Chamber Tags Wawasee As 'Best Buy' School
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
SYRACUSE - There's good news at Wawasee.
Along with accepting five donations to Wawasee schools, the Wawasee Community School Corp. Board of School Trustees also heard Tuesday that Wawasee High School is a "Best Buy" school as determined by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
Wal-Mart donated $1,000 to the Wawasee High School theater department. For the last several years, according to a letter from theater director Rebecca Moss to the school board, the department has purchased the bulk of the fabric for their costumes from surrounding Wal-Mart stores. In response, Wal-Mart offered to donate up to $1,000 to match the current ticket sales.
Garry Miller of Louisville, Ky., donated to the Wawasee band program a five-piece set of Ludwig drums worth approximately $700. Miller is a WHS graduate and wanted his drums to be used by the band students.
For the playground shelter at Syracuse Elementary School, Kosciusko County Community Foundation donated $1,000 to the PTO.
Five automatic external defibrillators - a $7,500 value - were donated to Wawasee Community Schools. The K21 Foundation donated the AED units and wall storage cabinets. Each school will receive a unit and the three elementary schools also will receive pediatric pads, used for small children.
Information and certification training will be made available and incorporated with CPR training.
The fifth donation came from the Biomet Foundation, Warsaw, which donated $5,000 to the athletic department. The funds will be used to purchase a utility vehicle. Biomet hopes the donation will assist the athletic department better serve the students participating in the athletic programs.
Board secretary Marion Acton asked athletic director Mary Hurley what the vehicle was and who will use it.
"It's a fancy golf cart," Hurley said. "We will designate (its use)." She said it was more for athletic training, but would be made available during the day for custodial use. "It's a wonderful donation."
All five donations were unanimously approved.
Superintendent Dr. Mark Stock then told the school board that each year, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce puts out their "Best Buys" report, which identifies Indiana high schools offering quality education while keeping expenditures low.
A school is named a best buy if it had an above-median quality index of 74.4684 or higher and expenditures below the statewide median of $5,648.96 per student.
Schools are alphabetical, not ranked, and this year 119 out of Indiana's 392 public high schools made the list.
"I believe Wawasee has been ranked in this every year. We are proud of that," Stock said.
Wawasee High School had a quality index of 77.8252 with expenditures of $5,221.02 per student. Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. received a quality index of 70.9018, with expenditures of $4,889.06 per student; Triton, 72.8206, expenditures of $5,352.09 per student; Warsaw, 75.8447, expenditures of $5,351.36 per student; and Whitko, 69.1344, expenditures of $4,891.30.
The 2003 Best Buys report is available online at www.indianachamber.com
In other business, the school board:
• Approved the sale of the 11 acres of the North Webster athletic fields to Tippecanoe Township for $60,000. The property is to be used for recreational facilities for the township. If it is not used for recreation purposes, the property reverts back to the school corporation.
• Approved the summer school course dates. Summer school begins June 3 and ends July 2. Class times are 8 to 11:35 a.m. with two recommended breaks.
Driver training is at Milford School, June 2-22, 7:30 to 9:30 a.m.; North Webster, June 2-22, 10:10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.; and WHS, May 6-27, 3:45 to 5:45 p.m. and June 23 to July 14, noon to 2 p.m.
• Approved the adoption of math textbooks for the high school.
• Approved the retirement of David Matz, Wawasee High School assistant principal, and of Karen Belcher, Syracuse Elementary kindergarten and Reading Recovery teacher.
• Approved the changes to the transportation, elementary schools, middle schools and high school handbooks.
• Approved the fixed asset inventory policy and the special education policy.
• Tabled the sale of property to the town of Syracuse for a proposed water tower site.
• Announced the cancellation of the April 20 special school board meeting.
Members of the Wawasee School Board are president Dallas Winchester, vice president Mary Lou Dixon, secretary Marion Acton and Brian Dawes. They meet at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month. [[In-content Ad]]
SYRACUSE - There's good news at Wawasee.
