LEXINGTON — Keith Stoner, board president for Lexington City Schools, says the district's administrators are as cohesive as he can recall in his more than two decades on the board.
School board members rewarded seven of those administrators at their monthly meeting Wednesday.
Board members approved three-year contracts for Stacy Davis, dean of students; Taylor Gerhardt, junior high school principal; Michael Grist, Eastern Elementary School principal; Andrew Saris, dean of students; John Watkins, junior high school dean of students and athletic director; Johneen Gordon, transportation director; and Ray Cunningham, head mechanic.
"I have been blessed to work with great administrative colleagues over the last four years. They are caring and strive to support our students and staff," Superintendent Jeremy Secrist said. "Our administrative team has grown, improved, challenged each other and me, shared leadership of the buildings and district and contributed to the continued success of our students and staff.
The board also approved a resolution establishing educational requirements for substitute teachers for the 2024-25 school year and each year thereafter.
Lexington and a number of other school districts now employ substitutes who don't have a college degree. It became a necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The state finally put this into the law permanently, and we are very pleased with that decision," Secrist said. "We have been fortunate to increase our substitute pool and have found very good subs through this process."
In other personnel business, the board approved 44 staff members to work the STEAM camp from July 29-Aug. 9.
"To require that many people is an amazing sign that so many kids want to participate," Stoner said.
Board members receive reports from pair of administrators
Board members also heard yearly reports from Scott Curtis, principal for Central and Western elementary schools, and Julie Borchers, special education director.
Curtis praised the board's decision to have grade alignments for the past school year.
The Lexington Local Schools Board of Education voted in February 2023 on the following grade realignments:
- House K-1 at Western Elementary School.
- House grades 2-3 at Central Elementary School.
- House grades 4-6 at Eastern Elementary School.
Previously, Western was home to K-3, and Central had grades K-4. Students in grades 4-6 attended Eastern.
Secrist agreed.
"The year is over. It's time to celebrate the decision we were willing to make," the superintendent said. "It's the best thing we could have done, and it's bearing fruit."
He also praised Curtis for picking up extra duties when he added Western Elementary School while also running Central.
"You carried a big load this year, and we appreciate you," Secrist said.
Borchers thanked the board for hiring Rick Stephens as assistant special education director and Meredith Cotterill as preschool director.
In all, 432 students were involved in special education. Borchers said there were no state compliance errors this year for data from the previous school year.
"We've had some challenges, of course, but we also had some positives," she said.
Secrist told the board he can't imagine how many hours Borchers devotes to her job.
"I really cannot say enough about what she has done in her time here. She is a phenomenal professional," he said.
mcaudill@gannett.com
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