Knox Community School Superintendent A.J. Gappa gave the School Board a facility study update this week.
“Our Board has been investigating work that needs to be done at the Elementary School. I’ve been meeting with the staff members at the Elementary School by grade level and offering them the same mini tour and showing them the inner workings of the building, similar to what the Board had seen during a mini retreat that they had and also what the public was shown last spring.”
Knox Community School Superintendent A.J. Gappa gave the School Board members a report from the recent Parent/Teacher conferences at the Elementary School.
“We gave an Elementary facility study update to the Board just to keep them updated on what’s going on, especially at the Palmer Wing,” said Superintendent Gappa. “During our recent Parent/Teacher Conference days in mid-October, the administrators from the Elementary School, along with some other staff members, opened up the Palmer Wing to any parents who came through at Parent/Teacher Conferences and wanted to see the state of the building. As we move forward and try to decide what we want to do with that buildling, we think the process is to sell the need and let parents actually see what shape the building is in and the part we’re talking about is almost 60 years old.”
The Knox Community School Board had a special Spotlight on Success agenda item this week. The students in Mrs. Kleinfehn’s high school class have been corresponding with Tim Watts, a 2004 graduate of Knox High School, and a member of the National Guard. He has a special email account so the students can email him and those letters are monitored by Mrs. Kleinfehn.
The students appeared before the School Board Monday night for the Spotlight on Success presentation and Superintendent A.J. Gappa said they got a surprise.
“It just so happens, Tim was home on leave this week so he was able to show up in person at the board meeting and the kids didn’t know he was coming,” said Gappa. “The Board thought that it was really special for a graduate of Knox High School to come back and take the time, especially when he’s got limited time left before he goes overseas, to talk to these kids and show some samples of emails they’ve already sent.”
The Knox Community School Board members accepted the retirement of a high school teacher at their meeting this week.
“Dick Wagner had submitted a letter of retirement. He had some personal issues that developed so he felt that it was in his best interest at this time to retire. Mr. Wagner was a business teacher at Knox. Over the years, he’s done other extra-curricular activities. I believe he, at some point, did the Yearbook at the High School, he’s also been a tennis coach, and he was involved with the Knox Federation of Teachers where he has been the past President, a position he held for the last number of years until this past May. He got in forty-and-a-half years. We want to thank him for all he’s done for the Corporation and the time he’s put in,” commented Superintendent, A.J. Gappa.
Photo provided.
The Knox Community School Board recognized Kindergarten student, Jack Guzman, for his efforts in helping the local Fraternal Order of Police.
“Jack took it upon himself to go out and raise money on his own so he could donate funds to the FOP,” said Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “He wanted to help out the FOP because they help out students in their Shop with a Cop program. That got his attention and he just wanted to contribute to that.”
The Knox Community School Board reviewed the Public Law 221 plans that were submitted by all of the building principals.
“Public Law 221 is the basic education law that governs schools in improvement and professional development,” said Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “Schools need to have three year plans to designate what their goals are for those three years and how they plan to implement their improvement strategies.”
The Knox Community School Board approved the hire of a new Middle School Guidance Counselor.
“The Board appointed Sonia Hensley to take over the Middle School Counselor position,” said Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “She’s a 1990 graduate of Knox High School and has previous Counselor experience at the Mooresville School Corporation. We look forward to bringing her on board. She will begin on October 17th.
The Knox Community School Board has been meeting with members of a committee and the community about the possible construction project of the Palmer Wing of the Elementary School. The Palmer Wing is nearing 60 years in age and is in need of upgrades and repairs.
The Knox Community School Board members discussed the Corporation’s Average Daily Membership (ADM) at their meeting this week. Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the count was done on September 16th and he discussed the enrollment with the Board.
“This year our ADM count for the entire corporation is 1,929 students,” said Gappa. “That is compared with 1,931 students last year so we are two students less. The State had forecast us to be eight students down so in relationship to what the State forecast us, we’re ahead of that game. Of course, we would like to grow in attendance, but I think we’ve held our own in comparison to many of the neighboring corporations.”
The Knox Community School Board members honored the recent retirees at their meeting Wednesday night.
“Any year in which we have school personnel retire, we try to honor them for their years of service to the Knox Community School Corporation,” said Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “At the conclusion of the 2010-2011 school year, we had five retirees. They included Shilla Cornelius, Elementary Treasurer; Nadean Emigh, Paraprofessional at the Elementary School; Jerry Slauter, Industrial Tech teacher at the Middle School; Marilyn Wagner, a 5th grade teacher at the Knox Elementary School; and Steve Cronk, Middle School Principal.”
