Union-north School Board receives an Exemplary Governance Award from the state

LAKEVILLE—AT the Indiana School Board association (ISBA) spring regional meeting, Unionnorth School Board received a Commendable Level for the 2021 calendar year. This is one of the state’s Exemplary Governance awards, which is given to school boards for professional development, attendance of the board member at educational events and regional meetings, additional training. Board member arden Balmer explained that this is an award that is not given lightly. “Not many schools get this,” he said.

Balmer also reported to the board that Laville High School (LVHS) has been ranked fifth in the South Bend metropolitan area by U.S. News and World Report. This report encompasses 21 high schools from South Bend, Walkerton, Mishawaka, as well as some towns north of the Michigan border, including Edwardsburg, Cassopolis, Marcellus, and Dowagiac. The only schools to score higher than Union-north were, in order of rank: Penn, John Glenn, Edwardsburg, and adams.

Laville Jr.-sr. High ranks in the top 28% in both the state and national rankings for the 2021 school year. This grade is determined based on student college readiness, state assessment proficiency and per

formance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth, and graduation rate.

Laville Elementary ranks in the top 33% in the state. This was determined by reading and math performance and proficiency rank.

“Yes, we want to move up. But with everything we’ve faced in the last two years, I’ve been telling everyone: heroic efforts on the part of our team here! The teachers, number one: they made this. Our administrators: bringing in quality teachers, and you’ve had to bring several in and you’ve brought several more in. Secretaries: we know who runs the school, don’t we? and all the student aides, and then the ones we forget: the cooks, the maintenance,” he said. “It took every one of those to get us through these two years. That’s not too bad. This ranking right here is a good start… and we’re going to move up. I’m so excited, and I want to thank everyone who’s involved in our school for everything that they’ve done.”