Lima City School board members Cindy Brownlow, Sally Windle, and Deanna Reynolds-Griffin look at the plans for the career tech facility to be built on the site of the old Emerson Elementary.
Dean Brown | The Lima News
LIMA — The Lima City Schools Board of Education met in both its organizational meeting and then its regular January meeting on Monday evening.
The board agreed to advertise for bids on a new career tech facility. Lima City Schools has added career tech programs in audio engineering and agriculture. There needs to be room for these programs to expand to afford students greater experiences. The concept has been in the plans for about a year now. The district will take advantage of ESSER funds which means the facilities will not need money from the general fund. There will be two buildings and a greenhouse built on the old Emerson Elementary property.
Superintendent Jill Ackerman said, “We are spending that money, we’re spending it on kids. We’re spending it on everything that we can to improve the community by improving the Lima City School district.”
Maralee Sullivan was elected as president for the 2023 year. Deanna Reynolds-Griffin was elected as vice president for the upcoming year. Meeting dates and committee assignments were also made in the organizational meeting.
Then the school board held its January meeting. Reports were given by the special education department. There will be some professional development in January and February with Anne Beninghof. The special education department has some daunting challenges in the coming year. Autism classes are limited to six students per classroom. Next year there will be at least 12 students identified as needing autism classes which means the district has to hire two certified teachers at a time when special education teachers are at a premium. Students with English as a second language will be increasing next year by 36 students.
School security was discussed. So far this year there have been 29 various types of lockdowns in the district as of December 15th. There has been some grant money from the state that will be used to enhance security at all city schools.
Reach Dean Brown at 567-242-0409
