ELLSWORTH — At the Nov. 11 Ellsworth School Board meeting, Superintendent Brian Nadeau shared about a “Panther Pump” that is in the works to be added to Cenex. The pump would give a portion of profits from the pump to the district for the next 10 years, and the number is projected to total around $100,000.

“We didn’t approach them for that, we didn’t go there with our hand out. That was just something they came to us with,” Nadeau said. “Very nice gesture of them.”

The pump will have a district wrap on it and the pump’s usage is tracked. Cenex then is responsible for making quarterly contributions to the school district. Cenex is also getting involved with the school district by becoming a sponsor for two of the district’s scoreboard advertisement spots.

Bidding has begun for the district’s referendum projects with renderings to come in the near future. The district is in the process of making decisions on equipment and furniture.

“Hoping that as those [renderings] go out, that they’re very close to the final product,” Nadeau said. “We’re getting to that point in the project where things are fairly locked in.”

Acknowledgements

An acknowledgement was made for Kayla Klecker, Katie Bennett-Deiss, Oran Nehls and Kate Acker for reacting quickly in the case of a medical emergency at the Homecoming chili feed, ultimately saving a man’s life through the use of an AED. Nadeau said he heard from staff that they felt “over prepared” when the situation occurred. A parent went into cardiac arrest and was transported to the hospital.

“It’s frightening, it’s scary,” Nadeau said. “Very, very proud of the response.”

The board acknowledged Lexi Marks’ 13th place finish at State girls golf and Noah Matzek’s 85th place finish at State in boys cross country.

Course updates

The board approved new courses and name changes to a handful of courses. Spanish for Heritage Speakers is the first new course, focusing on improving academic and language skills to students that speak Spanish at home. Business Basics gives students an introduction to business and technology skills. The final new course is Music Theory, a single credit course to teach students the “inner workings and functions” of music.

Art 1 will be changed to Drawing 1 and Art 2 will be changed to Painting 1. Personal finance is now for grades 11 and 12 because of its application to higher grade levels.

Personnel

The board approved the following personnel changes:

Hires: Logan Benson, high school phy ed teacher second semester; Maysel Giebel, elementary long-term substitute; Brittany Thompson Kinneman, middle school family and consumer science teacher.

Resignations: Kristina Krumenauer, elementary teaching assistant; Drew Pechacek, JV girls basketball coach; Corey Poellinger, bus garage assistant mechanic; Katelyn Traynor, high school guiding coalition.

Extra/Co-Curricular Hires: Ryan Christenson, high school phy ed teacher overload - second quarter; Taylor Hammer, JV girls basketball coach; Steve Kennedy, high school guiding