116 South Main St. (Suite A) P.O. Box 248 Tipton, IN 46072
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Teachers, citizens want more communication from school board

By JACKIE L. HENRY Managing Editor
Concerns, complaints and suggestions regarding "reduction in force" were voiced to the Tipton Community School Board members at their meeting Tuesday night by school staff and concerned citizens.
Budget restraints throughout Indiana have been hard hit by school districts. Schools everywhere are looking at ways to continue to provide education to students, with much less money to do it. Tipton Community School Corporation has not been spared. The board has had several discussions regarding ways to reduce the deficit of the current budget and still maintain a good learning environment for the students.
"We have to maintain the programs for our students that help with the development of their lives. But, at the same time, we have to balance the fact that the corporation will go bankrupt if we continue at this rate. We have to bring our expenditures and our revenue together," stated Robert Schultz, assistant superintendent.
Superintendent David Bergdoll explained to those in attendance that the board is still in discussion with cost reductions and nothing has been decided on. "We are still in the preliminary thought process, there is nothing concrete at this point," he stated. “Any reductions would be done in at least two phases. We have talked about 11 teacher reductions or less, but, that does not mean we are going to do this. These are all just preliminary thoughts. All areas are being considered. Of those, elementary readiness and all-day kindergarten have also been discussed. We would like to look at sparing our staff.”
Cheryl Comer, school board member, addressed the audience saying, “We (the board) are seven members, seven parents. We have fathers, brothers and mothers of teachers on our board. Trust that any decision that will be made was not made overnight. Even with a crystal ball, we could not have imagined what was going to happen.”
Jim Leffler, concerned citizen, approached the board. “Have you considered administration cuts? Anything but take away the teachers, principals. We have a tremendous school . . . we want to keep it that way.”
Erica Newcom who is a Tipton High School graduate and has three children that will be attending Tipton schools approached the board. “Every school is having problems. We can’t compare Tipton schools with other schools; however, we can learn from other schools. I believe that all of us here want to gain assurance that the board had looked at every option before any teacher is cut.” She apologized for not attending earlier school board meetings and asked if the board was “going with the flow.” Stating she was no longer going to be complacent, she would be attending the school board meetings.
Newcom went on to say, “Don’t let the tail wag the dog . . . you are the decision makers. Get all the facts. Go back, do the math, see if it all adds up. I see the numbers. I challenge you, the school board to exemplify leadership. Lead by example. Are you asking more of the teachers than you are willing to do yourself? It appears that way to us. The public needs to be informed. I want to be able to support this school board. I want to be able to see the efforts made to save the teachers.”
Jim Powell also spoke to the board. “Your primary responsibility as an elected official is to see that the students learn the best that they can. The school’s budget is one of the largest budgets of any non-governmental entity.” Powell also spoke to those attending the meeting, “We must keep in mind and realize that this board has not created this situation. It is through no decision that they have made.” Powell called the recent budget cuts, “signs of the times.” He stated he hoped the board allowed the public to take part in the decisions that need to be made, always with the best interest of the students in mind.
Several other citizens spoke during last night’s meeting . . . all echoing the fact that they would like to see more public involvement during the reduction cost discussions. All those speaking were willing to work together for the “common goal” of not having to cut teachers.
Amy Cole, a corporation teacher and also a member of the “cost reduction” committee spoke to the crowd. “We have looked at several ways of to cut money from the school’s budget. Several of the suggestions we have heard will not help the general fund of the school. I must say that I don’t feel as a committee we are done yet. I feel that the committee needs to expand. We need to hear from the teachers, the community. There is a lot of work left to do. Expanding the committee would only help with finding a solution.”
Craig Frawley, a new teacher for the corporation, spoke to the board. “I don’t feel there has been good communication from the board with the teachers. I am looking for a job elsewhere at this point because I don’t know if I will have a job or not. I want to know what’s going on. I feel we (the teachers) have been left high and dry. Tipton is going to loose good teachers.”
Frawley also asked what the timeline was for a reduction in force. He was told that a reduction in force is based on certification and seniority. The school is legally required to inform permanent and semi-permanent teachers by May 1 if they are losing their jobs. Non-permanent positions must legally be informed by June 1.
Several other concerned citizens and teachers took the floor. The main concern of most was the lack of communication they felt they had with the school board. All want to work with the school board, see what options and areas the school board has looked at and try to come to a solution together, as a team.
Mike Harper suggested to board members that they should actively go out and seek input regarding this situation. “I am not impressed tonight with what you have been doing. I feel that the board is defending what they are doing. The board needs to be pro-active.”
Ken Ehman, school board president, stated, “We live in a great community. We need to do more with less money. The way we get there will be some tough decision making. We have made no decisions at this time. No recommendations have been asked for. This is a process that will take years to finish. This is the first phase, the preliminary phase. When we get into the second phase, we will be asking for all kinds of input. We are very limited was we can do this year. We do not want to out the staff. We all live in this community. I love this town. But, turn on the news . . . look in the newspaper, it is tough all over. We are trying to get the scalpel out and do a little cutting at a time instead of taking out a chain saw and taking a big chunk. We all are here because we love the kids. In the meantime, I hope all of you continue to come to the board meeting. I also want administration to come to the board meeting in April with any recommendations. What’s going to happen? Right now I cannot give any definite answers because we don’t know what we are going to do.”
Other matters to come to the board last night was the approval of two field trips. The first was for members of the Key Club to go to the Indiana Key Club District Convention. The other was for the high school band to attend the Smoky Mountain Music Festival in Gatlinburg, Tenn.
The personnel report found the following changes:
• George Price’s position was terminated immediately. He was the high school ag teacher and also the sponsor for the Future Farmers of America
• Carissa Coe resigned her position as high school girls’ head tennis coach.
• John Hughey resigned his position as the high school girls’ softball junior varsity coach.
• Craig Frawley was recommended for the high school boy’s varsity track coach.
• Kyle Green was recommended for the high school boys’ junior varsity baseball coach.
• Jason Bales was recommended for the girls’ junior varsity softball coach.
• Martha Johnston was recommended as the high school girls’ head tennis coach.

The next school board meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. April 13.