Bloomfield News Blog

Snow make-up days and graduation were discussed during the Bloomfield School Board’s February monthly meeting.Superintendent Dan Sichting provided the details.

“We have four make-up dates built in (to the school calendar). We have missed seven days so far … to make 180 days there are three days that need made up.”

The Bloomfield School District has two options at this point.

One is to move graduation date and the other is to make up the three days after Memorial Day weekend, he noted.

Seniors would take part in commencement and then receive diplomas on the last make-up day, he added.

The state of Indiana has no idea what will be done in terms of snow make-up days, he noted. The topic will be discussed April 1.

But Sichting has applied for a waiver.

“I don’t anticipate that (waiver) being accepted…,” he added, noting that he also asked the state to waive two days for the seniors.

“We hope parents understand the predicament we’re in,” he added.

Other options are also being discussed, he noted.

In other business, the board:

* Approved elementary and jr./sr. high staff for 2009 ISTEP remediation.

* Approved the resignation of Carl Kerns as assistant baseball coach.

* Approved the ECA recommendation of Amy Gilmore as girls assistant track (grades 7-12).

* Approved the ECA recommendation of Jessica Lauderdale as head softball coach.

* Approved the ECA recommendation of Larry Zschiedrrich as junior varsity softball coach.

* Approved the ECA recommendation of Kevin Gott as softball assistant coach.

* Approved the TEEN Leadership Academy field trip to Nashville, Tenn.

* Approved the NJROTC field trip to Anderson.

* Approved the Teen Leadership Academy’s student “Lock In”. The event is a fundraiser which will be used to purchase materials for a community service project.

Information on Communities CAN-Project Success was provided during the February monthly meeting of the Bloomfield School BoardRegina Hildenbrand, program director, shared the details.

Communities CAN is funded through a $1.5 million federal grant and is aimed at reducing alcohol abuse by placing social workers/counselors in each school in the county, she explained. The grant will fund the program for three years.

The program has four goals.

“Help students develop coping/life skills. Help students understand alcohol abuse is harmful to their health. Encourage teachers and parents to express disapproval of underage drinking, and help develop alternative community activities for students,” Hildenbrand explained.

Project Success counselors provide prevention education, individual and group counseling, parent and family education, referrals, consultation, training and seminars, community involvement and evaluation.

The program is also aimed at improving student absenteeism, drop-out rates, low academic performance, behavioral problems and others, she said.

Teachers, community members and family can refer students to the program, she said. Students can also refer themselves and/or other students.

Referring a student demonstrates concern, helps prevent use from escalating and improves the quality of life for everyone, Hildenbrand said.

Changes in appearance behavior, dishonesty and mood swings are some of the reasons to refer students.

“Can this make a difference? Yes,” she stressed.

The program can “make a positive impact on grades, decrease absenteeism and maintain reduction in use,” she added.

The program is already growing.

“Our workloads have doubled,” she said,

The following are Project Success counselors:

* Leah Bunger — Eastern Greene

* Janet Daniels — Shakamak

* Emily Faber — White River Valley

* Kathy Ray — Linton-Stockton

* Joni Godsey — Bloomfield

For more information on the program contact Hildenbrand at 659-1300.

An 18-year-old Bloomington man is in the Greene County Jail for allegedly hitting a rural Bloomfield man in the head with a baseball bat.The altercation was apparently over a drug deal gone bad.

Aaron J. Williams was first booked into jail early Wednesday on preliminary charges of battery resulting in serious bodily injury, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon resulting in serious bodily injury and obstruction of justice and his bond was initially set at $29,000.

However, medical test results have not been received and when the prosecutor’s office filed charges in Greene Circuit Court on Thursday, Williams was charged with battery with a deadly weapon, a class C felony, and the amount of his bond was adjusted to $10,000.

Greene County Sheriff’s Deputies Chris McDonald and Jeremy Inman were dispatched to a rural Bloomfield residence at approximately 1:15 a.m. on Wednesday after a woman called and reported that Kenneth C. B. “Cory” Boswell had been beat up.

When the deputies arrived, Boswell was walking around in the yard holding his head.

In the probable cause affidavit, Deputy McDonald wrote that Boswell said Kyle Bailey had called him earlier accusing him of stealing money. McDonald said Boswell admitted that Bailey had given him money to purchase narcotics but he never produced the drugs.

Then Bailey and an unknown male (later determined to be Williams) showed up at Boswell’s home.

