Roof work set to begin

BERNE — A pair of construction projects have received approval.
South Adams School Board selected bids Tuesday for roof replacement and construction of a bus wash bay.
The board also got an update on End of Course Assessment tests and learned South Adams was approved to receive a safety grant.
On recommendations from superintendent Scott Litwiller and director of building and maintenance Dave Vorhees, the school board unanimously selected a bid of $74,681 to re-roof 22,500 square feet above the pool and adjacent areas of South Adams High School. The work was projected to cost $150,000.
Because the bid came in significantly lower than expected, the board also gave Litwiller and Vorhees permission get a bid from Ohio and Indiana Roofing for roofing work on other areas of the school. Doing additional work will allow the school to complete its re-roofing project by next summer, a year earlier than expected, Litwiller said.
“They’ve done nice work for us,” said Litwiller of past projects. “What Dave likes about them is they do a very thorough inspection. There are very few surprises.”
The board also selected MartinRiley to construct the wash bay, which will be attached to the current South Adams bus garage. The new bay will be 1,440 square feet.
SAHS principal Trent Lehman told board members Arlene Amstutz, John Mann, Ray Gill, Landon Patterson, Amy Orr and John Buckingham unofficial results of the End of Course Assessment tests showed 92.3 percent of sophomores passed the algebra section and 87.2 percent passed the English section. Because of the high passage rate in algebra (72 of 78 students), the summer school remediation class has been canceled.
“Our results, we’re very pleased with,” said Lehman. “It’s the best scores we’ve had since I’ve been here. So we’re excited about that.”
Litwiller also told the board South Adams has been awarded a $26,000 Secured School Safety Grant from Indiana Department of Homeland Security. Most of that grant will go toward paying the Town of Geneva for employment of a school resource officer for the 2014-15 school year.
In other business, the board, with Julie Mansfield absent:
•Honored Brookglen Wilson, Malina Mawhorr, Hailey Wendel, Brooklyn Bixler, who earned awards in the PBS Kids Go Young Writers Contest. First-place winners will get to read their stories to be broadcast on PBS.
Also honored Alli Amstutz, who competed in the shot put and discus Friday at the IHSAA Girls Track and Field State Finals.
•Approved transfers of J.D. Keller to third grade teacher from Title I, Kristi Cressman to Title I from fourth grade teacher and Betsy Minnich to fourth grade teacher from fifth grade. South Adams currently has openings for a middle/high school intervention special education teachers, an elementary school special education aide, two bus aides and two 19-hour library aides.
•Accepted the retirement of library aide Susie Lehman and resignations from special ed teacher Lauriean Poindexter, class sponsor Allison Evans, JV volleyball coach Morgan Mitchell, JV cheerleading coach Lacey Zielinski, elementary memory book co-editor Andy Sommer and chess coach Jane Miller.
•Accepted an anonymous donation of $1,000 to the cross country team for purchase of a tent.
•Approved its transfer policy as required by the state. South Adams will accept non-resident transfers up to the February enrollment count date with a limit of 120 students from grades kindergarten through three and 130 students from grades four through 12.
•Transferred $100,000 from the transportation fund to the rainy day fund.
•Discussed policies for use of social media. Technology director Myra Moore has gathered policies from other school districts to be reviewed by administrators. The board plans to discuss the policies again at its July meeting.
•Approved wages for classified personnel with a 10-cent increase for longevity. Also, teaching aides will have their hours reduced to seven per day from the previous 7.5, speech assistant Bobbie Feaster will work four days per week instead of the previous five and Dave Vorhees will be changed from a salaried employee to an hourly employee.
•Hired the following summer school staff: Curt Amstutz and Margie Dobler (summer marching band and flag corp); Lois Bailey, Andy Sommer, Andy Brown and Becky Dubach (Elementary School Jump Start); Josh Hendrixson and Sandy Sprunger (middle school Jump Start); Lonnie Teeple (Wilson Reading); and Ashton Morgan, Alissa McMillan, Todd Ruppert, Morgan and Mitchell (migrant tutors).
Also transferred Susie Amstutz and Julie Baumer to become full-time directors of the Migrant Education Resource Center for northeast Indiana. They had previously worked part-time directing MERC and part-time as Title I employees for South Adams.
•Approved fall coaches: Rick Burkhalter (football), Mike Stimpson (assistant football), Rod Mosser (assistant football), Jeff Lehman (JV football), Grant Moser (freshman football), Steve Schumm (freshman football), Lack Taing (volunteer football), Toby Sprunger (volunteer football), Amie Sprunger (volleyball), Jaime Beitler (assistant volleyball), Rachel Burkhead (freshman volleyball), Ashley Fosnaugh (volunteer volleyball), Luke McClung (boys soccer), Aimee Buckland (girls soccer), Ashton Morgan (assistant girls soccer), Cindy Greer (boys tennis), Brent Hyman (assistant boys tennis), Greg Miller (volunteer boys tennis), Joanie Agler (volunteer boys tennis), Seth Sprunger (girls golf), Myron Schwartz (volunteer golf), Kristin Brown (cheerleading), Sarah Ellenberger (assistant cheerleading), Clint Anderson (cross country), Danette VonGunten (assistant cross country), Dianna Fox (assistant cross country), Doug Beall (middle school football), Logan Steiner (assistant middle school football), Phil Provost (assistant middle school football), Ashley Buckingham (eighth grade volleyball) and Paul Yoder (seventh grade volleyball).[[In-content Ad]]