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“I think we should hang tight until we see what he (Jordan) comes up with,” board member Josh Hurley said. 

Hurley said he wants to see what the district enrollment is for the next couple of years.

“That could be  up, but that could be down too,” he said. “I just think we need to hang tight until we can see everything and what is going on.”

“I agree with Josh,” said board member Chad Rogers, noting the building in Bushton needs to be included in the configuration study.

Zink said before any action is taken on the building, information to be gathered during the configuration study and information from the district’s Futures Committee would be helpful to help make a decision.

He recommended the board discuss over the next several months what to do with the building in Bushton.

“During the six to nine months, we can be discussing options and different uses for the building,” Zink added.

“I don’t have any reasons at this moment to say yeah, go do something with the building for all the reasons everybody has said,” Brad Schiermeyer, board president, said. “We’re still getting information here that we need.”

Clark asked if it would be appropriate to list the building with a realtor during the time it takes to complete the configuration study. Schiermeyer, Rogers and Hurley rejected that idea, however. 

• Wilson Mayor Mike Peschka said one of the goals of the city council is to increase housing in Wilson. 

“If we increase housing, and some of the people come in that have families, they bring students,” he said. “That’s a win for Wilson and that’s a win for the school district.”

Peschka said another goal is to maintain students and faculty in the Wilson School.

“That is an extremely important goal of ours,” he said. “We want to be a partner with you. Anything we can do to support USD 112, to support this board and to support Wilson School we want to be involved in.”

• Harold Siemsen of Holyrood suggested contacting Ellsworth Correctional Facility and the Kansas Department of Corrections to see if there is an interest in making the Bushton building a minimum security prison.

“It would bring more families into the area, whether it be Clafin, Holyrood or Bushton, and it would be an avenue to get rid of the building since you are not going to put it back within the school district and use it as a school anymore,” Siemsen said. 

No action was taken on the suggestion.

• Clark said the Futures Committee met Feb. 6 at Wilson School. He said the 12-member committee wishes to keep the group small, less than 20 members. Clark also said the consensus of the committee was that Wilson needs one more representative. Other committee discussion centered around choosing a representative for Odin, but no decision was made. Clark said the group agreed that if new members were selected they should have school-age children. The committee decided the school board would make the final decision on adding members.

After some discussion, the board decided to increase the number of members on the futures committee to 15 members, with a total of five being from the Wilson/Dorrance area and a total of 10 being from the Central Plains area.

• Clark noted the board will conduct a special meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, at Central Plains Elementary School in Holyrood to discuss board goals with Gary Sechrist of the Kansas Association of School Boards.

• Approval was given to the donations of beef to the district from Alan Brokes, Nate Pasek, Patti Hipp and Joey Thielen.

• Approval was given to Duane Bristow as a substitute teacher at Wilson School and Emma Belisle as a sixth grade teacher at Wilson School. Belisle will start in August.

• Clark said he had an answer to a question posed by board member Jacob Charvat at the last board meeting regarding whether the district leases or owns the tanks it uses for welding classes. Clark said the district leases 16 acetylene gas tanks from Air Gas at $880 per year. He recommended keeping the tanks on a lease basis.

The next regular meeting of the Central Plains USD 112 board of education will be at 6 p.m. Monday, March 9, at CPES in Holyrood.