The consent agenda, which is usually a list of bills to pay and is voted on all at once, has some interesting items including renewing licenses for SchoolNet, a network that allows teachers to have a clearinghouse for all the information they need to know including student test scores. The cost to renew is $640,000.

Another item is the increase in student lunch prices by 10 cents starting July 1. Adult lunch prices increase by 15 cents.

Most of the rest of the agenda, which is usually voted on separately, are adjustments and changes to policies including the student code of conduct, the voluntary early retirement program, and providing unpaid leave for victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.

Probably the most anticipated item is the memorandum of understanding between city and the school district on school resource officers. The document formalizes each entity’s role when it comes to school resource officers. Mainly, it says that the officers are city employees, the board can’t make any policies to hinder the use of any of their equipment and, with permission from their bosses, the officers can do a summer program at their school.

Do you get bored at educational-ese school board meetings? Try this.

1. Before (or during) the next meeting, prepare yourself by drawing a square. I find that 5″ x 5″ is a good size. Divide the card into columns, five across and five down. That will give you 25 one-inch blocks.
2. Write one of the following words/phrases in each block:
   • No child left behind
   • Test scores
   • Core competencies
   • Communication
   • Standards
   • Multiple exposures
   • Benchmarks
   • Proactive
   • Win-win
   • Think outside the box
   • Action plan
   • Result-driven
   • Assessments
   • Knowledge base
   • At the end of the day
   • Touch base
   • Mindset
   • Differentiated
   • Retention
   • Skills
   • Background knowledge
   • Effective learning
   • Exemplars
   • Implementation
   • Reflection
3. Check off the appropriate block when you hear one of those words/phrases.
4. When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally you win.

Any number can play.

“WSU denied us the opportunity to play at Koch Arena,” he said. “At that time they were in the Top 20. Now that they’re not, maybe they’ll reconsider us playing there the second time around.”

The last game between the high schools brought 5,000 fans to the Kansas Coliseum. Since then, WSU has plummeted from 8th in the nation to 8th in the Missouri Valley Conference.