“She has decided that this year is absolutely the last of it,” explained Klitzman. “She tried to retire last year and we twisted her arm and she came back. Another reason that she’s so firm that this is her last year is her husband, Brad Moore, is retiring.”
“We had a very nice $500 donation from Re/Max Real Estate,” said Klitzman. “For those of you who don’t know or may not remember, the Helping Hands is a program that we use to help students that are in need of assistance either in their cafeteria balance or in their textbook usage.”
Tom Bonnell, owner of TNS Recycling, had constructed canvas tarps that were donated to the school which are being used with the baseball and track programs as well as the fine arts department.
“It’s a great time to have PE,” explained Klitzman. “With a three-hour block, you do so many more things. You don’t have to worry about the class bell ringing after 50 minutes and you don’t have to worry about getting sweaty and going into an algebra class, which kids don’t like necessarily. It’s in the summer, it’s in the morning and you get it over with.”
A sharply divided Eastern Pulaski School Board accepted veteran superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman’s retirement request during a crowded special-called meeting last evening. Last week Klitzman announced his intention to retire after 26 years with the corporation, citing the “shaky” 4-3 vote to extend his contract an extra year. School board newcomer Deke DeMarco cast the tiebreaking vote in favor of the contract extension after a lengthy and apparently contentious executive session last week. He also cast the swing vote in favor of accepting Klitzman’s retirement request. Fellow newcomers Rhonda Heims and Terri Johnston and longtime Klitzman critic Joe Cunningham also voted to accept. Veteran board members and Klitzman supporters Larry Beach, John Kwiatkowski and Mike Tetzloff cast their votes in opposition of accepting Klitzman’s retirement and criticized the new board members for their knee-jerk reactions. Several teachers and community members spoke in support of Klitzman. They noted that the school system is among the best in the area both academically and financially and questioned what the board members hoped to gain by going in a new direction. Klitzman will remain on the job until his contract runs out at the end of June.
Klitzman said his decision to retire was based upon previous board votes on his one-year contract renewals the past couple of years.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board approved an increase in the bus driver electric usage stipend.
Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman explained that every year the bus drivers are required to plug in their buses during the wintertime and it’s been a custom every year to give those drivers a little stipend to offset that cost.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board voted 4-3 Monday morning to advertise the superintendent’s contract.
The board met prior to their regular meeting to discuss the contract at length and held only a brief discussion on the issue in the public meeting. The board, by majority vote, agreed to continue in the current contract with Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman.
Per state statute, the contract must be published. After the contract is published, a public meeting will be held where comments will be fielded and then a vote will be taken to ratify the contract.
A number of changes will soon be taking place at the state level, and Eastern Pulaski Schools are gearing up for some changes as well. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said that while the state is preparing to welcome a new governor, state superintendent, senator, and new House members as well, the Eastern Pulaski School Board is preparing to welcome a number of new school board members while saying goodbye to some familiar faces.
“We had three school board members, last Monday was their last school board meeting. They decided they did not want to run for another term, so they ended here in December,” Klitzman said. “So out with the board members that decided not to run and in with the newly-elected.”
Winamac High School Principal Rick DeFries discussed the Harmony program with the Eastern Pulaski School Board. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman commented that it’s a great way for parents to keep track of how their child is doing in school.
“Harmony has a lot of information for parents,” said Klitzman. “If they can get on the internet, they can actually get into a teacher’s grade book and see their child’s scores, grades, absences and discipline. Harmony is a great feature. Parents can get in there and keep track, on a daily basis, of what their children may be doing.”
The Eastern Pulaski School Board has approved a partnership with the Winamac Athletic Booster Club in order to upgrade the sports scoreboard to a wireless model.
Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman explained that the pair will split the cost.
“The school corporation will use Capital Projects funds and the Booster Club will come up with the rest of the money,” stated Klitzman. “They’re looking at making the soccer field, the baseball field, the football field, the indoor basketball court, and volleyball scoreboards all wireless. The total cost of the project is $8,600. The board has committed $4,300 if the Booster Club can come up with the rest of the money.”
The Eastern Pulaski School Board members approved cafeteria and textbook prices at their recent meeting. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman says it’s good news.
Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman talked about summer school with the School Board this week.
“As it is true the last few years, it will be very limited because the funding for summer school is very limited,” explained Dr. Klitzman. “We’re going to offer one of our most popular ones, Summer P.E. Summer P.E. is open to any high school student and any student entering high school, which means our 8th graders. We typically get 50 to 60 kids into that program and it’s a wonderful situation in that it’s a block of time so students will have three-and-a-half hours in the morning to go somewhere and do something that is going to take more than a typical 50 minute class period.”
The Eastern Pulaski School Board members heard a special report from the Technology Team at their meeting Monday Night. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman says the team talked about the efforts being made in technology since the summer months and upgrades. The Board also made a step forward with the advancement in technology in the corporation.
Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman gave a special report to the School Board Monday night concerning student conduct and student discipline.
“I spent some time going over what we’re doing K-12 in relation to having proper student behavior, discipline, character and those types of things,” stated Dr. Klitzman. “We talked about what teachers are doing in the classroom and some of our formal instructional packages that we have to offer our students that we can show that are being done. We talked about supervision and some of the next steps that we’re going to be taking in terms of education and in terms of a community-wide effort to help get a handle on some of the more blatant types of misbehavior that are happening.”
More than 20 students, parents, and other members of the Eastern Pulaski Schools community spoke out at the recent school board meeting against bullying in school, which has gotten out of hand.
Parents expressed their anger at the corporation for doing what they feel is a minimum to prevent or discipline bullying in the school system. Several parents said that their children are afraid to use bathrooms or even attend extracurricular activities for fear of bullies.
Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent, Dr. Robert Klitzman, says the school board made a decision this week concerning the number of semesters at the high school.
The Eastern Pulaski Schools, which has for a number of years has been on a tri-semester system, is considering going to a traditional two semester school year.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board held a Public Hearing regarding the Corporation’s fiscal-year budget.
“At our last meeting in November, there was a work session with the Board and went through the entire budget – every account, every fund – and then asked for authorization to advertise. That’s all by statute. We did have the Public Hearing and from this point on, we will go to our January meeting and I will ask the Board to approve the budget. At that time, I’ll send it into the state,” said Superintendent, Dr. Robert Klitzman.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board placed Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman on contractual probation for the next year. The Board has agonized over what disciplinary action to take following Dr. Klitzman’s arrest for operating a vehicle with an alcohol content over the legal limit in July.
The Superintendent called the whole matter “humbling” and vowed to follow the Board’s action.
There are new rules and guidelines for collective bargaining and teacher evaluation coming from the Department of Education, following legislation passed in the most recent session of the General Assembly.
