Cloverdale board accepts bid for drainage project

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale School Board met for its monthly meeting on Monday evening, where Project Manager Dan Sulkoske once again gave an update on the upcoming improvement project, which will focus on fixing the on fixing the corporation's drainage issues.

Sulkoske came before the board with a total of five bids, which were received on April 8 and with little deliberation. The board then chose to go with the base bid for the retention pond and alternate one bid for a sewer pipe extending from the pond along the east side of the building from Steve Cooper Excavating for a total of $124,316.

"It (the water) will surface shed across the asphalt into new drainage inlets along the new drainage ditch and the new pipe," Sulkoske explained. "The water will flow better down to this retention pond."

Sulkoske also noted that while installing the HVAC system, a drainage pipe was found that the engineer believes may be usable once the area is reworked and the purpose of existing pipes are defined.

"Once we figure that out we can get in here and evaluate the subsurface drain pipe that's there," Sulkoske explained. "We can also evaluate whether or not you want to wedge the asphalt a little bit better toward these new inlets you're putting in here, there's for, to help the water get down there and keep it away from the building."

The project itself was originally proposed by Sulkoske as five different components, including the base bid of the retention pond; alternate one being the sewer pipe extending from the pond along the east side of the building; alternate two, tying in the roof drain; alternate three providing the asphalt around the north, east and south ends of the building; and alternate four being liquidated damage.

Although that this time the board has only chosen to go with the base bid and alternate one, it was noted that the corporation can revisit the other components of the project at a later date.

"By waiting you're going to get better numbers in the future," Sulkoske said. "You have options. This situation by doing base bid and alternate one, allows you many different options. The idea is to get better pricing by not accepting those alternates."

Elementary and Middle School Principal Stacey Baugh also came before the board to give an update on AdvancEd.

The corporation last received accreditation in 2012. However, at that time there were three areas that they wanted follow up on by May 1 of this year.

Among the areas was continuous improvement in the planning process, utilization and analysis of student data as well as investigating new ways to implement new strategies to increase parent involvement.

Baugh went on to explain that the corporation as a whole had a lot of programs, which needed to be evaluated through data analysis.

"We have streamlined a lot of things," Baugh said. "We have gotten rid of a few things that just weren't fiscally responsible programs."

It was also noted that through the streamline process, the corporation's now has an outside source from Indiana University that comes to evaluate the corporations after school programs as well as surveys being distributed to both the administration and parents.

Baugh advised the board that the corporation has implemented several different strategies to get parents involved. However, that is the corporation's biggest challenge.

"That's our toughest piece. We're still working on it," Baugh said. "It's not just Cloverdale Community Schools. I'm not saying we have a bad engagement piece. I just feel like we could have more involvement."

In other business:

* The board also honored elementary school student Emma Yarts, middle school student Bailey Sanders and high school student Rebekah Jordan as the April students of the month.

* The board also approved the resignation of Jarrod Duff as the head middle school baseball coach; the hiring of Tim Powell as the new middle school baseball coach and the hiring of Larry Hall as a middle school volunteer baseball coach.

* A $500 donation was also accepted from the State Farm Good Neighbor Program, which will go toward the middle school football program.

* The board also approved a proposal for the 2014 summer Snails to Trails program.

* Superintendent Carrie Milner also advised the board to keep an eye on the issue of personal property tax in Indiana. Milner noted that the situation has been going on for some time, but it is every evolving. If the bill were to pass, Cloverdale stands to lose nearly $60,000 in the process.

* The board also moved to become part of the WIC Conference.