NWS won’t buy more electric buses

Northeastern Wayne Schools hired a new assistant principal and discussed electric buses, a valedictorian wall and 2026 budgets during its Oct. 15 meeting.

Administration

Tracy Cox was hired as Northeastern High School’s new assistant principal. She previously worked at Union (Modoc) for about five years.

Buses, budget, pay

The board conducted hearings for next year’s budget and funds, as well as capital projects and bus replacement plans.

Superintendent Jennifer O’Brien said they won’t buy more electric buses. In 2023, Northeastern won a rebate for electric buses, reducing their cost to $63,000 each. They would now cost $250,000 each.

One has already failed, and they don’t expect them to last 12 years as diesel buses usually do. They can’t be taken out of town because officials have not found publicly available bus chargers. In cold, overnight charging has only provided about a third of a full charge. Electric buses haven’t provided additional savings, O’Brien said. 

Highlights of NWS’ proposed teachers’ collective bargaining agreement include up to $3,700 base salary increases, plus $250 for new literacy endorsement or $2,300 for new master’s degree. Teachers’ salaries after base increases are given will range from $47,271 to $80,923. The full agreement is at nws.k12.in.us.

The board is expected to approve budgets and the bargaining agreement at a special meeting at 6 p.m. Oct. 29 in the administration building. The public is invited.

In other business

• NWS is seeking bids for high school masonry repairs starting as soon as February and track updates after Memorial Day.
• Board member Kim Claypoole asked for an update on earlier plans to move the valedictorian/salutatorian wall photos to an electronic display. She raised concerns about the project’s cost and who would keep the photos updated. Claypoole said she understands change, but doesn’t feel electronic photos tell the school’s story like printed photos on the wall do. Principal John Markward said challenges included space, yellowing and consistency. Markward said he would revisit options as time permits.
• Cafeteria staff underwent five hours of ServSafe training and studied for the national food safety exam.

Celebrations

• NHS’ soil judging team (Annie Hickel, Kaci Schepman, Kalen Bulmer and Lila Melton) placed second of 15 teams and qualified for the state area soil contest. NMS’ team (Braylon “Austin” Sawyer, Addyson Wilson, Garrett Cope and Tillie Crownover) won the junior area division and qualified for state.
• Middle/high school students collected hygiene products for area veterans. NHS’ National Honor Society members assisted with a regional veterans’ resource fair/hiring event.
• NHS’ boys and girls cross country teams received Indiana High School Athletics Association’s Exemplary Behavior Report commending Coach Tyler Hostetler and students.
• Fifth grader Kendall Moore placed 47th out of 455 girls in the state cross country meet, also tying her PR. She was the second fifth grader to finish.
• Sixth graders enjoyed traveling to Indianapolis for Junior Achievement’s BizTown, where they had hands-on experience of holding a job, managing money, working as a team, meeting deadlines and learning about good citizenship. Fifth graders were going the next day.
• Several NHS students attended the Manufacturing Matters field trip to learn about possible opportunities after high school.

Personnel

• Extracurricular activities: Tierney Stevenson, mentor
• Hires: Brooke Cox, central office executive assistant; Kasey Howell, NMS teaching assistant; Substitutes: Angela Robertson (bus driver); Cierra Toney (teacher).
• Transfer: Brianna Watts, substitute bus driver to regular driver;
• Departures: Jesse Bramer-Conder, NHS custodian; Jonathan Sharp, NWS bus driver, substitute teacher; Samantha Bane, NHS food service