The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/343487
A-4 Wednesday, July 9, 2014 The Press-Dispatch News briefs Check the mailing label on your Press-Dispatch Check your mailing label. If it is highlighted, your subscription has expired or will expire very soon. A year's subscription is now $23 for Pike and sur- rounding counties, $26 for Indiana subscribers living outside the 475 zip codes and $43 for out-of-state sub- scribers during the July Savings Spectacular. The sav- ings won't last long, the sale ends on July 18, 2014. See page A-3 for form and more details. Immunizations needed for K, 6 and 12th grade students The new school year is quickly approaching. Chil- dren entering kindergarten, sixth grade, and 12th grade will need school-required vaccinations prior to the first day of school. The Pike County Health Department is scheduling appointments for these vaccinations on Thursdays: July 10, 24 and 31. The health department can bill insurance for im- munizations and most major insurances are accepted. Children with no health insurance are still eligible to receive vaccines for $ 8 per vaccine. There is no charge for children who have Hoosier Healthwise (Medicaid). Due to insurance billing, appointments are required for these clinics. Please call the health department at 812-354-8797 to schedule an appointment. Federal employees meeting July 9 The National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) Patoka Valley Chapter #1847 will meet on Wednesday, July 9 at noon at the Schnitzelbank Res- taurant in Jasper. The speaker will be Ray Howard, executive director, Baseball Hall of Fame, Jasper. His topic will be the highlights and history of the Base- ball Hall of Fame. All active and retired federal employees and/or their spouses are encouraged to attend. Call Rita at 812-604- 5089 for more information. Local photographer to show wildlife photos July 10 The Oakland City Columbia Township Public Li- brary and the Friends of the Patoka River NWR will present "Photographing Bobcats and Other Local Wildlife" Thursday, July 10 at 6 p.m. in the library. Local photographer Steve Gifford will show some of his photographs from wildlife found at the Patoka National Wildlife Refuge. Along with other photos, he will offer tips on how to photograph wildlife. Outside movie night at Cup Creek G.B. Church There will be an outside movie night, Friday, July 11, starting at dark at the Cup Creek G.B. Church on Hwy. 257, just north of Hwy. 64. Fireworks to follow. Rain date, Saturday, July 12. Concessions will be available. Freewill donations accepted. For more infor- mation, contact Beth Goeppner at 812-631-1815. Winslow Beautification Committee work day The Winslow Beautification Committee will have a work day at 8 a.m. Saturday, July 12 at The Gazebo. Volunteers in the area, churches, and organizations are needed to help get it in good condition. The work day will involve putting up a fence, doing landscaping, pulling weeds, painting the concrete and anything else that needs to be done. If possible, bring paint rollers, rakes, shovels and any other equipment that could be used. For more information or to volunteer, call 812-789 - 2594 or 812-789 -2532. Good Shepherd Community luncheon July 15 The Good Shepherd Community Luncheon will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT Tuesday, July 15. The church is located at 210 W. Harrison Street, Oakland City. Donations are accepted. Accepting applications for Little Miss Rosebud and Mister Kernel Phi Beta Psi Sorority will be hosting their annual Little Miss Rosebud and Mister Kernel pageant, Sat- urday, Aug. 9 at 1 p.m. at the Oakland City Sweet Corn Festival. All interested may pick up entry forms at 5/3 bank in Oakland City or by contacting Kayla Houchin at 812-403-0665. Entry forms must be turned in by Ju- ly 19. All proceeds benefit Cancer Research through Phi Beta Psi. Seeking contestants for Little Miss Sweet Corn Gamma Omega Chapter of Tri Kappa is seeking con- testants for the Oakland City Little Miss Sweet Corn Contest, August 1 at 7 p.m. in the Wood Memorial Cafetorium. Contestants must be the ages of five to seven at the time of the contest. A $40 sponsor fee is required. Con- testants must perform a talent in addition to a short interview question. Number of entrants is limited, so call early. Practices start in July. To register or for more information, contact Tammy Schroeder at 812-749 -3157. Farm City Tour set for Aug. 2 Pike County Farm Bureau Inc. will be having a Farm City Tour, Saturday, Aug. 2, at 2 p.m. EST at the Erich (Bud) Meyer Jr. Farm, 9491 S. Co. Rd. 800 E., Stendal. The tour is free and open to members and their fam- ilies, and will feature Meyer's Farmall/IH Machinery dating from 1939 to 1979 and Nathan Jones' Longhorn Cattle. Dinner will follow at the Zoar United Methodist Church. Reservations required. The first 100 people to register will receive a meal at no cost. Reservations are required and must be received by noon, July 25, by calling 812-354-8488 ext. 3930. Will be expected to work five days per week By Ed Cahill The Pike County School Corporation's Board of Trustees voted unanimous- ly during its regular month- ly meeting on Monday, July 7, to increase the number of hours that instructional as- sistants can work per week to 29 starting with the 2014- 15 school year. All instructional assis- tants — including computer tech assistants, librarians, remediation aides, special education assistants and Ti- tle I assistants — will be ex- pected to work 5 -3/4 hours per day, five days per week, according to the recommen- dation by Pike County Su- perintendent of Schools Su- zanne Blake. The motion to approve Blake's recommendation by board president Jerry Grubb, which was seconded by board secretary Nathan Harker, was approved by a 5 -0 vote without discussion. Previously, in February 2013, the school board vot- ed to reduce the hours for in- structional assistants from 31-1/4 hours per week — or 6 -1/4 hours per day — to 25 hours per week as one of sev- eral cost-cutting measures. "The intent then was to work five hours a day, five days a week," Blake said fol- lowing the meeting. "But in order to help some of them have some flexibility and al- so be able to substitute teach in our