The Wawascene was created by Dr. Mark Stock, former Superintendent of the Wawasee Community School Corporation. Due to its local popularity, Dr. Stock has left the blog site to future Wawasee administrators.

Blog Rules

Comments should be respectful and pertain to the topic posted. Comments about personnel matters should be made directly to the administrators responsible. Blog moderators reserve the right to remove any comment determined not in keeping with these guidelines.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

ISTEP+ Grades 3-8 Issues


Wawasee Community School Corporation has been participating in the required ISTEP+ Multiple-Choice Assessments for students in grades 3-8.  Students are taking the assessments online per the Indiana Department of Education’s direction.

Due to issues on the side of the assessment provider CTB McGraw-Hill, students across the state of Indiana have experienced connectivity issues.  Many Wawasee students experienced those issues on Monday, and testing was suspended on Monday afternoon.

This morning, the Indiana Department of Education sent out a communication stating they believed the issues had been resolved and asked schools to resume testing.  They also extended the assessment window to go through May 15, 2013.

At the beginning of the day today, the testing went well.  However, around 11:00 a.m., connectivity issues occurred again.  Here at Wawasee, we again made the decision to stop testing for the rest of the day.

The Indiana Department of Education sent out a press release around noon today with a statement from Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz,
I am greatly disappointed to learn that Indiana schools had their ISTEP+ testing interrupted for a second consecutive day.  Like all Hoosier parents, students and teachers, I find these interruptions frustrating and unacceptable...Because of these errors, I have instructed the Department of Education to suspend testing for the remainder of the day.  This decision was not made lightly, but was done to minimize further disruptions for our schools.  All of our students deserve to take a test that is valid, accurate and reliable.”
  
The entire press release can be found at http://www.doe.in.gov/

Not all grade levels at Wawasee have started testing.  No third graders in the district have started the online assessments. Some fourth and fifth graders at North Webster School and Syracuse School have started the assessments.  At Milford School, some fourth, seventh and eighth graders have started testing.  Wawasee Middle School has been having sixth and seventh graders taking the assessments so far.  Schools are documenting issues that students have had while testing.  Students and staff members have been very flexible in difficult circumstances, and we commend them for that!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your student’s principal.  

Monday, April 29, 2013

2 Hour Delay

Monday, April 29 - Wawasee Schools are delayed two hours due to dense fog. 

Monday, April 22, 2013

5K Run-Walk for Junior Achievement Serving Wawasee

Junior Achievement Serving Wawasee will be holding a 5K Run-Walk on Saturday morning, May 18, 2013, at Lakeside Fitness in Syracuse. Pre-registrations must be received by May 10, 2013, in order to receive a t-shirt, but you can also register the morning of the run-walk. If you are interested in participating and supporting Junior Achievement in Wawasee Schools, registration information can be found at registration form.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

April 18 Cancelations


EVENT CANCELATIONS FOR THURSDAY, APRIL 18:
Milford School, North Webster Elementary, Syracuse Elementary: All after-school activities are canceled. Latchkey programs will remain open.


Wawasee Middle School - All after-school activities are canceled.
Wawasee High School - All away games and the band concert are canceled. A decision will be made regarding practices later today.