Warsaw Schools Hires Transpo Director, Recognizes Two Paraprofessionals
February 20, 2018 at 6:05 p.m.
By David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert also reported on how the transportation department helped determine when school was delayed or canceled.
Director of Finance Dr. Brandon Penrod made the formal recommendation of the new director of transportation, Mark Fick, to the board, which it approved.
“We’ve went through a pretty exhaustive search and we’re happy that we have this opportunity to hire Mark, but also in particular Mark because we feel we have a really good candidate here, and I really look forward to working with him,” Penrod told the board.
In his comments to the board, Fick said, “I’m looking forward to working with everybody. It’s a great opportunity. Thank you.”
Fick, a 1987 Warsaw Community High School graduate, was a sergeant 1st class in the Army for 24 years. He joined the military right after high school, retiring in 2012. He then worked in quality assurance at Starcraft Bus Co. in Goshen where he would test drive buses.
Fick replaces Doug Light, who served as the director of transportation from September to November after retiring from the Warsaw Police Department. Light had replaced Cheryl Cook, who left the position in June.
Fick attended the school board meeting with his wife, Millie, and daughter, Brooke Fick.
Fick officially starts at WCS March 1. He said his main goal will be to make sure the kids get to and from school safe.
While the kids in the bus hit by a car Dec. 7 were safe, many were concerned about their well-being, including Madison paraprofessionals Sandra Yarian and Tami Miller.
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The accident happened on Ind. 15N at Clearwater Drive, Warsaw. The driver of the car, Michael S. Goble, 25, was pronounced dead at Lutheran Hospital Fort Wayne from injuries suffered in the crash.
“Sometimes some amazing things come out of horrible incidents,” Hoffert said. “We had one here a couple of months ago where there was an accident where an individual rear-ended one of our buses and unfortunately it was a tragic accident that happened.”
Many of the WCS administration cabinet members and Madison Principal Ben Barkey were concerned about the students on the bus that day and went to the Racquet Club where the students waited after the collision.
“But, even more than that, as I looked around, two of our staff members from Madison witnessed what happened, they pulled off in their cars to the side of the road, they ran into the Racquet Club and they made sure our students were taken care of inside there. When I got there, they were sitting there reading to the students, they were doing everything to make sure they were well taken care of. They were calm. I’ve got to be honest with you, it was one of the most touching moments that I’ve seen because I knew that those students were in good hands,” Hoffert said.
After handing Yarian and Miller certificates, Barkey said he was lucky to be blessed with such a great faculty and staff at Madison. “These two ladies are the epitome of what is great about Madison Elementary and Warsaw Community Schools. It was nice to have the familiar faces and somebody that the kids could go up to, and they’re reading stories to the children. It was a pretty traumatic event so I’m blessed to be working with these two ladies,” he said.
Later in his superintendent’s report, Hoffert reviewed WCS’s delay and cancellation process.
He said WCS is spread over a very large geographical area, and is “one of the largest in the state of Indiana,” which is a “blessing and a curse” at the same time. The area has a lot of back roads and different weather patterns that take place.
Hoffert said when it comes to snow, U.S. 30 is almost the dividing line. “What our weather pattern is in Leesburg is very different than what it is at Diamond Lake and Silver Lake,” he said.
A decision on delaying or canceling school begins at about 4:15 or 4:30 a.m. when bus drivers are sent out to test the roads. They report in to the transportation department, which is in contact with the city, county and state about their plowing schedules and where they are recommending they will be by the time the buses have to be on the road.
The director of transportation then calls the superintendent at about 5 a.m. with a recommendation that comes out from the reports received.
“If it’s still questionable at all, we have about a 30-minute leeway in there to be able to go out and drive roads more,” Hoffert said.
First student pick-up happens at 5:45 a.m. Once that first student pick-up happens, Hoffert said they can’t return students to their house per WCS policy and procedure.
Warsaw bus routes run double routes. As soon as they’re done running the first route, they run a second route.
If WCS has a two-hour delay, Hoffert said they have exactly two hours from that first delay time to make the call on whether there’s a cancellation or not. The decision on a cancellation has to be made between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m.
Hoffert reminded parents that if they decide it’s not safe for their child to be out on the road, “it’s always the parents’ right on whether the child comes to school.” WCS asks that if a parent determines it isn’t safe for their child to be out on the road that they call the school.
He also talked about eLearning Days which allow schools to make up cancellation days through online classes or lessons. WCS had its first eLearning Day Saturday, but Warsaw still has four days to make-up so far for the 2017-18 school year. Another eLearning Day is scheduled for March 17.
