The Duneland School Board approved dates and fees for the upcoming summer school for high school and elementary students as presented by Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Monte Moffett at last week’s board meeting.

Moffett said parents can now sign up their child for summer school. The deadline to do so is May 24.

Following the same schedule format as last year, summer school for students entering grades 1-3 will begin on June 10 and continue until June 27 with no class on Friday, June 21. Classes will begin at 7:45 a.m. and dismiss at 12:30 p.m.

And, just as last year, there will not be summer school sessions offered for grades 4-8. The state chose to cut funding to those courses and only offered to reimburse schools for the Category 1 for grades 1-3 that will focus on reading skills advancement. There will be a class to help students pass the state’s required I-READ 3 assessment.

Summer School for High School students will also be offered again this year.

For CHS Summer School, there will again be two blocks, the first from June 10 to July 3 with class times running from 7:30 a.m. to 12:55 p.m. for 15 days and no school on Fridays. The second block, running 15 days, will be July 8 to July 31, also starting at 7:30 a.m. to 12:55 p.m., with no school on Fridays.

Remedial courses offered this year include English, Math Topic, Algebra I, Investigative Geometry, Geometry, Health, Basic Physical Education, Biology, U.S. Government and Economics.

Classes offered for enrichment will be Algebra Concepts, Health, Basic Physical Education, US Government, and Economics. Students who take an enrichment class can get credit

The Bridges program, which helps incoming freshman prepare for high school, will run for 17 days from July 15 through August 9, with no school on Fridays. Times for the program will be 7:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.

All programs will come with a fee of $125, which Moffett said has been the same cost each year since 2010.

Moffett said there have been changes in the calendar for driver’s education and presented the new dates.

The revised schedule entails the first classroom session to take place from June 10 to July 3, with no class on Fridays.

The second classroom session will run from July 8 through July 30, with no class on Fridays.

For Driving, the first session will be June 10-19 for a total of eight days. The second driving session will be offered June 20-July 3 for eight days with no driving on Fridays.

The third driving session will be July 8-17 for eight days. And, if there are enough students in the course, a fourth driving session will be offered potentially for July 18-31 with no driving on Fridays.

Driving for the second session will be July 8 to July 17.

There are three different times for each session, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.

Meanwhile, Moffett named two DSC industrial technology educators who are retiring this year from CHS – Wayne Herlitz and Ron Bakaitis. Herlitz previously taught at Union Twp. schools for 27 years and came to CHS 13 years ago.

Bakaitis has taught at Duneland for 41 years, Moffett said.

With seven other retirements mentioned during the last meeting, the years of Duneland experience in retiring teachers totals 361, Moffett said.

In addition, Moffett said CHS Math Teacher Nancy Miller and Yost Elementary first grade Teacher Amy Vega have decided to resign their positions.

On child care leave is Westchester Intermediate sixth grade teacher Cara Ellerthorpe and Bailly Elementary fourth grade teacher Katie Masi.

Duneland Superintendent Dirk Baer and members of the board gave a pat on the back to CHS senior Michaela Sosby, features editor for the Sandscript, who was named State Student Journalist of the Year by the Indiana High School Press Association.

“It was all so surreal to me,” said Sosby summing up her experience at the IHSPA First Amendment Symposium. “It was pure excitement, mostly shock.” She said she would like to share the award with her teachers and staff who have “molded” her into the journalist she is today.

CHS Journalism teacher John Hayduk said he has watched “with awe and admiration” Sosby’s four years as a high school journalist, serving as a reporter, news editor, and editor-in-chief.

“She deserves everything she has gotten,” said Hayduk, pointing out that the ISHPA is the highest recognition a student journalist can receive in the state.

Sosby plans to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia next fall majoring in journalism-convergence television reporting.

Baer said he is proud of what Sosby has accomplished for the school and commended her character.

He also commended Sosby for her “spot on” coverage of last year’s Duneland Schools referendum that accurately conveyed the points “without a lot of interpretation.”

As for what Sosby thinks her favorite article has been, she said “My favorite story is always the one I am working on at the moment.”

Earlier on, Liberty Intermediate Principal Greg Guernsey and six students of the VIP group showed the board a video they put together called “Life at LIS.”

As the students explained, over 50 videos and 1,000 pictures were taken to create the video on I-pads. The students conducted interviews of their peers and instructors about what they like about school life and captured everyday events in the classrooms.

Meanwhile, Duneland Director of Support Services Greg Lindy let the board know there is plenty of work to be done before next school year when it comes to building improvements.

Lindy said that an insurance inspector visited the schools and suggested a few changes they agreed to act upon. First, Lindy mentioned that the bleachers at the Westchester Intermediate School baseball field will be cut from five rows to three rows high for safety.

Once the top rows are removed, they can be stored and used for other purposes which Lindy said could save the schools “a lot of money.”

The cafeteria at the middle school will be remodeled. Part of the upgrades include putting new exhaust hoods on the ventilation system.

Repairs to the roof at Liberty Intermediate School will continue. Other roofs need work too, Lindy said, but the LIS roof is “our biggest problem roof.” The new roof will have a warranty of up to 15 years.

As mentioned last month, “buzzer systems” for school security will be installed at the main entrances of Liberty Intermediate, Westchester Intermediate, CMS and Yost Elementary. Any unknown persons who enter will have to be screened by administrative staff to ensure safety in the schools.

Also on Lindy’s chore list is to replace an air circulator in the pool room at CMS and also repair one of the four compressors in the air conditioner at the high school.

One of the road entrances by the football stadium at the high school, which ambulances would use in case of an emergency, will get a curb cut and asphalt. There will be a gate structure to block regular traffic, Lindy said.

Lastly, Lindy said new lockers have been ordered for the girls’ locker room at CHS which will arrive and be put in shortly after spring break.

The board decided it will meet next on Wednesday, April 10 instead of Monday, April 8 as previously scheduled.

Posted 3/18/2013