Baugo Schoolhouse

Baugo Community Schools has many reasons to celebrate. We prioritize authentic student, family, and community engagement. We focus on expanded student support systems and family and community partnerships to meet the needs of our students as learners. This edition of the Baugo Schoolhouse illustrates our intention to accomplish this work. As we enter the holiday season, it is customary to consider reasons to be thankful. I am thankful for a community that cares deeply for its children. From families, to teachers, to community organizations, a common commitment to meeting the needs of our children is evident. Thank you for supporting our work of preparing students for college, careers, and life.

Years of planning, cost engineering, and crowd funding are finally coming to an end as the Craig and Teneen Dobbs Jimtown Community Center will be completed in January 2025. Baugo Community Schools is thrilled to provide this Place To Belong to our community. The community center will house the Jimtown branch of the Elkhart Boys and Girls Club for three days a week. The district will also offer access to the facility for community sponsored programs and events. A ribbon cutting event will be scheduled for Spring to celebrate this renovated, historic space. We are especially grateful to Craig and Teneen Dobbs and Bruce and Sandy Clark whose lead donations were crucial to making this project possible.

Jimtown High School hosted a Veterans Day celebration. Baugo Schools board member, Robert Barbour, was our keynote speaker along with several student presentations that honored our Baugo Schools veterans: Danielle Carlson, Glen Carpenter, Chris Decker, Kayla McCoy, Larry Newland, and Steven Williams. Thank you all for your service to our country!

As a result of their efforts to honor veterans, JHS was also designated an Indiana Purple Star School for 2024–a designation we are proud to accept.

The JHS marching band qualified and performed at the ISSMA State Band Finals on November 9th. Our Marching Jimmies put on a wonderful show and brought home a 7th place finish. This group performed amazingly all year. Congratulations!

JHS will host a Work-based Learning Night on December 9th at 6:00 pm. This is an opportunity for current sophomores and juniors to attend and learn about various WBL opportunities before scheduling classes for the 2025-2026 school year. More details and notifications will be sent to families and posted to social media.

Jimtown Intermediate holds first All Pro Dad event on November 7th, and 52 people attend. All Pro Dad is a quarterly gathering at school where families engage in meaningful conversations and activities that strengthen their relationships. Mr. Miller presented the first lesson on gratitude. All Pro Dad will meet again in January.

It was Superhero night at JIS!! Our first Title night of the year!! So much fun!! Never fear, if you missed this night, there will be another in the Spring!! Families are invited to join us for a night of fun educational games, books, and door prizes. Mrs. Lisa Johnson is the creative genius behind this night and does an amazing job!

At JES we use research-supported decodable readers in our daily reading groups. These decodable books are designed to help readers practice and build reading skills by focusing on specific phonics patterns. Students work on decoding skills, increasing their fluency, and boosting their confidence as a reader each day.

After starting our first on-campus field trip back in 2020, we have decided to make it an annual tradition here at JES! Our students enjoyed refreshments provided by our PTO, hayrides, pumpkin decorating, and a scavenger hunt. This is the perfect way to celebrate the fall season and strengthen bonds between students and staff.

In late October, The Baugo Board of School Trustees approved the sale of a lease bond for approximately $28 million. Preparing for this project took enormous time and energy. In May 2022, the Board began working in concert with building representatives, district administration, and principal architects to prioritize and refine projects for this bond issuance. Consistent with the Boards priority to maintain fiscal responsibility, the bond will not increase property tax rates for our community and wherever possible be focused only on school safety and authentic student engagement.

The bond will fund several important improvements for our campus, including:

• A traffic signal at the intersection of CR3 and CR24
• Improved traffic pattern entering campus, specifically addressing congestion at JIS and overflow on CR3
• HVAC chiller replacement at JIS
• Office renovations and safety-focused entrances at JES and JJHS
• Cafeteria, auditorium, locker room, and classroom improvements at JJHS
• Designated marching band practice lot that can serve as additional parking as needed
• Fine Arts classroom addition and renovations at JHS
• Air conditioning in the competition gym at JHS
• Locker room and weight room renovations at JHS
• Urethane Track and LED lights at Sharpe Stadium
• Softball press box, concessions, and field improvements at JHS
• Storage building renovations and additions on the high school campus
• Other concrete, asphalt, and gated entrance improvements around the sport facilities
• Covered entrance awnings at JES, JJHS, JHS

Barton Coe Vilamaa Architects serve as the design team for these 2024 Bond projects. Weigand Construction was hired as construction manager, facilitating the scope and timeline for projects. The scale of these projects is substantial and will impact the campus for 24 months. Weigand is already onsite and eager to begin improvements.

Email: confidential@baugo.org
Website: baugo.org
Location: 29125 County Road 22, Elkhart, IN, USA
Phone: 574-293-8583
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BaugoCommunitySchools
Twitter: @Baugosuper

• Eric Ott, President eott@baugo.org
• Bill Gletty, Vice President bgletty@baugo.org
• Julie Phillips, Secretary jphillips@baugo.org
• Chris Carithers, member ccarithers@baugo.org
• Robert Barbour, member rbarbour@baugo.org