The Pike County Board of Education approved the hire of 22 new employees Monday.

Those hired for Goshen Elementary School include Brook Dean as a pre-K teacher, Kristine Growden as special education aide, Zachary Ward as PE assistant, Halee Hodge as sixth-grade teacher and Twana Holland as pre-K auxiliary teacher.

Chad Mansmann was hired at Pike County Elementary School as PE teacher.

Those hired for Pike County High School include Todd Reynolds as science teacher, Raven Shepherd as English teacher and Amy Tillery as math teacher.

Those hired for Goshen High School include Jeffrey Hilburn as science teacher, Sonya McLughlin as science teacher, Tony May as assistant principal, Kristin Ricks as art teacher, Cody Eiland as agriscience teacher and Ansley Godwin as Spanish teacher.

Other new employees include Jamie Rich as agriscience program facilitator, Chelsea Marguriet as pre-K teacher at Banks, Amy Garrett as STEM teacher and Tony Ivey, Gary Pruitt, Natasha Gosha and Jamie Sutherland as bus drivers.

The board also approved the resignations of Julie Sanders, GES pre-K teacher; LaTasha Vaughn, GES sixth grade; Susan Duckworth, PCES special education teacher; Wayne Duckworth, PCHS choral teacher, Tim Brown, Banks social science and the retirement resignation of Elisa Bruce, PCES third grade, which will be effective on Aug. 1.

In other personnel items, the board approved the permission to re-advertise the CNP position, the request to convert Mike Johnson from non-exempt employee to an exempt employee under wage and hour and set compensation according to approved salary schedule and the voluntary status for Eddie Sharp, football at PCHS.

The board approved the voluntary transfers of Shea Driggers from PCES PE teacher to PCHS PE teacher, Fawn Sims from PCHS PE teacher to PCHS special education teacher and Ashley Johnston from fourth-grade teacher to third-grade teacher at PCES.

The board approved the request to contract with the certified employees listed for the GEAR Up Summer Program at Banks, GHS and PCHS for John Fleming, Coretta Gholston, Kristin Dillard, Vanessa Johnson, Renee Cortner, Casey Moore and LaNell Schofield. The program will run July 13-30 and will be funded by GEAR Up.

In new business, the board approved the financial statement, bank reconcilements and the payment of payrolls for June.

The board approved the increase in CNP meal prices due to mandates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The board approved the resolution commending Elena Mona Pop as the 2015-2016 State Board District 5 Teacher of the Year and an Alabama Elementary Teacher of the Year finalist.

The board also approved the resolution to substitue higher level math courses taken by dual enrollment students.

Superintendent Dr. Mark Bazzell said about 85 students are currently enrolled in the dual enrollment with 50-60 percent enrolled in programs leading to earning associate degrees upon high school graduation.

The board approved the permissions to award the contract for propane to Thompson Gas, for the CNP program to surplus equipment and for the GHS varsity volleyball team to attend volleyball camp July 26-29 at Wallace Hanceville in Hanceville.

The board also approved permission for Liz LeVeque, Pam Moates, Angie Long and Ana Belle Lee to attend the MEGA Conference July 20-24 in Mobile.

The board approved permission for the Career Tech teachers, counselors and Julie Simmons to attend the Alabama Career Tech Association’s Summer Conference July 28-30 in Birmingham. This includes Calvin Morris, Aaron young, LaShandra Barnes, Sharon Denison, Tom Powell, Harold Jones, Sherry Wilkes, Julie Simmons, Rachael Brooks, Gina Maxwell, Seth Wilcox, George Stringer and Gilda Belcher.

In addition to the agenda items, the board showed a video of GHS student Colton Johnson during his solo flight for the Aviation Academy. Johnson was the first to complete the solo flight. Seven students are currently enrolled in the Aviation Academy.

The board continues to search for a permanent home for the virtual high school, but for now, the location will not change.

“We’ve looked for a variety of different building,” Bazzell said. “We need a minimum of 5,000 square feet. It would be nice to have 7,000 to 10,000 or more because we would like to have room to grow.”

The meeting adjourned, leading into an executive session.