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LARWILL - Several directors, principals and other leadership gave updates to the Whitko School Board at their meeting Monday.
Liz Riggers, Pierceton Elementary School principal, told the board that the students at PES are finishing up their middle of the year Indiana’s Learning Evaluation and Readiness Network tests. Riggers gave a shout out to Pierceton’s Student Council and the PTO, as they collected items to make meals for those in need. All of their meals were given to the Pierceton Food Pantry.
“This Thursday, I’m giving the teachers the gift of time,” Riggers said. “We are doing a Polar Express Day. We are giving students popcorn and hot cocoa, they can wear their jammies, and we’re going to watch Polar Express.”
Joel Holsopple, South Whitley Elementary School principal, gave an update on SWES, while also stating that today was pajama day, “which is why I’m dressed like this.” He stated that they have also been doing their middle of the year ILEARN testing and had two boys that struggled at the beginning of the year assessment.
“They did great on this last assessment, and we, the boys and me, decided to prank their mom,” Holsopple told the board before showing the video of the boys sitting in his office, calling their mother about how much of an improvement their test scores were.
Chris Benedict, director of the Whitko Career Academy, told the board that they were finalizing the first round of observations with their teachers. He stated that they were also meeting with the certified staff members for their mid-year goals, and what they hope to achieve after break. The eighth-grade students are finishing their CTE courses, where they will earn high school credits.
Students will be looking at their schedules and signing up for classes at the Career Academy. The agriculture program, culinary arts, early childhood education and criminal justice programs all had a great month, with students learning more about those different fields by working on volunteer and fundraising activities.
JD Maurer, Whitko Junior-Senior High School principal, talked about three things, the first being an academic update, where the ILEARN checkpoint one showed that there was some work that needs to be done.
“We are going to take a teacher scheduled section and add four math labs to that,” stated Maurer. “That teacher will still teach his three sections of STEM, but then will have four sections of math lab.”
This will give students an area that they can use as lab time to figure out questions and solve answers. There is also some discussion on how to make this the best for students.
In his second update, Maurer stated that one group would be going to the Wagon Wheel, one would have a Polar Express day that would be a day completely themed to the Polar Express, and one has been doing a scavenger hunt that students are excited about.
The third was attendance and behavior of the students. “In January, I will step into my fifth year as an administrator at Whitko, and this is the first term that we have not seen any expulsions at the junior high,” Maurer said. “We also don’t have any probation reports for compulsory attendance.”
Maurer attributed this to the "great teaching and great culture building" at the junior high.
Athletic Director Barry Singrey reported the sound system is up and running like it is supposed to after being reset. New Era Technology is also working on getting quotes for a sound system to be installed.
Rhonda Snavley, director of transportation, gave a shout out to Joe Jackson, director of operations for his help in salting the bus shop with the snow. The mowers have been checked to be ready for spring. “I want to recognize Connie Trout,” Snavley said. “She is retiring at the end of December after 31 years of driving bus. She was hoping to make it to the end of the school year, but December was her limit.”
Snavley also stated they have made an offer to Jacob Hill as a full-time mechanic at the bus shop. According to Snavley, Hill is a local and has been through the buses for warranty work.
Jackson let the board know that all 10 boilers have been checked out and passed. He has two quotes for a new plow truck, but is waiting on another that will hopefully come later this week.
Dr. Jaime Carroll, director of curriculum, gave an update on the ILEARN, and with the six assessments; and elementary students placed at the state level with two of the tests, but placed higher than the state in the other four. “We were at or above the state level, and that’s phenomenal,” said Carroll.
She told the board that she is currently working on the sixth-grade civics course, and they have the first draft done for the elementary report cards. Carroll noted that she surveyed the science teachers, and has a committee meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 17, to go over the materials. She has been working with Maurer about bell ringers in their math classes to coincide with the math labs.
Matt Buchanan, director of technology, noted that the Udemy program has become available for him and his staff. Buchanan noted that the servers are end-of-life, and they are working on getting them updated. Even though it was delayed back in October, he is hoping to have it done by the end of January. He also stated his staff is working on redoing the ISP and hoping to have it finished in February. Students' kindergarten through second grade are now able to take their Chromebooks home with them, and students will be able to use them on snow days.
The board also approved the following agenda items:
• Approval of sale, by auction, of various office items, school materials and equipment as recommended by Snavley.
• Approval of Whitley County Consolidated Schools and Smith-Green Community Schools as official members of Whitko Career Academy Career-Technology Engineering District 51.
• Approval of the annual authorization to make 2025 year-end transfers to close out and reconcile funds, appropriations and revenues, as recommended by business manager Lynn Leininger.
• Approval to have the 2026 Board of Finance meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7 in the WCA lecture room.
• Approval to have the 2026 Whitko School Board’s reorganization meeting at 5:20 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7 in the WCA lecture room.
The next regular meeting of Whitko School Board is at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19.
