Community Update - 6-2-16
Dear Community Members:
WE SAY GOODBYE
On Tuesday, Middle School Principal, John Obrock, announced that he will be retiring from Eastwood. John has been with the district for 19 years as both an Athletic Director and Principal. Speaking as a parent, I appreciated how much he truly cared about the kids. John has been a friend longer than he was a colleague, and I will miss him.
We also learned that Pemberville teacher Lindsay Hundley will also be stepping aside to focus on the most important job any of us will have, being a parent. Lindsay was simply an outstanding teacher, and her students always performed very well.
Finally, we are fairly certain that we will lose Luckey 2nd grade teacher Libby Gruber to the state of North Carolina. She will be joining her family and pursuing her career there. I can still remember conducting her final interview while she was a student at Mount Union while watching my daughter play a soccer game in Wooster.
Along with retiring teacher Carol Wolf, these staff members will be tough to replace, and we thank them for their service to our students.
GOOD LUCK EASTWOOD TRACK!!
GRADUATION THIS SUNDAY
We have never been out of school for such an extended period of time prior to Graduation, which makes this important event feel anticlimactic. However, the Class of 2016 will be graduating this Sunday at 2:00 PM. If you saw the issue of the Eagle’s Eye you noticed the largest class of students who earned a 4.0 cumulative GPA or better that I can remember in my eleven years here. These students excelled in all of their extra and co-curricular activities. It will be a pleasure to celebrate with them Sunday afternoon….and the weather looks great!!
CONSTRUCTION IS BEGINNING IN EARNEST
While the site work has been completed for several weeks, the real construction began on Tuesday with the digging and pouring of footers for the building. As soon as next week, the masons will be in to start the foundations and walls will be going up shortly after that. While we all need to see some rain, we also hope that the weather will cooperate and allow construction to make solid progress.
Below are two pictures. The first is a shot of the site, and you can see some of the outline from the Middle School roof. The second shows crews removing the temporary drive now that we have culverts installed.
SUMMER PROJECTS
There are a number of very important summer maintenance projects that have begun around the district. One of the most notable will be the replacement of the bleachers in the Middle School. This project has been sorely needed and Director of Operations, Phil Donaldson, was able to find a certified set of excellent used bleachers that will save the district 60% of what we had received on previous estimates. We also will be replacing some of the water technology in the high school along with the hot water heater. There will be roof maintenance, and we are also planning to do some renovation work to the main HS restrooms.
As time rolls along, we will update you on our progress and projects. We hope to add a few more items to this list, and there will be many more, smaller projects.
Best wishes,
Brent Welker