Assistant Superintendent Thomas Oestreich addresses the service award recipients and retirees at the Clay Middle School auditorium. He said it is important to recognize and honor teachers who have spent a lot of time with the district and to have their families watch as well.

Also at the school board meeting on April 15, Assistant Superintendent Roger McMichael presented a bid award of $860,000 which will go towards renovating the Intense Behavior Support Program space in Carmel Middle School.

He said the bid award is necessary to expand the current space which is both limiting and is a safety concern.

“The space has not been built for that purpose and so there are several security concerns,” he said. “One being for example that if the student tries to leave, the staff tries to contain them by putting up a portable marker board or something which is a safety concern for both the staff and the student because the child can knock the marker board over onto the staff and so forth. This project will provide things such as a separate entryway so they have their own entry and hallway. It will also provide for individual restrooms for these students as well. They will also construct emergency doors with a 30-second timer on them so if a student in the program tries leaving through the emergency door, the teacher can prevent them from leaving the property.”

Senior Braelin Price said the renovations are much needed for the program.

“I went to Carmel Middle School and I remember that the space allotted for the special education program was very small,” he said. “I’m glad the space is expanding because it’s better for (the students’) education and safety that way. I think this also sets precedent for potential expansion in the space dedicated to special education programs for (other schools), since it is often an overlooked aspect in this school district.”

Superintendent Michael Beresford said this project will hopefully provide the program with enough space to operate at maximum safety and efficiency.

“This (project) will bring that space up to meet the current best practice of (the Intense Behavior Program),” he said. “Instead of making the program fit into the space, it will make the space fit the program.”

The school board approved the bid award. The next meeting will be held on May 13th.