PCSC approved JUUL settlement agreement, approves new hire, and hears PEA concerns
Public school funding may increase 5% to 6%; Vouchers 70%
PLYMOUTH — The Plymouth Community School Corporation (PCSC) Board held their regular meeting for March and approved the appointment of Michelle Zentz as the new Riverside Intermediate School (RIS) assistant Principal.
Zentz will begin her term in July 2023. RIS Principal Kyle Coffman introduced Zentz to members of the board. Zentz previously taught at RIS and has recently served as the Dean at North Miami Elementary. Coffman expressed great pride in recommending Zentz to the board for hire and said he was excited for what she could do for RIS students.
Zentz thanked the board for inviting her to meet with them. "I am thrilled to be back with Plymouth Schools. I wasn't looking for a position but I heard that Riverside was looking for someone and that is home. So to come back to Riverside - I am just super excited about what we're going to be able to do and what the future holds for us. So thank you so much for having me."
The PCSC board also approved the transportation agreement with Laville Schools to transport one Bashor student to pick the student up and transport him back.
a settlement has been reached between JUUL labs, an e-cigarette maker, over claims that the company engaged in harmful marketing and selling of vaping products to underage users. Within the settlement, it was decided that PCSC would recieve $58,426 for damages, minus attorney fees. There is the potential to recieve a small bonus. PCSC Superintendent Mitchell Mawhorter gave a special thanks to attorney Jeff Houin for his direction through the process. The board approved all settlement agreements.
Superintendent Mawhorter spoke regarding legislative updates and highlighted House Bill 1001. HB 1001 passed the House of Representatives and is now in the Senate. The Bill outlines the budget for schools; Superintendent Mawhorter described it as a "mixed bag of things". While there is an increase on the foundation portion of the funding formula for students which would seem to help support the growth in teacher wages; that potential benefit is offset by another foundation increase that will be used for curricular materials. The requirement to use the funding for text books and other curricular materials takes away from the possible wage increase for teachers; which is a concern with continued enrollment challenges and teacher attraction and retention.
President of the
Plymouth Education Association (PEA) Laura Kruyer spoke first as a parent. "I have two high school students and I do get those text book fees. They can be burdensome. They are usually several hundred dollars, but everything is relative. Everything is really about priorities. So while it seems like it is a very good idea to have the state pick up the text book fees which Indiana is only like one of seven states to not do that - the fact that they're making it come out of the funding increase now basically offsets any help for the school corporation. As a parent, to me that's not a good trade-off. That's not a win for me because my school is hurt in the process."
Kruyer emphasized the importance of public awareness. While headlines might highlight increased funding for public schools; that same coverage can be misleading because it doesn't include that increases to public education are 5% to 6% while the increases for private vouchers are 70%. "That is a major concern. We're aware of it because of our professional associations, but I'm not so sure that the public is aware of it. So bringing it up at the school board meetings, hoping the press will pick up on it, and talking to our neighbor I think is very important in this process."
Kruyer encouraged parents and professionals to contact legislators.
She also addressed Senate Bill 486. "Last time when I talked to you it had been put to the appropriations committee. It has since been voted out of the Senate - it's been passed by the Senate - and it has now gone to the House of Representatives. That was a Bill that had all different types of provisions in it. It had - for instance - changes to the discussion laws between administration and the exclusive rep. But the other piece that I'm not so sure the public is aware of is the changes it would make to mandatory training. So you do hear, many times, teachers say - 'We have all this training we have to do.' And absolutely we do. And as I thought about it a little bit more, and I look at the different trainings - and what this bill would now do is take away the mandatory part of it - pretty much put it in your laps as a school board of what to use and what not in the training. The question is - what training do you get rid of? Do you get rid of the suicide awareness training? Well we know here in Plymouth where we've had some areas where that has become very helpful for us. Do you get rid of the CPR training? When we've had again within Plymouth - within the past couple years - where a teacher has had to perform CPR on a student. So then are you getting rid of seizure awareness symptoms? I know a lot of parents that would be very upset with that - if they know. Again, I guess the question is - and if anyone has the magical answer then please let me know - is how do we get the public to understand this? These are real live issues - life and death issues. And what's going on right how in the State House is not very favorable to public education - especially to communities like Plymouth when we see that having an impact on the funding or the impact on the students within our classroom. So I just wanted to give you an update on that and it is still a concern."
While being promoted as deregulation of public education by Senator Linda Rogers, Kruyer said it is really an "attack on public education."
In other news, Jason Rivich has been appointed as the new Director of Adult Education. He has been an adult education teacher for both Warsaw and currently Plymouth. He also worked as a Special Education teacher and has worked as an Educational Consultant for the Department of Child Services. Superintendent Mawhorter said, "We believe Jason will be a great addition to work already being done by LLN (Lifelong Learning Network) and he will be an excellent recruiter for the students leaving High School who do not have a plan for after graduation. So we welcome Jason."
A committee has been formed to work on redistricting and has met once on Feb. 24. That committee met again on Friday, March 10. There will be another meeting for the public to attend on March 28 at 6 p.m. in the High School Cafeteria to provide an update on progress.
The next regular PCSC board meeting will be Tuesday, April 4 at 7 p.m. in the Administration Building.