HUNTERTOWN — Plans are coming to fruition and people were excited to hear that a location for the new middle school had been picked for Northwest Allen County Schools.

According to the board at its most recent meeting July 22, the new middle school, which will cover approximately 122 acres of land, will be located near Shoaff Road.

Part of the property, nearly 90 acres, belonged to Ed Hatch and the other 32 acres belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Susie Malcolm. Both parties have a connection to NACS, having either attended the schools or been employed by the schools.

Hatch would be paid nearly $1.95 million and the Malcolms’ would receive more than $735,000 for their property.

Joe Malcolm, a family member of the Malcolms, was also a former NACS school board member.

Construction of the project would be complete by summer of 2026.

While most people applauded the decision, some public commenters spoke about the location of the school.

Huntertown’s Greg Cooper said he had concerns about having a large construction project right next door to his home, noting “it will have a negative impact on my property value.”

In other news, NACS Superintendent Wayne Barker

announced that NACS had hired 12 certified, 23 classified and nearly 49 staff for extra-curricular positions for the 2023-24 school year.

“We are still trying to fill positions. There’s a good-size gap in certified positions,” Barker said.

After changes on the legislative level, families of students will not be billed for curricular materials during the upcoming school year. Items included in that category are textbooks, computers, workbooks and novels.

According to the agenda, while the board believes that it is in the best interests of the families, “they are currently in the process of navigating funding for materials, which has allocated approximately $151 per student, not enough to cover all costs of the materials they’d like to provide to their students.

“It’s a great idea, but it’s fast n’ furious. There are lots of details to be worked out yet,” Toler said.

Board members also voted to add two days to the 2023-24 calendar for professional development opportunities. These days are Sept. 20, 2023, and Feb. 7, 2024.

Students would not attend school those days.

Options to change the 2024-25 calendar include an option of a normal fall break, with students having only the Monday off, versus a full weeklong fall break. The first option would have a start date of Aug. 14, 2024, a Wednesday, while the second would start also be a Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024.

No decision to adopt a calendar will be made until more feedback from the public as well as the Northwest Allen County Educators Association is received.

A minimum school lunch price increase of 10 cents was also approved, due to rising food costs. A rise in price is required every year to keep up with inflation and cost changes.

In other news, the board:

• Approved a change to its meeting schedule for its Aug. 14 meeting, choosing to meet at 2 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. due to a schedule conflict with the Perry Hill back-to-school night.

• Congratulated Tim Dale, NACS assistant technology officer, for receiving the Certified Education Technology Leader Certification (CETL).

• Discussed the possibility of joining litigation against social media companies as a part of the mass tort. A decision to participate or not will be made at the next school board meeting.