WCSC Community Newsletter

May is here, with five weeks remaining in the school year. For some, the countdown of days has begun! We will continue our focus on the academic growth of our students.

We honored secretaries last week on their special day. School Nurses’ Day is May 6, and Teacher Appreciation Week is next week. We appreciate all they do!

The general assembly concluded without a two-year budget being adopted. They’ll get back together in June to attempt to meet the Governor’s new expectations for a larger state reserve. Politics!

Property tax bills are out for Kosciusko County. The Wawasee school tax rate is $.48. Other school rates in our county range from Warsaw at $.97 to WaNee at $1.23. The General Fund has been removed from property taxes and is now covered by the state through increased sales tax. Certain property tax relief measures in place last year have been removed, too. In short, property tax bills for most are a little less than last year.

Ten teachers retiring this year are Phil Metcalf, Betty Lambert, Julie Gunden, Cindy Peterson, Jeri Mahnensmith, Karilyn Metcalf, Beth Skaggs, Laurel Graham, Mary Jo Short, and Nancy Nelson. WHS assistant principal Alan Frank is retiring, also. We miss them already, even though they’re not gone!

We were recently awarded a Safe Routes to School grant by the state. The $25,000 grant will pay for educational activities to help our students safely walk and ride bikes to school. With about 80 trains per day, several busy highways, and lack of sidewalks at a few locations, our children are at risk. We hope for a second grant to connect the North Webster Elementary School to town sidewalks. Thanks to Milford School teachers Christie Holst and Roy Hufford for authoring the successful grant.

Congratulations to WHS teacher Allen Coblentz, retired SES teacher Larry Pletcher, and the WHS students who did so well in Monday’s high mileage competition in Indianapolis. They averaged almost 1,000 miles per gallon with their specially-designed vehicle.

Coach Mary Lou Dixon is leading the WHS Academic Super Bowl social studies team to state competition again this year. Andrew Anker, Krista Bornman, Brandon Cox, and Cassady Palmer will compete on May 9.

The WHS band, under Fred Elliott’s direction, received two Gold ratings at ISMAA competition this spring. Great!

There are presently no swine flu cases reported in or around Kosciusko County. We’re working with the Department of Homeland Security to monitor the situation. Thanks to Myra Alexander and Bob Lahrman for their efforts to keep us informed. Now go wash your hands…..

WHS math teacher Kristi Harris will represent Wawasee in helping the state with Algebra I end-of-course assessment evaluation in June. How I Spent My Summer Vacation!

Columbine’s 10th anniversary passed on April 20. We’re older, wiser, and, hopefully, safer in our schools than a decade ago.

Raises for the 2009-10 school year have been set. Teachers and classified personnel will receive a 1.5% increase. Thanks to the WCEA for helping us look at options to retain jobs in these tough economic times.

When our students take ISTEP next spring, 7% more need to pass the test for WCSC to pass AYP. The following year another 7% more need to pass ISTEP for us to pass AYP…. until 2014, when all of the children in all of our schools and the nation’s school will pass their state tests. That is the way No Child Left Behind designed the AYP system. For us at WCSC, let’s look at next year and work together to achieve an 80% pass rate as a district. We’re at about 72% now. That’s a couple more students per class passing the test.

The calendar committee is meeting to find unique and creative ways to have some staff development and, perhaps, parent conference opportunities next year. With the 180 full student day mandate from Dr. Bennett, we’ll give it our best shot!

Stimulus money, over a two year period, is heading our way. These federal funds are targeted at special education (about $750,000) and Title I (about $200,000). The funds come with many strings attached. We’re looking at increased staff development, technology, and other one-time uses to help our students. In two years the funding will be gone, and we don’t want to start programs we won’t be able to finish.

A Milford School child custody case made the news recently. A local court had ruled one way, while an Indian tribal council had ruled another. We went to court to find out which order we should obey. Due to federal treaty language, the Indian tribal council ruling prevailed. Thanks go to the Milford School folks for protecting the child and keeping education as a focus over these difficult days.

Enjoy the wonderful Spring weather, the field trips, and other concluding activities for this year.

PARALLELS

It is often said that history repeats itself, but that is not entirely true. Every moment is unique. history may offer similar situations from which some wisdom may be gleaned, but it never duplicates itself. The other thorn in historical account is that while we know what actually did happen when past actions were taken, there is no way to know what would have happened if different or no actions were taken.

Parallels between the challenges faced by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Barack Obama are obvious: bank failures, stock losses, foreclosures, high unemployment, and widespread economic hardship. Roosevelt made heroic attempts to mitigate calamity through government intervention. Obama seems likewise inclined. There was criticism then as now, and New Deal efficacy is still questioned, but most citizens saw it as evidence of caring intention, and it is fact that millions of Americans were saved from starvation through direct relief.

Today there is more abundance to eat though masses of the general populace are without the necessities of life. It took Americans until well after WWII to pay for what their survival cost – much longer than the 10-year duration of the Depression itself. It will take a long while to dig out of this hole too, but lessons come with losses – wealth of a different kind.


In times of change, learners inherit the Earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. - Eric Hoffer

SET THE EXAMPLE
I’ve always tried to be the guy who expects the most out of himself, so when I do ask those other guys to do the same, they’ll look at me and say, “Well, maybe this guy isn’t so full of crap.” - Tom Brady