USD 241 Board of Education Special Meeting Monday August 10, 2026

by Dettra Crawford, Superintendent, USD 241 | October 1, 2026

Converted from PDF; conversion errors may occur; otherwise unedited.

The USD 241 Board of Education met in session, Monday August 10, 2026. BOE members in attendance were: Ross Cox, Stephanie Johnson, Mark Kuhlman, Bruce McKain, Darrin Summers and Dan Brooks. Sandy Cullens was absent. Highlights from the meeting include:

Fort Hays Tech Northwest Report: Bruce Bolen presented information to the BOE regarding FHSU Tech NW. Their programs are growing with adding three new programs: 1. 2. Health aid and 3. Lineman. The school received a large grant to purchase a new to them semi for CDL classes and currently have 50 enrolled in that program. Great and Exciting things happening here!

Mr. Korte Report: Mr. Korte and Ms. Hammer attended the CTE conference in Kansas City as part of the Carl Perkins grant following the previous BOE meeting. Our students who are enrolled in the CTE Construction and CTE Manufacturing pathways will be getting free textbooks from National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER). At the completion of either one of these pathways, our WCHS students will be able to receive credentialing from NCCER allowing them to go straight into the workforce.

Mrs. Crawford Report: Mrs. Crawford and Mrs. Basgall have been busy working on the 2026-2027 RNR and Budget. Mrs. Crawford attended the KSDE Great Ideas Conference in Wichita in late July. At this conference the new At-Risk Accountability Report details were released. This is a new report for this year. The portal will open on September 21 with the report due to KSDE by October 31. Details currently given on the report: there will be two cohorts (one ELA and one Math), one cohort must be 4th grade, each cohort is required to have 11 students (challenging for small districts like ours), each cohort will set goals and have one year to achieve them. If not achieved, districts have 4 years to achieve the goal. If not achieved by then, the district goes on a unsatisfactory report and at-risk funding is cut. There will be several workshops coming up with more details as they are handed down from the State.

New Business: Motions were made on several items in new business. Activity bus driver’s pay was increased to $20/hour in order to get our drivers more in line with the present rates from surrounding districts. Handbook revisions were presented to the BOE and approved. The new editions will be added to the district website before school begins. T mart was the only vendor who submitted a milk bid. The BOE approved this bid which is at a reduced rate per case of milk for both white and chocolate milk from last year. Meals, Expenses, and Incidentals (ME&I) was approved at $68/day for staff. This will be paid in a check to staff before they travel for work related business. Expectations on meals has now been set and the district credit card will not be used for such expenses moving forward. Substitute teacher list, classified list, certified teacher list, and supplemental duties were approved as presented.

New Hires: The BOE approved the hiring of Dana Clay as 5/7 music education teacher.

Job vacancies: The BOE approved advertisements for the following positions: interim AD, interim head football, interim assistant football for supplementals. For classified positions, the BOE approved advertising positions for: a daycare worker and a fulltime Kindergarten paraprofessional. (This last position is needed as we are required to have a 1:10 ratio for Kindergarten and below. There are currently 12 students enrolled in Kindergarten requiring this position in order for us to be in compliance.) For certified positions, the BOE approved advertising positions for an additional PE/Elementary position (we are still down one from last year), a full time music position, and to continue to advertise for any positions in which highly qualified/fully certified teachers are not currently in place.

Vehicles: The BOE accepted the proposal from Dan Brenner Ford to be added to the fleet. This will be a 2027 Ford Expedition Max 4x4. It should be delivered in December if not sooner. With the government rates, this vehicle was cheaper then purchasing a used vehicle.

Needs Assessment: The district assessment was completed in advance of the budget being completed as required. This document will be posted on the district website in the near future. It is important to know the 2026-2027 Needs Assessment is based upon 2025-2026 numbers and data. Highlights of the district needs assessment: the district has a fairly low At-Risk percentage at 37.8%. At risk percentages for KSDE reporting is based on the total number students divided by the total number of students receiving free meals (at-risk). Our district does already have tiered systems of support in place to target reading growth; and, we are working with TASN/MTSS this year to put these same tiered systems of support in place to target math growth to add to our current tiered systems of support with IXL. We utilize FastBridge to monitor reading and math growth at the local level as well as the KAP (state assessment) for overall growth as required by KSDE. We do have IPS in place as well has students set goals/expectations for postsecondary success. Curriculum needs include the adoption of math curriculum for this year and science curriculum for next year. We do have a curriculum rotation in place. Our staff numbers look high due to how the state has us report them. We used to only report certified staff. Now, we report all classified staff as well. This includes, teachers, support staff (secretaries, food service, paraprofessionals, maintenance, custodial), Rule 10 coaches, bus drivers, administration, etc. We do still believe there is a need for a school nurse. Our district graduation rate is 100%.

RNR and Budget Hearing Meetings: The BOE set these for September 14, 2026. Notices of each will be printed in the paper as well as the district website.

Special BOE meeting: The BOE will have a Special BOE meeting on August 19, 2026 for hiring positions and KASB goals and expectations meeting.

Questions &/or Concerns: Please feel free to reach out to Superintendent/K-5 Principal, Dettra Crawford if you have any questions &/or concerns regarding any of the highlights.

**These highlights are a brief overview of the meeting, not official minutes. Official Minutes for this meeting will be approved at the September BOE meeting.