Eastern Pulaski School Board members highlighted some very distinguished students at their meeting last week.
The Winamac Middle School Junior Honor Society was recognized during the “spotlight” segment of the meeting. Superintendent Dan Foster explained that the program is a precursor to the high school level Honor Society. Continue reading
The extension of the Winamac Parkway through the downtown area has put a limit on parking in the town lot at the corner of Main and Logan Streets. This week the Winamac Town Council discussed asking those who park trailers there to put them somewhere else, but did not take any formal action. Continue reading
The Indiana Bicentennial Torch makes its way to Pulaski County tomorrow afternoon. It’s passing through each of Indiana’s 92 counties before ending up at the Statehouse in Indianapolis next week. Continue reading
Extensive building renovations at the Eastern Pulaski Schools are almost finished. Superintendent Dan Foster anticipates substantial completion by mid-October, which is mostly on schedule. He says the elementary is down to cleanup work and putting the finishing touches on the fifth grade classroom and restrooms. Continue reading
During their meeting Monday evening, the Eastern Pulaski School Board unanimously approved a a roofing contract with Insley Systems Inc. Gibraltar Design Inc. has been the main construction consultant for the corporation during their building renovations. Certain projects are out of Gibraltar’s wheel house so they make recommendations for special projects. They submitted a proposal to the board for Insley to tackle the roofing project. Continue reading
The Eastern Pulaski School Board this week held a public hearing regarding the corporation’s budget. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman explained that as a fiscal year school, they do things a little bit differently.
“We are a fiscal year school, so what we are working on now is a budget that will come into play in July. Here we are in December, we’re doing this thing for July, but we have to work that far in advance,” said Klitzman.
Eastern Pulaski Schools will soon be welcoming a new member to the coaching staff. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman explained that baseball coach Mark Hendricks will soon be leaving the corporation, and they’ve found his replacement in Tony Carroll.
Klitzman said Carroll brings a lot to the table with years of experience in baseball, though they are sad to see Hendricks go.
Eastern Pulaski and Culver Community Schools reported a drop in enrollment after this year’s Average Daily Membership, or ADM, count.
North Judson-San Pierre School Superintendent Lynn Johnson reported an increase in enrollment. The preliminary ADM report indicates that the school corporation increased by 25 students. This is a $125,000 fund increase for the school.
Johnson said this is great positive move for the school as it has had problems with funding losses for the past few years.
Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman spent some time discussing the new teacher evaluation model with the school board this week.
“Education in Indiana has changed somewhat in that there is a prescribed procedure, methodology, timing and organization in how teachers are going to be evaluated,” said Klitzman. “At Eastern Pulaski, as many schools in the area and statewide, we’re going to start using the DOE prescribed evaluation instrument called RISE.”
School starts this week for our students!
Several back-to-school events are happening tonight. Back to School Night for all Knox Community Schools will be tonight from 4–6 p.m. The Elementary School has a different schedule for all grades. Parents can refer to the school registration page for Knox schools on our website at wkvi.com for specific details. The first day of school is tomorrow!
The Eastern Pulaski School Board hired two teachers back to the corporation that retired last school year. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said it’s nice to have them back for another year.
“Bus driver, Mrs. Janet Haschel, had decided to retire back in May and come July she decided that bus route wasn’t so bad! She is going to be a bus driver with us again this next year. I’m very pleased to announce that one of our long-time math teachers, Mrs. Jan Moore, has come back with us. When she left, we made her position a part-time position. That half-time position seemed pretty attractive to her so she did apply and the board hired her,” explained Klitzman. (dr klitzman 07-14 #1)
Klitzman says this practice doesn’t happen very often.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board approved the purchase of software for the RISE evaluation model for teachers and administrators. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman says the company Own It! designed the software that parallels the evaluation requirements.
“The forms, the checklists, the graphs, the details – all of that is right in that software,” said Klitzman. “They can use their iPad, do the evaluation and then as soon as they’re ready with it, they can push the magic button and send that right to the teacher’s computer as well.”
Evaluation models and procedures for teachers and administrators need to be in place in the fall per state mandate. The RISE model uses multiple sources of information to paint a fair, accurate, and comprehensive picture of a teacher’s performance. It also provides information on the most important aspects of teaching: planning, instruction, leadership, and student learning.
Registration for Eastern Pulaski students will be August 7 and 8, and more details will be released later concerning specific times and other information, but Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman told the School Board this week about a new feature during registration.
