Wawasee Community Responds After Meningitis Death
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
Even though the passing of Harrison Paul Fidler, 14, an eighth-grader at Wawasee Middle School, who was home schooled, has been widely reported, the shock is still visibly present.
"Sometimes the tough situations bring out the best in people," said Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington. "I just want to tell folks what a great place this is to be, in the way that we responded as a school district, a community, and friends, neighbors and relatives. The response makes me proud to be here."[[In-content Ad]]Edington offered praise to Wawasee Middle School Principal Tony Cassel for his coordination work with staff and students in putting together the memorial service for Fidler.
"I would reiterate what you've said," Cassel told Edington and those assembled. "It's been a long week. This community truly stepped up and responded. Moms and dads and pastors ... people from the community and the church ... supporting that family and taking them under their wing. It was a great memorial service and our kids needed that.
"For a lot of those kids, it was their first experience of losing someone their age. Harrison was a very much beloved kid ... a lot of kids knew him."
The other big issue affecting not only the Wawasee School District but the entire education community nationally is the expectations of what will be offered in the government's economic stimulus program.
"The education community has been mentioned in the federal stimulus bill, first as part of it, then as not part of it, then partially as part of it," said Edington. "We don't know how that will end up. You can say what does that have to do with economic stimulus nationwide? That money would go into Title 1 and special education, which are federal programs, and would allow us to serve more students in more ways. By hiring the folks to do that, it would provide an economic stimulus.
"There is also a component of construction," Edington continued. "We were on the first listing at $400,000 for construction. The economic stimulus part is that we have a list of needs for the next 10 years to address, that we would pick $400,000 worth and gear up and do that sooner rather than later, to provide jobs for people within the area.
"I believe that as of yesterday, that was no longer part of the bill. But I don't know. The economic stimulus may come as a pool of money for rads rather than schools. This has to go through the process in Washington. It's a great unknown until it's passed."
Edington did say that at the state level, there are several proposed bills in the works that might have an impact, although it's too early to tell specifics. Funding for such programs as English as a Second Language and all-day kindergarten could be in jeopardy. Funding now is based on the number of students enrolled in September. If the student count also will be taken in December, as has been suggested, students who have left the district would impact funding, even though the school is staffed for the entire year.
"We're closely monitoring what's going on in Indianapolis," Edington said.
It was announced that ISTEP testing is the first week of March for grades 3 through 8. From April 28 through May 1, there will also be another round of ISTEP testing for the same grades.
In personnel matters, the board approved the following individuals for employment: Liana Butcher as a highly qualified Title 1 paraprofessional at Milford School; and Susan Haessig as a temporary special education/functional skills teacher at Syracuse Elementary. The board also approved the transfer of Linda Rondeau from a one-hour special needs para/two-hour Title 1 family involvement paraprofessional to a five-hour per day special needs paraprofessional.
The financial report for the month ending Jan. 31 is as follows:
Beginning balance $28,853,174.30
Receipts $10,792,033.70
Disbursements $7,781,646.25
End balance $31,863,561.75
Wawasee Community School Corp. board members are George Gilbert, Rebecca Linnemeier, Mary Lou Dixon, Dallas Winchester and Mike Wilson.
Even though the passing of Harrison Paul Fidler, 14, an eighth-grader at Wawasee Middle School, who was home schooled, has been widely reported, the shock is still visibly present.
"Sometimes the tough situations bring out the best in people," said Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington. "I just want to tell folks what a great place this is to be, in the way that we responded as a school district, a community, and friends, neighbors and relatives. The response makes me proud to be here."[[In-content Ad]]Edington offered praise to Wawasee Middle School Principal Tony Cassel for his coordination work with staff and students in putting together the memorial service for Fidler.
"I would reiterate what you've said," Cassel told Edington and those assembled. "It's been a long week. This community truly stepped up and responded. Moms and dads and pastors ... people from the community and the church ... supporting that family and taking them under their wing. It was a great memorial service and our kids needed that.
"For a lot of those kids, it was their first experience of losing someone their age. Harrison was a very much beloved kid ... a lot of kids knew him."
The other big issue affecting not only the Wawasee School District but the entire education community nationally is the expectations of what will be offered in the government's economic stimulus program.
"The education community has been mentioned in the federal stimulus bill, first as part of it, then as not part of it, then partially as part of it," said Edington. "We don't know how that will end up. You can say what does that have to do with economic stimulus nationwide? That money would go into Title 1 and special education, which are federal programs, and would allow us to serve more students in more ways. By hiring the folks to do that, it would provide an economic stimulus.
"There is also a component of construction," Edington continued. "We were on the first listing at $400,000 for construction. The economic stimulus part is that we have a list of needs for the next 10 years to address, that we would pick $400,000 worth and gear up and do that sooner rather than later, to provide jobs for people within the area.
"I believe that as of yesterday, that was no longer part of the bill. But I don't know. The economic stimulus may come as a pool of money for rads rather than schools. This has to go through the process in Washington. It's a great unknown until it's passed."
Edington did say that at the state level, there are several proposed bills in the works that might have an impact, although it's too early to tell specifics. Funding for such programs as English as a Second Language and all-day kindergarten could be in jeopardy. Funding now is based on the number of students enrolled in September. If the student count also will be taken in December, as has been suggested, students who have left the district would impact funding, even though the school is staffed for the entire year.
"We're closely monitoring what's going on in Indianapolis," Edington said.
It was announced that ISTEP testing is the first week of March for grades 3 through 8. From April 28 through May 1, there will also be another round of ISTEP testing for the same grades.
In personnel matters, the board approved the following individuals for employment: Liana Butcher as a highly qualified Title 1 paraprofessional at Milford School; and Susan Haessig as a temporary special education/functional skills teacher at Syracuse Elementary. The board also approved the transfer of Linda Rondeau from a one-hour special needs para/two-hour Title 1 family involvement paraprofessional to a five-hour per day special needs paraprofessional.
The financial report for the month ending Jan. 31 is as follows:
Beginning balance $28,853,174.30
Receipts $10,792,033.70
Disbursements $7,781,646.25
End balance $31,863,561.75
Wawasee Community School Corp. board members are George Gilbert, Rebecca Linnemeier, Mary Lou Dixon, Dallas Winchester and Mike Wilson.
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