Frenchman BOE approves December senior class trip to Texas

Fleming seniors will be visiting Texas next month. Members of the senior class presented plans for the annual senior trip during a meeting of the Frenchman Board of Education on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Fleming’s 12th grade this year consists of 10 seniors who plan to visit San Antonio on their senior trip, slated for Dec. 15-18. Trip highlights plan to include the Alamo, the Natural Bridge Caverns, the Riverwalk and other attractions.

Several seniors presented the trip to members of the board of education last week, after which the Board voted to approve the trip for next month.

The November meeting agenda was short with only a few action items, but as always opened with reports from staff and administration. Board members heard from elementary teacher Krystal Stone as well as ag teacher Kelly Schimdt after hearing from the seniors.

Stone told the BOE she is having a successful year in first grade so far and gave an update on what her students have been doing in the first semester. She also stressed the importance of in-school learning and keeping students in the building rather than remote learning amidst the onset of COVID cases in the area.

Thus far, some Fleming cohorts have been placed on remote learning for a short time to quarantine, but Fleming Schools, as a whole, have remained in person so far this school year.

Schimdt, who teaches ag and serves as Fleming’s FFA Advisor, talked about a possible grant that would give the program the ability, if awarded, to construct a land lab and livestock facilities for the ag program.

During her time in the spotlight with board members, Principal Kortney Firme said the first round of teacher evaluations is compete and she is now working on the implementation of peer evaluations. Firme recently completed an Effective Supervision class and she said she is excited to do instructional coaching with teaching staff.

Firme also gave an update on the official student count, which takes place each year and for each district on Oct. 1. Fleming Schools count this year is 195. That number is down five from last year.

Superintendent Steve McCracken reviewed the business manager job description with the Board during his report. Earlier this year, Business Manager Linda Hawthorne resigned and will retire at the end of the District’s fiscal year. McCracken said plans are to begin advertising for the open position next spring.

Also during his report, McCracken talked about the current food service program. He said that the food service program served a total of 3,820 meals in October.

“We are seeing a steady increase in those numbers from the start of the school year,” he added. Right now the United States Department of Agriculture is providing free breakfast and lunches for all students throughout the U.S. through the remainder of the school year.

Board members then moved onto approving the consent agenda and in doing so, approved Jaxon King as a substitute teacher.

During action items, board members voted to approve the 2020-21 bus routes. McCracken said the routes are very similar to previous years and the District has not had a need to run multiple routes this year due to COVID-19 restrictions. Some of that is because a number of parents are transporting their students to school rather than riding the bus because of the restrictions in place.

Fleming Schools picks up children who live in town if they live on the south side of Highway 6. “We don’t like the kids crossing the busy highway on foot,” McCracken added.

The next meeting of the Frenchman Board of Education is slated for Thursday, Dec. 10 at 6 p.m.