Wednesday, July 18, 2007 THE OBERLIN HERALD 3A

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Superintendent requests an early evaluationBy KIMBERLY DAVISkldavis@nwkansas.com

The Oberlin School Board talked lastMonday about setting up a meeting at theend of the month to plan a performanceevaluation for the new superintendent.

Dr. Pat Cullen said it’s important for himto know what the board wants him to workon. Hopefully in the near future, he said, theboard can take some time to discuss that.

He suggested setting up a special meet-

ing or work session and maybe talking withCharlie Mansfield with McPherson andJacobson, the consulting firm which helpedthe board in the selection process, to see ifhe can help out, since that was part of thecontract agreement between the district andthe recruiting company.

The board suggested Dr. Cullen talk withMr. Mansfield to see what will work.

Dr. Cullen said he wanted to congratulatePrincipal Duane Dorshorst for his appoint-

ment to the Kansas Education LeadershipCommission. That recognition helps giveOberlin and the district a good name.

After walking through the high school,said Dr. Cullen, he noticed some damage atthe entrance to the high school gym near theshop room. He said it looked like the roofleaked, causing some damage to the gymfloor, which is now warped.

Dr. Cullen said he didn’t think the dam-age would be covered under the district’s

insurance. The damage isn’t on the court, headded, just in the doorway, but it might besomething they want to check into fixing.

He said he would need to talk with a con-tractor, but he said it’s possible the wholefloor would need to be replaced to fix thespot.

In other business, the board:• Gave Dr. Cullen the OK to move for-

ward on putting in railings on the stairs inthe junior high gym.

• Heard that the annual Back-to-Schoolpicnic is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednes-day, Aug. 15, in City Park.

• Held closed sessions for 10, 5, and 5minutes to discuss negotiations. No actionwas taken.

• Held a 10-minute closed session for per-sonnel. No action was taken.

• Accepted a gift of $100 from the Bar-gain Box Plus to buy a new art-project dryerrack for the preschool.

School boardprepares itselffor school year

SchoolRoundup

At a meeting last Monday, theOberlin School Board:

• Agreed to meet at the end ofthe month to talk about a perfor-mance evaluation for the new su-perintendent. Story above.

• Elected a board president andvice president, along with adopt-ing all of the beginning-of-the-year items. Story at left.

• Approved changes to the stu-dent and the faculty handbooks atthe grade school. Story to come.

• Met with members of thealumni association to discussgetting the high school on thestate historical registry. Story onPage 1A.

The Oberlin School Board held itsorganizational meeting for the newschool year last Monday, electing aboard president and vice presidentand making appointments and des-ignations for the year.

The board re-elected DewayneJackson as president for a third yearand elected Monte Moore as vice-president.

The board agreed to have its regu-lar meetings at 7:30 p.m. the secondMonday of each month at the districtoffice. If there is a conflict, the boardwill have the meeting the day fol-lowing the regular one. If a secondmeeting is needed, it will be thefourth Monday of the month.

The board agreed that Mr. Moorewill serve as the representative onthe Northwest Kansas EducationalService Center board, with DanNedland as the alternate. Mr. Jack-son and Mr. Moore were named tothe bid committee.

Members Barb Olson and DanGrafel were appointed to the policyreview committee, while Mr. Ned-land agreed to be the governmentalrelations network contact.

In other business, the board:• Rescinded all the actions of the

board prior to July 1 and approvedrevised policies for the new schoolyear.

• Signed a waiver from GenerallyAccepted Accounting Principlesrequired by state budget rules.

• Put Principal Charlie Haag incharge of high school gate receiptsand activity funds.

• Agreed that checks can be hand-written for bills outside the regularcycle.

• Tabled adoption of a new sci-ence curriculum until the Augustmeeting.

• Re-appointed Vickie Lippel-mann as the clerk of the board, CarlaDepperschmidt as deputy clerk andPam Simonsson as treasurer andusing the Kansas Association ofSchool Boards lawyers as the boardattorneys.

• Approved using the sameagenda form as they have been us-ing.

• Agreed to use First NationalBank as the district’s depository andfor activity accounts.

• Agreed that the board clerk andsuperintendent can invest idle fundsper board policy.

• Agreed to not allow the pledg-ing of district real estate for security.

• Selected Mrs. Lippelmann toserve as the representative for Kan-

One shopper will win$1,000 to spend in town

sas Public Employees RetirementSystem.

• Selected Superintendent Dr. PatCullen as the food service programrepresentative.

• Approved the district taking partin federal programs.

• Appointed Dr. Cullen as thefreedom of information officer.

• Approved The Oberlin Heraldas the official newspaper.

• Recommended the use of thecurrent textbooks for the new year.

• Named Dr. Cullen as hearingofficer for free and reduced-pricemeals and as the coordinator for fed-eral “title” programs, with counse-lors Sheila Jansonius and DebbieArp as Section 504 coordinators.

• Adopted a 1,116-hour calendar.This is similar to the old 186-daycalendar.

• Designated Mr. Haag and Prin-cipal Duane Dorshorst as truancyofficers.

• Established the mileage reim-bursement rate at .47 cents per mile.

