Whitko Year Ends in Song
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Teresa Smith-
Under the direction of Trisha Shoemaker, the students sang several holiday-themed songs to an audience of board members, parents and administrators in the Pierceton Elementary School commons area.
December's students of the month were recognized as Hunter Smith of Pierceton Elementary; Audrey Bradford of South Whitley Elementary; Drew Bradford of Whitko Middle School; and Ryan Facks of Whitko High School.
When the board returned to the central office area and their regular meeting room, Jorell Tucker questioned a three-year contract renewal for copier maintenance with the Perry Corporation, which led to a no-action vote on the item. Tucker noted that was for $120,000 a year and asked why other bidders or quotes weren't available for review.
Financial officer Tom McFarland said there are two contracts with Perry with staggered expiration dates. Superintendent Steve Clason said the second contract began when the school purchased high-speed printers.
McFarland noted that an agreement with another company would mean staff would call one company for one copier and another for a different unit.
Tucker said that problem could be fixed with a simple label on each machine.
As the item had already been motioned and seconded, the votes went to non-approval by Deb Collier, Roger Boggs, Terry Eberly and Tucker.
McFarland was asked to contact a Perry representative about a two-year lease, which would end both contracts at the same time and bids could be taken from others at that date.
Clason advised the board that the Amish community south of South Whitley has requested transportation to the private school north of South Whitley. Public schools provide transportation for private school students if the routes take busses past the school and the students' homes.
Clason said Amish representatives are requesting a separate route because if the children are picked up at the same time as public school riders, they would go past the school on Whitley Road, to the middle school then arrive at their classrooms. The trip could take three hours. Although sending a separate bus would cost the district $8,000 per year, he recommended the route be at no charge.
Tucker questioned the wisdom of not charging, to which the other board members agreed. A motion was made for a separate route with a fee to be determined by Clason. Tucker suggested a definite fee be recommended by the board. Roger Boggs said he trusted Clason to make the right decision and the motion was approved for a private route with the fee to be negotiated, 3 to 1, with Tucker against.
Clason said he met with Indiana legislators and state board of education representatives recently. He said the educational topics at the capitol included early childhood education, adjustment of current laws, especially looking at the A to F grading system given by the state to schools and graduation waivers.
He urged citizens of the district to call their legislators regarding education. “They’re hungry to hear from people,” he said.
McFarland said he has received word from the state regarding the 2013 budget of $11.8 million. The capital projects funds were cut by $865,000 and the transportation department was cut by $22,000.
Because the district’s assessed valuation has increased 5.3 percent in two years, from $402 million in 2012 and $424 million in 2012, the tax rate has been reduced by 6 cents in the last two years.
Maintenance director Dirk Felger was disappointed in the CPF cuts because he had a roofing project at the high school in mind for this summer. The board approved contracting Martin and Riley Architects as consultants on the job and going ahead with bidding.
“We’ll go as far as we can,” Clason said about the maintenance.
Pierceton Elementary Principal Eric Speicher said 18 more laptops have been purchased for third- through fifth-graders, and fourth- and fifth-graders have been provided with their own flash drives for more secure work storage.
The school's Christmas program is Friday at 9 a.m.
He and four staff members recently visited Claypool Elementary School as a “best practices” tour. Claypool received an A grade from the state recently. Speicher said they interviewed their Claypool associates about how their time was scheduled and looked at the classroom set up.
South Whitley Elementary Principal Bruce Hanson asked the board to guess the number one topic of the fifth-graders persuasive writing essays. After recess and lunch were guessed, Hanson said technology was the issue of most importance.
Whitley Transportation and Whitley Welding have stepped forward to take students Christmas shopping Wednesday afternoon.
The SWES Christmas program is at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
Hanson said the maintenance staff has been adding a little extra tender loving care to the building. Both boilers were down a couple of weeks ago and it wasn't until 9 a.m. that heat was restored.
He said the teachers and students had an emotional safety drill following the incident at the Connecticut elementary school in which 20 students and five adults were killed. He has noticed that more parents are dropping off and picking up their children.
