Newest Southwest school board member proposes less meetings for teachers

Huntingburg – Newly-elected Southwest Dubois County School Board member Michael Broeker proposed some additions to the policy manual regarding teacher meetings at his first official meeting Thursday night.

Broeker told the board he had heard several parents come to him with concerns about students being unable to meet with teachers for help with school work due to meetings that occur during the week. Broeker was joined by board member Chris Neu in proposing the addition to the school policy that restricted administrative meetings to one day a week.

According to Chad Schenck, assistant superintendent of the school corporation, teachers have formal morning meetings four days a week and the fifth day is used for common planning among the grade levels.

Earlier in the meeting, Cheryl Stanton, Title I Director, Test Coordinator, and Curriculum Coordinator, had explained the success the school corporation was experiencing in regards to recent test scores. The school corporation has an overall grade of an “A” and has overcome several deficits to bring the grades up throughout the corporation over the previous year. Holland and Huntingburg Elementary received “A’s”; Southridge Middle School receive an “A”; and Southridge High School received a “B” on their recent performance scores from the Indiana Department of Education.

“One of the reasons we are having the success we are having is because of professional development,” Stanton said, “and that’s what we are doing in the morning.”

Stanton told the board the meetings were used for professional development, continuing education, and even to review text books. “This is crucial,” Stanton said, “Crucial to our success. And this is when we do it.”

School superintendent Terry Enlow told the board that when principals are aware of the students’ needs, the teachers have been released from the meetings.

School board president Kevin Wertman stated his own child complained about the having to meet with teachers early in the morning to accommodate the teacher meetings. “She’s saying she doesn’t want to go to school at quarter to seven because her teacher has a meeting she has to be at at 7:15,” Wertman said.

Neu stated the policy change he and Broeker were suggesting would make the teachers available four out of five mornings during the the week. He also suggested the meetings could be turned into videos for the teachers to review at another time.

Enlow stated he did not want the school board to begin to micromanage the principals and building administrators. He recommended the board meet with the principals to hear what they do in regards to teacher/student time and the teacher training and development.

“I think you need to let the principals come and talk to you about these things and if there are things they need to tweak, let them do it,” Enlow said, “but if you dictate policy, if I was in there position, I would just wait for you to tell me what to do. Then there’s no creativity, there’s no responsibility on their part.”

The board decided to allow the principals to weigh in on the situation before moving forward with any proposals.