Dr. Vicki Nighswonger will be the Alva High School Principal next school year. She was offered a one-year contract during the Alva Board of Education meeting Monday.

Superintendent Tim Argo has been serving as the high school principal this school year, filling the dual role with assistance from the other school administrators. He said the delay helped the school find the right candidate for the position.

Nighswonger most recently has been employed by the Duncan school district as an elementary principal. Argo said Nighswonger embodies the leadership qualities needed for the position and "to top it all off, she's a Goldbug!" Nighswonger graduated from Alva High School.

School board members also voted to reemploy the five other school principals: Stephanie Marteney at Alva Middle School, Jenny Webster at Lincoln Elementary, Alysson Tucker at Longfellow Elementary and Shane Feely at Washington Elementary.

Two non-certified paraprofessionals were hired for the remainder of this school year to fill open positions. Both Daniel Cox and Stefen Crissman will be working at Washington Elementary.

Supt. Argo told the board that Doris Marcum is retiring. She has been working as a cook at Longfellow Elementary.

Alva High School will be offering a driver's education class during the next school year. Argo said Dalton Beeler has qualified to teach driver's education so the school can offer the class. Beeler will also teach history. He will be giving up his work in special education so the school will be looking for a special education teacher.

Caitlyn Bridart has been added to the extra duty pay schedule as an assistant soccer coach.

Alva Schools will have a number of open positions for next year, Argo said. In response to strategic planning comments, the school will be hiring an additional counselor. They will be looking for additional maintenance help during the summer to handle chores like mowing and painting.

Another opening is for a head custodian. Argo said the school has had a head custodian in past years, but this year he has been the one ordering supplies and tracking work orders.

The elementary schools have experienced an increase in enrollment so Alva will be seeking additional elementary teachers. The school also will be looking for a half-time ELL (English language learner) teacher.

With his recent experience at the high school, Argo has decided an assistant high school principal is needed. He cited the large number of activities to attend and the need for observing teachers as part of the assistant's duties.

School Board President Jane McDermott expressed her appreciation for the way Argo has filled the high school principal role this year. She also praised the way Alva High School "rallied around" to take on hosting a basketball tournament and the regional speech contest this year.

Curriculum and Instruction

Reporting on the curriculum and instruction part of the Alva Schools strategic planning, Feely said the bulk of their work has been centered on common language for content area literacy engagement. This year four teachers in the Alva Middle School, two math and two English language arts, are participating in a program through the Center for Leadership and Education, a part of Mifflin. The four teachers have participated in eight meetings during the year with two more scheduled.

Feely said, "It's all about daily instruction. That's what is going to move the needle for us as a district."

He said school administrators have also been doing a book study on common area literacy in the classroom. The plan is to expand that study to include all the teachers in all the schools in the book study.

Next year, the program being used by the four teachers may be expanded to include all middle school teachers. Right now, Feely said they're looking at different proposals for next year.

McDermott pointed out that these strategies also affect parents, and it might be wise to include them in future training. Feely said that was a good idea.

Summer Building Projects

Four representatives of Kyler Construction attended the school board meeting to answer questions about upcoming facility improvements. The board accepted the Kyler bid to serve as construction manager.

Argo said the projects include adding air conditioning to the high school gym, expanding the north parking lot and making the "snake drive" wide enough for two-way traffic.

The first question was how long the projects will take. A lot depends on being able to get HVAC units delivered, the Kyler representatives said. There is a need to be flexible in choosing brands based on availability. They advised ordering the units as soon as the HVAC project is designed and a bid accepted.

They said the plan is to work over the summer and have everything finished by the time school begins in the fall.

Summer Driver's Education

The board members approved two sessions of driver's education over the summer with Kandee Almgren as the instructor. The sessions will be May 23-27 and June 20-24.

They also approved a fee of $200 to be charged for those enrolling in summer driver's education. Argo said they were unable to offer the summer sessions the last two years. The school had been charging $175, but they did a survey of amounts charged in the area and found $200 fell in the middle.

Two board policies were approved. Policy EGG had to be revised due to a state school board revision. Argo said the policy involves the appeal process. The policy makes the superintendent the person to field complaints with resolution expected in ten days as opposed to the previous 30 days.

The FE policy involves transfers from other schools and classroom capacity. Argo said this does not apply to students in the district. A list of each grade and available space is posted on the school's website. Argo went through the list. Some classes are already over the limit while others have one to four openings. Karen Koehn asked about the large number of openings in the junior class. Argo said that class numbers about 46 or 47 when the usual number is in the 80s.

The board also approved a list of summer athletic camps to be offered by the district as well as the Summer Pride Program.

Financial Reports

Supt. Argo gave a brief overview of written financial reports. Gross production revenue is up $636,000 over last year. The Alva district has $1.2 million more in revenue to date than the same time last year while spending $162,000 more than this time last year.

"The Alva Public School is in good shape financially," said Argo.

The number of students eating meals at the schools continues to increase. Argo said the middle school and high school have grab and go breakfasts available for students between the first and second hour classes. Students are still receiving free meals this year. Since the school gets a reimbursement on student meals, Argo said they have some extra funds they plan to use in freshening up the cafeteria.

The superintendent highlighted some of the expenditures from the general fund including $2,351 for track and field equipment, $2,110 for cameras for the indoor facility, and $21,825 for vape detectors which will be installed in all high school and middle school restrooms and locker rooms.

In child nutrition, an additional $120,000 has been added for Keystone Food Services. Due to the increased number of meals served, the food service will need to hire more employees.