Blog Bits

School Board Meeting
The Board of Trustees met in regular session on January 18, 2007. In addition to their regular business, the board heard a report on the Menominee Elementary School ISTEP scores and the implementation of the school improvement plan. The board approved the offering of an Advanced Life Science Plant and Soil course at the Plymouth High School. This course will be offered through the Ag Dept. but qualifies for the Core 40, the Core 40 with academic honors and the Core 40 with technical honors diplomas as an elective and as a directed elective course. It will also be recognized as a career academic sequence, a career technical program, or flex credit course. The conflict of interest statements were signed by administrators and school board members and were approved for certification with the state board of accounts. The board heard first reading on the revision of board policies or new board policies. The next regular scheduled board meeting is February 8, 2007 at 5:30 p.m.

Winter Board Member Academy
School board members and administrators from around the state, including representatives from the Plymouth Community School Corporation, attended the Winter Board Academy at downtown Indianapolis Westin Hotel on January 19, 2007. This seminar sponsored by the Indiana School Boards Association introduced new school board members to the many facets of boardmanship ship along with reinforcing these principles to numerous veteran board members and school administrators who attended. Topics, including school budgeting, policy development, boardmanship, collective bargaining, conducting effective meetings, legislative process, and legal aspects, such as the Open Door Law, and the General School Powers Act, were presented by the ISBA staff. Dr. John Ellis, Executive Director of the Indiana Association Public School’s Superintendents, brought an update on the changing role of the public school superintendency. A panel of experienced board members shared their views on the functions of the school board. Local board member and administrator attending were Melissa Christiansen, and Dr. John Hill. The ISBA is a non-profit organization with 290 member schools, including every school board in the state.