Waiver for Loss of Instructional Time at WHS

The Indiana Department of Education has granted Wawasee Community School Corporation a waiver regarding the loss of instructional time for Wawasee High School's canceled day on February 26, 2010, due to the loss of power.

That day will not have to be made up.

School Delay - Friday, March 5, 2010

Wawasee Community Schools will 2-hour delay on Friday due to late arriving fog in areas of the school district.

Request for Public Input for Budget Reductions

Wawasee Community Schools is seeking input from the community for ways the school corporation can reduce the budget to meet the new funding formula from the State of Indiana. Parents and community members are invited to post constructive ideas on how the budget can be reduced with a minimal impact on student learning.

Comments are to be limited to 200 words. If you have additional comments, please e-mail them to TEdington@wawasee.k12.in.us. Suggestions will be accepted from March 2nd to March 17th.

There will also be time for public comments on March 9th at the beginning of the school board meeting. The meeting will be held at Wawasee High School in the lecture room and will start at 5 p.m.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Due to electrical problems, Wawasee High School is closed today, Friday, February 26, 2010. All other Wawasee schools are open today.

As long as power is restored during the day, the following will take place:

• the Career/Technical Open House from 4:30-6 p.m. in the Career/Technical Building on the high school campus
• the boys' basketball game at home against Tippy Valley at 6:15 p.m.

Changes in Immunization Requirements for Students

The following is information from our schools' nurses explaining changes in immunization requirements for students for the 2010-2011 school year:

During the 2009 legislative session, Indiana Code 20-34-4-2 was revised, requiring the Indiana State Department of Health to “adopt rules under IC4-22-2 to require school age children to receive additional immunizations against the following: Meningitis, Varicella (Chicken Pox), and Pertussis” (Whooping Cough). Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory infection caused by the pertussis bacteria. Pertussis causes severe coughing fits. The pertussis booster (Tdap) is combined with tetanus toxoid.

Changes to the school immunization requirements for school year 2010-2011 are as follows:

a. All preschool and kindergarten students will be required to have 2 doses of varicella vaccine, given on or after the first birthday and separated by 3 months. For children entering preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade, a signed statement by a healthcare provider, including date of disease, is required to document history of chickenpox.

b. All kindergarten students will be required to have 4 doses of polio vaccine, one of the required doses given on or after the fourth birthday, and at least 6 months after the previous dose.

c. All 6th - 12th grade students will be required to have 2 doses of varicella vaccine, given on or after the first birthday, and separated by age-appropriate intervals as defined by the CDC, or a history of chicken pox disease.

d. All 6th -12th grade students will be required to have 1 dose of tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap) given on or after the 10th birthday.

e. All 6th -12th grade students will be required to have 1 dose of meningitis vaccine (MCV4)

These vaccines are available free at the Kosciusko County Immunization Clinic, located in the K21 Health Pavilion, 1515 Provident Drive, Suite 160, Warsaw. Hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 8:30 to 12:00pm and 1:15pm to 3:30 pm. Evening clinic hours are the 1st Monday of each month, 6:00pm-8:00pm. And at the Syracuse clinic at Lakeland Youth Center on the 2nd Thursday of each month, 2:00pm to 3:30pm. Varicella vaccine is not available at the Syracuse Clinic. No appointment is necessary. Take a copy of your child's immunization record with you.

The following websites have additional resources for families to obtain information about vaccines:

The Indiana Department of Health http://www.in.gov/isdh

The Centers for Disease Control: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines

Your assistance in vaccinating your student to meet the new Indiana State requirements is very appreciated. Please contact the school nurse in your students building with any updated vaccination dates.

