Meeker school board will apply for BEST grant

MEEKER | The Meeker Board of Education (BOE) was out in force Tuesday for their regular December meeting. Of long-range importance was their go-ahead for the Meeker School District (MSD) to apply to the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) for a Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) grant to help pay for major renovations to Meeker High School or the building of a new high school. The board vote was unanimous on the motion made by Kevin Amack, seconded by Bill deVergie. The complete details of this application will be worked on over the next few weeks using the district’s report from the architectural firm which has been conducting the facilities master plan analysis.
The board took a special moment to recognize the Todd Shults’ four years of service on the board. Shults was there with his daughter Amy to accept the honor. BOE member Kevin Amack spoke in praise of Shults’ time on the board, stating, “The MSD is in much better shape than it was four years ago [when Shults was first elected to the board] and a lot of that is due to Todd and the work he did and the care he took.”
The board also approved their own website, www.meeker.k12. co.us, as their official posting location for their board meeting announcements, agendas and the like. Member Bob Dorsett questioned whether that website was working properly as he indicated he’d not been able to access some meeting information. School superintendent Chris Selle replied that they were currently “migrating to an improved website.” After some discussion, the board also said that while they are currently posting notices and agendas in the Herald Times, as well as on the Post Office bulletin board and at the administration building, they did not want to commit to those postings as a matter of policy.
In his superintendent’s report, Selle proudly reminded the board that the district had been rated “Accredited with Distinction” by CDE, for the second year in a row. Only 30 of the state’s 178 school districts this year achieved this designation.
Amack reported on the Colorado Association of School District’s annual conference held at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs which he, new board member Laurie Simonsen and Superintendent Selle attended. Amack opined that the conference was very informative in and of itself, and that the five hours of travel each way with Simonsen and Selle was also excellent in that they discussed district and education matters nearly the whole time. Amack particularly appreciated hearing from a Barbara Oakley, an education guru who has an online course entitled “The Science of Learning” which has the largest online enrollment of any education-related course. Amack indicated that he has started the course and is finding it very useful.
In other business, the board accepted the clean fiscal year 2017 district audit, certified their 2018 mill levy, set their 2018 meeting schedule and approved, on second reading, policy on student transportation in private vehicles. In addition, Trey Morris and Janae Sanders were approved as the boys’ high school C team basketball coach and as a certified/classified substitute, respectively. Lee Overton and Todd Shults were approved as citizen members of the District Accountability Committee.
The next BOE meetings will be a work session on Jan. 9, 2018, and a regular meeting on Jan. 16.