School board OKs employee pay during closure

The Brown County Schools Board of Trustees approved two resolutions last month that allow for them to pay school employees during the emergency pandemic closure and allow the superintendent to make certain decisions on behalf of the district.

Non-essential employees in the district who are currently not reporting for work will receive their base pay as they normally would.

The resolution applies to employees who are not required to work from home or telecommunicate during the closure.

The resolution does not apply to absences from work due to an employee’s own health condition or quarantine.

“The end point is when the school year is resolved for that individual. If you are a paraprofessional and your school year normally ends at the end of school year, then that is when your normal pay would cease,” Hammack explained to the board last month.

The board also unanimously approved a resolution regarding the role of the superintendent during this pandemic. It was developed by the Indiana School Boards Association.

The resolution gives Hammack the ability to “make decisions that need to happen in the moment if they are correlated to health, safety and wellness of students without needing to wait for our next board meeting if that were to delay the delivery of anything that might be under that umbrella,” Hammack said.

“This is not just absolute power. This will expire after we get through this.”

Flood waters damage schools’ health clinic

About a foot of water flowed into the basement at the Brown County Health and Wellness Center at Eagle Park on March 19 and 20.

The school district opened it in 2017.

A restoration company had been there repairs in the basement and removing mold. The clinic reopened on March 27.

Hammack said she had been speaking with Jimmy Jackson, the district’s director of maintenance, about resolving the flooding issue there. Previously, the clinic building was used for storage.

“It’s not the easiest thing with the way that building is designed, but we’ll keep you posted on that,” Hammack said.