West Central School Board Awaits State for High Ability Grants

West Central School CorporationThe West Central School Board has decided to table further consideration of an Indiana Department of Education grant.

IDOE’s High Ability grants are distributed every year to the state’s school corporations. West Central has, in the past, used the monies for things like calculators or other classroom materials to help “high ability” students with the learning process.

West Central Superintendent Don Street says they are preparing their application to receive the funds.

“It is a grant given by the Indiana Department of Education to all school corporations, and that will be brought back to our board in December because the state has been late in getting out those figures,” says Street.

Street says there are no other reasons applying for the funds were tabled by the school board at their meeting last Thursday until later in the year. The grant funds are typically used for classroom programs or tools, but can also be used for conferences or other opportunities.

The West Central School Board also considered three changes to course descriptions for the 2017/18 school year. Street says a couple of mathematics courses will be added to the course descriptions, but so will offerings through the Trojan Opportunity Academy.

“It’s for at-risk students who are given an opportunity to learn in an environment that addresses the inability to succeed in the traditional classroom setting,” says Street.

West Central has been touting the benefits of the program for some time now. The school corporation saw their efforts recently renewed by the Indiana Department of Education this year.

The school board approved the course description changes on Thursday.