Woosley joins, Lonsdale resigns from school board

FONTANELLE — Adam Woosley joined the Nodaway Valley school board at their regular meeting last Thursday night in the middle school media center.

Woosley takes the seat of Maureen Lonsdale, whose resignation was accepted at the same meeting.

Woosley and his wife, Timber, have three children in the Nodaway Valley school system: Shelbee, a senior; Remington, an eighth-grader; and Treena, a fourth-grader. Woosley is employed by Adair County Secondary Roads as a mechanic.

“It seemed like there was a need. I have spare time and three children in the school,” Woosley said.

Because Lonsdale was the board president, vice-president Susan Stevens assumes the role of president until the next organizational meeting, which is in December. Tyson Sickles was appointed vice-president by the board for that period of time.

The board also moved regular meetings to 5:30 p.m. the second Wednesday of every month at alternating sites due to board members with children who have activities. The next meeting will be 5:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at the high school media center in Greenfield.

Official count in progress

While an official count of enrolled students will become better known after Oct. 1, Superintendent Paul Croghan told the board he has a rough idea right now of where the district is at.

“If you were to ask me today where you’re at, I’d say you’re up about four,” he said. “That means somebody could move out or move in between now and then. You’re pretty close to where you were last year.”

Sharing agreement

On a related note, Croghan said sharing is going well with Orient-Macksburg. O-M will be billed by NV at a cost based on last year’s cost per pupil at the end of the semester.

“[O-M administrators and I] met today and talked about meeting monthly, bi-monthly, or sometimes even sooner, but we’ve gotten school started, we’ve met, and we’ll continue to meet because we want this to continue to be a very smooth transition,” Croghan said.

Croghan said Orient-Macksburg is transporting students to and from Nodaway Valley every block, or about every 90 minutes.

“Their kids are willing to do it, their families are willing to do it,” Croghan said. “At the end of the day, they’re leaving here about 10 minutes early to get back so they can get on a rural route bus by 3:40. Our teachers, administrators and guidance are working through that, setting up things already for the second semester and next year already.”

In other school business, the board:

• Approved initiated hires for Elaine Hochstatter, bus driver; Lauren Huff, high school paraprofessional; Tim Bakerink, an amended contract and Bill Newbury as archery coach. Approved resignations from contracted technology employee Jane Woodside with regret and Lonsdale as board president and board member.

• Approved edits to two 500-series board policies.

• Approved an out of state trip for Norma McCutchan’s zoology class to the Henry Doorly Zoo.

• Decided to restart facilities discussions now that school is started back up. Several mechanical systems are needing updating for efficiency and end of life situation reasons. A facilities committee is already formed but traction lost ground on the discussions toward the end of last school year.