Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Warsaw Community High School will have a new varsity basketball coach, following a unanimous approval Monday by the Warsaw school board.
Douglas T. Ogle, junior varsity boys basketball coach at WCHS for the past 15 years, will replace Al Rhodes, who has resigned as varsity coach, effective July 1, after 22 years.
Ogle, said school superintendent Dr. Lee Harman, "has probably without question the most outstanding win-loss ratio in the state. ... He's also an outstanding classroom teacher and he's highly regarded by his peers. I highly endorse this recommendation."
After the board's vote, Ogle introduced his wife, Melissa, and their three daughters: Courtney, Cendall and Creigh, and said: "I certainly appreciate the opportunity that the board has given me and I'm gonna try very hard to make your decision in the long run a good one."
Harman also wished Rhodes well and said, "He's done an outstanding job for Warsaw Community Schools in that position."
Rhodes will continue to teach at WCHS but will no longer coach basketball.
The board opened Monday's meeting with a moment of silence for Andy Cook, who was killed in a traffic accident early Saturday morning. Board president Craig Allebach said Cook was a senior at the AIMS school and was getting ready to graduate this year with the WCHS senior class.
The board also, in response to a question from a WCS patron, discussed the three elementary schools that were named by the Indiana Department of Education as showing no improvement by low-income students for two consecutive years. Those schools are Leesburg, Jefferson and Lincoln elementaries.
Dr. David McGuire, assistant superintendent, said the study focused on "only schools with the highest number of free and reduced lunches. So it targets our neediest students."
Harman said that in response to the study, which is part of the federal government's No Child Left Behind program, "It may force us to narrow our focus more on those three schools, depending on the resources that are available to us. ... So it is possible that that will have an effect on other schools, and not a positive one."
He also said one major factor is student mobility, and the three schools named have more student mobility than other schools in the corporation.
Getting parents actively involved in their children's education is key to improving test scores, Harman said.
"The challenges are coming up with creative things to get people to encourage kids to read," McGuire said.
The board also:
• Unanimously approved maintaining the current board electoral districts, with the inclusion of Plain Precinct 5 to be included in the school board's electoral District 2. The board has seven districts, and the following board members' terms expire in 2002: District 1, Brad Brail; District 2, Cathy Folk; District 5, Larry Chamberlain; and District 7, Roy Szymanski.
• Set summer school dates as: high school, session 1, June 6-28, 7:40-12:15 p.m.; high school, session 2, July 8-30, same time; and elementary and middle school remedial classes, July 24-Aug. 9, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Only remedial classes will be offered this year; there will be no enrichment classes in summer school.
• Unanimously approved reading, writing, language and literature textbooks for elementary and middle school; and foreign language, literature, English, speech and journalism texts for high school.
• Approved student release dates for the 2002-03 school year as: Oct. 3, Nov. 6, Dec. 3, Feb. 4, March 5 and April 24.
• Heard a report from Harman that enrollment in all schools as of April 30 was 6,278 students, approximately 43 more than the same time last year.
School board members are: Craig Allebach, Brad Brail, Larry Chamberlain, Cathy Folk, James Folk, Charles Sauders and Roy Szymanski. The board meets at 7 p.m. on the third Monday of each month in the administration building.
