N’western to examine new school boundaries

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December 10, 2009

School board OKs borrowing for Chrysler’s unpaid taxes

By DANIELLE RUSH The Kokomo Tribune Thu Dec 10, 2009, 10:46 PM EST

Principals from Northwestern and Howard elementary schools will begin studying the attendance boundary between the two schools in January, to determine if the current boundary utilizes the corporation’s resources efficiently.

Superintendent Ryan Snoddy said the two will survey parents during the study, with plans to present data to the board in February or March.

He said in particular, the principals will examine an area approximately 1.5 miles wide just west of U.S. 31. Those students attend Howard Elementary with the current boundary.

Snoddy said Howard currently has some grade levels with one and a half sections of students, some with one section and some with two. He said the principals will consider if the students west of 31 should be moved to Northwestern Elementary, or if the corporation should consider moving the boundary a mile or 2 further west.

Snoddy said the study does not mean there are any plans to close Howard Elementary, and it is possible the principals will conclude no change is needed.

Applying for loan

The board also approved applying for a $1.7 million emergency loan from the Indiana Rainy Day fund, to cover unpaid personal property taxes owed by Chrysler LLC.

Snoddy said Chrysler has a plan in place to repay the money it owes, and the window for repaying does not exceed six years. He said the state and the attorney representing Howard County taxing units affected by the Chrysler bankruptcy are still negotiating an interest rate, but it is anticipated to be between 1 and 3 percent.

The board approved the loan, though President Steven Long said it did so reluctantly.

“I hate the idea we’re paying for money that’s ours,” he said.

Turbine gets OK

The board also approved moving forward with plans to build a 1 megawatt wind turbine at the Northwestern campus.

Assistant Superintendent Harold Seamon said this approval gives him permission to move forward with negotiating a purchase agreement to sell the energy produced to generate revenue for the corporation. He said the corporation will not build a wind turbine if it does not negotiate a contract to sell the energy for at least 7 cents per kilowatt. That amount is needed to pay the loan and then to generate revenue, or if the state does not approve net metering, which would allow the school to use the energy it produces to power its own buildings.

Snoddy said the state Legislature considered net metering and did not pass it. Utilities are lobbying against it because they would lose paying customers like Northwestern if they can generate their own power.

Seamon said the U.S. Department of Energy’s Web site has a wind map, showing wind potential. According to Performance Systems, a consulting firm he’s worked with on the plans, Northwestern has the best wind potential of any corporation considering a turbine.

“If we’d had a wind turbine out here [Wednesday] we would have made a fortune.”

• Danielle Rush is the Kokomo Tribune education reporter. She can be reached at 765-454-8585 or danielle.rush@kokomotribune.com.

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