An open house was held at Wawasee High School Friday afternoon, June 26, to say farewell to Joy Goshert, assistant superintendent for the Wawasee Community School Corporation, and Jim Evans, director of finance, both of whom are retiring effective Tuesday, June 30.

An open house will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, June 26, for Jim Evans and Joy Goshert, retiring administrators from the Wawasee Community School Corporation. It will be held at the Wawasee High School cafeteria.

SYRACUSE — For the first time since March, all members of the Wawasee School Board were together for a meeting. Previous emergency meetings since March included only president Rebecca Linnemeier in person with the rest participating by teleconference.

By Tim Ashley InkFreeNews SYRACUSE — Although the Wawasee School Board meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 21, was cancelled due to COVID-19 and the stay-at-home order, the school corporation released a list of recommendations and plans the board will ratify when it next meets, either electronically or in person in May or June. Emergency …read more.

SYRACUSE — During the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee School Board Tuesday evening, March 10, in Syracuse, the board heard a report about a student cadet law enforcement program launched by the Pierceton Police Department. Tim Sammons, police chief of Pierceton, noted the cadet program began Jan. 1 and has 12 cadets from local …read more.

SYRACUSE — During its first regular meeting of 2020, the Wawasee School Board heard a report Tuesday evening, Jan. 14, from Sarah LeCount, social and emotional learning liaison for the Wawasee Community School Corporation, about what has been accomplished with a four-year Lilly Endowment grant. Wawasee is in the second year of the grant. Essentially …read more.

SYRACUSE — Indiana Department of Education released the federal 2018-19 school accountability ratings to the public Friday, Jan. 3. More than 56% of high schools and 53% of elementary and middle schools received a rating of Meets Expectations or Exceeds Expectations. Each school in the Wawasee Community School Corporation received a rating of Approaches Expectations. However, …read more.

SYRACUSE — Indiana ranks dead last in the United States in teacher salary increases during the last 15 years. Twenty-one percent of all school districts will receive less state funding than the previous year. Those are among the reasons a rally will be held Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis to encourage more …read more.

SYRACUSE — More than 1,000 students in the Wawasee Community School Corporation have already been served this school year through educational programs presented by the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation. Pam Schumm, representing the WACF, gave a report to the Wawasee School Board during its regular monthly meeting held Tuesday evening, Oct. 8, in the Pathways …read more.

SYRACUSE — Other school corporations have used professional learning communities and research has shown they improve the growth rate of student learning. This school year, the Wawasee Community School Corporation will implement professional learning communities. During the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee School Board Tuesday evening, Sept. 10, in Syracuse, Geoff Walmer, Wawasee High …read more.

SYRACUSE — For several years, ISTEP+ was sharply criticized as not being a true reflection of how public school students are actually performing in classrooms. Beginning in the spring of 2019, it was replaced by a new state assessment known as ILEARN. Results of the first ILEARN testing were released publicly Wednesday, Sept. 4, by …read more.

SYRACUSE — On the eve of the first day of school for students and also during the time when each building in the school corporation was having a back to school open house, the Wawasee School Board held its regular monthly meeting Tuesday evening, Aug. 13, in Syracuse. During the shorter than normal meeting, the …read more.

SYRACUSE — A familiar face was approved by the Wawasee School Board as the new principal of Wawasee High School during the board’s regular monthly meeting Tuesday evening, July 9, in Syracuse. Geoff Walmer, who began his public education career as a teacher for five years at WHS and also served as the school’s assistant …read more.

SYRACUSE — At the start of the current school year, the certified nursing assistant program was added to the offerings of the Pathways Cooperative. A total of 12 students participated this year, but 22 have already signed up for next year. Randi Warren, instructor for the program, gave a report to the Wawasee School Board …read more.

NORTH WEBSTER — When it came time to make a final decision on who to hire as the next head coach of the varsity football team at Wawasee High School, administrators chose someone already quite familiar with the system. During the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee School Board Tuesday evening, Feb. 19, at North …read more.

