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NORTH MANCHESTER -ÊA group of parents, teachers and school administrators studied ideas Tuesday for reconfiguration possibilities between Manchester and Laketon elementary schools.
The task force will listen to teachers and community members' concerns and ideas for school efficiency at Laketon Elementary School on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. and at Manchester Elementary on Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. The task force will present its recommendation to the Manchester school board.
The 21-member committee follows Indiana State University educational leadership professor Dr. Bob Boyd's suggestion about making the school corporation "more effective and efficient" in the face of a declining student population.
Boyd recommended splitting the elementary schools into a kindergarten-through-third-grade school and a fourth- through-sixth-grade school.
Boyd shared his feasibility study with the school board Feb. 5 at the school board meeting.
Student achievement is the reconfiguration's No. 1 aim, said Bonnie Ingraham, Manchester Elementary School principal.
Collaboration, consistency and competition were Ingraham's terms to best push the programs to that goal.
Teachers' collaborating will usher in consistency, said Ingraham.
"Any time teachers of the same grade level get together, there'll be benefits to the students," said Kathy Hawkins, a Laketon Elementary kindergarten teacher.
A problem Ingraham recognized was "we like things just the way they are."
"We tend to think this is the way we've always done it," she said. "There's a lot of community pride that could keep us from getting better." She became emotional. "I am willing to investigate change."
"Everyone here wants what's best for the students," said Kathy Holyoak, North Manchester.
