In his superintendent's report to the Warsaw School Board Monday night, Dr. Craig Hintz touched on staffing levels, the current Madison and Leesburg school buildings, next year's budget and first-year teachers.
Hintz said the staffing level for the 2010-11 school year has been finalized. Warsaw Community Schools has 11 retirements, a few resignations and some personnel changes.
Right now, there are nine positions that are not going to be filled next school year. The goal is to have 10 less next year than this year as part of budget reduction efforts. Hintz said he doesn't believe the reduction in staff will have a negative impact on class sizes.
Recently, Hintz said corporation resident Kevin Zachary has approached the school corporation on behalf of some not-for-profit groups interested in using the Madison school.
Hintz suggested the board have a public work session in early summer to discuss the current Madison and Leesburg elementary schools and what to do with them.
The new Madison and Leesburg schools, along with the renovated and improved Jefferson and reopened Claypool schools, are expected to be open in time for school in August.
For 2011, the Indiana Department of Education is recommending that as the budget process begins, school corporations should assume levels of percentage reductions similar to the 2010 reductions. Schools are being cautioned to budget cautiously and conservatively, Hintz said.
For 2010, Warsaw Community Schools' total budget was reduced by about $2.2 million.
Finally, Hintz said he met individually with all first-year teachers in the school system. When he asked them what they learned, they told him they loved to be at Warsaw and loved the way the students and they were treated, but there was one consistent theme.
He said that one theme was that the first-year teachers had to learn to be really flexible in their work. That's not something one learns when working toward their teaching degree.
Jefferson Principal Dennis Duncan gave a report on the Title I program at WCS.
Duncan said there are 13 full-time certified teachers and 21 part-time instructional assistants for the Title I program.
In 2009-10, the program's budget was $922,000. For 2010-11, those grant dollars were reduced by the government to $805,000.
"That will represent some challenges to us over the next several years," said Duncan. "We're fine this year. We need to watch it closely next year."
Schools are selected for the Title I program based on the percentage of free and reduced lunch children in the building.
For next school year, Lincoln Elementary is expected to have 65 percent of its students on the free and reduced lunch program, with 61 percent at Leesburg and 57 percent at Claypool. This year, Leesburg was at 62 percent, Lincoln at 60 percent and Madison was at 55 percent. The change is due to the redistricting of the school corporation.
Duncan said WCS could serve all its elementary schools except Eisenhower because all but Eisenhower are above the district average. However, WCS only serves the top three. The district average for free and reduced lunch students is between 48 to 50 percent.
Harrison Elementary also is being served as a Title I school this year and next, but the money is not technically Title I money. It comes from other one-time federal grant dollars. Next year, the percentage of free and reduced lunch students at Harrison is expected to be around 56 percent.
If a Title I school does not make Adequate Yearly Progress, Duncan said the government places harsh penalties on the school. In the first year, those penalties could include supplemental education services and offering school choice to the parents.
After a number of years, if a Title I school doesn't make AYP, the school would undergo corrective actions. Those actions could include replacing the principal and relevant staff.
"You can eventually get to restructuring," said Duncan.
Under restructuring, the principal must be replaced, and the school could be closed and reopened as a charter school.
"We don't want to get to this point," said Duncan.
Teacher Jodi Rhoades reviewed what Title I instructional services looked like. There are literacy groups, which are small guided reading groups using leveled readers.
The goal of Leveled Literacy Intervention is to raise a student's reading level a level every 10 days. Modified Reading Recovery provides one-on-one instruction with an instructional assistant, while Reading Recovery provides one-on-one reading with a certified staff member.
Duncan said children involved in Reading Recovery are typically the lowest readers in the school. Reading Recovery is the most intensive part of the Title I program for students.
