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Warsaw administrators report good start to school year, open house, deactivation
By Diane Vance/Gate City Staff Writer
Warsaw School District administrators report a good start to the new school year with the deactivation changes, transportation routes and two high school lunch periods instead of one.
Classes began Monday with 95 Warsaw School District seventh and eighth grade students attending school in Nauvoo, Ill., and 80 Nauvoo-Colusa School District high school students in classes at Warsaw.
“We have several new kids at the high school,” said Principal Tom Bertucci. “Well, of course, we have the Nauvoo-Colusa kids joining us.
“We also added 12 other new students not coming to us from Nauvoo or previously in Warsaw. We have new students coming in from Illini West and Hamilton schools, Missouri and Arizona. It's very exciting.”
Bertucci said Warsaw High School has seven new freshmen for a class total of 64. Three new sophomores bring that class to 55 students. Two new juniors increase the Class of 2010 to 63. The senior class has 68 students for a total high school population of 250 students.
“Our open house went well,” said Bertucci. “We had an orientation for new students and that went well.
“For the first time, the band met for a week before school began and I know some of the Nauvoo-Colusa kids are in band, so those kids started integrating.
“Volleyball is another area where the girls are mixing and doing well. I think our opening day of school went well.”
Board members with junior high students also contributed positive remarks.
“Junior high basketball is going very well,” said Todd Hardy.
Debra Beeler said Warsaw students are enjoying going to school in Nauvoo.
“I've heard the kids are enjoying classes up there,” she said. “My son really likes the ag teacher.”
Steve Lucie's son attends junior high.
“My son and his friends are happy,” he said. “I've never seen kids so excited to get up and go to school.”
Board President Don Roskamp said he only has heard from the high school side of deactivation as his daughter is in high school.
“The kids are making friends and getting along,” he said. “There's been re-groupings at lunch and kids are mixing.”
Nauvoo-Colusa School board member Michelle Snyder attended Warsaw's board meeting Thursday.
Since deactivation was approved between the two districts, one or more members of each school board attend the other district's board meetings. The outside board members have no voting power, but can provide a different perspective.
“I've been hearing complaints about transportation,” said Snyder. “I chose to ride school buses for six hours today to see for myself. I saw a bus pull in at 4 p.m. today, so I think it's getting better.”
Snyder said she's also had families questioning a Warsaw High School handbook rule that food and drinks cannot be brought onto campus.
Bertucci clarified that students can bring lunches and food from home; opened drinks are not allowed. Sealed drinks can be brought to school.
Snyder said there are some Nauvoo-Colusa families who follow dietary guidelines that can include only organic foods or drinks, and no sugar or no caffeine.
“Some of these families buy in bulk then break up large amounts of juice into smaller containers for student lunches,” she said. “They don't want to spend 50 cents per drink when they have families of 12 children.”
Superintendent Kim Schilson, Bertucci and board members agreed students can bring drinks in lunch box thermoses but all other drinks need to be unopened.
If any issues result from use of thermoses, the issue will be re-visited.
Elementary Principal Brad Froman also said the school year is off to a good start and he appreciates the summer maintenance staff for cleaning and the upkeep of the buildings.
He reported briefly about Teacher Institute Day prior to students attending school.
“We had two speakers from Western Illinois University here Friday,” he said. “The morning speaker talked about data analysis and ‘read alouds' with kids. All of our elementary teachers have ‘read alouds' with students.
“Our open house evening was packed.”
Bertucci said the Nauvoo-Colusa Junior High School teachers attended Institute Day in Warsaw with the high school teachers.
“We concentrated on character, using ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens'” he said. “It went well.”
In other business:
The 2006 Warsaw Sports Booster Club, no longer functioning with the advent of Titan sports, donated the remaining funds of $1,941 to purchase additional Titan chairs for use in the gym.
“I commend the boosters for helping with the change-over to Titan sports,” said Schilson.
Beeler and Hardy serve on the Deactivation Committee, which held its organizational meeting Aug. 5.
Tom Haas will head the committee, which plans to meet quarterly, after parent-teacher conferences.
Beeler is serving as secretary. She and Hardy invited anyone to contact them with concerns about deactivation, which voters in both school districts approved in February for an initial two years.
