Haxtun BOE continues to fill open positions

The new school year is just around the corner and administration and board members in Haxtun are prepping for the return of student in just a few short weeks. Students begin assessments on Aug. 10 and 11 and return to the classroom on Tuesday, Aug. 16.

The Haxtun Board of Education met for an early morning July meeting on Tuesday, the 19th. Board members took action to hire new staff, accepted several resignations and opted to dispose of a bus during the short meeting that lasted less than 30 minutes.

Board members accepted resignations from three staff members for various areas including one from second grade teacher Tamra Ashburn. Ashburn taught second grade in Haxtun for one year before accepting a position in Fleming for the upcoming school year. According to Superintendent Marsha Cody, Dana Davis will take over a third grade classroom in Haxtun in Ashburn’s place this year. The District is currently seeking a first grade teacher for the 2022-23 school year.

The local BOE also accepted resignations from Paige Thompson as the assistant high school track coach and another from McCall Etl as the assistant junior high volleyball coach.

In hiring new staff, Haxtun board members approved Don Myers as the high school science teacher. Myers replaces Meghan Lowe, who resigned from her position after seven years. Lowe submitted her resignation last month after accepting a position at Lone Star for this school year.

Myers, and his wife, Debbie, are in the process of relocating to Haxtun after Debbie accepted a position as the Business Manager several months ago. She replaces Lynda Firme who is in transition into retirement. While at the July meeting, board members voted to appoint Debbie Myers as the assistant treasurer and assistant secretary to the Board in addition to her new Business Manager role. Debbie Myers started her new position with the District on July 1.

In other business the local BOE:

• Hired Allison Johnson as a special education paraprofessional;

• Agreed to partner with Student Centered Reporting Solution as the District strategic planning website. According to Cody, Student Centered Reporting Solution is a non-profit that created websites for strategic plans for the SCAP project. “NE BOCES wrote a grant, so we are able to utilize them again in 2022-23,”Cody said. “I greatly appreciate all the opportunities NE BOCES provides for our District through the grants they receive.”

• Approved the disposal of bus 6. Cody said the bus does not start without ether. Silent bids will be accepted until July 29;

• Approved an additional $7,000 in costs for locks, doors and lock work from Colorado Doorways. The Board approved re-keying the entire District several months ago. Cody said Colorado Doorways has performed a site walk through and now administration is in the process of meeting with the company to discuss the access needed for each employee. Soon, they will create an algorithm and make the cores for each door. “I am hopeful the project will be completed in the next couple of months,” she said.