Student representatives for the Tippecanoe Valley School Board for the 2024-25 year are senior class representative Marisol Gonzalez-Ramirez, left, and junior class representative Jacob Scacco. They are shown at the TVSC Board meeting on Monday, Aug. 19, at Mentone Elementary School.

Text and Photos
By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

MENTONE — The Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. now has $50,000 to spend on furniture and other items for its Valley Early Learning Academy thanks to the Kosciusko County Community Foundation.

At its regular meeting on Monday, Aug. 19, at Mentone Elementary School, the board heard from TVSC Director of Communications, Marketing and Grants Kiira Churchill about the grant funding for VELA, its child care center.

Churchill noted the funds originally came from the Lilly Endowment Inc.

“Part of that grant is to help child care centers that are located in schools and in communities and to either start a day care facility or enhance what they’re already doing,” she explained. “And so with the expansion of VELA, we qualified in a couple of different areas.”

Churchill said funds would be used for “furniture, supplies” among other things.

In other business, the board:

• Welcomed new junior class Tippecanoe Valley High School student representative Jacob Scacco. He’s the son of Gary and LeAnn Scacco and will report each month on TVHS activities to the board along with senior class representative Marisol Gonzalez-Ramirez, who’s returning for her second year as a representative.
• Approved the hiring of TVHS junior varsity volleyball coach Amy Jo Brown, freshmen volleyball coach Abigaile Koch, freshmen girls’ basketball coach Blaine Hartzler, full-time custodian Christian Grostefon, part-time custodian Suleydi Fontaina Garcia, cafeteria staff member Ana Patino Garcia and instructional assistant Christie Edwards; Tippecanoe Valley Middle School food service worker Kathy Smith; Akron Elementary School instructional assistant Allee Snyder; and Mentone instructional assistants Ashaya Martinez Jimenez and Paige Sherow and athletic director Shayleigh Shriver.
• Accepted the resignations of VELA instructional teacher Jody Moss; Mentone computer lab instructional assistant Krista Neace; Akron part-time custodian Yadira Garcia; and TVMS cafeteria staff member Robbin Elliott; and approved the terminations of employees Cheyenne Barngrover and Michael Warpenburg.
• Accepted a $250 donation for the Mentone Parent-Support Group from the Akron-Mentone Kiwanis Club.
• Accepted a $1,750 donation for various needs at Mentone from the Mentone Alumni Association. Mentone Alumni Association President Alice Keirn, who presented the check, noted $800 of the funds came from Creighton Bros. LLC.

The board’s next regular meeting is 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16, at Mentone.