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West Lafayette Intermediate highlights student author, enrollment and new programs
Summary
Principal Margaret Psaros introduced sixth-grader and newly published author Felicia Xie; the school reported enrollment, checkpoint assessment results and a set of new student activities including a cultural night and a student-led crafts club.
Principal Margaret Psaros presented highlights from West Lafayette Intermediate School and invited sixth-grader Felicia Xie to the board meeting to speak about publishing her novel.
"I'm very proud because this is a first for me and I've been working with kids since 1996," Principal Margaret Psaros said before introducing Felicia. Felicia described how the book began from a second-grade project and evolved into Hunter and the Wolf, which she said was published on 12/30/2024. "...half a year later, this became this, and it was now in print," Felicia told trustees.
Psaros also reviewed school statistics and programs. She reported current enrollment of 538 students (fifth and sixth grades plus four students in essential skills, total 538), a free-and-reduced lunch rate of 24.1 percent (based on 2023 state data), and an overall special-education rate of 7.9 percent with 43 students receiving special-education services (including nine in speech and language and 29 accessing the resource room). The staff includes 38 teachers and 39 support staff.
The principal highlighted several new and continuing programs: a first-year Cultural Night featuring 11 volunteer-led groups and participation from 28 cultures; a student-run crocheting/knitting/sewing club that meets after school; and success at MathCounts, where West Lafayette students placed highly in chapter competition and are advancing toward state-level events. She also noted strong district arts performance results with multiple gold and silver ratings in recent solo and ensemble contests.
On academic measurement, Psaros said the school's checkpoint assessments had disappointing detail for the staff. "The data is not showing specifics that we hoped for," she said, noting that Checkpoint 1 was administered the week of Nov. 4 and Checkpoint 2 the week of Jan. 27 and that the two checkpoints assess different standards so cannot be directly compared. To get more actionable data, teachers are isolating standards and using interim pre/post assessments, DIBELS for fluency and other diagnostics built into newly adopted literacy materials.
Board members and administrators praised Felicia for her achievement and encouraged her to work with school staff on author events for younger students. "You inspired her," a trustee said, noting that younger students were already starting their own stories after hearing Felicia speak.
The presentation closed with an events calendar that included awards day, fifth-grade camp, grade-level fun nights, sixth-grade departure events and the annual Living History Day and science fair.
