New London to pursue sharing agreements with Danville Schools

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? Even though the board has voted to move ahead with three sharing agreements with Danville Community School District, the New London School Board insists that the move is not meant to change the identity of the school, but rather enhance the school?s ability to provide quality education for its students.

In a joint work session with members of the Danville Community School District and a subsequent regular board meeting, the New London School Board officially agreed to pursue sharing agreements with Danville for a transportation director, elementary guidance counselor and some upper level academic courses. With the approval of the New London board, the ball is now in Danville?s court, as their school board will have to decide whether to approve or pass on all three issues at their February board meeting.

During the work session, both Danville and New London board members were in agreement that the decision to share these various programs was contingent upon how they affected students.

?The bottom line is that this is all about the students. We all want what?s best for them, which is why we have gathered to have these discussions,? said Danville superintendent Gary DeLacy.

With regard to sharing a transportation director, Danville currently has their own bus maintenance building and director, and would be able to provide maintenance and upkeep to New London?s fleet in-house. In addition, Danville also has its own washing station for cleaning buses, and is geographically closer to New London than Mediapolis. Currently, New London shares a transportation director with Mediapolis.

According to Danville officials, should a sharing agreement be approved for transportation by both schools, Danville may look at hiring an assistant for Danville?s transportation director to aid him in the added workload that would come with maintaining New London?s fleet as well as their own.

?We have spoken with our transportation director, and I think Danville is very much open to this,? said DeLacy.

Board member Jesse Howard reiterated much of his previous thoughts shared at previous New London board meetings with Danville on the agreement, saying that the deal would make both economical and geographical sense.

?It makes more sense to pay $.20 a mile for someone who is right next door to us than to use someone who is 30-some-odd miles away,? said Howard.

Should a sharing agreement with Danville go through, the need for New London to use Tracy?s Truck N Trailer Repair, in New London, for bus maintenance would no longer exist, except perhaps, in unique situations. According to New London superintendent Chad Wahls, he has discussed the board?s decision to pursue a sharing agreement with Danville?s transportation department with Tracy?s Truck N Trailer Repair, saying he would still like the option to utilize Tracy?s Truck N Trailer Repair should situations warrant.

Moving on to other topics, the board turned their attention to a possible sharing agreement for an elementary guidance counselor. According to Clark Elementary teaching staff, the need for a guidance counselor who can spend more time working with younger students is a great need. Danville agreed, saying their district is also in need of the same type of assistance.

According to discussions on Wednesday evening, both districts would be involved in the hiring process of a counselor and both districts would be looking to gain a guidance counselor that would work part-time in both districts, spending equal time in the elementary schools. Both districts would also continue to keep their current guidance counselors working with junior high and high school students at their respective districts.

?We know that between both districts, and as long as we keep budget in mind during the hiring process, we should have enough money to hire someone,? said Wahls.

DeLacy added that with the state aid funds available for the hiring of a shared elementary guidance counselor, and the overwhelming need for an elementary guidance counselor in both districts, the decisions should be a ?no brainer?.

Finally, the board talked about possible sharing agreements with Danville in regard to upper level academic courses. Courses that were mentioned specifically included various upper level math and science courses, upper level English courses, and some advanced technical classes such as CAD or drafting.

After some discussion, both boards felt that if the schools could offer some of these courses, it would be academically beneficial to the student body overall. The largest challenge, however, will be to coordinate school schedules, which would also accommodate travel time for students between schools.

In addition, both schools agreed that should a shared course require a cap on the number of students it can accommodate per semester, the school hosting the class would get the first opportunity to enroll students in that class.

If Danville?s school board decides to officially commit to some or all three of the sharing opportunities currently on the table, both school?s faculty and administration teams would begin meeting to discuss pertinent contracts and plans to move forward.

More on New London?s regular meeting held on Wednesday will be available in Friday?s issue of the Mt. Pleasant News.