The Independent-News, Volume 117, Number 19, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 3 October 1991 — Page 4

THE INDEPENDENT NEWS - OCTOBER 3, 1991

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| EDITORIALS!

GREAT PUMPKIN FESTIVAL This Friday and Saturday, October 4 and 5, the annual Fall Festival, labeled “The Great Pumpkin Festival”, will unfold once again in Walkerton. This annual event, while not of the magnitude of many other area festivals, has been a popular one that seems to grow a little each year. This year’s version will feature some entertainment, a variety of contests and events as well as what all such festivals specialize in, food, food and more food. The craft and food booths will begin opening at 9:00 a.m. each day and remain open basically until dusk. Traffic, weather and the individual vendors involved really dictate the opening and closing of these booths, but they do want to take advantage of the public to the best of their ability. Some years back when the Fall Festival wasn’t much more than an idea, the event tied in to the climax of Walkerton’s WIN Campaign, a money raising event featuring coupon books with specials throughout and drawings also. From the monies raised in the first year or two of this campaign, a committee was formed to decide what could be done with this money to enhance Walkerton and a direct result, which took years to come about, was the Downtown Project which is now culminating with the new sidewalks, street lights, trees, etc. The ideas and efforts of this original committee, eventually blossomed into the grant received to fund this project. No longer does Walkerton have the WIN campaign, but the indirect results of those first couple of efforts will be reflected for many years to come in downtown Walkerton. At any rate, this weekend is the Fall Festival in Walkerton, a couple of days when a lot of visitors will come to Walkerton along with many vendors to put on this year’s program for all to enjoy. REMEMBER — A SIGNATURE Just a few lines to once again remind the public that articles submitted for our “Voice Os The People” column must be signed. We do not require a signature be published with the article, but the article must be signed when submitted. We have quite a few annonymous letters that, regardless of the contents, do not get published and won’t unless the author identifies themself to this newspaper. We do hold annonymous articles for a while if a person should have a change of mind, but sending one in with “Cencerned”, “A Taxpayer”, or any other such signature means nothing to us. And of course, we reserve the right to accept, reject, edit or whatever on such an article as the newspaper is liable and anything that is questionable, threatening, defaming, etc., will be very closely scrutinized before publication. We do want your opinions through this means, but please respect our position and policy. Those wishing to not have their name used, will remain confidential with us, but we must know where such comes from. Thank you.

“Autumn Time” Well it is still Autumn time and I am still canning. The pears should be done shortly and then there are beets waiting. There will be no working this weekend, it is the Great Pumpkin Festival and 1 am ready for elephant ears and fattening food. I should have entered the Pumkin Peddle but my bike isn't painted yet. Any excuse is better than none! There will be homemade noodles at the Odd Fellows Hall and homemade pie too. I'm sure that there will be pumpkins and apples. I see that you can buy cider by the glass or gallon. Come on out and celebrate the season. There have been many accidents, many fatal, lately, of young people. Schools have hired special people to help the youth who have lost their classmates. I hope that they are also being reminded that driving is a priviledge and should be treated as such. Such tragedies are sad, but driving is a serious business. Fun is fun, but death is final. I am going to mention more of the shops taking part tn the Holiday Preview coming up in November. This tour is just about IS miles in lenght. The Koontz Lake Bed and Breakfast will give a tour and tell the history of the house. lam sure that Carole Powers of The Keep

sake Kottage Antique Mall will have a lot of goodies to see and buy. Blueberry Buckle Folk Art Shop, Barb, you’ll be sorry! Marsha's Petals, Plants & Potpourri and Just Sew Country Crafts, are a few more taking part in this event. More shops will be mentioned next week. Stay tuned. We were hit again last week by students selling for school projects, and the student didn't even know what she was selling for. How about letting us know what our money is being used for at school? Sincerely, Nedra Williams JOHN GLENN SCHOOL BOARD MINUTES CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The Board of School Trustees of the John Glenn School Corporation met in regular session on September 3 at 7:30 p.m. at North Liberty Elementary School. All board members except Don Ludwig were present. The board and nine observers began the meeting with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Dave Hostetler and seconded by Dan Patrick to approve the minutes of the August 20 regular and executive sessions and the August 27 executive session. Mr. Patrick asked that the minutes of the

