Reviewing trends in enrollment and standardized testing were the focus of Centerville-Abington Community Schools’ board during its Aug. 20 meeting.
Although Indiana’s enrollment count day is a few weeks away, Superintendent Mike McCoy said the district’s current enrollment is 1,725 for preschoolers through seniors. That’s a decrease of 27 students from the last count date.
McCoy said several houses are for sale in town, which could affect the count before the deadline.
CACS’ current enrollment decline is less than the decrease between 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, but it’s still concerning, he said. Other Wayne County districts face similar circumstances.
CACS has 107 students living within its district who don’t attend its public schools, which is largely out of the district’s control, McCoy said.
Many of those losses are students being homeschooled or attending online school. About 10 participate in Union (Modoc)’s online school, but most participate in another online program that isn’t located nearby.
He said parents are pulling students to home school largely because of two reasons: Indiana’s new laws on attendance and retention.
Parents whose students have missed a lot of days are required to attend conferences and hear that if their children miss more school, the parents could face legal charges. Some then choose to homeschool their students.
In addition, Indiana now requires students to be retained in third grade if they are struggling academically. A few days earlier, a couple students left CACS. They’d been homeschooled and then enrolled in CACS. However, they didn’t pass IREAD, so they would be retained. Their parents decided to pull them out for homeschooling.
However, Centerville benefits from school choice overall because it attracts 513 students who live outside district boundaries. That’s about one-third of its student population.
IREAD
McCoy and Assistant Superintendent Sean Stevenson described the district’s scores for the 2024-2025 IREAD test for second and third graders.
Centerville’s pass rate was 91.5%, which is an increase over the previous year. It’s the first time since 2018 that the rate improved. McCoy said a lot of progress has been made through the district’s reading programs, but multiple consecutive years are needed to see if they’re going in the right direction. He’s monitoring those efforts.
In other business
The board:
- Approved Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ annual retreat at Shiloh Park in Marion.
- Learned FourStar Flooring was to finish painting the gym on Aug. 22. Gym teachers were thanked for adapting their class locations.
- Approved the annual extracurricular activity risk reports for each building. Extra protection was developed.
- Approved several student fundraisers. While there were some similarities, McCoy believed there were enough differences or they are being done at different times.
Personnel
- Departures: Alisa Allen, CSHS cafeteria; Miroslava Santana, preschool teaching assistant
- New hires: Summer Lecklider, CAE special ed teaching assistant; Grace Olive, CJHS/CSHS substitute teacher; Katie Hollendonner, 2025 class sponsor
- Transfer: Emily Hatch, from permanent sub to CJHS Bulldog Connections Lab; Travis Isaacs, from seventh grade girls basketball coach to eighth grade girls basketball volunteer
- Volunteer: Autumn Wyatt, student intern for Rebecca Alford
- Pending hires: Mikayla Miller, CJHS/CSHS substitute teacher; Allison Schepers and Kevin Riegel, bus drivers
Donations
- Gifts to athletics: Tom Rohe Family, $18,161; Centerville Athletic Booster Club, $16,920; Blue Buffalo; $10,000; anonymous,$1,000; Silgan, $500; Christopher Lair, $100; Just Smokin’ LLC, $601 from 10% of sales at athletic events.
- For Centerville Senior High School: DAJO Photos’ Dana and Joetta Harris, $750 to journalism class; Class of 2026 After Prom Committee, $692.28 to Class of 2026. Phil and Cathy Stevenson, $1,500 to CSHS Drama Club, $1,500 to Phil Stevenson Visionary Award, $1,500 to Eastern Indiana Model Legislature and $1,000 to Business Professionals of America.
- Centerville-Abington Elementary Robotics Club: Carl and Patti Sharp, $500; Jessica and Rodney Kempton, $300
- Rose Hamilton Elementary: Rose Hamilton PTO, $360.12
A version of this article appeared in the August 27 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.