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South Putnam says goodbye to board member Nancy Wells
The South Putnam School Board said goodbye to one of its own Monday evening as board member Nancy Wells has completed her final term after serving a total of 20 years.
Wells began serving as a school board member as she saw an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of students.
"At my very first school board meeting we had about 450 people here," Wells said reflecting on her time at South Putnam. "That was pretty exciting."
Wells, who grew up in a very large school corporation, had hoped that she could provide students with the same opportunities that she had growing up. A mission she believes she completed during her 20 years.
"I came from a big school corporation. My class was larger than all of South Putnam," Wells explained. "I just felt like it (her school) had a lot more opportunities available than what South Putnam actually had. We weren't offering all that was there. But I think we've done a great job."
All board members had nothing but great things to say as they offered their goodbyes to Wells, who also recently retired from her full-time job.
"It's been great to have you as a board member," Superintendent Bruce Bernhardt said. "We appreciate all your efforts."
With her extra free time Wells will be keeping busy as she will soon be starting to do grant writing for South Putnam. She will also continue her work as a member of the Putnam County Community Foundation as well as the president of the Putnam County Planning Commission.
"I've loved every bit of it," Wells said, smiling. "I've enjoyed every minute of it. It's just all encompassing. I love the kids. I love being able to do things for the kids and be able to put the kids first. "
Anthony Heavin, a South Putnam graduate who went on to attend DePauw University, will begin his term as school board member in succeeding Wells in January.
"(My wife and I) feel that there were a lot of teachers, administrators and community members that stepped up and made us who we are today," Heavin previously told the Banner Graphic. "It takes a village to raise a child, not just parents or teachers, but community members and volunteers."
It is his hope to help the corporation and its administrators continue down the path that helped raise him.
Bernhardt also came before the council with a proposal for the calendar for the 2013-14 school year.
"Basically it would be a mirror image of the calendar that we had this year for almost everything," Bernhardt said.
The only real change is that the corporation would have a three-day break for Thanksgiving instead of a two-day vacation. In order to accommodate that change, students will start one day earlier on Friday, Aug. 8.
With little discussion, the board unanimously chose to approve the 2013-14 school calendar.
Due to attrition, Bernhardt came before the board in hopes of gaining approval to purchase a must-needed laptop cart.
"The laptops are older ones that are falling into disrepair," Bernhardt said. "We've gotten to the point where we have one fully operational laptop cart only."
Steve Ricketts, of Five Star Technologies, went through the state bid process for the corporation and received a quote for 30 HP Pro books with a three-year extended warranty.
The board approved the purchase at a total of $24,711.86. However, board members requested that a plan be put in place for the replacement of the computers before things get to such a state again.
Tom Neff of Schmidt Associates was expected to update the construction project, but could not make it to the meeting. Bernhardt noted that the board would likely have a special meeting in January to make up for it.
The next South Putnam School Board meeting will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. at Central Elementary.