The Board of Education of Callaway Public Schools has approved the hiring of another new teacher for next fall, bringing the district to a fully staffed status for the 2022-23 school year. That is something that Superintendent Bryan Hanson is extremely happy about.

Brittany Jesseph will serve the district as Elementary Principal/Teaching and Learning Coordinator beginning next fall. Jesseph currently teaches first grade at Gothenburg Public Schools. While the title is new to the district, Hanson explained that this is not an additional staff member. Rather, it is part of a restructuring of administrators and duties.

"Katie Cooksley had been our Interventions Program Manager, and that position has kind of morphed into a data coordinator, interventionist, learning coordinator position over the last couple of years," Hanson explained. "With the resignation of Katie we were trying to figure out how we could best maximize that position, as our teachers saw great value in it. It's not a new position, per se, but it's going to look a little bit different than it did last year. It will have many of the same duties:·

Hanson said Jesseph's position simply replaces Cooksly and will not result in an additional salary expenditure. Approval was also given for the hiring of Sarah Reish to fill the final teaching vacancy in the elementary.

"It's the middle of March and we are fully-staffed," said Hanson. "There are a lot of school districts still looking for a lot of positions, so we are very excited about that:' Hanson updated the board on the boiler system project, and said they are still working on trying to get the cost of the plumbing portion of the project low enough to be able to move forward. "We are actively working with the construction manager to get alternate bids, but it's tough right now;· he said. The agenda item to approve a bid to replace the boiler system was tabled.

The 2022-23 calendar was presented by Principal Heath Birkel, which led to a lengthy discussion surrounding Homecoming next fall. Birkel said that with the way the schedule is set up, preliminary plans are to have Homecoming in Arnold again next year. While it is Callaway's turn to host the dance and festivities, Birkel said both options for home football games in Callaway are early games.

School board president Liana Hrupek questioned if Homecoming has ever been held on Saturday rather than Friday, and said she felt like that would be a more viable option. After a great deal of discussion on the matter, Hanson suggested that the Homecoming date and location could be figured out later - once the academic calendar is set. The calendar was approved as presented. When setting the academic calendar the primary factor being considered is the number of hours required by the state for students to be in the classroom. That requirement is 1,032 hours for elementary students, and 1,080 for secondary.

"We always try to start after SORC as both communities are actively involved with that. And we try to be out before State Track," said Birkel.

Another topic brought up at the board meeting involves the difficulty most schools are experiencing in trying to find officials for athletic contests. "NSAA officials are hard to come by - State is always looking if anyone is interested," said Birkel. He said that has forced schools like Callaway to schedule some games much earlier in the day. "We have officials who want to ref a 3:00 football game which will give them time to get to a 7:00 or 8:00 game the same night."

Once again, Callaway has gotten pretty lucky - though it does mean some scheduling times that may not be preferable. "We were pretty happy to get all of our games covered, and we are covered for the next two years," said Hanson.

Finally, Hanson presented an update on BRAN (Bike Riders Across Nebraska) coming to Callaway this summer, and the school's participation in the visit. "The school has always played a pretty big role, and we are going to do that again," he said. "Bikers will camp on the practice field, and the building will be available throughout the night for restrooms and showers. There will also be some sleeping in the school in the hallways ­ the gates will be put down, but that will allow electricity for items such as C-Pap machines. It's a good thing for our community and we are 100% on board."

The next meeting of the Callaway school board will be April11 at 8 p.m.