The West Central School Board voted Thursday to eliminate the Middle School Principal’s position. Superintendent Charles Mellon explains the reasoning behind the recommendation.
The West Central School Board discussed insurance costs at their meeting last week.
“I just brought up the fact that the State has mandated that we do a self study as far as the amount of funds that our Corporation puts towards the employee’s premium,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “That has to be compared to what a state employee is receiving from the State towards their premium. As the mandate states, or the law, you can not pay more than 112% of what the State pays its employee. If you do, then you’re either encouraged to join the State Health Plan or to join a consortium or to make other changes within your corporation locally.”
The wind turbine project has been delayed at the West Central School Corporation.
“The components that are coming from Germany are here, but the tower itself is being manufactured in Tennessee. That component is being delayed as far as the manufacturing date. I think they had some issues at their factory so we’ve been pushed back to the week of January 9th,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon.
The wind turbine project at the West Central School Corporation is moving along schedule.
“Sometime soon here in November, we will start having equipment coming in as far as the tower itself being erected,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “The cement base has been poured and it’s going through the curing process. Once the curing process ends in December, they will begin getting the wiring set up and doing all their testing. They still say that we would be functioning by the first week in January. I hope we stay on that schedule.”
The West Central School Board got an update from the Technology Committee at their recent meeting. The Board has wrapped up many of the Capital Projects it had planned for the year and now they can focus on technology. Superintendent Charles Mellon said that policies on social networking are being explored which includes cell phone use, Facebook usage and email. Other avenues are being researched as well.
The West Central School Board is considering eliminating the position of Middle School Principal. Superintendent Charles Mellon says that the action is being considered due to several reasons, mostly due to the Corporation’s financial outlook.
The West Central School Board is looking to do some technology upgrades throughout the Corporation.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said a Committee has been formed to study the needs of technology at the Corporation. The Board and the committee are focusing on piloting a one-to-one computer initiative, similar to the program at Knox Community Schools, where the students have their own computer and the curriculum is on that computer that the student is responsible for. Mr. Mellon said that they may phase-in the program by grade level, if it is approved.
West Central School Superintendent, Charles Mellon, said the wind turbine project is moving along. The cement has been poured and needs to cure for 30 days before above ground construction can begin. The School Board hopes the project is complete by the end of November.
West Central School Corporation representatives and student leaders, as well as parents and members of the press, were present to celebrate the start of construction on the school’s utility-grade wind turbine project. A ceremonial breaking of the ground was planned for Friday, Sept. 30 at 9:30 a.m., but because of rain, the ceremony was held inside the auxiliary gymnasium and Superintendent Charles Mellon wisely decided against digging a hole in the gym floor to commemorate the occasion.
The West Central School Board discussed enrollment and funding during their meeting last week. The count day was September 16th and the enrollment figures were sent to the state to be placed in a funding formula in order to determine the amount the state will provide in funding to the corporation.
The West Central School Corporation will hold a groundbreaking event for the Wind Power Project on Friday, September 30th at 9:30 a.m. ET.
This is Indiana’s first community wind project to be part of the NIPSCO Feed-in-Tariff program. The turbine will be located on the school campus in the agricultural field behind the football stadium.
The West Central School Board is moving along with the wind turbine project. According to Superintendent Charles Mellon, the next big hurdle will be cleared next week.
“We will be selling the bonds on July 6th,” said Mellon. “With that, we anticipate getting the funding for the project on July 20th. We anticipate some type of groundbreaking in the first part of August as equipment will begin to be delivered and the project completion can be as early as November. We signed the contract a week or so ago and we’re looking for some paperwork from the NIPSCO company and then we will be ready to proceed.”
The West Central School Board has voted to move forward with a form of contract with Performance Services for the wind turbine project. The Board also gave authority to Umbaugh and Associates to proceed with issuing the requests for proposals for the bonds for the wind turbine project from underwriter institutions and local banks. That should be done by July 10th and the equipment should be ordered.
The West Central School Board has decided to move forward with the wind turbine project.
“In the contract, there will be contingencies as far as whether or not we do proceed, but one of the largest issues had to deal with the insurance and that has been solved at this point in time,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “The connection point will be in the contract as a contingency and it is also being worked on at this time. This deals with NIPSCO where we want the connection to be prior to the meter so we can use the electricity ourselves that are generating. We are still waiting on the feed-in tariff regulations to be clarified and approved by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.”
The West Central School Board approved the Reduction in Force procedures that the Corporation will continue to use this year.
“Often these past few years, we’ve had to go through this process and much of the time we’re hiring much of the same people back that we are putting on the reduction in force list,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “In case we don’t get the funding we anticipate, and even more so this year if we get the funding that we are anticipating, which is less, it’s even more critical that we notify our teachers by May 1st that this is a possibility. Because of resignations of a few people and retirements of others, we may be able to eliminate some positions, but not necessarily eliminate teachers.”
The West Central School Board discussed the wind turbine project at its recent meeting. The Board is looking to place a single turbine on the school property in order to save money on energy bills. Superintendent Charles Mellon said there are three issues that have stopped progress on project.
The West Central School Board members discussed the budget at their recent meeting.
“It’s just kind of frustrating when all we’re getting is estimates and we can’t really do a solid projection and yet we should be working on our 2012 budget at this time,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “When they talk about flatlining the budget, I think that flatline means that the State may be spending the same amount of money for the next three years in the K-12 education area, but that doesn’t mean that the schools are going to get the same. When I project ours, what we are getting cut this year, $322,000, it almost adds up to $1.3 million over a three year period.”
The West Central High School was recently named a Four Star School by the Indiana Department of Education.
“We’re very happy this accomplishment was made,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “It actually reflects back to the 2009-2010 school year. I just sent an email out to the staff congratulating them, as well as the students, for this accomplishment.”
The West Central Technical Review Committee met recently to discuss the wind turbine project.
“At our last meeting, we were actually going over the proposal from Performance Services, Inc.,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon, a Committee participant. “We talked about the identification of the site. It’s actually going to be on the AG plot. Of course there’s different studies including environmental studies that have taken place. We talked about the development plan and there’s still a lot of components yet to put in place. We’re still waiting on NIPSCO to finalize rates. The final meeting will take place February 25th. The earliest our Board would make a final decision would be on March 17th.”
If the project goes as planned, the turbine could be operational in November of this year.