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Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert also reported on how the transportation department helped determine when school was delayed or canceled.
Director of Finance Dr. Brandon Penrod made the formal recommendation of the new director of transportation, Mark Fick, to the board, which it approved.
“We’ve went through a pretty exhaustive search and we’re happy that we have this opportunity to hire Mark, but also in particular Mark because we feel we have a really good candidate here, and I really look forward to working with him,” Penrod told the board.
In his comments to the board, Fick said, “I’m looking forward to working with everybody. It’s a great opportunity. Thank you.”
Fick, a 1987 Warsaw Community High School graduate, was a sergeant 1st class in the Army for 24 years. He joined the military right after high school, retiring in 2012. He then worked in quality assurance at Starcraft Bus Co. in Goshen where he would test drive buses.
Fick replaces Doug Light, who served as the director of transportation from September to November after retiring from the Warsaw Police Department. Light had replaced Cheryl Cook, who left the position in June.
Fick attended the school board meeting with his wife, Millie, and daughter, Brooke Fick.
Fick officially starts at WCS March 1. He said his main goal will be to make sure the kids get to and from school safe.
While the kids in the bus hit by a car Dec. 7 were safe, many were concerned about their well-being, including Madison paraprofessionals Sandra Yarian and Tami Miller.
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The accident happened on Ind. 15N at Clearwater Drive, Warsaw. The driver of the car, Michael S. Goble, 25, was pronounced dead at Lutheran Hospital Fort Wayne from injuries suffered in the crash.
“Sometimes some amazing things come out of horrible incidents,” Hoffert said. “We had one here a couple of months ago where there was an accident where an individual rear-ended one of our buses and unfortunately it was a tragic accident that happened.”
Many of the WCS administration cabinet members and Madison Principal Ben Barkey were concerned about the students on the bus that day and went to the Racquet Club where the students waited after the collision.
“But, even more than that, as I looked around, two of our staff members from Madison witnessed what happened, they pulled off in their cars to the side of the road, they ran into the Racquet Club and they made sure our students were taken care of inside there. When I got there, they were sitting there reading to the students, they were doing everything to make sure they were well taken care of. They were calm. I’ve got to be honest with you, it was one of the most touching moments that I’ve seen because I knew that those students were in good hands,” Hoffert said.
After handing Yarian and Miller certificates, Barkey said he was lucky to be blessed with such a great faculty and staff at Madison. “These two ladies are the epitome of what is great about Madison Elementary and Warsaw Community Schools. It was nice to have the familiar faces and somebody that the kids could go up to, and they’re reading stories to the children. It was a pretty traumatic event so I’m blessed to be working with these two ladies,” he said.
Later in his superintendent’s report, Hoffert reviewed WCS’s delay and cancellation process.
He said WCS is spread over a very large geographical area, and is “one of the largest in the state of Indiana,” which is a “blessing and a curse” at the same time. The area has a lot of back roads and different weather patterns that take place.
Hoffert said when it comes to snow, U.S. 30 is almost the dividing line. “What our weather pattern is in Leesburg is very different than what it is at Diamond Lake and Silver Lake,” he said.
A decision on delaying or canceling school begins at about 4:15 or 4:30 a.m. when bus drivers are sent out to test the roads. They report in to the transportation department, which is in contact with the city, county and state about their plowing schedules and where they are recommending they will be by the time the buses have to be on the road.
The director of transportation then calls the superintendent at about 5 a.m. with a recommendation that comes out from the reports received.
“If it’s still questionable at all, we have about a 30-minute leeway in there to be able to go out and drive roads more,” Hoffert said.
First student pick-up happens at 5:45 a.m. Once that first student pick-up happens, Hoffert said they can’t return students to their house per WCS policy and procedure.
Warsaw bus routes run double routes. As soon as they’re done running the first route, they run a second route.
If WCS has a two-hour delay, Hoffert said they have exactly two hours from that first delay time to make the call on whether there’s a cancellation or not. The decision on a cancellation has to be made between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m.
Hoffert reminded parents that if they decide it’s not safe for their child to be out on the road, “it’s always the parents’ right on whether the child comes to school.” WCS asks that if a parent determines it isn’t safe for their child to be out on the road that they call the school.
He also talked about eLearning Days which allow schools to make up cancellation days through online classes or lessons. WCS had its first eLearning Day Saturday, but Warsaw still has four days to make-up so far for the 2017-18 school year. Another eLearning Day is scheduled for March 17.
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