At Superintendent Kirk Easton’s last school board meeting in Lennox School District on Monday night, he thanked the board for giving him the opportunity to come to Lennox. He acknowledged that though his time here was short, he appreciated it.
Easton’s last day will be June 24th. He will be leaving to take a position in Spearfish.
The new superintendent, Chad Conaway, will begin in July. He is coming to Lennox from Centerville, where he was superintendent.
Easton reported that the administrative offices will be closed June 27-29 for cleaning. The Worthing School has already been cleaned and the crews were well into the cleaning process at Lennox Elementary.
Work is continuing outside of the school as well. The parking lot/sidewalk construction is underway and they have begun milling the street. While the contractors have given Aug. 5 as a completion date, Easton believes it will be closer to the 12th. Aug. 19 is the official completion date.
Easton also reported that the large tree that was in front of the walkway by the library is gone and the smaller tree has been transplanted by the high school. Seeding has also been completed.
New LED lights have been placed in the high school gym and a secure entrance for the Worthing Elementary School has been ordered. Easton explained that they have applied for a home security grant that they hope will cover some, if not all of the $21,000 cost.
After approval of the minutes, financial report and claims, the board quickly moved on to the rest of the meeting:
• Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy service contracts were approved. Director of Student Services, Laura Welch said they would be looking at hiring two more aides and a special education hire for 4th grade.
• The following new contract work agreements were approved: Brittany Gatzke as Pre-School Special Education Teacher, Lindsay Peterson as JH Literature Teacher, Shane DeBoer as Lennox 3rd Grade Teacher, Karen Ketcham as JH SPED Education Assistant, and William Symens as the new custodian.
• The 2004 Blue Bird Vision Bus, was declared surplus; it is valued at $900. Technology-related items, including outdated monitors and printers, were surplused for disposal.
• Membership with ASBSD (Associated School Boards of South Dakota) was approved.
• An agreement with East Dakota Educational Cooperative for the Teachwell Academy Program was approved. Costs for the program went up 9% because of teacher salary increases, explained Easton.
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