Board awards project contract

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BERNE — With the 2017 portion of the high school renovation project mostly complete, South Adams took the next step toward completing the remainder of the work next summer.

South Adams School Board on Tuesday agreed to move forward with the design-build process for 2018 portion of the project and awarded the contract for the work to Performance Services of Fort Wayne.

Also Tuesday, board members got an update on ISTEP scores for the 2016-17 school year.

By awarding the contract to Performance Services, the only firm that responded to a request for quotes, the board authorized the company to move forward with the process of creating a “phase one report.” That will include a design for the 2018 project — it is to include the renovation of the remaining classrooms around the media center, the former offices and the media center itself — setting a guaranteed maximum price, creating a schedule and ironing out other details. The cost of that work will be $90,000.

When the report is complete, South Adams can then decide whether to move forward with the plan as presented, renegotiate or step back and potentially look for a new design-build company.

The 2018 work, which is capped at $1.5 million, will complete the SAHS renovation project that began this year with the shift of the office to the northeast corner of the building to create a secure entrance along with the renovation of classrooms along the north and east sides of the media center. That work was substantially complete prior to school starting last month, but there are some finishing touches that will continue through the end of the year.

Board members Arlene Amstutz, John Mann, Julie Mansfield, John Buckingham, Mitch Sprunger and Landon Patterson, with Amy Orr absent, also heard an update from superintendent Scott Litwiller pointing out that South Adams scored at or above the state average on ISTEP tests at most grade levels in the spring.

Its highest scores came on the fifth grade math test with 89 percent of students passing. Eighty-two percent of third graders passed the English language arts test.

The only areas in which South Adams came in below the state average were the fourth and seventh grade English language arts tests.

Litwiller also told the board that schools received their letter grades this week, but that they are embargoed until the appeal process is complete.

“Overall, we’re pretty please with the grades,” he said.

In other business, the board:

•Honored Nolan Colpaert, Ava Schmit, Carson Schwartz and Adriana Eicher, who placed in the PBS Kids GO! regional writing contest, as examples of excellence. Also honored 40 students and adults who traveled to Haiti as part of Dots in Blue Water, which distributed 105 water purifiers in June.

•Held its public hearing in the proposed budget without comment. The 2018 budget calls for $16.53 million in spending, including $9.32 million in the general fund. The board is slated to adopt the budget at its regular meeting in October.

•Heard from Litwiller that enrollment as of last week was 1,234, which is about 50 students fewer than last year. The official count day for the state board of education is Friday.

•Set graduation for the 2017-18 school year for 2 p.m. May 27.

•Approved on second and final reading the policy for distribution of teacher appreciation grant money.

•Hired Erin Hubbard as a seventh grade language arts teacher, Lona Shuey as a second grade teacher, Davis Smith as a high school library aide, Nancy Gentis as a cook, Lee Anne Augsburger as a part-time middle school Title I aide, Tina and Jane Miller as high school tutors, Michael Baer and Cindy Sprunger as middle school tutors and Diane McClung as a seasonal student interventionist.

•OK’d the following extracurricular assignments: Allison Evans as auditorium director, Jennifer Thomson as vocal music director, Lana Shoaf as high school yearbook advisor, Ashley Buckingham, Jane Miller and Jeff Lehman as high school student government advisors, Morgan Mitchell as freshman class sponsor, Ashley Buckingham as sophomore class sponsor, Lana Shoaf as junior class sponsor and Allison Evans as senior class sponsor and Steve Tatman as National Honor Society sponsor. Also approved were high school department chairs, middle school team leaders and elementary school grade chairs.

•Approved the following: its teacher evaluation plan, which weights evaluations 75 percent on evaluations, 20 percent on student learning objectives and 5 percent on school-wide grades (based on ISTEP testing); a child nutrition program procurement plan, which is required to participate in the National School Lunch Program; leaves of absence for Allison Crider, Morgan Mitchell, Corrinne Bussel and Kathy Vance; Mansfield as its representative to the Indiana School Board Association conference; and a field trip for fifth graders May 1 and 2 to Camp Friedenswald in Cassopolis, Michigan.

•Set driver’s education fees at $320 for South Adams students and $380 for students from outside the district.

•Accepted a $300 donation from FOODFIGHT to cover the negative balances for students who purchase school lunches.