B-H Board
The Britton-Hecla Board of Education met on Monday night. Various personnel changes were dealt with. The board approved the hiring of Ashley Hennings as an English Language Arts teacher and the One Act Play director. Resignations were accepted from Ag teacher Jon Anderson and Band Teacher Justin Desens. A working agreement with BJ Richter as assistant boys basketball coach was approved. Various unpaid leave requests were approved.
Business Manager Kayla Hastings noted that the election information on the district’s website has been updated. April 9 is the earliest date to take out and begin petition circulation for board positions and May 10 is the deadline for filing nominating petitions. Mandy Carlson’s 3-year term is up this year. Hastings also discussed preliminary budget increases for the upcoming year.
In principals’ reports, Rachelle Kilker was congratulated for being honored as Teacher of the Year. It was noted that kindergarten numbers for 2024-25 look to be around 17 students. Track practice and the fourth nine weeks started on Monday.
The meeting ended with an executive session from 6:40 p.m. to 10:50 p.m. for personnel matters and negotiations.
There will be a special board meeting Thursday, March 21st at 5:00 p.m. with an executive session for personnel matters. The next regular board meeting is Wednesday, April 10 at 6:00 p.m.
LA Board
The Langford Board of Education held their regular meeting last Thursday. The board accepted two staff resignations. Jayme Valnes, teacher at the Newport Hutterite Colony, resigned and will be finished at the end of the school year. Sara Okroi, middle school volleyball coach also resigned.
The 2023-24 school calendar was approved with school starting on Wednesday, Aug. 21. In a playground update, it was noted that the district sent in an agreement to purchase equipment for Phase 2 of the playground, costing approximately $48,000.
In other business, a school bus that was too expensive to fix was declared as surplus. Monthly meetings with representatives from Newport Colony were discussed. Both colony officials and the board are finding it beneficial to have open lines of communication with each other.
In his administrator’s report, Superintendent Shad Storley noted that he would be listening in on a webinar this week regarding new legislation affecting schools, including regarding new minimum salary requirements that start next year.
Late last month, the board held a special meeting where they went to Groton to discuss the recently approved football co-op. The LA Board was joined by Brett Gibbs, Langford Area Athletic Director, Michael Alberts, head Langford Area FB coach. The group met with the Groton Area Board as well as their superintendent Joe Schwan, Groton Area Athletic Director Alexa Schuring, and Shawn Wanner head Groton Area FB coach. According to Storley, the meeting with a productive question and answer session. Nothing new has been decided as of yet however.
The next board meeting will be April 8 at 6 p.m.
