Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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Orchard school board members took no official action, other than consent agenda items when they met in the high school business room Wednesday, Feb. 4. Orchard principal Cathy Cooper told board members negotiations with the teachers’ association had been completed, with the 2020-2021 base salary for Summerland teachers set at $35,000. Currently Unified teacher base is $34,700 and Ewing’s is $35,000. Cooper said it would basically be a raise for everybody. “The base went up or the salary schedule percentages increased,” she said. “One item that...
Charlie Henery was elected as chair of the Antelope County commissioners for 2020, when they met last week. Henery takes the gavel from Dean Smith, who took on the chairman duties when the former chair was removed from office. Regina Krebs, who was appointed to the board in October 2019, was elected vice chair. Henery and Krebs were each the only nominee for their positions, nominated by commissioners Eli Jacob and Carolyn Pedersen, respectively. Reorganization of the board was delayed until...
Discussion about and a possibile motion on Superintendent Dale Martin’s contract is listed on the agenda for Nebraska Unified District #1 Board of Education. The meeting will be Monday, Jan. 13, at Orchard Public School, beginning at 7 p.m. Other business items listed on the agenda include reorganization of the board, establishment of board committees, school safety reviews and staffing updates....
By Dale Martin | Superintendent I thought I would take some time to provide an update to what is currently happening with the Summerland District and the new school building project. There has been a lot of behind-the-scenes activity since the three communities all passed the bond measure. The State Reorganization Board officially approved the Summerland Public School consolidation plan on an 8-0 vote. This plan sets June 5 as the date for the dissolution of Clearwater District 02-0006, Ewing...
It's official. Thursday morning, the state committee for the reorganization of school districts approved dissolution of Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard Public School districts and the formation of the Summerland school district, effective June 6, during a 29-minute public hearing at the Nebraska Department of Education in Lincoln. The reorganization plan passed 4-0. Committee member Gerry Osborn was absent. Nebraska Unified School District #1 Superintendent Dale Martin told the committee...
Schools in Nebraska Unified District #1 will receive initial start-up funds when the district dissolves, June 5. Board of education members directed Superintendent Dale Martin, at its Nov. 18 meeting in Verdigre, to have legal council draft a resolution stating that physical assets at each site would be retained by that site, each distrit would receive their intial start-up funds and the balance of cash assets would be divded by current valuation. According to Martin, Clearwater Public Schools...
Candice Hoke of Orchard will join Nate Schwager to represent Orchard on the board of education for the new Summerland school district. The boards of education from Orchard, Clearwater and Ewing each voted for two members for the new board of education that will convene in June. Orchard board members selected Schwager, but three votes for the second member each resulted in a tie between Terri Hergert of Royal and Kristi Schutt of Orchard, and selection of the second member was delayed until Monday night’s board meeting at the Orchard school. S...
Timing of administrative contract renewal was a major discussion point during a joint board meeting, Nov. 20, in Ewing. Following discussion about certificated staffing, Orchard educator Kristin Johnston asked if the staffing timeline is applicable to administrative staff. “As far as when the principal and administration decide staffing who stays or goes, is that going to be the new administration deciding or the current administration,” she asked. The same approach will apply to adm...
Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard school boards covered a long list of agenda items, Nov. 20, during a three and one-half hour meeting, in Ewing. Discussion focused on the new Summerland school district, which will take effect June 6, 2020. While a chunk of the meeting was spent discussing staffing and administration timeline, other topics included the new district's reorganization petition, selection of Summerland school board members, policies, curriculum and sales of assets. Steve Williams,...
Phase one: complete. With last week's successful passage of the Summerland school bond, board of education members from Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard planned to meet Wednesday, Nov. 20, in Ewing, to start phase two of the consolidation and building processes. Ewing Principal Greg Appleby said, "We have a lengthy agenda to discuss a number of items, including policy." Dale Martin, superintendent of Nebraska Unified District #1, which includes Clearwater and Orchard, said a number of items need...
Orchard Advisory Board of Education members, Candace Hoke, Kristi Schutt, DeAnna Clifton and Nate Schwager, will be joined by Original Orchard Board of Education members Terra Williby and Terri Hergert, beginning with the December meeting, as they work to dissolve Nebraska Unified District 1 and begin transition efforts to the new Summerland school. Hergert and Williby sat in the audience at the Nov. 13 Advisory Board meeting held at Orchard High School. Both Schutt and Cathy Cooper, Orchard principal, said they had fielded questions from...
Phase one: complete. With Tuesday's successful passage of the Summerland school bond, board of education members from Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard plan to meet Wednesday, Nov. 20, in Ewing, to start phase two of the consolidation and building processes. Ewing Principal Greg Appleby said, "We have a lengthy agenda to discuss a number of items, including policy." Dale Martin, superintendent of Nebraska Unified District #1, which includes Clearwater and Orchard, said a number of items need to be...
With the passage of the Summerland school bond, Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard boards of education will meet in joint session, Wednesday, Nov. 20, in Ewing. Nebraska Unified Superintendent Dale Martin submitted the following agenda to the Advocate-Messenger for publication. A Special Joint Meeting of the Clearwater Original Board of Education, the Ewing Board of Education, and the Orchard Original Board of Education will be held on Wednesday, November 20, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. at Ewing Public School. A Special Joint Meeting of the Clearwater...
The condition of an Antelope County road that connects U.S. Highway 275 and U.S. Highway 20 - a road that will see an increase in traffic if Tuesday's Summerland school bond is approved - was a discussion point during recent informational community meetings. It's a topic that has also been discussed at the school board level and during subcommittee meetings throughout the process, according to Dale Martin, superintendent of Nebraska Unified District #1. "Roads haven't been ignored. The focus...
Orchard’s advisory board of education faced a short agenda when they met in the high school business room last Wednesday, Oct. 9. Principal Cathy Cooper updated board members Candace Hoke, Kristi Schutt, DeAnna Clifton and Nate Schwager on recent parent-teacher conferences. She reported a 93% elementary parent turnout, with 71% participation at the high school level. “That’s a really good percentage and it probably went up, because a couple of parents and teachers got together and talked at an alternate time,” she said. “We probably were clos...
Approximately 120 individuals attended an informal gathering at Summerland Golf Course, Oct. 6, to learn facts and figures associated with the Summerland school building project. Tobin Buchanan, a bond analyst with First National Capital Markets, said the Summerland project, when compared to others he has worked with, is unique. Most bond projects involve a rural community, often with a 100-year-old, three-tier building "that's outlived its usefulness." "(With that scenario) you're not...
Preliminary enrollment figures for area schools were released recently. Enrollment at Clearwater Public Schools, Ewing Public Schools and Orchard Public Schools show a decrease from 2018-19 numbers. Clearwater Public Schools All three schools in the Unified District report fewer students. Superintendent Dale Martin listed the number of students per grade at each respective site, in a report released Aug. 21. Clearwater Public Schools boasts the largest enrollment of the Unified schools, with...
A new PK-12 cornfield school came one step closer to reality Aug. 21, when Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard boards of education unanimously approved entering into a purchase agreement for approximately 40 acres of land near the intersection of 513 Avenue and 857 Road, contingent on passage of a bond issue in all three communities. According to Clearwater and Orchard Superintendent Dale Martin, the site "is about as centrally located as we could get," sitting six miles south of Orchard, seven miles...
