Schools

Centreville Elementary School will have 10 new iPads this academic year, thanks to a donation from the Monsanto Fund. The third of three donations made to St. Joseph County-based recipients took place prior to Monday’s Centreville Board of Education meeting. Angie Shotwell and Michael Ochsner, representing Monsanto’s Constantine plant, presented a ceremonial check to Superintendent Rob Kuhlman and board president …

Lloyd Kirby has announced he is retiring as superintendent of Colon Community Schools. Kirby, who has led the 650-student district for 19 years, said he and board of education president Ernie Baker talked about the matter last week and, according to Kirby, he and Baker agreed it was time for a change. A replacement for Kirby took up the balance …

A retired Parchment School District administrator with professional ties to Three Rivers has been offered the job of superintendent and principal at Nottawa School. Nottawa Community School Board of Education members voted 4-to-1 Tuesday to offer the $41,000-a-year post to Ruth Rowe. Rowe, whose work history includes curriculum-related duties at Three Rivers Community Schools, would replace Marcia Griffin. The 69-year-old …

Glen Oaks Community College is offering classes that will teach students how to develop applications for mobile phones. The newly created Mobile Phone Applications Development certificate program begins this fall at the Centreville-area school. Patricia Morgenstern, associate dean of extended learning and workforce development, said the program will teach students how to build, test and market their Android and iPhone …

Voters in the Constantine Public Schools district will have two ballot measures before them later this year. A request to renew 18 mills for general operations and a bond resolution for major improvements at Constantine Middle School will be decided in November, following action during the district’s board of education meeting this week. Superintendent Chuck Frisbie said he stressed to …

The Sturgis Public Schools Board of Education voted this week to endorse the district’s move to the Wolverine Conference. The decision means Sturgis High School will join Three Rivers and 10 other schools in the 12-member league starting in the 2014-15 academic year. With about 3,300 students, Sturgis Public Schools will be the largest in the all-Class-B conference.

Glen Oaks Community College officials have announced the school will expand its distance-learning offerings to include online programs as a result of approval received from the Higher Learning Commission. Patricia Morgenstern, associate dean of learning and workforce development, said the college has been offering distance learning classes for more than 15 years. The Higher Learning Commission’s approval, however, gives the …

A disabled man will be able to take a shower without assistance thanks to a hands-free, automatic shower system designed by students from a college in northeastern Indiana. A team of senior engineering students at Trine University developed the shower for 60-year-old Terry Haffner of nearby Fort Wayne. Haffner was born without arms and with partial legs. He says the …

A request to restore nearly three-tenths of a mill to the maximum rate of 2.75 mills for special-education services fell Tuesday, 1,150 to 1,018. Restoration of the mills would have generated an additional $620,000 annually for St. Joseph County’s nine school districts. The 132-vote difference was slightly less than the combined difference between yes and no votes in Cass County’s …

Three Rivers High School will have a neighboring rival in its league in the 2014-15 school year, as Sturgis Public Schools is expected to join the Wolverine Conference. An invitation requesting St. Joseph County’s largest school district to join the league was extended by conference officials late last week. Sturgis school officials have indicated they intend to accept the offer, …