The USD 410 board met on Monday, Feb. 13 to conduct their monthly meeting where they heard updates for Hillsboro Elementary School Principal Nathan Hiebert and Hillsboro Middle High School Principal Tyler Weinbrenner.
Hiebert shared that his team has been focusing on community involvement, especially in light of the pandemic and how everything was cut off for a while. Hiebert praised the parents and other members of the community who have been willing to come in and contribute in various ways. He stated that there have been volunteers who have come to read to the students as well as others who share about various life experiences such as different ways to celebrate Christmas around the globe. The police and fire departments have also contributed time, effort and staff to many activities.
“A lot of people are really showing up to concerts and other events. That has been a great thing seeing the value of parent involvement and community support our kids have. It makes a huge difference in success,” said Hiebert.
Hiebert said that his staff has been working on the curriculum and ways to continue to improve. He said they know that they have staff that will transition in the next five-seven years.
“We don’t want to drop off so we are looking at what we are doing now and why are we doing so well. We are trying to gather data and information to be able to make those transitions strong,” said Hiebert.
Weinbrenner talked about a new class that the high school is offering including broadcasting and Audio/Visual class. The class has been very busy covering school sports as well as their own projects. Another new class is cooking in middle school. The class cooked up over 100 pounds of ground beef for the Trojan Classic Hospitality room.
He also told the board about a new program called Fast Bridge which gives data on reading and math so that the school can know what to work on.
“Typically you want to see 70% of a grade level at or above benchmark. This program helps us track all of that and gives us a nice picture of the big picture,” said Weinbrenner.
Another program that the school is using that goes along with Fast Bridge is Reading Plus which helps target specific goals and helps students raise their numbers.
“Our teachers have been really pleased with it and feel like it is a really good program that is geared toward dyslexia in particular but also provides a nice reading intervention for kids and allows them to be independent in doing it,” said Weinbrenner.
The board approved the following contract extensions:
• USD 410 Superintendent Clint Corby – extend two-year contract through 06/30/25
• Hillsboro Elementary School Principal Nathan Hiebert – extend two-year contract through 06/30/25
• Hillsboro Middle/High School Principal Tyler Weinbrenner – extend two-year contract through 06/30/25
• Hillsboro Middle/High School Assistant Principal and USD 410 Activities’ Director Robert Rempel – extend two-year contract through 06/30/25
• TEEN Director Lena Kleiner – extend two-year contract through 06/30/25
• USD 410 Technology Director Brad Just – extend one-year contract through 06/30/24
• USD 410 Business Manager Jerry Hinerman – extend one-year contract through 06/30/24
The board approved the hire of Jasmine Bates for the USD 410 Instrumental Music Teacher next year to fill the open spot left by Bruce Major retiring.
They also approved the hire of Kevin Colle to serve as HHS Social Studies teacher for next year. This spot has been held by retiring Darrel Knoll.
In other business, the board:
n approved the bid from Riverside Technologies, Inc. for eight Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) units for $15,138.82 and to approve the bid from TC Wireless for Hillsboro Elementary School fiber cabling installation for $3,248.
n appointed Clint Corby, Keith Goossen, Jerry Hinerman, Jared Jost and Rod Koons
(Board of Education member) to the CMAR Selection Recommendation Committee.
n approved the purchase of 52 Lenovo ThinkPad L15 laptop computers with three-year depot warranties from Two Trees Technologies LLC for $44,876.
n approved the following supplemental contracts: Hillsboro Middle/High School Assistant Track Coach – Malinda Just; Hillsboro High School Head Baseball Coach – Daniel Moss; Hillsboro High School Assistant Softball Coach – Rustyn Kerbs; Connie Beavers to serve as Hillsboro
Elementary School Long-Term Substitute Teacher for $203.64 per day.
