HNS Board to bring in experienced English, speech teacher

HARTINGTON — The Hartington-Newcastle School Board Monday approved the purchase of a new bus and agreed to offer a contract to a new teacher.

HNS Supt. A.J. Johnson said the school district is in need of a new minibus with a lift that can better handle snow and mud.

Hartington-Newcastle’s two current mini buses have issues with snow and mud.

The school district has agreed to purchase a new minibus for $128,132 from the Nebraska Central Equipment Company.

Johnson said since the state Legislature agreed in 2023 to pay for up to 80 percent of the expenses for special education, HNS will be reimbursed for the majority of this bus purchase.

Johnson said he expects the school district will sell at least one of the current minibuses it now has in its fleet.

The Board also agreed on a contract for Kyle Stevens, a 2002 Hartington High School graduate, who will become the new language arts teacher.

Stevens was a member of the first Hartington High speech team to ever claim a State title. During his four-year career here, the speech team won four conference championships, three District championships, a State runner-up trophy and the 2002 State championship.

Johnson said he expects Stevens to help both the speech and one-act programs at HNS.

Stevens has been teaching at Wausa Public Schools for nearly 12 years. He is currently the co-head speech coach at Wausa and has won several State speech championships with Wausa.

Johnson also told Board members Monday the school construction project is going well.

He said the new gym floor and the stage floor have been installed. The bleachers are expected to arrive and be installed in March, he said.

The Building Committee was planning to meet this week to talk about options for the playground, which had to be relocated farther south because of the construction project.

The Board also spent a considerable amount of time learning about a proposal to enhance the school district’s STEAM — or Science, Technology, Arts, Engineering and Math — programs.

Elementary School teacher Amber Davies and technology coordinator Cody Stappart have been researching ways to help the students become more literate in these areas.

Board members asked several questions, but did not indicate whether they would be willing to take the programs on for the next school year, or not. Board President Jason Dendinger said he feels there are too many unanswered questions at this point, and he would like to see more about the programs before agreeing to go ahead with them.

The Board also heard about a professional development program held at Ponca Monday. The day-long event featured teachers, administrators and paraprofessionals from Ponca, Emerson-Hubbard, Allen and Hartington-Newcastle.

The program allowed the teachers, administrators and teacher’s aides to all meet with people currently doing similar jobs and share ideas.

The HNS mental health team gave a presentation at the event. The Dixon County Sheriff’s Office also gave a presentation on drug trends.

Drugs should be a concern for everyone, Johnson said.

“There is a lot out there to be concerned about. The next step is trying to figure out what to do about it,” he said.

Johnson said he hopes the program becomes an annual or semi-annual event.

Also Monday, the Board agreed to a two-year contract extension for Johnson, who is in his ninth year as the HNS superintendent and will receive a 2.7 percent increase, bringing his annual salary to $134,000.

The next Hartington-Newcastle School Board meeting is slated for 5:30 p.m. March 18. The meeting is being moved back a week because HNS will host the District C2-3 speech meet March 11.