Waukee Schools Hires Nicole Lawrence as Communications Coordinator

The Waukee school district has hired a communications coordinator, it was announced at Monday night's meeting.

Nicole Lawrence was hired last week to handle communications efforts for the district. Lawrence currently covers communications for the Southeast Polk School District. She's been with that district for more than two years.

"I've been following the growth of the Waukee school district and I am excited to be part of the planning and curriculum out here," Lawrence said. "It's going to be great taking a position like this and being able to build a communications plan and programming from the ground up."

Lawrence is expected to begin by the end of November.

Also at Monday's meeting, the school board unanimously approved the naming of the seventh elementary school to be located in the former Michael's Landing development.

Woodland Hills Elementary School will open in the newly-renamed Woodland Hills development in time for the 2013-14 school year. The new elementary will be built on 18.23 acres at the corner of South 95th Street and Stagecoach Drive in West Des Moines. It will be the third Waukee elementary school in West Des Moines, joining Maple Grove and Brookview Elementary schools.

Other agenda items from the meeting:

• Superintendent Dave Wilkerson gave an updated report on enrollment numbers for the 2011-2012 school year. The district currently has 7,112 students enrolled in 10 Waukee schools. At the current rate of growth, projected numbers could be as high as 11,550 students by September 2021.

• An agreement with GovDeals.com was unanimously approved Monday night. GovDeals.com is an auction-type website that provides government agencies the opportunity to sell surplus items online while adhering to rules and regulations subject to their agency. Board members said the agreement would allow the district to generate money for "extra stuff" and to recycle items it's no longer using.