NPCA looking for answers, unity

Monday, April 12, 2010
Christa Fuhrman, left, and Jessica Mitchell are part of the North Putnam Community Association. The group has had two meetings and is hoping to find a way to work with the school board to improve the school district for students' benefit.

BAINBRIDGE -- A recently formed group of North Putnam community members is looking for answers and accountability from the North Putnam Community School Board.

The North Putnam Community Association held its second meeting last week and is determined to help find a way to improve issues at the school for the benefit of students.

"We would like everyone to come together in the best interest of the children," said one of the group's founders Christa Fuhrman. "We want to put all the negatives behind and just look at what is best for the kids."

Her father Roger Cook is a retired North Putnam teacher who strongly believes that cutting teachers is not in the best interest of the children.

"It's very important that all staff members pull together. We need to work as a team and work together," he told the group.

The NPCA is also interested in how the board is pursuing the possibility of creating academic centers at the schools. These are similar to what the Greencastle School Corporation has with grades kindergarten, first, second and third in one school, an intermediate school with grades four and five then middle school with grades six to eight. The remaining grades would then be high school.

They also want to look at the transportation issues the North Putnam school board is looking at by changing routes and the number of students in the elementary schools.

"We don't want things to be divided with administration on one side and parents on the other. We're not coming after them with pitchforks," said Julie Wilkins.

The group wants to know where the school board stands on the issue of looking into academic centers. They want to form a task force comprised of board members, parents, teachers and administrators to visit schools that have centers. Some of these in addition to Greencastle are Crawfordsville, North Salem and Batesville.

"The academic centers were tabled at the last school board meeting. We need to be looking at these and at other options. If they refuse to look at options besides redistribution of students, we may have to come after them with pitchforks," Wilkins said with a smile.

Another important issue is a clear explanation of the school's budget. They want to know how much money is in the budget, how much is owed and how the school corporation got into this situation.

And they want the explanation is easy to understand terms.

An important issue to them is the purchase of smart boards and discovery software that was bought and installed with a grant from Old National. The grant money was delayed and when it arrived, the board found it would be distributed over several years. The company who sold and installed the boards was demanding payment of the $186,669.52. The board approved borrowing the amount from Covenant Financial Services.

Members of the group wanted to know why the only board member who suggested the boards be returned was Carl Blau.

"We want to be sure they are questioning things, not just going along with the crowd," said Wilkins.

According to the minutes from the Nov. 19, 2009 school board meeting, the only explanation given was that it was not beneficial or cost-efficient for the corporation to return the boards or software.

Several people present added their concerns that teachers and administrators are afraid or have been told not to attend the community meetings.

"We've been told they can't discuss things outside the building and that building administrators won't talk to them about the reduction in force and other issues," they said.

School board member Charlie Boller attended the first meeting the group had, but people in the crowd stated that Boller was reprimanded by other school board members and by school superintendent Dr. Mary Lovejoy. According to these people, Boller was told not to attend any more of the group's meetings.

"I don't know if it's true, but that's what we've been told. And, we want the board's input. We want them here," said one parent.

The group plans to ask questions at the next school board meeting this Thursday.

In addition to concern over 17 teachers having their contracts canceled at the upcoming board meeting, the group wants to know if non-certified people are being let go. If so, they are asking when will they be notified.

"We just want answers to our questions. The school board members are elected by the community. They work for us and they need to answer our questions," said another group member.

The next meeting of the North Putnam Community Association will be May 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the Bainbridge Christian Church. All community members are urged to attend this meeting as well as the school board meeting.

"Again, we don't want things to be divided with administration on one side and parents on the other. We want everyone working together for our children," reiterated Fuhrman. "We need to come together for the them."

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  • I think they may have to look at consolidation too. Putnam County school District...

    -- Posted by G-boy2008 on Mon, Apr 12, 2010, at 2:14 PM
  • It sounds like a great plan to work with the school corporation for the benefit of all students. I hope this group will generate ideas for the corporation and that the corporation will listen to community input. It isn't only the past financial deficit that has taken it's toll on the school corporation, but the cuts made by the state too. All of this together has caused this immediate problem. There are many school corporations (in this state and other states as well) in this type of financial mess not just North Putnam.

    -- Posted by SamHill on Tue, Apr 13, 2010, at 5:51 AM
  • The state has cost North Putnam hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is the millions of dollars in loans that is the problem. What was that money spent on?

    -- Posted by testmet on Tue, Apr 13, 2010, at 6:14 AM
  • "School board member Charlie Boller attended the first meeting the group had, but people in the crowd stated that Boller was reprimanded by other school board members and by school superintendent Dr. Mary Lovejoy. According to these people, Boller was told not to attend any more of the group's meetings. "

    Interesting! Doesn't the school board hire and fire the Superintendent?

    -- Posted by exhoosier2 on Tue, Apr 13, 2010, at 7:35 AM
  • And why do we have four superintendents and four assistant superintendents in this county? Vigo County has one.... ONE! How much money would we save if we had ONE superintendent and a couple of assistants for the county school system? That sure beats teacher layoffs, cut salaries, cut hours, etc. Who would decide this? Your man (not mine) Mitch? The state board of education? Just a thought, and I have wondered for some time why this has never been a true option.

    -- Posted by MsBehaving on Tue, Apr 13, 2010, at 1:12 PM
  • You could also argue that multiple superintendents is a good thing. Think of how many 10s of millions of dollars Putnam county schools could be missing if they had been all been run by the previous North Putnam administration.

    -- Posted by testmet on Tue, Apr 13, 2010, at 3:21 PM
  • Mr. Pride, do you have any comment on these topics? We trusted you for 15 years, did this "really" happen or does the current administration just not get it? Help us understand!

    -- Posted by Old Cougar Fan on Tue, Apr 13, 2010, at 8:56 PM
  • The lack of response to this article is a dismal display of apathy. Wake up NP parents!

    The reason 17 teachers were RIFed isn't because of the state budget, which is devastating enough, but because of the debt our school corporation has accumulated. If things continue the way they are, there will be more and more cuts in the years to come.

    Question why we're so far in debt and who approved the loans. Why was the money borrowed? How was it spent? What were the original plans for paying it back? How can it now be repaid WITHOUT cutting staff and WITHOUT stuffing as many children into classrooms as we can? Only members of the community can push for these answers.

    Don't think that because whatever is important in the schools to you and your child hasn't been cut yet, that it won't be cut in the future. Now is the time to get the answers!

    -- Posted by npcrazy on Tue, Apr 13, 2010, at 9:12 PM
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