Schools

The city of Three Rivers and Three Rivers Community Schools both landed a handsome windfall Tuesday from St. Joseph County’s largest employer. During a ceremonial check presentation at Three Rivers-based American Axle & Manufacturing, Mayor Tom Lowry was given $400,000 from American Axle officials. The city will retain $300,000 of the amount, while the $100,000 balance was earmarked for the …

Members of the Three Rivers Community Schools Board of Education are in the early stages of planning to find a new superintendent after Roger Rathburn retires at the end of the 2013-14 academic year. During their twice-a-month meeting this week, board members agreed to designate a Nov. 19 work session as a time to include presentations from firms that specialize …

The White Pigeon Athletic Department has announced the district will celebrate the induction of its inaugural Hall of Fame class this weekend. Festivities will begin with a tailgate for members of the inaugural class and their families Friday before the school’s homecoming football game against Mendon. The inductees will be recognized during halftime of the varsity game. The fanfare wraps …

The Three Rivers Area Community Foundation has established the Lucile Shafer Haring and Sheila J. Haring Scholarship Fund with a check for more than $140,000. The newly created fund will award scholarships to Three Rivers High School graduates who are pursuing a degree in education. The scholarship will be available in 2013 and will be renewable to qualified students up …

More than 100 people took part in an inaugural event last week that brought awareness to the St. Joseph County Intermediate School District Pathfinder Center and its support of the Special Olympics. The Michigan Law Enforcement Torch Run was staged Friday morning. The jog around Centreville started at the county fairgrounds and ended at Centreville High School’s track. Along the …

The Centreville Downtown Development Authority has agreed to front more than $400,000 toward the Safe Routes to Schools program in Centreville. The opportunity to provide the up-front funding became available after it was announced a federal grant of $416,000 was conferred to the Centreville Safe Routes to Schools. In order to qualify for the grant, however, the money would be …

The Three Rivers Police Department responded Wednesday morning to Three Rivers High School after being made aware of a threatening message posted on a social-media website. Officers said the message was found to be left by a 17-year-old student at the high school. Though the exact content of the message was not indicated in a department press release, it did …

Today is the first day of school in St. Joseph County and public school districts across the state. Locally, students in Colon Community Schools will see fully refurbished elementary and jr./sr. high buildings after a $15 million, district-wide building and technology upgrade was completed over the summer. In Three Rivers, new principals at Park and Norton elementary schools are in …

Nearly 100 people toured newly remodeled and upgraded Colon Jr./Sr. High and Colon Elementary schools during a public open house Tuesday. Preceded by a ceremonial ribbon cutting, the tours mark the near completion of a 15-month, $15 million improvement of the district’s three buildings and upgrades of its technology to the latest available. Work at Leonidas School and an open …

St. Joseph County’s July unemployment rate saw a notable increase from the previous month. Monthly figures released from the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget Analysis show St. Joseph County had a July unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, a 1.1-percent increase from June. The agency indicated summer layoffs in education contributed to the increase. Despite the increase from June, …