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Warsaw students' writing and language skills will be the focus of a renewed effort in all Warsaw Community schools, the school board was told Monday.
WCS superintendent Dr. Lee Harman said the essential skills report he and assistant superintendent Dr. Anthony Etienne compiled shows math skills strong in the district, while writing and language skills are below the state standard.
"We know we've got work to do there," he said. "These are complex skills ... and it takes time to develop these skills."
Many elementary schools already are trying innovative programs to encourage students to write in the early grades. Eisenhower Elementary students demonstrated to the board Monday how they are, in third and fourth grade, creating books of their own stories and poetry.
Chris Gensinger, Eisenhower principal, told the board that Eisenhower students consistently score above state standards on the ISTEP tests. However, though the scores are above state scores, he said, writing is still their lowest score.
"But when you think of the standard as the minimum, I'm not satisfied with that. I want it to be higher," he said.
Harman said research shows the more students write, the higher the test scores, so writing and language will be emphasized more in all schools.
The school board also postponed renewing Ivy Tech's two-year lease of classroom space at Lakeview Middle School. The $53,760-a-year lease is due to expire June 30.
Harman said Ivy Tech has been looking for a larger facility and may not be in its current location for two years. Also, WCS leases space from Cardinal Center for the Alternative Learning Center for $15,149 per year, and if Ivy Tech moves out of Lakeview, the ALC will probably move in, he said.
"The ultimate goal is to benefit all three parties so nobody gets hurt when it's time for moves to be made," Harman said.
In other business:
• The board approved this year's summer school courses and schedule. High school session 1 is from June 7-29 and session 2 is July 5-27. Elementary and middle school enrichment and remedial summer school classes will be from July 25 to Aug. 10.
• The board read, for the first time, several policy revisions, including two new policies - on school publications and non-custodial parents. The school publications policy forbids students from publishing material that is obscene, libelous and/or slanderous; creates a disruption or danger; is an invasion of privacy; or advertises illegal products or services. Student journalists and their writings or photos also will be subject to the academic dishonesty board policy.
The policy on non-custodial parents allows schools to provide equal access to student records, notices, etc., to both parents in the case of a divorce unless prohibited by the court.
• Enrollment in Warsaw schools as of Monday was 6,229, Harman said, down from 6,260 last year at the same time.
• The date for the June school board meeting was changed from June 18 to June 12 at 7 p.m. in the administration building. The board also will hold a public work session on the facilities study report on June 25. The location of the June 25 meeting will be announced later.
School board members are Craig Allebach, Brad Brail, Larry Chamberlain, Cathy Folk, James Folk, Charles Sauders and Roy Szymanski.
