Warsaw Community Schools will host a public forum at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 26 at the administration building for the design-build process of its building project, Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert announced Monday at the school board meeting.
The board last night also approved two resolutions for the building project, one approving the form of the lease and the other reapproving the building corporation.
The project includes building a new Lincoln Elementary School and renovating/expanding Washington STEM Academy and Edgewood Middle School.
The forum will be an opportunity for the public to share their thoughts with the three design-build firms (construction companies) selected to submit proposals for the project.
“That is a day to really give the updates where we’re at, the information that’s come out of the focus groups and the advisory councils that have been in place in a way that we haven’t had to really solicit some feedback and an opportunity with everyone in the same room,” Hoffert explained.
If there’s overflow, the forum will move to Washington.
Prior to making that announcement, Hoffert reported the Request For Proposals have been issued to three construction companies that were selected out of the Request For Qualifications that were submitted.
“Those three construction companies have actually been coming around our schools the last couple of days since the RFPs have been released,” he said.
The companies – Hagerman, Performance Services and Korte – have been taking measurements and doing geological surveys as well.
Chief Financial Officer Kevin Scott requested the board approved the two resolutions in separate motions.
The resolution approving the form of the lease states that the terms and conditions of the proposed form of lease are approved and agreed to as the basis for a hearing, as required by law. The hearing will occur at the September regular board meeting, and the board secretary is authorized to publish a notice of such hearing as required by law. The attorney for the school corporation is authorized to select appraisers for the real estate to be transferred as part of the leased premises, according to the resolution, and the board president and secretary are authorized to execute a deed and sell the real estate for the purpose of the lease.
The second resolution reapproves the building corporation for the purpose of financing the building project; issuing, selling and delivering bonds in the combined principal amount of $39.9 million; and sets parameters on timing and borrowing amounts to achieve the lowest possible borrowing costs.
In another matter, Edgewood Middle School Assistant Principal Michael Casey formally met the school board Monday night.
“I really just want to say one simple thing, and that is that I really appreciate the welcome that I experienced in the less than a month that I’ve been here,” he told the board. “I can’t thank you enough how the handshakes, the acknowledgements, the ‘welcome aboard,’ ‘welcome to the team’ – it means the world. So thank you for that.”
Casey graduated high school from Concord and played football at Taylor University. He spent the last eight years as a social studies teacher at Wawasee School Corp., and earned his master’s degree in educational leadership through IPFW in 2011-12.
Casey said before the meeting he decided to go into administration for “the opportunity to impact students at a higher level. Just taking a stronger leadership role and knowing Warsaw is a great place to be.”
He and his wife of seven years, Barb, live in Milford.
In other business, the school board:
• Heard WCS was one of five school corporations awarded the Indiana Dual Language Pilot Program grant for 2015-16. The grant is for $200,000.
The program provides grants to school corporations that establish dual language immersion programs in Chinese, Spanish, French or other languages approved by the Indiana Department of Education.
The grants are provided for either the establishment of new DLI programs or introduction of new languages in existing DLI programs that begin in either kindergarten or first grade and uses an instructional model that provides at least 50 percent of its instruction in English and 50 percent in a second language.
It is a two-year award, with the first year being 2015-16 as an exploration stage to create the program within the school corporation, Hoffert indicated. Next year, the program will be implemented in one kindergarten class.
• Heard that WCS’s student enrollment last week that would be reportable to the state – not including preschool, functional needs preschool and CTE classes – was 7,090. Warsaw projected it would have an enrollment of 7,057 students.
“It shows an increase of students over where our projected and budgeted numbers were coming into the school year, so we’re very excited about that,” Hoffert said.
Last year at this time, WCS’s enrollment was 7,068. Hoffert said they know that over the next few weeks, numbers will fluctuate.
Chief Accountability Officer Dani Barkey said for grades kindergarten to 12th, WCS currently has 282 out-of-district transfer students. Thirty-four of last year’s transfer students moved into the Warsaw School District, and 22 graduated.
“But we’ve gained a total of 61 brand-new out-of-district transfers,” Barkey said.
• Heard an update on the Love in a Sweater project by Warsaw Community High School student Aarshia Jain. She said the goal was to collect 500 sweaters for those who needed them, but ended up with 2,200. Some donations were not useable or not even sweaters, so they have 1,600 to give away with more expected.
The sweaters are in the process of being washed. She thanked the many contributors and donors to the project
“I can’t believe we did all this in three months,” she said.
• Heard a presentation from Claypool Elementary School students on the Robotics Club; and a presentation from Edgewood Middle School Principal and Summer School Coordinator JoElla Smyth and teachers Dan Graney and Angel Blakely on summer school.
• Heard the next school board public work session will be at 4 p.m. Sept. 15 and the next regular meeting at 7 p.m. Sept. 21.
(Story By The Times Union)
