B OONE COMMUNITY RECORDER
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Burlington and Hebron
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2015
SIGNING DAY B1 Busy day for future college athletes in Boone County.
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Catholic school embraces new teaching methods By Amy Scalf ascalf@communitypress.com
AMY SCALF/THE COMMUNITY RECORDER
Second-grade teacher Susan Panoushek works with Mia Rapp on her iPad during a language arts class at Immaculate Heart of Mary’s school.
BURLINGTON — The Immaculate Heart of Mary school has upheld Catholic faith traditions, but for the past five years the school has embraced a new kind of learning environment. Principal Mike Jacks led the preschool through eighth grade school to the professional learning community system featuring a response to intervention model. “It’s not about the buzz words or the acronyms,” Jacks said. “It’s a focus on student learning. That’s what is important here. It’s not good enough to have teachers teaching. All teachers teach. We have to focus on how students are learning.” Jacks, who came to the school eight years ago, said the change involved a redistribution of school resources, mainly personnel and time, along with an investment of trust among school staff, parents and students. “What we’ve done is to
commit ourselves to do whatever it takes so that all our kids are learning,” he said. “It’s not an invitation to learn here at Immaculate Heart of Mary, it’s a mandate. We’re not finished until every child knows the material.” Previously, students were taken out of class for intensive tutoring during the subjects in which they needed more help. “Does that make sense? To remove them from the class where they’re already struggling?” Jacks said. “Now, we have a ‘push-in team’ instead of pulling the kids out. These teachers go in to help the students at whatever level they’re at, to help them with whatever they need.” More advanced students get enrichment time, while those who need more help get that individualized extended learning time. one small “That’s change that didn’t add staff members. It only restructured the personnel we had in order to help students learn,” he said.
“We realized we were doing a good job with kids who were learning but we were not doing a good job with kids who had trouble. I think most schools are that way. It really caused me to look at other programs, the response to intervention and planned learning community, and to blend it to what works for our private schools. In addition, as a private Catholic school, it’s our job to make sure our children get to know Christ every day.” Jacks said the paradigm shift started with tests to check where each student starts the learning process, then teachers do formative assessments to make sure students are keeping up with the material before doing a summative assessment. “By the time they get to the summative assessment, or chapter test, they know each child will pass, because they’ve already proven they know the material,” he said. “We’ve changed the variable. In See SCHOOL, Page A2
Soulas family plan to reopen Dairy Delight By Amy Scalf ascalf@communitypress.com
WALTON — Almost a year after Angelo and Gus Soulas opened Angelo’s Family Restaurant in Independence, they’ve announced their next venture: Bringing back Walton’s Dairy Delight. The building, on 0.55 acres at 188 North Main St., was well-known as an ice cream parlor and sandwich shop, but father and son restaurateurs Angelo and Gus Soulas have really only seen it sitting
CSI: GIRL SCOUTS NKY junior detective test scientific evidence. A7
vacant. “For a while, about two years ago, someone operated a partial season in there, selling sandwiches and ice cream in the summer, but it didn’t last long,” said Gus Soulas. “My parents live in Walton, and we actually looked there before we looked here. Then, we got wrapped up in this place, but my dad kept passing it every day and it kept eating at him. He’s 74 years old, and he can’t sit still.” Soulas expects to open in March or April, and he
wants to keep the Dairy Delight name. “We have a lot of work to do there before we can open up, but we want to make this happen,” he said. The father and son team know the Dairy Delight has a long history, but they don’t know very much about it. “It seems people really like the idea. People were approaching us with questions before we even signed the papers. We See DELIGHT, Page A2
RITA’S KITCHEN Spark up salmon flavor in time for Lent. A9
FILE PHOTO
Father and son Angelo and Gus Soulas opened a family restaurant in 2014 in Independence, now they are renovating Walton’s Dairy Delight as a new location.
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