Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 128, Number 13, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 31 March 2005 — Page 1

A=M ce News serving Nappanee & Wakarusa

Vol. 128 Issue 13

Embrace the Pace LUNCHEON The Nappanee United Methodist Women, 301 East Market Street, are serving their first Spring Luritheon on April 15 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Adults are $6, while children under 10 years are $3; Casserole, salad, dessert bar and drink are included. GOSPEL GROUP / The King's Way, formerly The King's Quartgf) will be at the Mt.T>b(sr Church of God, Green, on Sunday, April 3 at a.m. 10 UNDER For children interested in being a part of a 10 and under travel baseball league team are invited to attend two of the possible four scheduled tryouts. No player can turn 11 before June 1, 2005 and must live in the Wa-Nee school district. The tryouts will be held at the Stauffer Park Little League Diamond, and a baseball glove, cleats (if available), sweat pants and a sweat shirt will be needed for tryouts. The dates at times are: April 16 from 12-to 2 p.m.; April 19 from 5 to 7 p.m.; April 21 from 5 to 7 p.m. and April 23 from 12 to 2 p.m. Any questions can be directed to Greg Estepp (773-4245) or Matt Cox (7737047). LOFT ART STUDIO The following two classes will be held at the Loft Art Studio in Bremen, 4122 SR 331 South. All registration fees are due at sign-up. To register, send payment to above address. For more information, go to www.loftdrtstudio.com • Knitting a stylish handbag will be done on Thursdays between April 7 and 21 from 7 to 8:30 pm. Please register by April 4. Make a fun purse for springtime with instructor, Gayle Graverson. Cost is S2O plus supplies. • A Knitting Bee will be held on Saturday, April 9 from 10 a.m. to noon. Get together with other knitters to work on your favorite projects at this free knitting circle. Experienced knitters can share tips and tricks, while beginners can get help with problem areas and learn from others.

ISTEP+ results fare very well for Wa-Nee

By Anthony Godson Editor {The Wa-Nee School Board had a full pldte on Monday night with Director of CumcTthim Jim Bennett presenting the school's latest ISTEP+ results, Superin-tendent-Joe Sabo talking about the state's financial crunch and the board adopting the latest science and health textbooks. The school's latest ISTEP+ results for the third through ninth grades are now in, as are the latest Graduation Qualification Exam results. This year's results are those of the new state standards, which makes it difficult to compare this year's results to those of two years ago. "It's almost like comparing apples to oranges," Bennett said. Along with the new standards, there is also a new Way of determining achievement. The three categories of academic achievement are "Pass+," "Pass" or "Did Not Pass." As an example, in third grade, WaNee's Pass+ percentage for math was 4 '•percent lower (9 percent) than the state average, but the English/Language Arts

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Gas bids granted at meeting By Anthony Godson Editor The Nappanee Board of Works and Safety met on Monday afternoon to award bids for the city's gasoline, fuel oil and petroleum products. The board voted unanimously to award the job to Henschen Oil, Inc., of Nappanee. The board also received bids from Lassus Brothers Oil, Co. and Speedway Super America, LLC, but the two didn't meet certain specifications. Lassus Brothers did not supply a quote for bulk fuel delivery and Speedway SuperAmerica didn't meet bulk fuel delivery and also did not have a bid bond on one of the three items. Also at the meeting, the board also awarded a job to Peerless-Midwest to fix the city's well #3 and high service pump #3 for a price not to exceed $26,030. Water Superintendent Gale Gerber had predicted that the Sm WORKS, Page 2

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percent was 5 percent higher (17 percent) than the state. Overall, Wa-Nee had 82 percent of its third grade students pass English, and 76 percent passed math. Wa-Nee is above state averages in every grade in terms of Pass percent, and only behind the average in Pass+ in fourth grade math, fifth grade math, seventh grade math and ninth grade English. Also, Wa-Nee was lower in Did Not Pass percentile across the board. "We are pleased with these results, but not satisfied," Sabo said. In terms of the GQE, the school board is hoping that the 16 students, that have not yet passed the exam did pass on their latest effort. This was the last opportunity for these seniors to pass the exam. In the junior class, there are still .46 students looking to pass the exam and there are 57 students in the sophomore class that still need to pass the exam. These students get two opportunities each school year, so sophomores still have four chances to pass. Students who do not pass the GQE will not receive the opportunity get a diploma, but may still receive a waiver if they have shown they have taken advantage

