Muncie closed as students shifted to MCHS

Citing a shortage of available staff and inconclusive data supporting the current alternative school program structure, new Madison Superintendent Dr. Teresa Brown recommended closing the corporation’s E.O. Muncie school building and the board approved at Wednesday’s meeting of Madison School Board.

E.O. Muncie, which had served as an elementary school for more than 60 years, is once again empty after the alternative school that occupied part of that facility since the fall of 2019 moved this year to the second floor of Madison Consolidated High School.

“We believe this move will allow our staff to better serve students and provide them with access to additional programming and options,” said Brown, leading her first school board meeting since being hired in July. “The program will be referred to as Engage.”

Board member Jay Roney commended the decision to move the students from E.O. Muncie to the high school building.

“I think it’s important that everybody knows how happy those kids are being in the high school. I think it’s a great thing because not only are they in the high school, but it also allows some of these children the ability to do things with the music department, sports, theatre. And some kids, in my opinion, just need to be at school as much as possible and be able to take advantage of these things to broaden their horizons, give them an outlet for the potential for a future career. I just think it’s great. Kudos to all of you for making that happen.”

Brown said that staffing shortages were a significant factor in the decision to close Muncie and move the students to the high school. She said staff shortages are not only impacting MCS, but other school districts throughout the state of Indiana who are currently challenged in finding adequate staffing.

“The same was true for E.O. Muncie because it’s such a smaller school, being short three people or four people is a lot there,” so it didn’t make sense to open there, “so we got our staff together and collectively talked about what we can do to better serve kids, and the decision was made to transition them back to the high school,” Brown said. “It’s a school within a school. They have their own space there and we’re able to support them additionally with the high school staff.”

Brown said some rooms on the second floor of the high school have been redesigned under the leadership of Kevin Yancey, MCS director of facilities and special projects. “We had to get it done quickly and efficiently, and the staff made it happen,” she said. “They were amazing, and worked together really, really well. Everyone pitched in, and was very positive.”

Brown said currently there are no plans for the E.O. Muncie building. “There will be conversations that we will have to have with board about what do with the building, and the vision for it. We’re going to have a upcoming meeting where we can brainstorm, and get into input from the board and see what we can do with it.”

Yancey said the Muncie site is “very pertinent to our corporation because of where it sits,” noting the land is close in proximity to the administration building, the high school and the junior high school. “It’s such a prime piece of property for school growth.”

E.O. Muncie Elementary was named after Emery Ozro Muncie, who served as superintendent of Madison schools for 43 years. The elementary school closed after the completion of the 2018-2019 school year with the re-opening of Anderson Elementary School at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school. The building was then used as an alternative school and became E.O. Muncie Junior/Senior High School.

In other business:

• Some previously announced hirings were formally approved by the school board including Donald Cowper as MCHS principal with a two-year contract. Cowper, a former Henryville principal who has been assistant principal at Keystone Height Junior/Senior High School for the past two years, is now in Madison and Brown reported his first official day as principal was Thursday of this week.

Additionally, a change of positions was approved for Tara McKay to move to Director of Programs from Anderson Elementary principal and Kirstyn Hardwick to Anderson principal after previously being the school’s assistant principal. The changes also resulted in a change for Shelli Reetz, who is now Assistant Director of Programs from her previous position as Director of Student Services.

“We are just restructuring and I’m still working on some of that,” Brown said. “I’ve got plans for the future that I will look at who does what, and things that make sense to operate more efficiently.” She said McKay, as program director, will oversee “an umbrella of all programs” that includes counseling, curriculum and special education, particularly because there was a need to have a person to oversee special education and McKay’s educational credentials include that. “Shelli still does her job in what she was doing before in overseeing the counselors.”

New hirings include Jessie Zurat, a first grade teacher at Anderson Elementary, and several teachers at Madison Junior High School including Gretchen Harsin, fifth grade; Patrick Machino, sixth grade; Kelsey Block, health teacher; and Jessica Fenning, seventh/eighth grade.

• Approved an agreement for utilizing XR Technologies as a staffing agency to assist in filling a mathematic vacancy at MCHS. XR Technologies will provide a math teacher for MCHS for the 2023-2023 school year for $57,750. The total cost is actually $115,500 but a grant will cover 50% of the cost. The teacher will be employed by XR Technologies but required to follow MCS employee and district handbooks, rule and procedures. The teacher’s evaluation will be conducted in collaboration with XR Technologies leadership.