by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington school board has accepted the resignation of Jerry Hodson, who has served in several capacities at the USD 353 Central office over the past two years at its Thursday regularly scheduled meeting.

Hodson has accepted the school superintendent’s job in Atwood – located 30 miles north of Colby in northwest Kansas.

Hodson has been the curriculum director since 2012 at USD 353 when he replaced Jackie Glasgow, who resigned to become a full assistant professorship at Southwestern College. His USD 353 job has evolved since that point where he has served as Curriculum Director, technology administrator, and maintenance director during the 2013-14 academic year.

Previously, he served as Wellington Middle School Principal.

Other resignations included:

•Jill Hodson, Washington Elementary Title Teacher;

•and Sarah Osborn, WHS physical science teacher.

The board also hired Casey Lassiter, a USD 353 receptionist.

Carmen Hatfield was transferred from Wellington Middle School physical education instructor to WHS counselor; Vanessa Sawyer, from Eisenhower to Washington Elementary fifth grade; and Kathy Ford moved from first grade at Kennedy school to Title One Teacher.

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 Delay on naming field 

The Wellington board tabled the renaming of the football field to possibly “John Gifford Field” until the board could enact a renaming policy for future events. Gifford was a WHS football assistant from 1971 to 2013.

“It is always good to set policy before taking action,” said Jason Newberry, Wellington school board member. “But I do believe the end result will be the same.”

The board decided to work on a written policy at a work session to be held on April 28, at 4:30 p.m.

The Crusader Club has been waiting for approval of the name so it can proceed with its fundraising efforts to get a new football scoreboard which would include the name “John Gifford Field.”

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Promoting bond issue

The board will have a community meeting as part of the listening tour at 6:30 p.m. at the Wellington Middle School this Wednesday to discuss the bond issue concerning the safety rooms and auxiliary gym.

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In other news:

•The board granted permission to allow Mrs. Rane Case and a group of students to attend the National BPA Competition to be held April 30 to May 4 in Indianapolis, Ind.

•The board went into executive session for an hour, an hour, and 30 minutes for non-elected personnel. The board approved allowing the use of the Wellington junior high for paranormal ghost hunting after the session.

•In the administrative reports, Wellington High School principal Dale Adams said the school will continue with school assessment testing even though many other school districts are opting out due to several state testing issues. He did not think the scoring from these tests will be validated by the state next fall.

•Wellington school board member Angie Ratcliff expressed concern that Windows XP support is ending which is software that the school computers use.

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