ADAMS TOWNSHIP — Though the millage is not yet determined, Clinton-Massie school district residents can expect to see a tax levy on their fall 2017 ballots.
The Clinton-Massie Local Schools Board of Education approved a tax levy to go on the November ballot at a special meeting this month.
First, the school staff will attend an informational night in order to inform them, Clinton-Massie Local Schools Superintendent Matt Baker said after Monday’s regular meeting.
Then, community meetings will be held for the voters in the district to learn about the tax issue.
Officials are still getting the numbers worked out before deciding on the millage amount, said Baker.
At Monday’s meeting, board members approved eliminating the position of student services director, effective June 30. The position will be eliminated in what’s officially called a reduction in force (RIF) for financial reasons.
The student services director coordinates special education services. The director also works with the district’s instructional aides for placement in buildings and professional development, evaluates certain intervention specialists (teachers), and is the pre-school coordinator.
Baker said those are the main duties of the director, with other things that fall under her care.
Once the position is eliminated this summer, the duties will be split among the superintendent, assistant superintendent, and building principals.
The RIF action is part of a set of plans and expectations that the school board approved Monday under the heading 2017-18 cost savings.
Total savings of the planned or expected actions is projected to be $211,000 for next school year, said Baker.
Those other actions include reducing the fifth-grade teaching staff from six to five, a retire-rehire situation at the high school, and the reduction of a special education teacher.
Those particular actions have their reasons, the superintendent said.
The current fifth grade is very large, Baker said, while the current fourth grade class is much smaller. The retire-and-rehire procedure saves the district money. And a special ed teacher probably will retire, and the thinking is they won’t have to be replaced due to the student numbers, according to Baker.
A topic for future conversations, the first-year superintendent said, will be the district’s credit requirement for graduating: 23 credits. That’s the highest in Clinton County, he said, and reducing that may lower the district’s overall salary costs.
In a principal’s report to the board, Clinton-Massie High School Principal Barrett Swope said plans call for some course offerings next school year in vo-ag and computers. Currently, Clinton-Massie does not have high school courses in either vocational agriculture or computers.
There will be two half-time staffers to serve as instructors for those two fields. The new courses and staffers will not raise the district’s salary line item because one business teaching position will be dropped. There presently are two business teachers, one a long-term sub who knew her spot was temporary, said Baker.
In other board news:
• The March regular meeting of the board of education will be held on Tuesday, March 21 instead of on the third Monday of the month.
• Aide Terri Binau received the Consistently Making A Difference (CMAD) award, nominated by sixth-grade teachers.
• Art teacher Kristin Walker gave a presentation to the board on developments in the art program. One new idea is to offer a new course for incoming freshmen titled Advanced Art I. For its first year, it would be for students coming out of an honors eighth-grade art class.
Freshmen in the Advanced Art I class would enjoy the benefit of creating alongside older sophomores.
Walker also spoke about Art Smart Summer Camp. The dates this summer would be June 5 through 9 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Clinton-Massie campus. The cost will be $140, primarily for materials.
“This is a great time to get really hands-on into their pieces and extend what they’ve been doing,” she said.
• In addition to Advanced Art I, also approved Monday to be added as high school courses for the 2017-18 school year are Applied Algebra I, Applied Geometry, and Applied Algebra II.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
