New school building, red ribbon campaign topics at board meeting

The Cheyenne County School Board met Monday night and again discussed future plans for a new elementary school.

Superintendent Jay Ehler elaborated the meetings held last month for the public to voice concerns and ask questions. Ehler discovered that the board needs to better communicate to the community how the plan affects the north side and how transportation will work. The board decided to hold additional meetings this month to further explain the future plans.

The board also asked principals to update them on events hosted by the schools for Red Ribbon Week. The Red Ribbon Campaign aims to raise awareness about the effects of drugs on today’s society.

At Central and West, the staff encouraged students to participate in events such as dressing like someone you admire for a day, which was accompanied by a poem about staying drug free and making proper choices, and a door decorating contest. Each class came up with a unique idea and decorated their teacher’s door accordingly.

In addition, they released helium-filled balloons and have tracked them on the maps put together by Carla Brauer.

At the middle school, students had a lesson during their advisory period given by Officer Curtis Hofrock. Also, giving the campaign a slight twist, Judge Weimer was invited to speak on cyber safety.

The final item on the agenda was to go over the plans for the QZAB allocation.

The National Education Foundation matches funds for the school district. The superintendent explained that the buildings to be focused on to put this allocation to use are the middle school, West and possibly a new roof at Central.

“Those buildings are getting up there in age,” Ehler explained. “They’re 50 to 70 years old already, and those buildings are going to need to keep working for another 25 to 30 years. I think it’s important that we take advantage of this allocation and do updates, which will then save us money in general.”