Richland approves amended budget

The Richland Board of Education worked through a short agenda Thursday night which included approval of an amended 2008-09 budget, of a school-wide federal program plan and the acceptance of a resignation by high school science teacher John Armbruster.

Superintendent Mike Kiehne said approval of the amended budget was routine, with the board adjusting the final revenue and expenditure amounts for the fiscal year ending June 30.

"I would like to thank the staff for working so efficiently and having been so budget conscious, during this time period," said Kiehne. "The staff did a good job of operating on money that was available and using that money wisely."

The Richland school board also approved a tentative budget for the 2009-10 school year. Kiehne said the budget was based on the final 2008-09 final budget and will act as a 'working" budget. A new budget will be considered at the October meeting.

The board approved a school-wide program plan which is required by federal regulations. The plan deal with federal program such as Title I and the LEA Plan.

The board approved the resignation of Armbruster and then hired Beverly Good as high school science teacher for the 2009-10 school year. Good worked in the district last year during a teacher's absence and Kiehne said she did a really good job. The board also approved the resignation of Denise McCord as a bus driver.

The board approved the hiring of Amber Duley (Amber Allen, class of 1999 at Richland) as music and band instructor for kindergarten through 12th grade.

Chuck Eudaley made a report to the board on the recent Beta Club trip to the Beta Club Nationals in Orlando, Fla. Eudaley reported that Dalton Murphy finished third in the social studies competition.

The board issued the following statement: "We went to thank and commend Beta Club Sponsor Stephanie Swindell and applaud the students for their success."

The Richland board approved updates a recommended by the Kiehne and the Missouri Consultants for Education, LLC of Glencoe. The approved changes range from wording within the district's stand on parental and advocate notification with regard to observing in the classroom, to reporting procedures regarding sexual harassment issues. Such changes come up for board approval periodically for clarification purposes, usually as advised by the legal team headed by Tom Mickes, whose group represents several Stoddard County schools.