School board reduces third grade to two sections at Lennox Elementary

The Lennox School Board met April 14 and decided to reduce third grade from three sections to two next year at Lennox Elementary due to budgetary reasons.

Stacy Lund, second grade teacher and parent of a child who will be in third grade next year, expressed her concerns on condensing to two sections of third grade. With 57 second-graders now, that would mean sections of 28 and 29 for third grade. She does not believe this is the best decision for students and will put extra stress on teachers.

Janell Horner, parent of a child who will be a third-grader next year, said that her son is one of several students in that class with an IEP. Many of those students have modified assignments. She worries about the workload that means for those teachers. 

Horner also worries about the students who are not on an IEP not being pushed to try harder. She realizes they can’t make money appear, but hoped the board was looking at every possible avenue. She said something like this opens your eyes to moving your student to homeschool or going to a different district.

The board approved reducing Lennox Elementary third grade to two sections with Renae Buehner as the only no vote.

Business manager Angela Arlt provided a presentation on funds and budget at the start of the meeting. She noted the fiscal year 2026 budget is about $2.9 million with debt payments of $1.5 million. They like to keep cash reserve at 15-16 percent. Right now it’s at 14 percent. 

Arlt noted the student count number decreased 26 students this school year and homeschool enrollment increased 23 this year. She said the reason for the increase in homeschool numbers was due to lack of regulations on homeschooling families like standardized testing that went into effect in 2021.

The board spent a little over an hour in executive session and approved a donation policy from the school attorney on donations made to the school. The policy was unavailable at press time. 

They approved the resignations of Shane DeBoer as Worthing Elementary fourth-grade teacher and Kelsey Rokahr as special education teacher, as well as Nathan DeWitt for junior high boys’ basketball contingent on finding a replacement.

The board approved the new contract for Noah Welch as assistant boys’ tennis for immediate contract. They also approved the new contracts for Caitlin Tobin for half Title I and half ELL teacher, Maddie Knock for Worthing Elementary second grade, Dylan Larsen for 0.45 LWC Intermediate music, Amanda Graff as special education teacher and Scott Putman as driver’s education instructor.

They reviewed the classified employee resignations of Maddie Knock as special education educational assistant, Eve Bunkers as Totally Kids site coordinator and Sunshine Preschool assistant and Phyllis Appel as special education educational assistant and the classified staff work agreements of Skylar Anderson as special education educational assistant.

The board approved reducing Lennox Elementary first grade to two sections. 

This move was due to smaller numbers coming up from kindergarten and adding one section of kindergarten at Lennox Elementary for a total of three sections due to increased numbers coming into kindergarten.

They approved adding one section of Lennox Elementary fourth grade for a total of three sections and reducing LWC Intermediate fifth grade to three sections. They also approved reducing one LWC Junior High math position.

The board approved the transfer requests of Melissa Bauder from Lennox Elementary first grade to kindergarten and Sara Plank from Lennox Elementary third grade to fourth grade.

They approved two policies - 5024, medication of students, and 4001, criminal background checks. Lennox Elementary principal Cody Lutes said the change to the medication policy says that youth younger than seventh grade have to go to the nurse for medication and cannot self administer. The criminal background checks policy came about after an audit from DCI.

The board canvassed the April 8 school board election results and accepted the results as good and true with Nick Butler abstaining.

They approved an amendment to the 2024-25 school calendar to note the dismissal on the last day of school (May 20) will be at 12:30 p.m.

The board approved the physical therapy service contract with Tracee Ellwein at $57 per hour.

They approved the permanent drainage and temporary construction easement agreement with 3D Architecture & Design to fix some grading where an outlet sits about 8 inches higher than the neighboring property lots. The school will have to do the grass seeding in this area.

Junior high and high school principal Chad Allison updated the board on the high school addition where painting in the gym, weight room and locker room is done. They are putting in the raker beams for seating in the PAC. The new gym still needs the floor and bleachers put in. Brick will be coming in late May.

The board adjourned at 8:40 p.m.