T
P C N SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times POSEY COUNTY’S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED NEWSPAPER
Volume 140 Edition 17
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
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Camp, Bender to retire; school projects nearly done By Lynda Baker The April 20, 2020 North Posey School Board meeting was held in the library of North Posey High School. Only the five board members, Superintendent Todd Camp and Assistant Superintendent Angela Bender were present. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the meeting was recorded and uploaded to the school district’s YouTube Channel. The Board held a moment of silence in honor of the losses of Truman Morton, a long-time custodian for the school system, and North Posey eighth grader, Cameron Born,
who was recently killed in a motor vehicle accident. A question submitted prior to the meeting by Michelle Fortune regarding the graduation of the Class of 2020 was addressed by Camp. He explained that he had been in contact with other area school systems and had received several suggestions. He said that a decision had not yet been made, in order to avoid making the wrong decision. He added that he hoped to hold a ceremony in June that would be as close to a normal graduation service as possible. The matter will be discussed again on
May 4, 2020, along with other matters, in hopes that the school district will have more information regarding coming social distancing regulations. Board President Geoff Gentil announced that FFA Sponsor Mike Wassmer and teacher had announced his retirement. Gentil thanked Wassmer for his many years of excellent service, indicating that Wassmer would be leaving big shoes to fill. There was a discussion regarding the COVID-19 regulations put in place by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and the effects of those regulations upon the school system,
the highlights of which have been as follows: -School system personnel will be paid for a tradition 2019-2020 school year, as the number of required teaching days had been met. -Schools will continue teaching until May 8, 2020. -The food program initiated by the school district will continue until May 8, 2020. -Maintenance employees are continuing their normal work schedule. -The school system will modify its grading policy to include nine weeks of school work.
-High school students may turn in work for grade improvement purposes only. -Upon the Governor’s regulations being lifted, all summer school employees will return to work as usual. Dr. Angela Bender submitted her retirement letter to the Board, which will be effective the end of this school year. Bender has completed over 28 years of service in education and has served the North Posey School District since 2012. She explained to the board that she has a lot
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Frye to retire at Mt. Vernon Reese, Steinhart, and Cole take new roles By Lois Mittino Gray What’s the plan for graduation exercises for the Mount Vernon High School Class of 2020? This question was discussed at the April 20, Mount Vernon School Board meeting, as well as the hiring of two new administrators and two coaches. All four are local and graduated from Mount Vernon High School. School Superintendent Matt Thompson announced he will make a decision by Wednesday, May 13 as to whether graduation will take place as originally planned, on May 22, 2020. “We are waiting for guidance from the Department of Education, Health Department and the Governor’s Office on what restrictions they may impose and then we will decide what to do,” said Thompson. He is looking into indoor and outdoor options, but said he will definitely not use the new Dr. David Frye football field, as it could damage the artificial turf. “If we cannot do graduation by our alternate date of June 27, then we may have to do it virtual or as a drive-by as a ‘last resort.’ We are going to try our best to deliver a ceremony to our students and I hope it will be a traditional ceremony. If not, we will do what we can to honor our kids,” he assured the board. In personnel matters, two new administrators were hired to fill open positions. Charles Seifert
will be the Director of Buildings, Grounds, and Transportation, replacing David Frye, who will retire this summer. Thompson explained the transportation part of the title is new, as those responsibilities were transferred from Loren Evans, Director of Business. Seifert completed his doctorate degree in Education Administration in 2019 while teaching industrial technology at the high school, a position he has held for the past 17 years. Seifert owns his own construction company and is an adjunct instructor in welding at Ivy Tech Community College, and is highly qualified with professional and personal experience. He also submitted his resignation as boys’ high school track head coach. Staci Reese was hired to replace Natosha Bruner as Assistant Junior High School Principal. She worked for the district for Dr. Charles Seifert over 15 years in many roles. She taught at Hedges Elementary School, did Title I at West Elementary, taught math for eight years at the junior high school, and most recently, served as a District eLearning Coach. Upon accepting this position, she will resign her NEA President role. Christopher Cole was tapped to be the high school boys’ soccer head coach, replacing Tra-
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Jack Wolsiefer and Ryan Englebright took advantage of a little sunshine and a lot of wind Sunday afternoon to get in some kite flying near the Atheneum in New Harmony. Photo by Dave Pearce
