Principal Lee Snider of North Webster Elementary School has been selected as the 2023 District 2 Elementary Principal of the Year. Pictured from left is Don Bockhart, Dr. Steve Troyer, Lee Snider, Steve Baut and Neil Likens. Photo by Marissa Sweatland.

By Marissa Sweatland
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — North Webster Elementary School Principal Lee Snider will be recognized by the Indiana Association of School Principals for his outstanding leadership. The recognition was announced at the Wawasee Community School Corp Board of Trustee meeting Tuesday, Sept. 12.

Snider was chosen to represent District 2. District Elementary Principals of the Year are elected by their peers. One principal is honored from each of the 12 districts. From these 12 district winners, one is chosen as the 2023 State Elementary Principal of the Year. The awards will take place Sunday, Nov. 19.

Emily Hower from Elevatus Architecture presented to the board three conceptual schematics. The Milford Elementary School project is still in the early stages, but the board was presented possible building layouts. In every conceptual schematic presented, the new school will be built while classes resume as usual in the regular school building. Once everything is moved over into the new school, the old school building will be tore down. More information will come available as the design team meets with stakeholders.

“The layout is intentional. We purposely laid out the younger classrooms to be away from the older classrooms to try to eliminate, or at the least stifle, class disruptions from the littles walking to lunch or by the older classrooms,” Hower explained.

During reports, Dr. Steve Troyer presented the board with a lot of good news. Wawasee Community Schools received three IHSAA Exemplary Behavior Reports for Jordan Sharp, boys soccer coach; Xavier Washington, boys soccer team captain; and the Wawasee cheer block.

“IHSAA reports used to be few and far between, having three at the same meeting really says a lot about our coaches and student athletes,” Troyer remarked.

Nine Wawasee High School students were recognized from the College Board because of their GPA of 3.5 or higher and their outstanding performance on the PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10, and/or AP exams. The students are: Addison Beasley, Alexa Gomez-Jones, Alexander Dibble, Corrine Orth, Eduardo da Cunha, Evan Byler, Evelyn Duncan, Jaxon Brown and Katylynn Bryant.

Multiple donations were also gifted the WCS corporation. Nancy and Larry Stoner donated $1,000 to Wawasee High School for the Philip K. Fawley Memorial Scholarship. Summit Veterinary Associates donated $250 to the high school’s boy soccer team. The United Way of Whitley and Kosciusko County awarded WCSC a $6,000 grant to go toward the Start United Program. Shoemaker Electric donated $1,000 to Wawasee athletics as a sponsorship. Kyle and Marissa Rowe donated $300 to the WHS student council for homecoming activities.

Other donations received were from The Time Out Inn and Time Out Downtown donated $100 each to put toward a WHS Super Mileage Vehicle. JBC and Associates donated $200 to put toward a WHS Super Mileage Vehicle. The North Webster Lions Club donated $500 to put toward a WHS Super Mileage Vehicle. Burton Ramsey donated $250 to put toward a WHS Super Mileage Vehicle. The Wawasee Band Boosters donated $8,000 to WHS for new band uniforms. The Knights of Columbus No. 6323 donated $850 to the high school’s girl soccer team.

Dr. Brandon Penrod took the board through the monthly budget. As of August 2023, the education budget was 68.29% encumbered, with a month to date expenditure of $2,222,437.10. The operations budget was 60.69% encumbered, with a month to date expenditure of $649,460.51.

Dr. Shelly Wilfong asked the board to approve the three-year subscription to EduClimber. EduClimber will be able to give teachers “the big picture of the whole child.” Through EduClimber, staff will be able to set any threshold and students not meeting the threshold will be flagged. For example, if the school set a threshold of five absences, every student with five recorded absences will be flagged. EduClimber will allow educators to easily import and track academic and non-academic data including behavior, assessments, interventions and attendance. As of now, staff have to go into multiple applications to pull this information.

Wilfong explained how the first waiver day is going to be used. The first waiver day is Monday, Sept. 18. Kindergarten to second grade educators will learn about dyslexia screening. Third through fifth grade educators will learn about new math curriculum and iLearn changes. Classified staff will take a de-escalation training. Transportation staff will take medical emergency and bus safety training. Cafeteria staff will take point-of-sale and nutrition training.

The board approved the renewal of the agreement from the Wawasee Yacht Club. The agreement allows Wawasee usage of the Yacht Club’s premises and equipment.

The board also approved the school resource officer agreement between Wawasee Community Schools and the town of Milford. The duties of the school resource officer is to protect the lives and property of the citizens and public school students of the school district; to enforce state, and local criminal laws and ordinances, and to assist school officials with the enforcement of board of education policies and administrative regulations regarding student conduct; to investigate criminal activity committed on or adjacent to school property; to answer questions students may have about Indiana criminal or juvenile laws; to assist other law enforcement officers with outside investigations concerning students attending the school district; to provide traffic control during the arrival and departure of students and to assist school personnel in collecting information, interviewing students and assisting in search situations on campus as authorized by federal law, state law, and the Town of Milford Police Department policies and procedures. The term of the agreement will remain in effect until May 31, 2024.

The board approved the employment of Emily Worrell, director of communications and marketing; April Avila, special education paraprofessional; Evelyn Charles, student interm; Mystique Coy, remediation paraprofessional; Amanda Ducey, paraprofessional; Angelica Galindo, cafeteria worker; Tonna Gilson, developmental preschool paraprofessional; Shilah Morris, cafeteria worker; Brianna Mundo, assistant teacher; Linda Penrod, custodian; Lynae Rookstool, assistant teacher; and Marilyn Temple, paraprofessional.

The next regular Wawasee School Board meeting will be 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10 in the Wawasee High School Warrior Room, 1 Warrior Path Building 1, Syracuse.