Bartholomew County Teachers
Association Makes a Difference
Pennies from Heaven
During each BARTA meeting, a donation, Pennies from Heaven, is taken from our retired teachers to give to Bartholomew County organizations that serve youth. This year BARTA contributed $200 to BCSC Food Service, Flat Rock Hawcreek Food Service and United Way of Bartholomew County. We hope our three $200 donations will help with their efforts to benefit local children and adults in their everyday lives to put food on their tables and help replenish nutritional needs. As former teachers, we appreciate all they are doing to help children survive and succeed in the world in which they live
BCSC Backpack Program
Bartholomew County Retired Teachers Executive Board answered a call to help with school supplies for this coming year. Backpacks are prepared with essential supplies to help students start the year on a positive note. The Executive Bd agreed to use $300 from our treasury to help with the student supply effort. On top of that decision, the Executive Board took the challenge to match the $300 with individual contributions from Board members. That challenge resulted in a total of $650 being sent to BCSC to help with school supplies during this difficult time.
During each BARTA meeting, a donation, Pennies from Heaven, is taken from our retired teachers to give to Bartholomew County organizations that serve youth. This year BARTA contributed $200 to BCSC Food Service, Flat Rock Hawcreek Food Service and United Way of Bartholomew County. We hope our three $200 donations will help with their efforts to benefit local children and adults in their everyday lives to put food on their tables and help replenish nutritional needs. As former teachers, we appreciate all they are doing to help children survive and succeed in the world in which they live
BCSC Backpack Program
Bartholomew County Retired Teachers Executive Board answered a call to help with school supplies for this coming year. Backpacks are prepared with essential supplies to help students start the year on a positive note. The Executive Bd agreed to use $300 from our treasury to help with the student supply effort. On top of that decision, the Executive Board took the challenge to match the $300 with individual contributions from Board members. That challenge resulted in a total of $650 being sent to BCSC to help with school supplies during this difficult time.
VOLUNTEERING...IT'S IN THE BLOOD OF BARTA.
Dedicated to our community and its schools, our members donated more than 30,000 hours to our community in 2019. We donated 8,039.5 hours serving youth and 26,152 hours serving the general public, for a total of 34,191 hours of service.
BARTA members donated over $869,000 worth of volunteer time to our community last year, according to an Independent Sector, a coalition that publishes research for nonprofits, set the 2019 value of each volunteer hour at $25.43.
BARTA members donated over $869,000 worth of volunteer time to our community last year, according to an Independent Sector, a coalition that publishes research for nonprofits, set the 2019 value of each volunteer hour at $25.43.
We are pleased to announce that Shirley Lyster is the 2019 Bartholomew County Retired Teacher of the Year. Shirley taught 52 years at Columbus and Columbus North High Schools. In addition, Shirley was Department Chairperson for 33 of those years. Miss Lyster retired in 2004, but she continues to use her amazing talents to teach others even today. She has led students at the post-secondary level after her retirement by teaching at Ivy Tech, IUPUI and Mill Race Center where she has offered many classes called Partners in Education. Her volunteer hours are spent preparing for the classes that she teaches. She spends hours reading, researching, studying and preparing for the classes that she teaches. She knew that if she expected her students, both high school and adult, to appreciate literature that she would need to be prepared to give them questions and discussion topics that they would have to address.
Miss Lyster uses a broad teaching expertise to instruct students through a wide range of media and literary genre. She features outstanding pieces of literature to her class and even compares and contrasts a movie that is related to the literature. She has even taught a study of Spoon River Anthology which features a collection of epitaphs from characters in Spoon River Cemetery. Then she works with her students as they write their own wonderful free verse poems about their relatives and acquaintances. Since her retirement, Miss Lyster has discussed more than forty books with her students. One of the feature pieces of literature that she notes is The Odyssey of Homer which addresses the seven major themes of literature. She continues to emphasize that she enjoys the personal and professional growth through her experiences with others. We are proud to present the 2019 BARTA retired educator of the year! |
The BCSC Referendum passed during the general election held on June 2nd by a margin of 9,356voters approved compared to 5,900 who votes against the referendum. The referendum will provide approximately $7.8 million dollars in additional revenue for the school corporation.
Our teachers and community members are working hard to pass the referendum with the primary goal of improving teacher retention. More than two-thirds of the funds raised will go to teacher salary increases to reward experience. Indiana is lagging behind surrounding states in average teacher salary, is 39th in teacher retention, and 51st in teacher salary growth (including Washington D.C.). Indiana has given communities one way to increase revenue: a referendum. We hope our community will agree that a strong public school system is vital to a continued vibrant, thriving community. We need your help to make sure our students have the best teachers possible. Here are ways you can help: The public question for your vote on the May 5, 2020 ballot will read: “For the eight (8) calendar years immediately following the holding of the referendum, shall Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation impose a property tax rate that does not exceed fifteen and six tenths cents ($0.1560) on each one hundred dollars ($100) of assessed valuation and that is in addition to all other property taxes imposed by the School Corporation for the purpose of increasing compensation for teachers and support staff and maintaining student safety?” Please vote and approve the Referendum! lEARN MORE ABOUT BARTA.
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Updated June 2020
