Positive reinforcement
Inyo Board of Education commends Superintendent Terry McAteer’s budget presentation.
At Tuesday’s Inyo County Board of Education meeting on March 24, Board members reviewed Superintendent Dr. Terry McAteer’s budget plan and projects planned for 2015-16. In a phone interview after the meeting, Board President Chris Langley said “It was an astounding presentation of the initiative that only reinforces the good judgment and support that the Board and the voters have shown in having Dr. McAteer as our County School Superintendent over the past six years.”
The Board discussed a host of initiatives, such as the Preschool Initiative which, through the Child Care Connection staff, is spending $200,000 to provide playground equipment, curriculum and other supplies to preschools throughout the county.
The Inyo County Office of Eduction (ICOE) is also working with Caltrans to complete curb and sidewalk work along West Line Street and putting in xeriscape landscaping in the front of the school to save water. It is budgeted at $200,000.
To address the substitute teacher needs of the county schools, McAteer told the Board that $15,000 went toward bringing in more substitute teachers and related costs. The effort resulted in an additional 45 new substitute teachers added to the current rolls.
ICOE is planning to spend $100,000 on the North Star Counseling Center for computers and Playhouse 395 as well as computers and carpeting for the Inyo Council for the Arts. ICOE also purchased supplies for Healthy Communities of Southern Inyo County, and will buy computer software for Wild Iris.
Meanwhile, efforts to put a laptop into every student’s hands, a one-time expense of $600,000 is doing just that for students in grades 9 – 12. ICOE is also providing $75,000 to remodel the Bishop High School Auditorium, including new curtains, paint, refinished flooring, carpeting.
ICOE spent $20,000 on Inyo Promise, according to McAteer. The program provides funding for local junior and senior high school students to travel to the University of Reno, as well as $1,000 scholarships.
ICOE is also supporting the Middle and High School Science Program. Under the program, Science Coordinator Kerry Lozito provides training and supplies to science teachers at a cost of $150,000. Another $50,000 is planned for 2015-16.
David Morehouse with the Innovate! Program was hired to take 10 teachers to a California Council for Social Studies conference for the one-time cost of $25,000. Another $15,000 under Innovate! Inyo will be spent for a contest to encourage entrepreneurship among local youth. The idea is to inspire students to think of a product or business idea, and pitch it in hopes of winning a large cash prize.
ICOE is also providing $25,000 to build a shade cover at Cerro Coso Community College this spring, which has been delayed at the state level, says McAteer.
The Superintendent of Schools also told the Board that an additional $150,000 will go toward improving wireless infrastructure at the county’s high schools in anticipation of the fall laptop rollout to high school students.
In May, ICOE will spend $10,000 to promote wise use of water, while another $10,000 will go toward advertising a Teaching Credential Program for Inyo and Mono counties. According to McAteer, many of the substitute teachers have voiced hopes to become credentialed.
For the Fiscal Year 2015-16, McAteer is planning support of ongoing and new innovative programs such as:
A new Teaching Credential Program for Inyo and Mono counties at a cost of $20,000.
$15,000 in matching for a three-year grant with Toiyabe to have all kindergarten classes in Inyo County spend 10 weeks growing the ingredients for a salad.
A new Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone system will replace the old phone system now used in county schools in fall of 2016 at a cost of $50,000. The replacing an antiquated system and making it easier for teachers to communicate across school districts.
$200,000 for the Eastern Sierra Foundation, which provides college scholarships to local high school students and residents.
To address the needs of low-income families, ICOE will spend $150,000 to help underwrite Internet connections from Suddenlink, Schat.net and Lone Pine TV.
ICOE plans to spend an estimated $175,000 on the Lone Pine Science Center, splitting the cost the cost of the new science facility with the Lone Pine Unified School District.
Finally, McAteer estimates it will cost ICOE $300,000 to help remodel of Bishop High’s library into a high-tech learning center.
As always under McAteer’s leadership, it is an ambitious and progressive budget. The level of support to all the various programs, initiatives, and schools from the County Superintendent of Schools continues a forward-thinking and aggressive agenda that is making Inyo County schools a leader in education.
