LARWILL – Whitko School Board members voted 3-2 to add seventh- and eighth-graders to the high school in South Whitley at its Monday meeting.

With more than 130 people in the middle school auditorium, Jorell Tucker, Carrie Hoffman and Matt Long voted for the reorganization at the high school and Georgia Tenney and Eric Trump voted against it.

As decided at the December meeting, sixth-grade students will be added to their respective elementary schools starting this fall.

The fate of Whitko Middle School, which will be emptied of students by the reorganization, was not discussed by the board.

South Whitley Town Board President Randy Cokl addressed the board in a special presentation, pointing to many factors that make Whitko a great school, adding that the decrease in enrollment should be addressed before any major construction projects were considered.

Lew Collier urged the board to vote for moving the high school students to the middle school site in Larwill because of its centralized location.

Stephanie Meyer said her two children attend Manchester schools and no one contacted her to ask why they moved. She argued Whitko’s student loss began in 1991 when the middle school was built, followed by low test scores and declining morale in the building.

Tony Starkey said his sincere hope was the community and the school corporation could continue to work together to make the school the best it could be.

Steve Mundy, whose blood ran red, white and blue, he claimed, reminded the board of the updates the high school received 12 years ago. He said he appreciated the police department, fire department and EMTs four blocks away while he was vice principal of the high school for 17 years.

Cory Shipper urged the board to move two grades to the high school site rather than four grades to the middle school site, and he said he was opposed to spending money before the student population dilemma was worked out.

Whitko Middle School eighth-grader Hailey Arnold said she has been at the school for four years, starting when she was a fifth-grader while South Whitley Elementary School underwent renovations, and she would not spend her high school years in the building.

“The atmosphere here is unhealthy and challenging,” she said. “If you move the high schoolers here you will only make it worse. There are a lot of bad memories.”

“If you move here,” she said of the Larwill site, “I won’t be here. For Whitko students this will never be a high school. It will be a building with another name on it.”

Tom Crowder, a 1972 Whitko graduate, talked about the convenience of walking to the high school.

“You can’t walk from Larwill,” he said.

He felt the board had an obligation to the community, to South Whitley.

“I don’t think the building makes the student, but there’s nothing that can’t be done at the high school to make it viable. Stick with South Whitley for that small town feel.”



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Board member Carrie Hoffman seconded the motion to move two middle school grades to the high school building, after Matt Long made the motion.

During discussion, Hoffman commented that she didn’t feel there was enough public support to develop the Larwill campus.

Long didn’t question that Larwill was a more central location but asked where the money to develop the Larwill site would come from. Tucker said there were no winners or losers in the decision and no one was claiming a victory.

Superintendent Steve Clason reminded everyone there are funds to facilitate the initial move to either location.

Trump said the school corporation needs to push the technical aspects of the buildings and take those opportunities.

“We’ve got to pull together,” he said. “We can really build a great school.”

The school board plans a work session at 4 p.m. Feb. 6 in the administration office at the middle school. The next regular board meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 19 in the middle school lecture room.