Southern Illinois News

Anna Jonesboro Community High School District 81 Board met Nov. 18.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The Anna-Jonesboro Community High School held its regular meeting on November 18, 2019. Upon roll call at 6:00 p.m. the following members were present: Dr. Teske, Mr. Osman, Mr. Hughey, Dr. Blakely, Mr. Patridge, and Mrs. Ashby. Also present was Superintendent Wright, Mr. Finders, and Brett Detering.

On motion by Mr. Hughey and seconded by Mr. Osman to approve the Agenda as written. All members present voting yes. Motion carried

On motion by Mr. Partridge and seconded by Mrs. Ashby to approve the Consent Agenda that includes approval of board meetings on 10/21/2019, approval of closed session minutes, approval of payment of bills, acceptance of financial reports and acceptance of resignation of Amber Filbeck, effective at the end of December, as library aide. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.

Lily Yana Represented Student Council:

Blood drive went very smooth and was very successful. The convention at Marion high school that the officers went to went very well. We learned a lot about how to be good leaders in our school. We are also getting a committee together for our annual Christmas project which is buying Christmas presents for families in need.

Natalie Miller represented the teachers. The items of interest presented were as follows:

The Concert Choir will be performing at the retired teachers’ luncheon on December 3rd, before traveling up to Carbondale to record a portion of music for the “Sounds of the Season” program televised each year by WSIL. The Winter Concert will be held on December 10th at 7pm in the Auditorium. The concert is free to the public and includes musical selections performed by the AJ Chorus, Concert Choir, and Symphonic Band. A cookie and apple cider reception will follow the concert. AJ FBLA Members will be walking in the first Anna Christmas parade on Saturday, November 30 at 5:30 pm. Students will be in charge of collecting and distributing gifts for the Angel tree. Mrs. Stevens has been asked to serve on two committees for Business, Marketing, and Computer Education in a Test Development Conference for the Illinois Licensure Testing System (ILTS), in Springfield, IL on December 3 & 4. The committees are the Linking Study Committee and the Standard Setting Panel. Linking Study Committee members will review and document the relationship between the knowledge, skills, and abilities represented by the test objectives and the tasks performed by teachers in Illinois. Standard Setting Panel members will examine each item included on a test form and provide passing score judgments that will be considered by the Illinois State Board of Education in determining a passing score for the redeveloped test. Mrs. Darmour-Paul was awarded scholarships to attend the ICTFL Fall Conference (Illinois Council for Teachers of Foreign Language) in Naperville, IL, at the end of October. She met one of her heroes of Foreign Language, Señor Wooly, at the conference, as well as attended many sessions on how to implement the new World Language Standards in the classroom. She has already implemented Parallel Universe, Background Music during Story-Telling, and Music Bingo in her classes (activities she learned from the conference). The National Honor Society completed their fall acts of kindness around the community on the school improvement half day. Some of their acts of kindness included leaving notes of kindness on lockers, leaving change on vending machines, leaving popcorn on DVD rental machines, picking up litter at the park, and taking treats to our local first responders. Additionally, the National Honor Society had a successful evening passing out candy to trick or treaters on Halloween. The club raised $126 and collected several items of clothing (coats, hats, gloves, and socks) to donate to the WIBH New Coat New Hope Campaign. Ms. Maze took four students to JALC to take part in Senator Dale Fowlers Youth Advisory Committee. Soren Keller, Steen Vaca Diez, Hannah Dewitt, and Abby Sartin participated in group activities that allowed them the opportunity to create legislation on topics that interested them. This is the third year that we have been privileged to participate in Dale Fowlers YAC. We will be attending another meeting in the spring in Springfield where students will get to participate in a mock legislative hearing. Ms. Maze took two students to Springfield to take part in Senator Paul Schimpfs Youth Advisory Committee. Jenna Clark and Luca Mays participated in a mock legislative hearing where they debated the repeal of the minimum wage increase. Students in attendance also got to hear from lobbyists, media outlets, and staffers who work within the capitol building. Ms. Maze’s Civics class have been learning about the 2020 census and the controversy that has surrounded it. Students have read over many articles that raise the question, “Should the question, Are you a US Citizen? be included on the 2020 Census.” Students have since taken a stance on the issue and written a letter to their federal legislator. Students are looking forward to hearing from their legislators to see where they stand on this given topic. Ms. Maze’s Government class took part in a Redistricting Simulation where they had to redraw districts following the 2020 census. Students participated in five different ways of redistricting where they either had to draw a district to benefit a specific party, race/ethnic group, or draw the boundaries strictly based off population. Students realized that the drawing of boundaries can be quite difficult. The Art Club will have a table at the VFW Expo on November 30th. Students will be selling wreaths, painted bottles, and will have ceramics that are free to the public. November 18th-22nd is American Education Week. FCCLA students and Senior Beta Club members are hosting a Secret Student Appreciation Week. Teachers have a secret student who will be getting them small gifts during the week. The teachers will find out who their student is Friday morning at a breakfast in the cafeteria being prepared by Mrs. Cleghorn’s classes. The Culinary Arts classes have been extremely busy. I was able to send eight students to Lincoln school to help serve cinnamon rolls that the students made and donated to our Veterans for the Veteran’s Day program that Tammy Smith puts on each year. We catered the football banquet and have the volleyball banquet to cater this Wednesday. We will be preparing desserts for the judges and parents that are helping with musical auditions this week. We are also making cinnamon rolls and breakfast casseroles for the teacher/student breakfast this Friday. We have been asked to prepare food for the girls and boys basketball concession stand this season. We are also baking cookies for Hadley’s Haven Home Tour again this year. Wildcat T’s donated the supplies for the Veteran’s Day Program and will be donating the supplies for Hadley’s Haven Home Tour Cookies too. AJCHS School Counseling Program Presentation. On average this fall, Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Walls spent 42.5% of their time on direct student services, 28.5% of their time on indirect student services, 19% on program management, and 10% on non-school counseling related tasks. These numbers will change significantly in the spring when we are working on scheduling and test coordination. Program highlights:

