Chesterton Tribune

 

 

School Board meets new basketball coach; CMS to get HVAC upgrades

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By JEFF SCHULTZ

Chesterton High School has gained Marc Urban as its new head boys basketball coach.

Urban was at Monday’s brief meeting of the Duneland School Board, with his wife Traci and daughters Grace and Averie, as the board accepted a recommendation from CHS administration to hire him after Coach Tom Peller stepped down after 14 seasons.

An Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year and an ICGSA District One Coach of the Year, Urban has coached the Lake Central HS Girls Basketball Team for three years and was for six years coach of the junior varsity team and boys varsity assistant before that, said Assistant Superintendent Monte Moffett.

Moffett said Urban has had 80 winning games in his career and two sectional championship wins.

Urban said he plans to move out to Chesterton and is excited for the opportunity.

“I feel like this program and the community has a lot of potential. I thank the board for allowing me to be the guy that chases that potential,” Urban said.

In addition to coaching, Urban will also teach health and physical education at CHS starting in the 2016-17 school year.

CMS

Erratic heating and cooling issues plaguing Chesterton Middle School should see their end next year as the school board approved a bid from Johnson Controls for $452,570 to install a controlled HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) system with 143 individual controlling units.

Board President Kristin Kroeger said she has heard complaints of the classrooms being “extremely hot or extremely cold” with the system there now.

Director of Support Services Greg Lindy said it’s been challenging to maintain a balance of temperature because the current HVAC serves several groups of classrooms. With the new system, maintenance staff will be able to control from their mobile phones, even when they are not in the building, Lindy said.

The system will include variable air vox fans that can have their speeds also controlled manually.

“It’s going to save us money by saving us energy costs,” Lindy told the board.

Installation will begin this summer and should be complete sometime during the first semester of next school year, Lindy said.

The system will be paid for through the facilities project bond that Duneland Schools issued last year.

Lunches

Duneland lunches are going to be a dime pricier next year because of the federal government.

The extra charge is so Duneland can match what the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act reimburses the schools through the free meals school lunch programs, said Duneland Chief Financial Officer Lynn Kwilasz.

“We need to raise (lunches) a dime in order to get in line under the federal grant. This is becoming an annual thing for us,” Kwilasz said.

Grades K-6 in Duneland will pay $2.55 for lunch starting next school year. Grades 7-12 will pay $2.75 and adults will pay $3.60.

Duneland Superintendent of Schools Dave Pruis said the price hike is for lunches only, not breakfast.

Board member John Marshall asked Kwilasz if she had any insight on U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita’s, R-Indianapolis, proposal bill to restrict the free and reduced lunch program.

Kwilasz said she has not met with the food services directors but will meet soon to talk about the issue.

School’s Out June 2

Some folks around Duneland acknowledged that Monday was the last Monday of the current school year, Pruis said.

The last day for students is Thursday, June 2, a snow make-up day, but classes will not be in session for Memorial Day next week.

CHS graduation will be on the night of June 2, Pruis added, inside the football stadium, weather permitting.

Lastly, Pruis gave praise to the individual winners of the Chesterton Math Team comprised of 6th, 7th and 8th graders for “a clean sweep” in their championship of the Ben Franklin Math Competition last week.

“A great job,” he said.

Exec meeting

The board convened in closed executive session after the 20-minute public meeting to discuss collective bargaining, litigation and the purchase or lease of real property, according to the meeting notice.

 

 

Posted 5/24/2016

 
 
 
 

 

 

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