Foundation To Survey Manchester Sophomores

July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.

By Matthew Weigelt, Times-Union Staff Writer-

NORTH MANCHESTER - The Community Foundation of Wabash County wants a foothold on the perceived importance of education to the county's young citizens.

Manchester school board Tuesday approved the foundation surveying its students.

To get that information, the foundation is seeking to survey all of the county's high school sophomores, and Manchester High School's 10th-graders will be first.

The survey is about academics and career planning, Manchester High School principal Nancy Alspaugh told the school board.

The community foundation is working with the Indiana Center for Evaluation in gathering the "educational attitudes" from different sectors of the county, the foundation's director of the Community Alliance to Promote Education, Michael E. Stone, said today.

The organizations will survey 400 randomly selected adults and as many as 60 employees from county business along with the high school sophomores, he said.

According to Indiana Department of Education and U.S. Census statistics, 82 percent of Wabash County citizens 25 years old and older have high school diplomas. Only 19.4 percent of the citizens have earned a bachelor of arts degree or higher.

"You need to finish high school to get a good job" and "I plan to take (or have already taken) geometry in high school" are two questions on the survey.

MHS administrators are considering discussion groups to delve deeper into the students' answers, Alspaugh said.

Board member Thom Frantz said most students probably haven't given thought to a majority of questions like these.

Also, the school board heard from the high school's FFA team, which placed third in the nation in overall competition.

The three team members were Mikki Marshall, Keela Roser and Dan Smith. Roser placed sixth overall in the nation.

The team competed in Baltimore in September. They ranked highest in county competition, third in the area competition and fourth in the state.

Marshall said the team was not expecting to rank so high.

The school board members present were: vice president Todd Speicher, secretary Brad Perrott, Larry Miller, Thom Frantz, Kent Terrill and Caryle McLaughlin. Acting superintendent is Kim Thurston. President Sally Krouse was absent. [[In-content Ad]]

NORTH MANCHESTER - The Community Foundation of Wabash County wants a foothold on the perceived importance of education to the county's young citizens.

Manchester school board Tuesday approved the foundation surveying its students.

To get that information, the foundation is seeking to survey all of the county's high school sophomores, and Manchester High School's 10th-graders will be first.

The survey is about academics and career planning, Manchester High School principal Nancy Alspaugh told the school board.

The community foundation is working with the Indiana Center for Evaluation in gathering the "educational attitudes" from different sectors of the county, the foundation's director of the Community Alliance to Promote Education, Michael E. Stone, said today.

The organizations will survey 400 randomly selected adults and as many as 60 employees from county business along with the high school sophomores, he said.

According to Indiana Department of Education and U.S. Census statistics, 82 percent of Wabash County citizens 25 years old and older have high school diplomas. Only 19.4 percent of the citizens have earned a bachelor of arts degree or higher.

"You need to finish high school to get a good job" and "I plan to take (or have already taken) geometry in high school" are two questions on the survey.

MHS administrators are considering discussion groups to delve deeper into the students' answers, Alspaugh said.

Board member Thom Frantz said most students probably haven't given thought to a majority of questions like these.

Also, the school board heard from the high school's FFA team, which placed third in the nation in overall competition.

The three team members were Mikki Marshall, Keela Roser and Dan Smith. Roser placed sixth overall in the nation.

The team competed in Baltimore in September. They ranked highest in county competition, third in the area competition and fourth in the state.

Marshall said the team was not expecting to rank so high.

The school board members present were: vice president Todd Speicher, secretary Brad Perrott, Larry Miller, Thom Frantz, Kent Terrill and Caryle McLaughlin. Acting superintendent is Kim Thurston. President Sally Krouse was absent. [[In-content Ad]]

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