Chanute Public Schools Board of Education members voted during its recent meeting to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of Matthew Godinez in late February. In total, nine candidates expressed interest in the role; Sheryl Bussell, Kim Cheshier, Tiffany Cooney, David Coots, Steven Cunningham, Chad DeVoe, Brandy Hibbs, Scott McKinney, and Jennifer May Zywietz.
These candidates were interviewed during open session.
“It’s exciting to see that people do care and want to be a part of it,” Board President Heather Guernsey said.
After the interview was conducted, the board voted to appoint Jennifer May Zywietz to the board with a five to one vote. She will serve in this position until the end of the calendar year. In November elections will be held to fill three seats that will be open. The candidates were encouraged by Guernsey and other board members to run in that election. Whomever is elected in November will begin their duties in January.
In other business, the board voted to approve an energy savings plan agreement with C&C Group. This plan was presented during the March regular meeting. It has no upfront cost to the district, as payments are made based on the savings produced by the plan.
According to C&C Group’s representative, Adam Travis, 80% of savings produced by the implemented improvements will go toward paying for the project, with 20% of savings returning to the school.
The optimization is estimated to cost $740,390. Currently the district spends roughly $439,191 in energy costs throughout the district. The goal of the optimizations and improvements will be to save at least $167,176 annually. The net 15-year savings is estimated to amount to $3,460,579.
According to the saving proposal presented, these improvements will upgrade existing thermostats in the high school ag building, and Lincoln Early Learning Center; improve economizer controls on 1,001 tons of HVAC units; energy optimization on 293 pieces of HVAC equipment; weatherize buildings; train personnel; and adjusting heating and cooling schedules based on need and the weather.
Guernsey said that she had spoken with board members from other schools who had undergone such an agreement, and said that those boards were happy with their decision to do so. This agreement was approved unanimously.
Discussion also began on the potential rebranding of Royster Middle School. According to a spreadsheet of data and compiled by an RMS Educator, faculty in the building are in favor of or unopposed to changing the school’s mascot and colors to more closely resemble the elementary school and the high school. Board member Cassie Cleaver requested a cost analysis, and another board member Derek Waggoner said he would like a roll-out plan, to see what that would look like.
“It’s not about changing our history,” Superintendent Matt Koester said. “It’s about unity.”
Discussion on this measure will continue at the May meeting.
A purchase was approved in the amount of $86,340 to purchase 300 Acer Chromebooks. Koester said the district purchases this number of computers annually, but this was the first year they were going with Acer models over Dell models.The board also adopted the Neighborhood Revitalization Plan for another year; approved membership in Schools for Fair Funding and the Kansas Association of School Boards; and approved to contract with the Kansas Association of School Boards Legal Assistance Fund.
Board members voted to approve the following members on the USD 413 Foundation Board; Bridget Barnow, Cassie Cleaver, Linda Duncan, Wendy Jones, Laura Kmiec, Brianna Leroy and Angie Stanley.
The next Chanute Public Schools Board of Education meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on May 7, in the board office located at 321 E. Main St., Chanute. Meetings are also streamed live on YouTube.
