NWIESC 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 NWIESC:
- Duneland School Corporation: Robert McDermott
- Hanover Community School Corporation: Phil Misecko
- School Town of Highland: John Schwuchow
- Lake Ridge New Tech Schools: Chris Bajmakovich
- Lake Station Community Schools: Christine Pepa
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 end 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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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.
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
Northwest Indiana Tech Directors & Coaches
Hanover Community SchooL Corporation
Thursday, September 17, 2026
8:30 CDT
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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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Christine Pepa
Superintendent
Lake Station Community Schools
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Christine Pepa is beginning her first year as Superintendent of Lake Station Community Schools after serving four years as Assistant Superintendent. Before moving to the district office, she spent six years as principal of Thomas A. Edison Junior-Senior High School. With 34 years in education, she holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Valparaiso University and master’s degrees in secondary education and educational leadership from Indiana University Northwest. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at Indiana State University.
"When I think about what makes Lake Station special, what immediately comes to mind is our strong sense of community. We are a family." Because Lake Station is a smaller district, there is the opportunity to truly know the students, families, and on another. When Challenges arise, they work together hand in hand as a school and community to overcome them and heal together. This genuine care for one another is at the heart to who Lake Station is.
Christine's primary focus since becoming superintendent has been taking a close look at where the district is and identifying areas where they can grow and improve. She has been reviewing our programs, staffing, facilities, and operations while working with the administrative team to establish priorities moving forward. The recent storm and extended power outage certainly became an unexpected priority and made the beginning of her first year as a Superintendent one she will not soon forget!
The most rewarding part of this role, for Christine, is having the opportunity to make a positive impact on students across the entire district while supporting the staff who work with them each day. "Parents entrust us with the people they love most, and I consider that both a tremendous privilege and responsibility." She especially enjoys being in schools, talking with students and staff, and seeing the great things happening throughout the district.
"We may be a small school district, but that should never mean small opportunities for our students." Christine wants to continue building on programs that are already providing meaningful experience, such as the partnership Lake Station has with Indiana University Northwest, where students have the opportunity to earn as many as 30 college credits before graduating from high school. She would like to develop additional partnerships with area colleges, universities, businesses, and community organizations to create even more academic and career opportunities. Christine says, "My goal is for every student to leave Lake Station prepared and excited about whatever path they choose next."
In her spare time, Christine enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband, Joe. They especially enjoy traveling to northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where they fish, kayak, and relax on the lake. Christine values the opportunity to slow down and enjoy the peacefulness of the water and surrounding wildlife while listening to the loons and watching the eagles soar.
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56535 Magnetic Drive Mishawaka, IN 46545 | (574)254-0111
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