Elementary teacher resigns; three hired
Although the Chase County Schools board of education handled another resignation this week, three new teachers were also hired for the 2023-24 school year.
Action came at Tuesday night’s board meeting, which also included a bid approval for replacement of the Longhorn gym bleachers.
First year elementary art teacher Erin Sloan resigned. Supt. Adam Lambert noted Sloan is originally from Kearney and she and her husband wanted to relocate back to the Kearney area.
Three new hires were approved for 7th grade English Language Arts, social studies and 7-12 PE/weight training, while one staff member will move to another position at the school.
Peyton Woodmancy, a Perkins County High School graduate, was hired for the ELA position, replacing Kara Hagan, who resigned earlier this year.
Woodmancy is student teaching this semester in Lincoln and is on track to graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln this May with a BS degree in Secondary Education-English Language Arts.
Calder Forcella was hired for an unspecified social studies teaching position. Supt. Lambert said he will fill a position currently being taught by a full-time substitute teacher.
The 2020 Chadron State College graduate is finishing his third year as social studies teacher at Hot Springs County High School in Thermopolis, Wyoming. He earned a BS in Education, and expects to complete a Master’s degree in secondary administration from Chadron this fall.
He played football at Chadron, and is a football and track coach in Thermopolis. His wife is a recently graduated Physician’s Assistant, according to Supt. Lambert.
Cale Holscher of Imperial was hired for the PE/weight-lifting position now held by Nathan Gaswick.
Supt. Lambert said Gaswick will be moving to the new technology position the board approved earlier this year, a job similar to one he held in Dodge City, Kansas before moving here.
Holscher, who now works at ALLO, holds a 2011 BS degree from the University of Nebraska-Kearney in Exercise Science. He earned a Master’s degree in Sports Administration in 2013 from UNK.
He worked as a sports performance coach at UNK from 2011-2015, and taught strength training and conditioning at Colorado Academy, a private high school.
Holscher was employed at Pivot Electric in Imperial from 2017-21 as an electrical apprentice.
After Tuesday’s action, CCS still has four certificated positions yet to fill for 2023-24—high school English/Language Arts, elementary guidance counselor, a special education teacher and the elementary art position.
In a related teaching area, Beau McConnell, a first year teacher at CCS, will teach the summer driver’s education course.
Supt. Lambert said 22-24 students are already signed up for the course. Board members voted to keep the tuition the same at $230 per student. CCS will pay $50 of that cost, dropping the per-student actual cost to $180.
Gym bleachers
Three bids were received for the Longhorn gym bleacher replacement project.
Carroll Seating Company of Kansas City was approved as contractor for the project. Their bid is $351,077. It was the low bid after one was eliminated because it did not include costs for three options the board requested.
Mid-States School Equipment of Lee’s Summit, Missouri submitted a $371,350 bid.
In addition to the new seating, the project includes platforms in each of the four corners of the bleachers that will accommodate wheelchairs and media.
Another new feature fans will see in the gym are permanent fixed fold-up seating along the top rows on both sides.
Board member Steve Wallin said the specs also requested evenly-spaced steps down from the upper level. Fans will not experience the huge first step down that now exists in the bleachers after the new bleachers are installed.
It was hoped for the bleacher installation to be done this summer, Supt. Lambert said, but due to the contractor’s schedule, the plan now is for the work to be done between the volleyball and basketball seasons.
See next week’s issue for more on Tuesday’s board meeting.