Two outgoing members of the USD 447 Board of Education were recognized for their years of service at Monday’s monthly school board meeting.

Tina Cunningham and Sharon Wadman were both presented appreciation plaques after each school board member completed eight years of service on the school board.
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Roosevelt Middle School’s library will soon carry the name of the longtime school librarian.

USD 445 Board of Education members on Monday agreed with a recommendation from RMS principal Alice Morris to name the library in honor of Betty Gregory, the RMS librarian who died April at the age of 60.
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A former Lincoln Memorial Elementary School principal will return to the Caney school system to assume a principal’s chair for the next two school years.

Tony Blackwell, who served as Lincoln principal from 2000 to 2003, was chosen Monday to be the school’s principal for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years. In recent years, Blackwell served as athletic director at Fredonia High School.

Blackwell replaces principal Sherman Jones, who announced his retirement following the end of the 2010-11 school year in May. In his retirement announcement to the board, Jones said he was planning to assume a teaching position in the Oklahoma Union school district while also drawing his Kansas retirement.
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After going through several rounds of voting, USD 436 Board of Education members on Monday could not agree whether to adopt the list of supplemental duties, which includes athletic coaches and club sponsors, for the 2011-12 school year.

The end result of the stalemate? The school board did agree to delay a decision on approving the supplemental duties until July, when the USD 436 Board of Education includes three new members.

According to the minutes of the meeting, the supplemental position list was on the board’s agenda for approval when board member Robert Hawthorne presented a motion, which was seconded by board member Darlene Sanders, to approve all supplemental position contracts for the exception of the high school cheerleading coach. That cheerleading coach position is held by Vicky Deal, who is the wife of board president David Deal.

That motion failed on a 3-2-1 vote with board members Debbie Morrison, Robert Hawthorne and Darlene Sanders voting in favor and board members Mark Artherton and Suellen Holzman voting against the measure. Board member Jack Kopfman was absent from the meeting.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

INDEPENDENCE — Montgomery County — which has taken more than its share of economic blows in recent years — received a much-needed infusion of confidence on Wednesday.

VT Hackney, a producer of truck bodies and trailers based in Independence, announced a $3 million plant expansion that will result in the creation of 75 jobs over the course of five years.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

INDEPENDENCE — A New York college director will be the new president of Independence Community College.

ICC trustees on Tuesday voted unanimously to name Dr. Daniel Barwick, director of institutional advancement at Alfred State College in New York, as college president effective Aug. 1.

Barwick replaces Dr. Daniel Bain, who will leave the ICC presidential post at the end of the June.
Barwick was one of 27 applicants for the ICC presidential post and was in a field of six semi-finalists when campus interviews were conducted in late May.
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