News

School board holds meeting

By Heather Milbrath

06/18/2013

The Bottineau School Board held a meeting Tuesday, June 11, at the Bottineau High School Board Conference Room. Items discussed at this meeting include summer projects, the FACS position, elections and a presentation from Corey Gorder.

The board was informed of the many projects the maintenance staff is performing this summer, including the remodeling of the high school girls locker room. The locker room is being completely redone and is on track to be completed by the start of the school year.

BPS is still looking to fill the vacant FACS position, and this is one that worries superintendent Jason Kersten. The administration is trying all means to round up applicants for this position.

FACS is a teaching position that is in high demand in the state right now, but does not have enough teachers to fill. Kersten is currently looking at other options if the position is not filled by the time the 2013-14 school year begins.

Prior to the meeting on Tuesday night, school board elections were held outside the Holwell Auditorium, where 50 people voted in this year’s election. All three incumbents, Matt Johnson, Kimberlee Bernstein and Mark Pewe were re-elected to serve another three-year term.

The school board also heard a presentation by Gorder. Gorder is a licensed professional clinical counselor working here in Bottineau, and graduated from BHS. Gorder first approached the school board in December about working with students in BHS who seem to struggle in school.

The board approved his plan, and Gorder began working with a group of 10 students at the beginning of the spring semester.

All students had parental permission to meet with Gorder. Gorder talked to these students about issues they were having, and better ways they could handle them.

“At first the kids were pretty reluctant to open up and talk to each other.” Gorder said. “Many of them said they would never have talked to any of the other kids, ever. By the end they were talking well and would leave the room joking together when they were done.”

Both Gorder and the school board felt this program was a success, as they saw positive results from the students who partook in it.

Gorder feels his ultimate goal would be to help change these students lives in any way possible.

“Whether it is the 10 kids I had this semester, or a thousand kids in the future, I just want to help them do well and make good decisions”. Gorder said.