The Harrisonville Board of Education kicked off the Feb. 19 meeting with an impressive showing of family and friends who came together in honor of a special group of third graders from Harrisonville Elementary School.</p><p>Earning &#x201C;Service Above Self&#x201D; awards, Principal Jauna Weber recognized Nick Ripperger, Kylie Meeks, Emily Heath, Trevor Erwin and Presley Zaring.</p><p>&#x201C;These are third graders who were selected by their teachers and their peers for going above and beyond when it comes to helping other students and teachers,&#x201D; Weber said. &#x201C;We are very proud of their accomplishments.&#x201D;</p><p>Tara Carotenuti, president of the Royal Guard Band Boosters, shared information with school board members on the organization&#x2019;s plans and goals for the school year. This included an overview of upcoming activities, support services and fundraising plans.</p><p>Updating board members on recent Missouri School Boards Association activities, Board Member and MSBA Delegate Chris Bell outlined the legislative forum he attended that day in Jefferson City. Although Governor Jay Nixon has proposed full funding for the education formula, Bell explained that this is probably not going to happen.</p><p>&#x201C;The general consensus is we are probably looking at 3 percent or 3.2 percent revenue growth over last year,&#x201D; said Bell, who committed to keeping an eye on the issue and reporting back to the group as more information becomes available. &#x201C;The big unknown is additional Medicaid health care costs the state may have to absorb, because there is still a lot of uncertainty from the federal government. With education being such a big piece of the pie, they don&#x2019;t know exactly what the state budget is going to look like. Nevertheless, everything I'm hearing is guardedly optimistic, pretty upbeat and positive.&#x201D;</p><p>Shari Osborn, director of curriculum and instruction, presented school board members with an overview of the Library Media Services program, outlining various engagements this department puts on throughout the year, the services they provide, and the research they have done/continue to do.</p><p>&#x201C;This group is one of the most incredible and high functioning teams that I meet with,&#x201D; Osborn said. &#x201C;They are constantly looking for ways to be innovative. They are a driving force behind what gets done in the building and are always looking for ways to do more.&#x201D;</p><p>In other business, the school board made its way through several action items, including:</p><p>-Approval of a recommendation by administration to revise Board Policy JGGA, which deals with seclusion, isolation, and restraint.</p><p>-Acceptance of the 2013-14 school calendar, as presented.</p><p>-Approval of adding a social studies teacher at the middle school, a counselor to be shared between ECC and HES, and two speech teachers as well as moving the Director of Curriculum position to an Assistant Superintendent of Academic and Student Services.</p><p>-Approval of purchasing six cameras, two-way intercoms, and door release buttons/installation for entrances for visitor recognition from Alexander Open Systems in the amount of $19,463.93. In light of recent security-related events, the administration determined the need to update the district's existing security by adding these cameras at six building entrances for visitor recognition along with two-way intercoms and remote door locks to better control visitor access.