Anna-Jonesboro Community High School Board of Education met Jan. 13.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
The Anna-Jonesboro Community High School held its regular meeting on January 13, 2020. Upon roll call at 6:00 p.m. the following members were present: Dr. Teske, Mr. Osman, Mr. Hughey, Dr. Blakely, Mr. Partridge, Mr. McGrath, and Mrs. Ashby. Also present was Superintendent Wright, Scott Finders, Rick Livesay, 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. McGrath and seconded by Mrs. Ashby to approve the Consent Agenda which contained the following items: approval of board minutes on 12/16/2019; approval of closed session minutes; approval of payment for bills, acceptance of financial reports and the approval of the destruction of closed session tapes at least 18 months old. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
Thomas Corbit and Julie Lewis represented the teachers.
The school counseling department will begin resiliency small groups on January 15th. The counseling groups consist of students who lack resiliency skills necessary to be successful at school. The groups will run for 6 weeks and teach skills such as identifying obstacles to success, positive and negative influences, and setting achievable goals. The counseling department will also be giving the sophomore class the Accuplacer test at the end of January. This test determines students’ eligibility for Shawnee Community College courses, including our dual credit classes and our transitional English courses. Scheduling for the 20-21 school year will begin in February. FBLA attended their regional conference at SIUC on Thursday, January 9. Twenty-six AJ students were in attendance. This is the largest group of students competing from AJ since Mrs. Stevens has been the adviser for four years. All students have been working diligently while preparing for their competitive events. Ellie Moore, Kiersten Wright and Darrian Quick placed 1st in Business Financial Plan. They each received $10 from local sponsors for placing 1st. Jenna Watkins also placed first. Her event was Business Communications. AJ had several 2nd and 3rd place winners at the conference. Trevor Cochran received 2nd in Cyber Security and Peyton Otey also received 2nd place but in Entrepreneurship. 3rd place for Cyber Security went to Krishna Patel, and Autumn Sisler and Ashlyn Voigt placed 3rd in Entrepreneurship. Individual scores will be released later this month. The following students had their art admitted into the Scholastic competition this year. Leah Dirden and Sydney Waun earned Silver Key awards and Kyleigh Hamel won a Gold Key. Her self-portrait will compete nationally in NYC. The Scholastic show is on display at the Cedarhurst museum in Mt. Vernon from now until the closing reception on February 9th. Five AJ student works of art were submitted to the Little Egypt art competition in Marion. Katie Jo Kirk won a 3rd place and Best of Show. Students may be awarded other special awards until the closing reception which takes place on February 16th. Two AJ student-artists are competing in the One Great State Art Exchange. This is a down-state competition sponsored by The Art Institute of Chicago which hopes to bring attention to the citizen-artist. Students are asked to address the First Amendment in their work. Students entering this contest have attended mandatory meetings, forums, and critiques. Students will be entering photos of their work online in February. Up to 15 students from the southern counties may win an all-expense paid two week summer camp and college credit at the Art Institute of Chicago along with their work going on tour displayed in libraries across the state. We wish Katie Jo Kirk and Ana Marcovic success in this endeavor.
Rick Livesay gave a brief update about the indoor batting cages in lower gym.
Mr. Finders, Curriculum Director, presented information regarding student growth from year to year according to data from SAT testing.
Principal Detering gave reports on the 1st Semester reports including discipline, failures, and credit recover. He also spoke about Principal Office safety updates, Share Table, enrollment, and the cafeteria.
Superintendent Wright presented his administrative report. HE spoke about vacancies for the upcoming school year; replacing retired special education teacher, new math teacher, school social worker, and in- school supervisor. Baysinger Architects have begun planning work on this summer’s projects. We will also be taking bids for mowing the soccer complex and ball fields at Jonesboro Elementary.
On motion by Mr. Partridge and seconded by Mr. McGrath for the Board to enter into closed session at 7:07p.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). Discussion of minutes lawfully closed under the Open meetings Act, whether for the purposes of approval by the body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the minutes as mandated by Section 2.06. 5ILCS 120/2(c)(14). On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. Partridge and seconded by Mr. McGrath to return to regular session at 8:25p.m. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. Hughey and seconded by Mr. Osman to approve keeping all closed session minutes closed. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Dr. Blakely and seconded by Dr. Teske to approve the Art Club trip to Chicago. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. Hughey and seconded by Mr. Partridge to approve application to the School Maintenance Program Grant to replace the lower gym roof. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. Osman and seconded by Mr. Hughey to approve the final reading and approval of Board Policy Updates. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion Mr. McGrath and seconded by Mr. Osman to approve Kyle Clover as volunteer Baseball Coach. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. McGrath and seconded be Mrs. Ashby to approve purchasing an indoor batting cage for lower gym. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. McGrath and seconded by Mr. Osman to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 8:44p.m. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
Next regularly scheduled meeting is Monday, February 10, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. in Superintendent's Office.
https://aj81.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/January-2020-Minutes.pdf