South Putnam employees comment on school climate
Parents and teachers at South Putnam have continued to show their frustrations with school leaders. The dialogue has also invoked the culture there as a reason why teachers may either stay or leave.
Part of a large group which attended, two employees expressed concerns about colleagues leaving due to ongoing strife during the South Putnam School Board’s regular meeting Wednesday evening.
South Putnam Middle/High School science teacher Natalie Hodge first spoke on job openings for teachers as what she feels “is the most significant challenge” facing the school.
She noted that there were 1,858 openings in the Indiana Department of Education’s job bank, adding that this does not cover all potential listings. She also said that the IDOE’s job bank was not the only career opportunity.
“Teachers are choosing to leave K-12 education to pursue careers in higher education or outside of education,” Hodge provided. “A great concern to me is the number of science, math and special education openings in the job bank.”
Hodge stated that one-third of South Putnam’s teaching staff has either resigned or is planning to. She segued into administration at the middle/high school maintaining a positive culture where teachers are valued.
“I think that we can all agree that trusting and keeping high-quality, appropriately licensed teachers is of the utmost importance to our school district as we face an unprecedented shortage of highly qualified educators,” Hodge said. “In order to fill our openings and compete for the small number of new teachers graduating from college, we are going to have to offer a competitive salary or a fantastic school culture and climate.
“We’ve relied on our culture to attract and keep teachers,” she added. “My hope is that the South Putnam School Board will keep this concern at the forefront of every decision made moving forward.”
In her comments, South Putnam Middle/High School nurse Bethany Combs indicated that the board was “frustrated” with her due to criticisms she has made. She echoed the theme of teachers having passion for their students.
“I took a 66-percent pay cut to come here, and I love my job,” Combs said. “I love my job. I love the people I work with. I love the students that I serve. We have an amazing team here.”
Combs said she has felt targeted and fearful of losing her job because she has spoken out about issues at South Putnam. She added that she had previously reached out to the board and Superintendent Bruce Bernhardt to share concerns about “a lot of frustrated teachers and administration” looking for other employment.
“Our faculty is not standing with you guys,” Combs said. “They’re not standing with your decisions. They’re standing with an administration that’s now struggling because of some of the decisions you guys have made.”
Combs did not outline what the decisions in question were. She said that while she would “never pretend to know everything” and “never, ever pretend to be right,” she implored to the board that more teachers could leave because of such decisions.
“This is a mess, and we’re looking at losing a lot of great teachers,” Combs concluded. “They’re not replaceable. You will never replace them with anyone else.”
Susan Traynor Chastain, who is assisting the board with issues of law regarding policy and statutes, also fielded a question about why the board did not move to cancel Athletic Director Tom Starnes’ teaching contract during its April 14 regular meeting.
Chastain responded that public comment times were not for question-and-answer, in addition to the query being about personnel and not appropriate to discuss in a public meeting.
Former at-large member Anthony Heavin motioned to accept findings for canceling Starnes’ contract at the meeting, but the motion died without a second. Both Heavin and former Warren Township representative Craig Newby resigned afterward.
In other business:
• The board approved two-year contract extensions for South Putnam’s principals, which would include Levi Yowell, Zach Love, Tona Gardner, Debbie Steffy and Todd Gowen.
• The board approved a resolution presented by Sutherlin, Zeiner & Barclay outlining bond reimbursement, which covers bond-related expenses out of the Operations Fund such as improvements.
• Fillmore Elementary fifth-grade teacher Jill McCammack presented an award from Mental Health America of Putnam County (MHAoPC) to Bernhardt on behalf of South Putnam’s faculty.
McCammack explained that MHAoPC recently had its annual meeting, during which they announce a Person of the Year and an Educator of the Year. It was determined that all educators in Putnam County schools deserved the latter, and thus she accepted the award for South Putnam.
The board also recognized South Putnam’s Students of the Month:
• Central Elementary School: Addison Cook
• Fillmore Elementary School: Hallie Birt
• South Putnam High School: Mia Wells
• South Putnam High School: Cayden Witt
Wells and Witt were not in attendance.
The board also approved the following personnel report:
• Resignations:
— Certified: Theresa Doud - MS/HS chemistry teacher; Laura Solano - MS/HS Spanish teacher; Zachary Rayce - MS/HS special education teacher; Tracey Heet - MS/HS science teacher; Heather Nees - MS/HS math teacher; Quinn Albright - Central Elementary special education teacher; and Holly Sims - MS/HS art teacher;
— ECA: Theresa Doud - MS/HS academic science coach and concessions (one half); Laura Solano - Spanish Club; Tracey Heet - FCA sponsor, middle-school academic science coach and seventh-grade sponsor (one half); Heather Nees - seventh-grade sponsor (one half); Rachelle Custis - head varsity volleyball coach; and Holly Sims - assistant cross country coach, assistant girls’ track coach and fine arts coach;
• Retirements: Cindy Scobee - corporation office secretary; and Dan Snellenberger - bus driver;
• New Hires:
— Certified: Bobbi Scioldo - MS/HS special education teacher; and Emily Pedigo - MS/HS Spanish teacher;
— Classified: Lindsey Sprinkle - Central Elementary food service (part time).
The entire board joined Bernhardt, Chastain and Administrative Assistant Terri Beasley for the meeting.
The next regular meeting of the South Putnam School Board is scheduled for Wednesday, June 9 at 7 p.m.