Salem Community High School Superintendent Dr. Brad Detering says through an extraordinary effort by the contractors and maintenance staff the school is in excellent shape to welcome students back on Tuesday.
He told the school board the custodians and maintenance staff worked a lot of overtime and with smiles on their faces to get all the floors polished and rooms ready.
“Two and a half weeks ago that was a bit questionable, but the amount of hours and time and dedication that everyone put in in order to pull this together was an enjoyment to watch. The pride they put in for Salem Community High School.”
And Detering says he’s proud to name those responsible. They are Tom Thomason, Doug Telford, Todd Richie, Tracie Richie, Ken Frankrone, Tony Dial, Elliot Edwards, Samara Smith, Roger Henn, Charles Richie, and Wanda Nix.
Detering estimates about 90 percent of the more than ten million dollars in summer renovation work is now complete.
“We haven’t had any real delays. We did add some of the vocational stuff a little bit later so the arrival of that stuff was a little bit late. But it’s all on-site here and so in the next two weeks that should be completed as well. But everything is fundamentally complete, but down to a few projects that can be done on second shift and a few punch list items to complete the projects.”
Detering says they still need to add additional lighting to some of the north wing classrooms and complete the final work on the new windows.
Assistant Principal Clint Wolfe and Principal John Boles said the freshman orientation went well on Monday. Boles reported online registration also went smoothly. They are starting the school year with 733 students. Since last spring, 14 students have transferred out and 37 new students have moved in. There will be 183 freshmen, 191 sophomores, 198 juniors, and 161 seniors.
The board acted on a number of personnel issues following a closed session. Vanessa Randolph was hired as an art teacher, Kyla Motch as a guidance counselor, Jessie Knapp as crisis class supervisor/permanent substitute teacher, Ethan Maxey as an assistant football coach, and Mike Russell as bass fishing coach.
The board rejected all bids for the buses recently taken out of service as too low.
This hallway was torn apart for construction work just a few weeks ago, but is ready to go for school on Tuesday.
