Herbert hired for PE post; school’s hail damage tops $233,000 figure

    Except for one or two para-professionals, all staff hirings are complete at Chase County Schools for the 2022-23 school year.
    The final certificated position was confirmed Tuesday night at the CCS board meeting when Trent Herbert was hired on a 5-0 vote for the open physical education position.
    Herbert, who had been the CCS 7-12 guidance counselor the past 11 years, resigned from that position in February.
    He will fill the PE position held by Randy Longoria, who also resigned and has moved to Fort Collins, Colorado for another teaching position.
    “This was an interesting twist of events,” Supt. Adam Lambert reported to board members Tuesday.
    “We look forward to having Trent back in the building,” he added.
    When he resigned, Herbert said he and his family planned to stay in Imperial.
    In other business, Supt. Lambert told board members the school sustained a lot of damage from the June hailstorm that also struck a lot of homes and structures in Imperial.
    As of this week, Lambert said estimates on the damage they’ve received so far total $233,625.39.
    The biggest part of the damage was to the building’s stucco surface on the north side of about $122,000, Lambert’s report shows.
    About 10 vehicles/busses were hit with estimates around $12,600. Other estimates on damage include $41,500 window repair, $36,000 three north-facing garage doors on new storage building, greenhouse damage $6,500, HVAC insulated duct wrap $14,500 and damage to a bus barn door (estimate not listed).
    Lambert told board members there may be additional damage yet to be figured into the total.
    In addition, school officials are still trying to get some repairs done from the hailstorm three years ago, Lambert added, involving mostly cosmetic repairs on the roof.
App purchased to
streamline communication
    The board voted unanimously to purchase the Rooms app at a cost of $12,250 from the company Apptegy.
    Supt. Lambert said this will replace the other apps parents and patrons are using to keep on top of school communication and to receive announcements.
    Apptegy is the same firm that coordinates the school’s website.
    Watch next week’s issue for more on Tuesday’s meeting.