Northwest Indiana Discussion

Here are the highlights of the meeting:

All board members were present.

Calender:

The Public Work Session for "The Race To The Top" has been cancelled. Instead of this Public Work session, there will be an Executive Session instead. The Public Work Session for the "Early College Initiative" will be rescheduled in January.The new schedule is as follows:

Executive session for Personnel Wednesday December 12, 2012 5:30pm 41 Williams Street. Next regular School Board meeting is Monday January 14, 2013 6pm 41 Williams Street.

New Business:

Tax anticipation Warrants(bonds) were affirmed this evening.

Public Expression 2nd Session(no speakers 1st session):

Mrs. Elizabeth Coffin, a counselor from Hammond High, urged the School Board to go back to 2 semesters instead of the current trimester schedule. She said that even though she was for the trimester schedule in the beginning, it has caused a lot of problems. She said the 3 semesters have a conflicting schedule with the Career Center, which is on a 2 semester schedule, and the turnover of Teachers every 12 weeks with the current schedule is not working out. She said that the students are not too concerned if they fail a class, as with the trimester schedule, they have a greater opportunity to make up the class they fail. She also said that the trimester schedule was supposed to open up the opportunity for more electives, but this has not happened.

My Take:

I have a printout from the U.S. Department Of Education, that lists the schools who are finalists for the "Race To The Top" grants. The School City Of Hammond did not make it into the finals for the monies. Only one school district from Indiana made it to the finals, and it was the Metropolitan School District Of Warren Township.
Mrs. Coffin is correct. The trimester schedule has not delivered what was promised, and has made the students lazy.