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Community Calendar ����� A17-18
Roanoke news News briefs �������A8 ����������������������� A6-7
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INfortwayne.com
September 15, 2017
SACS weighs up to $180M for schools
By Garth Snow gsnow@kpcmedia.com
PHOTO BY GARTH SNOW
First-graders watch pink balloons rise from the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School parking lot. Each string is attached to a postcard, with a request to return the card from where the balloon lands. To see more photos, visit infortwayne.com.
Children trust lesson to the wind
By Garth Snow gsnow@kpcmedia.com
First-graders of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School released 60 pink balloons into the southwest Fort Wayne sky the morning of Aug. 24. They
shared hopes that the balloons would land in Chicago or Germany or their own backyards. Julie Peters and Alyssa Knuth conducted their charges to the school parking lot for the synchronized release. A
postcard was attached to each balloon. The youngsters clutched their balloons with strings, assembled in the school parking lot and then released the strings on their teachers’ signal. The balloons rose slowly
Aboite firefighters invite public for info and dinner Staff report
COURTESY PHOTO
Aboite Township firefighters pry open a car door during a 2016 public safety demonstration at the Aboite Center Road fire station.
High School. Allen County Police will present a K-9 demonstration. “For the younger kids we do a firefighter challenge course, which went over huge last year. They’re doing some of
the things that we do on a real scene but on a smaller scale, such as pull a hose, drag a dummy and squirt some water,” Burke said. The event is a fundraiser for equipment and training.
3306 Independence Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 46808
INfortwayne Publications
The Aboite Township Volunteer Fire Department will present a public safety day from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, at the fire station at 11321 Aboite Center Road, Fort Wayne. The fundraising event will feature a Nelson’s Port-a-Pit chicken dinner. The price is $9 for a complete meal, or $7 for just chicken. A dining area will be set up in the fire station. Firefighters will demonstrate how to remove someone who is trapped in a wrecked car. They also will demonstrate how to deal with grease fires, Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Burke said. Lutheran Air will dispatch a helicopter to land on the field just northwest of Homestead
to the north, crested the building and climbed in clusters through diverging winds and then scattered in several directions to 60 destinations. “This is our color See WIND, Page A14
Southwest Allen County Schools parents and taxpayers turned out for five community meetings on up to $180 million in school building projects. Consultants from the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at IPFW facilitated those sesssions and will report their findings to the SACS administration by Sept. 19. Andy Downs, the director of that center, chaired the five meetings. The School Board is reviewing the district’s facilities needs over the next 20 to 30 years. Administrators have described $40 million in repairs as a minimum undertaking. Improvements to Homestead High School and an addition to Lafayette Meadows Elementary School could raise that figure to $100 million; sheets distributed at the forums list that as Scenario I.
WHAT’S NEXT
An IPFW team gathered community comment on Southwest Allen County Schools facilities improvement plans and funding options. The team will present a summary to the SACS administration by Sept. 19. That information will be posted at www.sacs. k12.in.us. Alternately, the district is exploring the option of rebuilding the high school to relieve current congestion and to accommodate growth, bringing the total investment to about $180 million; that is described as Scenario II. The district could choose to proceed with or without a referendum, and that decision would determine how much each part of the district pays toward the project. Downs’ group was tasked with exploring See SACS, Page A12