Marc Grout met with the Goessel board for the last time June 13 as junior/senior high school principal.
Grout has accepted a position with the Peabody-Burns school district. He will teach the project-based learning program that includes entrepreneurship, whereby students develop a business model. He also will work with the credit-recovery program.
His wife is the counselor at Peabody.
Grout has been principal at Goessel for four years. The board wished him well, and he expressed gratitude for his time at Goessel.
Superintendent John Fast commended Grout for his work, noting, ?It has been a joy to work with you…. I want to wish you the very best for the future.”
Grout responded, ?It?s been good working with all of you.?
In recent weeks, the board met in special meetings to interview potential candidates for the principal position. They voted at the June 13 meeting to approve Scott Bodin as the junior/senior high school principal.
The board acknowledged Mary Rosfeld?s 20 years on the school board. She is the current board president. June 13 was her last meeting.
?I?ve enjoyed this board,” she said. She is retiring from the board and has also retired from her position as extended learning para educator at Goessel.
Fast commended her for her work.
Turning its attention to another matter, the board listened to Warren Yoder, who came to the school on Wednesdays the last several months of the school year as a volunteer gardener with students at the elementary school.
Yoder suggested the school could develop a ?community supported agriculture? project.
?It?s an urban thing,? he said, adding that it could be developed into a business.
?Our children don?t know where our food comes from,? he said, emphasizing the need for such projects.
Having recently moved to the Goessel community, Yoder said, ?We?ve been really impressed with the gifts and talents in this community. There are resources in this community.?
Fast suggested that a farmers? market and perhaps Bethesda Home could become involved in an agriculture project. He also mentioned the 4-H club.
?We?re just dreaming at this point,? Fast said.
Board member Dan Miller said, ?The idea of sustainable agriculture…is exciting.?
Other business
In other business, the board:
? approved Zana Manche as the high school agriculture education teacher. Fast said she grew up at Hiawatha, and did her student teaching at Wash?ington.
He said her primary area is leadership development, although she is interested in a broad spectrum.
Grout, noting her experience with welding, said, ?There are a lot of skills…that can be developed in the shop area.?
? approved Chad Lindeman as golf coach. He will not coach track, and that position will not be filled. Lindeman also will be assistant high school boys basketball coach rather than returning as junior high boys? basketball head coach.
? approved Garrett Hiebert as the head junior high boys? basketball coach and the third high school football coach. Fast said Hiebert has a college degree and majored in business. He is filing for substitute-teaching status.
? approved Ryan Hoopes as assistant athletic director. Tyler Schroeder has been hired as the athletic director and head football coach. Schroeder will also teach high school computer and five sections of business.
? noted that Wes Schmidt-Tieszen is the head high school Scholar?s Bowl coach and the head junior high Quiz Bowl coach. Gina Bergin is the assistant high school Scholar?s Bowl coach. There is no assistant coach at the junior high level.
? approved Ben Schmidt as head maintenance/custodian at the junior/senior high school. Schmidt is a 2003 GHS graduate. He has worked at Tabor College and has done construction with Jeremy Voth. He will work 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., which will allow time for him to officiate ball games.
? approved Nathan Graber as a shared-information technology director for Moundridge and Goessel. Graber is a Moundridge High School graduate and has worked at Sterling College. He will begin July 1.
Fast said Graber will spend 50 percent of his time at Goessel and 50 percent at Moundridge. He will be at Goessel Mondays and Thursdays and at Mound?ridge Tuesdays and Fridays. He will alternate Wednesdays.
Fast said Moundridge has a complicated system. Fast noted that Graber can simplify the Moundridge system and make the two schools compatible.
? discussed sixth-grade participation in junior high sports. Board member Darla Meysing reminded the board that the issue of sixth graders playing junior high sports was to be reviewed every year.
Grout said, ?Overall, it has been positive.? The board agreed to wait until another meeting to discuss the matter further.
? heard from Fast that the Marion County Special Education Cooperative had received more money than had been expected. Therefore, MCSEC will refund 6 percent of each school?s assessment.
? heard from Miller that three positions remain unfilled at MCSEC. Fast said the openings in speech and psychology positions affect Goessel.
? heard from Fast that The Learning Consortium ?will likely face some upgrades. We are on borrowed time.?
Grout added, ?And we’re on borrowed equipment.” He said a new machine costs $25,000 to $30,000.
? jeard Fast say school insurance will increase from $4,500 to $5,500.
?This last year we had four expensive sports injuries, Fast said. ?It was an unusual year.?
Therefore, the Kansas Association of School Boards insurance carrier is requiring every student athlete to have insurance coverage. He alerted the board ?there could be families that don?t have insurance.?
Board member Lynnette Duerksen said those families could get Health Wave.
? noted that the orange carpet in the elementary school library will be replaced this summer.
? heard that the high school gym floor repair work is done at cost of $38,000. Insurance paid for half of that amount.
