Update from Logansport Community School Corporation – Summer 2024
Dear Cass County Community,
Logansport Community School Corporation continues to play a vital role in our community. Our enrollment reached 4334 during the 2023-2024 school year, which is an increase of 21 students over last year. Last year, we increased by 115 students. 4334 students is the largest enrollment that we have had at least in my 13 years as the superintendent. It is great to continue to see growth within our schools, especially when many schools are seeing a decline in their enrollment. We have continued to expand opportunities to our students through academic offerings, graduation pathways and extra-curricular programs. That is the beauty of our size- we are large enough to offer a vast number of programs, but yet small enough that our students can participate in all that they want!
We began the 2023-2024 school year with Logansport Intermediate School being fully operational, with all LCSC 5th and 6th graders beginning the school year in the new school, together. Berry Preschool also opened its doors with 127 preschoolers to start the school year. Which made for an exciting year and for the first time, all preschool programs were under one roof, which allows for collaboration on curriculum, planning and student support! We also opened the doors to our daycare for staff members, which was at capacity all year. It was a great beginning to many wonderful years full of opportunities for our students!
This school year also saw the redistricting of elementary aged students, and the realignment of Columbia, Fairview and Landis serving students in Kindergarten through Fourth grade. With the realignment we were able to make some adjustments to help spread the students out more evenly as to not overload any of the elementary schools. Each school saw an increase of at least one additional classroom at each grade level, Kindergarten-4th grade.
The Academy at LCSC and The Adult Education Program made the move into what used to be the Franklin School Building. The programs both picked up where they had left off the previous school year, and hit the ground running when school began. Both programs were quickly filled to capacity, which is a sign of how much of a need there is for alternative programming within our community. The Academy had 54 graduates receiving their high school diploma, and The Adult Education Program had 16 students receiving their High School Equivalency certificate. What a positive contribution this is to our community.
We also take staff retention extremely seriously. In order to have successful students we must provide a safe and consistent environment for them. We were able to create a new teacher salary schedule that is very competitive but also provides monetary increases as teachers gain more knowledge and experience. We also have worked to improve pay across all classified positions to be competitive. Looking for ways to provide educational training opportunities for all staff members is also a vital piece to insuring our staff members feel well equipped in all areas. We continue to not only, provide onsite paid professional development but are also able to send staff members to trainings that are relevant to them and their areas.
School safety has to be our number one priority and we continue to find ways to get better every day. With the information from the extensive safety audit report that we received in March 2023, we have created a 3-year Safety Strategic Plan, which has goals and strategies broken down into four categories: Physical, Procedural, Training and Student Support Services. We look forward to beginning the implementation of the plan. In partnership with the City of Logansport, we were able to add 2 full time Student Resource Officers. Officer Farris rotates between the 3 elementary schools and Officer Klepinger is at Logansport Intermediate School full time. These officers are in addition to the two full time officers we have at Logansport Junior High School, Officer Frye, and Logansport High School, Officer Nolte. As we continue to move forward we ultimately want one SRO at every school building. We feel fortunate for the progress that we have made in this area and will continue to work towards 100% full time coverage.
As we celebrated the 153rd graduating class on June 2, 2024, I reflected upon everything that our staff does to help our students be successful. What a proud moment!!!!
We are always planning for the future! With the start of the 2024-2025 school year we will be starting several new programs which will help students plan for their own futures. These new programs will lead to additional dual credits and/or certifications for our students.
While there has been a lot of facility work done over the summer months, that will not stop when school begins. In late Fall we will begin a massive renovation of Logansport Junior High School. This will include expansion and renovation of the cafeteria, which will allow for 3 lunch periods compared to the 4 we currently have. This in turn, allows for longer academic periods. A new Agriculture classroom will be constructed to meet the growing demands of our agriculture classes. The weight room will be relocated within the building and will include updated equipment. There will also be new lighting, HVAC, and flooring updates completed in areas where needed. The Lincoln Memorial Gymnasium will be air conditioned, which a much-needed upgrade.
We are looking forward to the completion of the updated tennis courts, which will also be striped for pickleball so that the community has access to additional courts. We are thankful for our partnership with the Logansport Parks Department in order to make this happen.
I am extremely grateful for our talented and caring staff, and for all of the community support for LCSC. There continues to be an extreme amount of positive energy within our community which is so exciting. This teamwork will lead to opportunities for a brighter future for Logansport and Cass County.
We will continue to work hard to provide as many opportunities as possible for our students to be successful, and to work with our local leaders to help Logansport and Cass County thrive in the future!
Michele Starkey, Superintendent
Logansport Community School Corporation