Knox Community School Superintendent A.J. Gappa gave a facility study update to the School Board Monday night. The Board is gathering opinions from the public and teachers in the Elementary School on the Palmer Wing of the Elementary School.
The Qualified School Construction Bond project continues at Knox High School. Recently the water pipes were replaced and the pool was redone. At the time the bids were accepted on those projects, some alternative bids were put out too.
One of the bids was to replace student lockers and Superintendent A.J. Gappa talks about the second bid. Continue reading
The Knox Community School Board heard from Elementary School Assistant Principal, Michelle Tarnow, who presented the Little F.I.S.H. program as the Spotlight on Success portion of the project. The Little F.I.S.H. program is available through IU Health Starke Hospital.
“F.I.S.H. is the acronym for Feeling Important Staying Healthy and the Little F.I.S.H. program offers students in the fourth grade level ideas and different recipes and different foods that they can eat and that are more healthy than others,” said Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “They each get a t-shirt and it has created some excitement with other grade levels. Our fourth grade is large enough this year that we split up the students so that not as many kids are being shown the program at one time so they come twice a month for the program.”
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.”
The Knox National Honor Society is planning on distributing food baskets to families in need this holiday season and the organization is looking for donations to aid in the effort.
Donations of new toys and non-perishable food items can be dropped off in the High School’s Main Office until Thursday, December 15th. Canned or packaged food will be accepted, along with new or very clean toys and baby food and formula. The National Honor Society will also accept cash donations so certain items can be purchased for the cause.
In case you haven’t heard:
The Annual Starke County Historical Society meeting was held at the Knox High School Cafeteria on Thursday, November 17th with over 100 people attending. After the dinner and business meeting, Gary & Susan Brown, from Valparaiso, provided the program. Since 2011 is the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, the Browns presented a musical program of songs of that period in our nation’s history. They are accomplished musicians. Susan performs on fretted dulcimer, guitar, zither, autoharp, piano, penny whistle, recorder and various rhythm instruments. She is known for expressive vocals; from ethereal Celtic tunes to hard-hitting country songs and has performed for hundreds of audiences all over the Midwest. -submitted by Jim Shilling. Continue reading
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 High School Drama Department is putting on another play: The Clumsy Custard Horror Show. With a lot of audience participation, the production is described as your typical fairy tale kingdom with a princess in need of a husband, an evil villain who desires her, and a hero who, of course, saves the day.
State Senator Ed Charbonneau was in Knox last night to speak at the 21st Century Scholars ceremony.
“This is a very exciting program that provides college tuition for four years at a state college or university, and an equivalent amount if a student wants to go to a private school,” said Senator Charbonneau. “What this does is remove the worry that a young family might have of how they’re going to pay for their child’s college education.”
The scholarships are based on income levels, but the only criteria is that the students conduct themselves in a positive manner through high school.
Students and staff with the Starke County Youth Club will be participating in the Lights On Afterschool program tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 p.m. at the Knox Elementary School Cafeteria. Lawmakers, parents, school administrators and you are invited to attend this special event.
“The big purpose is for us to draw attention to the need after school,” said Melissa Smith, Starke County Youth Club Program Director. “Without the right kind of funding, programs like ours can be closed and we want to keep kids safe and learning after school. Lights on sends that message and our kids are happy to celebrate and encourage people to come and learn about the importance of keeping buildings like ours and programs like ours open after school.”
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 Elementary School recently held parent/teacher conferences and during that time, parents were asked to go through the Palmer Wing.
“The administrators from the Elementary School invited members and parents in to look at Palmer Wing at the Elementary School just to show some of the needs that might be necessary,” said Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “Our maintenance people do a great job of maintaining things, but that building is nearing 60 years old so some things are going to need to be taken care of. Six or seven parents each night did take advantage and looked at the Palmer Wing and pretty much the comments were unanimous. There is going to have to be something done sometime in the near future.”
The Knox Redskin Brigade ended its season Saturday after placing 11th in the Semi-State Marching band competition at Decatur High School in Indianapolis. The top 10 bands went on to the State Finals.
Director Craige Phipps said it was tough, but the students did a great job and got a standing ovation for their performance.
The Knox Redskin Brigade and the John Glenn Marching Band will be performing in the Semi-State Marching Band competition in Class C tomorrow at Decatur High School in Indianapolis.
John Glenn will perform at 5:20 p.m. ET and the Knox Redskin Brigade will perform at 5:46 p.m. ET. Awards for all of Class C, which contains 20 bands, will be at approximately 6:12 p.m. ET. 10 bands will advance to the State Finals which will be on Saturday, October 29th, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
The SCILL Center recently announced the Student of the Month recipients for the month of September.
Tyler Wickizer from LaVille High School and Tyler Keeton from Knox High School were the AM class recipients of the award. Mikinzie Wilson and Thomas Carey both from Knox High School were the PM class recipients of the award.
The Knox Redskin Brigade, along with John Glenn and eight other bands in Class C, advanced to the Semi-State Marching Band competition to be held at Decatur High School in Indianapolis this Saturday. An emotional Director, Craige Phipps, talks about the Regional performance.
The following piece was submitted by WKVI Intern and Knox High School student, Makayla Dillard.
We’ve all heard the saying, “only the good die young.” This was undoubtedly proved true this past Monday night. The tragic untimely death of Drew Shearin affected the entire community. His life touched nearly everyone’s life in some way, shape, or form. He was the nicest young man, the most successful young musician, and the most talented young actor. But that’s just it – he was so young. As Ms. Miller, his best friend’s mother, said, “God needed someone to teach the angels how to play music.” The amount of people that showed up to his candle light vigil Wednesday evening was absolutely incredible. “Each of the candles represented someone that he touched,” said Ms. Miller. And that was inevitably true. Drew Shearin’s life affected hundreds upon hundreds of people. Everyone from his peers, to the entire community.
