Northwest Indiana Discussion

Here are the highlights of the meeting:

All Board members were present.

Special Recognition:

A Lafayette student was recognized for winning the "Hammond Reads" essay contest.
Two Hammond High students who are local winners in the "Jobs For America's Graduates" academic competition, will be going down to Indianapolis for the State competition.
Two Eggers Middle School students were winners in the Hammond Optimist Oratorical competition.

Public Expression, Session 1&2:

Colonel Dagget, a Hammond resident and father of children who attend the Hammond Schools, commented on the passage of a partnership between the Our Family Center, and Edison School. He also expressed dismay in the 2nd P.E. session, that his request for the use of Irving School for a Veterans Help Program was denied. He said that the demographics show that 45% of the Veterans in Hammond live in the Irving School area.

Calender:

The next regular School Board meeting will be monday April 22, 2013 6pm at Edison School. The calender for May has been altered because of the Holiday. The School Board meetings in May will be on the 1st mondays, May 6th at 41 Williams Street, and May 20th at Hess Elementary.

New Business:

A pension refunding bond was approved this evening. A differant monetary disbursement is required with the legislature expiring the debt exemption in 2019, that is currently on the property tax bill. This is under the heading on the property tax bill as "Voter Approved projects". Until the expiration of this exempted debt collection, the monies collected under this portion of the property taxes goes towards the previous new school building debt. After the expiration, the SCH financial aspects have to be rerouted to cover all cash outflow, including pensions.

Misc.
There is now a disclaimer on the bottom of the School Board Agenda for the meetings. It says: "This meeting is a meeting of the School Board in public for the purpose of conducting the School City's business and is not to be considered a public community meeting. there will be time for public participation as indicated by agenda items 6 and 10(Public Expression Sessions).

My Take:

Congrats to all of the students honored this evening !!!
Mr. Daggett should be allowed the use of the Irving building to help returning Veterans.
As for the disclaimer, I figure there is something major in the SCH that is coming down, that the public will be very upset about. As it is right now, there are multiple rumors floating around. While I am not one to spread rumors, there is speculation that some schools might be closed, and some personnel at 41 Williams and Administrators in some of our schools, will be retiring or moving on. Time will tell, but this disclaimer is a real eye opener to those who choose to see.