Investment Income Down, Whitko Hears
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
During the Whitko Board of Finance meeting Monday night before the school board’s regular meeting, Director of Financial Operations Tom McFarland said interest from investments brought in a little more than $15,000 in 2012. In 2007, Whitko earned $250,544.54 in interest.
The difference was attributed to lower interest rates. Where the school corporation could once get 6 or 7 percent in interest on investments, it’s now less than half of that.
The school corporation’s board of finance is required to meet once a year to approve its investment report and elect officers. Whitko’s board also approved the cancellation of outstanding checks as of Dec. 31. It named Joe Begley as board of finance president, and Roger Boggs as secretary.
During the regular board meeting, the board approved the retirement of Bruce Hansen as South Whitley Elementary School principal, effective at the end of the school year.
Superintendent Steve Clason said Hansen has been with Whitko Schools a number of years. The school corporation will work on replacing Hansen as the year goes on. Hansen’s time with Whitko was appreciated.
Clason also gave a report on Whitko Schools’ modified schedule.
Though the schedule change has only been in place the last two weeks, Clason said it’s going well and there’s been no difference in attendance than any other day.
All Whitko Schools are delayed 30 minutes each Wednesday morning and morning bus routes run 30 minutes later. Individual buildings work out their Wednesday schedules for breakfast, lunch and specials.
During the late start, school staff participates in professional development activities. At the middle and high schools, staff have been talking about school goals. The elementary staff are talking about improvements.
In his Indiana legislative update, Clason said there are currently more than 600 Senate bills and 350 House bills being offered for consideration that may or may not get a hearing. There are a number of them that he said Whitko probably wants to watch.
Whitko has talked about razing and building a new Pierceton Elementary School. Currently, a school corporation has to wait four years to demolish a school to see if a charter school wants to purchase it. However, there is now a bill being offered that says a school corporation can apply for a waiver after 30 days to tear down an old school.
There also are bills to back out of the national Common Core Standards, and bills to allow students to use vouchers to enter private or charter schools right away instead of waiting a year. Clason said some promising bills include full funding for full-day kindergarten, making kindergarten mandatory and preschool funding.
“There are a listing of things here we don’t even know if they will get a hearing,” he said.
Federally, a number of bills have not been reauthorized that could affect the appropriations for schools. Among others, that includes No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Act.
The last thing in the meeting Clason discussed was school security.
He said he hoped the board noticed there’s been a conscious outreach from the schools out to the community, and vice versa. There’s been a lot more recognition in the last six months of how schools and the community can work together.
Monday, Clason said, he met with the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department, all of Whitko’s principals, Pierceton and South Whitley police departments to look at safety measures at the schools.
They talked about what the law enforcement agencies wold like to see for schools and the different type of safety and security measures at the schools.
“Nothing came out of it except for work for me to do,” Clason joked, adding it was an initial conversation with more discussions to follow.
“Once more, I was struck by how important schools and the community view each other,” he said.
In other business, the school board:
• approved the year-end appropriation transfer report;
• approved the purchase of two 72-passenger buses and one 48-passenger handicapped bus from Midwest;
• and approved the copier contract and managed print service agreement with Perry Corporation.[[In-content Ad]]
During the Whitko Board of Finance meeting Monday night before the school board’s regular meeting, Director of Financial Operations Tom McFarland said interest from investments brought in a little more than $15,000 in 2012. In 2007, Whitko earned $250,544.54 in interest.
The difference was attributed to lower interest rates. Where the school corporation could once get 6 or 7 percent in interest on investments, it’s now less than half of that.
The school corporation’s board of finance is required to meet once a year to approve its investment report and elect officers. Whitko’s board also approved the cancellation of outstanding checks as of Dec. 31. It named Joe Begley as board of finance president, and Roger Boggs as secretary.
During the regular board meeting, the board approved the retirement of Bruce Hansen as South Whitley Elementary School principal, effective at the end of the school year.
Superintendent Steve Clason said Hansen has been with Whitko Schools a number of years. The school corporation will work on replacing Hansen as the year goes on. Hansen’s time with Whitko was appreciated.
Clason also gave a report on Whitko Schools’ modified schedule.
Though the schedule change has only been in place the last two weeks, Clason said it’s going well and there’s been no difference in attendance than any other day.
All Whitko Schools are delayed 30 minutes each Wednesday morning and morning bus routes run 30 minutes later. Individual buildings work out their Wednesday schedules for breakfast, lunch and specials.
During the late start, school staff participates in professional development activities. At the middle and high schools, staff have been talking about school goals. The elementary staff are talking about improvements.
In his Indiana legislative update, Clason said there are currently more than 600 Senate bills and 350 House bills being offered for consideration that may or may not get a hearing. There are a number of them that he said Whitko probably wants to watch.
Whitko has talked about razing and building a new Pierceton Elementary School. Currently, a school corporation has to wait four years to demolish a school to see if a charter school wants to purchase it. However, there is now a bill being offered that says a school corporation can apply for a waiver after 30 days to tear down an old school.
There also are bills to back out of the national Common Core Standards, and bills to allow students to use vouchers to enter private or charter schools right away instead of waiting a year. Clason said some promising bills include full funding for full-day kindergarten, making kindergarten mandatory and preschool funding.
“There are a listing of things here we don’t even know if they will get a hearing,” he said.
Federally, a number of bills have not been reauthorized that could affect the appropriations for schools. Among others, that includes No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Act.
The last thing in the meeting Clason discussed was school security.
He said he hoped the board noticed there’s been a conscious outreach from the schools out to the community, and vice versa. There’s been a lot more recognition in the last six months of how schools and the community can work together.
Monday, Clason said, he met with the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department, all of Whitko’s principals, Pierceton and South Whitley police departments to look at safety measures at the schools.
They talked about what the law enforcement agencies wold like to see for schools and the different type of safety and security measures at the schools.
“Nothing came out of it except for work for me to do,” Clason joked, adding it was an initial conversation with more discussions to follow.
“Once more, I was struck by how important schools and the community view each other,” he said.
In other business, the school board:
• approved the year-end appropriation transfer report;
• approved the purchase of two 72-passenger buses and one 48-passenger handicapped bus from Midwest;
• and approved the copier contract and managed print service agreement with Perry Corporation.[[In-content Ad]]
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