Boswell and Bailey were in the yard discussing the situation when Williams got out of Bailey’s car carrying an aluminum bat and wearing a striped hooded sweatshirt with the hood covering his head.

Williams is accused of then striking Boswell in the head with the bat, knocking Boswell unconscious.

Bailey and Williams then left in a newer model black Honda Civic, but not before the woman who made the 911 call got the license plate number.

The car was registered to a woman whose daughter was Bailey’s girlfriend.

Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputies located the vehicle at the Circle K gas station at State Road 45 and Leonard Springs Road on the west edge of Bloomington and Deputy McDonald requested they detain Bailey.

When Deputy McDonald arrived in Monroe County, he learned Bailey had been taken into custody and had charges in Monroe County for possession of a Schedule II controlled substance and possession of a syringe.

According to the affidavit, when McDonald questioned Bailey, Bailey said he and a friend had gone to confront Boswell about the money, and he confirmed that the money was for drugs.

With Bailey in tow to show them where Williams lived, Greene County Sheriff’s Deputies McDonald, Inman and Brad Deckard knocked on Williams’ door in Basswood Court Apartments in Bloomington, took Williams into custody and transported him to the Greene County Jail. Bailey was taken to Monroe County Jail.

Williams appeared in court for his initial hearing late Thursday afternoon.

It is not yet known whether any additional charges will be filed against Williams after medical test results are received.

Future engineers are getting hands-on training at the high school level — learning how to work as a team, problem-solve and cooperate to figure things out through the Project Lead the Way program.A cooperative effort between the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI and the Indiana Department of Education brought together more than 300 students from 17 Indiana high schools — including Bloomfield Junior-Senior High School — in Indianapolis last Friday.

Twenty-two students from Bloomfield Junior-Senior High School were among the attendees at the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) student conference during National Engineers Week on the IUPUI campus.

The PLTW student conference is part of a larger curriculum initiative that promotes pre-engineering courses for high school students. The PLTW program allows participating students to take courses through which they can earn scholarship opportunities and potentially receive college credit at IUPUI. While the curriculum was first instituted in New York State high schools in 1997, Indiana now boasts the most participants in the program.

Candi Lang, PLTW teacher at Bloomfield Junior-Senior High School, attended the conference with her students.

“This is my third year teaching PLTW courses. In these classes students learn to work as a team, problem-solve, and work through their frustrations to figure things out. We have a lot of ‘ah-ha’ moments, and those are very cool to observe,” said Lang. “Attending the conference is such a great experience for our students as it exposes them to new things they just aren’t exposed to at a small school. This event allows them to connect with students from other high schools and learn about different programs and career fields.”

At the conference, students had the opportunity to engage in two career themed sessions as well as a “hands-on” session. “Hands-on” sessions presented by IUPUI faculty, staff and students focused on topics such as bridge design, digital forensics, metal casting, advanced manufacturing and electronic music.

For the career-themed sessions professionals presented on various subjects. Those who presented had careers related to mechanical engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, construction technology, biomedical engineering, motorsports engineering, computer graphics and more.

Lang pointed out that PLTW is now offered in all five Greene County school districts. It’s in its third year at Bloomfield.

The program gets valuable professional expertise from employees at Boston Scientific in Spencer and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane. Both have members on the PLTW advisory board and provide input on what kind of job skills are needed to succeed in the engineering field.

NSWC Crane employees also provide math tutoring help to Bloomfield students several times a week in before and after school sessions, she pointed out.

PLTW students are also encouraged to participate in the annual Crane Science Fair.

Lang said the PLTW Advisory Board is looking for volunteers from other science-related businesses in the Greene County area.

To volunteer contact Lang at Bloomfield Junior-Senior High School at 384-4550.

One local student who attended the conference and was impressed by what he witnesses was sophomore David Hestand.

“It was a nice experience. We got to do a lot of hands on activities,” he told the Greene County Daily World.

Hestand said he got involved in the PLTW program as an eighth grader in an introductory class.

Since then he’s been able to take the class for several more years.

The 10th grade student, who said he is still weighing his options for a career choice, said this year the class has been involved in several projects — including a robotic marble sorter and ping pong ball cannon to learn about ballistics.

Speaking of the PLTW program, Hestand added, “It would be a good class for anyone to take, especially anyone who is interested in engineering.”

