Skip to main content

Park appointed to state panel in charge of reviewing grading

Melanie Park, a teacher at Riverview Middle School, is one of 17 members named to a state panel charged with reviewing the A-F grading system for Indiana schools.

Park was named Indiana Teacher of the Year in 2012. The honor entitled her to a year-long sabbatical, and Park spent last school year as a teacher in residence with the Indiana Department of Education. During that year, she focused on statewide educator outreach initiatives. This fall, Park returned to the teaching staff at Riverview.

The new Accountability System Review Panel will study the A-F grading system for schools and make recommendations to the State Board of Education regarding changes to that system.

Those recommendations must be submitted no later than Nov. 1 so that they can be implemented for the 2014-2015 school year.

Park was one of four members appointed by the Indiana Senate. Other appointments made by Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore David Long are Steve Baker, principal of Bluffton High School; Dr. Steven Yager, superintendent of the Southwest Allen County Schools; and Derek Redelman, of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

The Indiana House, Gov. Mike Pence and the Indiana Department of Education each made four appointments to the panel, with Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz serving as the 17th member.

Appointments made by Speaker of the House Brian Bosma are Dr. Shane Robbins, superintendent of the Northwest Consolidated School District of Shelby County; Sheila Seedhouse, principal at Key Learning Community in the Indianapolis Public Schools; Jessica Dunn Feeser, teacher at Nora Elementary School in MSD Washington Township; and Scott Bess, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana.

Pence's appointments include Jim Snapp, superintendent of the Brownsburg Community School Corporation; Robert Lugo, principal of Stonybrook Intermediate School, in Indianapolis; Casandra McLeod, teacher at KIPP Indianapolis College Preparatory; and Claire Fiddian-Green, special assistant to the governor for education innovation and co-leader of the Center for Education and Career Innovation.

As of Sept. 5, the IDOE had not announced its appointments.