Great Bend High School students who excelled at state contests this year were recognized Wednesday when GBHS hosted a noon meeting of the USD 428 Board of Education.
Each school hosts a luncheon meeting once a year. At the meetings, the building principals and other staff members share information regarding their academic programs and school effort efforts. GBHS Principal Tim Friess used his time to bring in several students who excelled in academic and athletic programs.
This included:
• Boys wrestling state champions Kaden Spragis and Wyatt Weber
• Girls wrestling state champion Breanna Ridgeway
• Girls bowling state champion Kaylin Wahlmeier
• The Health Occupations Students of America students who attended the state spring HOSA Leadership Conference, which was virtual this year. Students Eliana Teri and Cailyn Murphy qualified for nationals in Nashville.
• Forensic and debate students who qualified for the National Speech and Debate Association’s Tournament this June in Kentucky. They are Alondra Alvarez, Milena Carbajal, Darcy Feist, Malachi Wasson and Isaiah Smith.
• Jobs for Americas Graduates (JAG) students Madison Carter and Ashley Reddig, who qualified for JAG’s National Career Development Conference and competition next week in Dallas.
Friess also complimented Activities Director David Meter and mentioned the Family and Consumer Science class, taught by Katherine Hekele. Each year when GBHS hosts the school board meeting, FaCS students prepare the meal and the table decorations.
“We have so many good things, it’s hard to put it all in front of you,” Friess told the school board. He noted that the students who joined the meeting Wednesday also excel academically. While not disclosing individual grade point averages, he noted the range of GPAs in each group. All were A or B students and some have a 4.0 GPA (or higher), representing straight A’s.
Friess said Meter deserves a lot of credit as the longtime activities director. Meter is retiring at the end of this school year after 43 years in USD 428 and 22 years as its activities director.
Superintendent Khris Thexton said the opportunities USD 428 provide to students, for a district of this size, are “unmatched.”
Agenda items
Several action items were also on Wednesday’s meeting agenda:
• The board approved licensed teacher appointments for McKenzy Black, special education teacher at Lincoln Elementary School, and Heaven Yager, preschool teacher at Riley Elementary School, and a resignation from Dena Hiss, computer science teacher at Great Bend Middle School.
• A contract with Patterson Construction in La Crosse was approved. The company will sand, stripe and finish gym floors at Lincoln and Jefferson schools, and supply and install volleyball sleeves, for a total cost of $16,700.
• A Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) Kansas Preschool Pilot 2023 grant for $171,705 was accepted. The board also accepted reward incentive contributions from Kroeger in the amount $460.06 for Lincoln Elementary and $295.65 for Riley Elementary; and from Casey’s in the amount of $40.40 for Riley.
• A new schedule for Great Bend Middle School was approved, as discussed at the April 11 board meeting, starting with the 2022-2023 school year. This new schedule allows seventh and eighth graders to have more choices in elective courses.
• The board approved information technology projects required to maintain the district cyber insurance coverage. These include a renewal to the Malwarebytes software contract to include the Endpoint Detection & Response upgrade (at the same annual cost) for $18,180; Nex-Tech rental site for the new off-site backup requirement, for $3,600; and a staff phishing protection training subscription, also a new requirement, for $16,531.
