North Putnam School board elects new president

BAINBRIDGE-- The North Putnam School Corporation selected a new president and vice-president at their first monthly meeting of the year on Tuesday night. Charlie Boller was elected the new president of the board, while former president Debbie Sillery was elected to vice-president. Jacquelyn Simpson remained the secretary.

The board also swore in its three new members. John Hays, Oliver Haste and Travis Lambermont were sworn in as the new members.

Before the meeting officially began, Superintendent Mary Lovejoy recognized the North Putnam football team and its staff for its unbelievable run this year. Each player and staff member received a certificate of recognition for the team's efforts in the successful football season.

"Of course sports, football, is important to me," Lovejoy said. "But the most important thing to me is the young men you're becoming."

The school board had difficulty passing a motion that would purchase three new school buses while selling five. The board's new members were cautious about spending the $330,934 required to purchase the buses, even though the five buses being replaced would be traded in.

"Maybe its just me new on the board and not being used to this, I guess I just don't like spending $300,000 of somebody's money," Hays said.

Hays and other new members wanted to table the bill until the next meeting so they could better understand why the expense had to be made, but doing so would invalidate the bids for the new school buses, and new bids may drive the price higher. This holds back the replacement schedule further and can cause more expenses in time.

"If we don't get back on track with a bus replacement plan, we might end up with a year where we have to buy many buses in a year and it will hurt us financially," Sillery said.

The board approved the purchase 4-3.