Paraprofessionals also hired
By Holly Neumann
New teachers were welcomed to the Manawa School District when the school board met on Aug. 19.
Casey Johnson and Hayley Harvey are the new teachers.
Johnson is teaching first grade.
He has a bachelor’s degree in middle childhood through early adolescents and physical education.
Harvey is teaching kindergarten.
She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a minor in English.
Also hired were Julie Peterson and Marie Zirbel.
Peterson is a clerical/health paraprofessional, and Zirbel is a special education paraprofessional.
A member of the district’s teaching staff has received orders from the Wisconsin National Air Guard.
Erik Duhn is leaving the area by Sept. 9, and is expected to be gone for 14 to 18 months.
He is heading to Biloxi, Mississippi for training and then to Fort Hancock, Texas before finally going to his permanent station in Sparta.
Bill Lund, a retired teacher from Iola, is filling Duhn’s position through first semester.
Referendum projects
District Administrator Melanie Oppor provided an update on the referendum projects.
She said people have asked about the combination 26-space parking and green space area developing where the elementary school once stood and when some of the unusable material will leave the area.
“Faulks Brothers will be starting the excavation for the new additions at the high school for the office addition, secured entrance and also the fitness center. They will be taking that soil over to the vacant site,” she said. “While on site, they will multi-purpose and they will use those vehicles to truck unusable material to a place that they can safely deposit it. In the next couple weeks, you will see unusable material disappear and more soil being brought over.”
The soil will be used to level the grade on that site.
“In the next couple of weeks, you will see things happening over on that site,” Oppor said. “They will get the parking lot in there next spring into summer and then they will do the grass and finish work all around.”
Completed projects include the elementary parking lot, high school roof and masonry around the high school.