ROYAL CITY — A new board member was sworn in at the Royal School Board meeting on Monday, Dec. 16. The meeting was held a week earlier than usual due to the Christmas holiday.

Ian Bergeson was sworn in for the first time. He replaces Mike Noftle, who has served on the board for eight years. Noftle did not run for reelection. During the meeting Royal School District Superintendent Roger Trail recognized Noftle for the work he had done on the school board. Also sworn in were returning board members Craig Janett and Dan Miller.

The board also elected new officers. Janett became the new board president. Warren Small, who has served as the board president for the past year, was elected vice president.

In other business, the construction on Red Rock Elementary School will be mostly completed by the end of Christmas break.

“The elevator is set to be installed later in January, as well as the bleachers in the gym,” said Trail. “There will be a couple of items in the kitchen. They plan on being mostly done by the time we get back from Christmas break. Some teachers may not move in until after Christmas break.”

There will be a few cosmetic projects, such as painting, that will not be able to be completed until spring when the weather warms up.

To celebrate Red Rock Elementary’s entire remodel, a ribbon cutting ceremony is being planned. The project started Jan. 7, 2017 when staff discovered a flooding issue in the school. The school was closed from Jan. 9 to Jan. 23, while the school was able to be fixed enough for students to return. During the time the school was closed, the entire district was also closed for weather related events and there were a couple of days that school was closed for a holiday.

“I think we had nine days that year that we had to close because of weather,” Trail said. “Some of those days Red Rock was already closed because of the flood. That was a horrible winter.”

Also talked about were the robotics teams that participated in the Lego robotics team in East Wenatchee on Dec. 14. The intermediate school sent six teams. Four of those teams will be competing at state in January.

The athletic director talked about the Royal High School football team winning the state football championship.

Rachal Pinkerton may be reached via email at [email protected].