North Putnam discusses future

Friday, February 18, 2011

BAINBRIDGE -- The North Putnam School Corporation board spent a large portion of its time going over procedural issues over the Rainy Day Fund and discussing how to handle needed repairs and replacements at its schools at Thursday's meeting.

The corporation has mostly replaced the roof over North Putnam High School and the windows at various schools. With those major projects out of the way, the board is looking forward to determine what their next course of action should be.

Jim Thompson, president of Gibraltar Design did preliminary research on several areas the board wanted to address and came up with rough estimates over how much certain improvements would cost.

The biggest project would be on the roof of Roachdale Elementary. The roof requires a lot of attention and is leaking in the main hallway. But because of several details, including parts of the roof that had recently been replaced and other new sections, a comprehensive financial estimate was not given. The board has the choice of updating the entire roof or ignoring the newer sections.

"There are things that, if you don't do, we believe will continue to damage your investment," Thompson said.

The North Putnam Middle School roof may need help down the line, but it will still be good for at least three to four more years, Thompson said.

Thompson also went over the HVAC systems. The overall cost of HVAC improvements throughout the school system would be roughly $2 million.

Some of the improvements would include installing energy efficient boilers in the elementary schools, along with the technology required to utilize the system fully, and a new chilling system in the middle and high school.

But before any decisions on this can be made, the school must collect data on its current energy usage . Then it can determine how worthwhile it would be to replace the system, Thompson said.

The board also had to approve the right to appropriate money from the Rainy Day Fund. Though it was not spending any money at the meeting, and agreed not to do so except for emergencies, it had to approve an appropriation that already happened because of legal reasons and general procedure.

The newer board members not active when the money was first taken from the fund, particularly John Hays and Oliver Haste, asked several questions regarding why this money was already taken out and why the board was appropriating the original amount.

"We want to make very sure we have the money we think we have," said superintendent Dr. Mary Sugg Lovejoy.

The motion to appropriate passed with a vote of 5-2, Hays and Haste voting against.

The date of graduation was changed from May 28 to June 4. Because of the bad weather a few weeks ago, the school is still making up days and instruction must continue to May 31, and the state does not want classes to continue past the graduation date. The board also had to redo an accepted motion from January's meeting. John Moore originally sent in a letter of resignation to the board, which was approved to be effective at the end of the school year. However, Moore made a mistake, actually meaning to retire. The board reversed this and approved his retirement 7-0.

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  • They left out the part where they are trying to get rid of all the tenured teachers to bring in fresh ones right out of college so they can see ISTEP scores plummet. I think Dr. Lovejoy is forcing her principles to give some of the teachers bad reviews so they can kick them to the curb.

    Signed,

    Well-Connected

    -- Posted by nobody important on Fri, Feb 18, 2011, at 7:47 AM
  • I left out the part of why they are getting rid of the tenured teachers. Bring in the fresh ones at the low end of the pay scale so she can take credit for cutting the budget.

    -- Posted by nobody important on Fri, Feb 18, 2011, at 7:49 AM
  • Most tenured teachers need to be kicked to the curb, they are overpaid and lost their fire to teach years ago. 60 k to work 9 months a year why would they retire,Salaries should be based on merit not years of service..............

    -- Posted by tru story on Fri, Feb 18, 2011, at 8:11 AM
  • -Tru Story- Very few teachers in this county make 60k a year first off. If they do they have been teaching 25+ years and are involved in extra curricular activities (sports, tutoring, clubs, etc) which takes up more time than just their normal 8-3 hours. Truth be told if they do do extras then its probably more like 7-6 if not worse. 10-14 hour days for educators is not unheard of!! By the way teachers that come early and leave late DO NOT get paid overtime! They bring their work home with them on a nightly basis taking time away from their friends and family!

    Did I mention that during the time they are educating our children they have to deal with untold amounts of disrespectful and defiance due to the lack of guidance from the children's parents??

    Classroom sizes are getting bigger and bigger due to "budget cuts", kids back talking and fighting, kids not doing homework therefore they do not learn the subject therefore they get bad grades and then everybody wants to blame the teachers! Come on WAKE UP PEOPLE!! PARENTS SHOULD BE THEIR CHILDS GREATEST TEACHER!

    I am not a teacher at school but I am one at home!

    Some teachers are underpaid and overworked!! NOT ALL mind you! Just like on every jobsite you have some who work harder and longer than others and you have those who are just putting their time in. To say "most tenure teachers" are just putting their time in is ridiculous and just plain ignorance on your part!

    -- Posted by bottomline on Fri, Feb 18, 2011, at 12:36 PM
  • The North Putnam Community needs to wake up to the fact that things are being done to force tenured teachers to retire. Just ask one of the recently retired ones why they have retired. You might be surprised at their answer.

    Why is a teacher considered over the hill when they reach their late 50's or early 60's? Is that how it is with all jobs?

    Just curious if the NP School Board considered doing away with the assistant superintendent's position and lowering the superintendent's salary? There are several school corporations the size of NP that only have a superintendent.

    -- Posted by nputnammom2 on Fri, Feb 18, 2011, at 2:50 PM
  • Thank you John & Ollie for asking questions that will help all of us understand what is happening and why! I hope the other board members learn from your example instead of rubber stamping.

    -- Posted by Old Cougar Fan on Fri, Feb 18, 2011, at 11:37 PM
  • Not only should you question the reduction of the superintendants salary for this year...what happened to the reduction of salary she said she would take last year during the "special sessions" when the school board was discussing the reduction of 15 certified and 15 noncertified positions. I don't recall reading in any of the board notes that have been posted following those meetings that the reduction was put in place. I also remember board members also offering to eliminate their $2000.00 stipend that they receive. It is the usual game of making the offerings but no one is holding them accountable.

    -- Posted by transplant01 on Tue, Feb 22, 2011, at 10:07 AM
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