Petition results awaited by board (06/13/07)

BERNE - South Adams School Board members are cautiously optimistic that they'll be celebrating this weekend.

By then, they should know the outcome of a dueling petition campaign on a $25 million project to build a new pre-kindergarten through grade 8 facility connected to South Adams High School.

For 30 days, yellow petitions in support of the project and blue petitions in opposition have been circulating throughout the school district.

Now those are in the hands of the Adams County auditor to certify that the signatures are those of registered voters or property owners.

The auditor "said he would be done - he thought - by Friday," Superintendent Cathy Egolf said Tuesday.

"The community has really come together," she said of the yellow petition campaign supporting the project.

The board voted unanimously Tuesday to hire Nicholas Eccles as the new junior-senior high principal. Fifteen candidates applied for the position and two were interviewed by a 20-person committee.

Eccles, who has experience at all levels of education, comes to South Adams from Elwood.

In other business, the board:

•Hired Brad Buckingham, now a teacher at Frankton, to teach eighth grade math this fall.

•Reviewed and approved school goal and strategy reports as required by Public Law 221.

•Approved new elementary and middle school student handbooks with minor changes from the current year.

•Approved a field trip by the high school band to Cedar Point and a field trip by the sixth grade and junior high bands to Kings Island.[[In-content Ad]]