At Galatia: Beth Rister takes superintendent role

Galatia school board wasted little time in hiring a superintendent for next year.

In January the board accepted the retirement of Kirk Abernathy and Thursday board members voted to hire grade school Principal Beth Rister. Rister will retain her position as principal and will operate as superintendent from the office in the grade school.

Rister has been principal for three years working previously as pre-kindergarten coordinator and special education director.

She was also previously middle school principal in Eldorado.

The goal of becoming a superintendent has come fairly recently to Rister.

"Until I came to Galatia I'd never thought about it," Rister said.

Galatia was at that time in a state of administrative transition that sparked the idea in Rister.

She has been attending school in Oakland City, Ind., where she achieved superintendency and hopes to get her doctorate degree in July.

"I'm excited about the challenge," she said.

Co-op troubles
Thompsonville has offered to co-op with Galatia High School for baseball. During home games the team will be the Galatia Bearcats and during away games it will be the Thompsonville Tigers.

Thompsonville has also offered to co-op with all other sports. Ronnie Bond believed it could be an advantage to split the cost of uniforms. He proposed two board members meet with two Thompsonville board members to work out details.

Samantha Parish said such an agreement would be a hard sell.

"I can't find agreement to it," Parish said.

She believes such co-ops would have the schools competing with larger schools such as Harrisburg and Eldorado.

Two parents voiced strong opposition.

"I hate to see us lose our individuality. What do they have to offer us?" parent Cheryl Stallings said.

Parish suggested and the board agreed to table the issue until board members can hear more comments from the community.

The board also has issues with its football co-op with Eldorado. Though the co-op has been in place off and on for years, there has been no formal agreement drawn up.

A major source of frustration to the board is reports there may be recruitment offers.

"There are reports the football coach is trying to get them to move to Eldorado to play in other sports," Abernathy said.

Board members are concerned the district's policy for athletic participation is 10 grade points higher than Eldorado's.

"It does concern me this has been a handshake agreement," Abernathy said.

Jason Blackburn recommends bringing the concerns to Eldorado administrators.

"We've had a good relationship with them over there," Blackburn said.

Tim Pribble said Johnston City has talked about possibilities of co-op.

"We need to find out what Johnston City has to offer. We need to do our homework for both and have it ready for the March meeting," Pribble said.

Personnel

• The board voted not to retain Denise Stricklin as social tech and Title 1 and pre-k parent coordinator, Amy Moore as part time math teacher, special ed aide Marjorie Dunning, aide Stephanie Patterson, aid Rhonda Beckman, individual aide Toni Young, special ed aide Diane Toler, classroom aide Jennifer Tate, individual aide Melissa Mitchell, special ed aide Jackie Schwartz and individual aide Heather Rice.
• The board voted to suspend the pre-k program for next year pending state funding for the program.
• The board retained Tim Arnold, Sharla Girten, Michelle Harbin, Paul Whittaker, Lenise Teel, Megan Shubert, Zach Cox, Amy Weaver and Stacey Weller.
• The board granted tenure to Heather Murphy, Krystal Gulley, Tasha Davis and Abby Connelly.
• The board hired Angie Oglesby as volunteer junior high volleyball coach.

During the meeting:

• The board voted to hold a special meeting March 15 for consideration of hiring a high school principal and bond issuance for construction of a new school. The district has been on the state's list for construction funding. The point of the meeting will be to consider details that would go into an entitlement letter if the state comes through with funding.
• The board voted to buy a 71 passenger bus with a lift from Central States.
• The board is accepting high school/junior high principal applications until March 12, is accepting bus driver applications and is accepting part- or full-time physics teacher applications.

-- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.