The Knox Community School Board members discussed entering into a contract with The Crossing alternative school during their meeting this week.
Superintendent A.J. Gappa said The Crossing is a second-chance opportunity for students who have dropped out of high school, been expelled or transitioned to home school. Education is delivered in a way that best fits students.
Gappa confirmed that the board is moving forward to help those students.
Title 1 preschool screenings at Knox Community Elementary School will be held on two Fridays in May.
Any child who will be four or five years old by Aug. 1 is eligible for the screening. Those children who demonstrate the greatest need for assistance in meeting kindergarten readiness skills will have an opportunity to take part in a morning or afternoon session for the 2014-2015 school year. Transportation for both morning and afternoon sessions will be provided by the school corporation.
Justin Reynolds from Knox High School was recognized at the 2014 Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) Career Development Conference.
According to a published report on www.LaPorteCountyLife.com, the final state competition on March 14 found Reynolds in first place in the category of Financial Literacy.
It’s the goal of school leaders and community members to ensure that every child has a successful chance at achieving the maximum amount of learning possible in order to make every child a productive member of society.
While a majority of students achieve that, others fall through the cracks. Home lives may be disruptive which leads to unsuccessful learning and bad life choices, or a child may not have what it takes to learn in a traditional school setting. The Crossing alternative school takes those struggling kids and helps them succeed in becoming a successful student.
Engaging your child in any type of learning activity to help develop the brain is crucial before that child reaches the age of five and enters school.
The Starke County Early Childhood Education and Development Advisory Council is sponsoring a special event to help children get a jump on skills that can help them be better learners.
Two local school boards will hold meetings tonight to discuss various items.
The Knox Community School Board will hold a public hearing tonight at 6:30 p.m. regarding the Knox Middle School being categorized a priority school. The board will also discuss weather related make-up days and the Crossing Alternative School.
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.
Schools that canceled classes due to the extreme winter conditions may not have to make up the day of missed instruction. “The Elkhart Truth” reports that State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz has authorized schools to apply for a one-day waiver from the required 180 days of instruction. The waiver was initially offered after school districts across the state canceled classes on Monday. However, the director of the office of accreditation for the education department told the paper that the waiver will be offered to schools on Tuesday as well. He says the waiver means that schools can escape the “very severe financial penalty” they would otherwise incur by canceling one day of instruction. The waiver has only been used a few times in the past several years to offset instructional days lost due to severe weather. School districts typically build in makeup days in the event of snow, but if they miss more days than they have built into the calendar they’re forced to extend the school year into summer vacation in order to meet the state’s requirements.
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 Knox Community School Board will meet tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the administrative office in the Knox Elementary School. The board will receive an update on the Standard for Success and approve the NEOLA Policies and Guidelines that were provided for the board member’s review at the Oct. 7 meeting.
The Oregon-Davis School Board will also meet tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT in the Oregon-Davis Jr./Sr. High School Room 202. The board members will consider a change in the Facility Rental Agreement, approve a resolution regarding frequency of bank deposits and approve a recommendation to switch insurance companies. A discussion is planned for the 100+ Club and for the school discipline policies.
Both meetings are open to the public.
Knox High School will hold homecoming activities throughout the week next week to lead up to Friday’s football game.
It all starts Monday, Sept. 30 where students are encouraged to show their school spirit by wearing different styles of clothing to school. Monday is Costume Day, Tuesday is Twin Day, Wednesday is Western Day, Thursday is Class Color Day and Friday is Red and White 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.
Many scholarships were given out to seniors from the Starke County Community Foundation and other worthy organizations in the community and several colleges. Congratulations to WKVI intern, Makayla Dillard, who received the Cheryl Lyn Welter Memorial Scholarship and one of six Indiana Broadcasters Association Scholarships.
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.
