Warsaw Community High School’s graduation rate last year was the highest it’s ever been, and its football team should have a new coach named before the spring.

Chief Accountability Officer Dani Barkey told the school board Monday night that earlier in the fall the state announced graduation rates, with WCHS’s being in the “mid-94 range, which was really great.”

But several people got together and realized there were some students on the report that Indiana didn’t give Warsaw credit for. “So everybody kind of mobilized,” she said, gathering documentation on those students.

“As a result, all those people came together and worked really hard and we were able to get six more kids recommended by the state for our graduation cohort, which brings our graduation rate up to 95.1 percent, which is our highest. So we’re really, really excited,” Barkey said.

Going from academics to athletics, at the end of the school board meeting Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert gave an update on the search for a new high school football coach.

Coach Phil Jensen announced he was retiring from coaching in December. His retirement was reviewed by the school board Monday in its personnel information and will be voted on at its Jan. 22 meeting.

Hoffert said the first round of interviews for the coaching position are this week.

"We have 12 people, different backgrounds, between parents, administrators, board members, other people that have been involved with football here in Warsaw Community that are going to be involved inside that interview process,”?Hoffert said. This morning he said that committee may have as many as 15 on board.

He said the interviews will begin Thursday, with the second round being in late January. That will give time for the committee to vet each of the final applicants and go through the whole process, including background checks.

Hoffert said this morning that they had weeded the candidates down to six, but could reopen the search if the committee doesn’t feel it found the right head coach.



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The last time he looked, Hoffert said there were 20 head football coaching positions open in Indiana so starting the search process now will get Warsaw ahead of the game.

In his report to the school board, Jim LeMasters, WCS director of facility operations and construction, gave an update on road work around the new Lincoln Elementary School, which opened a year ago.

The city will be redoing Colfax Road “over in front of the back side of Lincoln School. They’re going to be doing that this spring and summer, so then we’ll have sidewalk all around the school.” He said they’ve seen preliminary drawings and it’ll be like what was done on East Market Street with the “in and out parking to help slow people down.”

On Lincoln Street “where our sidewalk comes up, we’re going to make that a designated crossing because it’s kind of a hazard area right there. So that’ll be good when it’s all finished and it’ll all look nice in there.”

He said the city will be paying for the sidewalk.

As for the cafeteria expansion project at the high school, LeMasters said they were getting ready to pre-bid.

“That’s kind of been a long time coming,” he said, but it probably won’t start until school gets out for the summer.

Other upcoming construction at the high school will be the student activity center. Warsaw’s is being patterned after the one at Center Grove High School. LeMasters said he, Hoffert and teachers Stain Seiss and Scott Erba went down and looked at it. All were really impressed with the facility.

The student activity center at WCHS is estimated to cost $10 million and will be paid for by refinancing a bond. It includes a flexible education space, a track, a tournament area, a clinic and possibly other options.