Thank You!

Wawasee hosted a vaccination clinic September 21st and almost 500 students attended from Wawasee School Corporation and surrounding schools. We want to thank parents that brought students and waited in line for vaccinations. We appreciate your help in our efforts to meet 2010-11 Indiana requirements for school attendance.

Wawasee Health Service Department Staff
Allene Dewart, LPN
Jane Venderly, RN
Myra Alexander, RN
Robin Huffman, RN
Pam Rensberger, RN

Immunization Clinic

An immunization clinic will be held at the following locations:

September 21: Wawasee High School from 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
September 28: Tippy Valley High School from 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Please see the Press Release from the Kosciusko County Health Department for more information.

Boomerang Backpack

The Boomerang Backpack Program is again taking place at Syracuse Elementary.

Boomerang Backpacks is a free weekend food distribution program that provides students who are eligible for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program with a backpack filled with healthy food for the weekend. It also provides leadership, business skills, and community service opportunities to high school students who assist with the program.

For more information please contact:
Connie Geer - WCS Boomerang Backpack Coordinator
cbgeer@mchsi.com
(574) 457-5593

If you would like to make a donation, please send checks to:
Boomerang Backpacks
4616 E Dupont Rd
Fort Wayne, IN 46825
(Please indicate that your donation is for Wawasee Community Schools)

If you have a child at Syracuse Elementary who is eligible, please contact:
Jim Garner - Principal
jgarner@wawasee.k12.in.us
(574) 457-4484

Immunization Clinic

Wawasee Schools will have an immunization clinic at Wawasee High School on September 21, 2010, from 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm. Please see the press release from the Kosciusko County Health Department.

2009-2010 Academy Accomplishments

The Wawasee Academy accomplished many great things during the 2009-2010 school year. Among the most notable were:

232 credits earned by 106 students
9 students earned GEDs
9 students earned diplomas
Assisted at least 17 students in earning diplomas by awarding their final credit(s)

We are proud and looking forward to another year of success stories.

Registration and Online Registration

Online registration will work much like the process did when you went to the school for registration. There will be forms to fill out, forms to pick up with information, and fees to pay. When our process is finalized, you will be able to complete the entire process online, including the payment. At this time, we are still negotiating our online payment contract. We want to make sure that the online payment company and procedures we use are correct the first time. We hope to have it finished soon, but it may not be available when online registration first opens on July 26.

The online process will work in the following way:

First you will go to our corporation website (http://www.wawasee.k12.in.us/). On the page you will find a link to the Online Registration site. On that site are documents for each school building in folders. You should go to each folder and view or download all of the relevant documents for your student(s). Some of these documents may require you to print a copy and fill it out to turn into the office of the school your student attends. In addition, the forms and information for bus assignments, bus rules, free and reduced lunches, school insurance, and online payments will be available in the Central Office folder.

Once, you have collected the forms and information you need, you will log in to your Harmony Web Portal account to finish the registration process. From there you will be able to make demographic changes and complete the information we need in our student management database for your student.

Finally, when the online payment option is available, it will appear as a link in the Harmony Web Portal. You will then be able to make fee payments and lunch deposits online. Currently, you will need to bring in completed forms and make payments at your student's school.

There will be regular registration days at each school again this year when parents can come in and register, or drop off forms, text book rental fees (K-8), and lunch deposits. High school parents will be notified when they can pay text book rental fees.

Registration Dates are:

Syracuse, North Webster, & Milford Schools: Thursday, August 5, and Monday, August 9, from noon to 7:00 P.M.

Wawasee Middle and Wawasee High School: Monday, August 9, and Tuesday, August 10, from noon to 7:00 P.M.

Elementary Textbook Rental Fees are as follows:

Kindergarten - $88.95
First Grade - $114.40
Second Grade - $119.50
Third Grade - $127.75
Fourth Grade - $102.25
Fifth Grade - $99.30

ISTEP+ Results for Spring 2010

On Wednesday, June 16, 2010, the Indiana Department of Education released the Spring 2010 ISTEP+ results. Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett said that "81 percent percent of public schools increased the percentage of students passing both the English/language arts and Mathematics portions of the ISTEP+." Wawasee Community School Corporation and its schools are a part of that 81 percent.