Other Bloomfield students attending the conference included: Erick Araujo, Tyler Hansel, Blake Kindred, Austin Schulte, Nate Templeton, Brandon Thornsbury, Alex Toon, Joshua Axe, Rachel Clapp, Joey Cooper, Ashley Dugger, Autumn England, Michelle Holz, Corey Kilgore, David Lynch, Bethany Martin, Bryce McGlothlin, Ross Miller, Jarad Rifner, Jakki Summerlot, and Liz Templeton.

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett was the keynote speaker for the event.

“Project Lead The Way is a great example of a program that engages future Hoosier engineers while they are still in high school, helps them prepare a career path as they start thinking about college, and shows them the sort of cutting edge projects they may one day be working on,” said Bennett. “We’re proud to be a part of it and hope to see it continue to expand.”

“Bringing students, teachers, and professionals together to participate in events like this are fantastic opportunities for the university and all that are involved. We are fostering the growth of interest in engineering and technology while connecting students and instructors with curriculum that raises the standards of learning and provides a distinct advantage,” said Yurtseven, Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology, IUPUI .

Project Lead The Way is a not-for-profit organization that promotes pre-engineering courses for middle and high school students. PLTW forms partnerships with public schools, higher education institutions and the private sector to increase the quantity and quality of engineers and engineering technologists graduating from our educational system.

The PLTW curriculum was first introduced to 12 New York State high schools in the 1997-98 school year. Today, the programs are offered in some 3,000 schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia.

For more information about Project Lead The Way, visit http://www.pltw.org .

There will be no new tennis courts at the Bloomfield School District due to the current economy.The board of school trustees approved Bloomfield Superintendent Dan Sichting’s recommendation to reject the three tennis court proposals during the Thursday meeting.

Board President Marvin Helms cited the current economic times as part of the reason for the proposal being turned down.

“It’s not that we don’t want them,” he added. “Times are tough and they may get tougher.”

Gov. Mitch Daniels keeps talking about consolidation, he added. It wouldn’t make sense to build and then consolidate.

“We’re being a little bit cautious about this,” Helms added.

Board member Keith Hanauer added, “We’d really like to have all athletic facilities in one spot…”

But, at this point it’s not reasonable, he added.

The first proposal was to build six tennis courts below the baseball field. The second was to build two tennis courts next to the three existing ones. The third one was to build six tennis courts across the highway (State Road 54).

“Each of those proposals have negative and positive aspects to them,” Helms also said during the discussion.

The 4-0 vote was given by board members Helm, Hanauer, Dwayne Hostetter and Sandy May. Board members John Combs, Steve Dowden and Doug Frye did not attend the meeting.

In other business, the board approved the resignation of Jason Pegg as varsity baseball coach.

Sichting thanked Pegg for his work and added, “We appreciate the work he’s done with the program and we wish him the best of luck.”

The board then approved Mark Bartlow as his replacement.

In other business, the board approved the $60,000 purchase of lots 19 and 20 in the L.H. Jones Addition — which is just south of the elementary school.

Sichting’s background information on the item in part stated, “Acquisition of the property will allow the district flexibility in long range facility planning for the district.”

To evacuate or not to evacuate the entire school site is an issue being raised by some concerned parents after Wednesday’s bomb threat at Linton-Stockton High School.L-S School Superintendent Ron Bush offered some insight on the decision that was made — which was the evacuation of the junior and senior high.

“(Last year’s) evacuation drill was when we would leave the whole site if there was an issue at the site and we needed to get the kids away. … But when we have a place to move them within the site it’s much more efficient to keep them on site,” Bush explained.

Once students leave the campus a lot of other issues such as transportation and pick-up are created, he added.

During the recent bomb threat, junior high students were sent to the junior high gym and high school students were sent to the high school gym. Both groups of students were later transferred to the elementary for dismissal.

During last year’s mock evacuation drill, elementary students were transferred to the St. Peter Catholic Church and the junior and senior high students were transferred to the Saron Church.

The same drill would be used for a school-wide evacuation, he noted.

As for the bomb threat investigation, Bush noted the school is working with police.

“We’d like to find out who it is and deal with them. That is our intention to continue pursuing it,” Bush said.

No bomb was found at the school site on Wednesday.

Bush advises anyone with information on the incident to contact CrimeStoppers.

“The important thing is that people take responsibility when people aren’t doing things right,” he added. “People need to step up and share that information.”

