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Messenger photo by Kristy Zurbrick
Dave Hunter, 2008 president of the Madison-Plains Board of Education, completes a geography lesson on a Smart Board in Christina Finney’s third-grade classroom at Madison Rural Elementary. Instructional material generated by computer, web sites, VCR or DVD players can be projected onto the white board. Using special markers, erasers or even their hands, students also can interact with the lessons on the board. Madison Rural has six hanging or mounted Smart Boards and two on carts. Principal Linda Nier hopes to outfit the rest of the school with six more Smart Boards. The school board has set aside time during each of its last several monthly meetings to tour the district’s buildings specifically to learn about the technology they use. During its Jan. 5 meeting, the board accepted a donation of $2,500 from Wal-mart to aid in the purchase of another Smart Board for Mount Sterling Elementary. |
At its annual reorganization meeting Jan. 8, the Madison-Plains Board of Education elected Dave Hunter as board president for 2008. Michael Brandt, a newly sworn-in board member, was elected as vice president.
The board approved its meeting schedule for the year. Meetings take place at 6:30 or 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month. The locations vary. The schedule is as follows: Feb. 19 at Mount Sterling Elementary; March 18 at Madison-Plains Middle School; April 15 at Mount Sterling Elementary; May 20 at Midway Elementary; June 17, July 15 and Aug. 19 in the district’s administrative offices; Sept. 16 at Madison Rural Elementary; Oct. 21 at Madison-Plains High School; Nov. 18 at Mount Sterling Elementary; and Dec. 16 at Midway Elementary.
Board members were assigned to extra duties and committees as follows:
• Legislative liaison to the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA)—Ken Morlock with Linda Blankenship as alternate
• OSBA student achievement liai-son—Don Swonger
• Audit Committee—Brandt
• Wellness Committee—Blankenship
• Insurance Committee—Brandt and Blankenship
Regular Meeting
Directly following the reorganization meeting, the board entered into its regular monthly meeting. The first order of business was to accept the resignation of Connie Andrews for the purpose of retirement effective June 5. Andrews has worked for Madison-Plains for 30 years. She is a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at Madison Rural.
The board also accepted the resignation of Marie Myers, a math teacher at the high school.
District Treasurer Scott Hiles reported that a major statewide computer glitch at Caremark, the district’s insurance provider, has caused headaches for school employees. Prescription cards have been deactivated, dependents have been left off of records, and the company’s prescription mail-order system is not working properly.
“This is something that is totally out of our control. All we can do is keep our employees informed of what’s going on,” Hiles said, adding that several other school districts, all part of a consortium that contracts with Caremark, are having the same problems.
In addition to its regularly scheduled meetings, the board chose to hold an extra work session to plan for 2008 at 6 p.m. Jan. 21 in the board offices, located at the back of the middle school.
