Mission:

The staff of Coolspring School, in cooperation with parents and community members, provides a student-centered atmosphere for learning. We accept the responsibility to motivate all children to achieve their personal best in academic, technological, and life skills.

History:

Standing proudly among the horses in Coolspring Township in LaPorte County, Coolspring Elementary School has been providing educational opportunities for boys and girls for the past 60 years.

Under the guidance of architect John Lloyd Wright (the inventor of Lincoln Logs and son of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright), Coolspring came to life in 1938 as a township school, housing grades K-8. The original school consisted of eight classrooms and a gymnasium/stage area, plus an office. In 1954-55, due to increasing enrollments, the current classrooms facing County Road 300 North were added along with a new office complex.


Statewide reorganization came to Michigan City in the early 1960's and Coolspring Township School was annexed and became part of the Michigan City Area School Corporation in 1965. By now Coolspring was housing grade K-6.


By far, the biggest change occurred in 1984-85 when Coolspring began a 4-million dollar renovation. Much of the original building was demolished and 11 new classrooms were added along the west and north sides of the building. A new gymnasium, cafeteria, media center, office complex, language arts room, student services area, and art room were added. Existing classrooms were also renovated. During the summer of 2002 Coolspring received air conditioning, new office furniture and a new playground. The school has always been an important part of the Coolspring township community and is used by many local organizations as their meeting place. Girl Scouts, Brownies, Cub Scouts, the Coolspring summer baseball league, and the 4-H are just a few of the family activities taking place at the school. The local Farm Bureau also meets at the school once each month.

In 1996, Coolspring acquired a television studio and broadcasts a closed-circuit, fifteen minute program when school begins each day. The production manager and director is Rich Pearson. He has volunteered many hours to create an impressive program. Our station appears on channel 4 and is called CNN (Coolspring News Network). Our fourth and fifth graders take turns as news anchors, camera operators, cue card flippers, puppeteers, and special characters. Our librarian frequently introduces our new books during broadcasts and we have special guests such as Professor Wetnoodle, Ricci Lasagnadania and Jimmie Jar Wars.

The school's parent group, the Coolspring Community Association, is very actively involved in the school. Parents volunteer over 1,000 hours in 50 different school activities every school year. The Association purchased a new school sign which prominently displays the calendar of activities for the school and for other community organizations. The Association also purchased playground equipment in recent years. Parents serve on various school improvement committees.

Recent redistricting has brought a diversity of students to the school. Currently within the Coolspring School attendance boundaries are farms, subdivisions, multi-family units, and single-family homes. The school population averages about 385 students in grades K-5. All students ride busses. 18% of our students are on free or reduced lunch. There is a 95% collection of book rental fees.

Students are involved in many academic and extra-curricular activities including Science Fair, Hoosier Books, athletics and the Accelerated Reader program. Coolspring uses the Four Block program in all grade levels. Coolspring's annual achievement test scores are among the highest in the school corporation. Every year the Student Council raises money for Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. Also, the Jump Rope For Heart program at Coolspring raises thousands of dollars for the American Heart Association. Students are becoming technologically literate with the addition of over 150 computers and a computer lab at the school as part of a school corporation technology initiative. Finally, students in grades 2 and 3 participate once weekly in an innovative Purdue North Central University math program.

Every day our students are offered breakfast and a hot lunch. The students get a 20 minute lunch period and a 25 minute recess. Parents are welcome to eat lunch with their children and must notify the office by 8:30 am so that we can have an accurate lunch count.