Northside Elementary Library addition showing progress

Janelle Jessen/Herald-Leader The Siloam Springs School Board honored Dan Siemens, principal of Southside Elementary School, and his wife Marilyn Siemens, teacher at Allen Elementary School, at Thursday’s meeting. Dan is retiring after 41 years in education, 38 years as a principal, and 18 years in Siloam Springs Schools. Marilyn is retiring after 36 years in education and 18 years in Siloam Springs. Pictured are Marilyn Siemens, Dan Siemens, Superintendent Ken Ramey, and School Board President Brian Lamb.

Janelle Jessen/Herald-Leader The Siloam Springs School Board honored Dan Siemens, principal of Southside Elementary School, and his wife Marilyn Siemens, teacher at Allen Elementary School, at Thursday’s meeting. Dan is retiring after 41 years in education, 38 years as a principal, and 18 years in Siloam Springs Schools. Marilyn is retiring after 36 years in education and 18 years in Siloam Springs. Pictured are Marilyn Siemens, Dan Siemens, Superintendent Ken Ramey, and School Board President Brian Lamb.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Work on the new Northside Elementary School Library addition is moving forward.

Brick work is complete throughout the new Northside Elementary School Library addition and the roof has been installed, officials from Crossland Construction reported at Thursday's school board meeting. Windows should be installed in the next few weeks.

School board members gave final approval for the nearly $900,000 project in February. The new 3,500-square-foot facility will connect the north and south wings of the school, closing off a courtyard area.

Michael Spaeth, of BiLD Architects in Fayetteville, said contractors were able to match the building's original brick almost perfectly, even though the matching brick they used for the preschool addition last year is no longer being made.

"We're very fortunate to find a brick to match," he said.

Documents for the school district's proposed 3,000-square-foot frozen food storage facility are out to state and local agencies for review, Spaeth reported.

The new facility will be located at 902 S. College St., behind Southside Elementary School. The current freezer was inherited from the Springdale School District more than 25 years ago. The proposed facility would allow employees to drive a forklift inside to unload commodities.

Assistant Superintendent Jody Wiggins said September is the target date for completing the freezer facility. Spaeth said school employees toured freezer facilities in Rogers, Fayetteville and Sam's Club to get ideas for the new facility.

In other business, the school board approved hiring Lori Tugwell as the district's director of nursing. She will replace Kathy Henson, who announced her plans to retire earlier this year.

Over the past year, Tugwell has served as a substitute nurse in each of the district's buildings. She has previously served as co-director of two different non-profit organizations in Haiti -- Child Hope International and Outside the Bowl. She also worked as a registered nurse and nursing director from 1995 through 2013 at a variety of organizations such as emergency rooms, youth camps, physical therapy offices and non-profit organizations.

The school board took the following additional actions:

• Approved compensating Sheryl Bowman for teaching through her preparatory period.

• Approved bids for physical therapy and occupational therapy from Vanessa McNair, PT; Sarratt Therapy Services Inc./Kyle Sarratt, OT; and Arthur Hulbert, Alliance Ventures, LLC.

• Approved special education assurances and agreements for the 2018-2019 school year.

• Accepted the resignation of Erin Portman, PE/health and ninth-grade basketball coach.

• Approved hiring 17 new teachers for the upcoming school year.

• Approved renewing the contracts of classified staff members for the upcoming school year.

• Approved the creation of three new classified positions of the upcoming school year.

• Approved the transfer of Amy Hufford from assistant principal at Allen Elementary School to assistant principal at Southside Elementary School.

General News on 05/16/2018