School board delays fuel purchase for now

The South Putnam School Board heard from Co-Alliance about the purchase of fuel at Monday night's meeting.

Co-Alliance spokesman Andy Meier was present to speak to the board about what Co-Alliance could do for South Putnam. In a congenial speech, Meier explained to the board about forward contracting fuel prices and how Co-Alliance uses future markets to figure out fuel prices longterm.

"Fuel costs have dropped about a dollar in the past week," Meier said. "But right now the crystal ball is cloudy when it comes to fuel prices."

Meier told the board how in years past, fuel prices go up during the autumn months due to harvest and expects it will probably be the same this year. One board member asked if he thought it would be better to hold off purchasing fuel for 30 days to see where prices were. But Meier believed it would be best not to wait and instead to lock in a price for a complete year, just for a couple months at a time since he believes prices are only going to go down from here.

Board President Mike Rissler said he didn't believe the board should take any action at this point though, because they are waiting on numbers to be given to them by Superintendent Bruce Bernhardt.

This topic will be discussed further and voted on at the budget meeting slated for Sept. 3 at 7 p.m.

In other business a list of coaches has been made available for the entire 2008-09 school year. These lists are available at the South Putnam Administration Building.

Burnhardt also reported that the appointment of Debbie Steffy as Central's Assistant principal has been successful after the first couple days of school. He stated that this move has helped out Principal Brad Hayes immensely now that he doesn't have to split his time between Central and Fillmore elementaries so often.

The South Putnam School Board meets regularly the third Monday of every month in the Central Elementary Music Room at 7 p.m. Their next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 3 when they will discuss this year's budget.