The following is an open letter to the Wabash County community from the MSD of Wabash County School Board: WABASH COUNTY, IN- On behalf of the 2,217 students and the associated parents and guardians, teachers, and staff who selected the Metropolitan School District (MSD) of Wabash County as their educational choice, we wanted to respond to a recent letter published by some members of the community. The letter advocated for educational reforms to ensure a positive future for our community and our schools.
Our goals as Board members of MSD of Wabash County are to be inclusive, transparent, and make decisions that are in the best interests of our students; both those enrolled now and those who will join us as future graduates.
That is why we embarked on a series of community meetings in the fall of 2019 and continued to receive considerable input before presenting the public in 2020 with a long-range strategic plan for our Wabash County schools. That plan realizes the goal of “Dream Big,” a key element of our commitment to public education here in Wabash County. It was predicated upon making sure that we offered the taxpayers of the community a vision that provided quality educational options, maintained a priority on the use of tax dollars, and charted a future that used all of our resources to “Dream Big” for our students.
The plan zeroed in on several tangible and realistic goals.
First, we will continue to develop and enhance quality programs to improve student achievement by ensuring that our curriculum offerings prepare students for life after graduation. Our students will continue to achieve at or above the state level on various measurement tools.
Second, we will continue our efforts to attract and retain students. That means we will develop the organizational capabilities to expand our marketing/branding for the Wabash County school community and highlight the quality of life in Wabash County to attract new families.
Third, we will build upon our strong financial resources and ensure fiscal responsibility and stability for the residents and taxpayers of our community. By doing that, we will recruit and retain highly effective faculty and staff, and continue transparency on fiscal obligations and solutions via all operations.
Finally, we made providing safe and efficient learning environments a significant priority. We researched ways to optimize facility utilization and security. We explored ways to reduce duplication and increase efficiency. These potential upgrades would support our students in the classroom and save taxpayers’ dollars by making the investments needed now and not delaying them and facing spiraling costs in the future.
Those reviews led us, as the locally-elected School Board, to make the decision to invest now in a new high school with the goal to make our Wabash County schools viable and sustainable for our community’s future. The new high school will combine the latest in designs to ensure constructability and sustainability for generations. We will make better use of our facilities. We will offer our students the latest in state-of-the-art classrooms. The new high school will be a welcome “front door” in our effort to make Wabash County a place where our present families will want to continue to live and an inviting place for future families. The new high school will be ready to serve our community if voters approve in November.
We realize and agree that every one of us, both the public and private sector, should work together for what is in the best interest of our schoolchildren. Our Wabash County schools are ready to turn “Dream Big” into reality. We welcome the active support of everyone to help us achieve that goal for this and future generations.
Thank you.
MSD of Wabash County School Board
Todd Dazey – President
Kevin Bowman – Vice-President
Matt Driscoll – Secretary
Scott Haupert – Member
Christian Rosen – Member