By GLEN WERLING
Southern Wells finds itself at a 7-year crossroads again as the school board Tuesday night initiated the first step toward renewing its revenue referendum.
Since narrowly passing in a special election held Nov. 3, 2009, the referendum to charge property taxpayers in the district an extra 12.7 percent above and beyond the property tax revenue the school corporation would receive anyway has generated enough additional income to keep classes small, pay for health insurance for employees, and to cover school remodeling costs to keep the school corporation from having to widen its debt service fund, observed school board member Chad Roush.
While it was approved by just 50 extra voters in 2009 on a 609-yes, 559-no vote, it was overwhelmingly renewed in 2016 by a nearly 3 to 1 margin by Southern Wells voters.
With the resignation of Superintendent Dr. Brian Sloan last month, Sloan recommended that the board retain the services of the consulting firm Administrator’s Assistance, a group of retired school administrators that provides guidance for school corporations through important issues such as the referendum renewal Southern Wells is considering.
The original referendum generated $300,000 to cover a revenue shortfall that was generated by the state during the deep economic recession of 2009. The current referendum produced $490,000 in additional revenue for the school corporation for 2022.
Southern Wells’ lack of growth has made it difficult to maintain the personnel required to keep classes small, observed Gib Crimmins of Administrator’s Assistance.
“Most small schools, unless you’re growing dramatically, once you go down the referendum road you’re going to have to stay down that road,” Crimmins said. “Most schools are not growing. You’re going to have to face that reality for years to come,” he added.
“Coming up with an extra $500,000 will be just about impossible for a school corporation our size,” said school board president Kevin Scott. “My take on it is that we’re still facing some of the issues that we were facing (13) years ago,” he added.
Scott stressed that the property tax rate the referendum will be seeking will remain at 12.7 cents. “We are not asking for an increase,” he added before calling for a vote on the first step of the referendum.
That step is by no means a commitment toward renewing the referendum. All it consists of is asking the Wells County Auditor to determine the economic impact of a referendum on the Southern Wells School District.
The next step, which will be made during a special meeting planned for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 12, will be to proceed with ensuring the referendum will be on the Nov. 8 election ballot.
There are some procedural steps that must be approved by the Local Board of Government Finance before the referendum can be on the ballot, Crimmins explained, adding that he did not think it would be a hard sell, though, because the school board is not asking for a rate that is more than the current rate. If it was, that would require a few extra steps, he added.
The board needs to get the referendum on the November ballot because if it’s voted down, the school board would then have two additional elections — May and November of 2023 — to try and get it passed. The current referendum does not expire until the until the end of 2023. Once it runs out, if a new one is not approved, the school corporation will find itself having to plan for a loss in revenues that would be substantial for a school corporation budget the size of Southern Wells’.
The board members again declined a request from Principal Kim Conner to allow members of the Senior Class of 2023 to paint their parking spaces on the school parking lot.
The students would be responsible for all costs to paint their spot.
Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Ryan King, present at Tuesday’s meeting, recommended the school board deny the request as plans are to reseal the parking lot in 2023. Crack repairs and other activity on the lot is also underway.
The board members were cold to the idea as they have heard the request before.
Scott observed personalized spaces would be impossible to police. He asked who would be responsible for asking students to move their vehicles who parked in personalized spaces that weren’t theirs.
“Is Ryan going to be the parking lot Gestapo?” Scott asked.
The board members also heard from Annette Thompson and Aaron McMillan regarding the performance of the Southern Wells FFA chapter at the Indiana Convention.
“We just got back Thursday and it was absolutely incredible,” Thompson said. “Our young kids knocked the socks off the judges,” she added. “We had the most kids competing and the most kids there and they were so incredibly well behaved.”
Thompson added that several of the students won $5,000 to $10,000 scholarships. One Southern Wells junior has already managed to amass more than $15,000 toward his college education, she added.
McMillan added, “Just watching our kids interacting with the other kids from around the state it’s amazing the program that we’ve built here. It’s great recognition for our small community and school.”
He added that the skills learned in FFA will well serve the students regardless of whether they pursue a career in agriculture or some other occupation.
While Superintendent Dr. Brian Sloan was not present for the meeting since he has resigned from his position, he did compose the agenda, including the annotated notes with the agenda that board president Kevin Scott read for each action item that was approved by the board members.
In other business, the board members:
• Adopted a resolution to move money from the Operations fund to the School E-rate and School Safety funds to cover the corporation’s obligations for both of those funds. Sloan explained that E-rate only reimburses 70 percent, leaving the school corporation to cover the remaining 30 percent and the safety grant. That means the school corporation has a total match of $22,500 that must be met.
• Adopted a resolution to move money from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief III Fund to the Operations Fund. ESSER is related to the package of grants connected with the federal governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis of 2020-21. Sloan explained the school corporation had received approval for audit expenses to be covered through the corporation’s ESSER III grant, but the costs were deducted from the school corporation’s operations fund June tax settlement. The funds transfer is to reimburse the operations fund and allow the school corporation to request reimbursement from the ESSER III grant.
• Approved the following May reports: Fund Report; Appropriation Report; Appropriations year to date versus target appropriations; First Bank of Berne bank statement; First Bank of berne bank reconciliation statement; Building Trades program bank reconciliation statement; Building Trades Bank statement; Cafeteria Bank Reconciliation; May 2022 cafeteria bank statement; May 2022 online textbook bank reconciliation statement; online textbook bank statement; and May 2022 outstanding check report.