Wawasee Community School Health Service Staff:
Allene Dewart, LPN - Milford School, 574-658-9444
Jane Venderly, RN - Syracuse Elementary, 574-457-4484
Pam Rensberger, RN - North Webster Elementary, 574-834-7644
Robin Huffman, RN - Wawasee Middle School, 574-457-8830
Myra Alexander, RN - Wawasee High School, 574-457-3147

February 11, 2010 School Delay

Wawasee Community Schools will delay the start of school on Thursday, February 11, for 2 hours due to road ice.

February 15, 2010 Snow Make-Up Day

Wawasee Community Schools will be in session on Monday, February 15, 2010. The day is a make-up day for Wednesday, February 10, when classes were canceled due to snow.

February 10, 2010 School Closing

Wawasee Community Schools will be closed on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 due to blowing and drifting snow.

2/9/2010: Wawasee Dismissing Students Early

Due to weather conditions, Wawasee Community Schools are dismissing students at 1 p.m. (1:20 p.m. at Wawasee Middle School) today, Tuesday, February 9, 2010.

All after school activities are canceled.

Wawasee varsity girls' basketball sectional game against Northwood at West Noble High School is now scheduled for Thursday, February 11, at 7:30 p.m.

Clarification for Monday, February 15, 2010

Monday, February 15, 2010, is a snow make-up day for the Wawasee Community School Corporation. If school is canceled any day during the week of and including February 9, 10, 11, and 12, classes will be in session on Monday, February 15.

Weather alerts have been issued for a possible snow storm this week. We wanted to clear up any questions about the use of Monday's make-up day. We will all keep an eye on the weather as we attempt to get in our required school days this winter.

Indiana's Cash for College Campaign

Indiana has initiated a Cash for College campaign made possible by the federal College Access Challenge Grant. According to information released by the Indiana Department of Education, "the campaign promotes practical, grade-specific steps for Hoosier students, all leading up to the state's March 10th deadline for filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)."

Information can be found at LearnMoreIndiana.org/CashforCollege. The website has information on College Goal Sunday on February 21, a free statewide event at 37 sites across Indiana to get help and file the FAFSA (http://www.collegegoalsunday.org/); on FAFSA Fridays on February 12 and 19 where you can get free information and chant online with financial aid experts; and on student goal setting for college for elementary, middle, and high school students.

School Delay - Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Wawasee Community Schools will begin Tuesday, January 19, with a 2-hour delay due to road ice.

Citizens' Checklist to Respond to Lower State Tuition Support Funding

On January 15, 2010, the Indiana State Board of Education sent the information below to superintendents, school board members, principals, and Indiana educators regarding the lowering of funding of state tuition support. For Wawasee Community School Corporation, this cut is in the amount of over one million dollars. The final amount is yet to be determined as Wawasee has not received final information from the state.

"On January 8, 2010, the State Board of Education formally adopted the attached Citizens’ Checklist to be utilized by local school communities as they move to make adjustments to respond to lower state tuition support funding as a result of the State’s declining revenues.

"The Citizens’ Checklist outlines a series of adjustments that all stakeholders in K-12 education should consider, discuss and implement in order to avoid or minimize any reduction in teaching staff that affects classroom instruction and learning.

"The checklist itemizes 22 adjustments and considerations in four broad categories that include monetary adjustments, program adjustments, adjustments that reduce the cost of staff without affecting instruction, and community reporting and accountability. Conversations at the local level should include participation of school board members, the district’s leadership team, teachers’ association, and the community.

"By distributing the Citizens’ Checklist throughout the local community, it is the intent of the State Board and Department of Education to stimulate meaningful and transparent dialogue that will be held in an open forum so that positive action can be taken and obstructions to solutions can be identified and addressed. Conducting open forums will allow local communities to find adjustments that do not affect student learning.

"The State Board and Department intend that the Citizens’ Checklist be a resource tool that all local school communities incorporate in the decision making process and that all local media use to track and inform the public of decisions, actions and impacts.

"It is understood that school boards, the district’s leadership team and teacher associations will retain the flexibility and autonomy to make monetary, programmatic, administrative and other decisions based on the district’s and school’s fiscal position but in the best interest of its students."