CrimeStoppers is offering a reward for information leading to an arrest. CrimeStoppers can be reached at 847-5463.

The investigation into Wednesday afternoon’s bomb threat incident at the Linton-Stockton junior and senior high school buildings is continuing.Fortunately, no explosive device was found, but law enforcement officials still regard the incident that was reported to police at 12:53 p.m. as a serious crime.

In this case, Linton Police Chief Troy Jerrell said a hand-written note was found on the wall of a stall in a boy’s bathroom in the high school part of the building.

The note had a detonation time on it and a date and had two initials underneath of it, according to the police chief.

The bathroom has been processed by a crime scene investigator and evidence was collected.

Jerrell said any threats like this have to be taken seriously and quick action by law enforcement is required.

“You have to take them seriously no matter what you may or may not think of the type of threat. You just can not afford to play the odds and be wrong. You have to take each and every one seriously. And you have to take whoever done this serious as well and look into it, work diligently and try and figure out who had done this. This is a very high priority type of crime for us to investigate and try and figure out who would have done this. Also, it’s a felony to do it as well.”

The police chief said he didn’t want to speculate what may have prompted someone to do something this.

“There are a whole slew of different reasons, whether it be a prank or whatever,” he said. “It’s hard telling why.”

Jerrell said in a few days he will sit down with school officials and discuss the incident and try and review the actions that were taken in hopes that a reaction plan might be better in the future. This standard procedure in most crimes of this nature.

“Right now I want to focus on this investigation and see if we are doing everything we can on our end,” the police chief noted.

Jerrell announced that a “substantial” cash reward is being offered through the Greene County CrimeStoppers for information leading to an arrest and charges being filed in the case.

“We’ve been to the school earlier today investigating and talking to the faculty and some kids. We’re not done with it. We still have some more investigating to do,” Jerrell said.

The department does have some leads in the case, but the police chief didn’t want to divulge any details.

He’s hopeful that offering the reward by CrimeStoppers will help to provide more details.

When asked if he felt confident that the person or persons responsible for Wednesday’s incident will be brought to justice, Jerrell said, “I feel confident we will have several leads out of this deal. To say for sure that we will get the person would be boasting, but I am confident that we are going to work diligent at it,” he stressed.

Jerrell said that CrimeStoppers does not release the amount of rewards in advance, but he added, “I can tell you it would be a nice little bit of money there for someone — especially anyone in school — that would know some information and be able to provide us with that information that would lead to the arrest or charges of this individual.”

The police chief pointed out his department received prompt assistance from the NSA Crane bomb squad and K-9 handler Bill Halliday with his specially trained Belgium Shepherd “Sam” arrived on the scene about 2 p.m. and conducted a room-by-room search of the junior high and senior high school buildings.

“The dog went through every room in the school, the hallways and sniffs all of the lockers — anywhere someone would have access too pretty much is where the dog went too.” the chief said. “He was able to make a pretty quick search.”

To contact, CrimeStoppers a confidential call can be made to 847-5463.

Students at Linton-Stockton High School are being urged to share any information they may have about Wednesday’s bomb threat.L-S High School Principal Nick Karazsia explained, “(Thursday) morning on the announcements I encouraged anyone to let us know … even if its trivial.”

But students are often apprehensive about being considered a narc, he added.

“We hope they will be a part of the solution and not part of the problem.”

Karazsia also encouraged students to call Greene County CrimeStoppers if they prefer to remain anonymous.

As for the students’ behavior during Wednesday’s evacuation, he was impressed.

“The kids were great. They took it seriously. We evacuated everyone to the high school gym. When we were in there they were fine,” he explained.

Karazsia also kept students updated during the incident.

“They appreciated it,” he said.

A lot of the students were concerned about their personal items which were left behind during the evacuation.

“Looking back on it all I appreciate the team effort. Everybody worked together and tried to keep the safety of the students first. I really appreciate the effort of the fire and police departments, Crane Canine Unit, Roger Axe, the staff and faculty,” Karazsia said.

The bomb threat incident will continue to be investigated.

“I am pleased they didn’t find anything but our investigation is still on-going,” he said. “We are working with the local police department. It’s a serious matter. Safety is our number one concern.”

This is the first time a bomb threat has been made during Karazsia’s time as principal at the L-S high school.

The last time a bomb threat was made at the school was during the 1980s, he noted.

CrimeStoppers is offering a reward for information leading to an arrest. CrimeStoppers can be reached at 847-5463.