All three Starke County schools have now approved a contract to be part of The Crossing alternative school.
The North Judson-San Pierre School Board approved the contract Tuesday night and will join Knox Community Schools and Oregon-Davis Schools in creating a Starke County Crossing school. The school helps those students who have fallen out of the traditional public school setting and helps them get a second chance at getting the education that they need.
The Medaryville Town Council approved an ordinance that would provide a town employee with the option of earning compensation time to make up for each day lost as a result of the closing of the Medaryville Town Hall due to inclement weather.
A state of emergency declared by The State of Indiana, the Pulaski County Commissioners and the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department caused the town hall to close and forced town hall employees to choose between the loss of a pay day or utilizing their time off.
The town council wants to provide those employees with the option of earning time off with pay in lieu of overtime pay, known as compensation time, to accommodate the employee for having been forced to choose between the loss of a pay day or utilizing paid time. The employee would knowingly and voluntarily agreeing to accept compensation time in lieu of overtime pay.
According to the ordinance, an hourly employee may be given time off for time worked beyond the employee’s regular work schedule if the extra time off or compensation time is specifically requested and authorized by a supervisor and was created as a result of the emergency declaration.
This time policy will be effective as of Feb. 1, 2014.
In a related matter, the Medaryville Town Council approved an action to put $3,000 into the overtime pay for the Maintenance Supervisor as that item in the budget was depleted before April. The overtime was used for snow removal.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board approved summer school classes during their meeting this week.
Superintendent Dan Foster said a few courses will be offered this summer.
The Winamac Town Council learned this week that the company who installed water lines on the north end of town last year will be back next week to finish some work.
Town Manager Jim Conner said the finishing touches should start on Tuesday.
A meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 19 to see what the interest is in creating a dog recreation park in Knox.
Those spearheading the idea ask that all dog owners/lovers attend the 10 a.m. meeting at the Henry F. Schricker Public Library in Knox to learn about information needed to get a dog park approved in the city limits.
Chuck Richardson previously told WKVI that he presented a list of names on a petition to start a dog park at the Knox Park Board meeting last month, but the board members reportedly told him that they would like to see people attend their next meeting who are in favor of the incident.
The Pulaski County Commissioners approved an IT contract during an emergency meeting on Wednesday afternoon.
The commissioners had to hold the meeting as RB Walters left county IT service provider Degroot Technologies and he was the technician who took care of the computers at the Pulaski County Justice Center. Company officials believe he would be the best person to continue working on the computers as he is the most familiar with the processes at the jail. Degroot Technologies would continue servicing the county’s computers and the Justice Center would be handled by a separate contractor.
Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall accepted a plea agreement between the State and defendant Christopher McNeese in which he was sentenced in two different cases to a total of 15 years in the Department of Corrections.
McNeese pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to a charge of Burglary as a Class B Felony. Per the terms of the agreement, McNeese was sentenced to 11 years in the Department of Corrections with no part of the sentence suspended.
A plea and sentencing hearing was held in Starke Circuit Court Wednesday in the case of Michael Derby.
Derby pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the State to a charge of Aggravated Battery as a Class B Felony. He admitted to causing injury to another person while incarcerated. The victim suffered broken facial bones and a concussion.
The Marshall County Commissioners approved a bid for the county’s portion of the Metronet project and the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission approved a bid for the city’s portion of the project.
The commissioners approved a bid from CSU, Inc. for Alternate A at a cost of$598,221.99. The county’s portion of the project includes general work for the infrastructure and conduit.
The city selected the base bid and alternates A, B, C, and D with Michiana Contracting.
The North Judson-San Pierre School Board continues to find ways to cut $1.2 million from the general fund in the corporation’s budget.
Superintendent Lynn Johnson said a budget work session was held last week to tackle this issue.
“We’re still in the process of making reductions,” stated Johnson. “We did have some retirements this year and so that does help with the budget. Some of the budget reductions will be basically a half of a year because we’re just talking just half of the year in 2014. In 2015, you’ll have the whole year’s advantage. We’re looking at making final recommendations at the May 20 meeting.”
