By SARAH PARKER | County Line Editor
Speaking at Monday’s board of education meeting, Royall English teacher Josh Benson put forward a proposal to host a London trip for the school’s Advanced Placement students in English.
The board gave Benson permission to proceed with the endeavor. The trip would be offered in the summer of 2024, and “student interest seemed high,” Benson said. The cost would be about $3,800 per student, not including transportation to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The students would fly out of O’Hare to New York and from there go to Heathrow Airport in London.
Literature would be the focal point of the trip, Benson said, and likely would include performances at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
Benson expected that fundraising would help offset the cost of the trip.
Other business
• Bids for various components of the school’s roughly $10.9 million construction will be opened at general contractor Kraemer Brothers’ offices on March 16, Superintendent Tom Benson said. From there, the district will get a better sense of the final cost and scope of the project.
• Royall recently hosted a chess tournament, inviting area schools, and took first place, according to Principal Scott Uppena.
“It amazes me how many kids love chess at this school,” he said, noting that about 50 students participate in chess club.
A second tournament may be offered at Brookwood later this spring, Uppena said.
• The board agreed to offer a 4.7 percent raise to summer school staff.
• The board announced the retirement of fourth-grade teacher Paul Huebner and choir teacher Diane Huebner.
• Uppena noted that he was investigating the possibility of installing vape sensors in the school.
• Tom Benson acknowledged the recent death of longtime business manager Jeff Lankey, extending the district’s “love and support” for Jeff’s wife Ann, adding that Jeff had been a “proud member of this school family.”
