School district corrects 27 violations through renovation, other projects

Holyoke School District is wrapping up four years of hard work to fix 27 violations discovered during an Office for Civil Rights audit.

Superintendent Kyle Stumpf updated the board of education on the progress at a regular meeting Thursday, March 24.

He became aware of the violations after assuming the superintendent role. He said that some of them were easy to fix, such as replacing latches in bathroom stalls.

Other areas were more complex, and many were a part of last year’s Building Excellent Schools Today grant project, such as a new elevator in the main gym, moving the junior high locker rooms from the basement to the main floor and renovating the high school locker rooms.

At the last check-in by OCR, the district was down to three violations, which are currently being worked on, including adding more handicapped-accessible parking spaces in the parking lot.

“They thought we did an exceptional job,” said Stumpf.

District takes step forward with new dean of students positions

The board reviewed a list of potential job duties that could be assigned to two new deans of students at the elementary school and at the JR/SR high school next year.

While the board didn’t formally approve the two new positions, they gave Stumpf the go-ahead to start seeing what’s out there in terms of interested applicants.

“Getting the right person in these positions is key,” said board member Jessica Koch. “Time is money,” she added, noting that the pool of quality applicants could get smaller and smaller as time goes by this spring.

“I don’t want to settle,” board member Justin Clayton said. His only hesitation was the budget, which cannot be completed until the district gets final numbers from the state.

The district is also considering hiring an additional counselor for the JR/SR high school. This person could potentially assume the roles of the Homegrown Talent Initiative coordinator, which had previously been funded through a grant, among other duties.

Athletic director gives winter sports recap

Athletic director Corey Koberstein was on hand to give a brief update on winter sports.

For the junior high, boys basketball had 13 participants; girls basketball, 30 participants; and wrestling, four participants.

For high school, cheerleading had eight participants; wrestling, three to five participants; girls swimming, 13 participants including four from Haxtun; boys basketball, 25 participants; and girls basketball, 13 participants.

The high school numbers were down from fall sports participation.

Other business

In other business at the March 24 meeting, board members:

— Approved the resignation of second grade teacher Kaitlin Hansberry and special education interventionist Chasta Borland.

— Heard an update on professional development opportunities throughout the year, including summertime.

— Approved first reading of Colorado Association of School Boards policies presented March 1, including Notice of Virtual School Board Meetings and Nondiscrimination/Equal Opportunity.

— Held an executive session for the purpose of an informal superintendent evaluation.