USD 234 board adopts cyberbullying policy

By Rayma Silvers

The Fort Scott Tribune

The 2007-08 USD 234 school board president Matt Ida will be serving another term as school board president.

On Monday night at the monthly school board meeting, the local school board voted unanimously for Ida to retain the presidency position for the 2008-09 school year. Also at the meeting, the school board elected school board member Phil Quick as their Vice-president for the upcoming school year.

Due to a possible scheduling conflict, the board approved amending the April board meeting schedule, by moving the board meeting for that month to the second Monday in April instead of the first Monday in April.

In order to comply with new legislature, the board members approved an addition to the district's Anti-Bullying Policy. Although the majority of the policy will remain the same, USD 234 Superintendent Rick Werling said in order to stay in compliance with the law, the school district had to add cyberbullying to the policy.

"Cyberbullying means bullying by use of any electronic communication device through means including, but not limited to, e-mail, instant messaging, text messages, blogs, mobile phones, pagers, on-line games and Web sites," the policy said.

At the Monday night meeting, the board adopted three new policies. The Student Eligibility for Activities Policy, which explains that students are only eligible to participate in extracurricular activities at the high school if they meet all the criteria established by the Kansas State High School Activities Association, in addition to the criteria established by USD 234. Also, the student must be enrolled as a full-time student at Fort Scott High School.

The district's new heat policy stating that the district will provide inservice to athletic coaches regarding current guidelines from the Kansas State High School Activities Association with reference to heat-related stress, including its signs, symptoms, precautions and treatment procedures. In addition, the coaches will be trained on the importance of proper supervision while awaiting the arrival of medical personnel and notification of an athlete's parents if that athlete experiences heat-related stress symptoms. The policy also states that at least one coach from each sport is required to be certified in CPR. The district will cover the cost of the CPR class, according to the policy.

Loaning football equipment is another new policy voted in by the board.

"Football coaches form Fort Scott High School may loan football equipment to their student athletes so that they can participate in the Pittsburg State University Football Camp," the policy reads. "Loaning district football equipment for use at other football camps requires prior approval by the board."

Also at the board meeting, members approved the employment of Jodi Taylor as a FSHS cook; Richard Smith as a Eugene Ware custodian; Jackie Harvey as a Eugene Ware counselor; and Joyce Flanner as a kindergarten teacher at Eugene Ware. In addition, the board approved an increase of hours for USD 234 Occupational Therapist Kristi Hartman.

In other matters, the board approved the following:

* Designation of City State Bank for the FSHS activity fund; Union State Bank for the FSMS activity fund; UMB Bank for both the Eugene Ware and Winfield Scott activity funds; and Citizen's Bank for the USD 234 school district account.

* Designation of The Fort Scott Tribune as the official school publication.

* Placement of officers for the 2008-09 school year.

* Jeff Knopp as the hearing officer for suspensions and expulsions.

* A change in the qualifications for free and reduced textbook rental fees.

* Project pay requests for Saterlee Plumbing and Mid-America Roofing for progress on respective projects.

* Using Affordable Pest Control, Fort Scott, for routine pest control.

* Great West Healthcare's insurance proposal.

* The payment of fees for low incidence special education services.

* The FSHS fundraising application for the up-coming school year.