The Knox Redskins have no plans to change their nickname any time soon. The school corporation has used the nickname since the 1890s. Superintendent A.J. Gappa is quoted in a Network Indiana story as saying “at this point, there has been no conversation about changing it at all.” Continue reading
Summer school staff and bus drivers, plus the discussion of field-trips and fundraisers are on the agenda for tonight’s Knox Community School board meeting in the administrative office at the elementary school.
Also on the itinerary is handbook updates and credit activities.
The meeting is open to the public and begins at 6:30 p.m.
Knox High School had a total of 15 band students participating in the 2013-14 school year Music Recycled program. It provides music lessons to students who demonstrate a desire for higher learning in music education. It is funded by the Drew’s Gift Foundation and maintained by Knox High School Assistant Band Director Darren Day. The program allows high school band students to take lessons from a professional on their particular instrument. In order to receive the lessons the high school students must pay it forward and provide lessons to middle school band students. Music Recycled is an opportunity for young band enthusiasts to obtain cadet teaching credit on their report cards and valuable teaching experience.
Since students are finished with classes, summer is the perfect time for renovations at the schools. Particular projects on the agenda for Knox Community Schools are the track repairs and the air conditioners at the middle school. Next week, weather permitting, the Knox High School track will be resurfaced and repainted. During the Monday evening Knox Community School Board meeting the the renewal of the Trane five-year service agreement was unanimously approved. Three air conditioning companies had bids submitted but Trane was the only company that allowed payments to be made over time instead of all at once. The agreement starts June 15. The middle school air conditioners will be shut down for a week in July in order for the compressors for the chillers to be replaced. The board assures this will not interfere with summer school courses.
More than $9 million was approved in grant funding for several local schools through the Secured School Safety Grant Program.
The program gives matching grants to school corporations that request funding to conduct a threat assessment, purchase equipment to restrict access to the school or expedite the notification of first responders, or employ a school resource officer.
The meal prices for the Knox Community Schools’ 2014-15 school year have been officially set by the school board. The breakfast price will remain the same at $1.15. Lunch prices will increase by 10-cents. That brings the elementary school lunch price to $1.85. The middle and high school lunches will be $2.10. Knox Community School Corporation Superintendent A.J. Gappa says even with the 10-cent increase, Knox Elementary School still has the lowest lunch price in the area.
The Knox Community School Board will discuss breakfast and lunch prices for the 2014-15 school year when they meet this evening. The North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation has raised prices for next year. It is possible Knox will follow suit. Another agenda item is discussion of the Trane service agreement for air conditioning systems. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in the board room at Knox Elementary School.
This year’s Knox Community High School graduation will feature something unique. A few seniors went to principal Dr. Elizabeth Ratliff earlier this year and inquired about voting for their own commencement speaker. All seniors were eligible to be chosen as the speaker. The 2014 senior class voted to have Chris Baczynski give the commencement speech at their ceremony on Friday, June 6. Baczynski was a member of the SCILL welding program, a football player and served as student council president. He will be attending IUSB after graduation.
After competing only one year prior, the Knox Community High School graphics department was noted in the Phoenix Challenge National Magazine for taking home a silver award for Flexo Press printing. Flexography is used for producing labels on packages. It utilizes a raised rubber plate to imprint on products. Candy wrappers, bottles of pop, anything you see in the store with a label on it was most likely produced with Flexo Press printing. This is the second year that Knox has sent students and their graphics teacher, Mr. Sullivan, to Charlotte, NC for the Phoenix Challenge. Schools from all over the nation and Canada compete in the program. The Knox team ranked third in the nation. The students who participated this year were Sarah Horstman, Elizabeth Radelja, Mario Rodriguez and Nathan Lynch. Thanks to their success this year, the Phoenix Challenge program will continue to be funded through the Knox School Corporation in years to come.
Knox Community Elementary School third graders are Wild about Reading! This year a competitive reading initiative called Battle of the Books premiered that challenged students to read in order to win.
The program ran year-long and required kids to read anywhere from 6 to 12 different books from an official reading list. Children involved acquired the desire to read as well as developed essential team-work skills.
Knox Elementary School is once again offering a three-week Kindergarten Countdown to help students who have little or no preschool experience get ready to start school in the fall. Curriculum director Peggy Shidaker says it gives youngsters an idea of what to expect.
“They experience the type of class atmosphere and learning that actually happens or will happen when they enter kindergarten. They have an opportunity to ride a school bus, which the kids absolutely love. They’ll eat breakfast with their peers, and they’ll eat lunch with them as well. Since it is actually kindergarten readiness, the students will be immersed in those literacy and math skills to help those students enter kindergarten at the same academic levels as their peers, or at least close to the same academic levels as their peers who have had some preschool.” Continue reading
The Knox Community School Board will not have a regular school board meeting tonight. Instead, the board members will have a work session to talk about the elementary facility study.
According to Superintendent A.J. Gappa, the board is expected to discuss different options that the board can move forward with after receiving information in the facility study that was done on the elementary school prior to the referendum.
Students at Knox High School are staging a popular musical this weekend. Catch “Guys and Dolls” on Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5 in the high school auditorium. Saturday’s show starts at 7 p.m., and Sunday’s performance begins at 2 p.m. Tickets are $7. The play made its Broadway debut in 1950 and won a Tony award for Best Musical. It’s an adaptation of several Damon Runyon short stories written in the 1920s and 30s about gamblers, gangsters and others in the New York underworld.
The Starke County Youth Club aims to be a support system for children, families and the three county school corporations.
“We know that schools are under tremendous pressure to have kids succeed academically, and that a lot of funding for schools is tied to how kids perform on standardized tests. That’s really a lot to ask of a school community. It is part of our job to ensure we are supporting what the schools need to accomplish.”
Executive Director Irene Szakonyi says the Starke County Youth Club does that by providing after school enrichment programs for 600 youngsters at four sites across the county. All of the programs are based in local schools, so Szakonyi says the staff is in constant contact with teachers, administrators and others to make sure students are getting what they need. She says children who succeed academically have a greater likelihood of being successful adults. Continue reading
The Kankakee Valley boasts some of the best high schools in the state, according to recent rankings by a national publication. John Glenn High School in Walkerton ranks 17th on the 2014 U.S. News and World Report list. The magazine awarded the school silver medal. Students there have an opportunity to take advanced placement tests, and 36 percent do. Of the school’s 611 students, 85 percent are proficient in English and 84 percent are proficient in math. Knox Community High School earned a bronze medal from U.S. News and World Report. The publication notes 25 percent of the 606 students enrolled take AP courses and tests, 77 percent are proficient in English and 69 percent are proficient in Algebra. Continue reading
The Knox Community School Board met Monday where the members approved several personnel items.
In addition to the appointment of Neill Minix as the high school girls basketball coach, Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the board approved two retirements.
The Knox Community School Board members heard a presentation on the high school’s hunter education and archery programs during their meeting last week.
Superintendent A.J. Gappa said Rob Krueger, Jake Skelly and DNR Representative Zachary Howerton gave the presentation about the hunter safety class that’s offered to sophomores and an archery class.
The Knox Community School Board members discussed the air conditioning units at the middle school during their meeting this week.
Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the units are getting older and showing some great wear and tear. The company has offered the corporation a special program.
