BEATRICE – The hiring of an administrator at Beatrice High School has been approved by the Board of Education. Philip Voight has been chosen to be the new Principal at BHS. He moves up from the Assistant Principal position and will take over for Jason Sutter this coming year. Sutter is resigning to pursue other interests, after 36 years in education, 25 of them in school administration. Two candidates from outside the district and Voight were interviewed by a team of five administrators and six teachers.


"At the conclusion of that, we got together and we talked about strengths and weaknesses...what we saw for the future of Beatrice High School...and it was a unanimous decision that Mr. Voight be offered the contract. We're excited about that. We're excited that Mr. Sutter has had a chance to work with him closely in the past five years...and now we look forward to the future with Mr. Voight at the helm."


Superintendent Jason Alexander says a former graduate of BHS is the choice to be the new Assistant Principal at the high school, from a total of three candidates.  "He did a stellar job at the interview process, and was the unanimous decision of the two groups to offer the contract him."


Dylan Kendall has been a middle school science teacher and coach at Papillion-LaVista, holds two masters’ degrees and is completing a doctoral degree. A formal hiring by the Beatrice School Board will be considered next month.


On April 26th, the Beatrice Public School District will be holding a recognition event for staff retiring from the district at the end of this year.


An agreement has been reached for installation of security cameras at the new Beatrice Public Schools pre-K and elementary building set to open late this summer. The board approved the bid of Oakview Technologies, at a cost of $60,100. Superintendent Alexander says the district is serving as construction manager for the security portion of the school construction, working with technology staff from Educational Service Unit, Number 5.


"We received three proposals back. Oakview Technologies was one of two companies that visited the site and provided a quote....and they were also the lowest, responsible bidder."  District officials are also seeking a grant that could cover all or part of the security installation costs, if received.


Alexander says the exterior of the new school is about 95% complete….and the framing and drywall is 99% complete. Mechanical work is 85-to-90% finished.
"On the inside, it is starting to look more like a school versus a construction site....and it's great progress to see. We'll have another tour coming up. They anticipate that the carpeting will start going in, about mid-May. Once that gets in, then we'll probably be organizing another visit for the board to go through the building again."


Earthwork being done at the south end of the site is associated with drainage and to provide material for seeding of the school site and irrigation work….set to be done this month.