By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Brandywine Elementary has a new principal. At Monday night's Brandywine Public Schools Board of Education meeting the board voted to hire Tim Bagby to fill the position.
Bagby comes to the Brandywine Elementary from Ballard Elementary in Niles Community Schools district, where he has been the assistant principal.
Bagby added the people of Brandywine are a great group and the most important thing about his job is the children.
Bagby will start his new job on July 1, but hopes to move into his new office sometime next week.
At the meeting the board also adopted a measure which would add a section to the middle school/high school student handbook, which states that students are not allowed to use cell phones in school which take pictures or have access to the internet.
The measure does not mean a student may not use a cell phone at all, only in specified situations.
The board adopted a measure which will require graduating seniors to do a specific number of community service hours to receive their Merit scholarship award.
The Board also approved the final budget for the fourth quarter of the 2004 -2005 fiscal year.
The district was anticipating ending the year with a $684,000 budget deficit, but will end the year with only a $424,400 budget shortfall.
The deficit will leave the Brandywine district with about $1.8 million in its fund equity, which equals about 15 percent of its operating expenses.
The Board will hold a special hearing on the 2005-2006 preliminary budget at 6 p.m. Monday, June 27, in Brandywine Elementary's gymnasium.
The superintendent and board also gave a thank you to trustee Mike Armstrong for his eight years of service on the board.
Armstrong added he learned about all aspects of state and national education standards in order to help Brandywine.
Armstrong added he would like to thank his supporters over the years and for the words of encouragement.