Valley Part Of Commission To Pursue State Safety Grant
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
According to Tippecanoe Valley Superintendent Brett Boggs at Monday night’s school board meeting, the Indiana Secured School Safety Grant Program is a dedicated state grant to provide matching grants to school corporations, charter schools or a coalition of school corporations. The grant money is to be used for three purposes: employing a school resource officer, conducting a threat assessment or purchasing equipment to restrict access to the school or expediate the notification of first responders.
Boggs said the third option, purchasing equipment, “is probably the primary area we’ll focus on to write this grant.”
He said it’s a matching grant, so to get up to $50,000, Valley will have to provide $50,000. “We’ve done that in our Capital Projects Fund,” he said.
A school corporation or charter school with an average daily membership of at least 1,000 students may receive only one matching grant each year of up to $50,000. School corporations of less than 1,000 students may receive a matching grant of up to $35,000.
Eligible applicants must be in a county that has a County School Safety Commission. So to be eligible, Valley, Whitko, Warsaw and Wawasee formed the KCSSC on Aug. 2. Boggs said it was a large group and includes all the school corporation’s school safety specialists and other representatives, who will meet quarterly.
Valley’s safety specialists are Scott Backus and Jon Hutton, who in cooperation with TVSC Maintenance Director Todd Glenn will write and submit the grant application for funding of corporation-related school safety needs identified last spring through the comprehensive school safety audit conducted in each Valley school.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security will administer the grant program. September 30 is the deadline to submit the proposal for grant funds. Projects will be awarded starting Nov. 1.
According to information provided by Boggs, the grant is a competitive program with $20 million in funding available for the state fiscal year 2014. Up to $50,000 of that is available to Valley. It is anticipated the grant funding will be available annually for at least three years.
Boggs also reported during the meeting on confirmed student enrollment and transfer students.
As of Monday, he said Valley has 1,960 students. That’s up from 1,933 students in February and 1,954 students on the last day of school last year.
Valley also has 76 non-resident student transfers.
“It’s the largest number we’ve added since the law changed,” Boggs said.
Of the 76 transfers, 19 are attending Akron Elementary, 24 are at Mentone Elementary, 13 at the middle school and 20 at the high school.
The corporations of residence for the transfer students are 39 from Warsaw Community Schools; 18 from Rochester; 10, Triton; four, North Miami; two, Manchester; two, Peru; and one is from Wawasee.
“All are students from other school corporations who are choosing to come to Valley. Obviously, there are some folks out there who see some value at Valley and chose to enroll their students here,” Boggs concluded.
The new student representatives to the board also attended their first meeting for the 2013-14 school year.
Anna Higgins is the Tippecanoe Valley High School senior representative and Brandon Murphy is the junior representative. Both attended Akron Elementary School.
Higgins is a swimmer and on the student council, and she was in Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy last year. She wants to be a speech pathologist.
Murphy plays football and runs track. He also is on the student council and a peer facilitator. He is unsure of his future career, but said he was “kicking around” ideas like becoming a teacher or doctor.
School board members told the student representatives that they are the board’s “eyes and ears” to what’s going on at the high school. They were encouraged to bring any issues at the high school to the board.
In other business, the board:
• Heard the names of the TVHS Distinguished Alumni Class of 2013 released Saturday. The names and more information are on page 5A of today’s newspaper.
• Approved the contract with Kosciusko County Head Start for lease of space at Mentone Elementary School.
• Approved the 2013-14 teaching and extracurricular assignments.
• Approved the TVHS one-to-one student and parent agreement. Each student at the high school, beginning with this school year, will get an Acer Iconia tablet for school use.
Kirk Doehrmann, TVHS principal, said at registration some parents had questions about the program but no concerns.
• Approved an addition to school board policy on student promotion and retention.
According to Boggs, Indiana law requires each school corporation to adopt and enforce a written policy that prohibits retaining a student in a grade level for the sole purpose of improving the student’s ability to participate in extracurricular athletic programs.
• Approved an agreement with Administrator Assistance for assistance with a strategic plan.
• Approved an agreement with Four County Counseling Center for a psychologist.
• Heard from Boggs that Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. has been awarded continuing accreditation by the AdvancED Accreditation Commission and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.
