The Monroe County Community School Corporation board discussed possible changes to collective bargaining and heard community concerns about its multi-age program at a meeting Tuesday night.
Resolution 2026-07 aims to align the bargaining rights of teachers and classified operations employees. The collective bargaining rights would not be subject to the jurisdiction of the Indiana Education Employment Relations board or other related processes.
The Monroe County Education Association (MCEA) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (ASME) currently have separate collective bargaining agreements with the corporation.
Some board members, including April Hennessey, had qualms about the resolution.
“I am pretty staunchly and strongly pro-union,” she said. “I actually do believe in empowering people to bargain wherever there is space and room to do so, and I do also know that the teachers' bargaining has been sort of truncated.”
Hennessey and board president Erin Cooperman acknowledged the extra time it takes to negotiate two separate bargaining agreements.
“For those reasons, I'm not going to commit to voting yes or no for the policy at the next meeting, but I am probably leaning towards voting in favor of the policy change to bring those two things into alignment,” Cooperman said.
The policy will be formally voted on at the next board meeting in August.
During public comment, Ron Richmond, executive director of ASME Council 962 of Indiana and Kentucky, said changing bargaining status is “not necessary.”
“The problem that we have is the resolution being presented tonight reduces the workers' voice instead of strengthening the partnership that we have with the district,” he said.
Concerns on MCCSC’s multi-age program
Various community members spoke during the meeting about the need to preserve the multi-age program at Templeton Elementary School. The multi-age program has kids from various grade levels learning in the same classroom.
Frank Cloud, who has two children who went through the multi-age program, said he believes the program has “lapsed” in the last year.
“I know several families that had many choices between private schools or things like Montessori or St. Charles or the ALPS program that chose to remain in that school for the benefit of the multi-age program,” he said. “…It helps other children because they have access to classmates with more resources and things, and so it is an extremely low-cost way to address some of those equity issues.”
Retired educator and community member Debbie Fish said multi-age acknowledges that students learn in different ways and at different speeds.
“The fractured society we live in does little to nurture families and children,” she said. “So, this type of schooling is needed more than ever. Please don't let administrative expediency rule. Let's see a community that supports learners in multi-age.”
Board President Cooperman said MCCSC has not announced any changes to the program and will review public comments on the matter.
Financial update
Chief Financial Officer Matt Irwin presented changes to federal grants the corporation has received in the past.
The 21st Century Grant, which provided $300,000 annually to support extended day and EdVenture Camp programming, has expired. Irwin said those costs have now been factored into the Operations Fund. The Indiana Department of Education has announced another cohort application, but Irwin said given how competitive the grant is, the corporation is not guaranteed to get that funding.
“We're not taking away extended day, and we're continuing with EdVenture camps, so I don’t want to cause any fear or worries there, but that 21st Century Grant right now is going away,” he said.
Some meal prices go up
The board approved a 20-cent increase to middle and high school lunch for the new school year. Federal regulations control the pricing of meals in the USDA Child Nutrition Programs. The price increases to middle and high school lunches were determined using the Paid Lunch Equity Tool from the Indiana Department of Education.
All other meal prices remain the same.
MCCSC will also continue to offer free breakfast and lunch for all students through the Community Eligibility Provision at Arlington, Bloomington Graduation School, Clear Creek, Fairview, Grandview, Highland Park and Templeton.
“No one ever likes increasing lunch prices,” Hennessey said. “We know that it's something that has to happen occasionally. I do appreciate that we try to keep the impact in places where perhaps there might it might be easier to sort of manage.”
The next board meeting will be on Tuesday, Aug. 25, at 6 p.m.
