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PIERCETON - Some construction is still going on at Pierceton Elementary School, but school started today as scheduled, principal Ruth Jones told the Whitko School Board Monday.
All the schools have air conditioning installed, said superintendent Dr. William Worl, and some work remains to be done at Pierceton.
The board also approved discontinuing the norm-referenced testing portion of the ISTEP+ for grade 10. The decision was based on a recommendation by curriculum director Diana Showalter, who said that part of the test, which takes approximately three hours, is useful only for comparing students' progress with students in the rest of the country. Students' scores will still be compared to others in Indiana, she said.
The board's approval was for one year only, and the issue can be brought back next year if they find a need for the test.
In other business:
• The board welcomed Jerry Klausing as the new Whitko Middle School principal, replacing JoElla Smyth, who is the new principal of Edgewood Middle School, Warsaw. Klausing was formerly the assistant principal of Fort Wayne's Northrup High School.
• Heard a report from school board counsel Dan Sigler on the litigation over the Whitko Middle School roof. The school corporation and school board sued the architects, contractors and shingle manufacturers in early 1999 because the design of the roof system and the application of the shingles was inadequate, Worl said. The roof was put on the school around 1993 and leaks have caused damage inside the school.
Sigler said the suit has been in mediation and the school corporation is now waiting on a settlement proposal from the defendants. Worl said no interior repairs to the middle school have been done yet because the lawsuit is not yet resolved, but "if we can't get it resoled, we may have to go ahead with repairs, because the damage is bad inside."
• No members of the public were present for the board's public hearing on its 2001 budget. The final adoption of the budget will be at a special meeting Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. in the administration building.
• The board appointed Charles Snyder as the Whitko Community Schools' representative on the Pierceton Washington Township Park Board. Snyder's term is from July 1 to June 30, 2003.
Whitko School Board members are: Michael Braddock, Deborah Collier, Larry Long, Dave Tranter and Hal Trump. The board meets at 7:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month.
