Superintendent A.J. Gappa said this is simply an informational meeting.
The Knox Community School Board members will meet for their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Jan. 20 at 6:30 p.m. CT in the administrative office in the Palmer wing of the elementary school. The board members will consider the following items: a resignation and other personnel items, a resolution, an authorization to transfer funds, an authorization to carry over CPF funds to 2014 and the cancellation of outstanding checks.
In another rescheduled meeting, the Knox Community School Board will meet tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT where the board will reorganize and make a declaration of insurance providers and discuss the school safety grant, among other items. The meeting will be held in the administration room in the Palmer Wing of the Knox Community Elementary School.
The Knox Community School Board discussed the Standard for Success model used for certified teacher evaluations.
Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the three building principals delivered the report to the board.
“With this modern technology, they can go into a classroom and do a walk-through and highlight things that are going on in a quick fashion – within five minutes or less. They can show how an extended observation can be hooked in with the RISE evaluation tool and objects can be marked as highly effective, effective or needs improvement at that time and then they can go back and critique that,” explained Gappa.
The board will also go over ISTEP+ and NWEA results, receive an update on the ISBA Conference, go over NEOLA policies, hear a presentation from the Health Savings Account Administrator, and review the Teacher Document of Agreement.
The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. CT in the Administrative Office in the Palmer Wing of the Knox Elementary School.
The Knox Community School Board will meet in regular session tonight.
The board members will hold a public hearing on the proposed 2014 all-funds budget. They will also consider extracurricular resignations, extra curricular appointments, new hires, and transfers.
The board will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the school board meeting room in the administrative office inside the Knox Elementary School Palmer Wing.
“It appears we’re down a few students from last year. Our current enrollment in grades K-12 stands at 1,929 students and at the end of May we were at 1,943 students,” said Gappa.
Among the usual agenda items such as the Spotlight on Success and personnel items, the board members are expected to receive an update on the enrollment, discuss the new athletic conference and School Messenger.
The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. CT in the Administrative Office in the Palmer Wing of the Knox Community Elementary School.
Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the halls have been decorated in a jungle theme to get the kids “wild about reading.”
Superintendent A.J Gappa announced that the breakfast and lunch prices will not change for the next school year. The breakfast price will stay at $1.15. The lunch price at the elementary school will remain at $1.75 and the lunch price at the middle and high schools will remain at $2. The board approved the prices.
The Knox Community School Board took action to approve several handbook changes for the next school year.
Changes were made to the handbook regarding cell phone use. High School Assistant Principal Dr. Michael Bendicsen noted that the current handbook states that students are to turn off their cell phones and keep them in their locker throughout the school day.
The Knox Community School Board members last night discussed the cost of the special election held May 7.
“We just gave some information that the original bill from the clerk’s office was $21,721.60, but then it was discovered that there were some mistakes made in that bill,” explained Superintendent A.J. Gappa when discussing the board’s concerns. “Some people turned in vouchers to work on absentee balloting were being paid double for what they were supposed to get. So, the bill was reduced down to $17,732.28.”
Gappa added that there are some questions the board has concerning the estimate given to them before the election. The board was quoted $10,750 before the election and paid a $17,732 claim.
“The big difference of over $7,000 was the main question that the school board had.”
The board hopes to meet with Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski and the election board to have some of their concerns addressed.
He helps second, third and fourth grade students who struggle with reading and reading comprehension, sounds and word structure. The program helps students who have difficulty in reading fluency, spelling and students who have not shown growth in NWEA and ISTEP testing.
The amount was a little more than estimated but now all of the expenses can be paid with the approval of this appropriation.
The Knox Community School Board will be meeting tonight for the first time after the school’s proposed referendum failed in a special election held May 7.
Plans as to how the board will move forward are not on tonight’s agenda, but the board members will be discussing the employment of summer school paraprofessionals, make a library board appointment and get an update on graduation activities.
A representative was present at the last board meeting to discuss a Roth 403(B) ING retirement option and the board will delve more into that discussion during tonight’s meeting. The board will also discuss a payment for special education.
The meeting begins tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the administrative office.
The Knox Community School Board members recognized the Knox High School Envirothon team during the Spotlight on Success portion of their meeting Monday night.
The team had gone to the state competition on April 30 and placed 13th out of 17 teams. Coaches Laurie Simmons and Marge Wood told the board they were proud of the effort of the students and competed well at Washington High School.
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz says school districts will have to continue to conduct referendums to seek tax increases until the Indiana Legislature changes the school funding formula. She made the comments during several stops in Lake and Porter Counties. Ritz told educators at the Hammond Area Career Center that “you have to spend money to get money.” She thinks that many voters in areas where school district referendums failed may not have been aware of the issue. The state school superintendent says she encourages the school districts whose referendums did not pass, to try again during the next election. Knox was one such school. Local voters rejected a property tax increase to pay for construction of a new $16 million elementary school wing. The Knox Community School Board has not indicated whether they plan to pursue the issue again during next year’s regular election cycle. In the meantime, Ritz says she will help the schools in any way she can. Ritz addressed members of the Professional Educators Partnership at Valparaiso University.
