Powell: Year off to good start

Editor’s Note: A portion of this report was omitted in error from the Sept. 5 issue of the Carroll County News. The complete report is published here.

The new school year has started off on a positive note for the Berryville School District.

“We’ve had a fantastic start to the school year,” said Owen Powell, in his eighth year as superintendent and 24th year with the district.

Powell reported the positive start to the year at the Berryville School Board’s regular monthly meeting held Monday, Aug. 28.

“We’ve just had a really good start,” he said. “It’s good to have our kids back, good to have our teachers back and just getting back into that routine. The beginning of the school year is always an exciting time.

“Having that first football game, first home volleyball game, seeing the marching band out on the practice field, it’s just fun to see. It’s good to see the kids back in class. A new school year is a fresh start and exciting time for everyone.”

Powell reported to the board a district enrollment of 1,827, but said that number will fluctuate for a couple of more weeks.

“Our enrollment is pretty close to where we were at this time last year,” he said. “It’s really difficult, especially these first few weeks, because it takes about a month for attendance to kind of settle down.

“At the beginning of the year you’ve got so many students that are coming in or going out and it’s kind of a revolving door for a little bit. It’s really hard to get a real accurate number. After Labor Day it kind of settles down a little bit.”

Many summer projects on the various campuses were finished just in time to welcome the students back, the superintendent said.

“We got everything done just right at the nick of time,” Powell said. “Especially at the middle school, I mean, they finished just a day or two before we started school.

“We’re still working on the demolition of the old elementary building. We’re about finished but probably have a few days, a week tops, and then we’ll be wrapping that up.”

While one building project is near completion, another will soon be gearing up.

The new ABC Preschool Building broke ground last week, signaling the beginning of construction for the 7,500-square-foot facility that will feature six classrooms for 4- and 5-year-olds. The building will be located just north of Bobcat Arena behind the elementary school.

“We’ve been planning and working on it for about three years and we’re finally going to be able to break ground,” Powell said. “It’s exciting to see some progress on that.”

The district is also looking forward to the start of Bobcat Academy, which began Tuesday, Sept. 5.

A free after-school program, Bobcat Academy will be held Monday through Thursday each week and offer students tutoring and opportunities such as art, music, STEM activities and robotics.

“We’re real excited to get that program going,” Powell said. “We’ve had to cap it at 100 kids and right now we have a waiting list.”

BOARD APPROVALS

In board action, unanimous approvals were for spending $11,400 for renewal of a student accident insurance policy, $12,565 for the annual renewal of the Teachtown web-based subscription and $18,762.50 for the i-Ready Assessment Program, Powell said.

“That is for progress monitoring for our students throughout the year,” he said.

The board also approved adding an additional special education paraprofessional position and increasing some of its supplemental pay.

“We were having a hard time finding interpreters and translators,” Powell said. “We were paying $12 and upped that to $15 hoping that will help draw some interest.

“We also were having a hard time finding line judges for volleyball games so the board approved paying $25 per game for line judges. Hopefully that will help draw some interest as well.”

A request was also approved to start a chess club at the middle school, the superintendent said.

In personnel action, the board approved the resignations of Cathy Sisco and Adrian Voigt as special education paraprofessionals and Sara Beth Bailey as an elementary teacher.

Hires approved included Holly Dubuque as an elementary teacher; Cecilia Doss as girls cross country head coach and assistant track; Jessica Hudec, Amanda Atchley and Tierany Matlock as special educational paraprofessionals; Kellie Matt as high school DL Lab paraprofessional; John Casey Stewart as bus driver; Henry Adams and Tom Rowe as substitute bus drivers; Brenda Tovar as substitute custodian and cafeteria; Beverly Teigland as substitute cafeteria; and Daniel Alvarez as purchased service employee for C4.