Cloverdale School Board reorganizes for new year

Working in the absence of fellow board members Donna Fidler, Emily Haltom and Mike Rightmyer II, the remaining four members of the Cloverdale Community School Corporation (CCSC) Board of School Trustees met Jan. 13, electing officers for the new year and establishing meeting dates and times.

Board president Vivian Whitaker was nominated and elected to continue in the role, while Katrina Lewis was elected to serve as vice president, and Fidler as board secretary.

In related business, the board's annual compensation will remain at $2,000 per board member, which is the legal maximum set by the State of Indiana. Whitaker noted the compensation amount has remained "unchanged for at least a decade."

Apart from special sessions, the board's regular meetings will continue to be held on the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Arthur L. Johnson Administration Building.

Acting on a motion from Lewis, seconded by Melissa Carrell, the board voted 4-0 in favor of reappointing corporation treasurer Mendy Shrout and deputy treasurer Sara Zaring.

Unanimous board approval was also given to reappointing corporation attorneys Michelle Cooper with Lewis & Kappes Law Firm, and Tim Shelly with Warrick & Boyn.

Under routine matters, the board voted 4-0 to approve meeting minutes for the executive and regular sessions held Dec. 9, 2024.

Unanimous board approval was also given to approve the latest claims and financial reports, which CCSC Superintendent Greg Linton advised totaled $2,567,431.15 since the board's previous meeting.

The board later recognized the corporation's Student of the Month honorees for January, which included Cloverdale Elementary School (CES) student Ellie Ferran, Cloverdale Middle School (CMS) student Brooklyn Stwalley and Cloverdale High School (CHS) student Kory Galloway.

Michael Nees, who heads the CHS Media Center, was recognized as the latest Staff Member of the Month.

"If you want something done, you go to Michael," CHS Principal Sonny Stoltz said while presenting the award to Nees. "He loves Cloverdale and has dedicated the last 18 years to our school system."

Also under communications, the board heard a report from the Cloverdale FFA regarding its recent toy drive. Held Dec. 10 at the C Bar C Expo Center in Cloverdale, the toy drive served 359 Cloverdale students thanks to donations of toys, books, hats and gloves provided by 21 donors.

Additionally, 15 bicycles were provided by the Putnamville Correctional Facility. A total of $4,445 in monetary donations were raised to help support the event.

Moving on to new business, the board approved a special education stipend for a CMS educator, noting that the educator has a class enrollment of over 30 students.

"This is the same stipend we have offered every special education teacher that we have had," Linton explained. "We do this primarily because it's an area where we are understaffed and it's hard to find special education teachers."

Acting on a motion from Lewis, seconded by Mann, the board also voted 4-0 to approve Megan Schroeder and Tori Maldonado to serve as homebound instructors for a CMS student placed on homebound instruction.

Beginning in January and continuing through the remainder of the 2024-25 school year. The move enables the student to be provided with educational services offsite, with Ms. Schroeder and Ms. Maldonado to each provide 2.5 hours of instruction per week for a total of five hours of service for the student.

Next, the board voted 4-0 to approve accepting a Title II federal grant in the amount of $51,152.85, followed by a separate 4-0 vote to approve accepting undisclosed donations to CES and CHS.

The board later approved the following professional leave, field trip, and facility use requests:

Professional Leave Requests

Nicole Campbell – Jan. 6, 8 and 10, Ruling Our Experiences (ROX), online.

Kim Bailey – Feb. 4-5, NASA Engineering Design Challenge, Indiana Government Center.

Chelsey Meluch – Feb. 17, School Safety Specialist Basic Training, Indianapolis.

Tyce Jackson, Lori Halloran, Tori Maldonado, Jonna Rady, Taulbee Jackson and Jessica Fidler – Mar. 5, LIM Adult Lighthouse Team Training, CMS.

Lori Halloran – Mar. 31, Organization of Snails to Trails Finances and Trips, CMS.

Field Trips

Feb. 13-14 – CHS Band, Greencastle High School.

Mar. 6 – CES third grade class, WonderLab, Bloomington.

May 10 – CHS Band, Kings Island, Mason, Ohio.

Facility Use

Dec. 18, 2024 – CHS weight room.

Jan. 8, Cloverdale Community Youth League (CCYL) board meeting, CMS library.

Jan. 18 and Feb. 8 – CCYL youth basketball tournament, CHS gymnasium and auxiliary gymnasium.

Jan. – Mar. – CCYL volleyball practices and games, CMS gymnasium.

Feb. 13 – CCYL board meeting.

Feb. 19 – CCYL coaches meeting.

Feb. – Mar. 25 – CCYL youth wrestling on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

Mar. 2-3 – CHS junior class promenade for prom, CHS lobby and main gymnasium.

Additional personnel matters receiving unanimous board approval included:

Resignation

Michaela Marcum – Knoy teacher.

Abby Kenworthy – CES instructional assistant.

Employment

Kim Bailey – part-time Knoy teacher.

Dani Cummings – CES Developmental Preschool Medical Assistant.

Jason Frye – CMS instructional assistant.

Coaching Resignation

Aleksey Stewart – CMS head girls' track coach.

Debbie Steffy – CHS assistant girls' track coach.

Coaching Hire

Angela Raisor – Winter Guard Instructor, 2024-25 season.

Camille Garcia – CHS varsity cheer coach, fall season.

Debbie Steffy – CHS girls' track coach.

Coaching Volunteer

Kayleigh Medley – CHS girls wrestling volunteer assistant coach.

At the close of the night's regular meeting, the board held its annual board of finance meeting where Whitaker was elected to serve as president of the board and Fidler as secretary.

Superintendent Linton also reviewed Cloverdale Schools' investment accounts with First National Bank and Everwise Credit Union. He said these together yielded $267,683.68 in interest for 2024.

"This money is put into our Education Fund which is used to pay teachers, buy curriculum materials and things like that," he said.

The Cloverdale Community School Board will meet again at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 10 in the Arthur L. Johnson Administration Building, 310 E. Logan St., Cloverdale.

Members of the board include Vivian Witaker, Katrina Lewis, Donna Fidler, Melissa Carrell, Emily Haltom, Joe Mann and Mike Rightmyer II.