The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/915141
C-6 Wednesday, December 13, 2017 The Press-Dispatch EAST GIBSON NEWS Submit school news: Email: egnews@ pressdispatch.net Deadline: Noon on Friday net edition yeah, it's that fast! Z M www.PressDispatch.net/Subscribe It's The Press-Dispatch. No matter where you live. Delivered every Wednesday morning! Add it for $5 to your current print subscription or stand-alone for $35/year. MODIFICATIONS TO INDIANA GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS On Wednesday, Decem- ber 6, 2017, the State Board of Education voted 7 – 4 to pass proposed modifica- tions to Indiana's gradua- tion requirements. Known as "Graduation Pathways," the new requirements are expected to create a seis- mic shift in the ability of our students to earn a high school diploma. Indiana's principals and superinten- dents had proposed chang- es to the SBOE in order to ensure all students would be allowed a fair opportu- nity to earn a high school diploma. The SBOE did not utilize these suggestions. The new graduation re- quirements begin for the class of 2023, when stu- dents will have to com- plete additional course- work, demonstrate em- ployability skills by having service or work projects, or show they are ready for college by receiving high scores on identified assess- ments, such as the SAT and ACT. There are concerns amongst Indiana educa- tors that graduation rates will plummet once the new requirements are put into place. For example, a high- ly respected school district in southern Indiana has es- timated their graduation rates would drop from the 90 percent levels to 10 -15 percent with the new re- quirements. With the above said, the Graduation Pathways are being closely studied in or- der to allow us an opportu- nity to clearly understand changes that may become necessary to align our cur- riculum in accordance with the new requirements. More information will come over the next sever- al months. WOOD MEMORIAL RECOGNIZED AS UNIFIED CHAMPION SCHOOL On Tuesday evening, No- vember 21, 2017, Wood Me- morial High School's stu- dents were recognized for earning designation as a Unified Champion School for 2016 – 2017. Being des- ignated as a Unified Cham- pion School is recognition for the work done by our student advisory council, in particular around the Champions Together ini- tiative. Champions Togeth- er is a partnership with the IHSA A and Indiana Spe- cial Olympics, focused on engaging Indiana's stu- dents in a servant leader- ship focus to give back to school and community. I congratulate all of the stu- dents involved in the SAC mission, as well as the sup- port provided by coach Kil- ian around this effort. Thank you to Mr. Lee Lonzo, the Champions To- gether director and a first class individual, for his sup- port and encouragement throughout the launch of our initiative. I would also like to thank Ms. Francie Smith, Gibson County Spe- cial Olympics, for her ded- ication and commitment to provide opportunities through Special Olympics. OPEN OFFICE SESSIONS Once again this year, I will be utilizing a collab- orative 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 effective with the de- velopment and growth of our students it is impera- tive that every stakeholder of Wood Memorial have an opportunity to collaborate and provide input in any area/aspect of interest in- volving our school(s) they may have. Thus, I will con- duct monthly "Open Of- fice" sessions, focused on providing time for such col- laboration 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 communication, I want to invite Wood Me- morial stakeholders to fol- low the happenings at the junior high and high school by joining us on twitter at WMTrojans1. CALENDAR Tuesday, Dec. 12 ECA Winter Testing, 8 a.m. Girls JHS Basketball at Washington Catholic, 5:30 p.m. Wrestling vs. Heritage Hills, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13 ECA Winter Testing – Make Up, 8 a.m. HS Student Council Meeting, 12:15 p.m. Boys JHS Basketball at Vincennes Rivet, 5:30 p.m. Boys Basketball vs. Washington, 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14 Prom Committee Meeting, 7:30 a.m. Girls Basketball at North Knox, 5:30 p.m. Christmas Music Con- cert, 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15 Boys Basketball vs. North Davies, 5:30 p.m. FILL THE GYM NIGHT Saturday, Dec. 16 WMHS and WMJHS Christmas Dance, 7 p.m. ADDITIONAL DATES OF NOTE ISTEP Retest, Dec. 4 –Dec. 15 Winter Music Con- cert, Dec. 14 ISTAR, Grades 3 – 8, 10, EL A/Math/Science/ Social Studies, Jan. 15 – Feb. 16 National Assessment of Educational Progress, Grades 4 and 8, Digital Based, Math, Reading, Writing, US History, Civ- ics and Geography, Jan. 29 – Mar. 9 Accuplacer – Part 2, Feb. 12 – Mar. 30 Red Cross Blood Drive, Feb. 23 ISTEP Part 1, Feb. 26 – Mar. 9 Wood Memorial TROJANS VS. PERRY CENTRAL STATS Perry Central Ryan Hubert 2 0 -0 1 4 Kage Kiplinger 3 2-0 1 6 Luke Bishop 4 2-2 0 13 Clay James 1 0 -0 0 2 Cain Hohne 1 0 -0 1 2 Ty Mullis 1 2-1 1 3 Andy Graves 7 4-4 3 18 TOTALS 19 10 -7 7 48 3 Point FG's-3 (Bishop 3) Wood Memorial Trent Holder 2 0 -0 0 4 Lathan Falls 13 2-0 1 31 Remington Wilkison 0 2-2 3 2 Cameron Savlman 1 0 -0 1 3 Paxon Bartley 7 3-3 2 18 Walker Nurrenbern 8 1-1 1 17 Austin Ireland 3 2-0 0 6 TOTALS 34 10 -6 8 81 3 Point FG's-7 (Falls 5, Savlman 1 and Bartley 1) SCORES BY QUARTERS Perry Central 11 16 9 12 48 Wood Memorial 26 17 24 14 81 UPCOMING SPORTS SCHEDULE GIRLS' VARSITY BASKETBALL Dec. 14 North Knox away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 2 Springs Valley home 5:30 p.m. Jan. 4 Loogootee JR/SR away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 9 South Knox home 5:30 Jan. 11 Princeton Community home 5:30 p.m. Jan. 16 Southridge home 5:30 p.m. Jan. 18 White River Valley away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 20 Shoals JR/SR ( JV/V ) home 3:30/5 p.m. Jan. 23 Northeast Dubois away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 25 North Daviess JR/SR away 5:30 p.m. BOYS' VARSITY BASKETBALL Dec. 13 Washington home 5:30 p.m. Dec. 15 North Daviess JR/SR home 5:30 p.m. Jan. 5 Pike Central away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 12 Washington Catholic home 5:30 p.m. Jan. 13 Evansville Day away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 19 Barr Reeve JR/SR away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 20 Shoals JR/SR ( JV/V ) home 3:30/7 p.m. Jan. 26 Tell City away 5:30 Jan. 27 Northeast Dubois home 5:30 Feb. 1 Vincennes Rivet JR/SR home 5:30 p.m. Feb. 6 Forest Park JR/SR home 5:30 p.m. Feb. 9 Southridge away 5:30 p.m. Feb. 13 Evansville North away 5:30 Feb. 16 Gibson Southern away 5:30 Feb. 17 North Knox away 5:30 p.m. Feb. 22 South Knox home 5:30 p.m. BOYS' VARSITY WRESTLING Dec. 14 Heritage Hills away 6 p.m. Jan. 2 Southridge home 5:30 p.m. Jan. 6 Tecumseh JR/SR Invitational away 9 a.m. Jan. 10 North Knox away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 13 Boonville away 9 a.m. Jan. 17 Evansville Central home 6 p.m. I-69 drainage endangers protected area By Janice Barniak A bridge on I-69 with insuffi- cient drainage is dumping materi- als into a federally-protected area, Local Emergency Planning Com- mittee representative Terry Hedges told Gibson County Commis- sioners last Tuesday. "Drains have come loose. Anything that drains goes into a basin, which goes into the river, which is a federal- ly protected area," Hedges said. The incident had the silver-lining of offering the LEPC the opportunity to do exercises on a real scenario, final- ize funding, and create a plan for what to do in the event of a hazardous ma- terials event. Hedges said the state has to redo details of the bridge drainage sit- uation, and in the meantime, the LEPC is continuing to work on and monitor the situation. Visitors and Tourism releases zoning position Following recent discussions con- cerning land use planning in Gibson County, the Gibson County Visitors and Tourism Commission voted to ap- prove the following position statement regarding this issue: "Through cooperation, communica- tion and hospitality, the Gibson Coun- ty Visitors and Tourism Commission seeks to positively impact and improve the quality of place and tourism, as well as foster pride in the communi- ties of Gibson County. With this core purpose in mind, the Gibson Coun- ty Visitors and Tourism Commission supports the efforts to establish zon- ing regulations along the Interstate 69 corridor through Gibson County. Gib- son County is fortunate to have three exits along the I-69 corridor. We be- lieve that planning for the use of this area can help to maximize the bene- fits to the county and its residents by promoting a healthy and attractive re- gion for compatible new business and industry. Additionally, such planning can help to preserve the county's ru- ral traditions by encouraging farmland preservation and protection for agri- cultural activities." Six out of the seven GCV T Com- mission members, plus the ex-officio member, voted to approve the state- ment, with one GCV T Commission member, Alan Douglas, abstaining from the vote. Subdivision planned; Princeton to annex into city limits By Janice Barniak In the ongoing battle to bring resi- dents to Gibson County, local officials are considering the new White Church subdivision plans as a win. Princeton Mayor Brad Schmitt called the development "historic," say- ing Princeton hasn't had a subdivision the size of the one planned