Along with accepting five donations to Wawasee schools, the Wawasee Community School Corp. Board of School Trustees also heard Tuesday that Wawasee High School is a "Best Buy" school as determined by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
Wal-Mart donated $1,000 to the Wawasee High School theater department. For the last several years, according to a letter from theater director Rebecca Moss to the school board, the department has purchased the bulk of the fabric for their costumes from surrounding Wal-Mart stores. In response, Wal-Mart offered to donate up to $1,000 to match the current ticket sales.
Garry Miller of Louisville, Ky., donated to the Wawasee band program a five-piece set of Ludwig drums worth approximately $700. Miller is a WHS graduate and wanted his drums to be used by the band students.
For the playground shelter at Syracuse Elementary School, Kosciusko County Community Foundation donated $1,000 to the PTO.
Five automatic external defibrillators - a $7,500 value - were donated to Wawasee Community Schools. The K21 Foundation donated the AED units and wall storage cabinets. Each school will receive a unit and the three elementary schools also will receive pediatric pads, used for small children.
Information and certification training will be made available and incorporated with CPR training.
The fifth donation came from the Biomet Foundation, Warsaw, which donated $5,000 to the athletic department. The funds will be used to purchase a utility vehicle. Biomet hopes the donation will assist the athletic department better serve the students participating in the athletic programs.
Board secretary Marion Acton asked athletic director Mary Hurley what the vehicle was and who will use it.
"It's a fancy golf cart," Hurley said. "We will designate (its use)." She said it was more for athletic training, but would be made available during the day for custodial use. "It's a wonderful donation."
All five donations were unanimously approved.
Superintendent Dr. Mark Stock then told the school board that each year, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce puts out their "Best Buys" report, which identifies Indiana high schools offering quality education while keeping expenditures low.
A school is named a best buy if it had an above-median quality index of 74.4684 or higher and expenditures below the statewide median of $5,648.96 per student.
Schools are alphabetical, not ranked, and this year 119 out of Indiana's 392 public high schools made the list.
"I believe Wawasee has been ranked in this every year. We are proud of that," Stock said.
Wawasee High School had a quality index of 77.8252 with expenditures of $5,221.02 per student. Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. received a quality index of 70.9018, with expenditures of $4,889.06 per student; Triton, 72.8206, expenditures of $5,352.09 per student; Warsaw, 75.8447, expenditures of $5,351.36 per student; and Whitko, 69.1344, expenditures of $4,891.30.
The 2003 Best Buys report is available online at www.indianachamber.com
In other business, the school board:
• Approved the sale of the 11 acres of the North Webster athletic fields to Tippecanoe Township for $60,000. The property is to be used for recreational facilities for the township. If it is not used for recreation purposes, the property reverts back to the school corporation.
• Approved the summer school course dates. Summer school begins June 3 and ends July 2. Class times are 8 to 11:35 a.m. with two recommended breaks.
Driver training is at Milford School, June 2-22, 7:30 to 9:30 a.m.; North Webster, June 2-22, 10:10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.; and WHS, May 6-27, 3:45 to 5:45 p.m. and June 23 to July 14, noon to 2 p.m.
• Approved the adoption of math textbooks for the high school.
• Approved the retirement of David Matz, Wawasee High School assistant principal, and of Karen Belcher, Syracuse Elementary kindergarten and Reading Recovery teacher.
• Approved the changes to the transportation, elementary schools, middle schools and high school handbooks.
• Approved the fixed asset inventory policy and the special education policy.
• Tabled the sale of property to the town of Syracuse for a proposed water tower site.
• Announced the cancellation of the April 20 special school board meeting.
Members of the Wawasee School Board are president Dallas Winchester, vice president Mary Lou Dixon, secretary Marion Acton and Brian Dawes. They meet at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month. [[In-content Ad]]