School district’s bond rating increases

Brown County Schools’ bond rating has gone from negative to stable, as the district continues to right-size its budget in light of declining enrollment.

Superintendent Laura Hammack announced the news at the March 26 Brown County Schools Board of Trustees meeting. The district went through a Standard and Poor credit rating as part of a bond issuance process.

Last fall, a $3,670,000 general obligation bond was issued to renovate and improve HVAC systems and replace windows at Helmsburg and Sprunica elementary schools.

“The last time we went through this process, we were downgraded in our rating because of our ongoing enrollment decline and the fact that years prior, our cash balance had been receding,” Hammack said.

“The work that we were doing has now been noticed to the point that S&P increased our bond rating even in this era of decreasing enrollment. They were quite pleased that the cash balances have bounced back, that the health insurance fund is as healthy as it is, and they rated our outlook from negative to stable, which is incredible.”

The district was able to retain an A+ level for credit and is now indicated as stable. The long-term rate is A++ and stable, Hammack added.

“The work is not only noticed by us, but now it’s been affirmed by S&P. They are really tough. … We’re really, really proud.”

School board OKs retirements, updated calendar

The Brown County Schools Board of Trustees approved the following March 5 and 26:

• Transferring the Sprunica Elementary School paraprofessional job classification for Matthew Owens from full-time with benefits to part-time without benefits, 29 hours per week, effective Feb. 24.
• A resolution in support of military families.
• Appointing Adeana Colvin to the Brown County Public Library Board. This is a four-year term that will expire on Feb. 22, 2024.
• The retirement notice of James Nelson, effective June 1.
• The retirement notice of Pam Lucas, effective at the conclusion of the 2019-2020 school year.
• Amending the appointment of Cynthia Stark to read as follows: Brown County Junior High School English/language arts teacher and mentor teacher, master’s degree, Level E, $49,000, 11 years of experience, full time with benefits, effective Aug. 3. She is a replacement for Alyssa Stanley (E/LA) and the mentor teacher is a new position.” The E/LA teacher component of the appointment was not included in the original appointment. Stanley will become the master teacher at BCJHS.
• Updating the 2020-2021 school calendar to include trimester grading periods. There are no changes to any previously scheduled breaks and holidays.
• Separating Brown County Schools bus driver Lenora Mathena, effective Feb. 21. Mathena resigned after not agreeing to sign a letter of reprimand for not following a directive from the director of the district’s transportation department.
• Separating Brown County Intermediate School boys track coach Eric Fohl, effective Dec. 5, 2019. This was not a termination.
• Appointing BCIS boys track coach Ryan Crenshaw, effective Feb. 18, $2,234 stipend. He is a replacement for Eric Fohl.
• Appointing BCIS girls track coach Allison Crenshaw, effective Feb. 18, $2,234 stipend. She is a replacement for Chasity Smith.
• Appointing BCIS intense intervention paraprofessional Maggie Hendershot, part-time without benefits, $11.75 per hour, 5.75 hours per day, five days per week, effective March 2. She is a replacement for Lisa Lewis.
• Transferring Van Buren Elementary School teacher Jayne Jones to Helmsburg Elementary School science teacher, effective Aug. 3. She is a replacement for Brenda Ely, who is becoming the master teacher at Helmsburg.
• Transferring BCS substitute health assistant Akara Wells-Hendrickson to Brown County High School health assistant, $11.75 per hour, seven hours per day, 184 days per year, full-time with benefits. She is a replacement for Tammy Kesler.
• Canceling the 2019-2023 transportation contract for route 5 between Brown County Schools and L Wagler Enterprises at the end of school year 2019-2020. Superintendent Laura Hammack said the reason for the cancellation of the contract is because bus route owner Lloyd Wagler could not satisfy a requirement to drive the majority of the time and that he had gone over the number of allowed substitute drivers. “We’ve worked with him on this, the board has been very gracious, but we’ve just gotten to that position where he knows he can’t sustain that driving both the morning and evening route all the time,” Hammack said.
• Allowing the Brown County YMCA to use a Brown County Schools bus for its 2020 Summer Day Camp program. All expenses will be covered by the YMCA.
• The retirement notices of Alane Lovell, Dana Figg and David Edens effective at the conclusion of the 2019-2020 school year.
• Separating BCIS track and volleyball coach Alysha Oxendine effective Feb. 23. This was not a termination.
• Separating BCJHS cheer coach Amanda Grider effective Feb. 29. This was not a termination.
• Appointing BCIS assistant track coach Christy Wrightsman effective March 23, $1,241 stipend. She is a replacement for Alysha Oxendine.
• Appointing BCS substitute health assistant Heather Ferguson, $11 per hour, part-time with no benefits, effective Aug. 5. She is a replacement for Akara Wells-Hendrickson.
• Appointing BCS corporation bus driver Lisa Kelp, $93 per day, 180 days per year, effective March 13. She is a replacement for Lenora Mathena.
• Transferring VBE teacher Cynthia Baughman to SES fourth-grade teacher, effective Aug. 3.
• Transferring VBES teacher Debbie Olson to BCIS fifth-grade teacher, effective Aug. 3. She is a replacement for Pam Lucas.
• Transferring HES special education teacher Catherine Baum-Newlin to SES special education teacher, effective Aug. 3. She is a replacement for Alane Lovell.
• Transferring HES general education teacher Staci Harden to HES special education teacher, effective Aug. 3. She is a replacement for Catherine Baum-Newlin.

Redevelopment commission briefs school board

The president of the Brown County Redevelopment Commission visited the March 5 Brown County School Board of Trustees meeting to encourage the board to reengage with the RDC this year.

RDC President Justin Schwenk told the board that the RDC is focused this year on “creating an understanding of what it means to be on an RDC and what an RDC does and focusing on the process that we need to be doing.”

The last few years, the RDC was supposed to have done presentations and submitted reports to the state that they did not do, he said.

“We’ve been really laser-focused on the idea of residential development. While that will continue to be a very important piece of what we do, it’s my goal to create and establish a board that’s know what it’s doing and what it can do,” he said.

“I didn’t know for two years we had a handbook that was on our website,” he added.

He said he would also like to see the RDC branch out beyond looking into residential development to also include looking at school and business development.

The school board has one non-voting seat on the RDC. The school board had decided this year to have that position being a shared responsibility among all members.

“There’s a potential to have a lot of different voices (by sharing the responsibility) and have the benefit of all of your voices, but it also means that you each get about 1/5 of the opportunity to see what it is that we’re doing,” Schwenk said.

The RDC was going to have a planning retreat on March 21, but that was canceled because of COVID-19 concerns.

Previously, the RDC had meetings on the same night as the school board. Now instead of the third Thursday of the month, the RDC meets on fourth Thursdays at 6 p.m. at Brown County Junior High School.

Schwenk is also a social studies teacher at the junior high.

“We have seen, and Bob (Harris, the district’s financial consultant) has certainly been affiliated with school corporations, where a very strong relationship between the schools and the RDC is a very positive impact on the community,” said Superintendent Laura Hammack.

“… A healthy RDC translates to a healthy school district, and a healthy school district translates to a healthy RDC.”