A pair of Skyline Board of Education members completed their last board meeting Tuesday night drawing to a close a total of 34 years of service to USD 438 on the board.
Gary Curtis completed 18 years and William Gallaugher finished 16 years of service.
Gallaugher said it was a pleasure to serve on the board and Skyline is a great place. He told incoming board members that they were in for the best four years of their lives and it will be a neat experience.
Curtis, who was board vice-president and ran the meeting Tuesday night in the absence of president Robert Howell, said he was proud of Skylines accomplishments and they are a great team.
“Everyone believes in what they are doing and everybody helps the kids,” Curtis said.
Curtis didn’t realize how big technology would be in education when he helped bring the first technology classes to Skyline.
Graduation was always a special time for Curtis. It was their pay for their job and the only time all the parents were happy at the same time, Curtis said with a smile.
He had many happy memories but a favorite was Travis Lenkner bringing the board sandwiches at graduation when he was making his speech. It was a reference to students not liking the sandwiches they got on activities trips.
Skyline Superintendent Mike Sanders said he couldn’t thank the men enough for staying on during the transition from A.C. Boland to him.
“They wanted to see the transition through,” Sanders said. “They are men of character and just good people to be around.”
In their last meeting the board brought accounts with negative balances to zero balance with transfers from the general and supplemental accounts to finish out the fiscal year.
Accounts with a negative balance have to be brought to a zero balance or the school will face penalties, Sanders said.
The anticipated amounts totaled $887,000 for 10 accounts including bilingual, capital outlay, drivers training, food service, professional development, parent education, special education, vocational education, at-risk and contingency.
The lions share of the transfer went to special eduction-$510,000, vocational education-$163,000 and at-risk-$159,000. New state funding dollars are not expected until July 7, Sanders said.
The process is done at the end of each fiscal year to clear the books for the next fiscal year that starts today, July 1.
Some additional bills are expected but should not add much to the anticipated amount. The last of the balances should be finalized within the next two weeks, Sanders said.
