North Putnam Schools to remain open Tuesday

While the Greencastle, Cloverdale and South Putnam school corporations have announced that school will not be in session this coming Tuesday, it will be business as usual for North Putnam.

In a statement provided to the Banner Graphic, Superintendent Nicole Singer explained that all schools in the corporation will remain open during the Indiana State Teachers Association Day of Action despite some teachers expressing interest in traveling to Indianapolis to advocate for school funding.

“While we support our teachers and their efforts to improve funding allocations for public schools, we also support our students and families,” Singer wrote. “We know we are a safe and secure place for many of our students. We also know our families depend on us to educate their children and, in some cases, provide basic food needs.”

Singer said 19 teachers throughout the corporation have requested to attend the day-long rally at the Indiana Statehouse, and that their absences can be covered.

“This represents 21 percent of our teaching staff, and we are committed to supporting our educators in their effort to seek a better classroom environment for our students,” Singer added. “We are able to cover classrooms as we would normally when teachers are absent to provide a safe and secure learning environment for our students.”

Other schools have cited teacher shortages as the reason for closures or e-learning days on Tuesday, in addition to support for the teachers taking part.

As of noon Friday, 137 of 291 public school corporations in the state have some sort of closure in place for Tuesday.

Teachers and other supporters of public education are rallying on this day because it is also Organization Day for the Indiana General Assembly, meaning all members of the Indiana Senate and Indiana House of Representatives will be in attendance.

Locally, Greencastle Community Schools will have an e-learning day on Tuesday.

South Putnam will cancel school on Tuesday and make up for it with an e-learning day on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 20.

Cloverdale will also close on Tuesday, with a regular in-school makeup day on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.