Athens retreat highlights district future school priorities
Andrea Sheridan, Athens schools superintendent, on Monday highlighted progress made at the Athens Board of Education’s board retreat at the end of last month’s school board meeting.
“We had conversations at the end of the school board retreat about revisiting our policy regarding expanding the hours of the fitness center during this summer, exploring a wrestling practice space independent from the high school commons and replacing our track so we can host track meets again in the future,” Sheridan said. “Over time, we’ll be able to bring together a very comprehensive strategic planning process, both internally in our school district and externally with members of our greater community, in forecasting some type of referendum in the future.”
Athens hasn’t been able to host track meets for the past few years because there are large cracks in the track, making it unsafe for student athletes to use.
In other news:
_ The school board voted to allow the school district to hire McMillan Electric of Medford at $23,171 to replace internet cables inside Maple Grove Charter School, and CDW at $42,229 to replace the wireless internet network switches and access points throughout the Athens School District buildings. Federal government grant money will pay for half the cost of each project.
_ Athens Elementary School teacher Tianna Borchardt was awarded a grant from the Marathon County Retired Teachers Association to support bringing in author Miranda Paul to speak to Athens students in April.
_ School board members voted to approve the retirement of Bev Braun, school district administrative assistant, and the resignations of Athens Elementary School teachers Cherish Byrd, first grade and Maddison Pape, third grade, at the end of the 2021-22 school year.
_ Athens middle/high school will host nationally known speaker, Tasha Schuh, on Wednesday, April 6, with a student assembly at 1 p.m. and staff learning at 3:30 p.m.
_ The school board hired the following full-time athletic coaches: Karla Erickson, assistant girls track coach; Kaylyn Halopka, middle school girls track coach; Korey Rottscheit and Ken Kraft, boys assistant track coaches; Macy Wirkus, middle school boys track coach; Chris Czech and Kyncaide Diedrich, assistant softball coaches; Kara Rudolph and Karissa Doyle, middle school softball coaches; Dale Westfall, assistant baseball coach and Paul Zarnke and Troy Diethelm, middle school baseball coaches.
School board members also voted on hiring the following part-time athletic coaches: Savannah Ellenbecker and Dakota Zillmer, assistant girls track coaches and Jeramie Penney and Aaron Doll, assistant baseball coaches. The following are volunteer athletic coaches: Destiny Horst and Cade Ellenbecker as assistant track coaches and Emily Roesler and Bill Coker as assistant softball coaches.
_ Marathon County Children with Disabilities Education Board hired Heather Westfall as a paraprofessional in Athens.
_ The Athens School Board voted to spend $37,677 to renew the school district’s shared service contract with CESA 9 and $17,970 to renew the shared service contract with CESA 10.
_ School board members voted to change the school district’s COVID re-entry plan to reflect that masks are no longer required to be worn on school buses.
