The West Central School Board members discussed Reduction in Force efforts at their recent meeting. Superintendent Charles Mellon said it’s not as bad as they had initially thought.
West Central School Board Discuss Reduction in Force Efforts
West Central School Turbine Still Under Work
The West Central School Board got an update on the wind turbine last week from Superintendent Charles Mellon.
“Well, we are in production,” stated Mellon. “There is a little additional tweaking that will be done. We’re still getting some voltage spikes which all three companies are working on and they think they have a solution and will be correcting that. We have been in production for a while and in the short future we should be able to get a read-out just to see what our production has been — say over the last two week period.”
The wind turbine is not quite in full commission mode yet.
“Until those issues are solved and it’s fully commissioned, it’s not considered ours yet,” Mellon said. “They still have their work to do so we’re still anxiously awaiting, but we are getting credit for the kilowatts that are being produced during this time.”
West Central Wind Turbine in Testing Phase
West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon gave the school board members an update on the progress of the wind turbine.
“It is in production,” Mr. Mellon reported. “They’re just fine-tuning some issues that we have as far as how many watts can actually go out to the grid at one time so they’re making some final adjustments on that. We’re still in the middle of the 120-hour commissioning process. We’re in that phase right now and hopefully we’ll be in full compliance here very soon.”
West Central School Board Approve Teacher Transfers; RIF Numbers Lessen
The West Central School Board approved two teacher transfers at their meeting on Thursday and Superintendent Charles Mellon said it is the board’s hope that this action will lower the need to send out many Reduction in Force (RIF) notices to the staff.
West Central Wind Turbine Testing to Begin March 26th
The wind turbine at the West Central School campus has been built, but is it operational? Superintendent Charles Mellon was asked to give an update on the progress of the turbine.
“I think our utility company has finished their work and it looks like March 26th is when it could be started up. The people scheduled for us fly over from Germany and March 26th is when they would arrive to begin the commissioning process, which is 120 hours of documentation of things and making sure everything is running properly.”
West Central School Board Discusses Possible Reduction in Force
The West Central School Board discussed a possible reduction in force at their meeting Thursday night. Superintendent Charles Mellon says that due to the projected decrease in enrollment and revenue, the Board may need to cut staff.
West Central Students to Begin ISTEP, IREAD Testing
Students at the West Central School Corporation will be engaged in testing this month. Superintendent Charles Mellon talks about what tests will be administered.
“We have a full slate of ISTEP and I think we have acuity testing also in March,” said Mellon. “We also have the IREAD test which will be most interesting this year. This is the year that if you’re not reading a grade level by the end of the third grade, then you have to retake the test after some remediation and if you still do not pass it after the second test, you then have to take the same third grade IREAD test the following year. So, your instruction is then a year behind.”
The IREAD results are expected back to the corporation in April.
West Central School Board Holds Discussion on Textbooks
West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon told the Board that the State will no longer provide a list of textbooks for adoption for schools. He explains that decision.
“It just turned over to a local decision,” said Mr. Mellon. “They’re not going to be having teachers come together to evaluate books and what fits the core standards. You’re supposed to be doing that at the local level. It’s a transfer of responsibility and along with that, that takes away the waiver where if you wanted to use a book that wasn’t on the list, you always had to apply for a waiver and state the reasons why this was something that fit your curriculum. The only thing they left in there was the fees. You can still charge twenty-five percent of the cost of the book for each of the first six years and then it’s back to fifteen percent if you continue using that book.”
West Central School Board Discusses Change to 2012-2013 School Calendar
The West Central School Board discussed the 2012-2013 school calendar during their meeting last week. Superintendent Charles Mellon said there will be a big change in the next school year.
West Central School Board Gets Technology Update
The West Central School Board discussed all of the technology upgrades that have been done throughout the Corporation. Superintendent Charles Mellon said the Board has focused on making these updates this school year.
“We have a wireless internet connection in all of our buildings and we’ve also increased bandwidth so we can handle about any type of capacity that the students would bring in as far as the different devices,” stated Mr. Mellon.
