Wayland Board of Education President Theresa Dobry summed it up well when she commented, “I think tonight showcased why it’s a good day to be a Wildcat,” at the end of the board meeting Monday.

Indeed, most the evening was taken up glad handing students, staff and even an administrator for notable achievements.

Perhaps the most visible celebrating was done on behalf of the Wayland High School robotics team, which qualified for the “worlds” competition April 14-21 in Houston for the second consecutive year.

The board fast tracked the team’s request for permission to take a bus trip out of state to take part in the worlds.

Meanwhile, 47 staff members and teachers were honored for being nominated for the annual Outstanding People in Education award. The three Wayland representatives selected to attend the banquet in Allegan later this spring were Deanna Hoffman, Beth Nykirk and Morgan Lee Pfister.

Also recognized were wrestler Lane Button, who went undefeated and earned a state championship in his weight division this past winter, and

Assistant Superintendent of Finance & Operations Leslie Wagner and recently earned her Chief Financial Officer endorsement from MSBO (Michigan School Business Officials).

Board Trustee Becky Honke told board members about power lifter Ashton Kooisman, who competed in a national in Louisiana.

And the board spent a great deal of time honoring teachers, students and staff at Dorr Elementary for winning a national Blue Ribbon Award for excellence.

In other business at Monday night’s meeting, the school board:

• Learned that a grant has arrived to pay for installation of wi-fi-services inside 21 school buses for the next academic year.
• Noted the school district will move forward with a project to renovate and expand the cafeteria at the middle school, using only food service funding. Wagner explained, “This is the most we can do without using our general fund budget.”
• Agreed to suggested new course offerings at the high school, including the comeback of yearbook class.
• Approved the purchase of two new school buses at $137,936 apiece.
• Agreed to pay $43,545 for a new maintenance truck.
• Approved the purchase of a semi automatic bus washing machine that comes with a power washer as a sole and separate tool to support the overall bus washing machine.