The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/891772
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, October 25, 2017 C-5 EAST GIBSON NEWS Submit school news: Email: egnews@ pressdispatch.net Deadline: Noon on Friday Wood Memorial WOOD MEMORIAL TUTORING In keeping with the com- mitment to ensure our stu- dents have every oppor- tunity to enhance their knowledge and skills, the Wood Memorial Junior High School instructional staff has identified an enhanced strategy, aimed at provid- ing tutoring and other les- son assistance to students in grades seven and eight. Beginning the week of Oc- tober 23, 2017, our junior high school instructors will be assigning students for tu- toring assistance around the subjects of math, English, Science, social studies, and Health. Further, students who have not turned in as- signments, thus accepting a 0 for a score, will be as- signed for additional assis- tance in completing the re- spective assignment, in or- der to gain credit. The above strategy will be executed during Trojan Pride, each Tuesday (math and Science) and Thursday (English and social studies). A parent or student wanting to request tutoring assis- tance may do so by contact- ing the respective instruc- tor. I want to acknowledge the proactive approach of our junior high school instruc- tional staff in recognizing a need, collaborating, and put- ting together what I believe is a great opportunity for the students. A similar strategy is being visited for the high school. OPEN OFFICE SESSIONS Once again this year, I will be utilizing a collabo- rative opportunity for all members – students, staff, parents, guardians, and community members – of the Wood Memorial School Community. With this said, I believe to be most effec- tive with the development and growth of our students it is imperative that every stakeholder of Wood Me- morial have an opportuni- ty to collaborate and pro- vide input in any area/as- pect of interest involving our school(s) they may have. Thus, I will conduct monthly "Open Office" ses- sions, focused on providing time for such collaboration to occur. I encourage you to come meet anytime to review items of interest you may have. You may schedule a meeting by calling 812-749 - 4757 and requesting a time. In keeping with the theme of collaboration and com- munication, I want to invite Wood Memorial stakehold- ers to follow the happenings at the junior high and high school by joining us on twit- ter at WMTrojans1. SENIOR PRIDE DAY On Friday, November 3, 2017 our fall Senior Pride Day will be held. A program has been identified for the day that will have our se- nior students certified in CPR, while also receiving personal finance, and per- sonal safety training. More information will be provid- ed as we move closer to No- vember 3. IMPORTANT SCHOOL INFORMATION • There will be a career and technical education open house on Tuesday, No- vember 28, 2017. The event will be held from 6 – 8 p.m. (EST), at Pike Central High School. • A reminder, as outlined in the East Gibson School Corporation Policies and Procedures, the Wood Me- morial High School and Wood Memorial Junior High School adhere to the Closed Campus philosophy identified in the above ref- erenced policies and pro- cedures. Upon arrival to school, a student may not leave without approval of the building principal and being signed out by the re- spective parent. • The Elks National Hoop Shoot is just around the corner, with Wood Me- morial Junior High School once again taking part. The event, for students ages 8 – 13, will be a part of the JHS physical education classes in the near future. More to come from coach Messmer. • Information on how to join your respective class Remind and Schoology ac- counts has been posted to the Wood Memorial High School website. The ac- counts have been estab- lished as a communication and collaboration tool by the student services orga- nization. By joining you will be able to receive pertinent information such as, schol- arship opportunities, col- lege admission dates, and much, much more. Please contact Ms. Hill or Ms. Carl- ton for assistance. CALENDAR Tuesday, Oct. 24 Accuplacer Part 1 Testing JHS Spell Bowl Team Practice, Noon Athletic Council Meeting, 5:45 p.m. Lip Sync Contest, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25 Fall Program, 2:25 p.m. Blue Chip Conference Fall Athletic Se- lection Meeting, 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26 Fall Break Gibson County Purdue Extension 4H Program, Cafeteria, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Cafeteria Friday, Oct. 27 Fall Break Saturday, Oct. 28 Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge Appreciation Day, 9 a.m. ADDITIONAL DATES OF NOTE Accuplacer – Part 1, Oct. 2 – Nov. 22 JHS Spell Bowl Team Practice, Oct. 24 Jostens Senior Graduation Order, Oct. 30 Senior Area Spell Bowl, Oct. 30 JHS Spell Bowl Team Practice, Oct. 31 JHS Area Spell Bowl, Nov. 1. Fall Senior Pride Day Nov. 3. Boys Basketball Inter-squad Games, Nov. 4, 2 p.m. Alumni Basketball Game, Nov. 4, 6 p.m. Veterans Day Program, Nov. 10 Principal Open Office Hours, Nov. 14 HS Student Council Meeting, Nov. 15 Staff PLC, Nov. 17 WMJHS Spelling Bee ,Nov. 21 Thanksgiving Break, Nov. 22, 23, 24 ISTEP Retest, Dec. 4 – Dec. 15 Join the Patoka River Na- tional Wildlife Refuge as they celebrate "A World of Waters and Wildlife" at their annual Refuge Appreciation Day on Saturday, Oct. 28 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Wirth Park in Oakland City. View and learn about the different kinds of fish, taken from the Patoka Refuge wa- ters, that will be on display in the ORSANCO 2000 gallon fish tank. See a live birds of prey presentation by Talon Trust, and learn about "Ar- cheology in your Commu- nity," presented by Rachel Sharkey, from the IDNR Di- vision of Historic Preserva- tion and Archeology. For the history buffs, Preston Rich- ardt will present a program on the Wabash and Erie Ca- nal that will be followed by a bus tour to the canal location on Refuge property. There will also be a bus tour of the Patoka River NWR guided by a Refuge staff member. Information will be availa- ble for those wishing to do a self-guided driving tour of the Refuge. More than 20 organiza- tions are sponsoring booths this year. Come learn about nature, the environment and conservation. Try your hand at casting a fly rod with members of the Ohio Valley Fly Rod Club. Bring your ar- tifacts for identification. See an active bee hive, raptors