Whitko Middle School Principal Parrish Kruger said students got to fold and fly paper airplanes for prizes for each A or B they received. Surprisingly, many didn't know how to make an airplane. When shown instructions they didn't know which design would make their craft fly far and fast.
Kruger attended the Lego Robotic competition at IPFW in which the middle school had a team. He said the interesting part for him was the dialogue between the kids when they had to make decisions about the best way to proceed to program the robot for given tasks during the competition.
He said the staff is looking at the current grading policies as compared to ISTEP scores, noting that the two rubrics should reflect one another.
Whitko High School Principal Dave Parker reported that the End of Course Assessment retesting resulted in a 43 percent passing rate in English and math. Passing ECAs are a graduation requirement. Last spring the percentages were at 18 percent in English and 14 percent in math. Last fall the percentages were 45 and 25 percent, respectively. Parker liked the new figures.
Prior to the testing students scheduled for the tests met as a group to hear about the importance of the tests. Six weeks before the tests staff offered tutoring. Parker met with each student to discuss the results saying there was jubilation and tears.
“There were big, tough football players crying when they didn’t pass. But they also asked what else they can do,” he said.
He said Sheriff Mark Hodges conducted a surprise seat-belt check of 115 cars and all but two students had their seatbelts on.
The food collection project is going well and Parker predicted a record year.
A Christmas celebration is planned Friday at 2 p.m.
Terry Eberly, out-going board member, was recognized for his four years of sitting on the board. Joe Begley replaces him in January. Cindy Kreger, who was absent, was also honored. Georgia Tenney takes her seat in January.
In personnel matters the following retirements and resignations were approved, with Jorell Tucker abstaining from the vote: Linda Ousley as WMS library/media clerk; Tracy Harper, SWES health clerk; Julie Wolf, WHS study hall monitor/I(SS supervisor; Andrew Layman, WMS geography bowl coach; and Stacie Anderson, WHS assistant volleyball coach. The following people were hired: Beth Slusher, WMS cook; Nicole Tucker, SWES health clerk; Mercedes Plummer, WMS seventh grade girls' basketball coach; Cara Breece, mini bus driver and Shana Messmore, PES health clerk.[[In-content Ad]]
Under the direction of Trisha Shoemaker, the students sang several holiday-themed songs to an audience of board members, parents and administrators in the Pierceton Elementary School commons area.
December's students of the month were recognized as Hunter Smith of Pierceton Elementary; Audrey Bradford of South Whitley Elementary; Drew Bradford of Whitko Middle School; and Ryan Facks of Whitko High School.
When the board returned to the central office area and their regular meeting room, Jorell Tucker questioned a three-year contract renewal for copier maintenance with the Perry Corporation, which led to a no-action vote on the item. Tucker noted that was for $120,000 a year and asked why other bidders or quotes weren't available for review.
Financial officer Tom McFarland said there are two contracts with Perry with staggered expiration dates. Superintendent Steve Clason said the second contract began when the school purchased high-speed printers.
McFarland noted that an agreement with another company would mean staff would call one company for one copier and another for a different unit.
Tucker said that problem could be fixed with a simple label on each machine.
As the item had already been motioned and seconded, the votes went to non-approval by Deb Collier, Roger Boggs, Terry Eberly and Tucker.
McFarland was asked to contact a Perry representative about a two-year lease, which would end both contracts at the same time and bids could be taken from others at that date.
Clason advised the board that the Amish community south of South Whitley has requested transportation to the private school north of South Whitley. Public schools provide transportation for private school students if the routes take busses past the school and the students' homes.
Clason said Amish representatives are requesting a separate route because if the children are picked up at the same time as public school riders, they would go past the school on Whitley Road, to the middle school then arrive at their classrooms. The trip could take three hours. Although sending a separate bus would cost the district $8,000 per year, he recommended the route be at no charge.
Tucker questioned the wisdom of not charging, to which the other board members agreed. A motion was made for a separate route with a fee to be determined by Clason. Tucker suggested a definite fee be recommended by the board. Roger Boggs said he trusted Clason to make the right decision and the motion was approved for a private route with the fee to be negotiated, 3 to 1, with Tucker against.
