Lake Holcombe School Board; After-school covers mind and body for students

A new digital clock, bell and PA system, is up and running at Lake Holcome School, showing the date, time and class period, in the halls, commons and classrooms. The system replaces the antiquated models that no longer kept accurate and joint times. Photo by Ginna Young

By Ginna Young

Another school year is set to begin at Lake Holcombe, but not before a recap of 202223 was given, Aug. 21, during the regular board of education meeting.

Having received another five-year grant to keep the after-school program running, Kristine Hemenway, after-school coordinator spoke about how things are looking.

“This year (2022-23), we did have constant and regular consist staffing, which is very helpful for the students,” said Hemenway.

As part of that consistency, students feel safe sharing their successes and failures with adults they see everyday. The youth are also getting homework help from some of their regular teachers, which is nice, because they already know the area where a certain student is struggling and can focus the help to that.

Included in the programming, is projectbased learning in the enrichment areas, as well as mindfulness yoga to calm minds and get the young bodies active.

Hemenway and the other leaders would like to grow the program even more, coming off an average of 25 students, per night, last year.

“It’s a full night, but we’re having fun and we love it, so, we’re hoping we can fill it up again this year,” said Hemenway.

Guidance counselor Nicole Crosby was also present to discuss her work with the student population. Each year, there’s a survey conducted, about whether or not the students feel that they belong at school. According to the 2019 survey, 54 percent felt like they belonged.

“Which, in my mind, is way too low, but, we just hit 70 percent, according to my most recent survey, which I was happy about that,” said Crosby.

Crosby has plans to put a lot more things into play, to continue to grow the culture and climate at Lake Holcombe.

Kurt Lindau, district administrator, also reported that the Department of Safety and Professional Services inspected the newly installed clock, bell and PA system wiring project, with no concerns over the digital pieces.

“It’ll be the same time in every classroom now,” said Lindau.

During the business portion of the meeting, the board approved the resignation of paraprofessional Deidra Wichtendahl, as well as the hire of paraprofessional Raven Crabb and assistant football coach Aaron Brisky They also agreed on the year’s LP pricing of $1.47/gallon, in a pay-asyou go billing system. The previous year’s cost was $1.97/gallon.