NORTH MANCHESTER – Manchester Jr.-Sr. High School announced two awards it had received during the Manchester Community School Board meeting Tuesday. One award was received because MJSHS saw more than a quarter of its students receive a 3 or more to pass the Advanced Placement testing in 2012. The second award acknowledged the large jump in students who passed the AP testing compared to 2011. As one of only 34 Indiana high schools to meet the state goal of having 25 percent of the Class of 2012 take and pass an Advanced Placement exam with a score of 3 or higher, Manchester was recognized for having achieved a 34 percent pass rate. The percentage of Manchester students with AP scores of 3 or higher grew from 17 percent in 2011 to 34.1 percent in 2012. “We are honored to have received these awards for AP success. Our participation and success with Advanced Placement classes and scores have grown with emphasis on rigor and achievement by our AP teachers to better prepare students for college,” according to MJSHS Principal Nancy Alspaugh in a news release also received Tuesday. She told the board that the awards were given out at the state house, and that MJSHS was one of only four schools that received both awards statewide. AP testing can be used by students to earn credit or advanced placement into colleges and is done every May. In other business, the board approved a 3 percent pay increase for hourly employees and other administrative staff. Steve Shumaker, board business manager, assured everyone on the board that the additional $84,000 in costs was “well within budget.” Teachers are not a part of this pay increase. The board also agreed to approve the newly redesigned Board Policy Handbook that had been worked on by board members for a couple months. This new policy handbook takes the large older policy hand book and makes it more manageable for board members. Finally, the board heard from Shumaker on summer construction projects, who said things were progressing nicely and within budget. He also informed the board that the problem of chloroform entering the water at Manchester Intermediate seemed to be fixed. He assured the board that they would be monitoring the situation and making sure that the problem does not resurface. The next Manchester Community School Board Meeting will be Aug. 6 at 5:30 p.m.
