Superintendent Karyle Green has a plan to get all East Allen County Schools on the same track for academics, but it will take some unwelcomed moves to do it.

Green presented a curriculum project at Tuesday night's board meeting that would temporarily remove some administrators and teachers from their positions for development until the process is complete, possibly by next summer.

Representatives from the Monroeville and Hoagland areas voiced concerns about the moves, calling them abrupt, with no time to adjust. Green responded after the meeting that she has been in contact with parents from these schools for many weeks, and they are moving forward with the project as presented.

The plan is to create consistency throughout the math and language arts curricula across the district; for example, all third-grade classes would be following the basic standards of instruction to get similar - and increasingly better - scores.

“The standards are the standards,” Green said about type of instruction set by the state for each grade level.

“What we are lacking (is) the push to make sure the standards are covered.”

Grant money will be used for the project, and the administrators and teachers removed from their positions will be replaced temporarily either with people who have been laid off, retired teachers or even soon-to-be graduated student teachers.

The district will begin pulling a team together next week which will be led by Marilyn Hissong, currently the principal at Hoagland Elementary.

Green said once the math and language arts curricula are completed, they will move on to science and social studies and so on, throughout all areas of study.

“(It's about) student growth and school improvement,” she said.

In other items, Green put a stop to all supply purchases for the rest of the calendar year to try and put a dent in the 2009 deficit, which is approaching $1 million.

Chief Financial Officer Kirby Stahly said there is about $100,000 left in that supply fund for the year.

Emergency supplies can be purchased if needed, Green said.

Typically, the district stops the end-of-the-year purchases in mid-November.

“That's just the bit that can be saved,” Green said about stopping the purchases a couple of weeks early.