Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
AKRON - The Tippecanoe Valley School Board voted Monday to go with a conservative approach to building a new elementary school in Mentone.
Bart York, Skillman Corporation, will be the construction manager for the project. He offered the board two options to approaching the project. The first option called for a construction start date of July 1997 and would require 24 months to complete. Under this option, the board would allow architects from R.W. Clinton and Associates to work on the design phase during the remonstrance period.
Under the second option, the achitects would wait until the project was approved to begin designs. Construction would begin in the spring of 1998 and finish in September 1999. York said this would result in lower construction fees paid to his firm and the contractors.
Both plans call for a public hearing to be held in October. If 250 property owners show opposition to the project within 30 days following the hearing, a remonstrance period will begin. The board and the opposition will then have 30 days for preparation, followed by another 30 days to obtain signatures on a petition. Another 14 days will be required for validation of signatures and for a determination to be made.
If the project is defeated, the board would be required to wait one year before bringing the project to another hearing.
"I know many of you are anxious to get started," said York, "but going with the conservative approach, the end of the project would only be three months later and those are the summer months when you wouldn't be using the building for students anyway. You are not losing anything with this approach and you have everything to gain."
York said construction would take less time with the second option because the schedule falls into a better time frame, creating fewer delays from weather.
In other business, the board approved a plan for licensing substitute teachers. The plan allows the corporation to set the criteria for selecting substitutes and lowers the minimum education requirements to a high school diploma. Following approval by the school board, the corporation will be required to submit the plan to the Indiana Professional Standards Board (IPSB).
This two-year pilot program is intended to streamline the process of hiring substitute teachers. The Division of Teacher Licensing will issue substitute certificates. School districts will be required to review the plan once a year and submit a written evaluation to the Division of Teacher Licensing. At the end of two years, the IPSB will have developed new rules based in part on the success of the pilot.
The next regular meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 14.
