Surplus School Property Available

On Monday evening, Kimball School Board approved a list of surplus property at their regular monthly meeting. The surplus property list includes exercise equipment and 40 interactive whiteboard and projectors.

If you are interested in an items, contact Superintendent Trevor Anderson and make an offer. The full list can be seen on the school website.

In other business, the Harry McNees Auditorium seating was back on the agenda. The auditorium currently has a capacity to seat 739 people. During a special meeting in March, the board approved the replacement of the old, worn-out seat with 450 new larger seats.

But after a review by the company, it was determined that additional seating was necessary. The previous motion and bid were rescinded, and a new motion was approved to purchase 539 seats for a total of $121,706.

Additional action items included the approval of the transfer of the wheelchair van to Kimball County Transit. The 2008 van was purchased with Special Education funds and had only 35,000 miles on it. Proper paperwork was reviewed by the board, and the transfer was approved. The school district will be compensated for the wheelchair van through transit travel for the district.

Finally, the school board passed a resolution to fill the vacancy on the board by the resignation of vice-president Matt Shoup. Shoup has accepted a teaching position for the district.

The resolution states that "the vacancy will be filled by the fifth-place finisher in the general election for the Kimball Public School Board of Education that was held on November 3, 2020." Jennifer Griebel was the fifth-place finisher, and she will serve on the school board from August to December of this year.

Students from various activities were recognized by the board – including those involved with academics, junior. high track and field, state golf, and state and national trap club members.

Heidi Chesley presented K-6 grade proficiency percentages for reading and math from fall, winter and spring testing. Upper grades were also tested in language usage and science.

Next school year Mary Lynch and the Jr./Sr. High will go through the accreditation process. Preparation for the accreditation process will take six to seven months.

Jacob Hurla from Community Building Solutions gave a progress update and a future timeline on the work to both school buildings. Hurla said that they received word that the switchgear would be delayed, but he was confident that the existing electricity would cool the classrooms in the Jr./Sr. High in the early fall. The ship date for the switchgear is in October. With the existing electricity system, they will not be able to cool the gym, student center, and auditorium, just the classrooms.

With school out, Hurla said they have been able to work on the windows in the student center. The single-pane original windows from the 1960s in the student center are being replaced with double pained energy-efficient windows.

To date, the east side windows have been replaced as well as the doors. Work will continue on the west side of the students center windows.

According to Principal Danielle Reader's report, the Jr./Sr. High enrollment is currently 155. She also reported that 17 students completed a program to recover credits that they would have lost due to excessive absences. Unfortunately, one student was eligible for summer school in order to recover credits from failing grades but did not attend the program.

Superintendent Anderson's report explained that 75% of the fiscal year is completed, and 54.65% of the budget has been spent. The cash balance in the general fund currently is $2,973,217.