Central Time Zone Talk Stalls in Legislature
The latest push to move all of Indiana to the Central time zone has stalled after lawmakers decided not to vote on the measure, effectively killing the issue until next year.
The House Transportation Committee discussed a resolution this week that would have urged the federal government to hold hearings on switching the entire state from Eastern time to Central time. Members of the Central Time Coalition argued that moving the state to Central time would help businesses that deal with Chicago and the West Coast.
West Central School Board Discusses Summer Projects
The West Central School Board discussed some summer projects the Board members have been planning this year.
“One is to refinish our gym floor at the high school,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “We had some funding left over from our lighting and ceiling tile project in the gymnasium and that leftover funding will be more than enough to cover the gym floor.”
West Central Wind Turbine to be Operational March 1st
The West Central School Board received an update on the wind turbine project at their meeting last week.
“We’re still looking at March 1st being our deadline for this,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “We will be meeting Tuesday (today), to discuss another update as far as how the project is proceeding. We have seen the utility companies on campus and in the substation here in Francesville so we know that work is being done. We have our fingers crossed that March 1st will be our date.”
West Central Middle School Principal Announces Retirement
The West Central School Board approved the retirement of Middle School Principal, Kay Beasey at their meeting last week.
“She’s been with the corporation for 24 years I believe and she’s done an outstanding job,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “There were just some health issues that she is dealing with so she felt it best to take an early retirement.”
West Central School Board Discusses Future Plans
During the recent meeting of the West Central School Board, Superintendent Charles Mellon said that the Board talked about future plans for the Corporation.
“We did discuss a little bit about the possibility of having a late arrival day for students, possibly once week,” stated Mellon. “We’re looking at Thursday where the students would come in like maybe 20 minutes late. The teachers would arrive at 7:30 a.m. and that would give us almost an hour of in-service each week to take care of the many tasks that now face teachers outside of the classroom. This was just presented to the Board. We need to discuss it with the Association. We have received teacher input just on a survey. That was kind of a first step to make the Board aware and we’ll go back and do a little bit more work and bring it back to the Board when it’s time to approve the 2012-2013 school year calendar.”
West Central School Board Discusses Budget
The West Central School Board discussed the school’s dwindling budget at their meeting last week. Superintendent Charles Mellon said there are reasons as to why the school is losing money.
“There are two reasons for that,” said Mr. Mellon. “Of course, our enrollment has gone down and then there are different things that they are taking out that were items in the formula in the past like the small school grant, restoration grant and these type of things. I just wanted to convey to the Board that we did get our first draw. We look at being about $310,000 short of what we had last year. We add that on to $323,000 that we were short last year.”
Wind Turbine Constructed at West Central School Corporation
West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon gave the School Board an update on the wind turbine project during the Board’s meeting on Thursday night.
Update on West Central Wind Turbine Construction
The West Central wind turbine project was delayed for two days due to high winds in the area. Superintendent Charles Mellon said that the components arrived on the campus and crews were waiting to put up the base and the propellers. Those components were completed and put in place on Saturday. This week, electrical connections will be made and all of the components will be tested.
West Central School Corporation Moves Forward with Technology Upgrades
The West Central School Corporation is moving forward with technology upgrades. Infrastructure for wireless technology is almost complete and Superintendent Charles Mellon says this enables the Corporation to become prepared for some important projects.
“If we go with one-to-one computing down the road, the wireless is there, plus the wind turbine will be on wireless. That means that the people in Chicago will be able to control the wind from the city. If a component goes bad, there’s a red flag that comes up and they can give us some directions on how to fix it or how to reset it on site. So, this opens the door for a lot of things,” said Superintendent Mellon.
Wind Turbine Scheduled for Construction this Week at West Central Schools
The West Central School Board learned that the Corporation will soon see an increase in utility rates as their electric supplier was recently approved for an increase with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said that this increase has disrupted the initial plan for the utilization and cost of the wind turbine.
