By HOLLY GASKILL
Southern Wells Community Schools will again be fixing part of their water system.
During the school board’s Tuesday meeting, school maintenance director Ryan King said the high school’s water recently tested highly for arsenic. Though it doesn’t register as dangerous, he said the school will be required by the state to fix it.
Water quality has been an issue for the schools since 2015, having undergone construction multiple times to remedy the problem.
In 2020, the elementary school and agriculture buildings added arsenic filters for $80,000. King said he believed that, accounting for inflation, filters for the high school would cost roughly $50,000.
King hopes that this can solve the schools’ problems once and for all.
“I don’t like that (the Indiana Department of Environmental Management) coming every time (to test the water) and wondering,” King said. “We want to walk away from this so that the next time there’s only minor violations… I want to put the major violations to rest because I think we are all tired of it.”
“Here we go again — and that’s unfortunate,” said Steve Darnell, who led the meeting in place of a superintendent. “We thought two years ago this was resolved, and you all as a board approved lots and lots of dollars … and now here we are again.”
After this project, all of the district’s wells will have arsenic filters. King said he hopes to have more solid information by the board’s next meeting on Aug. 16.
While this news was discouraging, the school board was able to celebrate recent gains in ILEARN scores.
Five grades increased their passing percentages in English language arts scores, and another five grades increased their passing percentages in math from 2021.
Overall, the school’s passing rate is roughly five points above Indiana’s average in either subject.
Darnell said he sees these scores reflecting the school’s bounceback from the education gap of pandemic learning.
“Southern Wells has really done well… kudos to our teachers, kudos to our students, kudos to our parents,” Darnell said. “That is significant.”
The school board also discussed the following items:
The state notified the schools that an excess levy of $18,896, however, the district will not be able to use it for one year. The board approved a fund for this amount and will be able to include it in next year’s budget.
The board approved the resignations of Chris Penzenik, Alyssa Rouch, Lisa Wesco and Lisa Leas.
A temporary loan from the rainy day fund was granted for curricular materials.
holly@news-banner.com
