ESCANABA – Escanaba area schools will see some new faces next school year as the school announced three new hires during Tuesday’s Escanaba Area School Board meeting.

Lucas Aguado will be the new orchestra teacher, and Tess Henderson has been hired as a Business Professionals of America (BPA) advisor.

Basketball fans will notice a new face court side as Brian Robinette was tapped to be the new 8th grade boy basketball coach.

The board also approved the appointments of Megan Walker and Lisa Van Drese to the Delta-Schoolcraft Intermediate School District (DSISD) Parent Advisory Committee.

Board members also got a glimpse into next school year’s meeting schedule as they voted to approve the new schedule. Meetings will take place on the second and third Mondays of each month at 6 p.m.

It typically meets at Escanaba Upper Elementary School, but the board occasionally changes venues to the new Student Success Center or Escanaba Junior-Senior High School.

The board also held its budget hearing, during which the public could provide comments to the board regarding the budget.

No one from the public spoke during the budget hearing.

“There are a lot of things we don’t know right now, but we did pass a balanced budget for the next school year,” Fletcher said.

“It’s always good to have a balanced budget.”

The board also discussed expanding a special education program in conjunction with the Intermediate School District (ISD).

“The learning center at the ISD, which houses their special education program, for the past two years has run a satellite classroom at Lemmer. So what happens is it’s a classroom that’s actually run by the ISD, it’s got ISD students, it’s got ISD staff, but it’s housed in our building just because it gives their students an opportunity to interact more with their peers,” Fletcher explained.

The board ultimately passed the expansion.

“We’re just expanding that from Lemmer to the upper elementary. It’s a good program, we’re happy to do it,” Fletcher said.

He added the program is not only good for the ISD students, but for Escanaba students as well.

Additionally, the board approved another goal of the superintendent, which involved developing a five to 10-year facilities plan.

“It gives us really some predictability and just helps with budgeting,” Fletcher said.