The West Central School Board received information about The Crossing alternative school.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said Middle and High School Principal Don Street presented the information of the school which will involve Starke County students and possibly Eastern Pulaski and West Central schools.
The West Central School Board members approved the hire of a new middle school and high school principal during their meeting last week.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said the corporation is welcoming back a former graduate in this position.
The West Central School Board members approved several agenda items including the school board meeting dates, pay dates, and the budget calendar.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said there was a slight change in cafeteria prices for next school year.
“Just lunch is the only change,” explained Mellon. “The lunch price will increase by ten cents next year.”
West Central School Board members are getting ready for the next school year. Items on the agenda for their board meeting tonight include setting school breakfast and lunch prices, considering changes to the student handbook and discussion and possible adoption of a student accident insurance plan for 2014-2015. Board meeting and pay dates for the upcoming year will also be set, as will a budget calendar. Discussion and possible approval of classified staff contracts is also listed on the agenda. The board will also continue the discussion of insurance for the school corporation’s wind turbine when they meet this evening at 7:30 p.m. EDT in the board room at the school corporation office in downtown Francesville.
The Kankakee Valley boasts some of the best high schools in the state, according to recent rankings by a national publication. John Glenn High School in Walkerton ranks 17th on the 2014 U.S. News and World Report list. The magazine awarded the school silver medal. Students there have an opportunity to take advanced placement tests, and 36 percent do. Of the school’s 611 students, 85 percent are proficient in English and 84 percent are proficient in math. Knox Community High School earned a bronze medal from U.S. News and World Report. The publication notes 25 percent of the 606 students enrolled take AP courses and tests, 77 percent are proficient in English and 69 percent are proficient in Algebra. Continue reading
The West Central School Board members met in executive session before their regular meeting Thursday night where they discussed the upcoming school year.
Superintendent Charles Mellon noted that discussions concerning personnel, fall enrollment projections and the search for a new high school principal were on the table.
Indiana Governor Mike Pence recently signed legislation withdrawing Indiana from the Common Core math and reading standards. The Common Core is an outline on what students should be learning in those subjects.
Governor Pence said he believes the state’s students are best served by education decisions made at the state and local level. The legislature previously required the State Board of Education to draft new standards by grade.
Schools that canceled classes due to the extreme winter conditions may not have to make up the day of missed instruction. “The Elkhart Truth” reports that State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz has authorized schools to apply for a one-day waiver from the required 180 days of instruction. The waiver was initially offered after school districts across the state canceled classes on Monday. However, the director of the office of accreditation for the education department told the paper that the waiver will be offered to schools on Tuesday as well. He says the waiver means that schools can escape the “very severe financial penalty” they would otherwise incur by canceling one day of instruction. The waiver has only been used a few times in the past several years to offset instructional days lost due to severe weather. School districts typically build in makeup days in the event of snow, but if they miss more days than they have built into the calendar they’re forced to extend the school year into summer vacation in order to meet the state’s requirements.
The West Central School Corporation is in the process of writing the secure and safe school grant.
Superintendent Charles Mellon explained that the state is giving a $50,000 matching grant to schools with over 1,000 students in a school corporation and a $35,000 matching grant to schools with less than 1,000 students in a school corporation. West Central fits in the $35,000 matching grant category which, if awarded, the school will use the money to upgrade security at the buildings. That could include hiring a security officer, buying equipment or performing a security audit.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board did formally approve a recommendation to withdraw from the Midwest Athletic Conference. Eastern Pulaski now joins eight other schools in the area in making that decision.
Superintendent Charles Mellon noted that the way the increase of public school funding has been relayed to the public is quite deceiving. The two percent increase in the funding formula is correct, but he says there is a misconception that every school corporation in the state is getting a two percent increase.
The feedback will also aid in reviewing the corporation’s emergency plans.
The board also discussed hiring a data coach and the corporation has received funding for that position.
The West Central School Board reorganized for the year during their recent meeting.
Jeff Tanner was elected president, Dennis Gutwein was elected vice president and Kerry Miller was elected secretary.
West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon told the school board last week that he has been in touch with NIPSCO and Performance Services concerning the net metering with the wind turbine. He says the billing just isn’t right.
“There doesn’t seem to be any means of reconciling some of the billings that we’re getting from NIPSCO,” said Mellon. “I think we need to be able to reconcile the number of kilowatts we’re producing with what we’re using and what we need to bring in from the grid and when we’re overproducing. We need to get a standardized process.”
Although the Average Daily Membership, or ADM count, isn’t officially taken until Friday, West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon discussed the preliminary enrollment for this year with the board last week.
“We like to keep track of that because the number of students equals the amount of money we receive from the state,” said Mellon. “As far as the number of students we have currently, it’s identical to last year. Some of these people are migrant students that will not be with us all year and they may not be with us on Sept. 14, but they are in the count at the current time.”
Principal Don Street presented the West Central School Board with the middle and high schools’ School Improvement Plan which was approved. Superintendent Charles Mellon said Elementary Principal Dan Zylstra also presented the elementary school’s School Improvement Plan which outlined interventions and curriculum alignment.
“Those plans outline improvements because our performance on the ISTEP is not where we want it, so we’re taking different steps there as required by the state,” said Mellon.
Those plans are for the current school year.
The West Central School Board came to an agreement with the Teacher’s Association last week. Superintendent Charles Mellon said the board reviewed the contract during their recent meeting.
“It’s the extension of a contract that was set for five years,” said Mellon. “We dealt with some insurance benefit increases as well as paying those teachers a stipend that are at the top of the schedule who would not be receiving an increment, so to speak.”
