Summer coming to swift conclusion (A KASB Excerpt)

Summer coming to swift conclusion

The summer months are coming to a swift conclusion. The month of July may seem like a slow period to the average patron. Most are not aware of the importance of the period between the conclusion of school and the beginning of school for students and staff. District patrons in an attempt to be polite ask repeatedly of your board office staff, “What do you do in the summer?”

Let’s attempt to answer that question. The budget has been scrutinized and created. Your superintendent and assistant superintendent has traveled to Topeka to have the proposed budget reviewed by the budget experts at KSDE. Special board meetings were held to review the budget and approve its publication. The budget hearing is scheduled and eventually the district’s budgets are submitted to the county clerk and state department of education.

Many of your principals are frantically attempting to hire new staff to fill needed openings. The special education cooperatives are desperately trying to fill their classified positions. New board members have started their service, new board presidents have been placed, and staff meetings and professional learning and staff meetings are under way.

In the midst of the summer chaos, your district office staff is attempting to get contracts and work agreements produced and mailed for signatures. They are trying to make sense of the changes in your health insurance and other human relations issues so they can be the resident experts to answer employee questions.