• Approved 10 applications forout-of-district attendance and trans-portation, meaning that other dis-tricts can come into the district topick up the students. The applica-tions came from Cindy Shirley,Sheila Ritter, Deanna Sumner,Rebecca Hartsough, Tammy Shaw,Kenneth McVay, Brent Phillips,Stephanie Ritter, Sherri Jacobs andBuddy Arthur.

• Gave permission for 2001-2002financial records at Decatur Com-munity High School to be destroy-ed.

In less than four weeks, one luckyOberlin shopper will have thechance to win and spend $1,000 dur-ing Oberlin merchants’ annual$1,000 Shopping Spree.

Anyone 18 or older can enter thespree, organized by The OberlinHerald, without making a purchase.Just fill out the small entry formavailable at participating businessesand drop it in the box provided.

The winner will be drawn at theChamber of Commerce Back-to-School Picnic at 6:30 p.m. Wednes-day, Aug. 15, in City Park. The lasttime to enter is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug.14.

The winner must be present towin. Names will be drawn until a

winner is found.The one lucky person wins $1,000

in scrip money and has from Thurs-day, Aug. 16, until Friday, Aug. 24,to spend it. The shopper agrees tonotify The Herald so a photogra-pher can go with them while mak-ing purchases.

Sponsors for this year’s ShoppingSpree include Prairie Petals, theLandMark Inn, Flowers by Lee,Stanley Hardware, R&M ServiceCenter, Raye’s Grocery, Ward DrugStore, Culligan Water ConditioningCo., Addleman Drug Store, Dale’sFish ‘N’ Fun, Countryside Veteri-nary Clinic and The Herald.

All of the prize money must bespent only at sponsoring businesses.

County will maintain new crossing signs

Principal namedto leadership group

Principal Duane Dorshorst hasbeen apponted to the KansasEducational Leadership Com-mission by Dr. Alexa Posny,commissioner of education, ef-fective Wednesday, July 25, withhis first meeting the next day.

“The quality of educationalleadership in Kansas is and willbe facing many challenges as weadvance through the 21st Cen-tury,” wrote Dr. Posny. “Yourwork on the commission willhelp advance and create a morecohesive leadership system forour state.”

Mr. Dorshorst said he received

a call in June to see if he wouldaccept the job. He said the groupwas set up to study school lead-ership. Only five of the 19 mem-bers are involved in education.

The commission will meetonce a month through December,said Mr. Dorshorst.

The commission, he said, willlook at the way school leadershipis going in Kansas and what di-rection it needs to take.

Mr. Dorshorst said he is one oftwo members from this part of thestate. Diana Wieland, assistantsuperintendent in Colby, is theother.

Decatur County commissionerssigned a contract to maintain rail-road crossing signs on county roadsafter the Kansas Department ofTransportation upgrades and re-places them.

Road and Bridge Supervisor TimStallman said crossings on the KyleRailroad through Jennings andDresden had already been done.Two sections of the Nebraska Kan-sas Colorado RailNet line are to bedone later.

Mr. Stallman said the state willpay 80 percent of the costs and therailroads 20 percent. The railroadswill have to maintain the crossbucksigns, while the county is respon-sible for the yellow advance warn-ing signs. He wasn’t sure how manycrossings are involved.

The commissioners agreed to

ratify several purchases made byMr. Stallman. He said he purchasedrollers for the paddle wheels for oneof the scrapers at $543, road groom-er blades and a cable for the bigcrane, and several types of oil fromAllied Oil out of Omaha. He said heworked with Allied to put in new oilstorage tanks, so the county had tofill them, and that costs more than$4,000.

The commissioners also ap-proved the purchase of 300 seven-foot blades for the motor gradersthat Mr. Stallman said he thoughtwould come to around $8,000.

Mr. Stallman said Red WillowCounty plans a hearing on a borderagreement with Decatur County at9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 13, on thethird floor of the courthouse.

The commissioners set their own

hearing for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14,at the courthouse in Oberlin Theagreement is to govern maintenanceon roads that border the counties.

Mr. Stallman said most of theroads along the border get minimummaintenance, but the new agree-ment includes a couple of changes.He is preparing information onthose for the hearing.

In other business, the commis-sioners:

• Discussed flooding in Coffey-ville, which inundated an oil refin-ery, and decided that Mr. Stallman

should buy fuel at his discretion atthe best possible price. Prices wereexpected to rise after the shutdownof the Coffeyville refinery.

• Ratified the purchase of a com-puter for the main part of the Kan-sas Bureau of Investigation programin the dispatch office for $760 plusinstallation at $94 by FA Consultingout of Oberlin..

• Approved a resolution makingit illegal to break into the city pound,which is at the High Plains Veteri-nary Service, since it is outside thecity limits.

Donors keep pumpingto help fuel blood drive

DOING HER PINT, Court Clerk Janet Meitl (above)squeezed a red heart and allowed her blood to be gatheredduring a Red Cross drive last Wednesday. Behind her, JimWasson was donating also. After giving, donors like An-drea Burmaster (right) were offered drinks and lunch byJanice Kruse. — Herald staff photo by Cynthia Haynes