SYRACUSE — Although schools are still on Christmas break, Indiana Department of Education released 2018 high school graduation rates Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 2. Because of differences between federal and state accountability equations and standards, IDOE also released 2018 federal graduation rates. Locally, as reported by the state, Wawasee High School had a waiver graduation rate …read more.

MILFORD — Joy Goshert, assistant superintendent, gave her student report to the Wawasee School Board Tuesday evening, Nov. 13, and noted 27 high school students took the ACT test in 2018. ACT is a test used to determine college readiness of students. Goshert also noted Cory Howard with Curriculum Associates is returning this month to …read more.

SYRACUSE — After a delay of several weeks due to resolving some technical issues, spring 2018 ISTEP+ results were finally released to the public Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 3, by the Indiana Department of Education. Results had originally been planned for release in August but were then delayed due to some graphing and image problems that …read more.

SYRACUSE — During her report to the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, March 13, Joy Goshert, assistant superintendent, talked about summer school offerings. Grades K to five will meet at Syracuse Elementary June 4-22 and do IREAD-3 remediation with a physical education activity rotation and also have rotations of reading, science and math. Grades six …read more.

SYRACUSE — When school is cancelled by the Wawasee Community School Corporation due to weather, it’s no longer a totally free day for students and teachers. But those days no longer have to be made up either. Technology has paved the way for learning to continue electronically on inclement weather days due to the implementation …read more.

SYRACUSE — During the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, Jan. 16, in Syracuse, a group of Milford School third-grade students gave a report on a project based learning assignment they have been working on this school year. It was the first regular monthly meeting of 2018 for the school board. …read more.

SYRACUSE — During an unusually short Wawasee school board meeting lasting less than half an hour, the board heard a brief report about the student count for the school district from Joy Goshert, assistant superintendent. The regular monthly meeting of the school board was held Tuesday, Oct. 10, in Syracuse. As of Sept. 15, the …read more.

SYRACUSE — Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, 1:1 electronic devices were made available for students and teachers in the Wawasee Community School Corporation. Now the school corporation is able to implement virtual learning days, known as eLearning, which it is doing this school year as some other school corporations in the state have done …read more.

SYRACUSE — School accountability letter grades for the 2016-17 school year were officially released publicly Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 4, by the Indiana Department of Education. Locally, two schools in the Wawasee Community School Corporation improved their letter grades compared to the previous school year, two schools remained the same and one was a grade lower. …read more.

SYRACUSE — Twelve Wawasee High School students who study Spanish were able to practice what they have learned during a trip to Costa Rica this summer. During the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, Sept. 12, in Syracuse, the board heard a report about the nine-day trip from Rikki McCann, Spanish …read more.

SYRACUSE — Indiana Department of Education released results of spring 2017 ISTEP+ Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 6. The controversial test, which may be administered for the last time in the spring of 2018, has often frustrated administrators, teachers and students throughout the state. ISTEP+ assesses English and language arts and math for grades three to eight …read more.

SYRACUSE — During an unusually brief meeting Tuesday evening, July 11, in Syracuse, the Wawasee school board awarded two construction bids. R. Yoder Construction’s bid of $536,942 was accepted to transform the former Veterans of Foreign Wars building in Syracuse into spaces to be used for vocational purposes including welding and gone boarding classes. R. …read more.

SYRACUSE — Plans are moving forward for implementing “eLearning” during inclement weather days beginning with the 2017-18 school year, the Wawasee school board heard during the regular monthly meeting Tuesday, May 9, in Syracuse.

SYRACUSE — Wawasee High School’s football field will have a significantly different look by August. During the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, April 18, in Syracuse, the board approved entering a contract with Cincinnati-based The Motz Group for a new artificial turf field to be installed at the high school this summer.

SYRACUSE — Among the many reports public school corporations are involved in each year is the annual performance report. The 2016 version for the Wawasee Community School Corp. was recently released by the Indiana Department of Education and is published in its full form in this edition of The Mail-Journal.

