Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE – At the Wawasee School Board meeting Tuesday, grandparent Rhonda Ousley asked if the school might be able to install cameras on the outside of buses to catch the license plates of those in traffic who do not stop for children crossing the road.
Wawasee Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington said that the school did have a good relationship with the county police and they tried to watch for that.
"But the county tells me they don't have enough officers to put on the state highways to watch the kids get off the buses," Ousley said.
A comment was made that it would be wise to keep advising her grandchildren to stay on the sidewalk until she could cross with them, to which school board member Mary Lou Dixon replied, "But someone else's grandchildren may not be standing there to hear."
Edington agreed that this might be a problem.
"I have read articles that we are not the only ones who are facing this, so this might be something to send and propose to those who make the laws," he said. "If we feed them that information then something would happen."
Edington thanked the Syracuse and Milford libraries for their donations of eclipse glasses that allowed for the children to safely view the sun.
He mentioned that a $200,000 grant payment was received for the Dekko Fostering Innovation and Inquiry Grant, as well as $5,000 Dekko sensory high school room improvement.
Edington talked about the 182 freshmen students that went on a rafting adventure on rafts borrowed from the Kosciusko County Soil and Water District.
Finally, Edington reported that after the fire at Lakeland Learning Center, the newly vacated elementary school was available and so the learning center moved into the old school location. All inspections were passed and the site now serves as the center.
Rikki McCann gave a presentation about taking 12 students and a male and female chaperone to Costa Rica. Amaya Rhodes, Parker Bane and Makenna Sausaman were three students who reported on their trip.
"It was probably the greatest time I've ever had. I bonded with a lot of people that I'd never got the chance to really hang out with during school. It was like a family kind of," Rhodes said. "We tried to practice our Spanish. They loved that we tried to understand it, they understood that it wasn't our first language."
"They knew we were not from there and they loved that we tried speaking and stuff," agreed Sausaman.
"We took several photos, and we are still using photos from that trip in photo competitions," Bane said.
Dr. Sandra Weaver gave a report on the Wawasee Student Assistance Plan Usage from the Bowen Center. She noted that students do use it, but that she would like the advertising campaign for the program to be more widely known by the teachers, so they can take advantage of the information and give it to their students.
Assistant Superintendent Joy Goshert presented several state assessment updates. The Indiana Department of Education put out a call for educators to apply to serve on ILEARN assessment committees. ILEARN is the new Indiana assessment which will be given during the 2018-19 school year.
According to information released from the Indiana Department of Education, ILEARN will leverage "computer adaptive testing to better inform educators about students strengths and weaknesses." The state has accepted proposals from testing companies, but has not chosen a testing company.
On Sept. 6, the IDOE released updates guidance for which state assessments students taking Algebra 1 will be taking this year and future years. Also, retesting for students not passing ISTEP English 10 ELA and/or math will take place Dec. 4-15.
The council approved the donation of surplus furniture to hurricane victims.
"It was probably the greatest time I've ever had. I bonded with a lot of people that I'd never got the chance to really hang out with during school. It was like a family kind of," Rhodes said. "We tried to practice our Spanish. They loved that we tried to understand it, they understood that it wasn't our first language."
"They knew we were not from there and they loved that we tried speaking and stuff," agreed Sausaman.
"We took several photos, and we are still using photos from that trip in photo competitions," Bane said.
Dr. Sandra Weaver gave a report on the Wawasee Student Assistance Plan Usage from the Bowen Center. She noted that students do use it, but that she would like the advertising campaign for the program to be more widely known by the teachers, so they can take advantage of the information and give it to their students.
Assistant Superintendent Joy Goshert presented several state assessment updates. The Indiana Department of Education put out a call for educators to apply to serve on ILEARN assessment committees. ILEARN is the new Indiana assessment which will be given during the 2018-19 school year.
According to information released from the Indiana Department of Education, ILEARN will leverage "computer adaptive testing to better inform educators about students strengths and weaknesses." The state has accepted proposals from testing companies, but has not chosen a testing company.
On Sept. 6, the IDOE released updates guidance for which state assessments students taking Algebra 1 will be taking this year and future years. Also, retesting for students not passing ISTEP English 10 ELA and/or math will take place Dec. 4-15.
The council approved the donation of surplus furniture to hurricane victims.
