Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH MANCHESTER - Guidelines for all buildings in the Manchester Community School System were presented and approved in the form of handbooks Tuesday night at the MCS board meeting.
Using NEOLA policies as a guideline, principals and groups of teachers from Laketon Elementary School, Manchester Elementary School and Manchester Junior/Senior High School amended current handbooks.
Laketon Elementary School Principal Denny Craft explained changes and amendments to the school's handbook. He highlighted new sections and told the board which ones were currently in practice but not in older handbooks. Laketon Elementary's handbook includes sections on bullying, incomplete homework, weapons and cellular telephones. Students now are allowed to have cellular telephones in the building but they are not allowed to use them during school hours.
Bonnie Ingraham, Manchester Elementary School principal, explained the MES handbook is similar to the Laketon handbook, but it is more concise.
"The goal is to have a handbook that is uniform and stable year after year," said Ingraham. "It is a more uniform and informational document."
The handbook for Manchester Junior/Senior High School is a "collision of the Manchester Junior High handbook, the Manchester High School handbook and NEOLA policies," said Manchester Jr./Sr. High Assistant Principal Randy Self.
Since the schools have been combined into one, policies were melded together to work for both buildings.
At the Jr./Sr. High School level, attendance policies have not changed, but the administrators plan to work more closely with the probation department to make sure students are not missing too much school.
"There were no major changes, just some minor tweaks and some combinations," said Self.
In other business, the board:
• Approved a recommendation for Self to add a maximum of 10 work days on a per diem basis for the summer.
• Accepted the resignation of Kathy Dierks as driver's education assistant at MHS.
• Tabled a decision on a recommendation for Diana Nettleton to teach second grade on a 120-day contract for the 2005-06 school year pending more information.
• Tabled decisions to elect a board secretary and park board member until the next meeting.
• Approved the minutes from the May 24 meeting.
• Approved an overnight field trip request for Gwen Mize and the MHS FFA to travel to the Indiana State FFA Convention at Purdue University June 13-16.
• Approved a request for Diana Showalter to attend a leadership conference in Phoenix June 21-24.
• Approved the final reading of the NEOLA board policies.
• Approved an amended resolution for financing the Trane Project. Since board secretary Brad Perrott resigned in May, the resolution had to be amended to allow the board vice president to sign paperwork in June.
