The Unified School District (USD) 333 Board of Education met for its regular meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 13, at the USD 333 Administrative Building at 217 West Seventh Street in Concordia.
Board President Brad Berk, Board Vice President Mike Cleveland, and members John Culley, Nancy Owen, Jenny Parker and Lindsay Metcalf attended the meeting. Member Amber Lambertz was absent. Superintendent Tom DeBauche and other staff members also attended the meeting.
Many community members attended the meeting as well, including Concordia City Mayor Amy Jackson, Parks and Recreation Director Chris Atkins, Community Foundation for Cloud County Executive Director Brenda Gilliland and Life After Fifty-Five group organizer Laurie Deal.
Concordia Junior-Senior High School (CJSHS) students also attended the meeting as part of a history assignment, alongside assorted district residents.
Board members unanimously approved the consent items for the meeting, including agenda adoption, minutes approval, acceptance of gifts and donations, encumbrances included on the superintendent report, assorted financial approvals and school building reports.
No community members spoke during public comment, and the board moved on to the first information update and communication agenda item. This was a presentation on the City of Concordia’s proposed $13 million community activities center. Jackson, Atkins and Deal joined the presentation.
Gilliland provided a brief history and opened the floor for questions. Multiple board members and attendees asked questions related to the center’s capacity, ranging from seating count to its multipurpose room.
Another common question was its ability to host Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) sanctioned events, to which Gilliland said that the facility would not be able to host those regulated events.
Gilliland and Atkins said that KSHSAA requires a facility to have enough seating for 600 spectators per court, but the proposed facility would only have 250 seats. Regulations dictate that facilities must also have full locker rooms, which the facility would instead have changing rooms and restrooms.
“To make the gyms KSHSAA approved was a $3.9 million addition,” Jackson said.
Atkins and Gilliland added to Jackson’s statement by stating that the addition would require full locker rooms, a lobby extension and more HVAC equipment for the entire building.
A high school student asked about security during which Gilliland and Atkins said the proposed idea was a card system that would track patrons as they use the facility, but membership would remain free. Jackson added that the city commission has discussed the idea of charging reasonable fees for larger events like traveling sporting activities, weddings and meetings.
Jackson added her experience when moving from larger communities like Topeka and Lawrence to Concordia with small children.
“When it’s cold and snowy, you can take them to McDonald’s—they have playlands,” Jackson said. “You come here, and there is nowhere when it’s cold and snowy to take your toddlers to play outside your house.”
Board members moved on to the next information item, which was a proposed district boundary change due to the possible dissolution of USD 334 Southern Cloud.
During the November election this year, residents of USD 334 Southern Cloud will vote on whether to close the district or not, causing surrounding districts to propose boundary changes.
According to DeBauche, USD 333 has proposed to extend its boundary from the intersection of 90th and Key roads south to U.S. Highway 24 and then turn east to 240th Road. The proposed boundary would then extend north to rejoin its existing boundary with USD 224 Clifton-Clyde between Hawk and Iron roads.
Enrollment discussions took over the meeting next, where DeBauche reported the attendance record for the period between Sept. 8 and Oct. 7. CJSHS reported 93% attendance, Concordia Middle School at 95% and Concordia Elementary School (CES) at 91%.
DeBauche reported that the low attendance record at CES may be due to a software error that overreports preschool absences when regular attendance is not comparable to K-12 grades.
Operations director Kelly Strubing provided his report to the board, which included the completion of the CJSHS parking lot and the ongoing project to replace the CES windows.
Curriculum Director Brian Myers provided an update for the board, with a brief overview of his meetings with DeBauche and other staff members and his upcoming event to invite parents to review the proposed textbooks for each class.
USD 333 Concordia Foundation Director Kim Muff presented after Myers and reported that this will be the first year that the foundation’s endowed fund can participate in CFCC’s Match Month event.
With no LCNCK report, board members moved on to host two executive sessions, one for 15 minutes and then an additional five minutes to discuss student and staff matters.
After the executive sessions, board members took no action and moved on to its board action items. The first was an early graduation request from Michael Clemons and Mahaylla Ratcliff, which the board unanimously approved.
The second action item included the board approving its goals for 2025-2026, which included:
The last agenda item the board tackled was the approval of certified and classified personnel. In certified personnel, the board approved USD 224 Middle School Interrelated Teacher Margaret Briley. For classified personnel, the board approved substitute teacher and para Darlene Sipe, substitute nurse Sherri Hamiel and assistant junior high girls basketball coach Leah Stahlman for USD 333. In LCNCK, new hires also included approving Pike Valley para educator Shay Evert and CHS para educator LeAnn Shockley
The meeting then adjourned at 7:33 p.m.
