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Student achievement takes center stage at GCSC meeting
Before getting down to serious business like increasing compensation for teachers and other employees, the Greencastle School Board took extra time to honor students during its October meeting.
Several students were honored during the Monday meeting, most notably four Greencastle High School students.
GHS senior Ty Ishikawa was recently honored as National Merit Semifinalist. Math teacher Logan Kuhne referred to Ishikawa as an “erudite polymath — a person who knows a plethora about numerous subjects.”
Kuhne went on to note that Ishikawa is one of maybe a dozen students who’ve ever scored a perfect score on one of his calculus exams, something Ishikawa has achieved twice.
“He’s currently working on a computational chemistry project where he’s analyzing DNA and trying to determine how two benzene rings, when stacked, affect the structure of DNA,” Kuhne explained. “The best part of it is, for him it’s play. He is a phenomenal student, and I greatly look forward to where the future takes him.”
GHS guidance counselor Kevin Kendall added that in order to earn semifinalist status, Ishikawa scored in the top one percent of all students who took the PSAT exam: “That is tremendous, Ty. Good job.”
Kendall went on to honor the achievements of other GHS students.
Juniors Penny Cummings and Landon Miller have been honored by the College Board National Recognition Program with the National Rural and Small Town Award. To do so, they each had to score within the top 10 percent of all rural and small town students in the state of Indiana on the PSAT or score three or more on two or more Advanced Placement exams while also holding a GPA of 3.3 or greater.
“Penny and Landon have also been exemplary student athletes,” Kendall noted. “Penny won a sectional with our soccer team. Landon is a state qualifier just this weekend in cross country. They have many other accolades in previous years as well.”
GHS senior Addison Fowler, meanwhile, was named a Lilly Scholarship finalist for Putnam County, which awards full tuition to any public or private Indiana four-year university.
“Addison has a tremendous academic record, has been an amazing student athlete,” Kendall said, “She’s been involved in such extracurriculars as band, DECA and the Ink Pot and volunteered inside and outside of school throughout her time at Greencastle.
“We are absolutely thrilled for her and proud of what she’s been able to accomplish,” Kendall added. “We will await the announcement, hoping for the best. We’ll wait as patiently as we can. Great job, Addie.”
Additionally, students of the month for each school building were also honored: Ridpath - Kingston Ewing, Deer Meadow - Paxton Lamb, Tzouanakis - Uriah Trejo, GMS - Elin Cooper, GHS - Colleen Bossnack.
Getting down to business, the board brought the recent collective bargaining process to a close in approving more than $553,000 in additional teacher compensation for the year. The figure includes not only teacher salaries, but extracurricular stipends and health insurance contributions.
“We’re making another significant investment in moving forward compensation for our teachers,” Supt. Jeff Gibboney said.
The new agreement moves the starting teacher salary from $45,000 to $46,800. Meanwhile, starting salaries for teachers with a master’s degree moves from $46,000 to $47,800.
“Overall, the lowest amount for a returning teacher to Greencastle, the average is $2,736 in additional compensation, to a teacher at the top of the scale, $4,612,” Gibboney said. “So a considerable investment.”
He went on to note the increase in health insurance contribution for a family plan moved up $1,000 to $15,500 and for a single plan an increase of $500 to $6,600.
Gibboney noted that the new money from the state for tuition support from the state is $231,840.
“We are going above and beyond in making a dent in moving pay for our teachers,” Gibboney said.
With teacher compensation adjusted, the board also approved recommended increases for other staff members as well.
Salaried employees, bus drivers and the athletic director receive a three-percent pay increase, while classified hourly employees receive an additional 50 cents an hour.
In other business:
• The board approved a plan to continue replacing the flooring at GMS for $81,590.
The work will be done by Blakeley’s, which began replacing the flooring as part of the GCSC renovations completed earlier this year.
The work will be performed either after hours or during an upcoming break.
• Additional work will also be performed on the asphalt at the transportation center.
Originally installed in 2016 along with the new bus garage, some of the asphalt has begun sagging under the weight of the buses, with the subgrade having failed.
The subgrade will be filled in underneath and a 16-foot concrete apron installed at the storage barn to better account for the weight of the buses.
The $290,000 project was awarded to McGaff Concrete, and will likely be completed during the summer of 2025.
• The board approved the following donations:
$40,000 from Putnam County Hospital to GHS Athletics,
$1,000 from T-Mobile to GHS Athletics,
$2,600 from Mary Allison Children’s Trust to the GHS art department,
$1,500 from Mary Allison Children’s Trust to the GMS Operation Read fund.
• The board accepted the following personnel items:
Resignations: Catharine Simmerman as Tzouanakis art teacher, Regina Wilson as Tzouanakis instructional assistant, Jared Brentlinger as Deer Meadow instructional assistant, Jamie Trimble as Ridpath instructional assistant.
New hires: Courtney Beason as Tzouanakis art teacher, Audra Jones as Tzouanakis instructional assistant, Brittany Booher as Ridpath instructional assistant, Sidney Lantzey as Deer Meadow preschool instructional assistant.
Transfer: Katelyn Bell from Deer Meadow preschool instructional assistant to Deer Meadow instructional assistant.
Leave of absence: Holli Hill as Deer Meadow first grade teacher (Dec. 11-Jan. 22).
Substitute teachers: Jaime Trimble and Adam Timcheck.
Extracurricular activities: Kent Menzel hire as GHS swim coach, Brad Kingma resignation as GHS girls’ golf coach, Jacob Hopper resignation as Tzouanakis Math Bowl coach, Larry Vaughan hire as GHS C team girls’ basketball coach, Parker Aul hire as eighth-grade boys’ basketball coach, Jason Ferguson hire as seventh-grade boys’ basketball coach, Tonia Dibble and Courtenay Hays approve as Ridpath Be Nice Be Kind sponsors.
Gibboney was joined for the meeting by Asst. Supt. Becky McPherson and board members Ed Wilson, Megan Inman, Dale Pierce, Kathryn Dory and Jimmy Beasley.
The next regular meeting of the Greencastle School Board is set for 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 25 at GCSC Central Office.