were ahead of the Kansas Department of Education. Because that afternoon, they sent out an e-mail saying the things we should do, and a lot of it we were already doing.”

Clark said the district has made sure that all the cleaning agents it uses kill the virus. He said all rooms are cleaned daily, with extra attention paid to light switches, door handles, etc. Exra hand sanitizers will be placed in all district buildings.

No action was taken after Clark asked the board for direction on the future of the building in Bushton. However, after suggesting the building be “mothballed” to save the $24,000 per year the district is now paying on the building, Charvat said he would be in favor of informing the Farmer Township Library board of directors that a decision could could be coming. He also asked Clark to provide more in-depth financial figures at the next meeting.

Brad Schiermeyer, board president, said $2,000 a month is a lot of money the district cannot afford to keep spending.

“What are we going to do about the bus stop,” asked board member Josh Hurley.

Clark said he will check on that as well.

Approval was given to review and accept board policy BCBK, dealing with open meetings and executive sessions.

“You spent an evening discussing executive sessions and learning about it” said John Sherman, board attorney. “This is the board’s policy that follows Kansas law regarding the subjects you can go into executive session for going into executive session that are allowed under Kansas law.”

Sherman said the policy is from the KASB and was amended in January 2018 to include changes in the executive session law.

“In my opinion it’s a current policy and is satisfactory for what your needs are in compliance with the law,” he said.

No action was taken after a 10-minute executive session to discuss employee-employer negotiations (teacher negotiations).

After a 20-minute executive session to discuss personnel (administrative contracts renewal), approval was given to contracts for building principals Randy Fox, Jane Oeser and Toby Holmes for the 2020-21 school year. No action was taken on Clark’s contract because he has two more years left on his current agreement.

The next meeting will be at 6 p.m. Monday, April 13, at Central Plains Junior-Senior High School in Claflin.