Camp’s early announcement will allow board more time By Dave Pearce North Posey School Superintendent Dr. Todd Camp had planned to work another couple of years but instead has decided to submit his retirement for 2021. Camp recently submitted his retirement to the School Board of the Metropolitan School District of North Posey and he plans to retire in either February or June of 2021. In reality, Camp has given early notice to allow the district plenty of time to get a new assistant superintendent or superintendent in place since Dr. Angela Bender announced recently that she will retire at the end of the current school year. Camp has
Dr. Todd Camp
agreed to be flexible between February and June, depending on how soon competent replacements can be found and are in place. Camp will be a first-time grandfather later on this year. With a granddaughter on the way in nearby Evansville and with most of the planned projects in the school corporation nearly complete, Camp has decided this would be a good time for both the school corporation and for him to move to the next phase. “Actually, I wasn’t really planning on retiring until the end of the (2021) year,” Camp explained. “Angie (Dr. Bender) was going to retire at the end of that year. She fast-forwarded to
this year. So I got to thinking that I would work one more year and they will hire an assistant superintendent. And then I am going to retire. And then the board will have to match a superintendent and assistant superintendent on what skills they have.” The two positions must match well in both training and in skill sets because currently, at North Posey, Bender has seemingly been in control of the direction of curriculum. Camp focussed in the areas of business and facilities. So should the board hire a replacement for Bender now, the board would then be required to hire a superintendent whose area of expertise is on the business and finan-
cial side of things. Camp said he really wasn’t planning to announce his retirement until August or September. “When this happened, I thought the board should have the option to look at either curriculum-type people or business-type people,” Camp said, “Generally, those types of people are not the same. That will give them the option to hire a superintendent to take over when I leave and that superintendent would have the ability to recommend hiring their own assistant.” Camp said he talked with current
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Posey State of Emergency order extended Order could end as early as 3 p.m. on April 28
The big “flashlight” bowl makes its way up the 200 foot tower base as technicians ratchet up the jacks to set it at the top last Thursday morning. The new tower, on Mount Vernon’s east side, will improve the city’s water services. Photo by Lois Mittino Gray
(USPS 439-500)
By Lois Mittino Gray The Posey County Commissioners met at the Hovey House on Tuesday, April 21 with a limited number of actual bodies, nine, in attendance due to government restrictions. Commissioner Jay Price and county department heads listened by telephone and called in questions and comments to transact business. Commission President Carl Schmitz remarked Unfinished Business was that the current State of Emergency Order in effect will expire at the end of that day. The commissioners passed the order shutting down personal service businesses on March 17 and extended it for several weeks at a time. Commissioner Randy Thornburg made a motion to extend the Emergency Order for another week until 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28. Commissioner Price said he was seconding the motion to “extend the extension” and it carried with a vote of 3-0. County Attorney Joe Harrison advised the officials that on April 28, the commissioners could extend the State of Emergency one more time until May 5. It could include wording that would cancel that order at the guidance of the Governor, if he issued closings. Schmitz added a little levity to the proceedings when he observed that, “I think everybody is ready to open the county back up as soon as possible. I’m getting calls from ladies that want the beauty shops back open right away. Their roots are showing and they don’t want anyone to know what color their hair really is!” Thornburg stated he was very much in favor of getting the county
open and asked several questions about actual cases of COVID-19. Dennis Schaffer, with the Posey County Health Department, updated the commissioners by reporting that, as of last night, the county has seven confirmed cases, with five of those considered recovered. Thornburg asked about the remaining two active cases, “How far into the recovery process are they?” Martye Fitts, Posey County Health Nurse, explained that both active cases are fairly new, confirmed just the past weekend, so they both have two weeks to go yet. The two active cases also had several personal contacts who are now in the two-week quarantine process and being monitored, too. Fitts stated none of the cases in Posey County are related and are all considered to be acquired within the community. Thornburg asked why Indiana continues to count cases that have recovered in the total count. Fitts explained they will always count any who have had it in the total number of cases. “They will always add to it. The number will never go down,” she commented. She said Posey County is one of the few counties in Indiana releasing the number of cases considered recovered. Thornburg asked what the age group for Posey County positive cases is. Fitts stated the age is ranging from 26 to 62 years of age. Fitts informed the commissioners that the local nursing homes remain and will continue to be on lockdown for the safety of those residents. “If one employee or patient gets it at a nursing home, it
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