As a corporation, we are generally pleased with the results, yet we understand we need to continue to improve in all areas. Our teachers, students, and administrators have worked hard, and the instructional coaches have been an asset to our teachers to improve instruction.

WCSC students in grades 3-8 went from 70.88% of its students passing English/Language Arts in spring 2009 to 75.76% of its students passing in spring 2010. In math, the corporation students increased from 76.82% passing to 81.63% passing. The percent of students passing both English/Language Arts and math improved from 65.2% passing to 70.9% passing.

To look at results by grade level and by school, you can go to the ISTEP+ results on the Indiana Department of Education website.

A little over 2 percent of the WCSC student pupulation in grades 3-8 took the new Indiana Modified Achievement Standards Test (IMAST), but we will not receive the results of that assessment until late August or early September.

Interesting Article

Charter schools are being pushed as a salvation for regular public schools, yet they do not perform well. Please read the attached article from Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/13/understanding-charter-schools.html

Retirements

Wawasee Community School Corporation honored the corporation's retirees at the June 8, 2010, school board meeting. The retirees are:

Carolyn Baker, Milford School PE Teacher, 32 1/2 yrs WCSC experience, 34 1/2 yrs total experience
J. Francis Denton, WMS Science Teacher, 21 yrs WCSC experience, 44 yrs total experience
Tamara Hess, WMS Language Arts Teacher, 19 yrs WCSC experience, 22 yrs total experience
Karen Hoffert, 2nd grade NWES Teacher, 22 yrs WCSC experience, 22 yrs total experience
Mary Elizabeth Hoffman, NWES PE Teacher, 31 yrs WCSC experience, 33 yrs total experience
Stephen Hunsberger, WHS Guidance Counselor, 22 yrs WCSC experience, 43 yrs total experience
Cheryll Martin, WHS Math Teacher, 18 yrs WCSC experience, 22 yrs total experience
Patricia Mikel, Corporation High Ability, 21 1/2 yrs WCSC experience, 26 1/2 yrs total experience
Elaine Miller, SES Guidance Counselor, 19 yrs WCSC experience, 33 yrs total experience
Edward Parks, WMS Assistant Principal, 9 yrs WCSC experience, 36 yrs total experience
Cynthia Pierce, NWES Guidance Counselor, 15 yrs WCSC experience, 29 yrs total experience
Judy Setlak*, WMS PE Teacher, 18 1/2 yrs WCSC experience, 22 1/12 yrs total experience
*Also worked as a paraprofessional for 1 1/2 years.
Ellen Steven, WHS Principal, 6 yrs WCSC experience, 31 yrs total experience
M. Kristine Ummel, NWES 4th Grade Teacher, 33 yrs WCSC experience, 37 yrs total experience

Wawasee Community Schools wish to thank each of the retirees for their many years of dedicated service and wish them the best with their future endeavors.

Wawasee High School Welcomes New Principal

Wawasee Community School Corporation is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Donald E. Harman as principal of Wawasee High School. He has been the principal of Delta Middle School for the past eight years as well as having held other administrative positions at the middle school, junior/senior high school, and the high school level.

Mr. Harman has bachelor's and master's degrees in science from Purdue University. He qualified for his secondary administration license through Ball State University.

Wawasee Community School Corporation is very excited about the prospects of working with someone of Mr. Harman's caliber. His extensive background and training will be an outstanding complement to our current administrative staff.

A native of the Warsaw area, Mr. Harman hails from a background of educators. Wawasee Community Schools is pleased to welcome the Harman family back to this area.

Highlights of Master Teacher Contract

A new contract between the Wawasee Community Educators Association and the Wawasee Community School Corporation was approved in April.

Highlights of the agreement include:

• The contract is in effect from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.
• The agreement is for a 0% salary increase for 2010-11.
• Salary and up to two language items will be negotiated annually.
• Parent-Teacher conference language was included for 2010-11.

In addition, a retirement incentive plan for teachers was adopted by the school board.

