WAYNE – Several highlighted agenda items kept the board on track during Monday evening’s regularly scheduled Wayne Community Schools Board of Education meeting.
From the Wayne Jr/Sr High School Library, Special Education/Early Learning Center Director, Misty Beair opened the meeting with an update on the English Learners program. Numbers continue to fluctuate as the EL program is serving 20 students in the high school; 10 in junior high, 54 in the elementary and four in the early learning center as students are also monitored for four years following a testing protocol.
Superintendent of Wayne Community Schools, Dr. Mark Lenihan said the school has a good plan for the program.
“The goal obviously is to help students,” said Dr. Lenihan. “If they’re newcomers and they don’t speak the English language, they do a lot of work right away with the teacher. But our goal is to get them out into classes. That really is probably where a lot of that learning goes on.”
Beair, who stated they don’t want the children to forget their first language as dual translators are needed, went over the EL Program structure and numbers broken down from participation by each building which saw a slight increase from the 2020-21 school year to the current school year. Elementary rose from 9% to 11%; junior high from 4% to 6% and the high school from 5% to 7%.
A second interview for the elementary assistant principal position was being scheduled for Tuesday, April 12 as the board can schedule a special meeting if they need to announce the hire before the May board meeting.
Jamie Behmer with Heartland Counselor was out with an illness and will present during the next board meeting in May.
The board then accepted the strategic plan which was the next step in the process as the administrative team will go over the plan and return with more information in June. The highest priority was District Resources with Student and Staff Well-Being a close second.
Dr. Lenihan added the group will need some more time to set some goals.
“With school still going here for another month it’s going to be tough to get together,” Dr. Lenihan added. “Usually, we have an Administrative retreat when school lets out. We’ll spend time with our Administrative team together and really kind of crunch out the details of what that might look like.”
A Letter of Agreement for Bond Study with Carlson West Povondra (CWP) Architects was then approved. The next step would be to put a community group together and tour the buildings before school lets out.
Director salaries were approved for the management team which will see a 2.8% group increase while the Classified Staff schedule was also approved with a 0.42 cent base increase. The schedule also focused on relevant experience and degree index as Dr. Lenihan was still working on insurance figures since they’re staying below the projections given to the board previously.
A total of 72 graduates were listed and accepted by the board as the seniors still need to complete their course work. Graduation is scheduled for Saturday, May 14 at 2 p.m. from the Wayne Jr/Sr High School gymnasium.
The final full day for the Wayne High senior class will be May 5. The Early Learning Center (ELC) graduation is set for April 28 at 6:30 p.m. from the Han Lecture Hall. The final day for K-11 will be May 12 with the last day for teachers being May 16.
Board members then approved the bid from OCC Builders, LLC for the elementary locker room/HVAC upgrade. Depending on supplies, Otte Construction will begin this fall as the school had previously budgeted $300,000 through their ESSER III Funds. The total cost is $219,400.
Heartland Seating will also be installing bleachers in the elementary gym during the 2022 Christmas break this December. Funds are currently being put together through the Wayne Elementary Boosters (WEB), Athletic Boosters and the Foundation to pay for half of the $60,847 total cost with the school covering the remaining costs. The new bleachers will be ADA accessible and seat 394.
The next regularly scheduled Wayne Community Schools Board of Education meeting will be on Monday, May 9.
Complete ‘View’ with Dr. Mark Lenihan, Superintendent of Wayne Community Schools:
