High school tennis courts planned to replace part of gravel parking lot

Plans for the placement of six new tennis courts at Creston High School has changed due to apparent electric and water issues. The original plan was to place the courts in the empty grassy area between the softball and baseball diamonds.

“Due to electrical, water, things like that on the east side, it’s not suitable for that,” Creston Community School District Superintendent Deron Stender said during April’s school board meeting. “It’s going to be located over north of the [high school] ... basically where the rock parking lot is, so that’ll be disappearing in about another year.”

The gravel parking lot, located northwest of the high school, is used for student parking during the day and guest parking during activities.

Stender said the courts will likely run north/south and only cover about half of the gravel lot. There are no plans to expand parking elsewhere.

“With our decline in enrollment, we’re probably anticipating that there will be more space in the parking lots that we have that exist,” Stender said. “And that parking lot didn’t exist until about six years ago, so just kind of forcing people to go back into the original footprint that we have for parking that’s available.”

The project is estimated to cost about $1.1 million, a portion of that will be taken care of by a $150,000 United States Tennis Association grant. The district is also looking for other grants to help with funding.

Other future plans for the district include new auditorium lighting, high school safe entry and office renovations and updated district pathways and parking lots.

In other school board news...

The board approved a three-year rolling contract with Stender for the position of superintendent. The contract will continue into 2029.

Stender’s candidacy for president-elect of the American Association of School Administrators was approved as well. He explained a major goal in his candidacy is to represent rural schools.

“I think 80% of our members at the national level are rural school superintendents, and typically it’s the much larger school districts superintendents who typically end up in these positions,” Stender said. “It’s an opportunity to have a voice for all educators across the nation, but most importantly, those in rural schools.”

For the second year in a row, CCSD and Lenox Community School District will be sharing two positions: human resource officer and special education director. This operational sharing brings about $16,500 to the district from Lenox and money for six full-time equivalent students, equaling almost $50,000.

The district will again be offering free summer meals for all children ages 1 to 18. No registration is required. Children can come to the Creston High School commons Monday through Thursday from June 8 to July 9 for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast will be served 7 to 8:30 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meals must be eaten on site. Those with questions can contact Creston Food Director Teresa Clark at tclark@crestonschools.org or 641-782-2129 ext. 2107.

The board approved the following list of April 2026 contracts and resignations:

Contracts: Rachel Carpenter, paraprofessional; Destiny Edwards, paraprofessional; Kristie Hayes, first grade teacher (2026-2027 school year); Riley Kios, elementary/middle school art teacher (2026-2027 school year); Riely Kios, seventh grade softball coach; Caylee Pettit, paraprofessional; John Walsh, bus driver; Hallie White; paraprofessional.

Resignations: Sandra Buchanan, paraprofessional; Jessica Hotchkiss, paraprofessional; Alex Tamerius, 9/10 split football coach; Chad Needham, 9/10 split football coach; Kelsey Merritt, seventh grade girls track coach; Abbi Hood, assistant speech coach; Carmen Ponce, high school administrative assistant (end of 25-26 school year); Breanna Vandevender, cook.

Terminations: Michael Pettit, cook.