SYRACUSE — Also during the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday, March 8, in Syracuse, the board heard a report about Kehoe Kids, an initiative started by fourth-grade teachers at Milford School. It is named in honor of former West Noble teacher and Syracuse resident, Diane Kehoe.

Kehoe had a passion for reading and books and in Emily Worrell’s classroom at Milford School, one corner is dedicated to the book collection Kehoe left in hopes of passing on her passion to many more students.

Fourth-graders at Milford, with the help of their teachers, created the idea to raise money to buy books and donate them to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. And what started as a small project with a goal to raise $200 has gone way beyond expectations.

Fourth-grade students Emma Young, Libby Haab and Hunter Bowling spoke briefly to the board. Emma, who also led the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the board meeting, said as of March 8, a total of $6,284 had been raised, far exceeding the original goal. Fourth-graders plan to deliver the books to Riley in April. And there will be a silent auction and PTO sponsored raffle drawing at the annual fish and tenderloin fry 4:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, March 11, at the school.

Kehoe Kids was chosen by the Indiana Department of Education as a Promising Practice, which recognizes community service projects at schools.

In other business, Joy Goshert, director of instruction and curriculum, said more emphasis is being placed on warriorwarehouse.org, an online staff development site for the school corporation. Wawasee did not get the technology grant it had applied for earlier, she said.

ISTEP+ testing continues this week and the IREAD-3 test is next week.

The board also heard a brief update and a few photos were shown concerning the progress of the construction of the new Syracuse Elementary. All of the deep and perimeter foundations have been completed, the north wall of the gym is going up and work will start soon on the east wall.

Other agenda items included:

• Wawasee Kiwanis Club donated $500 for the Kindergarten Maker Faire scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 12, at Syracuse Elementary.

• Dekko Foundation awarded $3,500 to Milford School teacher Amy Evans, as well as a new pair of shoes. She will keep the shoes and donate the money to the Gradway program helping students to graduate on time from high school.

• Evans was also awarded a $60 community program grant from Dick’s Sporting Goods.

• Wawasee High School building trades classes helped build sets for the “Christ’s Passion” play at Quaker Haven on a day they had no school.

• A new scholarship fund is available from the WHS Class of 1989.

• Ruth Lilly Philanthropic Foundation paid for some bronze busts to be cleaned, inspected and waxed at the high school.

• “Walk in a student’s shoes” is an initiative started at Wawasee Middle School where a teacher follows a student around all day to gain a better perspective of how a student sees things.

• The board approved canceling after prom activities at the high school due to safety and other concerns.

• And the board approved entering into a contract with TalentEd, a personnel tracking system that will make the job application process paperless and move it online.