District News

The Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation (MVCSC) will be                closing all buildings on Fridays from June 3 through July 12 in an effort to be more efficient with our energy conservation. Employees will move to four 10-hour days during these weeks.

MVCSC anticipates this will save the district $10,000 - $20,000; this effort will continue to leverage our resources and maximize our operating and energy efficiency in preparation for the loss of our Increment Funds in 2022.  

Out-of-District Transfer Application Information:
2019-2020 School Year

Students who wish to transfer into Mt. Vernon Schools from another school district must complete an online application during the designated windows. This includes all students who are currently attending a Mt. Vernon school and are not residing within the school / district boundaries.

As Jo-Anne Beitel led the Fortville Elementary School students through yoga poses and breathing prompts, she encouraged them to notice how they felt and thanked them for their mindfulness.

Anyone in the Mt. Vernon Community will receive $10 off the Geist Marathon 5K Race by registering through the schools by May 3! Register Today!

MVCSC's Superintendent Dr. Jack Parker has scheduled three "Traveling Talks" throughout the district in an effort to meet the community and engage in meaningful dialogue about Mt. Vernon Schools.  

Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation Creates a Sustainable Budget Plan to Prepare for Intended Increment Funding Loss in 2022
 

Mt. Comfort Elementary School is embarking on a special project called “One School, One Book” for the month of April. “One School, One Book” is essentially a school-wide book club where all staff and students read the book at the same pace. Each student and staff member has received a copy of the book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. Students and staff will be asked to read the book at home with their families over the course of the next few weeks.

McCordsville Elementary School (MES) fourth grade students participated in the annual “Shark Tank” project. Students had to use their knowledge of the scientific method, persuasive writing, and presentation skills to develop a business as an entrepreneur. Finalists for the project presented their inventions in front of their peers, Superintendent Dr. Jack Parker, Principal Stephanie Miller, and the “Sharks,” who were their fourth grade teachers posing as famous band members. This year’s inventions included “Spros,” a backpack that is useful for all types of sports; “Flipsides,” double sided pillowcases; “Happy and Healthy,” a delicious and nutritious popsicle; “Cup-A-Desk,” a magnetic cup-holder that prevents spills; and finally “Flexi Mats,” a gymnastics mat that doubles as a chair.

An open house at Mt. Vernon Middle School (MVMS) is scheduled for Thursday, April 4 at 6 p.m. All community members are welcome to attend. There will be musical performances by students, former principals in attendance, a presentation, walking tours, and a dinner in the International Cafe (for a small charge).

Mr. Brandon Ecker, Mt. Vernon High School (MVHS) Athletic Director, has recently received the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (IIAAA) “District 4 Charles F. Maas Distinguished Service Award.” Mr. Ecker was recognized for the following qualities of an effective athletic leader: integrity, honesty, citizenship, sportsmanship, self-discipline, communication skills, positive attitude, responsibility, impartiality, strong work ethic, and respect and honor of the profession.

Mt. Vernon Middle School (MVMS) eighth graders recently participated in the annual Walk-on-Water science experiment. Multiple teams competed in the project that challenged students to use their critical thinking skills. Each team had to build a float that would allow one member of their team to "walk" across the length of the pool. The floats were not tested until the day of the challenge. If the float sank before it crossed the pool, the team was out of the competition.

The Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation (MVCSC) is pleased to share that the Mt. Vernon High School and McCordsville Elementary School are among those recognized by the Indiana Department of Education as Indiana’s Four Star Schools for the 2017-2018 school year.

Mt. Vernon High School English teacher, Mrs. Jennifer Leavell, recently received a $2,500 grant from Forum Bank to purchase high interest books for her students. She was able to use the money from the grant to purchase 210 books- mostly novels, as well as a few nonfiction books. The Forum Foundation’s Educator Grants are offered to provide teacher materials for classroom projects and enhance student learning.

Mt. Vernon Middle School was selected among 61 middle schools in Indiana as the sole recipient of the Financial Field Day.  MVMS partnered with MassMutual Foundation, an organization that sponsors the FutureSmart digital course powered by EverFi, for a Financial Field Day. A group of MVMS students participated in a program over the course of a few weeks that helped them to recognize the importance of financial literacy. The curriculum ended with a special Financial Field Day lead by EverFi representatives that provided interactive group activities that corresponded with what they learned in the digital course.

Mr. Caleb Zelencik, chemistry teacher at MVHS, recently received a grant from the Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program through Lilly Endowment. The grant was first started in 1987 as a way for teachers to renew their commitment and passion for teaching. Mr. Zelencik will be using the $12,000 in grant funds to take a month long trip to Spain this summer and walk roughly 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago. This trip will connect him with his Spanish speaking students and share the enriching culture collectively with his students.

