Waitsburg School Board Update

Board members Ross Hamann, Russ Knopp, Christy House, Marilyn Johnson, and Randy Pearson were all present.

-Unanimously adopted Journeys (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017) as the new elementary school English Language Arts curriculum.

-Approved a 2016-17 athletic budget of $21,900 to include all sports except baseball and softball, which will be determined at a later date. The board rejected a request of $14,000 for new wrestling mats and asked the team to continue using the Mat Birds’ mats.

-Approved a Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Waitsburg Education Association. Significant changes include the additional two responsibility days and one more professional development day above the previous year.

-Approved contract renewal of secondary principal, Stephanie Wooderchak.

-Approved renewal of District Superintendent Carol Clarke’s contract for the 2016-17 year only, at Clarke’s request. Clarke said she plans to make an official notification of intent to retire in September.

-Approved surplus of old, obsolete computers, hard drives, and other technology.

-Approved hire of Abbey Manzano as high school girls’ basketball coach. Manzano has 2.5 years experience as an assistant coach for WWU girls’ basketball and one season of experience as a high school girls JV coach with WWVA. She recently completed her college education with a major in health/nutrition, with a minor in coaching, according to Clarke.

-Approved hire of students Nathan Aronson and Joseph Leamy as summer maintenance help.

-Discussed re-running the capital projects bond that narrowly failed in February. The board will run surveys to determine what projects the voters will support. The resolution to run a capital projects bond must be passed and recorded with the county by Aug. 2. The bond will be on the November ballot.