Knox High School Principal, Dr. Elizabeth Ratliff; Middle School Principal, Dave Miller; and Technology Coach, Chris Ross, appeared before the School Board last week to present them with projects the students have been doing on their new computers, thanks to the One-to-One Computer Initiative.
“From the High School, they had a student demonstrate how to solve an Algebra problem, running it through an iMovie plan, said Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “We had an English teacher show who they prepared for the reading of a story by doing research on the author, the story and different topics from the story that they were going to read. Mrs. Berkshire was here to show some of the projects that those students had done.”
The Knox Community School Board created a new technical position and filled it at their meeting this week. Superintendent A.J. Gappa gives us the details on the new position.
“This year, we had a teacher retire from the Middle School in the Industrial Tech area and rather than fill that position, the Administration felt that with the One-to-One Computer Program which we have undertaken, we would best be served by a teacher/coach that could go in and help teachers with the computers and the programs and different objects that they could use in their classroom,” he said.
This spring, the Knox Community School Board met with a committee to discuss issues with the east end of the Elementary School, known as the Palmer Wing. The committee has found that there are some issues that need to be fixed with the 60-year-old infrastructure and building. The infrastructure is not built for today’s technology needs in terms of electric capacity and space. and water lines need to be replaced.
Washington Township Trustee, Shelly Kemble, and Washington Township firefighters Joe Short and David Pearman made a presentation to the Knox Community School Board about building a training tower at the old Washington Township School. Superintendent, A.J. Gappa explains why they had to seek the permission of the Board to pursue this project:
“Because the land that the old Washington Township school sits on was at one time donated to the school and given back to the Township and because of the structure of the Indiana laws, before anybody can do anything with that property, they have to get School Board approval. It’s supposed to be in the form of Parks and Recreation.”
The Knox Community School Board approved administrator contract rollovers and a one percent pay increase for all classified and administrative staff for 2011. The pay increase is the same the teachers received for 2011.
The Board also approved the advertisement of the budget for 2012. The budget will be printed for all funds including the General Fund, Debt Service Fund, Retirement/Severance Bond Debt Service, Capital Projects Fund, School Transportation and the Bus Replacement Fund. Total of all funds to be advertised equals $24,197,043.
The Knox Community School Board dissected the Corporation’s ISTEP results at their meeting Monday night.
Students in the Elementary School showed gains in the 3rd grade Math and English/Language Arts while the 4th graders were down a little in English/Language Arts and unchanged in Math. The 5th grade students had a five point gain in Math.
The Knox Community School Board members approved a memorandum of understanding with Porter/Starke Services at their meeting last week. Superintendent A.J. Gappa says the memorandum was possible due to the work of High School Assistant Principal, Mike Bendicsen, who sits on the Board of Porter/Starke Services.
“If they have a student who is receiving services from Porter/Starke and if the parents agree that they can, they would like to have permission to meet that student on school property,” said Mr. Gappa. “What that would do for our students is save travel time from possibly going to Valparaiso or meeting out of school time. We’re just trying to make it as easy as possible for our students to meet with their counselors.”
The Knox Community School Board approved textbook rental fees for the upcoming school year. Superintendent, A.J. Gappa said the prices have decreased at the Elementary School. The lowest textbook price is $70 at the third grade level and the highest price is $99 at the fifth grade level.
“And the difference is because of the cost of the textbooks and supplies that each grade level receives,” said Gappa. “In comparison to last year, book rental fees are slightly down. The main reason for that is that the State has dropped cursive writing as a required standard. Even though we are still going to teach cursive writing as part of the curriculum and instruction that is given by the teachers, we didn’t find it necessary to buy a consumable workbook that went with each grade level.”
The Knox Community School Board members approved the appointment of Josh Pugh as the Middle School Assistant Principal at their meeting last night.
Pugh has been a Knox Elementary School teacher for the past 10 years. He has worked as a 2nd grade teacher and as a Reading Coach. He said that he looks forward to the challenge of the position of Assistant Principal and will do it to the best of his ability.
The teacher contract has been ratified by the Knox Federation of Teachers and the Knox Community School Board and Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the Board approved the contract Monday afternoon.
“Our old contract with the teachers actually ran out December 31st, 2010, so we’ve been working as a status quo contract for the last six months,” said Gappa. “We got together with the teachers and maybe had one of the shortest negotiation that we’ve ever had, but everybody was proactive and in agreement and we worked together. The teachers had a meeting Friday morning and they ratified the contract and then we had a special board meeting Monday afternoon and the Board voted to approve the agreement between the KFT and the Knox Community School Corporation.”
