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What the future of Lakeview Middle School may be was a topic from Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert during the Warsaw School Board meeting Monday.
Hoffert said when Warsaw Community Schools looked at their 10-year facility plan, they knew Lakeview was going to be the next major area to look at. Inside a school system, there isn’t going to be a time where the school system doesn’t have something going on with its facility plan.
In September, the board approved a bid from Performance Services Inc. (PSI), which allowed the school corporation to engage with PSI in the development of the specifics of a guaranteed energy savings contract. The work is planned for the summer.
Lakeview was built in 1962 and transitioned to a middle school in the early 1990s. Hoffert said the school corporation has gone through the needs of the Lakeview building over the past three years.
Some of the things WCS is looking at includes enrollment and academic and programmatic needs for students.
The options for Lakeview are to create a new school, renovate Lakeview, create a combined middle school at the Edgewood Middle School location or to create a combined middle school at the Lakeview location.
When creating a new location, possibly north of town, there are concerns of finding an appropriate location with necessary space and infrastructure. Another concern is what WCS would do with Gateway and Warsaw Career Center classes housed at Lakeview. WCS is not taking creating a new school completely off the table at this point, but Hoffert said it’s probably not the solution at this point.
As far as renovating the current building, Hoffert said the building is structurally sound. The alternative and career center classes have a home, but it’s not an optimal home, he said.
With combining both middle schools at Edgewood, doing so would not allow for future growth. There are also bussing and traffic concerns, he said.
With combining both middle schools at Lakeview, there is a strong building with opportunities to create a middle school with appropriate programing. It also leaves room for growth for academic needs in the future, he said.
There are still a number of hurdles to overcome, but he said the school corporation wanted to put the information “in front of everyone.”
Hoffert said representatives from WCS have met with the city of Warsaw, All-IN Kosciusko, Tiger ambassadors and are starting to meet with key stakeholders and the Winona Avenue group to get feedback. The school corporation also plans on meeting with Lakeview and Edgewood staff.
WCS would like to make a decision by May or June so the school corporation has an overall plan and timeline. Hoffert said it would be a five- or six-year plan no matter which way the school corporation went.
Hoffert also talked about several bills that might affect WCS more than others. They are House Bill 1004, HB 1266, Senate Bill 78, SB 88 and SB 278. He noted 2026 is not a budget year, but there are a lot of philosophical pieces attached to them.
Hoffert HB 1004 is a deregulation bill. He said he is always for deregulation, so whenever the legislature puts a deregulation bill in place, he looks at it a generally good topic. There are 10 to 15 pages of deregulation topics that are in the bill and Hoffert said some may stay in or come out, but overall the bill “is going to be moving forward.”
HB 1266 talks about math instruction. It would regulate every day in K-5, there would be about 60 minutes of math instruction and about 20 minutes of reading time. Hoffert said it’s not a bad thing, but at the same time, “you’re pinching out some of the other areas” of instruction. Hoffert also brought up SB88, which talks about civics instruction.
SB 78 talks about wireless communications, mainly about cell phones and watches that connects to cell phones.
“I do believe we’re going to see more stringent wireless communication that is out there,” he said. He thinks the main debate is going to be about whether it’s about safely securing the device or proper usage of the device. He said WCS currently has an out-of-sight, out-of-mind policy. Unless a teacher tells a student they can have their phone out or the student is in a passing period or lunch, they are not supposed to have their phone out.
“This bill will take that a step further, which ever way it goes,” he said. As soon as the bill is passed, WCS will have to make sure all the schools have the same policy.
SB 278 will take a look at the effects of SB 1, which will provide $1.3 billion in property tax relief for homeowners over the next three years.
In other business, the board approved a $1,000 donation from Nissan of Warsaw for the Warsaw Community High School wrestling team, a $2,500 donation from Warsaw Jeep/GMC for WCHS athletics and a $13,000 donation from Lakeside Chevrolet for WCHS athletics.