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According to Tippecanoe Valley Superintendent Brett Boggs at Monday night’s school board meeting, the Indiana Secured School Safety Grant Program is a dedicated state grant to provide matching grants to school corporations, charter schools or a coalition of school corporations. The grant money is to be used for three purposes: employing a school resource officer, conducting a threat assessment or purchasing equipment to restrict access to the school or expediate the notification of first responders.
Boggs said the third option, purchasing equipment, “is probably the primary area we’ll focus on to write this grant.”
He said it’s a matching grant, so to get up to $50,000, Valley will have to provide $50,000. “We’ve done that in our Capital Projects Fund,” he said.
A school corporation or charter school with an average daily membership of at least 1,000 students may receive only one matching grant each year of up to $50,000. School corporations of less than 1,000 students may receive a matching grant of up to $35,000.
Eligible applicants must be in a county that has a County School Safety Commission. So to be eligible, Valley, Whitko, Warsaw and Wawasee formed the KCSSC on Aug. 2. Boggs said it was a large group and includes all the school corporation’s school safety specialists and other representatives, who will meet quarterly.
Valley’s safety specialists are Scott Backus and Jon Hutton, who in cooperation with TVSC Maintenance Director Todd Glenn will write and submit the grant application for funding of corporation-related school safety needs identified last spring through the comprehensive school safety audit conducted in each Valley school.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security will administer the grant program. September 30 is the deadline to submit the proposal for grant funds. Projects will be awarded starting Nov. 1.
According to information provided by Boggs, the grant is a competitive program with $20 million in funding available for the state fiscal year 2014. Up to $50,000 of that is available to Valley. It is anticipated the grant funding will be available annually for at least three years.
Boggs also reported during the meeting on confirmed student enrollment and transfer students.
As of Monday, he said Valley has 1,960 students. That’s up from 1,933 students in February and 1,954 students on the last day of school last year.
Valley also has 76 non-resident student transfers.
“It’s the largest number we’ve added since the law changed,” Boggs said.
Of the 76 transfers, 19 are attending Akron Elementary, 24 are at Mentone Elementary, 13 at the middle school and 20 at the high school.
The corporations of residence for the transfer students are 39 from Warsaw Community Schools; 18 from Rochester; 10, Triton; four, North Miami; two, Manchester; two, Peru; and one is from Wawasee.
“All are students from other school corporations who are choosing to come to Valley. Obviously, there are some folks out there who see some value at Valley and chose to enroll their students here,” Boggs concluded.
The new student representatives to the board also attended their first meeting for the 2013-14 school year.
Anna Higgins is the Tippecanoe Valley High School senior representative and Brandon Murphy is the junior representative. Both attended Akron Elementary School.
Higgins is a swimmer and on the student council, and she was in Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy last year. She wants to be a speech pathologist.
Murphy plays football and runs track. He also is on the student council and a peer facilitator. He is unsure of his future career, but said he was “kicking around” ideas like becoming a teacher or doctor.
School board members told the student representatives that they are the board’s “eyes and ears” to what’s going on at the high school. They were encouraged to bring any issues at the high school to the board.
In other business, the board:
• Heard the names of the TVHS Distinguished Alumni Class of 2013 released Saturday. The names and more information are on page 5A of today’s newspaper.
• Approved the contract with Kosciusko County Head Start for lease of space at Mentone Elementary School.
• Approved the 2013-14 teaching and extracurricular assignments.
• Approved the TVHS one-to-one student and parent agreement. Each student at the high school, beginning with this school year, will get an Acer Iconia tablet for school use.
Kirk Doehrmann, TVHS principal, said at registration some parents had questions about the program but no concerns.
• Approved an addition to school board policy on student promotion and retention.
According to Boggs, Indiana law requires each school corporation to adopt and enforce a written policy that prohibits retaining a student in a grade level for the sole purpose of improving the student’s ability to participate in extracurricular athletic programs.
• Approved an agreement with Administrator Assistance for assistance with a strategic plan.
• Approved an agreement with Four County Counseling Center for a psychologist.
• Heard from Boggs that Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. has been awarded continuing accreditation by the AdvancED Accreditation Commission and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.
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