Southeast Schools: Lower numbers hit another school corp

Another county school corporation is reporting lower kindergarten enrollment numbers.

According to Southeast Dubois School Corporation Superintendent Rick Allen, the recent kindergarten roundup was 94. With a graduating class of 108, the corporation will be down 17 students.

A drop of 17 students for Southeast means a decrease of around $78,000.00 in state funding based on last year’s allocation. The system gets around $4,600.00 per student.

All superintendents of Dubois County schools are looking at the student population numbers to get an idea of where they will be in the fall and how it will affect their finances.

Also in the meeting:

The Southeast Dubois School Board voted Wednesday night to approve the addition of air conditioning to Buechler Arena at Forest Park Jr./Sr. High School. Allen acquired quotes from three contractors, Messmer Mechanical, Mehringer Plumbing and Heating, both of Jasper and R.G. Mechanical from Huntingburg. All three quotes were examined by Allen and independent consultants.

From those consultations, Allen recommended the quote of $120,000.00 from Messmer Mechanical.

Allen says that because Buechler Arena was built for the addition of an air conditioning system in the future, it will minimize both the cost and the duration of the installation.

“It’s just getting to the point where we’re using those facilities year around and so it’s important. The temperature range in Buechler Arena in the fall for volleyball is extremely uncomfortable.”

The system will be installed beginning July 1st and should be ready for the fall semester.

That means that commencement exercises will be held one last time without air conditioning.

Also in the meeting, the board approved a Tech Integration Service Contract for $3,250.00 with Five-Star Technology to perform a one-time evaluation and recommendation for a strategic one to one computing model.

The board also passed two approvals regarding the wetlands system at Pine Ridge Elementary School.

The first was for a contract with Lochmueller Group at a not-to-exceed amount of $6,120.00 for inspection and training regarding the upkeep and maintenance of the wetlands.

They also approved a one-year contract with Ron Groeschen to perform testing of the wetland system at a cost of $110.00 per month.