Unit #20 Board of Education met in regular session Wednesday night, March 15, at 7:00 PM in the LHS library. Each principal from all three buildings presented their board reports Wednesday night, along with the assistant superintendent and superintendent. In addition to administration, LHS Student Board Member, Gracie Stallings, assisted the LHS principal by reading the student board report to the Board of Education. All building principals reported that state testing is alive and well this month throughout the district. We encourage our parents/guardians of our students to encourage their child(ren) to get plenty of rest and eat a well balanced breakfast before school. We want our students to perform to the best of their abilities.
The Board of Education approved the consideration and approval of summer school. The Board of Education also considered and approved the implementation of a PASS program for Parkview Junior High School for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year. The district will be posting a teaching vacancy for a PASS teacher, along with the need of two paraprofessionals. More information regarding the PASS program will be available at a later date. Last, the Board of Education considered and approved the purchase of activity buses and used school buses.
Parkside Elementary School was represented by Mrs. Gray and her talented TAG Pro students. The TAG Pro students are returning 4th/5th grade students from Mrs. Gray’s previous TAG program. The TAG Pro students presented html coding to the Board of Education and what they had to accomplish in order to create a “website.” Most of the TAG students have entered the Acellus Dance contest and their videos of their robots dancing have been made available via Mrs. Gray’s Youtube channel. Also, all TAG Pros were in the ROE #12 Brain Games this year and the 4th grade students received 1st place. 3rd grade students received 4th place as well. These students did a wonderful job showcasing what they learned throughout the process. A great job was done by all!
In other news, longtime Unit #20 teachers Angie Grimes, Brad Bobe, and Jamie Lankford will be retiring at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. All three of these educators joined the Unit #20 family in August of 1993. Jim Gardner will also be retiring at the end of this school year. Mr. Gardner joined the Unit #20 family in August of 2007. All four of these individuals have given countless hours to our students and community within Unit #20. They will be missed but we wish them all the best in their retirement. It is well deserved.
Several individuals were hired Wednesday evening for the upcoming school year. Kate Young, Mackenzie Stubbe, Devyn Bone, and Gracie Gower will all be joining the Parkside Elementary staff as teachers. We welcome each and every one of these individuals to the Unit #20 family and look forward to seeing everything they do with our students and families. Unit #20 also hired Kati Kidwell, Wes Brooke, and Bill Bandy as the LHS Cross Country coaches for the 2023-2024 school year. We welcome them and wish them the best of luck. Other individuals that were employed Wednesday evening were Deb Crawford as a paraprofessional at Parkside, Jessica Mikeworth as a Parkside tutor, and Sara Seitzinger as an LHS custodian.
The next board meeting will be at Lawrenceville High School on April 26 at 7:00 PM in the LHS library.