NIESC is thrilled to begin a new school year of opportunity and collaboration with our members.
We are excited to welcome the following new Superintendents to NIESC:
- Eastern Pulaski Community School Corporation: Chad Smekens
- East Porter County School Corporation: Reid Amones
- Elkhart Community Schools: Michele Riise
- Plymouth Community School Corporation: Pamela Campbell
- Wawasee Community School Corporation: Kent Myers
- Westview School Corporation: Jamie Carroll
Each of these leaders brings a wealth of experience, dedication, and vision to their respective district. We look forward to partnering with them to support their schools, staff, and students in achieving educational excellence.
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Business Partner Spotlight
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September marks National Campus Safety Awareness Month. Keeping a campus safe is demanding work, but no school has to do it alone. We’re proud to highlight one of our key partners dedicated to helping educational leaders protect their communities.
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Why Coram
Coram is a cloud-native, AI-powered physical security platform that puts video, doors, emergency response, and visitor screening on one system with one login.
Video Management System. Search your footage in plain English, and let AI agents review it for you, with Deep Investigation to reconstruct an incident aend to end and safety alerts for firearms and slip/fall events.
- AI does the watching, not the staff. Nobody has time to monitor a wall of monitors. Coram's AI agents review footage continuously and surface the events that matter, so a lean IT or safety team covers a whole district.
- Hardware-agnositic. Coram works with existing IP cameras. No rip and replace, no proprietary camera tax to unlock AI features.
Access Control. Unified doors and cameras on one pane of glass, with tailgating alerts so every badge-in is matched to video and piggybacking gets flagged automatically.
Emergency Management System. Alyssa's Law compliant panic buttons that do more than call for help, triggering door lockdowns, notifications, and reunification workflows from a single press.
Guest Management. Visitor check-in with background screening, so you know who is in the building before they get past the front office.
What the ECPA Contract gets you
- No individual bid process. The works been done for you. You can procure Coram's video surveillance, access control, threat detection, and emergency management without running your own Bid.
- Free 5MP Cameras included, which removes the line item that usually kills K-12 security projects.
- 25% discount off Coram pricing.
Testimonial from Brown County Schools - Video search that took half a day now takes minutes. Rollout ran under a day per site, with all middle school hallway cameras placed in 3 1/2 days. Cameras included and flexible licensing, the system pays for itself within a couple of years. Their technology director's summary: "Coram has been a no-brainer for us"
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We want to thank Coram for being our business partner spotlight for this month. Reach out to Ilona Roberts for questions/information about any Vendors we work with, or check out our sites. ECPA Contracts or Partnerships
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Shopping through Indigo makes it fast and effortless to access pre-negotiated savings across our growing list of contracted vendors all in one place with a simplified checkout process.
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WHAT IS ECPA?
The Educational Cooperative Purchasing Alliance (ECPA) is a collaborative alliance between eight Indiana education service centers dedicated to streamlining the purchasing process for member school districts. ECPA's purchasing team actively works to remove barriers for schools, streamlining and simplifying the procurement process while ensuring full compliance with state and federal regulations. Through vetted contracts with leading vendors, ECPA enables districts to leverage collective buying power to secure high-quality goods and services at significantly reduced costs.
Make sure you are using your contract when working with Vendors to get your best price!
For More information reach out to Ilona Roberts at iroberts@niesc.k12.in.us.
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The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) serves nearly 30 million children every school day. President John F. Kennedy created National School Lunch Week (NSLW) in 1962 to promote the importance of a healthy school lunch in a child's life and the impact it has inside and outside of the classroom.
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|  schoolnutrition.org
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September Technology Meetings
Network Administrator Virtual Meeting
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
11am - 12pm ET
Presentation by: Fortinet
Northern Indiana Tech Leaders
Plymouth Community School Corporation
Thursday, September 17, 2026
9am - 1pm ET
Presentation by: Apple, Inc
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Join Our STEM Connection Study Council
This monthly collaborative network will bring together educators
and stakeholders to share best practices, examine research-informed strategies, and engage in meaningful professional dialogue focused on high-quality STEM teaching and learning. Through ongoing collaboration, the group aims to support innovative instruction, promote student-centered inquiry, and build collective capacity to improve STEM outcomes across the region.
