Bremen Public Schools will be launching a new entrepreneurship program, with some help from the Marshall County Community Foundation. A $10,000 grant was accepted by the Bremen School Board Monday.
Bremen Public Schools to Explore Development Opportunities for School-Owned Land
A piece of school-owned property in Bremen is being eyed by economic development officials. “We own a little bit of property that’s one of the last pieces of property that’s in town that’s developable,” explains Bremen School Superintendent Dr. Jim White, “and the city would like to have a conversation, along with the Marshall County Economic [Development] Corporation, to see if it’s possible to get some building started on that property.”
Bremen School Board Moving Ahead with Financial Arrangements for Renovation Project
Bremen Public Schools is a step closer to issuing about $4 million in bonds for its upcoming renovation project. To do that, Superintendent Dr. Jim White says the school corporation is amending its existing lease with the building corporation. It’s a legally-separate entity that actually owns the building and borrows the money on behalf of the school corporation. “We had an existing loan out that falls off in 2022,” he explains, “so it was just as easy to amend that lease with the existing building corporation than to try to form something different.”
Bremen School Board Approves Wage Increases for Classified Staff
A raise for classified staff at Bremen Public Schools was approved during the school board meeting last Monday.
Classified employees include any position at the school corporation other than teachers and administration such as cafeteria, transportation, maintenance and custodial staff.
School Board President Brian Teall explained that the increased wages for classified staff were approved in coordination with the raises that were included in the master contract for teachers. Teall said a raise of approximately 2.4 percent was approved for teachers a couple of months ago, but some issues at the state level postponed the payments. Continue reading
Bremen School Board Adopts Bond Resolution
Bremen Public Schools will be undergoing some renovations over the next few years, now that school board members have officially adopted a resolution to have a bond of approximately $4 million issued to pay for the proposed work.
According to School Board President Brian Teall, a 1028 Hearing was held over the bond resolution during their Monday night meeting and it was adopted by a vote of 4-1.
Dr. White said with the board members’ approval, he will now be coordinating with the building corporation about bond issuance procedures over the next few weeks. The superintendent explained that schools are not legally permitted to directly borrow money so they utilize a building corporation as a pass-through entity. Continue reading
Bremen School Board Approves Bond Pursuance, Addresses Community Safety Concerns
Bremen School Board members voted to proceed with securing bonds for facility upgrades at their most recent meeting.
Superintendent Dr. Jim White explained that they are looking to make a few different improvements and school board members took the next big step in the process last Monday by agreeing to obtain the necessary bonds to tackle the proposed projects. Continue reading
Bremen Superintendent Works with NEOLA to Update School Policies
Bremen Superintendent Dr. Jim White alerted school board members last Tuesday that updates to the school corporation’s policies are currently being made.
He explained, “For years and years and years we have written our own policies and the result of that is, over time as the more laws are passed and more complex things are, the further behind we became.” Continue reading
Bremen Public School Board Approves Amended Maternity Leave Procedure
Bremen School Board members made an adjustment to their maternity leave policy when they met last Tuesday.
The policy that was in place at Bremen Public Schools was that teachers would receive 6 weeks of paid time off during their pregnancy. Superintendent Dr. Jim White explained that the policy change came from a teacher who requested using some of her unused sick days from the past to extend her maternity leave. Continue reading
Bremen School Board Approves 2018-2019 Calendar
When Bremen School Board members met on Monday, they approved a calendar for the 2018-2019 school year.
Superintendent Dr. Jim White explained that he provided the members with three options and they selected the option most similar to this year’s school calendar.
Dr. White said they will be starting a little sooner than some other local school corporations and shared some of the factors that influenced the decision to begin earlier. Continue reading
New Contracts for Coaches and Club Sponsors Approved at Bremen School Board Meeting
The Bremen Public School board members established club sponsors and coaches when they met last Monday.
