The school calendar, a food service provider and technology upgrades were part of the past three Platte County Board of Education meetings.
The board met on Jan. 17, Jan. 30 and Feb. 21 and approved a variety of items presented.
The one that most parents and students would have interest in is the school calendar for the 2019-2020 school year. School will start on Aug. 15 and dismiss on May 20, 2020. Graduation for Platte County High School will be May 17, a day after the graduation ceremony will be held for the Northland Career Center. That date was moved back a week from originally scheduled.
Students will have time off from Nov. 27-29 (Thanksgiving break), Dec. 24 to Jan. 5 (Christmas break) and March 16-20 (spring break).
During a special meeting on Jan. 30, the board approved a contract with Southwest Food Excellence of Scottsdale, Ariz., for the food service contract starting on July 1. It is a five-year deal that was part of a brief 28-minute meeting. Currently, Opaa! is the district food provider.
Hardware upgrades
Two contracts were awarded during the February meeting. The first was for replacement and upgrades for wired network switches, with Yellow Dog Network, to provide service at Barry, Platte County Middle School, Pathfinder, Compass and Siegrist. The winning bid was $235,041, though after a federal E-rate program with a 60 percent discount, the cost is $94,016.
The other bids were from C&C Group ($161,394/$64,556 after discount) and Provision Data Solutions ($296,087/$118,435). While the C&C Group bid was initially lower, additional cost for equipment compatibility would’ve been $77,800 more. Provision Data Solutions had an additional cost of $160,947.
CDW-G was given the bid for wireless access points at the schools mentioned above for $61,781, which would be $24,713 after the discount. C&C’s bid was $65,120 ($26,048) and Provision Data Solutions was $126,493 ($50,5097).
Athletic achievements
Wrestling coach Reggie Burress and football coach Bill Utz both took part in the February meeting. Burress was there with four members of the first-ever girls wrestling team at Platte County, including state qualifiers Avery Krahenbill and KayLyn Munn.
Utz was joined by Dylan Gilbert, Spencer Stewart and Peyton Stoner, all seniors who were recognized for their accomplishment this fall. Gilbert and Stewart were both Simone Award finalists with Stewart being named the Frank Fontana Award winner, given to the top ‘small’ school player. Gilbert was a finalist for the best wide receiver — the Otis Taylor Award — and Stoner was a finalist from the Derrick Thomas/Neil Smith Third-and-Long Foundation for his work off the field.
In other news:
Meteorologist Gerard Jabaily of 41 Action News visited Pathfinder Elementary to talk about forecasting and witnessed a tornado experiment.
The past two SCHIVIR Me Timbers staff recognition went to Jacob Blankenship in January and George Jones in February. Blankenship is the construction technology instructor at NCC, while Jones teaches Spanish at the high school.
Preschool open house is scheduled for March 14 at the district education center. Students must be 4 by July 31, 2019 to enroll in the great beginnings preschool tuition program.
The PCHS ceramic class presented ceramic bowls to board members for board appreciation week.
The next meeting is March 14.