Warsaw School Board approved a revised 2016-2017 calendar during its meeting Thursday.
Curt Hermann, board member, made the motion, seconded by Heather Reichenbach, board member. The vote was 6 to 1.
Jay Baumgartner, board member, voted against the school calendar as it was presented. He said he would have liked to see the school year end before Memorial Day and Christmas vacation being 18 days was too long.
The first day of school for fall 2016 will be Aug. 15. The last day of school will be June 1, 2017, pending snow days. If there are no snow days used, school could be out by May 26, 2017.
Students will be in school on Good Friday in 2017 and 2018, but get the day off in 2016. Parents will still have the choice to allow their students to have the day off.
Madison Elementary School was spotlighted during the board’s meeting.
Robotics Club coaches Kevin Lancaster, Kris Hueber and Terry Sims attended the meeting.
Sims said the school is in its third year of having the club and currently 15 students are on the team. Lego@ robots were purchased from funds from Medtronic and the Parents Teachers Organization.
“Building the robots teaches students analytical and critical thinking and leadership,” Sims said.
Robotics students who presented their robots to the board included sixth-graders Jonah Reichenbach and Zachary Nicholas and fifth-graders Subble Muthiah, Nathan Reynolds and Ian Nichols.
David Robertson, chief academic officer; Amy Silvey, Lakeview Middle School principal; and Joella Smyth, Edgewood Middle School principal, gave updates on how the middle schools are working together.
School leadership teams have been developed and joint middle school meetings have been created. The groups will meet in January to discuss strengthening the school’s core and instruction practices.
Administration teams and counselors are meeting monthly.
Jim Lemasters, building project coordinator for the Lincoln, Washington and Edgewood building projects, said he had a construction meeting with the city Wednesday and the project is going smoothly. Dr. David Hoffert, superintendent, said the corporation is excited to move forward on the building project.
Hoffert reminded the board the annual Committee to Commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. ceremony is Jan. 18 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Manahan Orthopedic Capital Center, Winona Lake. There will be over 150 choir and performing arts students involved.
Charles Person, an original Freedom Rider, will be the speaker.
(Story By The Times Union)
