Warsaw Schools Moves Forward With Student Activity Center
July 25, 2017 at 5:38 p.m.
By Michael [email protected]
During Monday’s school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert presented the financial details of the plan.
During a public hearing, Hoffert laid out the preliminary plan for the activity center at the high school.
The center will be paid for by refinancing a bond that will have no tax impact, Hoffert said.
Now that three major building projects financed following a local referendum are complete, Hoffert said school officials wanted to see what the future needs of the community and students may be.
“We are still in the very early stages, the next step is to go to design phase,” Hoffert said.
Hoffert said the center would have a “flexible education space, a track, a tournament area, a clinic, and they have talked about child care options.
Hoffert said school officials checked out other schools with similar buildings.
“We want to take the best ideas from each,” he said.
Hoffert added that they are looking at community partners in case they want to add to the building.
Ten million dollars is the cap in order to make the project tax neutral, Hoffert said.
In other business, the school board unanimously approved to accept a $50,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Education for a dual language immersion class at Leesburg Elementary,
Dual language immersion is a class that combines both English and Spanish.
The program is slated to launch in fall 2018 and will be the district’s second program. Eisenhower Elementary has had the program since 2016.
Preparation for DLI at Leesburg Elementary will begin this year. Upon implementation, parents will have the choice to either apply for DLI or attend a traditional kindergarten option as well.
“We are extremely excited to move forward through this grant with a second school offering dual language immersion as an option,” Hoffert said.
“This past year we saw the great success of the program at Eisenhower Elementary and the community desire for additional programming. Because of this success, the Indiana Department of Education and WCS are proud to offer additional opportunities in learning world languages to students, ” Hoffert said in a news release.
State Rep.? Curt Nisly, R-Goshen, expressed support for the program and issued a statement. He said he voted for support the program when the issue came up in the Indiana General Assembly.
“Students in dual language programs often develop high language ability while consistently performing at or above their grade levels on standardized assessments in math and English. Beginning in kindergarten or first grade and continuing throughout their elementary education, students participating in this program will receive at least 50 percent of their instruction in Spanish, “ Nisly said.
“Learning a second language at a young age will better prepare our children for the next step in their academic careers and, ultimately, to enter a global, diversified workforce. Thank you to the administrators and teachers at Warsaw Community Schools who worked together to apply for this competitive grant, and I’m excited to see the strong community support for the new program.”
In other business the board honored Collin Parker, a Warsaw graduate, who recently graduated West Point.
The board also honored former Warsaw Mayor Jeff Plank.
During Monday’s school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert presented the financial details of the plan.
During a public hearing, Hoffert laid out the preliminary plan for the activity center at the high school.
The center will be paid for by refinancing a bond that will have no tax impact, Hoffert said.
Now that three major building projects financed following a local referendum are complete, Hoffert said school officials wanted to see what the future needs of the community and students may be.
“We are still in the very early stages, the next step is to go to design phase,” Hoffert said.
Hoffert said the center would have a “flexible education space, a track, a tournament area, a clinic, and they have talked about child care options.
Hoffert said school officials checked out other schools with similar buildings.
“We want to take the best ideas from each,” he said.
Hoffert added that they are looking at community partners in case they want to add to the building.
Ten million dollars is the cap in order to make the project tax neutral, Hoffert said.
In other business, the school board unanimously approved to accept a $50,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Education for a dual language immersion class at Leesburg Elementary,
Dual language immersion is a class that combines both English and Spanish.
The program is slated to launch in fall 2018 and will be the district’s second program. Eisenhower Elementary has had the program since 2016.
Preparation for DLI at Leesburg Elementary will begin this year. Upon implementation, parents will have the choice to either apply for DLI or attend a traditional kindergarten option as well.
“We are extremely excited to move forward through this grant with a second school offering dual language immersion as an option,” Hoffert said.
“This past year we saw the great success of the program at Eisenhower Elementary and the community desire for additional programming. Because of this success, the Indiana Department of Education and WCS are proud to offer additional opportunities in learning world languages to students, ” Hoffert said in a news release.
State Rep.? Curt Nisly, R-Goshen, expressed support for the program and issued a statement. He said he voted for support the program when the issue came up in the Indiana General Assembly.
“Students in dual language programs often develop high language ability while consistently performing at or above their grade levels on standardized assessments in math and English. Beginning in kindergarten or first grade and continuing throughout their elementary education, students participating in this program will receive at least 50 percent of their instruction in Spanish, “ Nisly said.
“Learning a second language at a young age will better prepare our children for the next step in their academic careers and, ultimately, to enter a global, diversified workforce. Thank you to the administrators and teachers at Warsaw Community Schools who worked together to apply for this competitive grant, and I’m excited to see the strong community support for the new program.”
In other business the board honored Collin Parker, a Warsaw graduate, who recently graduated West Point.
The board also honored former Warsaw Mayor Jeff Plank.
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