Student Council members from Mt. Vernon Middle School (MVMS), Fortville Elementary School (FES), and Mt. Vernon High School (MVHS) worked together to host a Million Meals Movement at MVMS on Saturday, February 16th. Million Meals Movement is an organization that was created in 2007 with a two-fold vision- to feed the hungry and promote volunteerism. The Mt. Vernon community packed a total of 15,000 meals that will be distributed to central Indiana residents, making Mt. Vernon’s first district meal packing event a success!

Mt. Vernon Middle School 8th Graders celebrated Black History Month in February with an annual live jazz concert featuring many genres, including blues, rock, R&B, and contemporary/pop. This private concert celebrating music performed by famous black Americans is always a big hit with the students. The band played music performed by Prince, Louis Armstrong, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Lenny Kravitz, James Brown, among other notable black American musicians.

Mt. Vernon High School (MVHS) junior, Cam Cole, is one of 23 students in Indiana fundraising in an effort to earn the title of Student of the Year through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) and the first student at MVHS to do so. The campaign began on January 24th and lasts seven weeks, ending on March 16th. Cam and his team, comprised of other Mt. Vernon students and parents, are aiming to raise $15,000 in donations to ultimately move closer to a cancer-free world.

Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation is welcoming a new medical assistant to the Activate Health Clinic, Ms. Caitlin Laughlin. The staff will enjoy her welcoming smile and friendly demeanor when visiting the clinic.

Students in Mrs. Jessica Daugherty’s high ability class at Fortville Elementary School have been participating in a unique STEM project with Katey Kitterman from Sunrise Bakery. The students were assigned to create a bakery of their own- including a business model, recipe chart, and marketing techniques to help them learn about strategic planning.

The Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation recently hosted a legislative breakfast focused on education topics with panelists Speaker Bosma, Senator Crider, and Representative Cherry. Leaders from all school districts in the county attended, as well as a few districts bordering our county.

Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation’s new Superintendent, Dr. Jack Parker, started his mission of becoming familiar with the district by riding a bus with elementary students on his first day. Within his first week, he toured each of Mt. Vernon’s five schools and the preschool. Within the next six months, Dr. Parker plans to engage with staff and students at each of the schools, learn about Mt. Vernon, and connect with the community.

Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation (MVCSC) recently welcomed a group of three administrators and 13 elementary students from Taiwan. The group had the opportunity to experience several aspects of American culture, including education in a one-to-one environment (one computer device for each student/staff). The Taiwanese came to Mt. Vernon in hopes of learning more of the English language and immersing themselves in the daily schedule as a Mt. Vernon student/teacher.

Fortville Elementary School (FES) fourth graders have used their STEM knowledge to create a replica of the Town of Fortville using graham crackers and other additional edible materials. This “Gingerbread Town of Fortville” gave five fourth-grade classes an opportunity to collectively create a replica. Each class was given a portion of the town to develop, and then pairs of students were assigned a specific building.

The holiday season often inspires a love of giving, and a Mt. Vernon High School (MVHS) student took it upon himself to give a teacher something he will never forget: the gift of seeing colors.

The High-Tech Academy teacher at Mt. Vernon High School (MVHS), Mrs. Julie Bravard Johnson, has been instructing her students on how to make arcade machines in order to advance their initiative of learning more about the science of programming. A unique twist to this technology project was that it involved fifth graders to test their product.

Fortville Elementary School held their second annual Grandparents Day on Friday, November 30th, 2018. Approximately 1,000 guests joined the celebration. The day consisted of students spending quality time with their loved ones while browsing the selection of books at the book fair and making crafts with their grandparents.

The School Board of Trustees at the Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation has named Dr. Jack Parker as Superintendent. Dr. Parker will officially accept the Superintendency position at the December School Board meeting on December 17, 2018, and the start of his contract will be effective on January 7, 2019. The community is invited to attend a reception in his honor after the December 17 School Board meeting at approximately 7:30 p.m. in the Administrative Service Center, 1806 W. State Road 234, Fortville, IN 46040.

Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation (MVCSC) was recently awarded with a K-6 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Acceleration Grant from the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE).  In recent years, both the IDOE and MVCSC have focused on a multitude of efforts to increase the STEM initiative in schools. The IDOE awarded MVCSC nearly $50,000 to further advance STEM education in the elementary and middle schools.

Mt. Vernon Middle School (MVMS) is one of the six middle schools in the state to receive an award from Champions Together in the Middle for the 2017-18 school year. Champions Together in the Middle is a partnership between the Indiana Middle-Level Education Association and Special Olympics Indiana.

Thanks to a grant from the Mt. Vernon Education Foundation, 19 Mt. Vernon High School students experienced a writing workshop from published author, Mike Mullin.  Mr. Mullin wrote the Ashfall trilogy and most recently published the book Surface Tension.  All students left the “funshop” with the start of their own novel.  

