Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Kimball Jr/Sr High School received the Circle of Excellence Award at the school board meeting Monday. Receiving the award are Kristi Hiles-Smith, chairperson of the Continuing Improvement Committee, and Principal Danielle Reader. At right is board member Amy Trauernicht of the Cognia accreditation organization.
Kimball Jr/Sr High School received the Circle of Excellence award from Cognia on Monday evening at the Kimball School Board meeting. Cognia is the largest accreditation organization in the world and does on-site reviews for educational institutions. Cognia did the accreditation for Kimball Public Schools last year.
The presentation included comments from the regional accreditation evaluator, Dr. Dan Leikvold, "Kimball Jr/Sr High School has a robust continuous school improvement process and an improvement plan that was formulated by the leadership team, teachers, and the governing board," he said. "The plan provides multiple opportunities for cultivating individual and collective leadership and focuses on many aspects of school improvement, including technology, instruction, professional development, culture, facilities and transportation."
The Circle of Excellence award was presented to Kristi Hiles-Smith, chairperson of the Continuing Improvement Committee, and Principal Danielle Reader.
After the presentation, the board tackled the action items.
The Kimball School Board continues to update the school buildings and grounds and the curriculum under the action items.
The board purchased a CNC Plasma Table cutter for the FFA program. The FFA's 15-year-old plasma cutter is not functioning and attempts by the company to repair it have not been successful. The new $40,658 plasma cutter with software program is 4 feet by 8 feet in size and will accommodate larger metal fabrication projects.
Although the bid is over $40,000, the FFA Alumni has pledged $10,000. A state grant will cover $7,500 of the cost, and a Carl Perkins Grant is expected to contribute $5,000 for the new technology.
The board then approved an LED lighting upgrade for the much-needed junior high locker rooms and the practice gym.
Other action item improvements for the future include resurfacing the west parking lot at the Jr/Sr High School and the replacement of the worn 60-year-old ceiling tiles throughout the Jr/Sr High School.
A new scoreboard was also approved of by the board, and the total costs appear to be covered by sponsorships, according to Superintendent Trevor Anderson. The old scoreboard suffered from electrical problems last fall.
In 1994, the scoreboard was contributed by Jean Perkins in memory of her husband, John, and son, John, who played on the 1965 football team.
As the meeting concluded, a discussion was held on the school calendar for 2024-25, which is expected to be approved next month at the March 11 board meeting. The calendar consists of 162 teacher days.