Two new teachers hired
Two new teachers have been hired by the Durham-Hillsboro-Lehigh school district.
The new district faculty members are Nathan Hiebert and Monica Leihy. Hiebert will teach business education at Hillsboro High School and serve as an assistant coach of the basketball team. Hiebert graduated from Bethany College in 2003 and did his student teaching at Smoky Valley High School. He'll teach accounting, business, and economics classes, replacing former business teacher Corey Burton who has been named principal at Hillsboro Middle School.
Leihy will be the new HHS family and consumer sciences teacher, replacing Karen Call, who resigned to move with her husband, Pat Call, to Hill City. Leihy lives in Tampa and taught for the Centre school district from 1994 to 2000. She'll also be the FCCLA sponsor at HHS.
Both new staff members were given the OK by the USD 410 school board Monday night at its regular monthly meeting.
Also in staff changes, HHS baseball coach Phil Oelke has resigned his coaching position. He'll continue to teach at the middle school.
The board of education also approved salary increases for the district's classified staff and administrators.
All classified staff — which includes secretaries, custodians, bus drivers, and food service workers — will receive an overall salary increase of 2.01 percent. That includes $15 more per month toward insurance benefits and a 1.75 pay increase.
But the district will actually save $7,400 next year because it eliminated a technology support position and won't pay $6,000 toward the former curriculum coordinator position, which was held by Joyce Medley. Also, custodians won't work over spring break, reducing their contracts by five days.
Administrators were given a 2.259 percent overall increase in salary.
That figure combines an increase in pay and an increase in insurance benefits. But overall, administrators' costs will be lower next year because new HMS principal Burton's salary is $7,000 less than former elementary principal Pat Call's salary.
For 2003-04, total salary — including the amount of insurance coverage each person takes — will be $58,340 for Burton, $66,950 for new elementary principal Evan Yoder, $51,877 for athletic director Max Heinrichs, $69,595 for HHS principal Dale Honeck, and $87,399 for superintendent Gordon Mohn.
In other school board business:
This meeting was the last one for board members Reg Matz, Brenda Enns, and Cal Jost (he did not attend the meeting). They're being replaced by new board members Mark Rooker, Rod Koons, and Dale Klassen.
Honeck said that students' report cards were being mailed late this year because the students who attend Newton's vocational technical school ended classes two weeks after USD 410 did. Students should have their report cards by now, he said.
At next month's meeting, the board could approve a new policy allowing students to "test out" of classes.
The final "performance-based credits" policy was presented to the board Monday night. It says that students must give at least 90 days notice before the semester starts if he or she wants to test out of a class. A committee comprised of the class's teacher, a principal, and a school counselor will review the request. If the student gets the go-ahead, the class's teacher will determine how much work and how much knowledge is needed to show mastery of the class. And completing a class will earn the student a "pass" or "fail," not a letter grade, so it doesn't impact the student's GPA.
Superintendent Mohn said that because of the work involved, not many students will opt for the alternative.
"It'll be rare that we use it," he said.
Principal Honeck agreed, saying that other schools with similar policies rarely use the policy.
"It's pretty ambitious," he said. "It would generaly take a summer to do it."