August 27 regular session be changed to more accurately represent his comments. The change will basically include the following sentence, “Mr. Patrick mentioned the budget was going up approximately 11 % from last year. He felt as though the amount of our budget per student day was increasing at a rate out of line with this district's ability to pay as evidenced by a l /i% increase in assessed valuation. With this change, the board approved the minutes for the meetings as submitted by a vote of six to zero. APPROVAL OF CLAIMS 1,470 - 1,573 A motion was made by Dave Hostetler and seconded by Dan Patrick to approve claims numbered 1,470 through 1,573. The motion passed six to zero. There was no patron response. RECOGNITIONS Mr. Kaufman, as interim principal at Urey, announced the first middle school football game is on Thursday, September 5, against the LaVille Lancers beginning at 4:30 p.m. on the John Glenn High School football field. Mrs. Lightfoot, WES principal, introduced Mrs. Melanie Heiser to the board. Mrs. Heiser is a recent hiree employed as a second grade teacher at WES. Mrs. Lightfoot has been contacted that the Weekly Reader Company may feature Walkerton Elementary School in a story about the collection of 1,000,000 pop tabs that occurred during the last school year. Mrs. Lightfoot will keep the board and the public informed as she receives more information concerning this topic. Mrs. Lightfoot also complimented the teachers and students on their excellent behavior and work habits during the past few hot and humid weeks of school. Mr. Reese mentioned the excellent attendance at the Teacher of the Year/Retirement Tea held at John Glenn High School on August 29. He recognized Shirley Zartman, Harry Kurzhal and Jene Campbell, recent retirees of the corporation as well as Linda Parker, John Glenn School Corporation’s 1991 Teacher of the Year and the corporation representative in the 1992 statewide Teacher of the Year program. NEW BUSINESS 1. Topographical site survey. Mr. Reese informed the board that the architectural firm of Fanning/Howey Associates, Inc. recommends E.J. Hutson & Associates to do a topographical site survey for the proposed new middle school. The site survey would investigate the grades on the site, drainage concerns, elevation and other pertinent issues concerning possible construction of the new middle school on the JGHS site. Gene Knowlton made a motion to approve E.J. Hutson & Associates to do a topographical site survey on the JGHS site. The motion was seconded by Nilas Miller and passed by a vote of five to one with Dan Patrick oposing. 2. Teacher contract agreement, 1991-93. Mr. Reese informed the board the Teacher Association had ratified the proposed amendments to the 1991-1993 Teacher Contract earlier that afternoon. Mr. Reese recommended the board approve the two-year teacher contract agreement for 1991-1993. Mr. Reese complimented the association and members of the board who are on the negotiating teams for a very amiable negotiations process and agreement that both sides felt was fair. Some specific information concerning the agreement was given to Mr. Reese. The school board agreed to pay a figure not to exceed 51,200 for a single health plan and $2,912 toward a family health insurance plan for the 1991-92 school year. Concering salary increase for the 1991-92 school year, the board will pay the Teacher Retirement Fund which amounts to 3%. In the 1992-93 school year, the board increase would be 2% added to the