Clason said he met with Indiana legislators and state board of education representatives recently. He said the educational topics at the capitol included early childhood education, adjustment of current laws, especially looking at the A to F grading system given by the state to schools and graduation waivers.
He urged citizens of the district to call their legislators regarding education. “They’re hungry to hear from people,” he said.
McFarland said he has received word from the state regarding the 2013 budget of $11.8 million. The capital projects funds were cut by $865,000 and the transportation department was cut by $22,000.
Because the district’s assessed valuation has increased 5.3 percent in two years, from $402 million in 2012 and $424 million in 2012, the tax rate has been reduced by 6 cents in the last two years.
Maintenance director Dirk Felger was disappointed in the CPF cuts because he had a roofing project at the high school in mind for this summer. The board approved contracting Martin and Riley Architects as consultants on the job and going ahead with bidding.
“We’ll go as far as we can,” Clason said about the maintenance.
Pierceton Elementary Principal Eric Speicher said 18 more laptops have been purchased for third- through fifth-graders, and fourth- and fifth-graders have been provided with their own flash drives for more secure work storage.
The school's Christmas program is Friday at 9 a.m.
He and four staff members recently visited Claypool Elementary School as a “best practices” tour. Claypool received an A grade from the state recently. Speicher said they interviewed their Claypool associates about how their time was scheduled and looked at the classroom set up.
South Whitley Elementary Principal Bruce Hanson asked the board to guess the number one topic of the fifth-graders persuasive writing essays. After recess and lunch were guessed, Hanson said technology was the issue of most importance.
Whitley Transportation and Whitley Welding have stepped forward to take students Christmas shopping Wednesday afternoon.
The SWES Christmas program is at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
Hanson said the maintenance staff has been adding a little extra tender loving care to the building. Both boilers were down a couple of weeks ago and it wasn't until 9 a.m. that heat was restored.
He said the teachers and students had an emotional safety drill following the incident at the Connecticut elementary school in which 20 students and five adults were killed. He has noticed that more parents are dropping off and picking up their children.
Whitko Middle School Principal Parrish Kruger said students got to fold and fly paper airplanes for prizes for each A or B they received. Surprisingly, many didn't know how to make an airplane. When shown instructions they didn't know which design would make their craft fly far and fast.
Kruger attended the Lego Robotic competition at IPFW in which the middle school had a team. He said the interesting part for him was the dialogue between the kids when they had to make decisions about the best way to proceed to program the robot for given tasks during the competition.
He said the staff is looking at the current grading policies as compared to ISTEP scores, noting that the two rubrics should reflect one another.
Whitko High School Principal Dave Parker reported that the End of Course Assessment retesting resulted in a 43 percent passing rate in English and math. Passing ECAs are a graduation requirement. Last spring the percentages were at 18 percent in English and 14 percent in math. Last fall the percentages were 45 and 25 percent, respectively. Parker liked the new figures.
Prior to the testing students scheduled for the tests met as a group to hear about the importance of the tests. Six weeks before the tests staff offered tutoring. Parker met with each student to discuss the results saying there was jubilation and tears.
“There were big, tough football players crying when they didn’t pass. But they also asked what else they can do,” he said.
He said Sheriff Mark Hodges conducted a surprise seat-belt check of 115 cars and all but two students had their seatbelts on.
The food collection project is going well and Parker predicted a record year.
A Christmas celebration is planned Friday at 2 p.m.
Terry Eberly, out-going board member, was recognized for his four years of sitting on the board. Joe Begley replaces him in January. Cindy Kreger, who was absent, was also honored. Georgia Tenney takes her seat in January.
In personnel matters the following retirements and resignations were approved, with Jorell Tucker abstaining from the vote: Linda Ousley as WMS library/media clerk; Tracy Harper, SWES health clerk; Julie Wolf, WHS study hall monitor/I(SS supervisor; Andrew Layman, WMS geography bowl coach; and Stacie Anderson, WHS assistant volleyball coach. The following people were hired: Beth Slusher, WMS cook; Nicole Tucker, SWES health clerk; Mercedes Plummer, WMS seventh grade girls' basketball coach; Cara Breece, mini bus driver and Shana Messmore, PES health clerk.[[In-content Ad]]
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