The Board of School Trustees met in regular session at 7 p.m., Monday, November 19, in the school administration building. Attending were board members Linda Baker, Edward Amberger, and Timothy Tuttle, board president. Also attending was Superintendent Dr. Thomas Reale and Larry Eaton, school attorney. Gregory Lewis and Randy Kirk were absent.
Tuttle presided over the meeting, which opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the approval of the minutes from the regular meeting held Monday, October 22.
The employee handbook was the first item of discussion. During the October meeting, approval of the newly revised handbook was tabled, because concern was raised over Line 8, which stated that Southeastern Career Center bus drivers must accept substitute bus driver assignments if that is the only route they have.
Career Center bus drivers, Linda Hyde and Debra Hackman, addressed the board at the October meeting, saying they felt singled out for harassment due to the wording of Line 8 and requested to be grandfathered as exempt from this one line of the description. Both have been with the corporation in excess of 10 years.
"This was on your agenda last month and you tabled it for further consideration and asked for one revision that has been made.(Line 8 was removed) So, I make the same recommendation as last month that we approve this employee handbook," said Dr. Reale.
Baker made a motion, which was seconded by Amberger to approve the employee handbook with the revisions made. The motion carried 3-0.
Next, Dr. Reale instructed board members to refer to their copy of the proposed student email use policy that he and principals recently put together.
"As you know, we have made our buildings wireless as part of our 21st Century learning initiative. All students have been issued email accounts," said Dr. Reale. "The principals felt that it would be advisable if we had a board policy dictating the dos and don'ts of the student use of their school-issued email accounts."
Tuttle asked if the school's firewall is sufficient to guard students from visiting inappropriate websites. Dr. Reale told him that they had just upgraded to a different company two weeks prior and that he feels the appropriate safeguards are in place. He then asked board members to think it over and bring any questions or concerns that they have to the next meeting.
The next item discussed was the school calendar for 2013.
"Of course, we don't have a calendar adopted for the next school year yet. And, I don't have a proposal for you tonight, but I wanted to begin that discussion," said Dr. Reale. He told about meeting with other superintendents and their summarization of how their year has been so far.
"I've discussed the calendar with the principals and I've discussed it with the Teacher's Association. I can have something for you next month as a point of discussion," Dr. Reale said.
Next on the agenda was the corporation car. Dr. Reale informed board members that the car is in need of major transmission repairs, as well as routine maintenance, to make it road-worthy. He said that he has gotten repair estimates together and the cost to repair it will be $1,300.
Following some discussion, it was agreed upon to get an estimate on the value of the vehicle and then vote next month on whether or not $1,300 is a reasonable investment.
Other items voted on and unanimously approved were:
• Three fundraising requests for the middle and high school.
• To hire a co-sponsor for the middle school cheerleading squad. Dr. Reale said that this would not cost the corporation any money, as the co-sponsor would split the stipend with the sponsor due to this being a single-stipend position.
• The claims and financial report.
The meeting ended with Dr. Reale and other board members wishing all in attendance a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
The next meeting of the Milan Board of School Trustees will be at 7 p.m., Monday, December 17 at the school administration building.
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