GCSC announces list of summer programs, schedules to come

Thursday, March 30, 2017
Banner Graphic/NICK WILSON As part of the Greencastle School Corporation’s annual Summer Feeding Program, volunteer Darlena McCarter (foreground) hands out free meals to kids of all ages in June at Robe-Ann Park.

With the end of the school year just around the corner, the Greencastle Community School Corporation (GCSC) has announced several programs of interest that will take place throughout the summer months for both the student body and the community.

During the corporation’s most recent March session an assortment of activities and programs were discussed and approved, including summer school for those looking to make up classes, catch up on credits or obtain early advancement. Also, speech services, programs for homeless or near-homeless children and feeding programs will again dot the district.

All programs announced during the public session will be updated with precise schedules and locations in the coming months and ahead of the end of the school year. For more information, contact the corporation at 653-9771.

Summer Schools

• Elementary School -- With only minimal tweaks made to the elementary summer school program from previous years, students entering grades K-4 will now be encouraged to pass the corporation’s Idle Reading program during the summer season. The summer program will now include remediation for students entering the third and fourth grades and intervention will now be offered to incoming third-graders. The elementary-aged summer school program will take place at Tzouanakis Intermediate, located at 500 Linwood Dr. in Greencastle.

• Middle School -- Core subject instruction will be stressed for sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students attending summer school. New this year will be a jump-start math program for incoming “highly-abled” sixth-graders which will enable those entering their first year of middle school to skip sixth-grade math entirely and move on to the seventh-grade level. Remediation will be available for seventh and eighth-grade students, as recommended by the corporation’s Response to Intervention team which specializes in work with students who are behind on classes. The middle school program, available to all incoming sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students (with the added jump-start program available), will also be held at Tzouanakis Intermediate.

• High School -- Students entering grades 9-12 will be able to attend the high school summer program from Tuesday, May 30 (the day after Memorial Day) through Monday, June 26. The 20-day program will again be held at Greencastle High School (910 E. Washington St.) and will offer several opportunities in addition to core-subject instruction as teacher Doug Hudson’s credit recovery program will also be available. All classes will begin in the morning and run half of the normal school day, with exception to any government or economy classes which will run the length of a typical school day but in half as many days. Physical education will also be available.

Extracurricular Opportunities

• College Readiness -- In a partnership with Ivy Tech Community College of Greencastle, GCSC will again be offering its College and Career Readiness course this summer. The program targets students who have mid-range GPAs and students who are not generally interested in attending college after high school. The program, taught by Hudson for the last two years, encourages those students to “connect academics with success” through the use of an orientation program and field trips to the local Ivy Tech campus.

• KIDS -- This year’s KIDS program will take place during the month of June at Tzouanakis Intermediate. The KIDS program targets homeless or nearly-homeless students (i.e. those living in shelters or with family members, respectively) and will focus on hygiene, personal care, relationships and social skills. The program will involve field trips, similar to years passed. The program comes to the aid of roughly 25 students annually.

• Speech Services -- GCSC is required to provide services for students who need Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). This summer, GCSC will be providing speech services in conjunction with the KIDS program at Tzouanakis Intermediate.

• Summer Feeding Program -- After such success during 2016, GCSC and the USDA will again partner to sponsor the Summer Feeding Program, headed by Debbie Carrico, director of food services for GCSC. Locations will include Greencastle High School, Tzouanakis Intermediate and Robe-Ann Park via the mobile food cart. Dates and schedules have not yet been announced as Carrico and others are working out the specifics. A schedule recommendation is expected soon and will be made available. The program features free breakfast and lunch to students throughout June and July.

• Summer Technology Assistant -- The corporation is nearing the end of a three-year lease which allowed 1,100 iPads to be used by fourth through sixth-grade students. Now that it is time to retire those iPads, GCSC is looking for a summer technology assistant to help with the process. Those interested may contact the corporation at 653-9771.

In other business:

• In an annual partnership with Gobin United Methodist Church, the board approved the loaning of two activity buses to be used in the Putnam County Summer Enrichment Program. The approval stated that only GCSC employees are allowed to drive the buses, for which the church will assume all responsibility. The partnership exists through the Greencastle Chamber of Commerce.

• The board approved the second reading of 42 recently-adjusted NEOLA policies.

• A scholarship donation was approved from the Give Well Community Foundation on behalf of the Edward and Maryann Meyer Scholarship Fund.

• Several items of no value were declared, including old television sets and a large anvil from the middle school shop program.

• The board approved the hiring, transfer, retirement and resignation of several employees Monday. They were:

Lori Gillespie, resignation as eighth-grade special education teacher at GMS and Lisa McCoy, resignation as fifth-grade teacher at Tzouanakis Intermediate.

Kathy Cox, resignation as cafeteria assistant at Deer Meadow Primary; Carol Clark, retirement as bus driver, cafeteria assistant and custodian; Addailine Enderby, termination as head custodian at GMS; Ronnie Bumgardner, transfer as third-shift custodian at GMS; Shyonna Partin, hire as second-shift custodian at GMS; and Candice Childress, approved of intermittent FMLA at Tzouanakis Intermediate.

Bethany Guyer, hired as substitute teacher and Bailey Brewer, hired as substitute teacher.w

Michael Scott, transfer as boys’ head track coach at GMS to volunteer boys’ track coach at GMS; Denise Meyer, additional hours approved as head swim coach at GMS; and C.J. Shields, approved as boys’ head track coach at GMS.

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