By Jackie Gorski
Times-Union

WARSAW — Warsaw School Board was updated Monday, Jan. 22, on what the school corporation is working on in regards to school safety for the second semester of the year.

Tracy Horrell, assistant superintendent of secondary schools for Warsaw Community Schools, said a part of aligning school security with new state code is implementing a threat assessment and screening tool.

“We’re going to roll that out soon,” Horrell said.

He said the school corporation wants to be more proactive about threats. If there’s multiple security notifications and emails and assessments on students, the school corporation is bringing all that information together.

The second target is to get a reunification plan tightened up. The school corporation is going to reestablish rally points where students will meet up in case of an emergency, he said. They are also appointing a team lead for the reunification process.

Horrell showed the board how school resource officers spend their time at school. He said the majority of their time is spent doing door checks, followed by counseling students.

Earlier in the meeting, Krista Dausman, elementary special services coordinator, updated the board about some information regarding elementary special education.

There are 13 eligibility areas for special education. They are having autism spectrum disorder, blind/low vision, cognitive disability, deaf or hard of hearing, deaf/blind, emotional disability, language or speech impairment, multiple disabilities, other health impairment, orthopedic impairment, specific learning disability and traumatic brain injury.

Dausman also informed the board of the number of special education certified staff in the elementary schools. There are 21 special education teachers, nine speech language pathologists, six mental health therapists, four occupational therapists or assistants, three school psychologists, three physical therapists or assistants, one blind/low vision teacher, one deaf/hard of hearing teacher and one autism consultant.

There are some students that are currently in the process of evaluation if they receive special education services. Currently, 20% of the elementary school student population receives services from special education. In all, there are 92 special education students in kindergarten, 117 in first grade, 110 in second, 112 in third, 99 in fourth, 117 in fifth and 94 in sixth grade.

Dausman said WCS’ goal is for special education students to be exposed to the general education curriculum as much as possible. How much exposure to the general education curriculum is based on the student’s needs.

There are three categories special education students can placed in. The first category is where 80% or more of their instruction is in the general education setting. The second category is where 40 to 79% of their instruction is in the general educational setting. The last category is less than 40% of the student’s instruction is in the general education setting.

In other business, the board:

• Heard there will be a two-hour delay for schools today.
• Recognized Terry Sims for teaching at Madison for 50 years.
• Approved the following contracts: Edmentum, Apex Learning System at Warsaw Community High School, $89,972.60; Cottage Watchman, additional digital recorder, $39,600; Cottage Watchman, Eisenhower door locks, $101,985; Cottage Watchman, Harrison door locks, $101,985; Cottage Watchman, Washington door locks, $88,415; Cottage Watchman, physical security system for maintenance and the press box, $20,405; Teledata, maintenance and concessions data cables, $25,143.74; and Kerlin Motor Company, two Food Service Cargo Vans, $91,000.
• Heard from Dan Graney about what his responsibilities are as the K-12 STEM instructional coach.