LAGRANGE – It has been a busy week in the Goshen County School District as area schools reconvene after a long summer break. The little town of LaGrange was no exception to the dusting of the books and opening up the doors. Matter of fact, the school hallways flooded, as much as the town of LaGrange could flood, with students eager for their first day of school. 

This year, enrollment in the small schoolhouse is about average, according to school administrator, Matt Daily. 

“Our enrollment, it looks like we should have 16 right now based on our current registration which is down one from last year,” Daily said. “But it is around average for us.”

Even though LaGrange is a long way from the central administration office, Daily ensures they follow the same schedule.

“We have the four-day schedule just like everybody in the district,” Daily explained. “Our Fridays we have mapped out. We have specific assemblies that we are going to be doing. Assemblies or field trips in September, October, November and December. Parents will have a better idea about what’s going to be happening on those days. That will be for the second half and the first half will be intervention, robotics, drones and special activities.”

One this Daily was excited about this year was the free breakfast and lunch program.

“Did you see that the district is now doing free breakfast and lunch for all students?” Daily said with excitement. “It’s coming, I believe, general budget so we’re not getting funds from other places or raising taxes we are just reallocating the funds that we currently use for schools in a different way to help out students who may not normally take advantage of breakfast or lunch, to be able to have that opportunity and to help out families who might be feeling the financial pinch,” Daily continued. “Even families that aren’t you know.”

According to Daily, Goshen County School District does provide a free education for area students.  

“I’ve had family members who were, for instance, in Kansas and they had to pay for book fees. They had transportation fees. They had lunch fees on top of that. It’s really amazing that in our district, when you send your kid to public school, they don’t have any extra fees and their breakfast and lunch is taken care of,” Daily said. “That’s pretty amazing. It is one of the big perks. It’s a really big perk for here and a way to say ‘Family, we appreciate you sending your kids to public school, and this is the complete package of all the academic benefits, the athletic benefits and the physical benefits of sending your kid to public school, so it is pretty amazing.”

“We do have a new teacher, as well. She will be our second, third grade and special education teacher, Chelsea Dewitt,” Daily said. “She was at Trail before and then she transferred out to us.”

Dewitt also coaches at Southeast Schools and she will continue to do so, according to Daily.

“She does volleyball and so she will be working in between the two schools, at our school for teaching and then she will be coaching there (Southeast),” Daily said. “She will get to know both age groups. That’s kind of a cool facet of that too.” 

“As far as new things this year, we are just going to have a larger focus on Leader in Me,” Daily explained. 

Daily expressed his enthusiasm for working with the district on the Leader in Me program and he is excited about implementing it throughout the district. Daily expressed he is excited to take his school from “average to exceptional” with the program.

“This year as well, we will be doing a Christmas program, which is a combination of our music activities. We have a parent volunteer that helps us out with that and then in the spring we will have a concert, but I am not sure when,” Daily expressed. “I’m not sure what that will be because I am doing the music this year as well as art so I am not sure what that will look like yet. It will be my first one.”

In LaGrange school news, there will be no school on September 2 and the school individual picture day is September 4. 

Stay tuned to next week’s edition for Southeast Schools back to school update.