By Tim Arnett
WABASH COUNTY,Indiana – At the MSD of Wabash County School Board meeting Tuesday night, the board set the time of a special meeting this coming Thursday at 5 pm at the Administration Building for a “personnel item.” The board also accepted the resignation of Assistant Superintendent and Curriculum Director Dr. Melissa Brisco.
Outgoing Superintendent Dr. Sandra Weaver said that Brisco did a lot for MSD in the two short years she was there. Weaver added that Brisco did it all while working with “two districts that sometimes were pulling at different ends of the rope.” Weaver was referring to Dr. Brisco’s work with both Wabash City Schools and MSD. Dr. Brisco was approved to become the new Superintendent for the Alexandria Community School Corporation on June 8th.
Dr. Brisco then stated that parents will be able to access their child’s 2016 ISTEP score on June 30th. Parents will get their individual codes from MSD around June 27th or 28th which then can be used that Thursday. The board then approved changes in both the elementary and grades 7 – 12 school handbooks for the upcoming school year. Changes include a pesticide notification provision, information on a student’s meal service, excused absences, excessive absences and a bus conduct policy.
The new provisions give the principal of each school more power to determine which absences are actually excused. Another provision requires a child to actually see a doctor to obtain a doctor’s note and allows a bus driver to deny bus access to a student for up to one day.
The board also approved an adjustment to classified wages and benefits which effectively gives all classified teachers a raise. The board then voted to give administrators a raise. In the eight years Dr. Weaver has been Superintendent, she said the administrators had never received a pay hike.
In return, the “all but one dollar” health insurance policy the administrators previously enjoyed were abandoned Tuesday night for a policy where the district pays up to 90% of the administrators’ plan one. But the actual salary increases were not specified and, when asked, one board member declined to give MiBash News a clearer picture as to the rough amount of the raises.