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HARTINGTON — The Hartington- Newcastle School Board agreed Monday to accept the resignation of a long-time teacher and approve the calendar for the 25-26 school year.
School will start Aug. 14 for the new school year, and will dismiss for the summer on May 19.
Christmas vacation will begin on Dec. 22. Students will return to classes after the Holiday break on Jan. 6.
Other dates of note include:
• Homecoming, Sept. 19.
• Fall Break, Oct 23-24.
• Spring Break, March 13.
• Easter Break, April 2-6.
• Graduation, May 16.
The Board also accepted the resignation of long-time special education teacher Angie Bennet.
Bennet has taught for 34 years, most of that time at Newcastle.
The Board also approved a new contract with Supt. A.J. Johnson and agreed to hire a new art teacher.
Hartington-Newcastle graduate Dylan Dendinger was hired to teach art at the school.
Dendinger, the son of HNS Board President Jason Dendinger, had previously worked as a substitute teacher at the school. He is currently doing his student teaching at Ponca and will graduate from Wayne State College in May.
The Board held an executive session last month to review the superintendent. After the review, they agreed to give him a 2.5 percent salary increase, bringing his annual salary from $134,000 to $137,000.
The Board also made its committee assignments for the year.
They are:
• Transportation: Aaron Fuelberth, Ian Lange, Brett Wiedenfeld.
• Policies/Ins: Candice Climer, Brett Wiedenfeld, Jason Heikes.
• Building/Grounds: Lange, Heikes, Fuelberth.
• Athletics/Activities: Heikes, Climer, Lange.
• Budget: Dendinger, Fuelberth, Heikes.
• Vo-Ag: Climer, Fuelberth, Wiedenfeld.
• Negotiations: Dendinger, Climer, Lange.
• Ad hoc Newcastle site: Dendinger, Heikes, Lange.
The Transportation Committee also recommended to purchase two more vans from Woodhouse at $69,000 each. Johnson said the school might be able to get a better deal by trading in their two current vans, which 'don't have a lot of miles on them,' he said.
The Board recently purchased a van from the company and Johnson said they have been very satisfied with it.
The new vans had to be ordered to stay in compliance with federal laws mandating that vans used to transport students must have a maximum capacity of 10 passengers.
The school had three vans - all three have to be replaced as the regulations also make it very difficult to retrofit current 12-passenger vans down to a 10-passenger van, Johnson said.
Johnson also gave the Board an update on the new gym, saying the lights and sound for the new stage were installed last week and the sound proofing of the ceiling is scheduled to be installed next Monday when students are out of school because of President's Day.
The next Hartington-Newcastle School Board meeting is set for Monday, March 10. The start time of the meeting was pushed back to 7 p.m. because of a schedule conflict with the GNAC Conference speech meet.
