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Lincoln Elementary School in Warsaw will have a new principal next year, according to the Warsaw School Board's vote Monday.
The board unanimously approved Robert Harris as the new principal. Harris will replace Laura Ramsey, who has transferred to a teaching position at Leesburg Elementary.
Harris, 38, comes to Lincoln from Crown Point Community Schools, where he was an elementary principal. But for Harris, moving to Warsaw is nothing new - he lived here for 14 years and was previously the assistant principal at Edgewood Middle School.
"I'm really looking forward to coming back - it's like coming home," he said after the board meeting.
He said Lincoln's greatest attribute is its staff. "At Lincoln the teachers really care about the students and where they're at right now."
His priority will be to boost reading skills, he said: "Reading has got to be No. 1."
Aware of the growing number of Hispanic and English-as-a-second-language students at Lincoln, he said he has traveled extensively throughout Mexico and speaks some Spanish, and hopes that will help him in communicating with all parents and in reaching out to the Hispanic community.
The father of two boys, ages 5 and 2, he plans to move to Warsaw in July.
The board also unanimously approved the price hikes for student lunches, as requested last month. According to food service director Marci Franks, full-price school lunches next year will go from $1.50 to $1.75 for elementary students, and from $1.50 to $2 for secondary students. Adult meals will go from $2 to $2.50.
Reduced-price and free lunches will not change.
In other business:
• The board heard a report by Dennis VanDuyne, who is the technology coordinator for Warsaw Community Schools. VanDuyne said he is developing a "quality indicator" for teachers, which would be a computerized record of a student's progress and standardized test scores.
• Rande Thorpe, WCS business manager, announced the dates for board meetings on the 2002 budget. The first publication of the proposed budget will be July 25, and the second publication will be Aug. 4. On Aug. 20 he will present the budget to the board in a public meeting, and on Sept. 4 the board will hold a special meeting to vote on budget adoption.
• WCHS Future Business Leaders of America students Mark Grossnickle, Kyle Masur, Rosalyn Nguyen, Adam Reed and Liz Wiggins were recognized for participating in the national conference in Orlando, Fla., June 27 through July 3.
• The board approved the cosmetology program at Warsaw Community High School, which is offered through the Career Center by Huntington Beauty College.
• The board will hold a special meeting on the facilities study report on June 25 at 7 p.m. in the WCHS lecture room.
School board members are: Craig Allebach, Brad Brail, Larry Chamberlain, Cathy Folk, James Folk, Charles Sauders and Roy Szymanski. They meet in the administration building at 7 p.m. on the third Monday of each month.