Each year, two students from Hancock County are carefully selected to receive a full-ride scholarship to any Indiana college through the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship, which is administered by the Hancock County Community Foundation. Two students from each Hancock County high school in the top 15% of their class are chosen to be finalists for the scholarship. The finalists are accomplished and driven teens who set themselves apart from their peers with their philanthropic interests.  The two Mt. Vernon High School students chosen as 2018 Lilly Endowment Scholarship finalists are seniors Cade Gentry and Emma Walker.

The Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation recently celebrated Veteran’s Day at McCordsville Elementary, Mt. Comfort Elementary, Fortville Elementary, and Mt. Vernon Middle School, honoring those who have served or are currently serving in the United States Armed Forces.

The students participating in the aviation classes at Mt. Vernon High School have already experienced more training at their age than most employed pilots.  These aviation students, comprised of students from Greenfield Central High School and Mt. Vernon High School, have flown with a pilot and also visited the Indianapolis Regional Airport where they saw the Indiana State Police’s planes and helicopters in their aviation hangar.  The students recently participated in a flight simulation training, as well as being among the select few admitted inside the Indianapolis International Airport’s control tower.

Recently, a group of Mt. Vernon educators visited Anshan, China to exchange educational practices with schools in Anshan. MVCSC hopes to continue the partnership with Anshan schools and set up further student and teacher exchanges to advance Mt. Vernon’s International Exchange program.

Mt Vernon Community School Corporation is excited to announce that we were rated as an “A District” by the Indiana Department of Education for the 2017-2018 school year.  We would like to congratulate our students, teachers, administrators, and support staff for their outstanding performance as well as their commitment to excellence.  

Mt. Vernon High School (MVHS) recently introduced a Makerspace room as yet another STEM infusion to benefit the high school students and staff.  A Makerspace is a collaborative work space providing a hands-on, creative way to encourage students to design, experiment, build and invent as they engage in science, engineering, learning and exploring.  

The Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation (MVCSC) has partnered with the Fortville Entrepreneurship Initiative to offer a startup pitch competition for high school students and entrepreneurs in the community.  This startup pitch competition event is for high school students, nonprofits, and area startups with the goal to foster an entrepreneurial mindset in our community and provide a forum to share big ideas. Entrepreneur ideas pitched that night will be in part funded by the audience’s selection.

Did you know that the Gleaners/MVCSC Food Pantry was originally one of five schools that was selected as a pilot program for Gleaners' school program?  The pantry is open to MVCSC families once per month to help with food insecurity in the community.  

Mt. Vernon High School recently sent a group of 6 students and 3 administrators to Québec and Montreal, Canada to experience French culture and utilize the French that the students have learned in school. Mt. Vernon has been pursuing trips similar to this one in order to advance the goal of expanding the district’s international program and immersing students into other cultures.

The Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation is transforming teaching environments by partnering with a program called Modern Teacher. This program has been used for the past two years, engaging leadership and teaching staff into defining what an effective modern teaching environment looks like in the classroom.

Approximately 85 Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation (MVCSC) students chose to serve their community on the district’s scheduled eLearning Day. Mt. Vernon is constantly demonstrating to students the importance of serving others and building quality character traits.

At the Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation's Board of Trustees Meeting on October 1, 2018, a resolution was passed to not accept new transfer/out-of-district students. This resolution is effective October 1, 2018 through June 1, 2019 for students in preschool through grade 12. The Board of Trustees is passing this resolution due to the in-district housing growth that is impacting the Mt. Vernon schools.

Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation (MVCSC) is inviting all realtors and home builders to attend a (free) breakfast on Wednesday, October 17th from 9 - 10:30 a.m. at the MVCSC Administrative Service Center.  Realtors will learn about Mt. Vernon Schools and enjoy a facility tour. See the realtor breakfast flyer for additional information.

Rebekah Tilley tightened a long, stretchy tourniquet around the upper arm of Laurie Gwaltney.

One youngster wants to be a swimming teacher. Another is undecided. And one little girl, in kindergarten at J.B. Stephens Elementary School in Greenfield, told counselor Christy Harpold she wants to be a T-Rex.

Mt. Vernon High School (MVHS) recently became part of an elite group of approximately eight high schools in Indiana that offer a college aviation course.  MVHS began a collaboration with Ivy Tech Community College to implement an aviation course for juniors and seniors this 2018-2019 school year. The key coordinators who worked on putting this course into practice were the Director of Secondary Education Mr. Scott Shipley, Mt. Vernon High School Principal Mr. Greg Roach, Ivy Tech Aviation Program Chair Mr. Matt Medley, and the Ivy Tech Aviation Course Instructor Mr. Jack Morton.

