Wawasee Looks At Student Transportation Safety
November 14, 2018 at 6:06 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
The discussion was the centerpiece of the board’s monthly meeting, held at Milford School.
According to Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington, Mike Snavely, Wawasee’s transportation director, was looking at where students have to cross heavily traveled roads within hours of the accident that killed three Mentone Elementary School students Oct. 30. In that accident, the three students had to cross Ind. 25 from the mobile home park where they lived to catch the bus.
Edington said some changes have already been implemented and others are being discussed.
A great deal of discussion centered around Wawasee Middle School, located on Ind. 13 south of Syracuse. The combination of traffic from students being picked up, school buses coming onto and off of the property, and the speed limits in front of the school are cause for concern.
Snavely said he and others are working on a plan for the school, and a new system will be implemented by Dec. 3. Because the plan wasn’t finalized, there was no public discussion regarding what changes will be made.
Test scores and prep were also discussed at length. Assistant Superintendent Joy Goshert showed several slides where the corporation did well, and others where there is certain room for improvement. She also compared the corporation’s results to statewide results.
Wawasee students performed better on the ACT than either the NWEA or the last ISTEP test, an anomaly which Goshert was at a loss to explain. The public can see the results online at compass.doe.in.gov.
Goshert emphasized the new ILEARN test isn’t just a modified ISTEP. She said the materials available to teachers for test preparation can be overwhelming, so she and her staff have created “Wawasee ILEARN.” Goshert called it “a one-stop shop” for teachers to learn what applies to their particular grade levels or subjects, what parts of the curriculum have greater emphasis on the test and more.
Before the meeting, board members and other administrators toured the renovated Milford School, which houses both elementary and middle school students.
From there the meeting began with demonstrations from robotics teams from Wawasee and Milford middle schools. Each school qualified squads for state competition Dec. 8 in Fort Wayne.
Over the summer the Wawasee Iron Pride robotics team, along with parents and sponsors, provided labor for the Brunswick Leisure Boats company picnic, and in turn the company donated $1,400 to the team.
Other “good news” items included Wawasee students raising more than $14,000 in goods for a hunger program and a bus driver complimenting corporation eighth-graders on their behavior on a fall break trip to Washington, D.C.
Amanda Knipper, instructional coach at Syracuse Elementary, has been named a Woodrow Wilson Foundation MBA fellow in education leadership. She is currently working on her MBA and administrator’s license at Indiana State University.
Retired custodian Byron Oswald was recognized for his 27 years of service to the corporation at Wawasee High School.
In his report, Edington said women’s soccer teams from both Grace College and Eastern Oregon University had asked to use the turf field at Warrior Field for practice this week in preparation for the two college’s NAIA national tournament match Saturday in Winona Lake.
The corporation continues to look for a place to put solar panels for several buildings. Edington said installers told him the roofs of buildings wasn’t a good place for the panels, as most roofs aren’t designed to handle the foot traffic created by maintenance workers.
The next Wawasee school board meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Dec. 11.
The discussion was the centerpiece of the board’s monthly meeting, held at Milford School.
According to Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington, Mike Snavely, Wawasee’s transportation director, was looking at where students have to cross heavily traveled roads within hours of the accident that killed three Mentone Elementary School students Oct. 30. In that accident, the three students had to cross Ind. 25 from the mobile home park where they lived to catch the bus.
Edington said some changes have already been implemented and others are being discussed.
A great deal of discussion centered around Wawasee Middle School, located on Ind. 13 south of Syracuse. The combination of traffic from students being picked up, school buses coming onto and off of the property, and the speed limits in front of the school are cause for concern.
Snavely said he and others are working on a plan for the school, and a new system will be implemented by Dec. 3. Because the plan wasn’t finalized, there was no public discussion regarding what changes will be made.
Test scores and prep were also discussed at length. Assistant Superintendent Joy Goshert showed several slides where the corporation did well, and others where there is certain room for improvement. She also compared the corporation’s results to statewide results.
Wawasee students performed better on the ACT than either the NWEA or the last ISTEP test, an anomaly which Goshert was at a loss to explain. The public can see the results online at compass.doe.in.gov.
Goshert emphasized the new ILEARN test isn’t just a modified ISTEP. She said the materials available to teachers for test preparation can be overwhelming, so she and her staff have created “Wawasee ILEARN.” Goshert called it “a one-stop shop” for teachers to learn what applies to their particular grade levels or subjects, what parts of the curriculum have greater emphasis on the test and more.
Before the meeting, board members and other administrators toured the renovated Milford School, which houses both elementary and middle school students.
From there the meeting began with demonstrations from robotics teams from Wawasee and Milford middle schools. Each school qualified squads for state competition Dec. 8 in Fort Wayne.
Over the summer the Wawasee Iron Pride robotics team, along with parents and sponsors, provided labor for the Brunswick Leisure Boats company picnic, and in turn the company donated $1,400 to the team.
Other “good news” items included Wawasee students raising more than $14,000 in goods for a hunger program and a bus driver complimenting corporation eighth-graders on their behavior on a fall break trip to Washington, D.C.
Amanda Knipper, instructional coach at Syracuse Elementary, has been named a Woodrow Wilson Foundation MBA fellow in education leadership. She is currently working on her MBA and administrator’s license at Indiana State University.
Retired custodian Byron Oswald was recognized for his 27 years of service to the corporation at Wawasee High School.
In his report, Edington said women’s soccer teams from both Grace College and Eastern Oregon University had asked to use the turf field at Warrior Field for practice this week in preparation for the two college’s NAIA national tournament match Saturday in Winona Lake.
The corporation continues to look for a place to put solar panels for several buildings. Edington said installers told him the roofs of buildings wasn’t a good place for the panels, as most roofs aren’t designed to handle the foot traffic created by maintenance workers.
The next Wawasee school board meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Dec. 11.
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