School Board approves two new teachers

SIDNEY -- Sidney Public Schools Superintendent Andrew Farber announced Monday the District is "ahead in finances."

In his presentation on District financials, Farber said the District is reaching its goal at $12.5 million for staffing.

"So District expenditures since August 2024, a year ago, we're approximately right at $12. 5 million for staffing, so we're doing good there. We're right on target. We did drop a little bit. We were, we talked at the beginning of the year. We predicted closer to $300,00 on the staff salary reduction piece. We're $127,000. One of the things we talked about with the (Finance) Committee is we did pay out a lot of PTO with 22 staff members leaving," he said.

Farber then announced collections are well ahead of expenditures.

"This is the exciting part. We talked about it in our committee meeting. August of '24 we collected $17.3 million, and we've spent $14.7, so we're ahead in our finances. If you think about where we started three years ago, we're doing pretty good. 

Farber also showed the District's Cash Balance has increased from $2.7 million in 2022-2023 to $4.7 million for the 2024-2025 school year.

The Board also approved two new teachers, and one resignation. 

Alisha Headley has accepted the position of Creative Design teacher at Sidney High School. She replaced Lacy Russell who resigned this summer.

On Aug. 5, Russell announced she had accepted the position of store designer for the Buckle! In in social media announcement, she said her seven years teaching brought her "purpose, growth and connection."

"I'm incredibly grateful for the students, colleagues, and community who were part of that journey," she said.

She said her new position takes her back to her roots.

"Design has always been a core part of who I am, and I'm so excited to step back into it. In this new position, I'll be working remotely to design retail stores across the country," she said in her statement.

 The board also approved Abrielle Hoopman as a third grade teacher at Central Elementary School and the resignation of Madison Emett-Jenkins.