on White Church Road, off CR 50 S., where 51 lots are planned with price tags rang- ing from $160,000 to $210,000. Koberstein is managing the build, and hopes to catch the 7,000 people commuting daily to the county to work at Toyota. Plans include having a mod- el home built for people to explore. Each commissioner met separate- ly with those working on the project to learn about it, but as a group, they chose to wait to approve the plans. "I motion to table it. I want to go through it myself word-by-word," said South Gibson's commissioner Gerald Bledsoe. Schmitt said he is glad to annex the area into Princeton city limits, and that he also wants the area to be zoned. "I am a proponent of zoning. It's not a popular stance to take...builders ask, do you have zoning, do you have build- ing codes...We have to give these de- velopers assurance that their invest- ment won't be undermined," Schmitt said. "This is a project I stand behind 100 percent." GIBSON COUNTY BRIEFS County vets need vehicle The county veterans administration is looking for a vehicle to transport vets, hopefully through donation, veterans service officer George Pickersgill told the county commissioners Tuesday. VFW Auxiliary Holiday Care Packages The VFW Auxiliary would like to send care packag- es to local soldiers who are deployed at this time for the Christmas holiday. Call Judy at 812-664-1847 or Jo Ann at 812-457-1480 with addresses of deployed sol- diers from the Gibson County area. Don't forget our soldiers and veterans over the holiday season. Caring Communities offers grant funding Caring Communities of Gibson County has their an- nual grant application available for programs and ser- vices benefiting residents of Gibson County. Applicants can request funding to provide servic- es, programs, resources in substance use prevention, treatment or related to law enforcement. For more in- formation or to request an application, contact Diane Braun at dbraun@youthfirstinc.org. Deadline for sub- mitting applications is Dec. 15. Wheat and small grains certification last day Dec. 15 Janet Ault, county executive director of the Farm Service Agency, reminds farmers that Dec. 15 will be the last day to certify wheat and any other fall seed- ed crops. Farms participating in the ARCO-PLC pro- gram are required to certify all crop acres to be eli- gible for program payment. A late fee will apply to all wheat certifications filed after Dec. 15. To make an appointment or for more information, contact the Farm Service Agency at 812-385 -5033 ext 2. The Farm Service Agency is located at 229 S. Sec- ond Avenue, Princeton. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. GCSW Holiday hours All sites are closed Saturday and Monday, Dec. 23 and Dec. 25., and Saturday and Monday, Dec. 20 and Jan. 1. All sites are open regular days and hours except for the holidays. News for Gibson County homeowners and home builders Homeowners eligible for property tax deduction, the deadline is Dec. 31. Contact the Auditor's Office at 812-385 -4927. Homebuilders, an ARF is required for new home construction. Contact the Assessor's Office at 812-385 - 5286 orwww.gibsoncounty-in.gov (search dept. tab). Pajama Party rolls into Princeton Dec. 16 Downtown Princeton, Inc. and the Princeton Theatre and Community Center are pleased to present The Po- lar Express Pajama Party movie event at 12:30 p.m. Dec. 16 at Princeton The- atre and Community Center. There will be brunch and a Santa vis- it at 11 a.m. The cost is $15 per person, advance purchase only, and includes brunch, beverage, one-on-one visit with Santa for each child, a gift from Santa, a pho- to with Santa, and admission to The Po- lar Express movie. The movie only is from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. for $5 per person. Brunch tickets are limited, require advance purchase, and will not be available at the door. Tickets for movie only will be avail- able to purchase in advance or at the door. Children must be accompanied by a paying adult for brunch and the movie. For more information, contact Downtown Princeton, Inc. at 812-385 - 1922 or Princeton Theatre at 812-635 - 9185. Kids are encouraged to wear their pajamas and bring a list for Santa. Con- cessions will be available for purchase. This event is an effort to bring great family entertainment to the downtown area. There are plenty of movie tickets available, but they are selling fast, so don't miss out. Tickets are only available online at Downtown Princeton's Facebook event page or at www.eventbrite.com/ e/polar-express-pajama-party-tick- ets-40948703675 or at the Princeton Theatre Box Office. Tickets for the movie will also be sold at the door if available. Children must be accompa- nied by a paying adult.