SYRACUSE – Voters last week elected two candidates for the Wawasee school board. The ballot they chose from, however, had wording a little bit different from what they saw last time they went to the polls.
Yogi Berra could once more say, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” A similar problem arose about 20 years ago.
The Wawasee School Corporation is divided into three districts: Syracuse, North Webster and Milford. In order to retain parity, school board members are chosen from these districts, but no more than two from any one district can be seated.
This has caused problems in the past as the vote outcome a while back ended in a legal challenge, board attorney David Cates told the school board Tuesday. This was remedied by a tweak to the wording in that policy.
Since that challenge the ballots have asked voters to choose “either one or none” candidate in each district, sometimes adding directions to vote for no more than two. This year the ballot worded the directions slightly differently.
Cates said the county election board sent a sample ballot with the instruction to vote for only two candidates. The instructions over each district, however, read, “You may choose one candidate,” a slight variation.
Although this was not the school board’s wording on the ballot, Cates was advised that the computer program would not take that language. This difference, however, was probably inconsequential, he explained.
Cates told the board they have the ability to make changes to the policy. How the representatives are chosen is their decision to make. Although this year’s outcome was not negatively affected by the words on the ballot, this has always been a confusing issue for the voters. Cates left it with the board, saying, “The winners have won, and we’re going to move on.”
Superintendent Tom Edington had a lot of good news to report, most of that news being a list of money coming into the corporation. An anonymous benefactor donated $10,000 for a new sound system for the football stadium. That same donor also gave $2,500 to each of the five schools to benefit at-risk students. Edington said any remaining money from the sound system would provide for other sports programs.
The marine mechanics programs received funds from Kosciusko REMC’s round-up program to the tune of $2,000, and Walmart Foundation gave $1,000 to the program. Shopko, the new store in town, donated a total of $2,500, with $500 going to each school to help students, and an automobile was donated to the auto mechanics program to be used by the students.
WHS German teacher Julie Baird received a $1,000 professional development grant, the Eagles Ladies Auxiliary #3760 gave $200 to each elementary school, and the Red Ribbon campaign received a donation of $100 from The Papers.
Corporation staff are trying to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation by participating in “No Shave November.” Some of the male staff have started beards and mustaches, while the female staff is paying to wear jeans. It was determined that before and after photos might present a problem with displaying the women’s legs.
The Stat of the Month segment of the meeting focused on the new state report cards. Data Technician Bob Cockburn explained how he thinks the state evaluators reached their conclusions, but he differed with their conclusions.
Cockburn displayed graphs that showed the corporation’s scores which included actual test results as well as “low progress” figures. These scores were the most difficult to understand as the criteria involved students the state determined did not take the tests as well as an algorithm used to determine how much students progressed from one year to another.
If students had done well one year, but did only as well the following, they were considered “low growth.”
“We’re victims of our past successes,” stated Edington.
Both Cockburn and Edington said they questioned the results and were appealing. “We were concerned and remain concerned that there are issues with the state data,” said Edington.
The board also approved a choir trip to Florida over the 2013 Christmas break, North Webster and Milford community library board appointments and a resolution to schedule a common construction wage hearing for upcoming projects. It also approved an updated agreement with the local Red Cross to use the Milford school in a community emergency.
