By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays school board is set to approve bids for two HVAC projects at its meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Rockwell Administration Center.
Both of the projects were bid through the Greenbush Education Service Center Purchasing Cooperative, a state program that guarantees preferential pricing to schools.
The cost of the O’Loughlin Elementary School project is about $1.28 million.
The Wilson Elementary School HVAC replacement was approved in October. However, school officials are requesting a change order so the system will be better suited to meet the needs of the building when it becomes the district administrative office.
Cost of the Wilson project will be $2.4 million.
Special education raises
The district has struggled to fill paraprofessional positions for the functional life skills and Westisde programs. These students generally need more assistance than other students in the special education program.
School officials are proposing increasing pay by $1 for paras for these programs. This proposal will raise the starting wage of paraeducators in these programs to $13.06 per hour.
The special education co-op has 61 employees who would be covered by the proposal. The change will cost the co-op about $35,000 for the rest of the school year.
The board also will consider Kansas Association of School Boards policy revision recommendations and the appointment of members to the teacher negotiations team.
