After serving the Callaway school district for the past five years, Superintendent Bryon Hanson bid farewell to the school board in his final meeting on Tuesday, June 11. He offered his final thoughts at the conclusion of the monthly board meeting.

“I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the Callaway Public School board for giving me this opportunity five years ago. It has been an exceptional experience,” said Hanson. “Mostly I would like to thank our students for allowing me to be a part of their educational journey. I am proud of the accomplishments that we have made for our school and our community.”

The meeting began with the acknowledgment of special guest Tanya Storer who is running for state Legislature for District 43. Storer has been campaigning throughout the district for the past few months and said she has tried to make a point of stopping into community meetings “because that puts me more in touch with the communities”. Storer said one of her top priorities if elected would be to address the state’s formula for determining financial aid to public schools, particularly rural districts.

Getting into the business at hand, the board revisited the discussion of a new online payment system that could be utilized for parents to pay lunch bills and other fees through the school website. Administrative assistant Tiana Bonde explained the program to the board. The program is currently set up to receive online payments, and Bonde said the “glitch” in the system has been resolved.

Hanson then went through a list of policy changes resulting from newly enacted legislation. One of those is that school districts are no longer to use debt collection agencies to recoup payment for overdue lunch accounts. The board had a brief discussion on possible avenues that could be taken for collection. That was just one of a broad range of policies that Hanson went through which were impacted by the most recent legislative session.

There was also discussion among the board regarding a dress code for prom, and just how formal the requirement should be. A South Loup student’s date did show up in jeans and a t-shirt this year which prompted the conversation. The board discussed at length the wearing of headwear as well, which is currently not allowed at extracurricular events.

“If a kid wants to wear a ball cap to a game on Friday night, I don’t think that is a fight our administrators have time to be fighting. We are also a co-oped school and the Arnold kids do not have that same policy. I had never heard of this at extracurricular events,” said Hanson. “This was in place when I got here.”

In action items, the board reviewed a bid from Markham Construction for concrete work on the west side of the building from stop sign to stop sign, including the curb. Hanson said he was pleasantly surprised that the bid came in lower than he expected. After discussing the project, the board approved the bid from Markham Construction for $20,327.50.

Hanson presented an interlocal agreement with ESU 5 for a secondary Spanish teacher for the board’s review. He told the board that another school district is willing to partner with Callaway for the service. The cost for the two classes will be $18,700. That cost is significantly lower than hiring a Spanish teacher, which Hanson said are very hard to find.

New superintendent JD Furrow has been working closely with Hanson for the past few weeks on the transition. He will officially take over the reins of the district on July 1.

The next meeting of the Callaway school board will be July 8 at 8 p.m. All meetings are open to the public.