Pictured, from left, are Sara Boganwright, Leslie Brouyette and Stephanie Bibler presenting a check on behalf of Bib’s Billfold to School Board President Adam Heckaman.

MENTONE — The Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation accepted over $39,000 in various grants and donations during the school board meeting held tonight, Nov. 18.

The board accepted a $24,000 donation from Bib’s Billfold, made up of family and friends of the late Scott Bibler. Bibler was a 1982 graduate of Tippecanoe Valley High School, as well as a teacher, counselor and coach at the school. Each year, the Sweet and Sassy Golf Classic is held with proceeds benefiting local students and teachers.

Of the donation, $15,000 is to be used for teacher grants within the school corporation, $6,500 is to be used for student emergency funds and the remaining $2,500 is for staff recognition and incentives.

“We’re really blessed to still have you as a part of our organization and community,” said Superintendent Blain Conley to Stephanie Bibler as she presented the check to the board.

The other contributions accepted included:

• A $6,500 grant from the Valley Hometown Fund towards various teachers and alumni of the corporation.
• Six Kosciusko Endowment Youth Services grants totaling $3,704.
• A $500 donation from the Atwood Lions Club to benefit Boomerang Backpacks.
• A $4,600 donation from Kerlin Motors’ Drive For Your School event.
• A $500 donation from Echoes of the Past for the TVHS FFA program.

During the school board meeting, the board also reviewed and accepted the 2020-2021 master school calendar.

Conley began the discussion by explaining that the corporation recently used a new program called Thought Exchange to gather feedback on the school’s calendar. This is an online survey that allows people to write out a thought, then other users can rate those thoughts and comment back. The survey was sent to both staff members and parents.

“We got quite a bit of feedback back from people on what they thought of the calendar,” said Conley. “We will continue to use this tool as we look at the calendar and other issues too.”

The top things discussed in the survey were the request to have the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off, to keep Christmas break at two weeks and to start the school year later in August. Conely explained that the school is required to be in session for 180 days and that there are a lot of breaks to keep in mind, as well as emergency make-up days, when creating the schedule.

The schedule has the first student day as Wednesday, Aug. 12 and the last student day as May 25, with eight possible emergency make-up days to follow. The schedule includes three days off for Thanksgiving break and 11 days off for students for Christmas break. The calendar includes April 2 off for Good Friday with spring break to follow April 5-9. There are also days off throughout the year for parent-teacher conferences, teacher works days and fall break.

The next regular school board meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Dec. 16, at Mentone Elementary.

In other news, the board:

• Approved the hiring of Jennifer Randall, instructional assistant at Akron Elementary; Kay Garrett, educational diagnostician for TVSC; Cassandra Lewis, instructional assistant at TVHS; Devon Reese, custodian at TVHS; and Rob Mace, custodian at TVHS.
• Approved the extra-curricular assignments of Anthony Newcomer as boys’ varsity assistant basketball coach at TVHS and Carl Weaver as 5th-grade boys’ basketball coach at Mentone Elementary.
• Accepted the resignation of Karen Lenfestey, counselor at TVHS; Brittany Ault, custodian at TVHS, Arthur Carver, custodian at TVHS, Catelyn Lee, custodian at TVHS; Marsha Moore, bus driver for TVSC; Jada Gaff, instructional assistant at Akron Elementary; Mallory Eaton, varsity girls’ volleyball coach; Hope Massingale, assistant track coach at TVHS; Jeff Shriver, assistant track coach at TVHS; Thadd Mellott, 5th-grade boys’ basketball coach at Mentone Elementary; Joe Secrist, assistant track coach at TVHS; and Audrey Kelly, nurse at TVMS.
• Approved changes to the school board policy regarding the fixed asset inventory and accounting policy and the ethical testing practices and procedures.

Pictured, from left, are TVHS Principal Brandon Kresca, Valerie Warner of Kerlin Motors and School Board President Adam Heckaman.

Pictured, from left, are Dan Ransbottom of Echoes of the Past, TVHS Principal Brandon Kresca and School Board President Adam Heckaman.