School board briefs

School board briefs

The Grand Coulee Dam School District board of directors OK’d a number of last-minute hires at its meeting Monday night.

Two stood out. Levi Seylor was hired just this week to become the district’s lead mechanic, replacing longtime mechanic George Davis, who retires Aug. 31, after a long service record with the district.

Superintendent Paul Turner said Davis has agreed to stay on to work with Seylor until he becomes familiar with the bus fleet.

And the last classroom teaching assignment was filled when Katrina Reeder signed on to teach one of the first-grade classes. She has been a substitute teacher in the district for the past two years and is currently working toward her doctorate in education.

The board made decisions on a leave request, resignations and a number of other hires Monday night:

- Joe Tynan was granted a one-year leave request from his computer lab position, and subsequently hired for a junior high physical education/science position.

- Other hires included Tera Whitelaw, ninth-grade advisor; Hope Hansen, 10th-grade advisor; Christel Pitner and Melanie Herndon, 11th-grade advisors; Lacey Ward, paraprofessional; Tami Nichols, special education teacher who will complete her special-ed teaching certification in December; and Jesse Utz, Pathways coordinator.

- The board accepted the following resignations: Kaitlyne Goodin, elementary Title 1 paraprofessional; Jaron Trotter, Century 21; Tami Nichols, junior/senior opportunity room; and Tiffany Gerard, Pathways coordinator.

- The school board authorized spending $114,000 on a new 78-passenger school bus, with a full storage compartment under the bus. Transportation Director Stephanie Anderson said that the bus is listed as an 86-passenger bus, but that one row of seats has been eliminated to provide more leg room. The storage compartment will allow more space for sports equipment on road trips. Anderson said the bus will be ordered as soon as possible for delivery next year.

- Lake Roosevelt High School Principal Mark Herndon walked school board members through the sex education curriculum.

Sometimes a hot-button issue, sex education worked its way through the board with hardly a concern. No one in the audience questioned Herndon about it. Herndon explained that sex education classes are voluntary, and that parents can ask that their students not take the class. The curriculum is available for parents to look at.