Board members meet their charges face to face
By PAT FRIDGEN Echo Pilot

Joel Hart, 6, poses as Robert Crider, Director of Secondary Education, sketches him at a school board meeting. Joel already drew Crider, and his attention to detail included the administrator's earring. The two are participating in Project SHARE, which pairs the school district's leadership with students. The first-grader is the son of Jim and Kristin Hart of Greencastle.

Primary and elementary students will be attending a few school board meetings this year. The nine board members and four administrators were paired with 13 youngsters Oct. 4, and they will keep in touch until May.

Principals Angela Singer and Chad Stover introduced Project SHARE. The program, Sustaining Harmony in Academics and Relationships with Education, is designed to help students interact with caring adults. That in turn impacts educational decisions made in the school district.

The students were chosen at random. Participants include: Corey Mowen, kindergarten; Ethan Murr, Karlee Salmon, Amanda Knoblock, Joel Hart, first-grade; Matt Lynerd, Brianna Miller, second-grade; William Schemel, Dalton Mellott, third-grade; Annie Powers, Katie Fleet, Sam Sprague, fourth-grade: and Kieran Maher, fifth-grade.

They joined their adult partners to make written and colored entries in a folder. It will be full when SHARE draws to a close.

CSI-GA

At the opposite end of the educational tier, administrators introduced CSI-GA. Middle school assistant principals Maria Tucker and Melissa Shuey explained Committed to Student Improvement - Greencastle-Antrim, for grades

through12.

Participation by teachers is voluntary. The goal is to improve students' lives, including academics. The program has four components.

The first is to reinvent ninth-grade to curb discipline issues and the dropout rate for at-risk students.

The second is to evaluate the grading system and eliminate "F" grades. Students instead will receive an "I" for incomplete, and be required to finish the work.

The third focus area is graduation requirements mandated by the state. Tucker and Shuey hope community service can be incorporated into the graduation projects.

Finally, they want to improve relationships and school culture.

Faculty committees are meeting to decide how to implement the goals.

Other business The board accepted the resignation of Duane Wolff, middle school math teacher, effective Oct. 19.

It approved the recommendation of business manager Richard Lipella that Highmark Blue Shield Preferred Provider Organization be the sole medical insurance program for eligible school district employees. It also approved the Security Benefit Flexible Benefits Plan, which is optional for employees.

The board met in executive session for 45 minutes on a personnel item. It met in private again after the work session.