Wawasee's Last Day Scheduled June 4 Because Of Missed Classes
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
SYRACUSE - If there are no more school cancellations, the last school day for students in the Wawasee School Corp. will be June 4, as of the school board meeting Tuesday.
"At this point," said Superintendent Mark Stock, "the state said there are no waivers."
Even if the state does offer waivers, Stock said, it was doubtful that Wawasee Schools would seek one.
"What this board is about is improving the education for our kids," he said.
When asked if there may be school on a Saturday, Stock said that would not be his recommendation at this time. Commencement will still take place when originally planned.
Tom Tumey was scheduled to give the preliminary ISTEP report to the board Tuesday, but scores were not yet received.
"There were problems with scoring of tests at certain grade levels," Tumey said. "Grades six, eight and 10. They're being rescored at this moment. They should be back at the end of January."
Tumey said he first heard about the scoring problems from another school corporation. Other schools were contacted to find out if the information was correct and Tumey said they told him they had heard there were scoring problems. The state was contacted and they confirmed the rescoring of the tests.
Tumey said, "It's unfortunate the schools had to find out through the grapevine instead of from the state."
There was nothing wrong with the test itself, Tumey said.
Board member Jeff Wells asked if there was a way to separate the ISTEP test results of the students who recently moved to the school corporation from the students who have been in the Wawasee schools for a number of years, once the results are in. He said he did not mean to isolate the new "move-ins," but wanted "to see what kind of progress we have internally."
Tumey said a similar discussion was held during the past week because people are much more mobile. He said different factors are involved on what could be done. This week, he said, they were collecting information on how to do just that.
Board member Marion Acton said, "That would be an encouragement to the staff - knowing those who stayed with them have done better."
In other business, the board approved the Administrative Merit Plan.
Wells said, "Last month we approved a plan to make part of the salaries of the administration tied to goal settings and reaching those goals. We called it the 457F but had to transfer it to 401A and renamed it the Administrative Merit Plan to stay in compliance with the Internal Revenue Service."
Stock said the board will evaluate the administration as a team on how each of them contributed. He said they were taking a private industry perspective where pay needs to be equal to performance. It was a matter of accountability of student learning and the schools meeting goals.
Evaluation will be based on position, personal merit and progress toward corporation goals.
"We need more accountability," Stock said. "They need to understand these are important goals."
Also approved was a contract with Staffing Options and Solutions for speech services for the rest of the school year. A speech and hearing pathologist was needed when a replacement for Robert Ahrns could not be found. Ahrns' retirement was approved at the December meeting.
SOS is a private firm that provides the services the school corporation is required by law to offer. In Indiana, one must have a master's degree to be a speech pathologist, Stock said.
The school corporation is still posting the job opening with a few applicants.
The Joint Services Agreement for the North Central Indiana Special Education Cooperative was also ratified by the board.
Since the early 1970s, the school corporations of Bremen, Tippecanoe Valley, Warsaw, Wawasee and Whitko have participated in the NCISEC. Indiana law requires that special education cooperatives have an agreement explaining how participating school corporations will operate the joint programs and services.
According to information prepared by Tamra Ummel, director of special services, in consultation with the superintendents' advisory board and legal counsel, special education has changed over the past two decades. The cooperative has evolved toward the concept of providing necessary services at the local level rather than at a centralized site, prompting the revision of the joint service agreement.
Stock said with the agreement, more services will be provided by Wawasee schools. Students will not have to be bused to a central site.
"Now," Stock said, "we bring the services to the kid, not the kid to the services."
The school board also reorganized for 1999. Wells was named board president, with Carol Swartzendruber as vice president. Acton was appointed secretary.
The board also appointed Brian Dawes as president of the board of finance officers and Swartzendruber as secretary.
Board members approved a $1,000 donation from Knights of Columbus for some of the expenses for the Wawasee band's trip to Florida. An anonymous donation was also approved to the health services department for the health needs of students.
