MENTONE — Mentone Elementary School Principal Randy Dahms updated the Tippecanoe Valley School Board on the school at the board's regular meeting Monday.
Mentone currently has 367 students, split between 176 girls and 191 boys.
Dahms noted students are "by and large ... at or above state averages in most cases" on the ILEARN English test and close on the math test as well.
He recognized second-grader Charlotte Treber for achieving a perfect score on the IREAD-3 test, aimed at third-graders.
Dahms and his staff also recognized the Mentone student council and spell bowl and math teams.
The board also heard from Tippecanoe Valley High School Principal Brandon Kresca about proposed changes to grading at the high school.
Currently, semester grades are calculated for each class with 40% of the grade being from the first quarter of the class, 40% from the second quarter and 20% from the final exam.
Kresca explained leaders were hoping to move toward a system with 30% of the grade from assignments, 55% of the grade from initial tests, quizzes, etc., 5% from a midterm exam and 10% from a final exam.
He said naming a valedictorian and salutatorian each year might be eliminated in favor of honoring groups who earned GPAs to reach summa cum laude, magna cum laude and the like.
No decision on the measures was made at the meeting.
In other business, the board:
• Approved the hiring of Akron Elementary School instructional assistant Kelsey Engle; Mentone kindergarten teacher Kyla Giek, fourth-grade teacher Annie Lundy and fifth-grade teacher Abbey Sponseller; Tippecanoe Valley Middle School English language arts teachers Naomi Trojan and Julie Burlingame, technology associate Dawson Bradley and business and college and careers teacher Quinten Moore; TVHS dean of students Eli Henson; and TVHS and TVMS secondary English learner teacher Robert Weber.
• Approved the leave request for Mentone first-grade teacher Courtney Biddle.
• Approved Miranda Figert moving from an Akron third-grade teacher to the TVSC digital integration specialist and Jenna Burton moving from TVHS special education teacher to TVHS ag teacher.
• Accepted the resignation of TVHS and TVMS English learner teacher Elizabeth Brenton; TVHS student council sponsor Jenna Burton, instructional assistant Monica Razkowski, part-time custodian Randy Moyer and functional skills job coach assistant Nancy Hughes; TVMS seventh- and eighth-grade English language arts teacher Dakota DeBaets and cheer coach Kiersten Gagnon; Akron fifth-grade girls volleyball coach Mary Beth Francis; and Mentone treasurer Tina Francis.
• Approved TVMS students and a teacher traveling to the National History Day competition in Washington, D.C., from June 8-12.
The board's next regular meeting is 6 p.m. June 16 at Mentone.