Jason Major
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. has begun to fill positions for the new team structures that will be in place at Columbus East and North high schools next year.
The school board voted 4-2 on April 24 to approve these appointments, along with other human resources recommendations.
Board members Todd Grimes and Jason Major voted against the recommendations, with Grimes citing continued concerns about the restructure and Major expressing frustrations about the communication process regarding new hires.
The approved recommendations included the following appointments:
East
- Molly Collins has been selected as an assistant principal.
- Blake Manuel has been selected as an assistant principal. He currently serves as assistant principal at Central Middle School.
- Kaitlyn Phillips has been selected as an academic coach and will also be the new girls’ varsity basketball coach.
North
- Paul Ferguson has been selected as an academic coach. He currently serves as a dean at North.
- Brelyn Nolting has been selected as an assistant principal and will replace John Green, who is retiring. Nolting is currently a dean at North.
- Levi Simpson has been selected as an assistant principal. He is currently a dean at East.
- Corie Williams has been selected as an assistant principal. Williams currently serves as a UDL facilitator at North.
The idea behind the teams model is that as each class moves up a grade, the same student success team will stay with them in order to increase the focus on a particular set of students, said Director of Title Services Charles Edwards, who is set to become the school corporation’s director of secondary education in July.
Each team member will essentially have the same three goals: Get to know each student they are responsible for, become well-acquainted with their parents and work with other team members toward getting each student to graduate.
According to draft materials from BCSC officials, the number of positions planned for team structures differs slightly between the two high schools.
At East, the plan is to have three assistant principals, with one of these individuals being involved with two cohorts and others each overseeing one. Each cohort will also have a guidance counselor, an academic coach and an administrative assistant.
For North, the cohorts of students graduating in 2025, 2026 and 2027 will each have an assistant principal, a guidance counselor, two academic coaches and an administrative assistant, BCSC officials said. The cohorts graduating in 2024 will have an assistant principal, a guidance counselor, a single academic coach and an administrative assistant.
Each school will also have a director of guidance with an administrative assistant.
Assistant Superintendent of Financial Services Chad Phillips has said that the net change to the school corporation is 10 additional positions, including four administrators and six certified staff.
The school board previously voted on April 3 to approve an additional appropriation of $600,000 to fund the new positions in 2023. The vote was split 4-3, with Grimes, Major and Logan Schulz voting against it. Major had previously made a motion to table the appropriation in the interest of gathering more data and background, but it failed 3-4.
During a time of public hearing prior to the vote, some teachers and other community members expressed concerns about the move, including a sense that things were moving too fast, a desire for more data about the change and other ongoing school initiatives, and the feeling that there hadn’t been enough stakeholder engagement.
On the other hand, BCSC superintendent Jim Roberts said that while there had been some pushback, the school corporation engaged with a number of groups throughout the process of building this model, including the Columbus Educators’ Association. Additionally, Edwards said that tabling the vote would push back the timeline for filling new positions and backfilling those left empty as the result of internal transfers.
Board members who voted for the appropriation expressed a desire to get started sooner as opposed to later and said that there would be time, prior to the new school year, to keep refining the plan while also moving forward with implementation.
At the board’s April 24 meeting, Grimes explained that he was voting against the human resources recommendations in order to stay consistent with his vote against the appropriation.
“There are some positions there that I simply don’t agree with,” he said. “And again, I want to go on record as saying I’m wholeheartedly behind the team approach at the high schools. I just, the restructuring, there’s lots and lots of unanswered questions still, in my mind.”
In regards to Major’s vote, he said he was concerned that board members did not receive bios for most of the individuals that were mentioned in the docket of recommendations. He also expressed frustration about how some hires had been advertised in advance of the meeting.
Roberts replied that officials had communicated that these appointments were pending board approval.
“I still think that is unfair to the board members, because now you’re pressuring us, because you’ve put it publicly, when technically they’re not approved until we vote on them,” said Major.
“Would you not want feedback on those individuals, if the community thought that maybe they weren’t the people for the job?” asked Roberts.
“Well, sure,” said Major. “Let’s do that, then. Let’s start doing that. Let’s put the bios out there and everything. Let’s talk about all the other things that are in HR as well.”
In addition to the aforementioned appointments for high school team structures, the approved recommendations also state that Kristin Beck will return as the director of counseling at East starting in August. She previously served in the role before being appointed as BCSC’s director of wellness, a newly created position, in the summer of 2022.
Beck will replace Brian Hansen, who is transferring to a counselor position.
Additionally, Emily Tucker will serve as North’s new director of counseling. She is currently a counselor at North and will replace Patrick Pemberton, who is retiring.
The director of counseling positions are not part of the team structure, said Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Gina Pleak.
