WINAMAC, Ind. -- Eastern Pulaski School District is back to school starting this week. ABC57 sat down with new superintendent for Pulaski Schools, Chad Smekens, to share his thoughts on what the new year could bring.
"Everyone at some level, has something new. Whether it's just new students, maybe new courses they're teaching, maybe they're new to the to the district, maybe they're new to teaching. Whether you're a kid with your first day at school or a staff member that's been here 30 years, but maybe you have some new courses that you're teaching or just dealing with the new requirements for graduation from the state, this is really in full effect for the first time this year, and so that's new for all high schoolers, and even that trickles down into element or to middle school as well." says Smekens.
Smekens was able to experience the tight knit community firsthand. He continues on to say, "As I was coming in this morning to work. Saw families walking together and bringing their kids down to elementary kids, and seeing those parents doing those drop-offs, and some of them for the very first time for those parents, and then just seeing the happiness on those kids' faces as they see some of their friends and they see their teacher maybe from last year and get introduced to their new teacher and just the excitement and you know knowing what they have in store here and they'll have a great year. That's it's just fun to see because you spend so much other time taking care of the business type things, so getting to see the kids and that excitement is always something I appreciate."
The elementary school also has a new playground with new equipment with the updates built to ensure every kid can enjoy recess with their friends, but safety is the highest concern.