TONASKET – At their Monday, June 27 meeting, the Tonasket School Board hired another kindergarten teacher as student population in the primary grades continues to grow.

The board hired Noemi Delgado as the teacher to cover a fourth kindergarten classroom, up from three last year, according to Paul Turner, district superintendent.

“Our numbers keep growing… two years ago when I came here we had three classes at every grade level, now we have a fourth classroom in kindergarten, first and second grades,” said Turner.

“That’s good news and having some good news is nice to have in light of state cutbacks,” added Turner.

The greater the school population the more a school district is funded by the state as basic education dollars are based on FTE’s, full time equivalents.

In addition to hiring Delgado, the board approved the hiring of Kristine Ekeneo as a fifth grade teacher and Tyler Graves as K-12 ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher. Jack Goyette was approved to be a varsity soccer coach, Lana Beyer will be eighth grade volleyball coach and Brenda Grave will be seventh grade volleyball coach.

In other school board business, the directors heard the final reading of the revision to the Dangerous Weapons Policy.

“The revisions came because the board has some questions on what constitutes a dangerous weapon,” Turner said.

The board also approved a proposal on the federal forest resolution and the IMC committee discussed curriculum.