Schools Look to Make Up One More Day

Dan Foster
Dan Foster
Another day of classroom instruction was lost at our local schools yesterday as a severe winter storm entered the area with a vengeance.

Freezing rain and snow prompted local school officials to cancel school and plan for yet another makeup day.

Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dan Foster said the school board already has set make up days for previous canceled days of school.

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Eastern Pulaski School Board to Meet Wednesday Morning

 
 

The Eastern Pulaski School Board will meet in a morning session on Wednesday, March 12 at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The board members will consider two retirement requests and a recommendation to purchase school buses. The three school principals will discuss activities pertinent to their buildings and Superintendent Dan Foster will have items of information for the board.

The board is expected to tour the elementary school after lunch. As time permits, a work session will be held at the conclusion of the regular meeting or after lunch.

Eastern Pulaski School Board Approves Purchase of iPads and Cases

Dan Foster
Dan Foster
The Eastern Pulaski School Board approved the purchase of 310 iPads and cases in the amount of $148,490.

Superintendent Dan Foster explained that the seventh grade students were the first to get iPads and then it expanded to the eighth grade and the ninth grade. Now, all high school students will have iPads. The IT director told the board that as soon as he programs each individual iPad, they will be ready for use by the students, which could be yet this month.

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Schools Waitng for Waiver Approval to Enact Make up Days

  
 
Most area schools are waiting to see if a waiver is approved before they start invoking snow days into the calendar.

The state offered an opportunity for schools to submit a waiver to excuse two days of instruction due to the severe weather last week. Schools were forced to close as a state emergency declaration was enacted preventing travel on roadways on Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 6 and Jan. 7.

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Eastern Pulaski School Board Approves Stipend Payment for Teachers

Dan Foster
Dan Foster

Teachers at the Eastern Pulaski School Corporation received a nice surprise recently, as the school board this week approved a stipend payment thanks to an unexpected increase in student enrollment. Superintendent Dan Foster said the influx was a nice surprise, especially since the corporation has seen very few raises over the last few years.

Foster said this increase in students brought with it an increase in funds, and they decided to give it back to the teachers.

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Eastern Pulaski School Board Approves Acquisition of Bus Bids

Dan Foster
Dan Foster
The Eastern Pulaski School Board will be obtaining bus bids and Superintendent Dan Foster said the corporation will be doing that process online.

“The Service Center now has a way to do it that’s been approved by the State Board of Accounts,” explained Foster. “Basically, it’s an online way to receive your bus bids. You’re going to receive bids from the same two or three companies that would have normally would have submitted to you anyway. It’s just going to save our folks in the office a little bit of time.”

This takes the place of the old format of listing specifications and sending it to a newspaper and receiving bids within a certain amount of time.

Once bids have been received, the board will approve a recommended bid.

Eastern Pulaski School Board Approves Sound System Replacement

 
 

The Eastern Pulaski School Board approved a motion to replace the sound system in the middle school gym.

Superintendent Dan Foster stressed that the system has been very useful for the facility but it’s outdated.

“Dave DeLorenzo and the maintenance staff have had a lot of trouble with the sound system and it’s just an old system that needs some updating. We’re going to have that replaced,” explained Foster.

The system will be replaced in the next few months.

Eastern Pulaski School Board Extends Administrator Contracts

Dan Foster
Dan Foster
The Eastern Pulaski School Board discussed administrator contracts this week.

Superintendent Dan Foster said the change in leadership at the corporation had delayed this process, but the board forged ahead with approving all contracts.

“We did go ahead and extend all of the principal’s contracts and the Athletic Director’s contract for an extra year,” explained Foster. “Their contracts are effective June 30, 2015 now instead of just this next summer.”

Winamac Seniors Present Policy Proposal to School Board

Dan Foster
Dan Foster

The Eastern Pulaski School Board heard a presentation from a group of seniors who developed a “bring your own device” policy as a class project for the board to consider for second semester.

