By HOLLY GASKILL
A new position will soon join Norwell Community Schools’ administrative staff.
The school board unanimously approved a new administrative assistant role during their meeting Monday. The addition of an administrative support role was first discussed in April as a possible dean position in the high school but was since adapted to serve the whole district.
As presented by Superintendent Mike Springer, the administrative assistant will primarily address attendance and student support, scheduling and coordinating extracurricular activities.
The current administrative staff does not have the capacity to accommodate these needs, Norwell Middle School Principal Andrew Enderle and Norwell High School Assistant Principal Holly Morgan told the school board.
Enderle specifically noted that 60-80 percent of the middle and high school students participate in extracurricular activities throughout the year. Several sports and clubs have also been added in the last several years. Coordinating these groups, he said, is already a heavy task for the administration, and they would not have the bandwidth to continue growing.
“The person in charge of that is taking over approximately 400 kids on any given day,” Enderle said. “We wouldn’t generally think about that in terms of ratio (between students and administration), but I think it’s a pertinent statistic as it relates to the responsibility of a human being over other human beings.”
Morgan echoed this, adding that another person solely focused on these areas would assist in improving and developing programs. She also emphasized that with some of these responsibilities alleviated, all administrators could dedicate more time to working with students and families.
“There is a massive amount of work that is done behind the scenes,” Morgan said.
Board member Chad Kline noted that it will not cost the district additional money but will replace the role of alternative education director previously held by Kristen Wall. Board member Corey Krug strongly favored the role’s addition, stating he thought it would support the administration and allow them to focus on working with students.
The board approved the position 4-0; board member Angie Topp was absent.
Other updates included:
• Matt Taylor was hired as assistant principal at Ossian Elementary School and John Johnson was hired as assistant principal at Norwell Middle School. With this, Taylor resigned as NHS assistant football coach.
• In light of recent legislation, the district will no longer charge textbook rental fees. The state will now allot approximately $152 per student. Preschool materials, basic classroom supplies and extracurricular items are not included.
• The board received a middle school construction update from Dylan Markley of Weigand Construction. Markley said crews have completed 90 percent of window installation and completed reinforcing the existing gym wall and placing interior non-loading bearing CMU blocks. In the next month, they plan to continue placing interior/exterior brick, framing stud walls and bulkheads, installing windows and drywall, and painting within the south wing, among other items. They will also begin to prepare and pour sidewalks around the new building.
• The board also approved a contract with Weigand Construction for managing the general obligation bond projects approved in June. They were the only firm that responded to the proposal. The projects include renovations to OES and a new NHS baseball building for restrooms, concessions and storage. Depending on project bids, additional projects may include a new NHS football entrance and concessions building, an expansion of the NHS wrestling room and a new administrative building.
• Two retirements were received — bus drivers Dave Buzzard and Loynetta Park. Additionally, the board accepted resignations from OES second grade teacher Andrew Chandler, social worker Jeremy Mehay, and food service employee Emily Simerman.
• The board accepted the following employment recommendations: Rebecca Nunn as OES preschool teacher, Angela Dean as OES arts club coordinator, Gretchen Cleaveland as Lancaster Central Elementary School kindergarten teacher, Zach Teeple as LES fifth grade teacher, Stephanie DePauw as NMS band/pep band director and NHS assistant band director, Jason McBride as an alternative school teacher, Dylan Miller as NMS seventh grade math teacher, Martin Baller as NMS physical education teacher, Gunnar Koenig as NHS social studies teacher, and Cierra Thompson, Hollie Inostroza, Angela Edwards and Peyton Switzer as LES teaching assistants, and Gary Glenn, Kenneth Kaufman and Jill Kaufman as bus drivers.
• The board accepted the following high school coaching staff recommendations: Josh Gerber as football head coach with Adam Wagner, Skip Edwards, Aaron Taylor, Eric Morgan, Cale Grzych, and Adam Harder as assistant coaches, and Ryan Bolyn, Marty Ballard, Rick Burnau, and Bo Morgan as volunteer assistant coaches; Kayle Hunter as volleyball head coach with Sarah Bertsch and Makenna Garza as assistant coaches; Kiel Nunn as boys’ soccer head coach with Jon Lee as volunteer assistant coach; Dan Batdorff as girls’ soccer head coach with Rob Fuess and Amanda Mayer as assistant coaches and Kyra Zadylak as volunteer assistant coach; Cody Hannie as boys’ cross country coach and Vanessa Macias-Hannie as girls’ cross country head coach with Jami Bucher as assistant coach; Mike Niermeyer as girls’ golf head coach with Adam Lenwell as assistant coach; Noah Tobias as boys’ tennis head coach with Mark Tobias as assistant coach and Holly Kimball and Damon Kuhlenbeck as volunteering assistant coaches; Breanna Newell as cheer head coach; and Andrew Federspiel as assistant boys’ basketball coach. Paul Schorey was also hired as NMS 7th grade football coach.
holly@news-banner.com