and box turtles. A variety of craft activities will be availa- ble for children. Free native bare-root seedlings will be available while supplies last. Food by the Backyard Boyz BBQ and fish by the Oakland City Eagles Lodge will be available for pur- chase. The event and park- ing are free and open to the public. To learn more about the event, visit www.pato- karefugefriends.org or via Facebook. Patoka River Refuge celebrates 'A World of Waters and Wildlife' Oct. 28 A variety of fish taken from the waters of the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge will be on display in the ORSANCO 2200 gallon tank at the Patoka River NWR Appreciation Day. Photo submitted. County pursues assessment project grant By Janice Barniak As phase one of a three-year "brown fields" project to identify difficult-to-process contaminants wraps up, the county agreed to go for another round of funding for sim- ilar projects in the next three years. Carol Hagedorn, on behalf of the Economic Development Coalition of Southwestern Indiana, said the program leverages funds to assess property that may have environ- mental hazards or contaminants. In the last round, for exam- ple, the project assessed Frank- lin School in Princeton, vacant for years and leased by the county. The project checks for things like asbestos, mold, buried fuel tanks, lead-based paint or contam- inated water. From there, they come up with a site remediation plan for how to prepare the property for future use or safely demolish it. The application is due Nov. 16 and, if received, will be another three-year funded project. Gibson County Council approves another armed bailiff By Janice Barniak In the Gibson County Coun- cil's 2018 budget, the council appropriated funds to add a an- other court reporter in Gibson County Circuit Court at the re- quest of Judge Jeffrey Meade; last Monday, they went on to approve the move of Meade's current bailiff into that court reporting position for training through the end of the year, and approved hiring an armed Gib- son County Sheriff's Depart- ment employee into that bailiff position. The funds for the court re- porter, through the end of the year and the difference in the cost of a deputy versus the un- armed bailiff, will be paid from funds at the judge's discretion that are generated by probation- al user fees (not any form of tax- es or county-funded money.) Meade plans to also furnish the new court reporter's desk from the funds; so between the early start and the desk/com- puter equipment, the total will be approximately $20,000 from those funds to get the new court reporter started. As for the change to an armed deputy bailiff, Meade called it a matter of safety. While other courthouses in the area employ metal detec- tors and have one entrance mon- itored by a law enforcement of- ficer, Gibson County Court- house's unique design offers many entrances and no current way to secure them, nor does it have a metal detector on any en- trance. Meade said court cases often get heated, especially cases that involve children in need of ser- vices (CHINS). He recalled an instance in which a juvenile he'd had as a CHINS case, then committed to boys' school, seemed fine un- til he suddenly jumped up and came around the side of the bench in a threatening manner. While Meade exchanged a few harsh words with the teen that defused the conflict, he said it didn't seem appropriately judi- cial to have the situation come to that. He said he believed an armed deputy would act as a deterrent to violence. While a deputy's pay is $42,375, versus the approxi- mately $ 32,000 for a non-depu- ty bailiff, he would pay the dif- ference in what was appropriat- ed in this year's budget, then go- ing forward, the county could budget a deputy's salary. Finally, the judge proposed, and the council agreed, to changing the jury box and wit- ness seating. The current chairs are more than 40 years old, and at the time of their construction, chairs were built more narrowly. It's especially a problem when officers testify as witnesses, he said, because they have equip- ment on their belts, including their sidearm, that makes it difficult to sit in the narrow wit- ness chair. These will also be paid for from probational user fees. MASTER GARDENERS SEMINAR By Janice Barniak A local former ag teacher was one of five instructors Saturday at the bi-annual Master Gardener's "Once Upon a Garden" seminar. This year, 115 participants explored five topics more in depth, including Richard Rit- ter's "Evaluating and Amending Soil for Veg- etables" talk. Ritter recently retired from 32 years as the Gibson Southern High School agricul- tural science and business educator. He raises and markets his own vegetables in Owensville. He was also the advisor to the FFA chapter. The every-other-year event also hosted Lelia Gentle, chef instructor at a cooking school, with a talk on hot peppers; Collet- ta Kosiba, a well-known garden speaker and blogger; Jeanette Daniels, who spoke on backyard greenhouses; Maggie Oster, au- thor of several books and horticulturist, pre- senting "Growing & Cooking with Herbs." Nancy Harper, Master Gardener presi- dent, said that the speakers were fantastic, and that the event gives Master Gardeners a chance to learn things they still don't know about growing, despite having had several weeks in a course. "The goal of Master Gardeners is helping others grow," she said. "The sole purpose is to help others learn about growing. We like to share our knowledge, but we're not experts. We consider ourselves students, and we're constantly learning—like today," she said. As the gardeners have grown, they've been able to pull speakers from all over the Mid- west. "For as small as we are, it's fantastic," Harper said. The big meeting is an extension of the lit- tle monthly meetings, hosted the third Mon- day of each month March through November at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Princeton, which begin with refreshments at 6:30 p.m. and a speaker at 7 p.m. The public is invited to the speaker at 7 p.m., and can check the speaker of the month at GCMGA.org. Sherry Meuser, a member, said she often learns something, especially about things she hasn't yet grown herself. "We want the world to be beautiful. We want you to be successful," she said of the Master Gardeners Association. Kim Byrd and Mag- gie Oster sell Os- ter's cal- endars, books and oth- er prod- ucts at the ven- dor por- tion of the Mas- ter Gar- dener's seminar Satur- day.