There was no opposition at a public hearing at the South Central School Board meeting Wednesday night on the intent to sell up to $3-million in general obligation bonds.
Superintendent Kerry Herdes says the board still has the option to reduce the size of the bond issue depending on the number of projects it will fund.
“There’s no new taxes, no property taxes involved. We are just setting an amount we can use our 1% proceeds coming in from Marion County to pay the bond in case we want to have other improvements for the future.”
Herdes says $1.4 million is being set aside to pay for half the cost of the South Central Middle School project that includes an addition to connect the main building to the gym and renovation of the bathrooms. The other half of the cost will come from the school district’s ESSER III federal COVID relief funds. A final decision on the size of the bond issue is expected at the April or May meeting.
The nine bid packages on the Middle School project are scheduled to be opened on March 23rd. Herdes says work could begin before school ends for the summer as the overall project is expected to take four to five months to complete.
The South Central School Board has moved eighth-grade graduation to Tuesday, May 16th. The earlier date had a sports conflict. High School graduation remains scheduled for May 12th. Both will begin at seven pm. A decision has not yet been made if they will be held indoors or outdoors.
The last day of student attendance this year was set for May 24th with a teacher’s workshop to close the year on May 25th.
The board approved the school calendar for next year. Registration will be on August 3rd and 4th. The first student attendance day will be Friday, August 18th.
The board agreed to enter into a cooperative agreement with Patoka for high school track.
The board voted to increase their donations for use of fields for the school’s baseball and softball teams. The Kinmundy Lions field and Kinmundy Area Sports Complex will both receive a $2,000 donation for both the spring and fall seasons. The village of Farina will receive $1,000 for use of their field for one season.
In personnel news,
- Amanda Wodtka was named Student Services director for the 23-24 school year.
- A letter of retirement was approved from Ginny Keen effective at the end of the 23-24 school year.
- Tenure was granted to Amy Wilkins, Carrie Reed, Courtney Roth, and Courtney Lotz.
