Trending
NEW CUMBERLAND -- Several coaching positions for spring sports were approved Monday by the Hancock County Board of Education.
The board approved nine spring sports coaching assignments, all for Oak Glen High School. Those assignments included baseball assistants Eric Hayden and Mark Shenton; girls track assistants Diane Wells and Ryan Wells; non-paid baseball assistants Mark McHaffie, Jason Wiley and Ryan Willis; non-paid boys track assistant Richard Everly; and non-paid boys tennis assistant coach Rick Brown. All five baseball coaches met state guidelines established for non-certified personnel employed in coaching activities.
Prior to this vote, the board approved Everly's resignation as boys track assistant, which had been on a paid basis. The board also accepted the resignation of boys track assistant Jason Kekseo, effective the end of the 2016-17 school year.
The board also approved the assignment of Alicia Wells to serve as a secretary of Oak Glen Middle School. Wells, whose hiring is pending favorable fingerprint results, will be scheduled for eight hours a day for 220 days, and will go into effect Feb. 21.
Transferring, meanwhile, will be countywide substitute teacher Dominique Gilbert to her new position as a multi-category/elementary/Autism teacher at New Manchester Elementary.
The board, however, approved the termination of Oak Glen Middle School custodian Ryan Brown, effective Jan. 11, 2018, with the board citing breach of contract.
Meanwhile, the board approved a new position to be instituted in the school district starting with the 2018-19 school year. That position will be a countywide Braille/sign language specialist/aide, who will work seven hours daily for 200 days, and will be paid at Step 0 of the pay scale.
In other business:
• Superintendent Tim Woodward provided an update on the county schools' food service participation rates and reported an increase of the distribution of both breakfasts and lunches. Woodward said that from the end of December to January, 308 more lunches were given out compared to a month before along with an additional 108 breakfasts. He also said that, compared to a year ago, distribution of lunches have increased by 1.29 percent, and breakfasts saw a 1.08 percent increase also from a year ago. Woodward said that the lunch increase is significant and it would reflect a reimbursement of nearly $50,000 coming back to the district for child nutrition.
Woodward also commended Child Nutrition Coordinator Steve Govey on his efforts to improve the child nutrition program, which has included visiting schools, talking to students and taste-testing some recipes that could interest students. Govey, who served in the food service industry for nearly 25 years before joining Hancock County Schools last month, said the program has been improving, but added that more improvements will continue to be made for the future.
• Two overnight field trips were approved by the board. One trip will be for a Weir High student participating as a Poetry Out Loud finalist, to attend the state competition in Charleston, March 9-10. The student, parent and participating teacher will use private vehicles for the trip. The other was for the Oak Glen Middle School's eighth graders to go to Washington, D.C. April 27-29.
• The board declared three buses as surplus property: a 2004 71-passenger bus with 140,915 miles driven; a 2006 25-passenger, braun lift bus with 210,337 miles logged; and a 2001 17-passenger braun life bus with 207,053 miles traveled.
The next meeting will be at 5 p.m. Feb. 26 at the John D. Rockefeller IV Career Center.
(Rappach can be contacted at srappach@reviewonline.com)