No School - Monday, Janauary 18, 2010

Wawasee Community School Corporation will not be in session on Monday, January 18, for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

School Delay on Friday, January 8

Wawasee Community Schools will delay 2 hours on Friday, January 8, due to snow covered roads.

January 7 Early Dismissal

Wawasee Community Schools will dismiss students on Thursday, Janauary 7, at 2:00 pm due to road conditions.

Hints for weareclosedtoday.com

In the November 24th blog entry "Notification Reminder for School Delays and Cancellations," directions were given for signing up for emails and texts from weareclosedtoday.com.

A couple of comments on the blog indicate that some are having problems with using the weareclosedtoday.com website, so we wanted to give some helpful hints for using the website.

If you are just checking the weareclosedtoday.com website to see if Wawasee Schools are delayed or canceled, you need to look on the left side of the website under Check Status and put in Syracuse's zip code 46567 or your zip code. You then need to choose a distance. If you are using your own zip code, please make sure you use a distance that would include the town of Syracuse. When you click on Display Results, you will get a list of school corporations who are using weareclosedtoday.com and are within the distance of the zip code you have chosen that have made the decision to delay or cancel for the day.

If you have signed up for an account and for text messages and emails and are not receiving those, please do the following:

Login into the website; click on Account Info (upper right hand side) and choose Notification Methods. Make sure you have given a valid email address. If you have also given cell phone information in order to receive texts (following the November 24th instructions), make sure you have checked the box behind Is Cell Phone? for the cell phone information given. Make sure you have chosen a mile radius under Display Mile Radius and that you have chosen No under Disable Notifications.

Double-check under Account Info and Select Organizations and School Districts to see that you have dragged Wawasee Community School Corporation into the right hand side under Notification School Districts.

Hopefully, this will help those of you having difficulty getting emails and/or texts.

January 5, 2010 School Delay

The Wawasee Community School Corporation will have a two-hour delay on Tuesday, January 5, 2010, due to drifting snow.

Notification Reminder for School Delays and Cancellations

This is a reminder that Wawasee Community School Corporation is using weareclosedtoday.com for reporting school closings and delays. This is a service designed by the Northern Indiana Educational Services Center that "provides a state of the art way to notify local news media and community members" when we need to close, delay, or dismiss early. In addition to local news media being notified, anyone may go to http://www.weareclosedtoday.com/, enter his or her zip code, choose a radius, and see all the delays or closings within that area.

Community members can also sign up to receive emails and/or text messages when WCSC closes, delays, or dismisses early. We have found that those emails and text messages are received within a very short time frame from when WCSC contacts the service. Click on Community Members and then Register Free to sign up.

Once you have created an account, you can click on Account Info and then Notification Methods from the navigation menu. Once this screen has been displayed, you will be allowed to enter up to three different email addresses to which you would like to receive notifications. Your SMS/text messaging email address, if you wish to receive a text message on your cell phone, is your cell phone number (without hyphens or spaces) and your cell phone provider's SMS/text messaging email address. The most common providers' addresses follow:

• US Cellular: Your cell phone number @email.uscc.net
• AT&T Wireless: Your cell phone number @txt.att.net
• Alltel: Your cell phone number@message.alltel.com
• Verizon Wireless: Your cell phone number@vtext.com
• Centennial Wireless: Your cell phone number@myblue.com

After you have selected your notification methods, you can click on Account Info and then Select Organizations from the navigation menu. Then click on School Districts. Once this screen has been displayed, you will be allowed to drag an organization from the left hand box to the right hand box. Any organization listed in this right hand box will be the only ones for which you will receive future notifications.

We will continue to post delays and cancellations here and on our website.

2-Hour Delay - Tuesday, November 24

Wawasee Community Schools is on a two-hour delay today, Tuesday, November 24. We have dense fog throughout the corporation.