One of the most important orders of business during Thursday evening’s regular meeting of the Bloomfield School Board of Trustees was the approval of an internal transfer.
On account of the district receiving a Ready Schools Initiative grant totaling roughly $130,000, Jenny Medina will serve as a full-time District Readiness Coordinator instead of returning to her fourth-grade class for the 2018-19 school year.
Registration and other important dates
Bloomfield School District will hold registration for new and current students from July 31 to Aug. 2.
Tuesday, July 31: 9-11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Wednesday, August 1: 9 am - 11:30 am, 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Thursday, August 2: 9 am - 11:30 am, 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm,
Thursday, August 2: New Student Registration (By Appointment)
The annual Seventh Grade Orientation will be held the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 1 from 9 a.m to 12 p.m. noon. Student mentors will register all seventh graders as they come in and will “facilitate icebreakers and games for the students to get to know each other and the student mentors.” Students will then attend breakout sessions on social media, school policies and procedures, extra-curricular activities, avoiding drama, working with their lockers and navigating their schedules. Seventh Grade Orientation will be concluded with a pizza lunch in the commons.
Chromebook Distribution Night for all registered and enrolled students in grades 7-12 to receive their Lenovo Thinkpad 11e Yoga Chromebooks will take place on the following dates in the junior high gymnasium:
Monday, Aug. 6
Grade 12: 5:45 p.m.
Grade 11: 6:45 p.m.
Grade 10: 7:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 7
Grade 9: 5:45 p.m.
Grade 8: 6:45 p.m.
Grade 7: 7:45 p.m.
The dates above may be later for students with absences or who have registered late online may These Chromebooks are issued one-time with updates as-needed and will last the remainder of the student’s time at Bloomfield Schools.
“The main purpose of the Ready Schools grant is to go through the design process and really examine the educational programming that we offer here at Bloomfield to better align with local and regional workforce needs.,” said Superintendent Jeff Gibboney. “We’re really excited to have her spearhead our planning initiative.”
In this new role, Medina will work alongside a coach from ROI to will guide locally-developed teams of advisors and designers through a “design thinking process.”
This will hopefully be achieved through conversations with multiple groups of stakeholders, including students, parents, community members and industry members in the community. This will inform a strategic plan, which will be built over the course of ten months.
Bloomfield Schools was selected to participate in the initiative’s second cohort, along with Monroe County Community School Corporation, Spencer-Owen Community Schools, and a three-district collaboration of Mitchell, Orleans, and Shoals Community Schools.
Roughly $30,000 of the grant amount will fund a budget for travel, professional development and exploration. The Ready Schools grant is awarded by Rural Opportunities Initiative, Inc. (ROI) through the Lily Endowment.
“We have three main sectors in our region--advanced manufacturing, life sciences and national security and defense,” said Gibboney. “We have all of these jobs locally, so we're really taking a step back and looking in the mirror and seeing if there's anything that we can do differently to better prepare students to walk right into entry-level jobs in those types of places.”
In 2017, ROI released its Occupational Needs Assessment and found that “employers struggle to find talent for all levels of jobs, ranging from entry-level positions… to highly technical jobs.”
Gibboney also hopes that by having employers “at the table”, the school district will be able to better understand the needs of those employers and come up with solutions. (Story continues below)
“It’s nice that we're going to have a face-to-face conversation and really welcome them at the table to see what we can do to energize Greene County as well as the greater area,” said Gibboney.
Gibboney also added that through the grant and the program, the district will have the opportunity to travel far outside the area to visit the sites of different industries to brainstorm how best to prepare students to work in those industries. Completing the grant will also provide the district the opportunity to apply for ROI’s half-million dollar grant for implementing strategic plans.
“So there is a lot of money to transform education in our district,” said Gibboney. “We’re really excited and thankful to participate in this initiative.”
ROI awarded three million dollars in Ready Schools grants to eleven school districts in Indiana’s “Uplands”—a region consisting of 11 counties, including Greene. Bloomfield School District was one of six to receive developmental grants, while five received implementation grants.
Bloomfield and the other Cohort 2 participants will begin the first phase of the Ready School process in August.
Personnel
• The board approved the retirement of English teacher Chris Mattox and the resignation of business teacher Nancy Hudson.
“They’ve been valued members of our school for a long time, so we would like to think them and wish them well in their retirement,” said school board president Rich Williams.
• The board approved the hire of Jessica Blazier as guidance secretary and registrar for the Jr/Sr High School; Daniel Waggoner as a part-time instruction aide at Bloomfield Elementary School;
• The board also accepted the resignation of Nicole Jordan, business teacher, who will return to her hometown district to teach at Northview High School; and Jamie Hudson’s resignation as varsity boys’ basketball coach.
• The board approved ECA club positions for the upcoming school year. They also voted to approve Terry Wade as Jr. High cross country coach and head coach on a volunteer basis. Wade abstained from that vote.
• The board approved the following athletic ECA positions: Kyle von Almen for junior high boys’ and girls’ track, Andrew Bladen for boys’ and girls’ soccer varsity assistant, Mitch Hobson for junior varsity boys’ basketball and boys’ tennis assistant, Ryan Lowry as girls’ soccer coach, Melody Miller as junior varsity volleyball coach and Kurtis Moffitt as boys’ soccer coach.
Other business
• The board approved an overnight, out-of-state field trip for the BHS NJROTC to travel to Port Canaveral, Fla. to present the colors at the commission of the USS Indiana from Sept. 26-30. The Bloomfield FFA will be heading to a livestock judging competition in Louisville, Ky. On Aug. 16.
• The board accepted roughly $18,000 in donations, and more coming, for improvements to the elementary playground to make it more accessible and inclusive. Changes to the playground include moving existing equipment down to the inside of the walking track and pouring additional accessible pathways. The district also obtained more funds by selling a house recently and will use those funds to purchase an additional, new play structure.
“We’re still six to 10 weeks out before equipment can come and the playground will be finished, but nevertheless, all of our kids are going to have a lot more fun on the playground,” said Gibboney.
• The board approved the purchase of AP United States History textbooks for the high school AP history class. The price was quoted by McGraw Hill at a total of $3,078.37 for 20 textbooks and a six-year digital teacher subscription, as well as shipping and handling.
• The board held a second reading and adoption for updated job descriptions and updates to the non-certified employee handbook.
• Rich Williams ended the meeting by reminding the audience that four school board seats are up for election and November and encouraged interested individuals to run.
The Bloomfield School District will be welcoming the students back bright and early on Aug. 9. The next regular meeting of the Bloomfield School District Board of Trustees will be held Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. on the Superintendent’s Boardroom.
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