"It is with gratitude that we accept these," Swartzendruber said. [[In-content Ad]]
SYRACUSE - If there are no more school cancellations, the last school day for students in the Wawasee School Corp. will be June 4, as of the school board meeting Tuesday.
"At this point," said Superintendent Mark Stock, "the state said there are no waivers."
Even if the state does offer waivers, Stock said, it was doubtful that Wawasee Schools would seek one.
"What this board is about is improving the education for our kids," he said.
When asked if there may be school on a Saturday, Stock said that would not be his recommendation at this time. Commencement will still take place when originally planned.
Tom Tumey was scheduled to give the preliminary ISTEP report to the board Tuesday, but scores were not yet received.
"There were problems with scoring of tests at certain grade levels," Tumey said. "Grades six, eight and 10. They're being rescored at this moment. They should be back at the end of January."
Tumey said he first heard about the scoring problems from another school corporation. Other schools were contacted to find out if the information was correct and Tumey said they told him they had heard there were scoring problems. The state was contacted and they confirmed the rescoring of the tests.
Tumey said, "It's unfortunate the schools had to find out through the grapevine instead of from the state."
There was nothing wrong with the test itself, Tumey said.
Board member Jeff Wells asked if there was a way to separate the ISTEP test results of the students who recently moved to the school corporation from the students who have been in the Wawasee schools for a number of years, once the results are in. He said he did not mean to isolate the new "move-ins," but wanted "to see what kind of progress we have internally."
Tumey said a similar discussion was held during the past week because people are much more mobile. He said different factors are involved on what could be done. This week, he said, they were collecting information on how to do just that.
Board member Marion Acton said, "That would be an encouragement to the staff - knowing those who stayed with them have done better."
In other business, the board approved the Administrative Merit Plan.
Wells said, "Last month we approved a plan to make part of the salaries of the administration tied to goal settings and reaching those goals. We called it the 457F but had to transfer it to 401A and renamed it the Administrative Merit Plan to stay in compliance with the Internal Revenue Service."
Stock said the board will evaluate the administration as a team on how each of them contributed. He said they were taking a private industry perspective where pay needs to be equal to performance. It was a matter of accountability of student learning and the schools meeting goals.
Evaluation will be based on position, personal merit and progress toward corporation goals.
"We need more accountability," Stock said. "They need to understand these are important goals."
Also approved was a contract with Staffing Options and Solutions for speech services for the rest of the school year. A speech and hearing pathologist was needed when a replacement for Robert Ahrns could not be found. Ahrns' retirement was approved at the December meeting.
SOS is a private firm that provides the services the school corporation is required by law to offer. In Indiana, one must have a master's degree to be a speech pathologist, Stock said.
The school corporation is still posting the job opening with a few applicants.
The Joint Services Agreement for the North Central Indiana Special Education Cooperative was also ratified by the board.
Since the early 1970s, the school corporations of Bremen, Tippecanoe Valley, Warsaw, Wawasee and Whitko have participated in the NCISEC. Indiana law requires that special education cooperatives have an agreement explaining how participating school corporations will operate the joint programs and services.
According to information prepared by Tamra Ummel, director of special services, in consultation with the superintendents' advisory board and legal counsel, special education has changed over the past two decades. The cooperative has evolved toward the concept of providing necessary services at the local level rather than at a centralized site, prompting the revision of the joint service agreement.
Stock said with the agreement, more services will be provided by Wawasee schools. Students will not have to be bused to a central site.
"Now," Stock said, "we bring the services to the kid, not the kid to the services."
The school board also reorganized for 1999. Wells was named board president, with Carol Swartzendruber as vice president. Acton was appointed secretary.
The board also appointed Brian Dawes as president of the board of finance officers and Swartzendruber as secretary.
Board members approved a $1,000 donation from Knights of Columbus for some of the expenses for the Wawasee band's trip to Florida. An anonymous donation was also approved to the health services department for the health needs of students.
"It is with gratitude that we accept these," Swartzendruber said. [[In-content Ad]]