“This year, we’re going to open up the modes of payments for the fees – we take cash and checks, but we’re adding a credit card feature,” said Klitzman. “Parents, for their convenience, they can pay book rental on credit card and all through the year, they can put money into their child’s lunch account. It will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the credit card option.”
The registration process will be the same as last year.
“Last year, we established a common registration area, so everyone that is going to register and come in and pay their book fees and lunch fees, will go to the Middle School/High School Cafeteria. If they have students in all three buildings, it’s one stop.”
The ISTEP scores were released yesterday by Indiana State Schools Superintendent Dr. Tony Bennett and Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman says the students did very well on the state standardized test.
“They did absolutely outstanding,” said Klitzman. “In terms of English and Language Arts, these are the percentages of students that passed the state test, third grade 95.4, fourth grade 92.2 and fifth grade 97.8. In Math, third grade 93.8, fourth grade 96.7 and fifth grade 97.8. In our middle school, they did well and they showed good growth.”
And that’s not even the best part!
“In terms of reading, our third, fourth and fifth grade students all performed better,” stated Klitzman. “We went from the lower-90s to the mid-upper-90s across the board. We’re in 90s at our sixth grade level and both our seventh and eighth grade showed some good scores.”
The students also did well on the math portion of the ISTEP test.
“At the elementary level, every single grade level went up into the mid-90s. In science we went up, fourth grade had a 94 percent. In social studies in the fifth grade, they are at 95 percent. Excellent scores!” exclaimed Klitzman.
Klitzman said that there was also some improvement in the high school.
“At the high school level, there was good improvement in our Language Arts area. That was a target of focus for us so we’re very pleased with that, and we’re still taking steps to bring up our other areas as well.”
Students in the Eastern Pulaski School Corporation will be wrapping up classes this week. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said that the students were able to get out early this week due to the lack of school closures in the winter.
“One of the most unusual winters we’ve had,” said Dr. Klitzman. “I think most would agree with me that in terms of snow it’s been a great winter. Kenny Becker [Highway Superintendent] is excited about it. He probably has a lot of salt left. Nonetheless, we have no make-up days so our last day for students is Wednesday, May 23. It’ll be a full day of school; seniors are in school, everybody’s in school for a full day on the 23rd. Graduation for the Class of 2012 will be Friday, as that’s our tradition, at 7 p.m. ET in the high school gym. Because we’re getting out early, our summer school schedule will start the end of May.”
The Eastern Pulaski School Board members approved several retirements during their meeting this week. Elementary teacher, Brenda Roberts, will be retiring at the end of the school year after 37 years in the education field and Middle School Secretary, Dorothy Malchow, is retiring after 27 years at the corporation. Superintendent Dr. Klitzman also announced the retirement of the Middle School Principal.
“Mr. Stan Good, after 25 years in education – all at Eastern Pulaski Schools – and as our Middle School Principal for 18 years, is retiring,” said Klitzman. “He is going to stay in the education arena, but in a private sector helping different areas through a corporation that seems to find its niche on those students that are not functioning as well as they should in the traditional setting of a school. It’s more of an alternative selection.”
The Eastern Pulaski School Board members recognized this year’s Valedictorian and Salutatorian of the graduating class of 2012 at their meeting this week. The Board recognized Valedictorian Jordan Morning and Salutatorian Tyler Abbott. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said the board and their families celebrated their accomplishments throughout their entire high school career.
The Winamac Safe Routes to School Task Force recently announced that they have applied for a $250,000 Infrastructure Grant to fund the completion of the Panhandle Pathway through Winamac, as well as improvements along Riverside Drive and Superior Street. These improvements were deemed necessary by planning work that was done as a part of the Safe Routes to School Non-Infrastructure Grant that was awarded in 2010. This project will enable safer walking and cycling environments, including roads and sidewalk improvements, and the grants will cover planning, design, and engineering expenses, including consultant services.
The Winamac Safe Routes to School Task Force recently announced that they have applied for a $250,000 Infrastructure Grant to fund the completion of the Panhandle Pathway through Winamac, as well as improvements along Riverside Drive and Superior Street. These improvements were deemed necessary by planning work that was done as a part of the Safe Routes to School Non-Infrastructure Grant that was awarded in 2010. This project will enable safer walking and cycling environments, including roads and sidewalk improvements, and the grants will cover planning, design, and engineering expenses, including consultant services.
