Harrison County BOE Takes Field Trip to Schools; New Teachers Announced
By Julie Perine on August 08, 2012
Last night’s special meeting of the Harrison County Board of Education included on-site visits to check progress of summertime projects at schools.
That four-hour road trip took board members to all corners of the county, including a couple of stops in Bridgeport.
Included was a visit with Vicki Huffman at Johnson Elementary to see the new addition.
“That is more of a safety project than anything else,” said Mike Queen, board member. “It improves access to the school, bringing the office up front to the primary entrance, making it easier to control visitors in and out of the building.”
Huffman and the school secretaries will now be housed in separate offices at the entrance. The previous office shared by them will be utilized as a computer lab, rather than the modular which was used last school year.
The project was funded with a state safety grant and will definitely improve the safety of the school, Huffman said.
“The way we were set up before, even when people were buzzed past the front doors, they had full rein to go anywhere in the building they wanted,” she said. “We watched on security cameras, but could easily be interrupted by the needs of children, phone calls, etc. The new secure entrance enables us to have more control over visitors to the building.”
The next phase of Johnson Elementary improvements will involve eliminating existing modulars, moving classrooms into the main building. Following that, an effort will be made to replace the roof, Queen said.
The board of education members also stopped at Bridgeport High School.
“We visited with Mark DeFazio about the bleacher project,” Queen said. “It’s about a $475,000 project and really a unique one for us as it is a combination of brand new bleachers and recycled bleachers.”
The former home bleachers will now be used on the visitors side, he said.
“The contractors did a pretty good job of making them all match and blend,” he said.
The visit to BHS also allowed board members to get a good visual of various seating in relation to the new scoreboard, including the chair-back seating. Members of the board were very pleased with what they saw, Queen said.
At the conclusion of the school visits, the board met in session to discuss additional matters, including some last-minute personnel issues.
Included was the physical education/health position previously held by Bruce Carey and filled last school year by a full-time substitute. John Scotchie had bid into the job, but has since bid back out – returning to Robert C. Byrd High School - leaving that position open, Queen said.
There will be a number of new faces at BHS, said Assistant Principal Mary Frances Smith.
Jennie Dorsey, French teacher, was replaced with Deanna Perine. Michelle Robey will take the physical education position previously held by Gladys Williams and Amber Haddox will replace Donna Haddox in the English department. Paul Byrd has replaced Michael Duke in the history department and Johnna Shahan is taking the special education position previously occupied by Janie Riley. Adam King is another new physical education teacher, Smith said. Lee Ann Barnes is another new addition to BHS faculty this school year.
“Also coming over from the middle school to teach French 3 and 4 is Sabine Riley, so she will be in the building during last block,” Smith said.
BHS and BMS are also sharing Tricia Price, who will head up both strings programs, previously taught by Phil Wyatt.
Other new BMS teachers, said Janet Hathaway, secretary, are Twila Miller, computer; Jennifer Rome, 6th grade English; Amanda Walker, 7th grade reading; Amy Straley, special education; Carrie Lambert, gifted and Meredith Rogers, music.
New faculty at Johnson Elementary includes Lorrie Why, 2nd grade and Pam Schwarm, music and choir.
Joining the faculty of Simpson Elementary are Jamie Haines, 5th grade, Erica Romano, 3rd grade and John Turpen, special education, said Principal Loria Reid.
School starts Aug. 21.
Leave a Comment
Log in or create an account to post a comment.