Superintendent Dr. Steve Troyer cracks a smile while giving the good news report. Photo by Caleigh Byrer.

By Caleigh Byrer
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — Financial resolutions were discussed and approved at the Wawasee School Board meeting Tuesday, Oct. 11. Additionally, Superintendent Dr. Steve Troyer and Dr. Shelly Wilfong shared some good news for students and parents throughout the corporation.

Dr. Brandon Penrod presented and elaborated on the financial resolutions to be adopted by the board.

One resolution serves to maintain the 2023 tax rate and give authority to the superintendent to reduce the 2023 adopted appropriations and reduce/transfer the 2022 appropriations.

Another allows monetary allocation and transfers to cover educational or operations costs accurately.

The remaining resolutions transfer 2022 budget appropriations to allow the adjustments required as a result of budget cuts for 2023 and appropriations to be better monitored; update appropriations and tax rates; and declare the official intent to reimburse expenditures to allow the school to allocate money to renovations, improvements and projects with the intent of reimbursing itself for payments made in advance of funding.

The capital projects fund plan and the bus replacement plan were also adopted.

Troyer announced an anonymous donation of $500 to the Warrior Radio Program that the school plans to use to send a few students to a weeklong audio/video/film summer camp at Huntington University.

He also honored Hannah Pawlicki, Rebecca Roberts and Rachel Platt from the high school for receiving flashlight awards for creating, administering and analyzing interim assessment data.

Troyer requested a pay increase for certified medical assistants and registered nurses to ensure fair compensation and reflect the school district’s investment in student health. Mike Wilson questioned what the school does in the event there is no licensed professional in the nurses office. Troyer stated someone with qualification in the school would step in temporarily, but the goal of the pay increase is to always have a licensed professional on staff.

The administration is also actively working toward employing a psychologist to provide special education evaluations when requested.

Wilfong presented data on early learning pertaining to kindergarten readiness within the district; 37% of students with no pre-K education were deemed ready to move on to kindergarten, 72% of Wawasee pre-K students were ready to move on and 68% of other pre-K students were ready. All students were assessed on the same 20-point scale.

Seventy-three percent of students who were initially considered not ready were then deemed ready after participating in the Start United program; 23% of students who did not participate in Start United that were initially considered not ready were deemed ready. This data was deemed exciting because it reflected the quality of the Start United program and allowed an opportunity to help students prepare for their future education.

Wilfong also presented NWEA math and reading scores from the fall compared to the pre-COVID scores and the average/target scores. She was excited to announce that students are nearly to the range that they were pre-COVID and this same strategy for evaluating MAP testing will be used again in the spring to monitor student performance.

Troyer wrapped up the meeting by reminding the board and public of the upcoming meetings: community board meeting regarding Milford school, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, in the Milford middle school gym; and the candidate forum 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in the Wawasee Middle School lecture room.

During other business, the board approved:

• Recommendations of employment, transfers and resignations for support services and staff personnel.

• Employment of Nicole Allen as second-shift high school custodian; Angeline Cook, elementary cafeteria worker; Angela Deak, Milford paraprofessional; Lisa Delgado-Werling, early learning lead teacher in training; Jody Francis, high school cafeteria worker; Gina Grindle, middle school CMA assistant; Melissa Kelly, early learning paraprofessional; Kyra Likens, North Webster special education paraprofessional; Garrett Stuckman, high school fall athletic supervisor; Giselle Vega, Milford ESL paraprofessional; Skylar Janda, temporary high school English teacher; and Chelsea Stover, temporary middle school FACS teacher.

• Transfers of Jose Hernandez Martinez, from substitute custodian to full-time North Webster custodian; Brenna Feldman, from early learning paraprofessional to temporary fourth grade teacher; Liz Hardy, from Milford seventh/eighth grade social studies teacher to high school business teacher.

• Resignation of Cassandra Kreider, eighth grade paraprofessional.

• Overnight trips for the FFA soils judging team, state soils contest, Friday, Oct. 14, Porter County; Wawasee band, marching band state finals, Friday, Oct. 21, Indianapolis.