‘All About That Bus,’ as TSC readies for new start times
‘All About That Bus,’ as TSC readies for new start times
How one TSC principal got the point across, with some help from a Meghan Trainor hit. Plus, monkeypox in Tippecanoe County. And a judge wants to discuss a gag order claim in Barnett case
Thanks this morning to sponsor LaLa Gallery, which is preparing for its Indiana Makers Market "Summer Pop-Up,” featuring handpicked makers from all over the state to showcase their handmade items for sale in beautiful downtown Lafayette. The event is free to attend, and makers will be set up between Fifth and Sixth streets on Ferry Street from 8 a.m.-noon Saturday, Aug. 20 – the same time as the Lafayette Farmers Market next door that morning. Come meet the makers and artists and shop for jewelry, pottery, glass, metal, textiles, fine art, artisan plants, leather goods and much more. The pop-up will be a small sneak peek of what you will see at LaLa Gallery’s 9th Annual Holiday Pop-Up at Wea Creek Orchard during the holidays.
A few items for a Friday …
ALL ABOUT THAT BUS …: Tippecanoe School Corp. will be the last of the big three public districts in Greater Lafayette to head to class. (West Lafayette was back in session Wednesday; Lafayette schools opened Thursday.) When TSC students return Tuesday, they will make up the biggest enrollment in the district’s history.
TSC Superintendent Scott Hanback told the school board this week that TSC – already among the dozen largest public districts in the state – will top 14,000 students. That’s up from roughly 13,800 last year.
Among those: TSC’s largest freshman class ever, with 591 at Harrison High School and 525 at McCutcheon High School, Hanback said.
The district also will open with new schedules that shift the opening bell, as TSC looks to solve persistent bus driver shortages that had drivers and administrators taking double shifts and students arriving or leaving school as much as an hour late. The new starting and dismissal times will allow bus drivers to work longer shifts and run routes that get to schools on time.
Hanback said this week that, for the start of the year, TSC has enough drivers to cover its daily routes, along with substitute drivers and those needed for afterschool activities.
“It seems to be working,” Hanback said. “We just couldn’t, in good conscience, keep going the way we were last year. … We know this is going to be an adjustment for everyone.”
Along those lines, Wea Ridge Middle School Principal Fred Roop put it to music.
In a video delivered to Wea Ridge families this week as a fun reminder about the new school times, Roop played off a 2014 Meghan Trainor hit, telling them the new schedule – including a 9:30 a.m. start and 4:10 p.m. dismissal – was “All About That Bus (New Schedule).”
“For our school, the new times will be a big adjustment, as we are about 90 minutes later than previous years,” Roop said this week. “I realize this has required our families and staff to do a lot of juggling schedules, which hasn't been easy. The people I have talked to have gotten things figured out, but feel it will just take some time to get used to the new routine.”
Roop said the middle school in southern Lafayette has moved many of its activities and athletic practices to before-school hours, so students in jazz band and sports will come to school about the same time they did in previous years and then get home after school lets out at 4:10 p.m.
As for the video, Roop recruited a TSC bus driver, a handful of Wea Ridge teachers and a cameo from his mother. As for a potential remix from the original artist?
“I am fairly certain Meghan Trainor has little to no interest in being associated with this video,” Roop said. “Her version has much more musical talent than anything that I can produce.”
You be the judge. Here’s the video …
For the record and your school planning purposes, here’s how school schedules shake out, starting next week in TSC:
7:30 a.m.-2:20 p.m.: Harrison and McCutcheon high schools.
8:25 a.m.-3:05 p.m.: East Tipp Middle School/Hershey Elementary, Southwestern Middle School/Mintonye Elementary and Wainwright Middle School
8:50 a.m.-3:30 p.m.: Battle Ground Elementary/Battle Ground Intermediate, Cole Elementary, Dayton Elementary, Mayflower Mill Elementary, Wea Ridge Elementary and Wyandotte Elementary
9:30 a.m.-4:10 p.m.: Battle Ground Middle School, Burnett Creek Elementary, Klondike Middle School/Klondike Elementary, Wea Ridge Middle School and Woodland Elementary
HIT-AND-RUN SUSPECT ARRESTED: West Lafayette police say they were able to find and arrest a Brookston man suspected of a fatal hit-and-run that killed a former Purdue student Wednesday night on Kalberer Road. Police reported that after putting out photos of the beige sedan that hit and killed Zixuan Mo, 25, of West Lafayette, Tuesday night, they’d arrested Trent Robinson, 34, of Brookston, on suspicion of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. West Lafayette police reported that they made the arrest after Brookston Town Marshal Troy Yeoman found a car matching the description on East Fourth Street in the White County town north of West Lafayette. Zixuan Mo was an international student from China, last enrolled at Purdue in fall 2021, according to university officials.
MONKEYPOX CLINIC FOR TIPPECANOE COUNTY: WBAA reporter Ben Thorp had this dispatch Thursday, with news that the Indiana State Department of Health was planning a few monkeypox clinics across the state, including one Friday in Tippecanoe County. Last week, the county reported it had three confirmed cases of monkeypox, among the 77 across Indiana. For details, here’s Thorp’s story. For details about upcoming clinics, here’s the state health department site: monkeypox.health.in.gov.
ICYMI, ANOTHER TWIST IN THE BARNETT/NATALIA GRACE CASE: A Tippecanoe County judge issued a notice Thursday afternoon that prosecutors’ claims that Michael Barnett violated a gag order in his ongoing neglect case would be discussed Wednesday, when Barnett is expected in court for a pre-trial hearing. This week, Tippecanoe County prosecutors filed a claim that Barnett violated the 2019 court order when he sold rights to the story about his family’s dealings with adopted daughter, Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan Barnett and his ex-wife, Kristine Barnett, contend was an adult con artist out to hard the family. News in recent days that Hulu is casting a limited series about the case piqued prosecutors’ interest. Here’s a story posted Thursday afternoon about questions about a gag order violation, which Barnett’s attorney argued in a response should be thrown out.
Thanks to LaLa Gallery, today’s Based in Lafayette edition sponsor. For details about LaLa Gallery’s Indiana Makers Market "Summer Pop-Up,” featuring handpicked makers from across the state between Fifth and Sixth streets on Ferry Street from 8 a.m.-noon Saturday, Aug. 20, click here or scroll back to the top of today’s edition.
Tips or story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com. Also on Twitter and Instagram.