By EMELINE HAWKINS

For the Northwest News

HUNTERTOWN — When you’ve got three construction projects in the works, you want to make sure they’re all in good hands.

On March 27, the Northwest Allen County School Board approved Weigand Construction as the constructor for three upcoming construction projects.

The projects include building a new middle school with a design similar to existing middle schools in the district; a larger central office space and more space at the high school.

Three companies submitted proposals for all three projects and one company submitted a proposal for a single project. Weigand Construction came in lowest on all three separate projects, according to the meeting agenda.

While Assistant Superintendent Brandon Bitting stated there had been concern initially whether Weigand Construction could take on all three projects simultaneously, Weigand demonstrated the capacity to do so by introducing each team that would be working.

The general goal is to address overcrowding resulting from increased student enrollment.

According to Superintendent Wayne Barker, the district is also going through results from a survey released in February to community members.

A committee has been chosen to go through the data and will meet April 14 to discuss how to advance with that information.

Board President Kent Somers and Barker provided a legislative update. While the Senate budget has not been released, Barker did mention SB342, a bill that would prohibit a school board from hiring a candidate that has been found guilty of murder, neglect of a dependent or aggravated battery.

SB177 would lengthen the amount of time that school board members would have to register before running for that office. The idea is to allow school board members to get to know future constituents before getting officially elected.

SB12 would remove schools from being not liable regarding harmful or questionable books and book content. The issue of banning books in schools has been a major talking point, especially during the post-pandemic period.

“I find the litigious part of this to be concerning,” Barker said, adding that teachers and librarians could be taken to court, which could be expensive in the long term.

Board members also voted to post three special education teacher positions immediately, with three additional elementary school teaching positions to be posted in the future, as needed.

Eel River Elementary School’s third-grade students were recognized for their live wax museum exhibit, where each student became the double of a famous person they researched for a class project.

Four photography students from Carroll High School were recognized as well, for partnering with Aspen Meadow’s applied skills students for a joint learning experience to create their own photo images in the darkroom.

The next school board meeting is scheduled Monday, April 10, at 6 p.m. at the new Perry Hill Elementary School location.