Safety Key Topic Of Warsaw School Board Meeting
By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews
WARSAW — Student and staff safety was the overall theme of Warsaw Community Schools’ regular meeting on Monday, Jan. 24.
At the meeting, WCS’s Board of Trustees and Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert commended the district’s school resource officers and local law enforcement, while emphasizing the importance of maintaining partnerships between the schools and police.
In mid-December 2021, right before Christmas break, local law enforcement agencies investigated and assisted threats involving specific schools. These threats stemmed from a social media post that circulated nationwide, primarily on the video app TikTok, in which it alleged multiple planned school shootings would occur on Dec. 17, 2021.
“We were watching schools shut down in Indiana, throughout the United States,” said Hoffert. “There’s a reason why Warsaw was able to keep our education continuing forward. It’s because we have an incredible partnership with our local authorities. Some of these (officers) stayed up all night, tracing down things to make sure we could have schools open.”
WCS Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Dr. David Robertson said the district has never dealt with a situation where they couldn’t get assistance within minutes from law enforcement.
“One of the things we enjoy in this community is building deep relationships,” said Robertson. “Many of our officers, we’ve known for years on a personal and professional level. It was important for us to stay open, in-person and be able to do that the right way and we couldn’t do that without our local law enforcement officers.”
Warsaw Police Corporal Roy Navarro, who attended the board meeting alongside four WPD officers, acknowledged the importance of positive connections between Warsaw Schools and local law enforcement.
“We appreciate our relationship with you guys and we’ll do everything we can to keep you safe,” said Navarro.
Robertson also provided updates to the board about current discussions to improve traffic safety around Madison and Eisenhower Elementary Schools.
The school district has been working closely with Warsaw’s Traffic Safety Commission on these matters. Robertson said he and the commission are hoping to expand the school speed zone around Madison to east of the roundabout on CR 300N, near the Kohl’s shopping center.
“This would reduce the speed to 25 mph going into that roundabout if you’re coming from the east,” said Robertson.
A walk zone is also being considered south of CR 300N, but Robertson said nothing on the Madison project is set in stone. More on the speed zone expansion will be discussed at the Traffic Safety Commission’s February meeting.
In regards to Eisenhower, traffic flow in general on the south side of Warsaw is being discussed.
“This conversation initially started with the right turn in, right turn out only at Eisenhower,” said Robertson. “(County Road) 200S is interesting because it is a dividing line, the north half of the road is city, the south half of the road is county, so we’re working with a couple of municipalities there. The city, in general, is just looking at overall traffic flow there.”
Robertson also said the expansion of Eisenhower Drive is being considered to alleviate traffic problems.
“I do think there are some solutions on the horizon and hopefully we’ll see better traffic flow in that area in the next couple of months,” said Robertson. “There are no quick band-aid solutions that can go on. We have also seen increased enrollment at Eisenhower, so we think long-term this would be an issue. The city is really looking at this big picture, like how traffic flows around the town.”
The board’s next work session is at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8, at the school district’s central office. The next regular meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 21, at Lincoln Elementary School.