In these trying economic times, both the teachers and school board worked well together to find common ground for a new contract.

Update on Budget Reductions

On Tuesday, May 18, 2010, the Wawasee Board of School Trustees voted on budget reductions for the 2010-2011 school year. This budget reduction PowerPoint shows the reductions that have been put in place.

Budget Reductions Update

The following PowerPoint contains information that is currently under consideration for budget reductions for the 2010-2011 school year. This PowerPoint is updated from ones previously posted. Your comments are appreciated.

Budget Reductions PowerPoint April 2010

No School on Monday, April 26, 2010

There is no school on Monday, April 26, 2010, for Wawasee Community Schools. This was a scheduled snow make up day that was not needed.

ISTEP+ multiple-choice testing for grades 3-8 begins on Tuesday, April 27, 2010.

Budget Reduction Measures 2010 PowerPoint

The following PowerPoint was shared with the Wawasee Board of School Trustees at their March 9, 2010, board meeting.

PowerPoint of Budget Reduction Measures 2010

More Information About Budget Reductions

Thanks for the suggestion in the budget reduction posting about answering rumors and questions.
Someone asked about a breakdown of employees by building. I don't have that information this weekend. We will work to make that information available.
Comments were made about transferring money from other tax funds to general fund. The short answer is that we can't. We are not able to transfer funds from capital projects, transportation, bus replacement, or debt payment funds, which you pay as property tax, into general fund. The state pays general fund to us from sales and income tax. (We can move a small percentage of capital project funding into general fund to help with utilities and property insurance.) These rules are set by the state, and we obey them.
Several new laws were proposed this legislative session allowing schools more flexibility in transferring between various funds. Those proposals are being held up by politics in Indianapolis. In any event, we didn't make this years' budget for Wawasee with extra money to transfer around if given the opportunity.
Wawasee established a Rainy Day fund long ago. I grew when certain facility projects didn't cost as much as estimated. The extra money went into Rainy Day fund. By the end of this summer, we will have spent over $800,000 from Rainy Day during the past three years. If we have no budget cuts and spend 1.3 million from the fund each of the next two years, the Rainy Day fund would be gone. Future needs for a cushion would remain, with nothing available for 5, or 25, years down the road.
Our budget reduction proposals have no plans for children to walk to school, to cut extra-curricular opportunities or sports, or to put 30 children in an elementary classroom. We'll continue to study options to save money with minimal disruption to programs and opportunities for the children of the Wawasee community.
I am asking the school board to approve a study of our district to look at good efficiencies we may be missing.
Blog questions were asked about why Milford seemed to take the hardest hit with reductions. The answer is that Milford has the lowest seniority elementary teachers in the school district. They are reduced first. WCSC is a large district with three elementary schools. If teachers are needed from elsewhere, they may be transferred from other buildings. Elementary teachers are being discussed because we didn't have secondary teachers on the reduction list. We already knew about some secondary teacher retirements, so some reductions could already be made, if needed. The reduction list is subject to change as we move through the process, with retirements known and decisions made, over the next several months.
Why would WCSC consider facility work when economic times are tough? That is a good question. The big answer is that the high school is 42 years old and needs a new roof, good and energy efficient heating units in 1/2 of the building, safety items addressed, and other items on our future building list. We can take advantage of zero/low interest through the federal stimulus program, without changing our tax rate. We'll be providing construction jobs, which turn around and help pay for our schools. Also, construction costs have gone backwards the past couple of years. The energy savings will pay off now and in the future, safer schools are better for all of us, and a new shop area has been needed for a long time.
Overall, WCSC is looking at our economic situation with the goals of minimizing reduction of services to the students and layoffs to employees. All employee groups share in cuts. Classified employee hour reductions will equal 5% of total classified hours, teacher reductions equal 2% of total teachers, and administrator reductions equal 14% of total administrators.

Thanks, again, for taking the opportunity to forward budget reduction ideas on the blog. This is a difficult process for everyone. I appreciate the way you are saying things in a nice way, even though you may not like what is happening. That says something good about Wawasee.

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.