Constantine school superintendent Chuck Frisbie told members of the school board that he is retiring in two years, and Athletic Director Mike Messner is retiring at the end of the next school year, at a July 28 meeting. Frisbie has acted as superintendent since July, 2008. He also stated the school will likely be losing ten to twelve teachers for various reasons in the next several years. Board members said both men do excellent jobs and will be greatly missed. Frisbie said the school would begin the search for a new athletic director in December. It will be hard to replace the athletic director we have in Constantine. Hes one of the most well known and respected men in the state, school board president Jon Shuler said. The hiring of teachers was called a high priority and Riverside Elementary School principal Steve Wilson, who is also the assistant superintendent will assume the responsibility for hiring, with Frisbie doing evaluations of all teachers during the year. Voters granted a request by Constantine schools for $6.6 million for upgrades at its Middle School in an election last November. Voters also okayed the districts request to levy the full 18 mills on all non-homestead property. Upgrades were recommended over replacement in the Middle School, because they were roughly half of the estimated $14,800,000 cost to replace the structure. Engineers said the building is structurally sound and could last another 50 years with the upgrades. Frisbie said work has been ongoing all summer, and the estimated time of completion is around the first of the year. Information on the construction, including photos is on the school website--constps.org. The school board reviewed last years goals and updated goals for the coming school year. Frisbie said the idea of a balanced school year calendar is not supported by the community. Ninety per cent of Indiana has it, because they dont have a coalition saying they cant start school in the fall before the Labor Day holiday. We need to move cautiously with this, put out a sample schedule, he said. In March parents were invited to an open-forum at the high school to discuss a balanced school year. CHS principal Chris Barnes told parents, This is not year around school. A balanced calendar shortens the three month summer break and spreads it over the course of the school year. Our district would be looking at a summer break of several weeks. School would end in the third week of June and begin again in mid-August. She added there would be a two-week break in October, followed by a week long break at Thanksgiving and a traditional two-week Christmas break. The new year would include a traditional mid-winter break, and an extended two-week spring break. School would be dismissed for the year during the third week of June. Barnes said there were many potential benefits: There are pros and cons, depending on demographics.The focus is to improve student achievement. The idea is to combat the summer slide--students forgetting what theyve learned--by having shorter breaks. Surveys show it takes three to four weeks or more to re-teach the previous years skills after a summer vacation. In other business *Connie Dalrymple was sworn in as a school board member by Frisbie. She is taking the place of Jerry Burgess, who resigned. Dalrymple, Chuck Colley and Pat Touse are running for reelection in the fall. *The school board presented a Constantine High School diploma to Kristina Wortinga, and Constantine Tech High School diplomas to Shelbie Howard and Mathew McWatters. *A safety drill, coordinated with Constantine Police was planned to check the new NaviGate security system that is installed at the school.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 00:47:52 +0000
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