corporation or fill in in other ways — because we knew that was a hard hit on their income — we allowed them to do four days at 6 - 1/4 (hours), so they still met their 25 hours a week." "We realized, as we were planning for this year, that we really needed to move back to the five days a week and staggered schedules or something because we defi- nitely had some gaps in cov- erage," Blake added. "We felt like the increase, for each of them to have four more hours a week, was something we could do. The aides have bore the brunt of the financial difficulties that we've faced. They were hard hit." In other action, the school board okayed a recommen- dation by the corporation's director of nutrition, Deloris Henson, to increase the cost of a half pint of milk from 35 cents to 40 cents "because of the increase in milk prices for the 2014-15 school year." (Earlier in the meeting, the school board voted unan- imously to award the cor- poration's milk contract to Prairie Farms, which had submitted the only bid.) "The milk cost per pint has not been increased since 2011," Henson's recommen- dation states. Board member Chris McKinney's motion to ac- cept Henson's recommen- dation, which was second- ed by board vice-president David Waltz, passed by a 3-2 vote, with Grubb and board member Chris Satterfield voting no. The school board also awarded the corporation's bread contract to Aunt Mil- lie's Bakery, which will de- liver two days per week to the elementary schools and four days per week to Pike Central High/Middle School. In addition, the school board voted to renew its property liability/casual- ty insurance with EMC/ Downey, which submitted the low quote of $160,878. Gallagher Risk Manage- ment submitted a competi- tive quote of $161,790. "Both of those quotes in- clude a package for work- man's compensation cover- age," Blake told the school board. "The quote from Gal- lagher was for a total of $ 68 million in property cover- age with $10 million earth- quake coverage, and the quote from EMC was for $72 million with full earth- quake coverage. So, in ad- dition to being slightly low- er, it actually provides more coverage." Blake added that the re- newal quote from EMC/ Downey was $ 3,000 lower than last year's premium. Blake said the corpora- tion's local insurance agent, Tony Cochren, had contact- ed three other insurance providers to obtain quotes. However, Indiana Insur- ance, Selective Insurance and Trident Insurance all declined to submit quotes. The school board also vot- ed unanimously to approve a proposed contract between the corporation and Blake, whose salary for the third year of the three-year con- tract — which runs through June 30, 2015 — will be re- duced by three percent, from $105,000 to $101,850. In addition, the school board's annual contribution to Blake's group health in- surance premium would be cut from 100 percent to the same level that it annual- ly contributes to the group health insurance premiums of other administrators and school employees, for a total of $16,322.52. Including a long-term disability premium of $ 336, a annual term life premi- um of $271.80, a contribu- tion to Blake's 401(a) Plan of $2,037, and a Teacher Re- tirement Fund payment of $10,694.25, the total for the third and final year of the contract will be $131,511.57. The school board also ap- proved a resolution tempo- rarily transferring $100,000 from the bus replacement fund, $1,800,000 from the transportation operating fund and $1,600,000 from the capital projects fund to the general fund "in order to meet necessary expendi- tures." The transfers will be re- paid within six months be- yond the end of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, according to the resolution. Blake informed the school board that the corporation did pay off a loan that was due in June, and that it had signed and received a check for a new loan, which is due in December 2014. "We also received our tax draw from the first payment of taxes from the county," Blake said. Blake also updated the school board on the fund balances, which, as of June 30, were: General Fund — $288,021.19; Debt Ser- vice — $1,047,147.23; Capital Projects Fund — $ 356,714.39; Transporta- tion Fund — $1,204,152.00; Bus Replacement Fund — $215,302.45; and Rainy Day Fund — $ 979,016.83. "We have started using our Rainy Day Fund after we received our approval for additional appropriations for that fund," Blake said. The school board also voted to accept an educa- tional enhancement award of $2,000 that will be used to purchase supplies for the Project Lead the Way bio- medical sciences program at Pike Central High School. The following personnel matters were also approved: resiGNATiONs • Ryan Bowman, Pike Central High School math teacher • Nicole Nixon, Winslow Elementary School teacher • Randy Graham, Pike Central High School assis- tant girls' track coach • Randy Meece, Pike Central Middle School cross country coach New Hires/ APPOiNTMeNTs • Billy Hewig, Pike Cen- tral High/Middle School athletic director • Alicia Tharp, Pike Cen- tral High School assistant principal • Randy Meece, Pike Central Middle School as- sistant principal • Steve Frazier, Director of Support Services (plus Law Enforcement class in- structor) • Jason McKinney, Pike County School Corporation School Resource Officer • Brandon Pollock, Pike Central High School science teacher • Nathan Bradford, Pike Central High School science teacher • Michelle Teague, Pe- tersburg Elementary School teacher • Annita Henson, Win- slow Elementary School teacher • Kristi Dischinger, Pe- tersburg Elementary School ECA Treasurer • Mendy Nelson, Peters- burg Elementary School secretary COACHiNG • Billy Hewig, Pike Cen- tral High School head wres- tling coach • Jason McKinney, Pike Central High School head swimming coach • Trent Whitehead, Pike Central High School assis- tant girls' basketball coach • Hunter Elliott, Chad Whitehead and Josh Roach, Pike Central High School assistant boys' basketball coaches • Jamie McKinney, Pike Central High School assis- tant cheerleading coach • Jennifer Ficklin, Pike Central High School volun- teer assistant cheerleading coach School board increases number of hours for instructional assistants sOMeTHiNG NewswOrTHy? Give us a call—812-354-8500