The cost of plowing snow during the worst winter in nearly 40 years forced the Starke County Highway Department to dramatically scale back its road maintenance budget. However, Superintendent Rik Ritzler says they’re still moving forward with scheduled bridge replacements.
“The bridge replacement plan was not affected by winter operations,” Ritzler told the commissioners during their most recent meeting. “We have enough money in the CEDIT account both presently and budgeted if that’s not touched. If that’s touched, it will be jeopardized.”
The Winamac Town Council discussed the town pool at length during their regularly scheduled meeting this week.
According to Town Manager Jim Conner, a representative from Reno Sys, a pool rehabilitation company in Indianapolis, discussed plans for the pool. It’s going to be expensive and it’s going to be a large project.
The price for lunch at the cafeteria at the Eastern Pulaski School Corporation will be going up slightly.
Superintendent Dan Foster said the increase was in line with federal guidelines.
“We did increase our cafeteria lunch prices again. We have to get up to that two-dollar-and-fifty-three cent limit or something like that so we begrudgingly increased our cafeteria lunches ten cents.”
The Indiana Department of Education released graduation rate data Wednesday for the 2012-2013 school year.
The graduation rate is up from 2012. The average rate for all schools was 88.6% and most of the local schools are above that rate.
John Glenn Schools had the highest graduation rate of the local schools at 96.6% and Culver Community Schools had the lowest graduation rate at 77%.
Area adults who want to take their high school equivalency test or brush up on some other skills can register now for classes in Starke County offered through the Center of Workforce Innovations Adult Learning Centers. Courses prepare individuals for the new Indiana High School Equivalency test, which replaces the GED. Courses in basic reading, math and language are also available. Some sites offer English as a Second Language instruction as well.
Classes in North Judson meet at the North Judson Wayne Township Public Library on Keller Avenue. Registration for that site is Monday, April 21 at 10 a.m. Call 574-896-2841 for more information. Registration for classes in Knox takes place each Monday and Wednesday except Monday, April 21 at the Starke County WorkOne office on North Shield Street. Call 574-249-8720 for more information.
The month of April is an opportunity for the community to come together and help children who have been victims of abuse.
There are 49 children in Starke County that are being served by the Department of Child Services who have been in abusive or unhealthy situations.
Child Abuse Awareness Month is a time when all individuals and organizations can play a role in making the community a better place for children and families. By ensuring that parents have the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to care for their children, it can promote children’s social and emotional well-being and prevent child maltreatment within families and communities.
With the spring season finally upon us, cleaning of our highways and byways will be getting underway.
INDOT’s annual Trash Bash will be running throughout this month and coincides with National Earth Day to aid in raising awareness of litter. Over 20,000 bags of trash were collected by INDOT maintenance crews, Indiana Department of Correction offender crews, and Adopt-A-Highway volunteers last year.
The Pulaski County Commissioners will meet in emergency session today at 3:20 p.m. ET to consider an IT contract to prevent disruption of the 911 system at the Pulaski County Justice Center.
The IT contract was discussed at the Pulaski County Council meeting on Monday night and the members discussed getting some sort of agreement with the current contractor to continue. The council wants to move forward as quickly as possible so coverage doesn’t lapse.
Indiana’s Four Star schools for the 2012-2013 school year were announced Tuesday.
Among the 331 schools named, four local schools achieved the status. Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz announced that John Glenn High School, Kingsbury Elementary School in LaPorte, Webster Elementary School in Plymouth and Tri-Township Consolidated School Corporation in LaCrosse reached Four Star School status.
If you see an additional amount on your Starke County property tax bill, you’re not seeing things.
Starke County Treasurer Kasey Clark previously told WKVI that the solid waste bills are included in this year’s tax statement. The solid waste bills had been sent out separately, but this year they will be included in the property tax statement.
