MEDORA
Roger Bane had a game plan.
The 55-year-old became eligible for retirement in February, and during the May meeting of the Medora Community School Corp. board of school trustees, he announced his last day as superintendent would be May 31. The board approved his retirement.
During a special meeting Thursday, though, Bane was rehired as superintendent on a three-year contract.
"They posted the job position, and obviously, it’s one of the lower-paying jobs in the state and didn’t have anyone apply to my knowledge, so I reapplied and told them I would try it again for another three years," he said.
Bane will be paid $78,000 and work 200 days per year. That will include paid time off days, and his corporation insurance contribution will be the same as the teachers.
"We talked about hiring me back is going to save them some money because they don’t have to pay teacher’s retirement," he said. "I’m not on a 260-day contract like most superintendents. I’m on a 200-day contract. I have some flexibility there, and it just works for both of us. … This is close to home. The contract days are just right — a couple hundred days. It’s a no-brainer for me."
Bane just wrapped up his 32nd year in education. The 1984 Brownstown Central High School graduate taught briefly at Medora before becoming assistant principal of his alma mater in 1996. He later moved up to principal before becoming superintendent in 2004.
In August 2014, Bane was hired as Medora’s superintendent.
Early on, the corporation was facing declining enrollment and budget shortfalls.
Bane and other school officials have since worked together to turn it all around.
"Things are running pretty smooth," he said. "Our enrollment was up for the first time last (school) year. Our finances look better than they’ve ever looked. Enrollment was more than 160, not counting preschool. We’ve been down around 145, so that helped a bunch."
Enrollment is at the point where the corporation can afford to return the elementary school to single grade levels instead of combined classes in 2021-22, he said.
Medora receiving some Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act funding due to the COVID-19 pandemic allowed the corporation to add a couple of teachers.
"That’s going to help us do some things that we wanted to do," Bane said. "Now, we won’t have to let any aides go. We want to focus on just having those individual classrooms again. This is going to be a long-term deal. I don’t see us going back to combined classrooms."
Speaking of the elementary, its name changed this past school year to Medora STEM Academy after it became a STEM certified school. It also went back to preschool through fifth grade, and the sixth grade moved back to the junior-senior high school. The name change was proposed to raise awareness of STEM initiatives and the STEM certification.
Grants provided money to purchase Project Lead the Way courses in computer science, extend VEX Robotics into the junior-senior high school and offer professional development for teachers on STEM curriculum.
Also, agriculture classes and FFA continue to grow, and the school’s library will soon receive new flooring and furniture to make it a collaborative working space for students.
"We’ve been doing some good things," Bane said. "We’ve been lucky to have, I think, two really good principals, Mrs. (Chrystal) Street at first and then Mrs. (Austin) Skutnik now. They stayed focused really on what we wanted to do. We got the STEM certification, and now, we’re going to focus a little bit more on the junior-senior high."
Bane said Riley Morris, who was hired as a computer science teacher at the start of the 2020-21 school year, is receiving training this summer to implement STEM in the junior-senior high school.
"That’s the direction we’re wanting to go. We’re going to keep that focus," Bane said. "The elementary kids love it, and for them to go through that STEM and then not have anything at junior high, I think, is going to be a letdown, so looking to get that junior high STEM started."
Another main goal is trying to get the corporation’s debt paid off so it will be debt-free in 2025. The only debts remaining are from a bond, the 2000 building project and a little pension debt, Bane said.
"That’s going to be a big savings to the community," he said. "Right now, we’ve been able to keep up pretty good on maintenance and everything. There are probably roofs that will have to be replaced and maybe some heating and air, but I don’t see anything to the magnitude of what they had to do to build the new building."
The corporation also received a boost this past school year when the Southern Indiana Timberjacks semipro basketball team hosted games at the school.
"That was good for our athletic department," Bane said. "They donated us $1,000 a month. Plus, we got all of our concessions, so having the COVID year when we weren’t able to have crowds (at high school sporting events), that really helped us out."
Bane said he recently learned the league is being expanded from four to 12 teams for the upcoming season.
"That will be exciting," he said.
More positive news came during Thursday’s meeting, as trustees approved hiring three teachers — Macy Forrest for fourth grade, Amanda Newby for corporation special education and Will Marlowe for high school math. Medora now has all of its job openings filled.
"The turnover of teachers is an issue for every school, but so far, we’ve been lucky and been able to find people," Bane said.
Even though Bane wears a lot of hats as superintendent, he said he’s fortunate to have good people around him to keep the corporation going.
"That’s the only way it works in a school this size," he said. "Any small school, you have to have everybody working together or it’s not going to work."