Area 30 addresses Cloverdale School Board of Trustees

CLOVERDALE -- At the Cloverdale Board of School Trustees meeting Monday, Lora Busch, director of the Area 30 Career Center, spoke about what the career center does and how it helps the students of Cloverdale High School.

The Area 30 Career Center helps students earn college credit and learn more about the career field they may be interested in pursuing. Classes can meet in the morning or afternoon and there are a variety of different programs the student can enroll in, such as nursing, culinary arts, law enforcement and architecture.

Area 30 will even make preliminary plans with eighth grade students to help them prepare for the classes they want to take in high school.

"Of course [the schedule] is subject to change based on the fact that they're in eighth grade," Busch joked.

The school board was very complimentary and positive regarding the career center's work. Superintendent Carrie Milner said there were 71 Cloverdale students taking advantage of the program and the career center is an incredible asset to students. Milner said she hopes more students make use of these opportunities.

"Sometimes we know about these programs but we don't always understand what they offer," Milner said.

The board also celebrated the three December students of the month from elementary, middle and high school.

Third grader Shelby Nees was the student of the month in the Cloverdale elementary school, seventh grader Chasity Durden was student of the month for the middle school, and junior Cameron Mann was student of the month for the high school.

The school board approved everything on the agenda by a unanimous vote, including accepting a $1,000 WalMart Foundation Grant, a $5,000 Putnam County Community Foundation Youth Philanthropy Grant, and the new school schedule for the 2011-12 school year.

The schedule for next year has school starting on August 15 and ending May 23, with graduation scheduled for May 26. Milner said the schedule is set with several snow days already worked in, which is based on using a lot of snow days in the past.

The Cloverdale Board of School Trustees meets on the second Monday of every month at the Arthur L. Johnson Center at 7 p.m.