Superintendent Dan Foster explained that this policy would allow students to bring in their own iPad, laptop, smart phone or technology device for use during the second semester. The seniors felt that they weren’t being treated fairly.

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ISTEP+ Results at Knox, West Central and Eastern Pulaski Schools

 
 

The ISTEP+ results have been looked at by officials at all schools in our area and Knox Community School Superintendent said there were some positive points and areas that need to be worked on.

“There were some good points and some points that need to be looked at,” explained Gappa. “In the elementary school, the average in both Language Arts and Math were in the upper nineties – the high point being the fifth grade Math with over 90 percent. The middle school had a little bit lower results and those will be checked out and we’ll report to the board at the next meeting.”

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ADM Counts Vary at Local Schools

 
 
The Average Daily Membership, or ADM, count was taken at every school in the state on Friday, Sept. 13. Knox Community School Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the corporation was down 31 students from the same point last year and 19.5 students down from the projected DOE tuition page. Last Friday’s total came to 1,850.5 students. Kindergarten students are counted as a half-student.

“In this particular year, the elementary was up one student compared to last year. The middle school was down 14 and the high school was down 18,” reported Gappa. “Last year the middle school was up three. It varies from year to year in the class sizes. With the money following the students and open enrollment, it has changed things a little bit more.”

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ACLU Lawsuit Dismissed Against Eastern Pulaski Schools

Dan Foster
Dan Foster
Following the announcement from the ACLU of Indiana indicating that they have filed a lawsuit against the Eastern Pulaski School Corporation on behalf of a female student who was denied a chance to play football on the school’s football team, the school corporation’s superintendent has announced that the lawsuit has been dismissed. Dan Foster told WKVI that the case was dropped after he was given the opportunity to meet with the parents and discuss a solution.

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Eastern Pulaski School Board to Meet Tonight

Dan Foster
Dan Foster
The Eastern Pulaski School Board will meet tonight where the board will discuss a recommendation to leave the Midwest Athletic Conference and join a new athletic conference.

In this first meeting for newly-hired Superintendent Dan Foster, he will give tentative enrollment figures, discuss the ISBA Regional Meeting and other items to come before the school board. The building principals will also give reports.

The Eastern Pulaski School Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. ET in the distance learning lab on the school’s campus.

ACLU Sues E. Pulaski Schools For Female Student Unable to Play Football

Dan Foster
Dan Foster
The ACLU of Indiana has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a female Eastern Pulaski School Corporation student who was denied the chance to play football on her school’s football team. The team at Winamac Community Middle School is made up of only males, and when the 7th grader requested to try out for the team, she was denied the chance because, according to school officials, girls were not allowed to join. They encouraged her to try out for volleyball or cross-country.

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Eastern Pulaski Schools Superintendent Settling In Well

Dan Foster
Dan Foster

After being chosen as the new superintendent at Eastern Pulaski Schools earlier this month, Dan Foster said he’s settling back into the corporation nicely, aided by the fact that he was previously an administrator at the corporation for three years. He said there are still some familiar faces at the schools.

“I was here for three years, so I do know a lot of the people. A lot of them have stopped in, just said, ‘Hi,’ ‘Good to see you back,’ that kind of stuff, but in the mornings I’ve tried to take some time and go up through the buildings and see people and walk through and see kids in classes and what’s going on,” he said.

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New Superintendent Chosen at Eastern Pulaski Schools

Dan Foster
Dan Foster
A new superintendent has been chosen at Eastern Pulaski Schools and he’s no stranger to the corporation. Dan Foster held an administration position at the corporation as he explains his history in education.

“I was a high school band director at Fountain Central in Veedersburg, Indiana and then I came to Eastern Pulaski as the assistant principal at the high school in 2004,” said Foster. I spent three years here and then went to Caston High School for one year as the Junior/Senior high principal and I’ve been there for the last five years as superintendent. I did my undergraduate at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, my Master’s in music at Miami University in Ohio and all of my administrative work was at Indiana State.”

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