North Harrison Superintendent Ethan Sickels has announced that he is leaving the school district, effective July 1st. He will be assuming a math teaching position at the Odessa (MO) School District. He said it was his decision to leave. “I wasn’t particularly looking for that position, but they contacted me, and I’m glad they did,” he said. He said that after 19 years in administration, he wanted to get back into the classroom. He had previously served as Rock Port superintendent before moving to North Harrison.
He said that the uncertainty surrounding state and federal funding played a part in his decision. In his April report to the school board, he said that it was currently unknown if federal funding would change for the upcoming school year, especially if there was no Department of Education. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on March 20th abolishing the agency, which was created during Jimmy Carter’s administration. Sickels said in his report that whether funding would be funneled down to the state to local schools is also unknown at this point.
Dr. Sickels said in his report that since food and nutrition money is not from the Department of Education, he was anticipating that those dollars would still be provided.
He said in his report that another unknown was funding for the Foundation Formula. While the House has touted a record $500 million increase along with more transportation money in a recent news release. Sickels noted in his report that Governor Mike Kehoe has put together a special panel to overhaul the current formula. Sickels said that anything less than current funding would be detrimental to smaller districts. “It’s going to be challenging for smaller schools districts,” he said to the Express.
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