Greenwood School Board listens to public comments, approves new concession stand roof
By Cheyenne Thomas The Greenwood School Board had three items brought to it during the open forum portion of its meeting on March 27. Parents and teachers brought up different subjects for the board to consider in its upcoming meetings, and the board promised to look deeper into one of the items concerning the district’s head lice policy.
Abigail Bolf, a middle school teacher at Greenwood, spoke first to the board about the possibility of introducing a mental health and suicide awareness program for the staff and students at Greenwood, especially in light of the tragedy the school experienced earlier this month when a middle school student died by suicide. She talked briefly about how the subject should be discussed with students at an age-appropriate level while also providing teachers a resource to help students reach out if they are struggling.
“It’s like a swear word (at school),” she said. “You’re not allowed to say it. We can’t ignore this, and you can’t look away and pretend this stuff doesn’t happen. We need to have a way to talk about this to be able to help those students.”
Another parent asked about the school calendar and how long breaks during the school year can affect the end-of-school date and push it further back into June. The Greenwood School District is scheduled to hold its last day of school on May 30.
The board also listened to concerns brought up about the school’s head lice policy. The policy was last updated in 2016, and there was a concern about parents not being notified in the event of an outbreak of head lice or other conditions such as pink eye. The board said it would revisit the policy and practice of how the district deals with head lice at its next regular meeting on April 24.
During the rest of its meeting, the board also listened to an update on its athletic coops and discussed a few building projects. New air handlers had been scheduled to be installed in the elementary school during the March spring break. The board also approved a $6,100 bid to replace the roof of the concession stand near the football field with metal roofing. The concession stand roof was reported to be in need of repair and had lost many shingles to the point where a new roof was needed.
