During the Warsaw School Board meeting Monday night, Board President Jennifer Tandy read two board statements. One was on theme schools, and the other was on the climate audit at Warsaw Community Schools. Warsaw has one theme school already, Washington STEM Academy. It received a nearly half million dollar grant from the Indiana Department of Education in February 2011 to become a science, technology, engineering and math theme school. In November 2012, the board heard presentations on Jefferson becoming a leadership academy; Claypool a Leadership Environment Academics Performance Academy; and Eisenhower a fine arts academy. No action was ever taken on those presentations. On theme schools, Tandy stated Monday night, the Cambridge study, provided by OrthoWorx in April 2011, recommended that WCS investigate the concept of theme or focus schools. “The standards for each content area drive the curriculum, but the theme, or focus, can provide connections for students that make learning more real and engaging,” she read. At the request of Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz, each of the elementary and middle schools considered a theme. “Please understand that the concept of a theme or focus is now optional on the part of the individual school. Moving forward, we know that outside sources of funding will be needed to support their efforts,” she continued. The strategic plan of WCS has “delimiters that describe what we will not do, in order to ensure the achievement of our mission,” she said. One of those delimiters states WCS “will not adopt any new program or service unless it is aligned with and contributes to our mission and is accompanied by the resources needed for its implementation.” Tandy continued, “As a board, we appreciate the time and effort that our principals and staff have invested in considering a theme or focus while keeping in mind the delimiters in our strategic plan.” As for the climate audit, she stated, “We have carefully reviewed the feedback from the WCS staff, and appreciate your insights and concerns. We will use the information to continue our efforts to make decisions that help move our mission forward for all students served by you. We look forward to improving in the areas of RISE, (Professional Learning Communities) collaboration time and professional development opportunities for our staff. “We want to thank all of you for your significant contributions to our students’ lives every day, and we want to thank our superintendent, and our administrative team for the effective leadership and support they provide,” she concluded. A climate audit is a survey of employees to better identify problem areas and morale issues, and suggest possible solutions. The school board did not release any information or data about the climate audit that was taken. At the Jan. 7 school board organizational meeting, the board heard about the climate audit being taken. The audit was sent out to the school corporation’s certified staff at the end of December. Terry Sims, president of the Warsaw Community Educators Association, told the board at that meeting that 350 teachers of 430 certified staff responded to the survey.
