Business was conducted by the Greene County board of education at its April 9 regular meeting as follows:
Budget for 2014-15:The board adopted the 2014-15 budget after hearing no comment at a public hearing. The budget calls for a property tax levy in the Jefferson-Scranton district of $12.93 (per thousand dollars of taxable valuation), and a levy rate of $12.39 in the East Greene district. Both levies are lower than the current year.
The new voted PPEL (physical plant and equipment levy) will be a property tax levy rate of $1.07 and a 5 percent income tax surtax. The maximum approved by voters last September was $1.34 and 10 percent.
Tiered diplomas: The board adopted a tiered diploma system to be phased in starting in August with the graduating class of 2018. Most students will earn a regular diploma with 58 credits. An honors diploma will be awarded to students who earn 66 credits and complete other rigorous requirements. A basic diploma will be awarded under extenuating circumstances resulting in students completing only the core requirements and a total of 42 credits.
Discussion at the April 9 meeting focused on how the requirements and the process of applying for the basic diploma would be specified in the school board’s policy.
Communication with the board: School board member Mark Peters invited the news media present – Victoria Riley of GreeneCountyNewsOnline and Coltrane Carlson of Raccoon Valley Radio – to relay a message to school board residents. He made a statement during the open forum portion of the meeting, the time at which the public is invited to address the board. “I’m speaking to you because you are the word to the community,” he said to Riley and Carlson. “Recently I got a letter about school board business that had no return address, and it was not signed. Next time a get it (a letter like that) I’m not going read it. I’m going to throw it in the wastebasket. If people don’t have the intestinal fortitude to come forth and talk about the issues and provide some sort of a reasonable resolution to a problem, I don’t even want to hear about it.”
“That’s my policy. If it’s not signed it’s not worth looking at,” board member David Ohrt said. Board president Sam Harding said he has been throwing out unsigned letters for the entire 21 years he has served on the board.
Complete minutes of the April 9 Greene County board of education meeting can be found here: https://greenecountynewsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/GrCoBrd-April-9-2014-mtg-minutes.pdf
