Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Mark Minatel will continue on the Warsaw School Board until a special election determines his replacement, the board decided Monday.
Minatel, the District 4 representative on the school board, did not run for re-election in November. However, the two candidates vying for the District 4 seat on the board - Charles Sauders and Sterling Watkins - will not know the winner of the board seat until after a special election in February.
Watkins contested the five-vote outcome of the election after a ballot error in one voting district was discovered. He filed suit requesting a special election, which was granted Dec. 8 by Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Rex Reed.
Monday, school board president Craig Allebach said Reed had recommended Minatel continue on the board until his successor is determined, and Minatel had agreed to stay "until a duly elected board member takes his place."
The resolution unanimously was passed by the board.
The board also thanked Minatel, Allebach and Jim Folk for their service. Allebach and Folk will not return in January and will be replaced by Deb Wiggins and Dan Robinson, respectively.
January's regular meeting will be held the third Monday, Jan. 17, but the reorganization meeting for the board will be at noon Jan. 10.
The board also:
• Heard a presentation by Cameron Carter and Zack Rooker on the Wright brothers. The two Washington Elementary students prepared the presentation for EdCom, and then traveled to the Kitty Hawk Museum in North Carolina last summer to give their presentation.
• Heard a report by assistant superintendent Sandra Hess on the state of education nationally, statewide and locally. According to Hess, nationwide crime by teens ages 12-17 is down, teen pregnancy rates are dropping and fewer students are caught carrying weapons.
Students also are "safer in schools than anywhere else," Hess said.
Academically, she said, Warsaw schools are above the state average in ISTEP scores, including the 10th-grade Graduation Qualifying Exam.
• Preliminarily accepted the proposed 2005-06 school calendar. Minatel suggested the Wednesday before Thanksgiving be used as an early release day for students so they can travel early for Thanksgiving, and Hess and superintendent Dr. David McGuire said that will be considered before the final calendar is passed.
• Heard enrollment in Warsaw schools is at 6,610 students, up 96 from the same time last year. By school, enrollments compared to last year (Dec. 10) are: Eisenhower 628 (533 in 2003); Harrison 616 (600 last year); Jefferson 339 (311); Leesburg 525 (471); Lincoln 473 (443); Madison 536 (446); Washington 543 (408); Edgewood 479 (477); Lakeview 583 (564); and WCHS 1,860 (1,785).
Board members for January's meetings will be Larry Chamberlain, Gene England, Cathy Folk, Mark Minatel, Dan Robinson, Deb Wiggins and Ron Yeiter.
