The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1193961
A-4 Local Wednesday, December 18, 2019 The Press-Dispatch ROBOTICS COMPETITION School board upgrades bus fleet, approves 2019-20 budget By Dennis Marshall The Pike County School Cor- poration will have 14 new buses to start the 2020 -21 school year after the school board approved a 5 -year lease with Midwest for $ 300,667. The district has the option to purchase or return the buses at the end of the lease. This allows the corporation to run new bus- es, with warranties in place. This is the district's second lease and will run through 2025. The current lease is for 18 buses and ends in 2021, at which time the corporation will have to decide to purchase or return the buses. The Bus Replacement Plan provided for of nine buses over the next three years at a cost of $225,000 (2020), $200,000 (2021) and $495,000 (2022). The lease payment for 14 bus- es is projected to be $212,863 annually. The board also approved a $21,000,227 budget for 2019 -20 school year. The budget consists of $1,756,237 in the Debt Service Fund, $289,133 in the School Pension Fund, $13,111,703 in the Education Fund and $5,843,154 in the Operations Fund. The budget's tax rate is 1.1795 percent, resulting in a tax levy of $7,379,606 based on the as- sessed value of $ 625,655,419. This year's budget is about $ 300,000 less than last year's. The school corporation and the county council each suf- fered a loss of about $ 340,000 to their budget due to the IPL assessment, according to Pike County School Corporation Su- perintendent Suzanne Blake. "Most of us were not aware of the change and how it was go- ing to be allocated this year un- til we had our pre-budget meet- ings this summer," Blake said. "We were told to plan for a low- er assessed value, and then we started to get a little more in- formation." IN OTHER NEWS The board: • Adopted a resolution ap- propriating $2.2 million to the Self-Insurance Fund. The 2020 appropriations will find required premium payments during the calendar year and health care plan fees assessed by the Inter- nal Revenue Service. • Reappointed Board Presi- dent Chris Satterfield and board secretary Steve Potter as the district's Board of Finance. • Accepted donations that in- clude $ 330 from Arthur Gener- al Baptist Church, $233.85 from Mount Olive General Baptist Church, $241 from Vance and Shari Hays Performing Arts Fund, $1,223.10 from Tiffani Fisher Thomforde Music Fund, $2,967.04 from the Friends of Pike County Fund, $ 3,000 from David DeTar Corn, $2,790 from Community Foundation, $5,000 from Duke Energy, $1,513 and $73 from Arlis Jack Hief and Martha Gregory and $2,000 to be used for travel expenses for the district's choir programs. The board also accepted a drum set valued at $125 from Gary and Jill Keepes. • Voted against a request by Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Technology Da- na Deffendoll for the district to get a new website through the company Apptegy. The new website would be more modern and user-friendly with less wast- ed space and clear menus and links. The new website would also have a more modern, us- able mobile app with custom images for posters, social me- dia and email to promote ap- ps and launch videos. The proj- ect would have cost the dis- trict $18,558.50 for 2020 -2021, $ 9,558.50 in 2021-22 and $7,012 yearly after that. • Approved the purchase of seven used copiers from Alpha Laser for $22,232.81. All seven machines have under 100,000 copies of use at a medical facil- ity; most approximately 70,000. These copiers typically last 1-2 million copies of use and are still under warranty. • Approved insurance rates for 2020. The increase was less than 5 percent so it was ab- sorbed by the corporation. • Accepted the retirement of Lisa Poehlein effective Dec. 20, Barbara Miley effective Jan. 6, 2020 and Fritz Krahl as of the last pay period of the 2019 -20 school year. • Accepted the resignation of Dana Fueller. • Approved the reassignment of Carmen Coleman. • Approved hiring RaeAnn Brock as a Remediation aide and Brandi Loveless as a Title I aide for Winslow Elementary School. • Approved the athletic rec- ommendations of Christian Benson as seventh- and eighth- grade boys' basketball assistant, Jeremy