Tippy Valley Hires New High School Assistant Principal
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
AKRON – Monday night, the Tippecanoe Valley School Board approved Erin Proskey as the new high school assistant principal.
The board also heard that the number of meals served in the Summer Meals Program was up.
Her position at Tippecanoe Valley High School is Proskey’s first administrative position. She previously served as a special education teacher at Knox Community Schools.
Originally from Chicago, Ill., she lives in Culver with her husband, Ray, and their two children, Lindsey, 11 and Lillian, 8. Ray is the maintenance supervisor at Bay Valley Foods, Plymouth.
Erin said they moved from Chicago because they decided they like the country, which is safer for their children and provides for more opportunities for them. It’s also good for raising a family, she said.
She said she wanted to work at Valley because it is an opportunity to work with kids, work as a team and she wanted to join the Valley team. The position also will help her further her career.
Erin was a special education teacher for 10 years, and teaches at Ancilla College. She received her bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago, her master’s of special education from Northeast Illinois University and her master’s in education leadership at the University of Indianapolis.
Proskey replaces Mike Schmidt, who took a job at Wawasee Schools.
Superintendent Brett Boggs thanked the staff members at Akron and Mentone elementaries and TVHS for their efforts on the Summer Meals Program, which was just completed.
For the third consecutive year, Boggs said, the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. hosted a Summer Meals Program, providing free nutritious breakfasts and lunches to anyone 18 and younger.
This year’s sites were Akron, Mentone and TVHS. A total of 12,361 meals were served during this past summer, which is more than 1,000 more meals than were served in 2010.
At the Akron site, 1,298 breakfasts were served, and 2,555 lunches were served. At Mentone, 1,208 breakfasts were served, with 2,289 lunches served. There were 1,527 breakfasts served at the high school, with 3,484 lunches served.
Boggs said the meals program is a highly successful program that helps meet a need in the community.
Steve Bluhm, Performance Services Inc., provided an update to the board on the wind power project.
He said quite a bit of progress has been made on the wind turbine project since the July meeting.
The last concrete pour is being done today, and everything is on schedule.
The pieces of the wind turbine should be delivered about Sept. 6, with construction beginning Sept. 8. Bluhm said it will take two to three days to complete the tower and blades. A 300-foot crane will help put the turbine together.
After the tower is complete, Bluhm said, a lot of wires will be connected.
By mid to late October, he said, the wind tower should be completed.
In other business, the school board:
- Approved the resignation of: Scott Backus, head baseball coach, TVHS; Emily Finken, physical education teacher, Mentone; Ben Rogers, business teacher, TVHS; Lora Swanson, nurse, Mentone; and Rachel Dawn Walker, teacher, Mentone.
- Approved a grant from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation for mental health services to students and families.
For many years, Valley has contracted with Four County Counseling for the provision of mental health services for students and their families. Due to state and federal reductions in grant funding, these services were no longer available for the 2011-12 school year.
The KCCF became aware of this need and recently made a $5,000 proactive grant to the corporation so the provision of mental health services can continue.
- Approved the hiring of Sandra Cook, secretary, Burket Educational Center, and Jeanna Collins Lidecker, special education preschool, Mentone.
- Approved teacher assignments and extracurricular activities for the 2011-12 school year.
- Announced the upcoming board meetings will be: Sept. 1, budget public hearing, administration office, 7:30 p.m.; Sept. 12, regular meeting and budget adoption, Mentone Elementary School, 7:30 p.m.; and Oct. 10, regular meeting, Mentone Elementary, 7:30 p.m.
Valley’s school board members are Mark Wise, Hal Hoffman, Dave O’Brien, Bryan Murphy and Rod Eaton.
