Northern Wells may not join vaping lawsuit
Members of the Northern Wells Community Schools Board Tuesday night pondered joining a lawsuit by school corporations across America against the vaping industry.
Board members Angie Topp, Gene Donaghy, Karen Harris, and Chad Kline discussed but then tentatively rejected joining the lawsuit.
Topp said she was very much opposed to the vaping industry’s tactics of targeting children for sales of the devices but she did not support ending the practice through litigation.
The other board members agreed, especially since any settlement would be so diluted by the time it gets to Northern Wells that it probably was not worth the effort by the school corporation to join in the class action suit.
But they didn’t commit to staying out of the suit entirely.
Topp said she would like to hear from the Northern Wells community before making a final decision. The board members agreed and Superintendent Mike Springer said he would post details on the website explaining the lawsuit and what would be involved if Northern Wells joined the suit.
600E bridge project continues
County Engineer Nate Rumschlag said the bridge project on 600E north of 700N is progressing. Demolition was completed last week and guardrail has been installed along the roadway up to the bridge, completing that portion of the contract.
FCS gets annual funding from commissioners
Family Centered Services Director Paige Hamilton received the county’s annual $15,000 in support for programming in Wells and surrounding areas.
He also provided an annual report to the commissioners.
Health department server needs restored
Wells County Health Department Deputy Administrator Marlene Hoag said a server recently crashed in the department, thanking the commissioners for appropriating money for it to get looked at it.
In the meantime, the department has put a hold on issuing records to patrons until the server can be restored.
County pays dues for Regional Chamber
The commissioners on Monday heard a report on the Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana’s personal property tax study from Bill Konya. At the end of the presentation, they approved $1,090 in dues for the county to be apart of the organization.
Dust control applications scheduled to open April 4
Wells County Highway Superintendent Shawn Bonar said dust control application requests will be taken between April 4 and April 29, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cost this year is $1.57 per foot. The application is online at www.wellscounty.org and previous customers will also receive post cards in the mail.
Bonar also said last week’s weather allowed them to touch up gravel roads, and stone will be hauled to gravel roads to prepare them for the summer months.
Sheriff reports jail populations, project update
Sheriff Scott Holliday reported 76 inmates in the Wells County Jail on Monday, including 28 pre-trial holds from Superior Court, 26 pre-trial holds from Circuit Court, 10 Level 6 felons and four from the Indiana Department of Correction.
On Tuesday, the numbers had changed to 79 total inmates with one additional hold for Superior Court and one additional hold for Circuit Court.
He also provided a jail construction project update, noting the work has moved inside the renovated sally port area.
Haven Manufacturing gets tax abatement
A four-year personal property tax abatement was approved for Haven Manufacturing of Ossian.
The Wells County Council approved the abatement at 100 percent for the first three years and 50 percent at the fourth year.
There are currently 46 people employed at the Ossian location.
The abatement is for $468,848 in new CNC machines. More work is coming their way, the council heard, and the plant needs to hire three people immediately to run the new equipment.
The abatement paperwork indicates the anticipated hiring of seven additional people with salaries combined for nearly $258,000.
Additional funding, transfer requests approved
The Wells County Council approved the following financial matters Tuesday by a vote of 6-0 as Jim Oswalt was absent:
• Additional appropriations of $39,860 for the sheriff’s equipment repairs (a payment after a department vehicle was totalled) and $2 million for sewer infrastructure development for the commissioners from the American Rescue Plan COVID-19 relief funding to be used by the county’s regional sewer district.
• The transfers for the county’s CASA grant fund of $300 from office supplies, $3,000 from guardian ad litem, $3,000 from equipment and $1,000 from telephone with the full $7,300 going to the director line item to cover a shortage in the line.
SWCS board hears no changes to Sloan’s contract
The contract for Southern Wells Superintendent Brian Sloan was presented this week with no changes.
