Washington’s School Board accepted the retirement of a long-time staff member, approved limits for students transferring into the system, and added two additional school resource officers to the staff.
The Board expressed their appreciation to Bev Lemon, who has held several positions for the Washington Schools, the most recent on the library side at Veale Elementary. Lemon notified the board that she was retiring. The board also accepted the resignations of high school government and economics teacher Cate Smith and school bus driver Kelly Strain.
The board approved hiring Emily Chapman as the school nurse at Washington Intermediate and Katlyn Stoll and Christina Cox at Washington Primary. The Board also approved the staff for this year’s Kinder Kamp, which will run July 22 through July 26. The Board also approved a lengthy list of coaching positions for the 2024–2025 school year. The Hatchets boys basketball staff will see a slight reshuffle. Joe Furman will replace Rocky Alderman as the JV coach, with Austin Fox joining the high school staff as a freshman coach.
In regular business, the Board established a limit on the number of students who can transfer into the Washington Schools from other systems. The Washington Schools have quietly accepted transfers of students wanting to take part in Washington’s unique class offerings for several years. This year, a limit of no more than 10 students per grade at the elementary level and no more than 20 per grade at the secondary level will be accepted. Applications to transfer to the Washington Schools must be submitted to the Central Office by August 11.
The school board also approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Washington to add two new school resource officers to the Washington schools. Washington Police Officer Colin Cornelius will remain the resource officer at the high school/junior high complex. The school will add two WPD auxiliary officers, one serving at the primary and secondary buildings and the other serving at the intermediate and upper elementary buildings.
And in other business, the board approved contracts with Sodexo for the 2024–2025 school year. They also announced a public work session will be held following the August 15th board meeting. The work session will concentrate on the school system’s future facility needs. The board encourages the public to attend and take part in the discussion. The work session and August Board meeting will be held at the Intermediate School.
