The Pilot News - Bremen board members recognized

Jordan remains on the board, along with Todd Stuckman. In January, they will be joined by three newly-elected officials — Jill Hassel, Jordan Bender and Frankie Merritt.
In other matters:
•A construction update was given to the board by Bernie Leazier of Barton, Coe & Vilaama Architectural Firm in Fort Wayne. A “small punch list” of items remains to be completed, most of it “behind the scenes.”
•Larry Yelaska, principal of Bremen Elementary-Middle School, reported that the school is currently focusing on quarterly assessments and gave a list of upcoming school events.
•Bruce Jennings, principal of Bremen High School, updated the board on recent high school activities and events. He noted that current enrollment stands at 484 students and that the attendance rate is 97.2 percent. The freshman class is the largest with 132 students, but also has the best attendance rate of any class.
•Chad Berger, BHS ag teacher, commended 2007 graduate Dan Ward with his recent achievement. He earned the American FFA Degree, which is given to less than 2 percent of all FFA members.
“It’s very hard to get,” Berger said. “This does not happen all the time. It’s very meaningful.”
Ward is the fifth BHS student to achieve this high honor since Berger has been teaching at the school.
•BHS teacher Aaron McNeely gave a presentation on how he utilizes wikispaces.com for teaching purposes in his astronomy classes. Wiki Web Sites are available to educators free of charge and are easy to use. McNeely said his class collects data from the site every day.
•Kathy Cullers demonstrated how she uses her mobile presenter in teaching math classes at BHS. As she uses a pen-like device to “write” on a clipboard-size device that she carries around the room with her, the images appear on the projected screen on the wall.
•In personnel news, Mary Beth Schweisberger transfered from cafeteria to media assistant and the following new contracts were approved: Krista Kay Smith, special services instructional assistant, and Tony Venable, a temporary contract for high school language arts. A leave request through Jan. 30 was granted for Elaine Ferguson. The following administrators’ contracts were extended through June 30, 2011: Larry Yelaska, Shawna Dvenport, Ryan Dickinson, Bruce Jennings, Angela Balsley and Nate McKeand. Superintendent Russ MIkel’s contract was extended through June 30, 2012.
•Revisions to Policy 704 regarding the transfer of non-resident students were approved by the board on second reading.
•The BHS course and curriculum guide was approved for 2009-10. The guide was completed about two months ahead of schedule this year. New courses include: Choral Chamber Ensemble (swing choir), Music Theory and Composition, Creative Writing and BIblical Literature and Fundamentals of Engineering. In addition, Spanish IV may change to AP Spanish and Pre-calculus and Trigonometry will be combined into one course lasting two terms. The Business Foundations class will be renamed to Personal Finance and Advanced Computer Applications will be called Web Design.
•Justin Keeling of Great American presented a 403b plan, which the school is required to have in place by January. The plan was approved by the board.
•Todd Samuelson of HJ Umbaugh presented a preliminary analysis regarding the anticipated effect of House Bill 1001 on the school budget. He noted that there was a potential of revenue loss under the new property tax system. He said the new law will likely create tremendous tax breaks which result in a lower tax base for the school. That means tax rates will increase.
The next board meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 6 in the Lions Den.