• Approved the following fundraisers: Ben’s Pretzel kits for the junior/senior high school; spirit wear shirts and signs for the high school; a fundraiser for cheerleading.
• Accepted an anonymous donation of $4,500 to be given to Elementary School Principal Cari Whicker to be used at her discretion.
The board members also approved the following personnel items:
• Hired Mark Rickerd for the junior/senior high school counseling position. “Mr. Rickerd is returning to be a Raider and we are very excited to be back.”
• Appointed Abigail Swartzentruber as a student teacher with Joel Roush and Ron Cherry in the fall of 2022.
• Hired Makayla Bailey as the elementary STEM teacher for the 2022-2023 school year. “She spent the 2021-22 school year as a student teacher with (Kim) Huffman. She is from Decatur and recently graduated from Purdue Fort Wayne,” Sloan explained in writing.
• Hired Damion Watters as the agriculture teacher, supervised agriculture experience instructor, and FFA advisor beginning with the 2022-23 school year. “Mr. Watters comes to us highly recommended from Clinton Central High School. He is a Southern Wells graduate and is happy to be back home,” Sloan wrote.
• Hired retroactively Kiann Palmer and Jordan Bieber as instructional aides for elementary summer school.
• Hired retroactively Andy Needler, Angie Simpson, Bess James, and Lauren Hamilton for summer school bus driver positions. James and Hamilton split the days of summer school with each other. There were three routes for summer school due to the distance between student pick-up locations.
• Hired Madison Bolinger as a special education instructional aide at the high school.
• Hired Denise Heiniger as a special education instructional aide and job coach at the high school.
• Approved employing Diane Rockwell for an additional hour a day for the 2022-23 school year. Sloan explained that the move is intended to take the place of hiring another aide for the year. The school corporation has sought applications for an open aid position, but has received none. He added that the move will also assist the school corporation in retaining all of its aides the 2023-24 when the grant that one of the current aides is paid from ends.
• Accepted letters of resignation from: third grade teacher Emily Steffen; Kristi Anderson as a cafeteria worker
• Approved the following extra-curricular activity positions for the 2022-23 school year: Megan Williams, junior varsity cheerleading coach; Blade Reinhart, varsity baseball coach; Bret Vickery, assistant baseball coach; Evan huffman, junior varsity baseball coach; Jason Riley, varsity softball head coach; Gary Paxson, varsity track head coach; Chris Penzenik for secondary art exhibit; Emily Knight as robotics/STEM coach; Monica Edgeman for Raider promotions; Laura Fiechter for a middle level Business Professionals of America coach for the junior high; a middle level BPA program for the junior high along; a middle level BPA program for the junior high along with the high school BPA; Jeni Meeksas an eighth grade class sponsor; Kristina Miller as the seventh grade class sponsor; Kim Brewster as language club coach; Whitney Powell as coaches for both the junior high school and senior high school Maily, Carreer and Community Leaders of America coach; John Fouts as a teacher mentor; Tricia Tucker as junior high school student council sponsor; Karie Lavanchy as senior class sponsor, graduation sponsor, and Sunshine Club sponsor; David Butler as the National Honor Society and the Biology Club sponsors as well as a teacher mentor; Chris Hartman as a Sunshine Club sponsor; Annette Loney as the freshman class sponsor; Mike Haigh as the instrumental music coach, choral music coach, sound events manager and the sponsor for band events; Tracy Gentis- as the senior class sponsor; Mark Gates as the senior class trip sponsor, graduation sponsor, sophomore class sponsor and as a teacher mentor; Joel Roush as the athletic events supervisor; and Monica Edgeman and Tina Blevins as the concessions sponsors.
• Accepted letters of resignation from Carissa Carter as varsity softball assistant coach and from Kyle Penrod as the varsity boys basketball coach.
• Adopted on second reading the following policies: Wellness, Internal Controls, and Bad Debt.
• Learned from Sloan that the textbook rental fee for fourth grade has decreased from the April adoption. The fee went from $182.44 down to $170.19. The board members adopted the changed fee.
• Approved a new course for the 2022-23 school year the junior/senior high school physical education program. An Indiana High School Athletic Association officiating course which is being offered as a physical education elective. The fee for students will be $42 per student per sport they choose to test in to receive their license and materials.
• Approved the following facility use requests: The Raiderdome for the Boys Basketball Summer Shootout June 24; the high school cafeteria for the Chester Center Alumni Association banquet April 22, 2023; and the use of the baseball diamond by the Midwest Ace’s baseball team for July 5.
• Approved of trips by the volleyball team to the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo June 24 and to Indiana Wesleyan University July 16.
• Learned that due to a death in Dawn Ulfig’s family, the Tin Caps field trip for the Jr-Sr High School originally scheduled for May 21 has been moved to Aug. 30.
• Approved retroactively of a conference request for buildings and grounds maintenance supervisor Ryan King June 2 to the Indiana American Water Works Association Operators Symposium.
• Discussed the Southern Wells Return to Learn program for 2022. “This document and topic being on a public school board meeting fulfills the current United States Department of Education deadline to continue to receive federal ESSER III grant funds.
glenw@news-banner.com