Note: Future meeting dates and times will be decided collaboratively during this initial kickoff session.
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Paxton/Patterson Career Discovery Labs provide hands-on, problem-based career exploration that connects real-world technology with future college and career pathways for students. To continue to help educators effectively implement and facilitate these immersive learning modules, we are hosting a series of professional development training sessions.
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Upcoming Dates & Featured Modules
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Computer Science
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Forensics
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Engineering
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Electricity
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Health Science
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Nutrition and Wellness
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Alternative Energy
Contact Laura Unsicker with questions.
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National Conference on Science and STEM Education
Science and STEM educators from across the country will gather in Indianapolis this fall for the NSTA National Conference on Science and STEM Education (November 4–7).
Designed for classroom teachers, instructional coaches, school and district leaders, higher education faculty, and preservice educators, the conference provides four days of professional learning, collaboration, and inspiration.
Attendees can choose from hundreds of sessions exploring today's most important topics in science and STEM education, including three-dimensional teaching and learning, STEM integration, artificial intelligence, assessment, leadership, and strategies for engaging all learners.
The conference also features nationally recognized speakers, hands-on workshops, an expansive exhibit hall, and countless opportunities to connect with educators from across the country.
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Are you looking for a space to connect, collaborate, share, and learn with others who understand the work you do? Join our monthly virtual meetings! It’s a chance to exchange ideas, problem-solve together, share resources, and grow your professional network.
Email communication and calendar invitations will be sent to those currently on our contact list. If you’d like to be added to the list and receive meeting information, please reach out to Shannon Harman at sharman@niesc.k12.in.us.
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Upcoming Professional Learning Opportunities
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Kent Myers
Superintendent
Wawasee Community
School Corporation
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Kent Myers officially took over the superintendent role at Wawasee Community Schools on July 1, 2026. Upon arriving at Wawasee, it became extremely evident to Kent how important Wawasee Schools is to the community. While the district is made up of three very distinct communities; Syracuse, Milford, and North Webster, they are brought together by the district and value that connection very much. Many of the students have parents who graduated from Wawasee so there is a strong desire for success of the schools. "Both Michelle Walden, our assistant superintendent who also started this summer, and I have felt great excitement and enthusiasm in each conversation we have with both staff and the community." As Kent and his team meet more staff and community members, get into schools and classrooms, and attend events, they look forward to developing long-range planning in collaboration with the community to establish the district the community is looking to build.
Since taking over the superintendent role, Kent has been working on listening and learning. He says it has been really important for him to listen to the people that have been here, the people that live and work in the community. Through these conversations, he has been able to get to know the people on a personal level, hear about their experiences both at school and throughout their lives, and, hopefully, begin to forge relationships that will help to support their work in providing great experiences for our students. Kent says " An unofficial motto this summer has been that we are better together and so it's important to listen and consider perspectives so that when we make decisions they are made with a collective understanding."
In every position Kent has held, he has been driven to do all he can to create environments for students to be successful. While he is new to the superintendent position, he says, "The reward is knowing that our students are receiving the care and attention they need to be successful academically and develop the skills they need to be contributing members to our communities. When our community trusts us to care for their children, we need to do all we can to support each individual student so the reward is celebrating their achievements, growth, and accomplishments."
While there has been significant change in the Wawasee leadership over the past few months, Kent and his team are looking at is as an opportunity to grow stronger together. He says, "With change there is an opportunity to work together to redefine and establish strong relationships with the community, look for ways to improve instructions, utilize our resources to the best of our abilities taking into account the strong aspects that exist with a new perspective in support of our students. When we do that, I am confident that Wawasee Community Schools will be the school district the community hopes it to become."
Outside of school, Kent loves to spend time with his family and friends. When possible, he enjoys fishing, camping, or really anything that allows him to be outside in nature. He also loves to travel or watch sports, especially cheering on Notre Dame, the Bears, and the White Sox.
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56535 Magnetic Drive Mishawaka, IN 46545 | (574)254-0111
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