The Wawasee Community School Corp. adopted the final budget for 2016 Tuesday night at its regular monthly meeting.
The budget was approved at $50,983,821. Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington said the budget is almost always estimated above what the corporation will actually use because once it is decided upon, it cannot be raised. Having that excess allows for some freedom in case of unforeseen expenses.
Fetters Construction Company of Auburn offered WCSC the lowest bid for the new Syracuse Elementary School, at $17,722,100. Fetters has built North Webster Elementary School, Pierceton Elementary School and two other schools in Warsaw, according to Edington.
WCSC has recently taken on the responsibility of being more environmentally friendly and economically responsible with strong efforts in energy conservation. Mike Lindsey of Performance Services has helped the schools the past few years by changing to more efficient lightbulbs, removing unnecessary appliances and other changes. Edington said the savings from the past four years have been close to $250,000, the cost of paying nearly four full-time teachers. The new elementary school will be lit completely by LEDs, from the classrooms to the parking lots.
North Webster School will host the seventh annual Connected Learning Assures Successful Students Oct. 8. The retreat will bring out-of-state teachers in to WCSC to work on brain research, lesson planning techniques and providing students with a successful environment “where their voices are valued and appreciated,” according to the school board.
In other news, the career and technical department received several donations including a Regal Ski Boat, an Integrity Boat Trailer and other items intending to make the Auto and Marine Mechanics courses more didactic.
(Story By The Times Union)
