By VICKI URBANIK

Thirty-three people -- a mix of school administrators, teachers, business owners, parents and others -- have been selected to study the Duneland Schools’ educational needs and possibly make a recommndation on a new school.

The Duneland School Board on Tuesday approved the list of people recommended by Duneland Superintendnet Dirk Baer to serve on the new “Key Communicators Group.”

The group will work under the guidance of consultant Robert Boyd of Indiana State University to gauge what the Duneland Schools are lacking, with a focus expected to be on the elementary schools. Last year, the school board purchased 26 acres next to the Liberty Schools for a possible new school and continues to study other possible land acquisition.

The appointment of the group comes two months after the school board heard a report from demographer Jerome McKibben, who is projecting an enrollment increase of 500 within the next decade.

The members of the new group are as follows:

Monte Moffett, Craig Stafford, Christy Jarka, Randall Eckley, and Mark McKibben, all Duneland adminsitrators;

Jamie Sensibaugh, Beth Cory, Dominee Kaiser, Cris Petro, all teachers;

Linda Hodes and Ryan Mottinger, Duneland classified staff members; and Susan Trcka, Mark Swanson, Dave Larimer, Brandon Kroft, Allen Kurfman, Cyndy Paliga, Jeff Nix, Tracey Dibble, Joe Ennis, Tim Rice, Dave Cincoski, Rudy Sutton, Robin Chubb, Linda Ramsey, Jo Winey-Babcock, Eric Kroeger, T. Clifford Fleming, Tim Emmons, Norman Novak, Keith Underwood, and Sheila Johnson, all community representatives.

Newly elected Duneland School Board President John Marshall said the group members reflect a great cross-section of the community and that he’s sure the members will do a “very fine job” in their study.

Baer said the group is expected to meet for about two hours twice a month, likely on Thursdays, for the next several months. All meetings will be public.

Somewhat ironically, the formation of the Duneland citizen group that might end up recommending a new school comes on the heels of an announcement by the Indiana Dpeartment of Local Government Finance that it is launching an online toolkit to help taxpayers formally protest school and other public construction projects.

After being told about the toolkit, available online at www.in.gov/dlgf

 Baer said he was “very disturbed” by it and feels that a state agency should not try to influence what should be a local decision.

“I don’t think it’s right,” he said. “That speaks to me of political influence, not function.”

Baer said school projects already go through a public remonstrance process and ultimately must be approved by the DLGF. He said for a state agency to take the next step by helping people protest new schools suggests to him “another step by the state to try to control local government.”’

New Officers

Tuesday’s meeting was the annual reorganization meeting for the school board, which elected new officers.

The 2007 board president, Janice Custer, called for the board to continue its practice of rotating officers, as she recommended Marshall to lead the board. Nick Jurasevich was named vice-president. Elected secretary was Ron Stone.

Board member Mike Trout was retained as the school board’s Indiana School Board Association legislative liaison.

The board also kept its meeting times and days the same -- the first Monday of each month at 6 p.m. (Tuesday’s meeting had been rescheduled due to the holidays). Further, the board kept the same pay as in previous years: A base pay of $2,000 per board member per year, plus $112 for each regular board meeting and $62 for each executive session held on non-meeting days.

The board also retained the Harris, Welsh and Lukmann law firm and Dr. John Forchetti as school corporation physician.

Graduation Rate

When the Duenland Schools publishes its annual report as it is required to do each year, one statistic may stand out -- Duneland’s graduation rate for the 2006-07 school year.

In last year’s annual report, the Chesterton High School graduation rate of 73 percent raised plenty of eyebrows, especially since it was the lowest in Porter County. Duneland officials disagreed with the state-released figure and determined that they needed to improve the way that they track students who move away or don’t graduate in the standard four years.

Duneland Assistant Superintendent Monte Moffeft said that tracking method has improved, and that this year’s report will show a 13 percent increase in the CHS graduation rate, putting it at 86 percent.

“That’s a very respectable graduation rate,” he said.

However, Trout said the figure still seems low. Marshall said that while the board is pleased that the rate is much higher than last year, it’s still not ideal.

Moffett said that if CHS doesn’t receive an actual transcript for students who move away or attend school elsewhere, that student is considered a dropout. Students who don’t graduate in four years are also figured in the drop out rate.

WPL Appointment

Also Tuesday, the school board reappointed John Corso, former director of the Duneland Instructional Materials Center, to another four-year term on the Westchester Public Library Board.

Baer said Corso has done an outstanding job on the WPL board and that he doesn’t think the Duneland Schools could find a more qualified candidate.

Posted 1/16/2008