Though elated the Warsaw boys basketball team is headed to the state finals Saturday, senior Todd Eastis expressed his displeasure Monday night that EdCom was rescheduled to April 24.
Eastis told the Warsaw School Board it was great the Warsaw Community High School team was going to Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. What worried him, he said, was that the basketball team was taking precedence over EdCom. EdCom is a 10-year tradition, he said. The students and teachers spent many hours on their presentations that maybe only a few people would have seen Saturday.
EdCom originally was set Saturday for 9 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m. The basketball game in Indianapolis isn't until Saturday at about 8:30 p.m. Eastis said there was plenty of time in the day to do both.
"If any other sports team would have made state, would EdCom have been postponed?" Eastis asked.
Other sports and academic teams have competed at the state level. Eastis said the focus should be on academics and EdCom over the basketball team.
"We are all Tigers whether we are elementary schoolers or high schoolers," Eastis said. He suggested the board reconsider rescheduling EdCom from Saturday to April 24.
Board Vice President Dan Robinson said the board knows EdCom is successful and well attended. The fear, he said, was that attendance at EdCom would be drastically reduced if they did both.
Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz said staff consider either keeping EdCom for Saturday or moving it to an acceptable date. Administrative Assistant David Robinson, at Harrison Elementary School, is coordinating EdCom this year. Hintz said Robinson contacted Assistant to the Superintendent Chris Gensinger, Hintz and others about if a possible conflict with EdCom should arise.
Hintz said they received numerous calls from families wanting to travel down to Indianapolis this weekend for the state finals. Hintz said they could have done both EdCom and the state finals, but many families wanted to make a weekend trip to Indianapolis.
Hintz thanked Eastis for addressing the board on the issue.
Previously, Warsaw Schools has had a kindergarten round-up. However, this year, every elementary school will have a kindergarten round-up on the same day at the same time.
The districtwide kindergarten round-up is scheduled for April 13 from 7 to 8 p.m.
Jefferson Elementary School Principal Dennis Duncan said WCS has designated the April as pre-registration for kindergarten month.
"We've not done (kindergarten round-up) on a districtwide basis before," said Duncan.
On April 13, Duncan said all parents will get a packet of information. There will be a Power Point presentation as well that evening. Parents will learn what school supplies their students will need, as well as hear from the school nurse about immunization and medication records. The transportation department will provide information on bussing, and first-time parents will learn what a day in kindergarten is like.
"That's very important because kindergarten today is very much like the first grade we remember," Duncan said.
Hintz said it's necessary for WCS to come out as early as it can to attract new families to the school corporation. He said they will see how having districtwide kindergarten round-up goes.
In other business, the school board:
n Recognized the Edgewood Middle School Math Counts team. Members of the teams are Noah Williams, CJ Pullen, Nathan Palladino, Stephen Shen, Eric Coppes, Carter Besson, Louis Bolduc, DeYu Huang, co-coach Noel Howett, Grant Carlson, Bryce Carter, Drew Tomasik, James Wynn and co-coach Lorinda Kline.
n Recognized the EMS students who competed in the Optimist Oratorical contest. Coached by David Cook, the students who participated include Alexi Demopoulos, Landen DeGraff, Chandler Stevens, MaryCatherine Mayer, Cindi Trier, Nicole Eckert, Cara Drook, Maya Panicker, Leanna Chan, Leanna Engle, Kara Millington and Evan Miller.
n Heard the board will be asked to adopt mathematics textbooks at the April meeting.
n Approved the WCHS choral department's request to take choral students to New York City in May 2011.
n Heard enrollment at all Warsaw schools is down by about 76 students since September to 6,903.
n Approved change orders for the elementary school projects. The change orders included $72,565 for Claypool; $11,571 for Jefferson; and $82,850 for the Madison and Leesburg projects. Robinson said all the change orders were within the contingency allowance.
