RISON - With enrollment expected to rise with the start of the 2023-24 school year, the Woodlawn School Board approved hiring six teachers and two paraprofessionals during its regular monthly meeting Monday night.
Superintendent Dr. Kevin Hancock informed the school board during its May meeting that the district would need to hire two additional elementary teachers due to an influx of elementary students for the upcom-ing school year. Those two new positions were included in Monday night's hires.
Those teachers hired for Woodlawn Elementary were Halie Michaels, Kellie Roberson and Grace Spakes while two math teachers, Teresa Jacks and Michael Anderson, were hired for Woodlawn High School. Meanwhile, Luke Lane was hired as the music teacher and will work with both the elementary and high school.
Jacks and Anderson have both served as high school math teachers at Woodlawn before.
In addition to the teacher hires, Amy Harbison was hired as a paraprofessional for the high school computer lab while Pamela McKamie was hired as a paraprofessional for the elementary.
During the May meeting, the Woodlawn School Board officially accepted 40 new students through the state's School Choice Act while approving four students to leave the district. Hancock said 26 of the School Choice transfers were elementary students with 11 of those entering kindergarten this August.
Based on current enrollment and the incoming students, Hancock said there could be issues with having enough teachers to meet the state student-to-teacher ratios for elementary classrooms.
He told the board during last month’s meeting that the upcoming first and third grades would be over capacity while the sixth grade is getting close to capacity. To put the school in compliance, Hancock said the district would need to hire two additional elementary teachers in addition to replacing one that left.
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