By Amantha Garpiel
TIPP CITY — During the Tipp City Board of Education meeting on Monday, Feb. 27, the board accepted donations, retirements and substitute teachers and discussed inter-district enrollment and tuitions.
The Tipp City Board of Education approved the acceptance of donations from Marie Gruebmeyer. The donation from Gruebmeyer was approved to be used to purchase 68 Read Adult Chairs for approximately $120 each and 27 student chairs for approximately $100 each for Broadway Elementary School. The donation also covers the purchase of eight student desks for approximately $435 each to be used in the ISR room at Tippecanoe Middle School.
Next, the board approved the acceptance of Tippecanoe Middle School science teacher Curtis Earl’s retirement.
“Mr. Earl, 31 years of service, he deserves a moment. I mean come on, this is not a consent agenda for any of us sitting at this table that have had Mr. Earl, your kids, grand-kids, your neighbors, you’ve never heard a bad word about Mr. Earl,” said Board member Theresa Dunaway. “Thank you, thank you Mr. Earl. Honestly, I could go on and on forever. It’s just been a pleasure and a joy having you in this district and best wishes to whatever you do next.”
“He exudes his science with his class, they feel it they see how genuine it is. I’ve just never heard anything really negative at all about Mr. Earl and 31 years is an amazing accomplishment, especially at the middle school. So i just with the best of health and happiness, Mr. Earl.” said member Anne Zakkour.
Their appreciation was echoed by other board members Amber Drum, Richard Mains and Simon Patry.
Another item moved out of the consent agenda by Dunaway, is the approval of six new substitute teachers/aides for the 2022-23 school year.
“I pulled this out because I wanted to comment. I love when I see retirees come back to do substitute (teaching),” said Dunaway.
Dunaway also requested Superintendent Mark Stefanik to include updates in his weekly superintendent updates to the board. She requested that he add information, by building, on the amount of people who needed substitutes each week as a way to monitor the extra money the board previously approved for substitute rates.
“I think it’s a great idea and also to help us have a better snapshot of where these absentee pockets are occurring in our buildings just to see if there is a trend, one building experiencing more absenteeism than another building. And it just might be insightful,” said Zakkour.
Next, the board unanimously approved a motion to not allow students from other districts to enroll in programs in the Tipp City School District on a non-tuition basis or under an open-enrollment plan.
“I’ll just echo the comments I made last year. The finances aren’t there anymore with the changes in the law. Also, it sounds like that the number of students that we’ve got coming in makes it unlikely to be utilized anyway,” said Patry
On a similar note, the board discussed allowing the admission of students on a tuition bases. The motion to allow the tuition failed.
“I just think to allow a tuition is discriminatory for those who can’t afford a tuition. I just don’t like that,” said Dunaway.
Zakkour raised her questions regarding the potential tuition and Tipp City’s current tuition reimbursement, but agreed with Dunaway.
In other business:
• Treasurer Melanie Fox presented the board with a bond and levy timeline she created for the board and community to have a visual representation of the timeline and what is necessary to get renewals and new bonds and levies on the ballot for November.
• The board approved a motion to continue the district’s Summer Lunch On Us Program
• The board approved the addition of Jessica Ralston, family and consumer science teacher, to the Curriculum Committee due to her not being initially added because she was out on FMLA at the beginning of the year.