Because there were no changes, no action was needed by the school board. Sloan said he was noting the matter for transparency’s sake following the teacher and building-level administrator contract process a few months ago.
The board also approved the resignation of Evan Linehan, junior-senior high school guidance counselor.
Destination changed for Southern Wells’ end-of-year trip
Because of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in Chicago in order to enter museums and other attractions, the Southern Wells Junior High end-of-year trip will instead take place in Indianapolis.
The school board heard the update this week and the agenda includes a trip to the children’s museum and an Indians’ game with fireworks.
SWCS to offer summer school
Southern Wells will be offering summer school this June.
The state will fund summer school programming for eligible students and will support reimbursement for classes with at least 15 students in them.
Northern Wells board OKs replacing policies
Members of the Northern Wells Community School Board approved on first reading of replacing a number of school corporation policies that impact students.
The policies impact: Rules regarding the possession of firearms on school property, equal education opportunities, Title IX complaint procedures, sexual harassment grievance procedures, student residence verification, early entrance appeal procedures, locating missing children, homeless student enrollment, foreign exchange students, transfer students, immunization and vaccination requirements, disclosure of student information, directory information definition, distribution of literature advertisements, student religious civil rights, student fundraising, Indiana Model School Wellness Program.
Student mental and behavioral services, administration of medication at school, student discipline rules, discipline procedures for students with disabilities, bullying rules, criminal organization activity in schools, student dress code, use of metal detectors, student attendance, acceptable use of internet and filtering software, social media use by students, locker searches, searches of students and vehicles, restraints and seclusions, interviews of students by child protective services, and school publications.
The policy replacements are part of an ongoing initiative by Superintendent Mike Springer to move Northern Wells away from policies crafted by Neola, formerly the North East Ohio Learning Associates, a private company that reviews school corporation policies and keeps them up to date with changes in state and federal laws, to policies created by the Indiana School Board Association.
Springer said the new policies are more condensed and it will be easier to locate policy information when he and others are looking for that information.
The policies will be adopted at the next meeting of the board.
Personnel matters, other items approved
Members of the Northern Wells Community Schools Board Tuesday night approved several personnel changes in the school corporation.
• Leaves of absence: Lancaster Elementary School teacher Madison Campbell and Ossian Elementary teacher Brandy Salamone
• Resignations: Christina Allen as middle school swim coach, Tiffany Kelly in food service, and Nicky Lenwell as an elementary school teaching assistant.
• New hires: Adam Wagner as the middle school track coach and Cale Grzych and Erin Hitzfield as his assistants; Kyra Zadylak as middle school girls assistant soccer coach; and Adam Herber as Ossian Elementary special education assistant. For Herber it’s a change of positions because he was a building assistant.
The board members also accepted the following gifts: $900 from the Wells County Foundation/Deb Neuenschwander Memorial Fund to Ossian Elementary School for books for the school library; yearbooks and various newspaper article clippings from the 1940s from Larry Bryan to Lancaster Elementary for the display case; and $500 to middle school math teacher Hollie Parker for being named as the Northern Wells Educator of the Year by the Wells County Foundation Sailsbery Family Endowment Fund.
The board members also approved of out-of-state trip requests by Lancaster Elementary fifth grade students May 9 to the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, and by the seventh grade May 20 to Cedar Pointe in Sandusky, Ohio.
The board members also approved of a request by the Northern Wells maintenance department to dispose of two Sterling Radiator natural gas heating units, two Reznor natural gas heating units, one MagneTek air conditioning motor and one Baldor motor.
Adam Heckber, supervisor of buildings and grounds, also updated the board on the progress of converting the farmstead adjacent to the east side of the middle school grounds into a shop and maintenance complex for the school corporation. He took the board members on a PowerPoint virtual tour of the work being done both inside and outside. Using one of Heckber’s photos, Superintendent Mike Springer also showed the board members the planned location for a new central office and how it will tie into the shop building.
— Compiled by Jessica Bricker and Glen Werling