Agricultural teacher Don Bumphrey gave his annual report to the board and also noted the blending of the two high school student bodies is going well from his perspective.
Classes began Monday with 95 Warsaw School District seventh and eighth grade students attending school in Nauvoo, Ill., and 80 Nauvoo-Colusa School District high school students in classes at Warsaw.
“We have several new kids at the high school,” said Principal Tom Bertucci. “Well, of course, we have the Nauvoo-Colusa kids joining us.
“We also added 12 other new students not coming to us from Nauvoo or previously in Warsaw. We have new students coming in from Illini West and Hamilton schools, Missouri and Arizona. It's very exciting.”
Bertucci said Warsaw High School has seven new freshmen for a class total of 64. Three new sophomores bring that class to 55 students. Two new juniors increase the Class of 2010 to 63. The senior class has 68 students for a total high school population of 250 students.
“Our open house went well,” said Bertucci. “We had an orientation for new students and that went well.
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“Volleyball is another area where the girls are mixing and doing well. I think our opening day of school went well.”
Board members with junior high students also contributed positive remarks.
“Junior high basketball is going very well,” said Todd Hardy.
Debra Beeler said Warsaw students are enjoying going to school in Nauvoo.
“I've heard the kids are enjoying classes up there,” she said. “My son really likes the ag teacher.”
Steve Lucie's son attends junior high.
“My son and his friends are happy,” he said. “I've never seen kids so excited to get up and go to school.”
Board President Don Roskamp said he only has heard from the high school side of deactivation as his daughter is in high school.
“The kids are making friends and getting along,” he said. “There's been re-groupings at lunch and kids are mixing.”
Nauvoo-Colusa School board member Michelle Snyder attended Warsaw's board meeting Thursday.
Since deactivation was approved between the two districts, one or more members of each school board attend the other district's board meetings. The outside board members have no voting power, but can provide a different perspective.
“I've been hearing complaints about transportation,” said Snyder. “I chose to ride school buses for six hours today to see for myself. I saw a bus pull in at 4 p.m. today, so I think it's getting better.”
Snyder said she's also had families questioning a Warsaw High School handbook rule that food and drinks cannot be brought onto campus.
Bertucci clarified that students can bring lunches and food from home; opened drinks are not allowed. Sealed drinks can be brought to school.
Snyder said there are some Nauvoo-Colusa families who follow dietary guidelines that can include only organic foods or drinks, and no sugar or no caffeine.
“Some of these families buy in bulk then break up large amounts of juice into smaller containers for student lunches,” she said. “They don't want to spend 50 cents per drink when they have families of 12 children.”
Superintendent Kim Schilson, Bertucci and board members agreed students can bring drinks in lunch box thermoses but all other drinks need to be unopened.
If any issues result from use of thermoses, the issue will be re-visited.
Elementary Principal Brad Froman also said the school year is off to a good start and he appreciates the summer maintenance staff for cleaning and the upkeep of the buildings.
He reported briefly about Teacher Institute Day prior to students attending school.
“We had two speakers from Western Illinois University here Friday,” he said. “The morning speaker talked about data analysis and ‘read alouds' with kids. All of our elementary teachers have ‘read alouds' with students.
“Our open house evening was packed.”
Bertucci said the Nauvoo-Colusa Junior High School teachers attended Institute Day in Warsaw with the high school teachers.
“We concentrated on character, using ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens'” he said. “It went well.”
In other business:
The 2006 Warsaw Sports Booster Club, no longer functioning with the advent of Titan sports, donated the remaining funds of $1,941 to purchase additional Titan chairs for use in the gym.
“I commend the boosters for helping with the change-over to Titan sports,” said Schilson.
Beeler and Hardy serve on the Deactivation Committee, which held its organizational meeting Aug. 5.
Tom Haas will head the committee, which plans to meet quarterly, after parent-teacher conferences.
Beeler is serving as secretary. She and Hardy invited anyone to contact them with concerns about deactivation, which voters in both school districts approved in February for an initial two years.
Agricultural teacher Don Bumphrey gave his annual report to the board and also noted the blending of the two high school student bodies is going well from his perspective.
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now for the other side wrote on Aug 23, 2008 8:20 AM: