When faced with a challenging situation, the Delphi Community School Corporation Board of Trustees decided to take time to think about how to proceed.

During Monday night's meeting, board members weighed four options regarding what to do about a petition against costs associated with a proposed $20 million renovation project. During discussion a fifth option to take at least a month to think and talk about the quandry surfaced and was agreed upon.

Board president Robert Resler said he was given four options to consider:

1. Declare the petitions invalid due to inaccuracies on the first page and move forward, possibly with legal action;

2. Declare the petition was not well done but move forward with the remonstrance process;

3. Declare the petition was invalid and provide another 30-day petition period; or

4. Wait for the referendum process to begin after July 1, at which time the board could call for a special vote which would involve all voters and property owners within the school district.

Resler said the county provided a blank petition and that inaccurate figures regarding construction cost estimates were added by someone else. Board attorney Barry Emerson advised the petition could be fought legally but the corporation would have to prove there was intent to mislead citizens, which could be challenging.

Patron Everett Snoeberger, who submitted the petition to the clerk's office in April, told the board he was responsible for the mistake.

"Concerning the misrepresentation, I bear full responsibility," Snoeberger explained. "I typed the wrong words, not intentionally."

DCSC Superintendent Ralph Walker said the first three options would all require that the project would go before the state tax board. He said that was not necessarily a good thing for the proposal because the state was considering more school consolidations.

"The bad news is the tax board is not approving anything," he said. "It's all political. The governor wants consolidation and if he's reelected it will be easier to consolidate if they haven't spent money on projects. Anything that leads to the tax board has a very slim chance to get in."

Walker said he realized petitioners signed an inaccurate petition, but he assumed they knew the actual project cost and understood it was a mistake.

"I think we need to honor that petition even though it had misinformation on it," he stated.

Regarding the fourth option to wait for the referendum process, Walker said to it would be difficult to accomplish all the necessary steps to add the project to the November ballot for a vote. He suggested the board wait until September and work toward a referendum in early 2009.

"If you want to go with the referendum, wait until September," he advised. "You can put anything on the ballot, including more than one question. Whatever would happen at that election would be it."

Snoeberger said virtually all who signed the petition were against the project's cost, not the need for some repairs and upgrades.

"The remonstrance process is not against the project, but against the bond itself and the payment amount of $2 million per year," he continued. "With a total repayment of approximately $37 million, that is approximately $5,060 per day for the next 7,300 days. Monday through Friday for 50 weeks a year it's about $8,000 a day."

He concluded he had no choice but to file a petition against the project to fight the cost.

"What started out to be a project for science labs and security turned into a major renovation project," he concluded. "There would probably be parts of the school district that would be favorable and others not, but I do know 118 (petition names) were verified. The only reason I and others carried a petition is that we were displeased with the cost of the project and wanted to go to phase two."

When no motion was made regarding the matter, Resler stated, "I so order this will be delayed for 30 days."

Teacher contract amended

Language changes were made to the teacher contract. Walker said teacher salaries based on 26 pays per year were not disbursed in the correct tax year because they carry over to the summer. He said changes in the wording address the board at least offered teachers a lump sum or other types of payment as compensation.

A memorandum of understanding approved by the board allows teachers to retire for 30 days and be re-employed by the corporation. During routine matters, Al Brannan and Jan Israel were each approved for 30-day retirement. Both administrators will retire at the end of the school year and be set to return at the beginning of school in August.

Walker confirmed the retirements were similar to one he took last year, but the required number of days was shortened. He said the move will free the corporation from paying into pension fund on their behalf, which will save the corporation a total of six percent on the contributions.

New bus biggest in fleet

Three bids were reviewed for a new 78-passenger bus to replace one damaged in floods earlier this year. The lowest bid, submitted by Bluebird for $73,025 was accepted.

Walker said an insurance check for $49,675.75 will cover most of the cost, while the remainder will come from the bus replacement fund. He said the bus would be the largest in the DCSC fleet, which would contribute to cost-savings.

"The 78-passenger buses obviously can carry more students," he said. "That would be an advantage as far as fuel cost savings for us, especially on our city routes."

Messenger system revived

High school principal Barry Stone described a new "Parent Messenger" system which was approved for $6,498 the first year and $5,298 the next two years. He said no contract was required.

Stone said the system was designed to send information to several people simultaneously which would save time and money. The program will send out calls, E-mails, emergency notifications, schedule changes for teams, progress reports and other messages to students, staff and parents as the need arises. He added it would virtually pay for itself in postage savings alone.

Books purchased

Walker said the board was working to build the nation's top literacy program at the corporation. A start to that undertaking, he explained, was to purchase books for guided reading programs at Delphi Community Elementary School and Camden Early Childhood Center. He said the total cost would not exceed $90,183.22, paid for mostly from the textbook rental fund, along with a small portion from other funds.

CECC Principal Carol Coon said everyone in the schools would benefit by having the leveled reading libraries available.

"Everybody's going to be using these books," she said. "We're talking about thousands of books here. The teachers are so thankful to you to have these. All year they've said we've got kids at this reading level, but no books for them."

High Ability Academy

The board voted to move forward with plans for two pull-out high ability academy classrooms for elementary students. Walker said the program would include two groups, one comprised of 20 second and third graders and the other of 24 fourth and fifth graders. He commented a final decision was yet to be made regarding first grade.

Coon said she was interested in self-contained classrooms, which seemed to work better at schools she visited which had the programs in place. She said students would be clustered into two or three classrooms, with no more than eight or nine students per cluster.

Questions were raised by patrons about costs, class sizes and how students would react on a social level to the changes. Coon and DCES Principal Bill Shidler said discussions and meetings would continue as the program took shape.

Student handbooks

The board approved changes to the student handbooks.

Board member Jerry Sparks requested new athletic director Dan Dawson be given an opportunity to review the athletic handbook.

Other business

Dan Dawson was named athletic director for the elementary, middle and high schools. Suzanne Hughes was approved to be high school varisty volleyball coach.

The middle school will use McDougal Little and Writers Source for its language arts curriculum. Pearson/AGS Globe will supply books for special needs language arts and literature.

The board approved the following summer school remediation classes: English lab, English make-up, math lab, algebra make-up, SAE, band, remediation math and language arts, and athletic camps.

Classified staff approved for employment were: Bill Penn, special needs aide/driver; Dan Fisher, substitute school bus driver; Sara Daly- Brosman, high school play and musical director; Mike Hyman, full-time high school substitute teacher; and Mark Back, high school study hall monitor.

Summer workers approved for employment were: Joshua Pine and Rafuel Turner, power washers; Amanda James, Haley Lynde, Michael Jones and Amber Spitznagle, bus cleaners; Vickie Little, supervisor; Braden Atwood, Hannah Strasser, Kristopher Jones and Kylee German, painters; and Bob Floyd, Matthew Lewis and Brock Farrell, outside painters and maintenance.