The Indiana Area School Board meets tonight with a single item on the agenda, and it’s related to the plan to construct a new Ben Franklin Elementary School. The board will consider a motion to raise the new school an additional twelve inches to provide more of a margin above the floodplain. The minimum freeboard is eighteen inches, which was included in the original plans. The architect raised it fifteen inches more at no cost by using fill from the area of the new building. The board will consider raising it twelve inches more, but to do so would require bringing in truckloads of fill at a cost of $50,000 to $100,000. “Freeboard” is the engineering term for the amount of watertight surface between the building and the lowest possible entry point for floodwaters.
Marion Center’s school board meets tonight, with a full agenda. Among the highlights is a motion to not exceed the Act 1 index of 3.4 percent for any property tax increase in this year’s budget.
The Marion Center board will also vote on a restructuring of some administrative positions, including a new job description for the position of Director of Education and the elimination of two positions: Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, and Director of Special Education. Should the Director of Education position be approved, the board will vote on hiring Amy Gaston to fill the job.