• Individual counseling: both counselors see students for individual counseling on social and emotional issues as needed.

• Group counseling: Mrs. Walls ran a Girls’ Group last year for girls struggling with social issues. This year we will both be running groups focused on developing resiliency skills, and are bringing in the Fellowship House to run a group for students struggling with addiction or who deal with addiction in their living environments.

• Classroom guidance: We organize Freshman Academy, a four week course for freshmen focusing on mental health and post-secondary planning. We also visit classrooms at other grade levels to teach lessons on a variety of topics, and will be partnering with Mrs. Chamness to co-teach mental health topics in health class.

• Crisis counseling: both counselors see students for crisis counseling as needed and refer to the appropriate outside services.

• Referrals: both counselors identify students more appropriately served by long-term counseling through outside agencies and make referrals as needed.

• Advisement: both counselors advise all students on their caseloads on academic performance and post-secondary planning at least once per school year.

• Expert speakers: We organize visits from college and military recruiters, union representatives, and financial aid experts regularly throughout the school year. So far this year we’ve had 15 college/program reps, 2 unions, 3 military branches.

• Parent Workshops: We organized two parent workshops so far focusing on financial aid and NCAA compliance. Experts from universities were brought in for both presentations.

• Field trips: We organized a college campus tour to McKendree and SIUE for students this year, and plan to make it a yearly experience. We also take students to SIU Day, Shawnee Senior Day, college fairs at both SEMO & SIU, Shawnee CTE Day, and miscellaneous post-secondary planning opportunities as they arise. 

The Counseling Office is also responsible for:

• NCAA Eligibility Center portal maintenance

• ISBE State Reporting

• Both master and student schedule generation, including schedule changes and balancing courses (on-going tasks)

• ACT test coordination

• IL State Testing coordination (SAT, PSAT 10, PSAT 8/9)

• Accuplacer testing

• Dual credit coordination and compliance

• Homeless Liaison

Brian Meyer gave a technology report.

Mr. Finders reported on SAT and Transitional Math.

Principal Detering reported on the cafeteria, enrollment, discipline, Illinois State Scholars, and the Parent Teacher Conferences.

Superintendent Wright presented on District Vision Team meeting. He discussed another round of state maintenance grants that may be coming out soon and presented possible projects to be done for the coming summer.

On motion by Dr. Blakely and seconded by Mr. Osman for the Board to enter into closed session at 7:21 p.m. for the following reasons (1) the purpose of appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employee of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public to determine its validity. 5ILCS 120/2(c)(1) On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.

On motion by Mr. Partridge and seconded by Dr. Teske to return to regular session at 7:42 p.m. On roll call all members present voting yes. Motion carried.

On motion by Dr. Blakely and seconded by Mr. Hughey to approve Resolution 19-11-18A Regarding Estimated Amounts Necessary to be Levied for the Year 2020. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.

Information was presented on the Illinois school report card.

On motion by Mr. Osman and seconded by Mr. Partridge to approve the following Winter and Spring Coaching positions, pending certification and background checks: 

Baseball: Aaron Roberts - Head Coach, Thomas Corbit – Assistant, Justin Richardson, Joel Dallas, Nathan Guined, David Frank – Volunteer 

Softball: Rodney Seip – Head Coach, Jason Sadler – Assistant, Eric Osman – Volunteer 

Track & Field: Mike Eudy – Head Coach, Mike Chamness, Kyle Kueker- Assistant, Matt Denny – Volunteer 

Girls Soccer: Mark Boomer – Head Coach 

Girls Basketball: Hunter Garver – Volunteer 

On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.

On motion by Dr. Teske and seconded by Mr. Hughey to approve Trina Mayberry as Safe Celebration Coordinator. Voice vote, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.

Mr. Wright provided ideas for additional staff and better use of facilities for the new school year.

On motion by Mr. Hughey and seconded by Mr. Osman to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 8:15 p.m. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.

https://aj81.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/November-2019-Minutes.pdf