The West Central School Board members took care of several items of business during their meeting last week.
Superintendent Don Street commented that the school board discussed the enrollment within the career and technical courses and the financial reimbursement of those courses.
A local school corporation will have a new superintendent when classes start in the fall. This is Charles Mellon’s last day at West Central. He’s retiring after 34 years with the corporation. Mellon started there as an assistant principal in 1980 and worked his way into the front office.
“It is a great place to raise a family. Most things are centered around school and church in this community. That’s what we enjoyed. A lot of our staff that come in new stay. That’s a good sign that’s a good place to live and a good, strong school corporation,” Mellon told WKVI News. Continue reading
One piece of good news that parents and students will like for the next school year at West Central schools is the book rental prices at the corporation will not increase.
The board also discussed summer school for this year and Superintendent Charles Mellon said those classes are mainly for elementary school students.
One of the projects that the staff at the West Central School Corporation hopes to accomplish this summer is the improvements to security at the school.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said the project has been delayed due in part in not being able to retrieve the Secured School Safety Grant money to finish the project.
It’s an issue that schools shouldn’t have to worry about, but it’s a national issue. During their recent meeting, the West Central School Board members discussed upgrading a policy concerning the possession of firearms on school property.
The maintenance staff at the West Central School Corporation will have their hands full with several projects this summer.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said a new telephone system is one of the larger, more expensive projects this summer. The old system is too antiquated to gather parts to fix so a new system will be installed. He added that the last phase of the football field lighting system will be complete this summer. Other smaller projects are also planned.
The West Central School Board received information about The Crossing alternative school.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said Middle and High School Principal Don Street presented the information of the school which will involve Starke County students and possibly Eastern Pulaski and West Central schools.
The West Central School Board members approved the hire of a new middle school and high school principal during their meeting last week.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said the corporation is welcoming back a former graduate in this position.
The West Central School Board members approved several agenda items including the school board meeting dates, pay dates, and the budget calendar.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said there was a slight change in cafeteria prices for next school year.
“Just lunch is the only change,” explained Mellon. “The lunch price will increase by ten cents next year.”
The West Central School Board members met in executive session before their regular meeting Thursday night where they discussed the upcoming school year.
Superintendent Charles Mellon noted that discussions concerning personnel, fall enrollment projections and the search for a new high school principal were on the table.
The board is ready to renew the insurance policy so that was discussed. Superintendent Charles Mellon gave the board an update on the turbine’s production in the month of February.
“Once again we were fortunate to only have to pay a twenty dollar service fee for our electric utility,” said Mellon. “We have over about 240,000 kilowatts stored at this time. That will help us get through the summer and I believe we still have our three windy months coming up here in the spring so that was good news for us as well.”
He explained that the school had a decline in enrollment of 52 students over the past four to five years. With that and the addition to some legislation changes, the school has lost over $800,000 within that time frame.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said the plan is usually simply updated, but this year’s plan included another focus.
“One of the major goals in that plan has been to implement the one-to-one technology where every student would have their laptop or some device and we are on target with that,” said Mellon. “By the beginning of the fall of next year, every student will have a device.”
The one-to-one computer initiative was done in the middle school for this school year, and different devices have been handed to the students at the elementary school this year. With this plan, the corporation is on track to have full implementation of the computer initiative, including high school students, by August.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said that a lot of different corporations are doing things a little differently, but West Central is sticking with its contingency plan.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said the board decided to hire West Central High School Principal Don Street to take his place.
There isn’t a limit on how many times a school corporation can call a delay to the start of school due to weather or other necessity, but there could be action on that sometime down the road.
Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dan Foster told the school board Wednesday morning that as of Wednesday, there have been 15 school days this school year where instruction started two hours late due to weather. Foster noted that that time adds up – that’s 30 hours of school instructional time lost because of weather. That’s valuable time of instruction, but the state does not require corporation to make up that time.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said the student count was a little less this time around.
Superintendent Charles Mellon said the policy controls the nutrition value of the food and beverages that are sold to students at school.
