Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

School Board Prepares for 2022-23 School Year with Updated School, New Teachers & Principal

At the first school board meeting of the 2022-2023 school year, it was overwhelmingly obvious that students will be returning to a much-improved school fall.

“The custodial and maintenance teams deserve a ton of credit,” Superintendent Hannah Nieskens said. “At the beginning of the summer we weren’t sure if everything would get done before school started, but it is.”

Nieskens listed off a few of the many repairs and updates made over the summer, including:

• 91 windows replaced

• 27 rooms in the Elementary school refloored,

• new flooring in the music room

• Elementary school lighting converted from fluorescent to LED

• gym floors were refinished

• new rubber mulch on the playground replacing pea gravel

• new scoreboards with required shot clocks have arrived

• High school parking lot relined

• filtered water fountain installed in Middle school

Nieskens also detailed a land swap between the school district and the Town of Whitehall. During preliminary reviews of land for the new water treatment water tower, Public Works Director Kory Klapan approached Nieskens with a land swap proposal. The school owns the two acres of land by the water tower at the corner of town, while the Town actually owns the land the elementary playground and part of the Middle School sits on.

“I knew this awhile ago, but there wasn’t anything that could be done at that point,” Nieskens explained, noting that now that the Town has offered, the issue can finally be addressed and rectified. “It’s a good trade, we finally own our school,” Nieskens said with a laugh. Nieskens also noted that Yellowstone Trail was never officially abandoned through the school property, so as Cadastral still shows it going through the property to Whitehall Street. This issue will also need to be rectified in the upcoming months, she said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

• Due to the vacancy the counselor position has, Lynnsey Moen will move from fifth grade into a newly created position, Elementary Intervention Specialist. Mrs. Christensen will move to fifth grade and fourth grade will be collapsed to one teacher.

• New Middle/High School principal Jason Sloaf introduced himself and noted that his goal is to show students how to become someone Whitehall is proud of.

NEW HIRES:

• Rich Holstein (6-12 Shop), Brianna Willey (6-12 teacher), Lynnsey Moen (Elementary Intervention Specialist), Stephanie Forcella (PK-12 SPED), and Duane Benner (daytime custodian). Several paraprofessional positions and kitchen help positions are open. New teacher and school staff interviews are being conducted and an Intro to New Faces will be in upcoming Whitehall Ledger editions.

 

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