salary schedule. Salary information provided by Mr. Reese included that teachers starting out with a bachelors degree and zero years experience will be paid $20,655 plus 3% teachers retirement which will be paid by the board for a total of $21,275. Teachers with 25 years of experience on the masters scale with 24 hours of credit beyond the masters would be paid $41,417 plus 3% teachers retirement which would be a total salary of $42,660. There were a number of language changes in the new agreement between the association and the corporation. Mr. Reese informed the board after the entire contract is printed, each board member would receive a copy of the new contract. A motion was made by Mary Kay Stedman and seconded by Dan Patrick to approve the 1991-93 teacher contract. The motion passed six to zero. 3. Personnel. a. North Liberty Elementary School 1. Resignations. a. Suzanne Hamess, 6th grade girls basketball coach, sth & 6th grade cheerleading sponsor. Mr. Reese advised the board to accept the resignation of Suzie Hamess as the 6th grade girls basketball coach and sth and 6th grade cheerleading sponsor at NLES. The motion was made by Dave Hostetler and seconded by Nilas Miller to accept the administration’s recommendation concerning Mrs. Hamess. The motion passed six to zero. b. Mike Green, custodian. Mr. Reese advised the board to accept the resignation of Mike Green, custodian at NLES. The motion was made by Dave Hostetler and seconded by Nilas Miller to accept Mr. Green’s resignation as custodian at NLES. The motion passed six to zero. 2. Appointments. A. Emery Ferency, custodian. Mr. Reese recommended the board accept Mr. Kaufman's recommendation to appoint Emery Ferency to the custodial position at NLES. A motion was made by Mary Kay Stedman and seconded by Dave Hostetler to appoint Mr. Ferency to the custodial position at NLES.' Mr. Kaufman and Mr. Ferency will work out specific details on when Mr. Ferency will begin his duties. The motion passed six to zero. b. Urey Middle School. 1. Leave of absence, Carolyn Alexander. Mr. Reese recommended the board accept Mrs. Carolyn Alexander’s request for maternity leave beginning October 24, 1991 and extending through January 12, 1992. Mrs. Alexander will be returning to her position at the beginning of the third nine week grading period. A motion was made by Gene Knowlton, seconded by Dave Hostetler, to accept the administration’s recommendation concerning leave of absence for Mrs. Carolyn Alexander. The motion passed six to zero. 4. Project 4R’s. Mr. Kaufman, principal at North Liberty, spent time explaining to the board a 4R’s grant for NLES. The grant involves matching funds from the state for computer use involving students in grades K-l. Local corporation funds will be matched at a two to one rate by the state in this program. This grant is similar to the 3R’s grant received by Walkerton Dement ary School last year. Mrs. Lightfoot mentioned the 3R's program was very successful for WES and encouraged North Liberty to become a part of the 4R’s program. Mr. Kaufman answered questions from board members about the program. Specifically, mentioning that the extra “R” in this program is meant for “Remediation.” Mr. Kaufman explained the program will involve computer use during the school day, after the school day is over and also one evening per week. Board members' questions concerning funding, in-service training

and proper staffing were answered by Mr. Kaufman. Mr. Kaufman also informed the board that parents of students involved in the program would be informed through a letter of the after school and evening sessions available. After further discussion, a motion was made by Dave Hostetler and seconded by Gene Knowlton to approve North Liberty Dementary School’s Project 4R's grant. The motion passed six to zero. 5. Authorization for agent to act on behalf of the JGSC in terms of pension liability (PERF). Mr. Reese informed the board that as a matter of formality, this resolution needed to be approved by the school board. Basically, the only change is replacing Dr. Murray’s name with Mr. Reese’s name, who, along with Darlene Flora, are authorized to act as representatives of the corporation concerning Public Employees Retirement Fund. The resolution concerning PERF was read by Mrs. Stedman. Gene Knowlton made a motion to approve the resolution. The motion was seconded by Mary Kay Stedman and passed six to zero. 6. Superintendent’s report. a. Volunteer football coaches. Mr. Reese informed the board that the following individuals were serving as volunteer football and cross country coaches: John Hostrawser and Todd McLaughlin at JGHS, working with the football program; Vera Tiani at UMS volunteering her time to work with the cross country program. Also at UMS, volunteer football coaches included Roger Gark, Vance Young and Joe Frashetti. Mr. Reese complimented these individuals on the donation of their time to help the athletic programs in both the high school and the middle school. b. Other. 1. ISBA Conference. Mr. Reese asked the board to please inform him concerning the Indiana School Boards Association State Conference that will be held October 14 and 15, 1991 in the South Bend Century Center. Reservations and information concerning this conference need to be sent to the state by October 1. Mr. Reese asked board members to please inform him by the next board meeting of their intentions concerning this conference. NEXT MEETING DATES Mrs. Beem informed the public the Board of School Trustees will meet in executive session on Tuesday, September 10, at 7:30 p.m. at Urey Middle School for the purpose of receiving information about and interviewing prospective employees. The board will meet in regular session at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 17 at UreyMiddle School. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Dave Hostetler, seconded by Mary Kay Stedman, to adjourn the September 3 regular school board meeting. The motion passed six to zero. HALLOWEEN PHANTASY Tickets for the St. Joseph County Parks and Recreation Department’s Halloween Phantasy go on sale September 30. The theme for this year’s 90 minute walk and hayride is Fairy Tales. Ticket application forms may be obtained at the park office at Bendix Woods, St. Patrick’s or F/Baugo Creek County Parks. Tickets are limited, advanced purchases are required. For additional information, contact the receptionist at Bendix Woods County Park, 654-3155. Use The Classifieds ENVELOPES Variety Os Sizes And Styles Available CHECK OUR PRICES! 601 Roosevelt Rd., Walkerton