Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH MANCHESTER - Manchester Community Schools Corp. teachers are still working this school year without a new contract.
The school board and Manchester Teachers' Association have been meeting privately for several months to negotiate a contract. With only a short time left in the school year, an agreement still has not been reached.
Charles Signs, North Manchester resident, spoke out at Tuesday's school board meeting in support of the teachers.
"(Approximately) $1.4 million is going to be spent to fix up the gym," Signs said. "Now I just wonder where your priorities are. Not one voice but caution will be raised if $1.4 million is spent."
Signs said the school corporation's responsibility is to prepare students for college or "basic learning tools for a wage-earning job."
"Sports is entertainment," Signs said. "Paying teachers should be No. 1 ... ."
He said it makes no difference how nice the carpet is or how nice the cafeteria is. These items are not what is important.
"All of this is meaningless without a qualified, satisfied teacher at the head of the class," Signs said. "A stalemate hurts everyone. So both sides, get busy."
Manchester teachers are the only teachers in the area still working this school year, more than 212 days, without a new contract.
In other business, the board:
• Awarded a contract to Dahm Bros., Fort Wayne, for $195,800 for the first phase of the junior high roof replacement project to begin this summer.
"We're very hopeful we can complete this project in two years or next summer," assistant superintendent Kim Thurston said Tuesday.
Martin Riley Mock Architects/Consultants, Fort Wayne, was hired in January to oversee the roofing project. The contract was for $15,800 (all-inclusive).
The roofing project will be completed in phases, beginning with the worst areas this summer. Thurston said the work will be completed no later than 2003.
• Heard from Tom Schlenger, Winsnap (a California-based company) on school automated lunch systems.
"It's a convenient way for parents to manage their kids' lunch money," Thurston said.
Total cost to acquire the program is approximately $40,000. Thurston said the money will come out of the school lunch account, which is separate from the general account.
"We're looking for a system that best serves our students, our families and our situation," Thurston said. Two other automated lunch systems are being researched. Thurston said they would like to have a system implemented for the 2001-02 school year with a price range of $35,000 to $40,000.
Board members granted permission to further investigate automated lunch systems.
• Heard from audience members supporting Manchester High School English teacher, Bob Gilbert.
Gilbert will teach social studies instead of English at the high school next year. The move is not a contractual change, simply part of a revised staffing plan.
"Mr. Gilbert not only challenges our views but he inspires us," Allison Beery, MHS senior, said.
She said Gilbert was one of her inspirations, right up there with Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Beery said she "pities the students who will not have the opportunity" to take English under Gilbert's direction.
"There will continue to be an English department," Leland Beery said. "But you can't replace the guy that's being moved."
Manchester Community Schools Board of Trustees members are: president Kent Trickle, vice president Virginia Gunter, secretary Larry Miller, Todd Speicher, Sally Krouse, Brad Perrott and Thom Frantz. Superintendent is Connie Curry. Assistant superintendent is Kim Thurston.
