From left, are Warsaw Community Schools’ Board President Heather Reichenbach; WCS School Board Vice-President Randy Polston; WCS Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert; WCS Board Member Jay Baumgartner; Clearwater Car Wash COO Travis Jones; Clearwater Car Wash Assistant Manager Matthew Holbrook; WCS Board Member Brad Johnson; WCS Board Member Elle Turley; and WCS Board Member Mike Coon. InkFreeNews photo by Liz Shepherd.

By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — A COVID-19 update regarding cases in Warsaw Community Schools was presented during the WCS Board of School Trustees meeting on Monday, Sept. 21.

According to WCS Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert, out of all students who were asked to quarantine for any reason, zero exhibited COVID-19 symptoms or tested positive for the virus.

“We started out the school year with a couple of COVID-19 cases,” said Hoffert. “Right after Labor Day weekend, we had a couple others. Those did require quarantine. At this point, all of our students are back as of today. There are also no known cases of community transmission that have happened inside of our schools. Any positives have been linked back to family or situations that have happened outside of school.”

None of the school corporation’s staff have tested positive for COVID-19.

“We are going on six straight days without any COVID positive cases inside of Warsaw Community Schools,” said Hoffert. “We had a very safe and productive start to the school year.”

In other business, Clearwater Car Wash representatives were present at the meeting to present WCS with a $10,000 check. In April, the Warsaw-based car wash company decided to give back to five local organizations by donating all of the business’s April profits during the beginning of business closures related to COVID-19.

Clearwater also donated funds to Boomerang Backpacks, World Compassion Network, Water For Good and Combined Community Services.

“We were really blessed to stay open during this crazy year we’ve had,” said Travis Jones, Clearwater Car Wash chief operating officer. “We love being a part of the Kosciusko community and we wanted to team up with all these organizations to give back.”

The board also held a public hearing for the school corporation’s 2021 budget, which totals $83,016,176. The budget will be adopted at the school board’s Oct. 26 meeting. Chief Financial Officer April Fitterling also listed several capital projects the school corporation intends to complete with $3 million of general obligation bonds that WCS possesses. The projects include Warsaw Community High School’s water return and tennis courts, as well as several of the high school’s bathrooms and classrooms; the running tracks at Edgewood and Lakeview Middle Schools are also on the list for renovations.

Fitterling said the hope is to start these projects in summer 2021.

The school board’s next work session will be at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the WCS central office. The board’s next regular meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, at Jefferson Elementary School.