Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 board approves major curriculum purchases, HR software and facility contracts

The Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 Board of Education on April 2 approved a set of large purchases and contracts, including a districtwide English-language arts instructional-adoption package, a human-resources and business-operations software contract, facility planning work and classroom-technology purchases.

The board voted unanimously to approve the Curriculum Associates high-quality instructional materials adoption for ELA and associated professional development (total listed at $1,666,143), to finalize a Skyward human-resources and business-operations software agreement (annual license $58,628 plus a one‑time implementation fee of $507,000), and to accept several other curriculum, technology and facilities bids.

Why it matters: The ELA adoption is the largest single purchase announced at the meeting and will change classroom materials for multiple grade levels; the HR software is a multi-year operational change intended to migrate district HR and payroll information to a new vendor platform. Together, those decisions represent multi-year budget commitments and implementation work the district and its staff will need to manage.

Board members and staff described the curricular adoption as teacher-driven and pilot-tested. Lucas Shivers, identified in the meeting as the district director of elementary education, said the district is "very excited to offer a seven-year contract" and called the process "truly teacher driven and very student centered." Pilot teachers told the board the new ELA materials increased students' written responses…