As a part of the personnel portion of their meeting, board members approved new contracts with Jessica Klingerman and Tara Ton, who will serve as National Honor Society Co-Sponsors and Sabrina Wickens, who will be the sponsor of the Robotics Club and Coding Club. Continue reading
Bremen School Board Reorganizes at First Meeting of 2018
Some changes were made to the officer positions of the Bremen School Board during their meeting earlier this week. According to Bremen Superintendent Dr. Jim White, Brian Teall was elected to the president’s position and Suzanne Ginter was elected to serve as vice president.
The secretary position, on the other hand, was unchanged with Jesse Bohannon retaining that spot. Continue reading
Bremen Superintendent Presents Bond Proposal to School Board for Consideration
When the Bremen School Board met for the first time this year, Superintendent Jim White presented members with some information about acquiring a bond in order to make some capital improvements around the building.
During Monday night’s meeting, Dr. White suggested that the school look into utilizing a solar generation system as a way to help defer energy costs over the next 25 to 30 years. Continue reading
Bremen School Board Reviews New Attendance Policy
When Bremen School Board members met last Monday, they reviewed the new attendance policy that was implemented at the start of this school year.
The biggest difference between this year’s policy and the policy of the past is that when parents call to notify the school that their child is staying home, those absences are no longer counted as excused.
Bremen Superintendent Dr. Jim White said the policy also includes specifications about what to do when the school receives no notification whatsoever. Continue reading
Bremen School Board Passes New Communication Policy
When the Bremen School Board met last Monday, members held the second reading over a policy detailing specific guidelines for board member and staff communication.
Superintendent Dr. Jim White said the policy was developed in order for there to be a delineated procedure to follow when board members and staff talk to each other. He said they wanted to clear up any confusion about the expectations of various positions within the school corporation. Continue reading
Bremen School Board Addresses Substitute Teaching Requirements
When the Bremen School Board met Monday, members agreed to change the language in the school corporation’s substitute teacher applications to reflect current standards.
Bremen Superintendent Dr. Jim White explained that some of their documentation reflected an old state policy that required individuals to have at least 60 hours of college credit in order to become a substitute teacher. However, policies have changed and now a high school graduate can apply and receive a substitute teaching license through the state. Continue reading
Bremen School Board Approves Teachers’ Contract
The Bremen School Board held a special session on Monday to approve their master teacher contract prior the November 15th deadline set by the Indiana Education Employment Relation Board.
Superintendent Dr. Jim White stated that the salary of a beginning teacher with no prior experience is set at $34,000 and an experienced teacher can make up to $70,000 depending on certain factors. Continue reading
Bremen STEM Program Receives Donation from NISCO
A Bremen business recently donated $1,000 to Project Lead the Way, an organization that focuses on giving Bremen Middle School students hands-on experience with science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Continue reading
Positive Evaluations Can Earn Bremen Teachers Bonuses
An Indiana Department of Education grant that received public criticism last year has been restructured in order to be more equitable. During their meeting Monday evening, the Bremen School Board members agreed on a performance-based method of distribution to properly utilize the money received through the Teacher Appreciation Grant. Continue reading
Energy Savings Upgrade Ongoing at Bremen Schools
The Bremen School Board members are looking to save money in a lighting upgrade project.
Superintendent Dr. Jim White said the project will make quite a difference.
“We are converting to LED lighting which will save us tremendously on energy costs,” said Dr. White. “Given the retrofit cost I’m anticipating saving about $20,000 annually in energy and it will have about a three-and-a-half year payback. The life of the bulbs is anywhere between eight to 12 years. We anticipate having that done by the end of the summer.”
Bremen School Board Approves RIF
The Bremen School Board approved the Reduction in Force (TIF) Policy on Monday night.
Superintendent Dr. Jim White said the cuts are due to a reduction in funding.
“We’ll be losing two teachers – most likely in our elementary and middle school area. That’s where we’ve dropped a little bit in students. The high school is still holding steady at the number of students they have. We have to keep the school district financially healthy so we can continue to serve everyone in the future,” stated Dr. White.
