School Board applies for Elementary therapy dog

The El Dorado Springs School Board, on Thursday, March 9, approved a professional therapy dog for the Elementary school. Tracy Lanser, Tracy Barger, Leslie Wetter, Suzan Durnell and Andrea Whalen presented a video of a school that had a therapy dog and spoke highly about the positive affects on Elementary children.

The application fee is $50. Once the application is accepted, there is a 12 – 18 month wait until the dog for our school has been trained and is ready for work. The dog will be handled by only two people. The total cost for training the dog is $2,500. Training the handlers is a separate expense. The school will not know the breed of the dog until it arrives in El Dorado Springs.

The board approved the application fee and will look for community support for the remaining expenses.

All school board members were present: Chad Whitesell, Benny Brower, Gregg Beydler, Allen Hoover, Josh Floyd and Darrell Eason presiding. Superintendent Mark Koca and Board Secretary Tanya Molz were also present.

Several students were recognized: Joe Pollack for a first place at District FBLA in Cyber Security, the all State Volleyball Players and the MSHSAA Academic Achievement for JV.

The board approved to go to market with bond sales at 11 a.m. on March 22.

The board adopted the school calendar for 2017 – 2018. The first day of school will be Wednesday, Aug. 16.

The board declared old cheer uniforms as surplus property for public purchase.

After executive session, the board announced the resignation of Tracie Faigenblat – Elementary and Sarah Taylor in Elementary and approved Spencer Greathouse as volunteer basketball coach. The certified staff was rehired.