Anew activity bus will be rolling into town. On Monday night, the Ellsworth-Kanopolis-Geneseo USD 327 Board of Education approved purchasing a a 2012 MCI J4500 Motor Coach.

During the February meeting, board members gave Transportation Director P.J. Weinhold the nod to publicize a request for proposals. Three came back, and the board selected the motor coach for $159,650 from CoachMasters in Nebraska.

“This is a vehicle that can go a couple million miles I am told,” Superintendent Deena Hilbig said.

The bus, with about 585,000 miles, has a new engine that only has 75,000 miles on it.

“There’s lots of life left on the engine,” Hilbig said.

The district purchased its current bus about 25 years ago. Finding replacement parts for it became difficult, which prompted the board to explore options for a replacement.

“Steerable rear axle is fantastic,” board member Jake Svaty said. “Our fire department aerial has that. We can do a U-turn on any intersection on main street. That’s going to be a major improvement for the bus drivers; they’re going to appreciate that a lot.”

Hilbig said the district drove the current bus about 300,000 miles over the course of two dozen years.

“It’s a lot of money, but it was time,” board member Brian Rush said. “We knew this was coming. I’m sure there will be some sticker shock to some people, but (the current) Bearcat bus is done.”

Hilbig said CoachMasters offered to sell the current bus on consignment. It will give 90 percent of any sales to USD 327.

Additionally, Hilbig said a wrap on the back third of the new bus is included in the price.

Board President Gina McGowan pointed out the bus is used for sports, music and field trips.

In other action, the board:

• Opted to pull two agenda items: discussions about Ellsworth Jr./Sr. High School HVAC and the school calendar.

“I asked you to table (HVAC) because we have three bids, and they range from $95,000 to $250,000,” Hilbig said. “I need an engineer to help me with that. I need to bring someone in who is HVAC-certified.”

• Accepted gifts and grants. Meredith Vargo donated $200 for the Ellsworth Elementary School library, a $100 memorial for Lew McAtee was made to the EES library and Bearcats Assist donated $50.

• Approved keeping the current classroom maximum counts for the 2025-26 school year.

• Heard a presentation from Hilbig about policy updates. The board took no action.

• Approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Ellsworth for maintenance of the football field. The agreement is for one year and the district will pay hourly for specific tasks to maintain the field.

“Our field has come so far in how it looks now compared to a couple years ago,” Hilbig said.

• Heard a report from Colette Greene, Summers Spencer Company, who performs the annual audit on USD 327.

“USD 327 is always a good, clean audit,” she said. “(There were) no difficulties in performing the audit. Overall, very good audit, very clean. We had no issues.”

• Discussed feedback from the professional evaluation committee. Hilbig said the group discussed teacher evaluations, which currently include a preconference, the evaluation/ observation and a post-conference meeting.

“It became more clear to me how important that preconference can be,” Hilbig said. “Preplanning of observation has to do with what a student knows and what we want them to be able to do at the end of a lesson.”

She said the experience is vital for newer staff.

“It would be left to the administrator if there was a need for the experienced teacher to have the preconference, unless it was requested by the experienced teacher,” Hilbig said.

• Hired HTK Architects to conduct a needs assessment for the district. The $19,975 contract includes four meetings to discuss the meetings, tour the school’s facilities, discuss the preliminary findings and complete revisions to create a final document.

Hilbig said the assessment could take three months to complete.

“I feel like having HTK conduct the assessment would be a more thorough way for us to identify the thing we can see and more importantly, the thing we can’t see,” Hilbig said. “It will also involve, I think, the public. It will be important to hear what they have to say.”

Board member David Hand requested the board include the central storage building in the assessment.

Svaty added he would like the head of maintenance and the transportation director to be part of the conversation.

• Approved a contract with Holland Paving to complete work at Kanopolis Middle School.

The $56,605 contract will include work on the parking lot in front of the building, as well as resurfacing the play pad area (former tennis courts).

“Because some of that is an area our busses drive on, we can use transportation funds for that,” Hilbig said of the KMS lot.

She said about 60 percent of the project can be paid for with transportation dollars. This leaves about $23,000 for the district to pay.

Hilbig provided information about a student parking lot at EJSHS, which would be an additional $76,472.

“I’m most concerned about this spot — it sinks a little,” Hilbig said.

She asked the board if they would like to resurface the student lot, or have the lot addressed during the needs assessment.

“Get somebody to look at it before we make a decision,” Hand said.

The KMS paving will be complete before Camp Invention in July.

• Hilbig told the board the food service review was taking place Tuesday during parent/ teacher conferences.

“We thought it would be a way to get more individuals and feedback,” she said of the process, which happens twice a year.

• The board went into executive session to discuss nonelected personnel for eight minutes with EES Principal Sheila Shaffer. No action was taken.

• The board went into executive session to discuss nonelected personnel for five minutes with KMS principal Kristy Rodriguez. No action was taken.

• The board went into executive session to discuss nonelected personnel for 15 minutes. No action was taken.

• The board went into executive session to discuss nonelected personnel for 30 minutes.

The board opted to prioritize hiring an interventionist and not fill the open librarian position.

The board hired: Daisy Adams, grade 5; Chris Barlow, instrumental band; Craig Batchman, assistant golf coach.

The board accepted the resignation of Kelly Clark, music.

The board approved the list of certified staff for the 2025-26 school year as presented by the administrators. See full list (gray box, this page).

• The board went into executive session to discuss teacher negotiations for eight minutes. No action was taken.

• The board announced all attendance centers will close at 2 p.m. April 15 and May 7 for track meets.

The next regular board meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday, April 7, at the district office.

2025-26 certified staff:

Anderson, Eric Barta, Laura Bartchman, Craig Batchman, Stacy Belisle, Emma Blanding, Louise Bourbon, Sabrina Browning, Cursstyn Burger, Mandy Cannon, Anna Clarke, Kayla Coonrod, Eric Cravens, Ken Freeman, Sarah Hammye, Carrie Homolka, Josh Hutchins-Talbott, Deborah Johnson, Amy Jones, Tenille Kasper, Danielle Kephart, Kari Klein, Sarah Kurz-Sebesta, Susan Kyler, Laura Laas, Gwen Lamie, Christa Maisog, Jason Musil, Meredith Naasz, Jill Ploutz, Kendra Potter, Zoe Quilter, Kara Richard, Sarah Rodriguez, Nick Sallman, Traci Sillmon, Hayden Slechta, Christine Sloan, Jayme Smith, Caitlin Soukup, Amber Steimel, Katherine Thomasson, Emily Thorburn, Steven Tripp, Rebekah Vague, Christina Vague, Laura Walter, Christi Weber, Connie Worl, Jill Wright, Julie Zamrzla, Jenna