Baker School Board meeting highlights
By Shannon McKone on Tuesday, January 25th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER COUNTY – Baker School District Superintendent Mark Witty spoke with Elkhorn Media Group staff recently to discuss last week’s Baker School Board meeting and gave some highlights of what took place.
(EMG) Thank you for joining me, Mr. Witty. There was a school board meeting that week. Would you please share some highlights with us?
(MW) Thanks for having me, Shannon.
·We started out the meeting by recognizing our Promise Students of the Month: Asher Blair, Levi Whitley, and Wyatt Wirth from Keating Elementary and Taylor Johnson from Baker Middle School. They are truly remarkable individuals.
We also formally recognized our Board members as part of Oregon School Board Association’s School Board Recognition Month. Schools have adopted a board member this month and put together gift baskets for each of them, and board members will be visiting those schools in the coming weeks to visit with students and staff and pick up their gift baskets. We are so thankful for all our board members do for students, staff, and the greater community.
Later, the board received an update on bond project progress from Wenaha Group that included an invitation to a Community Open House at the Baker Middle School gym at 5:30pm on Tuesday, February 22, to review the proposed design for the new BMS Cafeteria/Multi-purpose Building. We look forward to sharing all the work that has been done by the design team with input from various stakeholder groups and getting further feedback from the community.
Also, the District and design/construction team will host an informational event for local subcontractors and suppliers on Friday, March 4, at 10 a.m. at the Middle School Gym to discuss upcoming opportunities for local bidders.
(EMG) It’s exciting to see progress on the bond projects. Are there any other updates you’d like to share?
(MW) We also discussed the search for the district’s next Superintendent. The application period closes on January 28, and we plan to hold interviews in February.
We are fortunate to still be open for in-person learning in the midst of the latest COVID surge and to still be offering extracurricular activities, including athletics; but we need the help of everyone to keep it that way. We urge anyone experiencing symptoms of illness to please stay home and consider being tested. It’s a challenging time, but we’ll get through it together.
(EMG) Thank you Mr. Witty for sharing all of this information with us.