ADVANCE NEWS PHOTO/STEPHANIE MIDDAUGH

Museum takes children back in time

By Anthony Gadson Editor As year by year goes by, so too does history become that much more distant. To help install into today's youth, what the youth of over 100 years ago went through, the Wakarusa Historical Museum offers educational tours. For as long as the museum has been around, elementary students have been taking educational tours at the location. The tours began as railroad safety classes 30 years ago, when the railroad would send a movie car to Wakarusa to train people on railroad safety. Now, with the railroad null and void, elementary students from all over the area visit Wakarusa and go into a time warp. Children are guided through seven separate buildings. The kids learn about the doctor's office, the train depot and even visit grandma's house along the way. "Everything you see here is donated or given to us," President of the Wakarusa Historical Society Helen Klein said about the buildings. The donors of the box car and caboose, Bob Willis, of Arizona and the man who donated the train depot, Dick Ross, of Alabama, will also be returning to Wakarusa this September to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the museum ornSept. 10 and 11. "By that time, we should have

Thursday, March 31,2005

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DAT PHOTO On the hunt for Easter Eggs Left: Two-year old, Hunter Lechlitner puts a prized egg in his bag during Wakarusa's Easter Egg Hunt held at the town's Memorial Park on March 26. Above: Kids make a mad dash to find their eggs at Callander Sportsplex in Nappanee during the Nappanee Rotary Club's Easter Egg Hunt on March 26. More photos of the two hunts can be found on Page 10.

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ADVANCE NEWS PHOTO/ANTHONY GADSON Ken Hartman shows Wakarusa Elementary first grade students how the railroad was run during Educational Tours at the Wakarusa Historical Museum on March 24.

the end of the depot finished up," Klein said with smile. While the depot may not be completely finished, the kids that visited it last week were none the wiser, especially with a fill-in telling the kids about the depot. "It was a miracle," Klein said about Ohio native Ken Hartman

of remedial courses. If they do not receive a waiver/they can then receive a Certificate of Completion, which doesn't equal a diploma, but does show the student completed all of his or her classes. Also at the meeting, Sabo discussed the financial crunch that schools across the state are feeling. With money being tight right now, and only getting tighter through the year, Sabo threw out some worst case scenarios. Currently, schools are losing money that they had anticipated receiving at the beginning of the year. By the end of this December, Business Manager Janet Gruwell anticipates that the school willbe losing out on over $191,000. In 2001, Gruwell and Sabo worked together to help avoid the financial crunch that they are seeing now. Things done at that time involved cutting spending on extra-curricular activities, lowering thermostats to 68 degrees, not re-instating elementary art classes and adjusting health benefits to name a few. "The cash balance was very good, so we'll be okay in 2005-2006," Sabo said. Even with the anticipation, education-

filling the shoes of Forrest Ludwig as tour guide in the depot. Hartman, who used to work at many of the depots in the area 35 years ago, including Lakeville, New Paris and Wakarusa, was in town this week just to be a part of the tours. He was then thrown into

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al funds were cut at the state this January, making Wa-Nee look to other possibilities in the future. Among the options, which Sabo continually referred to as "worst case scenario", are: Increasing class sizes; eliminating coaches or sports-and reducing custodial staff. A couple options, which Sabo said that "bottom would have to drop out" to have happen were to drop T 1 at Wakarusa and Nappanee Elementaries and move the high school back to a tvvo semester schedule and get rid of "teaming" at the middle school, which means that students' classes are in proximity to each other. Sabo encouraged the board to contact their legislatures to get involved. He will also be sending letters to all teachers, informing them to do the same. In other business: • The board approved the purchase of new science and health books. • The corporation appropriated $42,591.68 Which it received through a grant it received for its Full Day Kindergarten at Woodview Elementary. In order to, spend the money, it first needed to be appropriated.

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the fire on Monday when Ludwig, the depot tour guide, was taken to the hospital on Sunday night. "Forrest had given him a tour a few days before, and he's now giving the tour just like Forrest did," Klein said. See TOURS, Page 4