BROWNSTOWN
Personnel changes were plentiful for Brownstown Central Community School Corp.
During this month’s board of trustees meeting, the first reading of changing Jade Peters’ job title from business manager to assistant superintendent was approved. The second and final reading and consideration of approval will be during the December board meeting.
As assistant superintendent, Peters will serve as chief financial officer for the school corporation to ensure all monies are accounted for and expenditures are within approved guidelines and state and federal laws. He also will serve as acting superintendent in the absence of Superintendent Tim Taylor.
Among the long list of specific responsibilities outlined in the job description, the only change as assistant superintendent is adding safety to Peters’ list of areas he supervises. The others are financial accounting, accounts payable, payroll, purchasing, buildings and grounds, maintenance, transportation and technology.
“Typically, when you have a business manager, it’s just finances only, so a lot of your bigger schools will have your assistant superintendent plus a business manager,” Peters said. “Here, the duty list is much more than just a business manager. Tim brought it to my attention and asked if he could take it to the board, and I said, ‘That would be great.'”
Shortly after the 2018-19 school year started, Greg Walker submitted his resignation from Brownstown to become superintendent of Paoli Community School Corp., and Peters was named interim superintendent.
Taylor went through the interview process before accepting the superintendent job in early March, and the school approved his contract in June.
“I get to rely on my experiences plus his, and two heads are better than one,” Taylor said of him and Peters continuing to work together. “We bounce a lot of things off each other. There are very few decisions we make without conversing about it.”
The board also approved increasing Peters’ number of vacation days from 15 to 20.
Another item related to administrators was approving stipends. Taylor, Peters, elementary Principal Chrystal Street, middle school Principal Doug McClure, high school Principal Joe Sheffer and high school Assistant Principal Mark DeHart each will receive a $2,000 stipend in lieu of an increase in their contract amount for the 2019-20 school year.
Also, the board approved giving 3% increases to the base salary for all classified employees. That will be retroactive to the start of the school year. The corporation also increased their health insurance contributions to $6,750 for a single plan and $8,900 for a family plan.
The board also approved shortening Karyn Rumph’s contract as director of transportation from 260 to 205 days and changing her position from salary to hourly. Her hourly rate is now $22.71 for a yearly total of $37,244 for 2019-20, compared to her salary of $49,162 in 2018-19.
Taylor said the hourly rate was calculated from the previous salary and hours, and Rumph is OK with the change.
“When she was hired, it was a 260-day contract. Bus inspections used to be held in the summer, so you needed your transportation here throughout the summer to make sure the buses and everything were prepared and get everything ready for inspections,” he said. “Now, they do those inspections all throughout the year, so there’s not really need for any of those summer days.”
Finally, the board approved adding a technology support specialist to join the two technology staff members, Will Hubbard and Tammie Baker.
The position is specifically needed to help Hubbard, the director of technology, and Baker, the information systems administrator, ease into the transition of take-home devices for students.
“As we move to 1:1 take-home devices, it’s integral that we have some support help there,” Taylor said.
Hubbard said the plan is to pilot 1:1 with sixth-graders during the third trimester this school year and then be 1:1 for grades 6 through 12 in the 2020-21 school year.
“They are in the same hallway. Their lockers are right across the hall. Professional development and teacher collaboration, they are all in the same hall. And for me to just go in and follow up, they are all right there,” Hubbard said of the reason for choosing sixth grade for the trial run. “Logistically and logically, it makes sense.”
High school students have used Chromebooks in classrooms for a few years, but they don’t take them home.
Hubbard shared information about going 1:1 during a work session before the recent school board meeting, and he plans to do that again in the near future.
The corporation is partnering with Five-Star Technology Solutions for the 1:1 implementation.
A job description for the technology support specialist position and a job application are available online at btownccs.k12.in.us. The completed application and a résumé are due to Hubbard by Dec. 9.