Mt. Vernon recently welcomed a group of eight students and eight teachers from Taiwan. The group experienced American education and culture for two weeks, while simultaneously sharing their own culture with Mt. Vernon students and staff.  According to Chen Chun-Sheng, who is an elementary principal and was the leader of the group, they were impressed by the hospitality and warmth offered by the faculty, staff, and students at Mt. Vernon.

The Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation (MVCSC) Board of Trustees and the administration are pleased to announce a new partnership with Hancock Health, naming the Mt. Vernon High School turf field as the “Hancock Health Stadium.”  The community is invited to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony just before the football game begins Friday, August 31 at 7:30 p.m.

Welcome to the Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation! Click "Read More" to watch the welcome video.

Mt. Vernon recently earned the recognition of being a Common Sense media district. This publicly demonstrates that Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation is dedicated to providing safe, trustworthy information regarding the Internet, technology, and media to those living in the community.  Parents can use the “Common Sense Media” resource through the “Forms & Resources” webpage under the “Parents” tab.

McCordsville Elementary student, Joshua, was awarded with a certificate of recognition for his bravery and quick thinking by John Jokantas, Director of Communications for the county’s 911 office. Joshua was saluted by the county commissioners before getting a tour of the dispatch center and a ride with Sheriff Mike Shepherd. The best part of the day, for Joshua anyway, was a day off from school.

As part of their capstone project, fourth graders at Fortville Elementary School got to pitch business ideas to sharks in a take on the popular TV show “Shark Tank.”

Keian Gatewood has a slightly different hobby than most teenagers. While other 16-year-olds might be into sports or video games, Gatewood likes beekeeping. Yes, beekeeping, as in actually bees and the huge, white suits that look like they belong in a spaceship.

The Teacher of the Year award has been re-established for the staff at Mt. Vernon and is sponsored by the Mt. Vernon Education Foundation (MVEF).  Each of the five schools nominated two teachers to be recognized for their outstanding commitment to their students, being an exemplary leader as well as for their dedication to the teaching profession.

The Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation has qualified to provide free, nutritious breakfast and lunches this summer to any and all children ages 18 and younger.  The program is made available through the USDA Summer Food Service Program.

All Mt. Vernon schools recently participated in the Unified Champion Special Olympics. The Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools brings together athletes with and without disabilities to train and compete on the same team. Unified Champions is an inclusive event designed for all Mt. Vernon students to participate regardless of athletic, intellectual, ambulatory or functional abilities. All of the Mt. Vernon schools participated in the Unified Champion Special Olympics on specified days where they competed at the track and participated in fun activities.

Mt. Comfort Elementary hosted their annual wax museum at the end of the year, featuring students dressed up as a famous Hoosier and sharing a brief biography when requested.  Some of the famous people that students dressed up as were Michael Jackson, Orville Redenbacher, Colonel Sanders, the Wright Brothers, Florence Henderson, Tony Stewart, Jaycie Phelps, Little Turtle, and Benjamin Harrison just to name a few.

The Class of 2018's graduation went off without a hitch on May 25.  There were approximately 309 students who walked across the stage to receive their diploma.  The graduates seemed ready to move on to their bright futures, prepared with one of the finest academic preparations in the state.

Many students from the senior class of 2018 attended the Senior Honor Night to be recognized for their outstanding achievements.  As the seniors entered the stage, students’ names were announced with the college or university they plan to attend next year, as well as their intended major.  The ceremony began with opening remarks from the Mt. Vernon High School (MVHS) Principal, Mr. Greg Roach, the Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Tim Long, and the event sponsor, Mrs. Renee Oldham, who is the Executive Director of the Mt. Vernon Education Foundation.  The Mt. Vernon Education Foundation sponsored a reception for students and their families to celebrate after the awards ceremony.

It has been an exciting spring full of worldly infusions at Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation (MVCSC).  A total of 12 teachers from Taiwan and Germany and 22 students from Germany all traveled to Mt. Vernon recently as part of the MVCSC International Exchange program.  The program has now grown to include multiple visitors from Germany, Taiwan, China, Spain, and South Korea.

On Friday, April 27, author Helen Frost came to the Mt. Vernon Middle School (MVMS) to discuss her poem Hidden as a way to celebrate National Poetry Month.

Did you know a student in our Mt. Vernon family is fighting a challenging disease called Mitochondrial Disease?  He is stepping out of his quiet comfort zone to educate the community on his disease, while his peers fundraised to provide him with an experience of a lifetime.  The 8th grade students, the Mt. Vernon Middle School and High School staff, and friends/family members donated over $1,700 for Jakeb’s animal adventures!  Soon he will swim with the dolphins at the Indianapolis Zoo and paint with animals.  The remaining money will be used to buy him books and give his family an annual membership to the Indiana State Museum, Eiteljorg or Indianapolis Zoo.