Board Meeting Attendees Inquire about New Herricks Addition

During Tuesday evening's board of education meeting, many meeting attendees asked about the district's new addition -- Joe Wendling will be helping the district with issues regarding residency.

Dr. John Bierwirth explained that Wendling will be paid $20 per hour and be capped at 40 hours per week of work. He added that this 40 hours will not often be met.

Attendees also wanted to understand how he would work with the existing program that does residency checks, as there is already a staff that does this. Bierwirth noted that Wendling's experience with investigations will help to expedite the process and make it more efficient.

After the meeting, Bierwirth noted that students coming in from other areas to try to attend Herricks schools is an issue that is "frustrating to the community." When a student is found not to live in the Herricks district, they will no longer be allowed to attend and the district will try to get some kind of tuition payment from them.

Regarding Wendling, Bierwirth noted that with staff cutbacks, the district's staff has been squeezed and that adding Wendling, who does not need training and, will be "very helpful."

Wendling is a district attendance officer for the school district.