BROKEN BOW—Discussions regarding the addition of New Discoveries Preschool to the North Park Elementary building will be held on Tuesday, April 23. Public meetings will be held at both 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the North Park Library to discuss the financial and academic aspects of the possible addition.
In an interview with KCNI, Broken Bow Superintendent Darren Tobey said different resources would be available if preschool students were under the same roof as those at North Park.
“We feel it’s best if our kids are under one roof instead of spread out throughout three different schools here in town. So we’re going to talk a little bit about that and what things can we help our preschool with if they were under our roof at the elementary. The efficiency and the resources that we can bring to our preschool kids if they were at North Park versus over at Custer,” Tobey said.
During the February 9 work session, it was estimated that three preschool classrooms, additional sensory rooms, and office space could cost an estimated $1.992 million according to BD Construction.
“And you know, again, you start to look at things and money becomes an issue all the time in anything that you try to do. So is it beneficial to our district to have a building open, have three different sites that are open, or can we get that down to two and that’s more beneficial for our district? There’s pros and cons to all of it and we’d love the opinion of the public to come out on the 23rd at noon and 7 p.m. at North Park and discuss those with us. We feel like we have a really good plan put in place but again, we need to hear from the public on some of these different things before we talk about ‘this is really what we want to do,’” Tobey continued.
The Broken Bow School Board held a regular meeting on Monday, April 15 in which the contract for Superintendent Darren Tobey was approved for school years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. The contract was approved and the superintendent evaluation will be voted on during the next meeting.
Also on Monday, it was reported by Treasurer J.B. Atkins that the board is $250,000 ahead of last year’s budget meaning they have spent less than last year.
Darren Tobey announced that 16 students have qualified for national competitions within various organizations: nine HOSA students will head to Orlando, six FBLA students will head to San Antonio for nationals, and one Skills USA student will compete in Louisville later this year.
North Park Principal Kim Jonas said staff members are anticipating approximately 60 kids for kindergarten round up on April 24. She and Katrina Shaw discussed the success of the “Flood Nebraska with Love” fundraiser in which multiple grade levels worked to organize a campaign and fundraiser to send supplies and $258 to Wood River. Ms. Shaw said the “kids did awesome” with the fundraiser and portions of the campaign also coincided with their social studies curriculum.
Mrs. Jonas also showed the board some of the new motivational posters displayed at North Park. The posters aim to inspire elementary students by showcasing high schoolers from each activity.
Special Education Director Nikki Altig reported that she and other staff members recently returned from an autism conference. Rusty Kluender said drug dogs were recently brought into the school, students have been involved in the NSKAS testing, and graduation is scheduled for May 11.
Activities Director Jeff Ellis announced the Broken Bow Quiz Bowl team has been named Southwest Conference Champions after the Ainsworth competition on Monday. Broken Bow hosted the District Music contest on Wednesday and will host the Broken Bow golf invite on April 26.
A second reading was approved for school insurance and five resignations were approved. A new sound system in the activities building was approved in which the Booster Club will pay half and the school board will pay half with the money coming out of the activities account ($5,797.50); the total amount of the sound system is $11,595.
The next work session is scheduled for May 6 at 8 p.m. and the next regular Broken Bow school board meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on May 20.
