GCSC to replace multiple buses

With the school’s ongoing bus replacement plan now fully en route, members of the Greencastle school board approved various plans Monday that will pave the way for the substitution of three aging buses.

With several resolutions affected, including the Bus Replacement Plan, the Capital Projects Fund, the Rainy Day Fund and Budget Transfer, the board made its way through the logistics during its monthly public session.

Interim Superintendent Jeff Hubble, who reported on the plan’s innerworkings Monday, said the buses are expected to be in use between the 2017 and 2028 school years.

He also noted other entities will be collaborating on the developments.

“The Board of Trustees will submit a certified copy of the resolution ... to the Department of Local Government and Finance as required by Indiana Code for approval,” Hubble said. The Bus Replacement resolution as stated by Hubble was then approved.

During a public hearing held within the district’s Sept. 26 session, the board members adopted the Board of Trustee’s plan to appropriate funds from Capital Projects from 2017-19 to help fund the replacements.

The resolution, also approved Monday by the board, will be submitted in kind to the Department of Local Government and Finance for approval.

The Budget Transfer resolution, which grants permission to Treasurer Jayme Barber to “make transfers within funds, between funds and in minor categories” to allow for expenditures in the 2017 budget when necessary. This will allow the district to allocate funds as needed for the bus replacement plan.

The resolution was subsequently approved by the board.

The Rainy Day Transfer resolution, which concerns the moving of money from the Rainy Day Fund into a savings account, was also approved to aid expenses for the three full-sized buses.

“(We) have established a Rainy Day Fund to be used for such situations where (GCSC) cannot transfer more than 10 percent of the total budget of each tax-bearing fund to our Rainy Day Fund each year,” Hubble said.

Hubble went on to say that, in the proposed resolution, the total of $150,000 be transferred from the Capital Projects Fund into the Rainy Day Fund. Furthermore, a transfer from the Transportation Fund of $200,000 will bring the total transfer of money into the Rainy Day Fund to $650,000 to help pay for the new buses.

Concerning tax neutrality, the board approved a resolution (and as required by Indiana Codes) to reduce the maximum levy for its Bus Replacement Fund by its Debt Service Fund, which will then be allowable for use to pay pension bonds of retired employees dating back to 2013.

“There are a group of people that have retired that we still owe money to,” Hubble said. “The law is such that we must take money from the Bus Replacement Fund or others to pay the pension(s) that we owe these retired people.

“This is why we have to buy buses from the Rainy Day Fund -- because we have to, by law, make this transfer of funds into retirement funds.”

In other business:

• Multiple donations were approved: A donation to Greencastle High School, to be used for the McAnally Center, for the amount of $3,500 was approved from Tamara and Rob York; and a donation to Greencastle High School, to be used for the athletic department, for the amount of $600, was approved from Crawfordsville Paper Projects.

• GCSC approved the hiring, transfers, resignations and terminations of several employees Monday: Kim Whited, approval of FMLA at Ridpath Primary (effective Sept. 12, 2016 through Jan. 9, 2017).

Sports: Kent Menzel, hire as head boys’ and girls’ swim coach at GHS; Chelseay Anderson, hire as assistant boys’ and girls’ swim coach at GHS; Shane Thomas, hire as assistant wrestling coach at GHS; Charlie Pingleton, hire as head wrestling coach at GHS; Craig Whitaker, hire as assistant boys’ basketball coach at GHS; Parker Aul, hire as freshman boys’ basketball coach at GHS; Sydney Lewis, hire as student lifeguard at GHS; Jacob Bennett, hire as student lifeguard at GHS; J.J. Custis, hire as student lifeguard at GHS; Bruce Cook, approved as volunteer assistant varsity girls’ basketball coach at GHS; Glenn Hile, approved as volunteer assistant varsity girls’ basketball coach at GHS; Rob York, approved as volunteer assistant varsity boys’ basketball coach at GHS; Nathan Lewis, approved as volunteer diving coach at GHS; Greg Bennett, approved as volunteer diving coach at GHS; Jay Bartrum, approved as volunteer assistant eighth-grade boys’ basketball coach at GMS; Steve Moses, approved as volunteer assistant eighth-grade boys’ basketball coach at GMS; and Michael Scott, resignation as assistant wrestling coach at GMS.

Non-certified: Katelyn Sibbitt, terminated as cafeteria assistant at GMS; Kim Tesmer, resignation as instructional assistant at Tzouanakis Intermediate; Ashley Downing, transfer from instructional assistant at Ridpath Primary and Deer Meadow Primary to instructional assistant at Deer Meadow Primary; Rochelle O’Neal, hire as instructional assistant at GMS; Billie Jo Bumgardner, transfer from temporary cafeteria manager at GHS to cafeteria manager at GHS; Shannon Cash, transfer from instructional assistant at GMS to to in-school suspension program instructional assistant at GMS; Michael Scott, hire as instructional assistant at GMS; Dayna Timcheck, hire as part-time, second-shift custodian at GMS; and Stephanie Hudson, approved as long-term substitute for Kim Whited (FMLA).