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UPDATED BY MARIA SIEVERDING JANUARY 24, 2018 3 P.M.
SR approves 2018 positions within board and school
Jared D. Rogers
STAFF WRITER
A regular meeting of the South Ripley Board of School Trustees occurred on Monday, January 15. Board members in attendance included: Jeff Cornett, Carol Holzer, Randy McIntosh, Tim Taylor, and Becky Turner. Members Robert Garcia and Steve Patrick were absent. Superintendent Robert Moorhead and School Attorney Merritt Alcorn were both present. Prior to the regular meeting, an executive session was held to discuss job performance evaluation of individual employees. Jennifer Horvath from AdvancEd and Lisa Tanselle from ISBA were not able to attend the meeting as planned due to the inclement weather.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Cheryll Obendorf with Genesis Pathways to Success recognized Chris Perdue as the November 2017 STEMStar at the South Ripley school board meeting. Chris has done extremely well with his snowboarding talents in Special Olympics, but this recognition came from his participation in the Construction Technology Program at the Southeastern Career Center. South Ripley School Board President Taylor and Ms. Obendorf both presented a certificate of recognition, and Superintendent Moorhead and board members all congratulated Chris.
Superintendent Moorhead recognized Junior High Principal Destiny Rutzel for SRJHS receiving Common Sense Media Certification. This initiative was led by teacher Holly Swinney along with collaboration of all staff at SRJHS. Common Sense Media Certification recognizes schools that have committed to emphasizing digital citizenship in the classroom. The detailed year-end Financial Report was given by business manager Lana Miller, and was unanimously approved. The 2017 Year-End Balance of Appropriations, Expenditures, Investments, Transfers, and Encumbrances were all approved. President Taylor opened the floor for nomination of 2018 officers. Randy McIntosh made the nomination for a slate of officers as follows: Tim Taylor, president; Randy McIntosh, vice president; and Becky Turner, secretary. Administrative/Noncertified Committee: Randy McIntosh, Tim Taylor, and Becky Turner. Athletic Council: Jeff Cornett and Steve Patrick. Legislative Representative: Carol Holzer. Negotiation Committee: Randy McIntosh, Tim Taylor, and Becky Turner.
It was decided that the entire Board of School Trustees is to serve as the Board of Finance for 2018, and the established time of 6:30 PM on the 3rd Monday of each month as the appointed day and time for regular board meetings will continue. The following positions were also approved for 2018: Lana Miller as treasurer, Karen Sieverding as deputy treasurer, Merritt Alcorn as school board attorney, and Jeff Thielking as school resource officer.
Under personnel, the following FMLA leave requests were granted: Janine Stratton, Tiffany Ellison, and Sarah McGhee. Phyllis Hull will fill the FMLA leave in third grade for Janine Stratton. This will delay Ms. Hull’s placement in the previously approved position of High Ability Assistant until February of 2018.
The following resignation was accepted: Whitney Walker as 8th grade girls basketball coach, effective immediately. Matt McNew will fill the vacant 8th grade girls basketball coach position. Mr. McNew was approved previously as a volunteer coach with the junior high girls basketball program.
In order to lower the teacher-student ratio, approval was granted for adding an additional teacher per grade level to the Tuesday and Thursday tutoring sessions that are offered at SRJHS. This is for the ISTEP preparation time period of January 29 through February 22, and April 2 through April 12, 2018. The rate of pay will be $20 per session.
SRES was approved to provide after-school remediation to students in grades 3-6. Students will receive two days of Language Arts remediation and two days of math remediation for one hour after school and teachers will be paid at a rate of $20 per session. The elementary schedule is April 2 through April 12, 2018.
Superintendent Moorhead shared an informative chart outlining the timeline of Ilearn implementation. Ilearn is a computer adaptive test and is the replacement for ISTEP+. Superintendent Moorhead informed the board that teacher Barb Hensley was chosen for the Ilearn Blue Print Committee. Superintendent Moorhead extended congratulations and thanks to Ms. Hensley for her willingness to serve.
Superintendent Moorhead shared an article about Indiana’s graduation rates. South Ripley’s graduation rate for 2016-2017 was 98.6% and is the highest in all of Southeastern Indiana. Much of this success was due to developing alternative paths to graduation, including credit recovery. Superintendent Moorhead reminded board members that it was a goal of the high school to increase the graduation rate and they did just that with 70 out of 71 students graduating in the 2017 cohort. Superintendent Moorhead extended thanks to David Wintin, Anne Poling, Heather Reichert, and Joe Ralston for their part in reaching this goal.
Superintendent Moorhead informed the board that Vince Bertram, PLTW president will be visiting Bio-Medical and Engineering classes. Dr. Bertram is also a member of the Indiana State Board of Education. Superintendent Moorhead met him while attending hearings at the Indiana State House regarding the proposed new graduation pathways.
To conclude the regular meeting, Superintendent Moorhead congratulated Coach Ron Pollard and the sectional winning boys bowling team. Immediately following the regular session, a Board of Finance meeting was held. Superintendent Moorhead recommended opening the Election of Officers, and it was agreed that the officers for the Board of Finance will be the same as the officers of the Board of School Trustees. The Investment and Financial Report as submitted in the regular meeting was also approved unanimously.
Building soft skills, earning OSHA 10 card
Construction Technology at S.E. Career Center
Students deciding to attend Construction Technologies of Heavy Equipment at Southeastern Career Center will be gaining valuable training that is designed to benefit them as they prepare to leave high school. Whether they decides to further their education at a post-secondary institution or go directly into the workforce, skills developed here will be a great asset to them.
Students interested in this class must have already received a valid driver’s license or will be receiving one by the end of the first quarter (early October). No experience on equipment is needed. We have had students who have never sat on a riding lawn mower that do quite well in this class.
Instruction and training they will receive through this class will cover, but not be limited to:
• Safe operation and identification of a Backhoe, Excavator, Skid steer, Utility tractor, Fork truck, Dump truck and Bulldozer. As weather permits, they will operate and log personal seat time they have obtained on each piece of equipment. This will provided them with a foundation of becoming knowledgeable and comfortable with the equipment, be able to conduct pre-shift equipment check sheets and perform general maintenance. As students learn to operate the equipment and begin to move dirt through different exercises, they will also learn how to set up and use equipment designed to calculate quantities of materials being moved. These quantities are measured in square feet, cubic feet, square yards, cubic yards, pounds and tons. Students will learn to calculate these measurements. Students will also learn how to set up and read a grade rod using the auto level. They will also become familiar with the set up and use of the rotating laser and target.
• Estimate and project cost. This part of the program will go hand in hand with the other skills these students will learn. This is a necessary skill needed especially if the student desires to have their own company.
• Earning an OSHA 10 card and learn the importance of the 811 call before you dig system. With numerous underground utilities being installed everyday it is important to know the procedures of how to protect yourself, other coworkers, underground utilities, exposed utilities, and project cost while excavating.
• Perform grade and utility work at an actual job site. Students will go off site to do work at Building Trades 2 project house, gaining valuable experience at a live construction site.
• Soft skills. One of the most important areas that we here at the Southeastern Career Center feel will benefit our students the most is what is known as soft skills. This is teaching them the importance of being on time, being dependable, working well with others, being teachable etc. Without these skills students will rarely make it past the interview much less make it to the seat of a machine.
