Warsaw school board hears about literacy partnership and therapy dogs – InkFreeNews.com

Pictured are the members of the Warsaw school board, Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert; Andy Streit, physical education teacher at Eisenhower; Dena Lancaster, family and consumer sciences teacher at WACC; and therapy dogs Champ, Maya and Sawyer. Photo by Jackie Gorski, Times-Union.

By Jackie Gorski
Times Union

WARSAW – The Warsaw School Board learned about a partnership with Grace College to help students with their literacy during their meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Megan Smith, director of programs and partnerships for the Center for Literacy and Learning, said the center was created through a Lilly Endowment grant.

One way the center helps students is through a literacy lab at Jefferson Elementary School. It serves as a training ground for teacher candidates at Grace College. The literacy lab started this summer, she said.

A tutoring center has also been established at Grace to support students in the community. Teacher candidates at Grace volunteer at the tutoring center.

Smith said the tutoring center currently has five teachers and serves students at Washington STEM, Jefferson and Lincoln elementary schools. Currently, 36 third graders have used their services.
Smith said tutoring isn’t always affordable.

Chief Inspector Dr. David Hoffert said WCS was able to obtain free tutoring services for students through this partnership.

Smith said students in Washington and Lincoln are bused to the Grace campus after school and picked up by their parents when the students are finished.

Smith said teachers meet with students three nights a week for an hour and work on things like phonics.

Earlier during the meeting, the school board was introduced to therapy dogs within the school organization.

Hoffert said WCS has six therapy dogs and one drug-sniffing dog in the school system.

Lucy is at Harrison, Alucard is at Edgewood, Chap and Clifford are at Leesburg, Sawyer is at the Warsaw Area Career Center, and Maya is at Eisenhower.

Andy Streit, physical education teacher at Eisenhower, said he believes Maya was one of the first, if not the first, therapy dog ​​at WCS and this is Maya’s fourth year at WCS.

Vice President of the Board Randy Polston owns Champ. He said when he picked Champ up from the breeders, he received a call from his son, Nathan Polston, principal of Leesburg Elementary. Nathan mentioned that Randy Leesburg’s therapy dog ​​was being retired at the time due to his age and wanted to know if Randy would train Champ to become a therapy dog. Randy said his answer was yes because he dedicated his life to helping students, so this was just another way to do that.

Nathan mentioned that Randy would have to pay for basic potty and toilet training for Champ and that there was money Leesburg could use for Champ to train to become a therapy dog. Champ turned 1 in July and now works full-time at Leesburg.

Dena Lancaster, family and consumer sciences teacher at WACC, said having therapy dogs at school makes a difference. She noticed an interaction a student had where an autistic child had an outburst and left the classroom. Sawyer went after the child and was able to calm the student down.
Hoffert said the dogs have a calming presence at the schools.

Randy said the stories of students making connections with therapy dogs are amazing.

In other business, the board heard that WCS has a $2,000 sign-on and referral bonus for bus drivers. Chief Financial Officer April Fitterling said there are several bus drivers who are retiring at the end of the year and the school district wants to make sure those positions are backlogged.