Lennox Elementary now has a secure entrance. Located on the north side of the building, the new entrance will pass patrons through the Lennox Elementary offices. At Monday night’s school board meeting, Superintendent Kirk Easton said all other doors would be locked after 8:30 a.m. each morning.
Monday was the first day the secure entrance was in use and Easton said it worked well. Worthing Elementary is the last school that needs a secure entrance. Easton said that the new superintendent, Chad Conaway suggested that they apply for a homeland security grant to build the secure entrance at the Worthing school.
In other business at Monday night’s board meeting, Easton spoke in regards to the energy audit completed by ESG. The cost of the audit totalled $39,000. Easton said that while the company would write that amount off if they did the project, he did not recommend hiring them, saying their costs were far higher than other contractors. For design and oversight fees alone, they would charge $135,000. He will meet with the committee to discuss the matter further.
The board then went into executive session for a few minutes. Following the session, they approved the minutes, financial reports and claims.
In preparation for the upcoming school year, the contract for Chad Conaway as new Superintendent of Schools and the 2016-17 LEA/Board of Education negotiated agreement were approved.
There were several new hires: Lauren Millar as Junior High Language Arts, Trevor Schroeder as High School Algebra I and Physical Science, Laura Lueders as 4th grade teacher and Mary Wicklander as custodian.
The board approved the resignation of Michael Larson as the One-Act Play Director pending finding a suitable replacement. Easton said he thought one of the new staff would take that position.
The board then discussed adding an additional one-half credit to the English graduation requirements; that would increase the English requirements from 4 to 4.5.
High School Principal Chad Allison said the English staff found that there was a gap in the English curriculum and wanted to add a half-year literature class to the sophomore curriculum.
“We can do this without adding staff,” said Allison. “It’s an exciting thing to be adding for our students.”
After discussing the pros and cons of adding the course, the board approved the additional graduation requirement unanimously.
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