Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH MANCHESTER - Manchester Community Schools' enrollment is up 20 students this year, announced Superintendent Diane Showalter at the school year's first board meeting Tuesday.
With enrollment falling last year by 10 students, the increase is appreciated. The current kindergarten class is partly to thank for the increased numbers. At 121 students, they make up Manchester's largest anticipated graduating class currently in the system.
In other business:
• Manchester recently was awarded a $10,000 competitive grant from Ford Meter Box. The grant monies will go toward the Reading Recovery program for grades K-2.
According to Manchester Elementary School principal Bonnie Ingraham, Reading Recovery needs the funds because it is no longer a priority for federal funding. According to Ingraham, with so many worthwhile early intervention programs available now, there is a lot of competition for funding.
The grant also will free up money in the general fund that was used to fund Reading Recovery in the past.
• The purchase of two new school buses was approved. The buses will be purchased from Kerlin Motors, Silver Lake, and will come fully equipped with cameras, seatbelts and radios for $52,477 minus a $2,000 trade-in on old buses.
School board members are: president Sally Krouse, vice president Todd Speicher, secretary Brad Perrott, Larry Miller, Thom Frantz, Kent Terrill and Caryle McLaughlin. Superintendent is Diane Showalter.
