Kevin L. Green
When school gets underway this fall many elementary students will find themselves in new schools.
The Rush County Schools Board of Trustees met Tuesday evening and made the first changes in local elementary school district lines since 1968.
After the original realignment plan drew public fire the board reconsidered and came up with a couple of alternatives.
This week, the original plan was scrapped and what was presented as Option 2 was adopted on a vote of six to one following a motion from Paul Barada with a second from Jeff Slaton.
Board member Anita Jackson was the lone dissenting vote. She later explained that she voted “no” on Option 2 because she preferred Option 3.
Options 2 and 3 were very similar, the difference being that in the third option Glenwood-area children would have remained at Rushville Elementary School. Option 2 will send those students to Milroy Elementary instead.
School board president John Wilson offered his thanks and appreciation to administrators, staff, and all concerned persons who participated in the process of realigning the elementary school boundaries.
“I think it was a very positive thing, going out into the communities and listening to what people had to say,” Wilson stated.
Board member Larry Scott offered his thanks to community members for being “polite and civil during these trying times.”
Board member Jane Carter concurred, noting that the board “knew it was going to be a hard decision” and that she also appreciated input from the public.
Board member Paul Barada added his thanks to all the people who were concerned about where their children were going to go to school.
“You must believe we took your concerns seriously,” Barada said. “If we didn’t care what you thought we wouldn’t have held public meetings on this matter. We did the best we could to make this as convenient as possible for the children.”
In other news, the board voted to approve splitting Rushville Elementary into two separate schools operating under one roof. The new schools will be known as Rushville Elementary East and Rushville Elementary West.
Superintendent of schools Dr. John Williams reported that the Indiana Department of Education has already approved this action.
The board granted authority to advertise for bids on a project that entails connecting the existing kindergarten building to the main structure at RES.
Creating classrooms for special education was part of the plan that included construction of two new elementary schools.
This approach accomplishes that goal, Dr. Williams said, and does so at a substantial savings to local taxpayers.
“The original estimate for building four new classrooms was $1.4 million. This accomplishes the same thing at a cost of $875,000,” he said.
Kindergartners will be moved into the main building.
Finally, the board approved transferring $250,000 from the Capital Projects Fund and $100,000 from the Transportation Fund to the Rainy Day Fund, which is essentially the corporation’s saving account.
These transfers bring the Rainy Day Fund total to $1.492 million.
It is likely as much as $1 million of those monies will be needed to cashflow the school system in light of major budget cuts announced by the state.
Kevin L. Green can be contacted at (765) 932-2222 ext. 108 or via e-mail at kevin.green@indianamediagroup.com. Add a comment to this story at www.rushvillerepublican.com.
