Henning School to discuss future building projects
News | Published on May 23, 2023 at 3:26pm EDT | Author: henningmaster
0School board to host work session in June
By Chad Koenen
Publisher
After a school building referendum failed for the second time since November, the Henning School District will take a new look at its options for necessary maintenance and repairs at the school building. The school district had been seeking a more than $27 million project that would have addressed everything from replacing the HVAC system to building a new shop class and remodeling the elementary wing of the school.
During its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday night, the Henning School Board approved setting a work session and school board meeting on Thursday, June 8. The work session will be held at 6 p.m. with a special meeting to follow. The work session will be utilized to discuss the 2023-24 budget, as well as school building repairs and projects.
Henning School Superintendent Melissa Sparks said the school district is under a tight time line to utilize some of its funding options for things like the HVAC system. As a result, a decision will need to be made sooner than later on how the school board would like to proceed with that project.
Sparks said ESSERS money, which was approved as part of the COVID-19 pandemic, can be used to replace the school’s aging HVAC system. However, that money will need to be utilized in the near future, or it will need to be returned to the funding source.
In order to get the project sent for bids this fall, Sparks said the school board will need to make a decision on things like the HVAC system by the middle of June.
In other news
• Approved the hiring of the summer rec staff: Director Gabrielle Bunkowski, lead coach Kaislyn Bunkowski and coaches Chase Eckel and Jasmine Lane.
• Approved the hiring of summer food service director John Saari.
• Accepted the following resignations: Leah Roberts-Veazie as English teacher, Laura Smith from her positions related to Early Childhood Education and Marie Strand as paraprofessional.
• Approved the 2023-24 preschool schedule which will feature one day per week for 3-year-olds and three days per week for 4-year-olds.
• Approved 5-1, with Matt Reinbold voting in dissent, several changes to the school handbook for things like adding five days of lunch detention as a discipline level option, how to address PSEO and online high school students eligibility who are not passing or have been dropped and how to address cell phones in the classroom. Much of the discussion revolved around how to address cell phones in the classroom. A bin will now be in each classroom and students will put the cell phones into the bin upon entering the classroom and can be picked up when class is over.