SYRACUSE — Every five years, the Wawasee Community School Corp. goes through an accreditation process where a team visits and thoroughly examines the school district. The school corporation is preparing for a visit from AdvancED next week for the accreditation process.

SYRACUSE — Wawasee Community School Corp. was one of 32 school districts statewide to be awarded a 2017 digital learning grant by the Indiana Department of Education’s Office of eLearning. This grant supports school corporations in providing professional development, developing content and expectations, creating avenues for parent and student communication, as well as purchasing devices.

SYRACUSE — Syracuse-Turkey Creek Fire Department responded to a fire alarm Monday afternoon, Feb. 20, at Wawasee High School.

SYRACUSE — Each year the Indiana Department of Education assigns letter grades to public schools in the state. For the most part, the grades assigned are based on ISTEP+ results and growth.

SYRACUSE — During a special meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, in Syracuse, the board approved the 2017-18 school corporation calendar.

SYRACUSE — Thousands came to Wawasee High School to celebrate the lives of Kim Conrad and her son Stephen Conrad II Wednesday evening, Jan. 4. Not only for the visitation but for a celebration which began at 6 p.m.

SYRACUSE — Several construction or renovation projects in Wawasee schools to be done next summer were approved during the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, Dec. 13, in Syracuse.

SYRACUSE — Indiana Department of Education released spring 2016 ISTEP+ results Thursday, Nov. 17. It was the second year of a new state assessment for grades three to eight based on Indiana’s more rigorous college and career ready standards. A new baseline was established for ISTEP+ in spring 2015.

SYRACUSE — During its regular monthly meeting Tuesday evening, Nov. 8, in Syracuse, the Wawasee school board heard a report on the school improvement plan, as well as the school achievement plan, in place at Wawasee Middle School. Susan Mishler, principal of WMS, presented the report.

SYRACUSE — Some Wawasee High School students in classes taught by Jeremy VanLue and Phil Huffman have entered the #kickRXabuse video challenge. A brief report was given to the Wawasee school board during its regular monthly meeting Tuesday evening, Oct. 11, in Syracuse.

SYRACUSE — Friday, Sept. 16, began the process for public schools to report enrollment numbers to the Indiana Department of Education. It is officially known as ADM, or average daily membership.

SYRACUSE — During the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, Sept. 13, in Syracuse the board heard a report from Joy Goshert, director of instruction and curriculum for the Wawasee Community School Corp. Part of her report involved an update on the 1:1 computer initiative where students and teachers were issued electronic devices for the 2016-17 school year.

SYRACUSE — Second-graders in Julie Hays’ class at Syracuse Elementary School gathered on the floor with iPads in hand. They were about to try to solve math problems on the Kahoot website, a game based learning platform.

SYRACUSE — Two days before the start of the 2016-17 school year, the infrastructure put in place to be ready for the 1:1 computer initiative is mostly finished. During its regular monthly meeting Tuesday, Aug. 9, the Wawasee school board heard an update from Joy Goshert, director of instruction and curriculum for the school corporation.

SYRACUSE — With state funding tighter in recent years, grants are dearly welcomed by public schools. DEKKO Foundation has been generous in awarding grants to Wawasee schools in the past and the trend continues.

SYRACUSE — During the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, April 19, in Syracuse, Jon Everingham was hired as the new varsity boys basketball head coach for Wawasee High School.

SYRACUSE — Dave VanLue, technology director for the Wawasee Community School Corp., said he will probably relax a little when all of the computers for the 1:1 initiative arrive, have been inventoried and then distributed.

SYRACUSE — Also during the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday, March 8, in Syracuse, the board heard a report about Kehoe Kids, an initiative started by fourth-grade teachers at Milford School. It is named in honor of former West Noble teacher and Syracuse resident, Diane Kehoe.

SYRACUSE — Checking grades for student-athletes had been done every 12 weeks, or once each trimester. But it was determined that system may not be fair to some athletes, so a review was done.

SYRACUSE — During the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday, Dec. 8, in Syracuse, the board heard a very brief update on the status of the construction of the new Syracuse Elementary School on Kern Road. Bob Lahrman, director of support services, gave the update.

