WABASH COUNTY- Although no members of the school board have publicly expressed support or disdain for the concept, consolidation continues to be a topic of interest for the Metropolitan School District of Wabash County.
Board President Kevin Bowman tried to gauge interest and availability in welcoming Kevin Bates in from Data Pit Stop, who works with Wabash County – and many others – on budget numbers and projections for a work session.
Bowman proposed bringing Bates in to give the board an idea of what the property tax implications might be should the board vote to consolidate with another school district in the future.
“The County has worked with Darren and he has a website named Data Pit Stop,” former county councilman Jeff Dawes said during the meeting. “We’ve worked with him on budgets and tried to forecast things maybe we should change or do different. He works with a large number of counties throughout the state, and he is good with his numbers. I would highly recommend him.”
Bowman had broached the date of May 22 for the work session, but nothing was made official at Tuesday’s meeting.
MSD’s school calendar might look a little different next year.
The board voted to reduce the amount of staff development/E-learning days to three, down from four for the 2017-2018 year, and instead added in two days as face-to-face snow days.
Also at the meeting, Southwood Elementary’s Valerie Law was honored with the staff spotlight.
Here is superintendent, Mike Keaffaber:
Colleague Ann Higgins nominated Law, and spoke highly of her during the meeting.
“Mrs. Law, (principal Phil) Boone and I have had a lot of opportunities to work together this school year,” Higgins said. “And, I nominated Valerie for all of the extra time she put in of her own time over fall break, creating visuals for students at her building so they can be successful in a learning environment that suits them. I appreciate all you’ve done, and I know it was a lot of time on your part, so I’d like for you to be recognized for your efforts.”
And now, some highlights from the 4/10/18 School Board meeting:
The Metropolitan School District of Wabash County Board of School Trustees met to conduct business on Tuesday night.
Several donations were accepted: $200
The staff spotlight was: Elementary School Counselor Valerie Law
Nominated by: Special Education Director Ann Higgins
Valerie has invested a lot of time in preparing visual cues for students to use. Her dedication to all students in her building is something to be celebrated.
Other student and staff recognitions:
Metro North Elementary
As a part of the Wabash Inclusive Playground’s “$50K in 50 Days” fundraising efforts, Metro North participated in “Pennies for Play” and raised a total of $3000. Metro Elementary School will have its name placed on the donor wall when the playground is installed.
Metro North Elementary
Two students from Metro North, Seth Osborne (3rd grade student) and Kassidy Cartwright (1st grade student), have had artwork selected from the Honeywell Elementary Art Show exhibitor that will be made into spring/summer banners. Banners will be displayed throughout downtown Wabash.
Sharp Creek Elementary
Patriot’s Pen: Each 6th grade teacher asked some of their writers (to provide enrichment opportunities as a means for differentiation) to write an essay for the Patriot’s Pen writing contest sponsored by our local VFW. The 2017-2018 Theme was “America’s Gift to My Generation”.
Eleven students wrote essays: Isaiah Beall, Autumn Burruss, Hannah Holmes, Eden Hoover, Anna Kissel, Taylor Kleine, Jaycie Krom, Madeline Moore, John Nesler, Quintenn Vigar, and Mara Zolman. John Nesler’s essay was chosen to advance to the regional level. We are waiting to find out if John Nesler’s Essay will advance past the regional.
Southwood Elementary
Sarah Rees, music teacher, has had a DonorsChoose project fulfilled for the Southwood music room. Ripple, a currency exchange company, fully funded a new tubano drum for the amount of $295.00. This was part of DonorsChoose’s #BestSchoolDay initiative.
Financials: General Fund balance for March 2018 was $2,537,396.55.
Unfinished Business:
Calendar adjustments for the 2018-2019 school year were approved.
Details of the changes include:
Three Professional Development eLearning Days instead of four.
(Removed January 22.)
Make-up Days (Removed eLearning as February make-up days. First semester cancellation days may be made up first
semester with eLearning Saturday(s). Second semester cancellation days will be made up first using face to face built in days first with subsequent days on Saturdays.)
Face to Face Make up Day #1 February 4
Face to Face Make up Day #2 February 18