The five candidates vying for three North Crawford School Board seats were announced at the board’s regular meeting last Thursday.

Three current board members, Judy Powell, Jim Dworschack and Jesse Swenson will be joined on the ballot by challengers Carrie Morga and Joey Boland.

Powell was elected to the school board in 2012, Dworschack was appointed in May of 2014 to fill out the term of Miguel Morga, who resigned, and Swenson was appointed in October of 2014 to fill out the term of Tina Volden, who resigned. Both Morga and Volden resigned because for employment reasons.

The spring election is scheduled for Tuesday, April 7.

The board also accepted the resignations of Stan Turben, the North Crawford Schools’ Director of Transportation and Lauren King, a middle school/high school science teacher.

Turben will retire on June 30, 2015 after serving 36 years with the district. King’s resignation will be effective as of Friday, Jan. 23, 2015. In accepting King’s resignation, the board agreed to release her from her contract without penalty.

North Crawford School District Administrator Dr. Dan Davies called King “a valuable asset, who would be missed to say the least.”

The board authorized Davies to post the positions and pursue hiring for both. The district administrator indicated they would proceed to take applications for the director of transportation position through February and hoped to have a recommendation for the board at the March meeting.

As for King’s position, it was agreed the district would contact attorney Eileen Brownlee to draft a teacher’s contract that would run through the remainder of the school year.

During a public comment period, middle school teacher Lori Fox-Gillespie and retired art teacher Joni Peterson asked that the district reconsider a decision not to present a dress rehearsal of the spring play to the student body, as has been the tradition.

It was decided earlier this year to just share one rehearsal with the students to allow for more classroom time. Both teachers emphasized the importance of having the whole student body see the dress rehearsals.

Board members Jesse Swenson, Jim Dworschack and Judy Powell all voiced support for the idea of continuing to put on both dress rehearsals for the student body.

For his part, Dr. Davies indicated he could change the decision and allow the spring dress rehearsal to be presented to the students in accordance with the board’s desire to have that done.

In other business, the North Crawford School Board:

• approved the purchase of 48 pairs of cross country skis and 48 pair of snow shoes at $16,141, and an additional $3,000 for a five-year service plan, from Blue Dog Cycles to be paid for with money from the school’s PEP Grant

• tabled approving a wellness policy from the PEP Grant Committee at their request

• agreed to allow the North Crawford-Seneca wrestling team to stay overnight in Wisconsin Dells following a meet there with costs to be paid through wrestling club funds

• heard a report on a new scholarship for technical college education called the Technical Excellence Scholarship

• approved a board of canvassers for the spring election

• accepted recommendations to help find a replacement for Kay Teague as the school’s food service director, which would allow  her to continue as cook at the school

• heard there are 89 open enrollment positions available at the high school  along with 121 at the elementary school and 38 in the special education program