SYRACUSE — Also during the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, Nov. 10, in Syracuse, the board heard a progress report on the construction of the new Syracuse Elementary School on Kern Road. Bob Lahrman, transportation director, gave the report.

SYRACUSE — Technology was a main theme of the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, Nov. 10, in Syracuse. The board heard two reports specifically dealing with technology.

SYRACUSE — Proposed changes to high school diploma requirements are pending before the state board of education. During the regular monthly meeting of the school board for the Wawasee Community School Corp. Tuesday evening, Oct. 13, in Syracuse, the board heard a report from Joy Goshert, director of instruction and curriculum.

With previous experience building a new school building in the Wawasee Community School Corporation, Fetters Construction Co. of Auburn was awarded the bid to build the new Syracuse Elementary School. The bid was awarded during the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, Sept. 8, in Syracuse.

To borrow a phrase used by George Gilbert of the Wawasee school board, it was only the first day of school and there was already a student learning report.

It’s a little easier now to visualize what the new Syracuse Elementary School can possibly look like. During the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee Community School Corp. Board of School Trustees Tuesday evening, July 14, in Syracuse, the board was presented an update on the progression of plans for the new school.

“I came away with a renewed energy and feeling of hope,” commented one teacher. “I often feel impotent these days and like it is impossible to fight against so many obstacles in making a difference. I am driven to find more I can do to level the playing field of my students.”

Several changes will be made to the athlete code of conduct at Wawasee High School, the Wawasee school board heard during its regular monthly meeting Tuesday in Syracuse. Steve Wiktorowski, athletic director at the high school, said the code, which is part of the student handbook, will essentially be rewritten since some of it was …read more.

Dina Coverstone stepped out of the classroom at the beginning of the school year and had what she termed as an eye opening and learning experience. Due to a generous financial gift from the Laudeman family, Coverstone became an instructional coach for teachers at Syracuse Elementary School. During Tuesday’s regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee …read more.

During her report to the Wawasee school board at the board’s regular monthly meeting Tuesday evening, Joy Goshert, director of instruction and curriculum, informed the board Wawasee will host a LearnZillion design workshop. LearnZillion is an online resource to help with learning in math and language arts. Lisa Ernsberger and Kristi Harris, Wawasee teachers, have …read more.

School administrators deal with multiple data reports throughout a school year that are submitted to the Indiana Department of Education. Much of the data from those reports is compiled into the annual performance report for a school district. Those performance reports were released publicly March 18 by IDOE. The public can access a three-year trend …read more.

ISTEP+ has been plagued with difficulties especially the last few years and those difficulties are apparently not a thing of the past. During the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee School Board Tuesday evening in Syracuse, the board heard a report from Joy Goshert, director of instruction and curriculum, about concerns with online ISTEP+ testing. …read more.

When school letter grades are issued by the Indiana Department of Education, school administrators have let it be known frequently they don’t feel the letter grading system is fair and consistent. So beginning with the last school year, the Wawasee Community School Corp. began putting together its own letter grades. During Tuesday evening’s regular monthly …read more.

Dr. Bob Cockburn, during his Stat of the Month report to the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening, talked briefly about Northwest Evaluation Association growth data. He compiled statistics showing how students performed from the fall of 2011 to the fall of 2012, the fall of 2012 to the fall of 2013 and the fall of …read more.

Spring 2014 ISTEP+ testing results were released to the media Monday. Results for the Wawasee Community School Corp. were encouraging, noted Joy Goshert, director of instruction and curriculum for the school corporation. As a corporation, Wawasee was above 70 percent passing English/language arts in grades five through eight and grades three and four exceeded 80 …read more.

In the legal notices section of this week’s The Mail-Journal, readers are encouraged to view the 2013 annual performance report of the Wawasee Community School Corp. It is essentially a “snapshot” of the corporation and contains data pulled by the Indiana Department of Education obtained from multiple reports submitted to IDOE. An annual performance report …read more.