Tippy Valley Middle School Gets Education Department Award
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
MENTONE – An award from the Indiana Department of Education will help Tippecanoe Valley Middle School improve long-term outcomes for students with disabilities.
Donna Lehmann, Valley’s director of special services, told the school board Monday night that Valley received a Special Education Improvement Award from the IDOE for $69,354.24.
In early March, the IDOE distributed a grant application to all school districts to fund projects up to $70,000. Lehmann said districts had a very small window of opportunity to apply for the awards to improve opportunities for students with disabilities. Grants had to address improving education of students in the least restrictive environment, implement common core standards and use of technology.
The focus on the grant for Valley is to improve educational services for middle school students in general education.
The award money will be used for five different things, Lehmann reported.
Dr. Richard Villa will come to Valley in June for two days of training. He is an internationally-known speaker and trainer on working with students in the least-restrictive environment. He will address co-teaching strategies and differentiated instruction in general education.
Grant money also will purchase 80 Tablet computers for educational activities and strategies for students with disabilities. Lehmann said Valley will use iPad technology since the middle school special education department already has a set of 10.
A large chunk of the grant will be used to make the middle school wireless and Internet accessible, she said. Also, the grant will provide for Apple vouchers to purchase educational apps and one additional day of training to review appropriate apps and their use for individualized educational activities.
“I think we’re incredibly blessed to get this,” Lehmann said.
The grant is a reimbursement grant, and the money has to be spent by Sept. 30, she concluded.
The school board also approved the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning Teacher Evaluation System for the 2012-13 school year.
Superintendent Brett Boggs said the state passed legislation in 2010-11, which included that school corporations must have a teacher evaluation system in place.
He said Valley formed a committee and it and administrators started looking at evaluation tools in October.
“We decided pretty quickly on MCREL,” he said.
Thursday and Friday, Valley and Rochester Community Schools conducted two days of orientation on the system. The Valley staff that participated in the orientation will be responsible for sharing what they learned with other staff.
Boggs said the system is web based, and a lot of work. Administrators will be spending more time in the classrooms and the evaluations will be time consuming.
“It’s going to be a big change from what we’ve done in the past,” he said.
Board President Mark Wise said, “The goal is to make more effective teachers and improve student learning.”
The board also approved Meagan Wilks as Valley’s new director of special services. She replaces Lehmann at the Burket Educational Center. Her contract is for 220 days for a salary of $64,460.
Currently, Wilks is a special education teacher at Akron Elementary School.
In other business, the board: – Announced upcoming meetings will be: June 11, regular meeting, TVSC administration office, 7:30 p.m.; July 9, regular meeting, TVSC administration office, 7:30 p.m. – Accepted the resignations of: Buddy Busby, swim coach, Tippecanoe Valley High School; Kathy Eakins, custodian, Akron. – Accepted the retirement of: Lora Harp, guidance counselor, Mentone; Rebecca Smith, teacher, Mentone. – Approved textbook adoption for the 2012-13 school year; and Title I grant application for 2012-13. – Approved changes to the student, athletics and staff handbooks for 2012-13 as presented at the April meeting. – Approved changes to school board policy regarding retirement plan full-time and classified personnel as presented at the April meeting. – Recognized Mentone Elementary’s student council, Spell Bowl Team, Math Team, office helpers, spelling bee winner and runnerup, IREAD-3 perfect scorers and Mentone Kiwanis Super Bug Award recipients. Fifth-grader Justin Peconga was recognized for not missing a single day of school at Mentone for the six years he attended.
Videos of the recognitions are posted on the Times-Union website at www.timesuniononline.com