Ross as a volunteer as- sistant for sixth-grade boys' bas- ketball team, Chaney McKinney and Ben Readle as volunteer as- sistants for the high school swimming team, Danette Weis- man as the head girls' middle school swim coach, Jamie Luff as an assistant and Jason McK- inney as the head boys' middle school swim coach. • Approved Patty Frederick as a member of Pike County Li- brary Board. • Approved professional leave requests. Otwell reschedules winter program due to illness By Dennis Marshall The Otwell Miller Acade- my rescheduled its winter pro- gram for Jan. 21, after 25 of the school's 92 students were ab- sent on Monday, Jan. 16, due to illness. "There are about three dif- ferent illnesses going around right now," OMA Director Rich Padgett said. "We could have canceled the program, but we didn't want to do that because of how hard the kids have worked. So, we decided to reschedule it for, hopefully, when everyone is healthy." The OMA School Board al- so approved Northwest Evalu- ation Association (NWEA) pro- fessional development onsite training for $ 3,500 at its month- ly meeting on Monday, Jan. 16. The NWEA is testing plat- form the school uses to gauge students in math and English. NWEA training helps educa- tors to develop new skills, rein- force learning ad find answers to their questions. The training will take place at Otwell Miller Academy on Jan. 31, 2020 and use the data from the tests to ensure all learning is focused and relevant to the teacher's goal, the school's goals and the students' goals. IN OTHER NEWS • The board approved a in- terlocal agreement with South- west Indiana Co-Op. This agreement allows the school to get its food at a discount rate. • The board approved the purchase of a Standards of Suc- cess software for $ 935. Stan- dard for Success is a power- ful online customizable teach- er and employee evaluation sys- tem created by educators for educators. It is advertise to be the most efficient and effective educator evaluation tool on the market. Indiana Special Olympics seeks county coordination The Indiana Special Olympics needs a local volunteer to head up their athletic teams. Francie Smith, with the Spe- cial Olympics Indiana, said the Pike County coach had stepped down from the position and the county needed someone to re- place them. "We are currently looking for a county coordinator for Pike," said Smith. She said that person would coordinate the Pike County teams for Special Olympic com- petitions. "They get a team of volun- teers and they get a county man- agement team," said Smith. She explained they find athletes who want to compete and then pick a sport for them to compete in. "It can be just about anything. If a person has something that is in their wheelhouse, then that is the sport they can pick," said Smith. The summer sports are track and field, swimming, powerlift- ing, volleyball, bowling, bocce, softball, flag football, corn toss and horse shoes. She said another duty is to get a volunteer to be with the ath- letes. They require a ratio of one volunteer to every four athletes. "We need a person who has it in their heart to help people with intellectual disabilities," said Smith. Anyone interested in helping can call Smith at 812-664-2310 or email her at fsmith@soindi- ana.org. Karly Gideon and Zane DeCoursey of Petersburg's Sour Power team competes on Saturday. Ava Aserud and Kinley Nixon of Winslow's Curious Creations team compete against Llinkyn Knust, and Callie Craig of Petersburg's Fighting Dragons team. Dabbing Einsteins and PES Pink Pegasus both of Petersburg Elementary School won the second place teamwork award, Pink Pegasus team member are front row (l to r) Eva Cox, Avery Meece, Kady Gideon, Elle Readle and Loralei Hoskins. The Dabbing Einsteins team members are back row: Jacob Harker, Noah Berry, Jackson Burkhart, Josh Harker and Tucker Loveless. The Petersburg Flaming Dragons won first place and the Robot Skills Champion award. Team members are front row: Eli Keeker, Land- on Harvey, Llinkyn Knust and back row Draven Barrett and Callie Craig. The Petersburg team of Sour Power won the first place Teamwork Champion award. The team member are front row: Karly Gideon, Zane DeCoursey and Channing Sorgius and back row: Kade Benner and Keira Blaize.