Selection of Students Plays Jazz Song, Citizen Urges Changes to System

LARWILL-Students of the Month:

• Whitko Senior High: Justine Oaken, nominated by teacher John Strayer for her work ethic and big heart
• Whitko Junior High: Lily Irons, nominated by teacher Teresa Knepple for her ability to troubleshoot and advocate for herself and others (award presented by Justin Mauer; Knepple not present)
• Whitko Career Academy: Micah Slaback, nominated by teacher Chad Dahms for his initiative and problems solving skills (read by Chris Benedict; Slaback & Dahms not present)
• South Whitley Elementary: McKenna Hughes, nominated by teacher Amanda Johnson for her progress and desire to learn
• Pierceton Elementary: Norine Miller, nominated by teacher Lexie Rose for her academic excellence, flexibility, and helpfulness
• Whitko Early Learning Academy (formerly known as “Little Cats”): Sophia Collis, nominated by teacher Jessica Krom for her sweet demeanor and willingness to learn

Photo byMelany Love

Valedictorian (and amateur YouTuber) Ethan Huber and Salutatorian Reid Deneve were recognized, and a small collection (Maggie Clark, Reid Deneve, Alaina Kreps, and Juan Macias) of the jazz band played, “Stolen Moments” to band director John VanPatton’s piano accompaniment. Students Kylie Kearn (the drum major of last fall’s marching band show) and Maggie Clark then addressed the school board to ask for funding and tell how much they enjoyed band. Kearn said she has learned leadership skills that she plans to take to college with her, and Clark said she’s learned time management skills and teamwork, and she looks forward to being a good influence on the incoming freshman class. As the band will lose ten of their 26 students to graduation this year, recruiting new students and keeping the eight anticipated freshmen and the other existing students can be a big concern.

In “Headlines From Around the District” FFA had several students advance to state recently, and of the 38 students chosen for the All-State Basketball IBCA (Indiana Basketball Coaches Association) Academic Team, two were Whitko students, and Whitko was the only school to have representation by more than one student. Consideration for this requires both athletics and academics. The Whitko Middle School Band earned a gold rating at their contest last weekend.

As usual, nearly all the public attendees left when invited by School Board President Annette Arnold, and the meeting continued with updates from each of the schools, the public comment portion, and the voting on business.

Photo byMelany Love, compiled image includes photo from Whitko.org

Pierceton Elementary’s Principal Christy Haubert said iLearn takes place April 15-May 10. A penny war will raise funds for a charity, and the school is “still getting glasses” for the upcoming solar eclipse, which will take place on April 8. This eclipse is special because it will last nearly double the time of the 2017 eclipse, and another eclipse will not touch North America again until 2044 (Alaska alone gets one in 2033).

South Whitley Elementary Principal Joel Holsopple said 29 sixth graders participated in the spelling bee and echoed information about the approaching of iLearn testing. He said the Book Fair and Parent/Teacher Conferences will take place this week, and fourth and fifth graders will have an Art Show and Spring Musical soon.

Chris Benedict of Whitko Career Academy spoke about the many certifications that will be taking place soon and said that all the juniors and seniors will attend a Kosciusko job fair.

Whitko Jr/Sr High Principal Amy Evans said Academic Teams will have a meet this Wednesday and April 16, the band has a mattress fundraiser on Saturday, March 23, and Jarrod Day, a student-led fundraiser, will have their auction at 1:30 next Wednesday.

Athletic Director Barry Singrey said the (weather permitting) schedules are posted on eventlink, and Whitko received the Colt’s Gear Up Award of $5,000.

Director of Operations Rhonda Snavley said the state inspection of school busses is coming up, they are busy transporting eleven teams to various matches, meets, and games, and despite the rains last week, the pond did not flood.

Kari Walmer of Special Services said they’ll be doing 40 case conferences soon and there have been fourteen homeless students this year in the district. Annette Arnold asked for more details, and Walmer said these were all temporary situations: landlords displacing families, students moving between relatives, etc., and that none of them were ongoing homelessness problems. Arnold said if any were ongoing issues that Walmer should let the board know, because they would want to help.

Jason Cline of the Tech Department said they closed 133 of 180 tickets, and the hardware outage over the weekend that was also causing the internet issues would hopefully be resolved tomorrow.

Superintendent Tim Pivarnik repeated the news about the Colt’s award money and said he has started meeting with each of the teachers in all the buildings to find out how they can best be supported through curriculum, professional development, etc. and “get their feedback.”

Photo byMelany Love

During the public comment session, Community Member Jarrad Lancaster read a speech contesting the school board’s current setup, which has the school board vote on items that they discussed privately and with no opportunity for public input. He asked someone on the board to be brave and propose a change to the bylaws and allow the public the opportunity to be part of the discussion--before things are voted on. When his three minute time ran out, another parent yielded him their time so that he could finish his speech, but the board chose not to discuss Lancaster’s points at all and continued the meeting as if nothing had been said.

Moving on to the various reports, Arnold asked if someone wanted to motion that everything be accepted as presented, Scott Werstler proposed, Georgia Tenney seconded, and it passed unanimously: the minutes from February’s work session, executive session, and regular meeting, all of the accounts payable and receivable, all the financial reports, the extra-curricular reports, and the personnel-employment actions, which included the discontinuation of eight teachers and/or staff this month (including Jennifer Dahms and Jaime Paino of Little Cats, Megan Wise and Rhonda Proctor of WJSHS cafeteria, Caleb Wakeman and Claire Frame of PES, and Calum MacDonald and Shelby Whiteleather of WJSHS). WJSHS Principal Amy Evans will be changing to a new position as Curriculum/TAP Director beginning July 1, and three new coaches were added.

Photo byMelany Love, from Official Agenda

The next School Board Work Session will be held in the PES cafeteria on April 10 at 4pm, and the next regular School Board meeting will be Monday, April 15 and 6:30pm in the WCA lecture room.