USD 257’s standout summer food service program — which now includes the popular roving “chow bus,” M.A.R.V. — returns May 30. The program has added three new sites to its roster, which now includes — in addition to the high school cafeteria and the two elementary schools — the Iola swimming pool, the public library, Wesley United Methodist Church, and more. Plus, the district’s brightly colored Meals and Reading Vehicle will make its usual tour through a handful of surrounding towns in an effort to get solid food into the bellies of the area’s low-income children. Each week this summer, the program will host a “Fun Fridays” event at Riverside Park. The event will feature various activities and games as well as a free lunch from noon to 1 p.m. Meals at all sites are available weekdays free of charge for any person 18 and under. Last year, the summer food service program served a total of 13,068 meals.
For the program’s full 2017 schedule, which runs through Aug. 10, visit the district website or Facebook page or call Food Service Coordinator Kathy Koehn at 620-365-4700.
WITH THE STUDENTS of USD 257 gone for the summer, Monday’s board of education meeting attended at length to questions of infrastructure and building upkeep.
Director of Operations Scott Stanley laid out the menu of contractor bids he’d received for a handful of renovation projects the district has slated for the short-term. Projects include, among others, replacing the doors in the science building, painting the exterior of the football stadium in Riverside Park and replacing carpet in McKinley Elementary School. The board unanimously approved Stanley’s recommended bids — from Jayhawk Glass (Chanute), contractor Bob Shaughnessy (Iola), 4-State Maintenance Supply (Coffeyville). The current contracted total comes in well under the estimated cost of $122,500, explained Stanley. While these bids do not represent the full list of projects included in the estimated cost — the middle school’s HVAC system upgrade, for one, still has to be determined — Stanley is confident that the final tally will remain well below the original estimate.
DISCHARGING their responsibilities as Bowlus trustees, the board approved construction bids for the fine arts plaza project — the long-in-the-works plan to improve and beautify the east entrance of the Bowlus Fine Arts Center. Total projected costs for the main building — comprised of more than 20 separate jobs; masonry, roofing, plumbing, concrete, elevator installation, etc — currently stands at $992,965.60. A separate project to create a parking area east of the Bowlus addition was also approved at a projected total cost of $173,016.17. According to the center’s executive director, Susan Raines, the not-for-profit Friends of the Bowlus group — buoyed by a $200,000 grant from the Sunderland Foundation — has already raised $1.2 million toward the project (more than enough to cover the $1,165,981.76 total price tag approved by the board Monday night). The Friends, continued Raines, will continue fundraising in an effort to cover any potential contingency costs associated with the plaza project.
SWEEPING personnel changes continue to define the year for USD 257. On Monday, the board approved a raft of new hires and resignations. Joining the district for the first time or else in a new capacity are: Cristy Flippin (IMS PE teacher, assistant girls basketball coach, head seventh grade volleyball coach); Gabrielle Brite (IMS language arts); Daniel Vaughan (IHS PE, weights and assistant football coach); Jana Taylor (IHS head secretary); Kendy Johnson (IMS social studies); David Daugharthy (IHS head football coach, summer weights); Emily Hampton (IHS head volleyball coach); Amanda Strickler (IHS assistant volleyball coach, FFA sponsor); Cody Hager (IMS assistant boys basketball coach, head girls track coach); and Luke Bycroft (IHS head boys basketball coach). Jay Applegate resigned his position as IHS head basketball coach and Rick Riley retired from the maintenance department.
