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SYRACUSE - More and more people are turning to "blogs" to get their message across.ÊThat's precisely what Wawasee Superintendent Dr. Mark Stock has done.
At Tuesday night's Wawasee school board meeting, Stock informed the board he has begun posting on his own Web log, or blog, in an effort to better inform the community of things happening not only at Wawasee, but but what's going on at the state level that will affect public education.
With the movement, or lack of, at the last state legislature meeting and the way things are looking for public education, Stock said he believes this would be the best way to keep the members of the Wawasee community abreast of the things that go on downstate and how they will affect the local schools, not just overall education in the state.
Stock also has included a link on his site so interested patrons can contact their representatives at the state and national levels.
"Our hope is that our local community will have a chance through this site to get to that real quickly," Stock said.
Stock also plans to have more parties become involved in blogging. "By the end of the year, all our principals will have their own blog spot. It's a way for us to communicate to the Wawasee community more effectively," he said.
In addition to posting information about state education activities, Stock also has given the blog the scoop on delays and cancellations.ÊBefore reporting any delays to local media, Stock posts them on the blog, making it the first to get the information out.
The site has been up for three weeks and Stock reported that the traffic on the site has been pretty decent, with a total of 3,000 Web loads in a one-week period.
The blog is available to the public and the address is www.wawasee.blogspot.com
Stock also reported on the status of state funding for the school district.
"For Wawasee, there is no way to give you a clear outlook," he said. "I will not sit here and tell you that there will not be program cuts, but we can carve away at it through attrition and retirements."
Stock said nothing came of the last legislative session but the next one would be telling.
The school board also heard from two parents who were concerned for their daughter's education after she was diagnosed with a rare disease.
The child has a disease called Babeiosis and has missed an enormous amount of school.
"It's a serious illness that zaps your energy and stamina," the child's father, Steve Shipley, said.
The parents believe the teachers at Wawasee High School are not living up to their promises to let their daughter turn in work that she has done from home. "You've just abandoned my daughter," the mother, Kim Shipley, said. "Everyone just wants to slide her under the table."
The board acknowledges the situation and recommended the Shipleys meet privately with Dr. Stock, but also cautioned that when communicating with the board members, that the Shipleys refrain from doing so in a threatening manner. A Syracuse police officer was stationed outside the meeting room if needed.
"I've heard through this process that you have made people feel threatened. You need to take a good look at yourself," said board member Brain Dawes. "We all want what is best for your daughter."
The Wawasee school board meets on the second Tuesday of every month; however, next month's meet will be moved to April 19 to accommodate spring break.
