Nienhueser Fills Sidney School Board Vacancy

The Sidney School Board approved a new member of the board Monday, January 15.

The board has been operating one member short. Monday the board discussed applicants to the open seat, and approved approved Kathy Nienhueser as the newest member to the board.

Superintendent Jay Ehler said he will convey the board’s decision to Nienhueser.

With one seat open and board member Randy Flamig absent, the board acted with four members present.w

Also on the agenda, the board approved three staff resignations. Barb Jones, Lori Shutts and Sue Kandel submitted their resignations. Jones, an elementary music teacher, said her husband resigned from Cabela’s and the family is moving to Omaha. Her resignation is effective the end of the school year. Shutts’ resignation as the District’s Speech/Language Pathologist. Kandel is retiring at the end of the semester.

“SPS (Sidney Public Schools) is a strong system academically and administratively, and I have been blessed to be a small part of it,” Kandel said in her resignation letter.

Likewise, Jones and Shutts commended the board for the quality of school district programs and them them for the opportunity to be part of the education community.

The board also approved option enrollment requests by Kyleen Kooning and Brooklyn Bymer.

As the first meeting of the new year, the board had on its agenda to appoint board positions and committee duties. The board appointed Thomas Von Seggern to continue as president, Randy Flamig as vice-president, Deanna Kantor as board secretary and Geri Anthony as the board treasurer. While Flamig was absent from the meeting, several board members confirmed he expressed interest in serving as vice-president of the board.

Nienhuser replaces Doug Means who resigned because he moved from the Sidney area. He had served on the board for four years. Neinhuser will assume her duties in the February meeting.