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School Board talks Summer School ‘22

Salamonie National Elementary Honor Society members presented the HCCSC Board of Trustees with gifts of appreciation during the Monday, Feb. 14, school board meeting.
Salamonie National Elementary Honor Society members presented the HCCSC Board of Trustees with gifts of appreciation during the Monday, Feb. 14, school board meeting. Photo provided.

During the Monday, Feb. 14, Huntington County Community School Corporation Board of Trustees meeting, members of the Salamonie School chapter of the National Elementary Honor Society (NEHS) presented trustees with gifts of appreciation in honor of School Board Recognition Month.

The NEHS President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer were all in attendance, along with school counselor Melinda Huber. The students each addressed the board, explaining a little bit of the history behind School Board Recognition Month and the gifts that were given to the trustees.

Although January is typically School Board Recognition Month, the Salamonie NEHS students still wanted to take time to extend their appreciation for the HCCSC School Board. The special designation was initiated in 1995 by the National School Boards Association, making 2022 the 27th year of its existence – but this is the first time that any HCCSC school board has been recognized.

To garner support for the project, NEHS students wrote letters to teachers and students to volunteer to “adopt” a school board member. After each member was adopted, the classes began to create their surprises. Each gift was different based on who they were for – some members received snacks, some received hand-crafted cards and letters, and some were even given special access to movies via a QR code in their cards.

In addition to the individual gifts that were given to board members, all NEHS fourth and fifth grade students at Salamonie wrote letters that were placed on a large yellow banner that was decorated to thank the school board. The banner was displayed in the meeting room at Salamonie School.

Another major focus of the evening was for Summer School and other summer-related programs.

To start, Mrs. Amy Rudolf presented requests regarding Summer School 2022, as well as 2022 Summer Band. This year, the elementary school portion of Summer School will take place at Flint Springs Elementary School, and the high school portion of Summer School will take place at Huntington North High School as usual.

“Basically, the proposal for this year is very similar to what we’ve done in the past,” Rudolf explained. “The high school will have two sessions, with the first one being May 25 through June 20, with no class on Memorial Day, and the second session there’s a little break in-between for the fourth of July which falls on a Monday.”

For elementary Summer School, the dates are May 26 through June 16 and no class on Memorial Day. The elementary Summer School is for reading instruction for students who have finished kindergarten through third grade. Rudolf stated that breakfast and lunch are provided daily, as is transportation.
Rudolf then moved on to the budget portion, explaining that she used the highest salary amounts possible for her estimates in order to ensure that funding would be overestimated rather than underestimated.

“For the teachers, we go with the highest salary level, as though all of the teachers who are doing summer school are the highest level that they can be, which they will not – a lot of our teachers are newer and will be at that lower level – so it won’t be that high, it’s just the highest that it could be.”

One change that has been made is that a Clinic Assistant has been requested at both the elementary and the high school level due to having a portion of students planning to attend summer school that do have “significant health issues.”

One board member asked whether or not Summer School is voluntary or mandated, and another asked about how many students go to summer school. Summer School is a voluntary program, and according to Rudolf, around 200 to 250 students at the elementary level go to Summer School. According to Rodney Richison, the HNHS assistant principal, anywhere between 300 and 450 students attend Summer School at the high school level, between the two sessions. This generated between 600 and 750 credits for students.

The proposal was approved, and Rudolf then moved on to discussing the 2022 Summer Band proposal. The program is offered at the middle school and high school level. Rudolf stated that directors were requested at Riverview Middle School and Crestview Middle School, as well as assistant directors at HNHS.

This request was also approved.

Moving forward, Salamonie Principal Dawn Collins made requests to the board regarding English Learners (EL) Summer School Support and Migrant Summer School.

“We have a growing population of EL students in our district,” Collins said. “Actually, we’ve gotten four new ones in the last three school days, and we need to offer support to those students through summer school in addition to what they’re getting at summer school.”

Collins went on to explain that they way this was accomplished last year was by hiring an EL teacher to be at summer school to give services to the students that was similar to what they would get throughout the school year, which included smaller group instruction. Collins requested that an EL teacher be at the high school for summer school as well as at the elementary school. Collins estimates there to be 87 EL students in the district. Her request for the EL teachers were approved.

Moving on to the Migrant Summer School request, Collins explained that the Migrant Summer School program is a full-day program located at Salamonie School, where students are present from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and are fed breakfast and lunch and given a snack to take home. Students are also provided bussing, and both services are reimbursed through the Migrant Regional Education Service Center. That Service Center, which is located in South Bend, serves 22 counties in Indiana, and HCCSC has been involved in this program for the last three years.

Attendees are children who “are migrant students, who are moving throughout the country throughout the year, following seasonal employment.”

The motion to approve the Migrant Summer School Program was accepted.
Finally, Ken Akins was present to discuss the 2022 Summer Food Service Program.

According to Superintendent Chad Daugherty, Akins and the Food Service staff for HCCSC were able to serve over 19,000 meals to children 18 and under in Huntington County last summer. This year, there will be 15 different sites that food will be served, and the timeline for food service will begin a little earlier in the year than in years’ past.

“The state has told us that we are going to return to normal status this summer,” Akins said. “So, what that means is – the past two summers, we’ve been in this COVID bubble and this summer we are going to return (to normal). Last year they paid for Roanoke’s food, that’s not allowed this year.”

Akins’ request to continue the Summer Food Program was approved. The program starts shortly after school lets out and most sites will serve meals up until near the start of the following fall semester.