Anna Jonesboro Community High School District 81 Board met Feb. 10.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
The Anna-Jonesboro Community High School held its regular meeting on February 10, 2020. Upon roll call at 6:0 p.m. the following members were present: Dr. Teske, Mr. Osman, Mr. Partridge, Dr. Blakely, Mr. McGrath, and Mrs. Ashby. Also present was Superintendent Wright, Mr. Finders, and Principal Brett Detering.
On motion by Mr. Partridge and seconded by Mrs. Ashby to approve the Agenda as written. All members present voting yes. Motion carried
On motion by Mr. Osman and seconded by Mr. McGrath to approve the Consent Agenda which contained the following items: approval of board minutes on 1/13/20; approval of closed session minutes; approval of payment for bills, acceptance of financial reports. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
Lily Yana represented the Student Council:
There are in the final stages of getting everything ready for the Blood Drive Feb 19th. The Dude Be Nice Campaign is going well,
lots of ideas moving forward. We also plan to take Valentines to local Nursing Homes during 1st hour on Valentines Day.
Ms. McLain represented the teachers:
The National Honor Society completed acts of kindness after school on the Monday half day. Some of their acts of kindness included delivering roses to the secretaries at the elementary schools, leaving quarters on vending machines in the community, leaving popcorn on movie rental boxes, helping customers with their groceries and carts, donating dog and cat food to a local animal shelter, and many other tasks. Additionally, the National Honor Society will host the Spring Fling dance on February 29th.
Nine band students were selected as members of this year’s All-Conference Band, to be held at the SIU campus. The students selected were Abby Sartin, Alleigh Curtis, Jessi Riley, Ethan Palmer, Tyler Sutton, Elijah Ellis, Zach Dudley, Kiersten Wright, and Selena Rodgers. The students will spend the day February 25th at a practice with the selected band members of the other conference schools, and will perform that night in a free public concert at Shryock Auditorium. Concert time is 7pm. 36 Students from the Music Department will compete on March 7th at the IHSA State Solo and Ensemble Contest, held at Carbondale High School. AJ has 21 entries this year for the contest, with students performing in both vocal and instrumental ensembles. Beta Club is planning their annual Trivia Night fundraiser on Saturday, February 22nd in the cafeteria. The dinner begins at 5:30 and the game at 6:00. This is to pay for state convention expenses and hopefully a scholarship. Please support this effort if you’re free that evening. The counseling office has collected course requests from current 9th-11th graders. Incoming freshmen will be visiting AJ on Friday, 2/21 to take the math placement test and select courses. On the program for the day is a welcoming committee to greet the students as they arrive; guided tours of the building; entertainment by the band, concert choir, and maybe the cheerleaders; presentations from clubs and elective teachers; and lunch will be provided by student council. Our hope is that the incoming freshmen feel welcomed to the building and AJ community, and leave feeling excited instead of frightened about the often difficult transition to high school. After the 21st, the counseling office will begin scheduling for the 20-21 school year. The counseling office has also given the sophomore class the Accuplacer test in order to identify students for English 47/48 and students who qualify for dual credit. They are still running their Resiliency group, and have partnered with the Fellowship House to provide a counseling group to students who either use drugs or have family members using. That group begins February 27th and will run through spring break. The counseling department is also building a small group for students with anxiety which will focus on strategies to deal with general anxiety as well as specific strategies for test anxiety, and will run that group in March (hoping to help kids for the SAT test day). Finally, the counseling department will be taking students to SCC’s CTE day (focus on SCC’s vocational programs) on 2/25. Natalie Miller and Lyndsey Walls were interviewed by Brad Palmer from WSIU on January 15 about SCOIR. When the counselors asked Palmer how he’d learned about SCOIR, he said he found the information through our Facebook page. So we’re excited to see how our social media pages are impacting those in and around the community. Currently, our FB page has 1,504 followers, 1,446 likes, and is averaging about 1,300 post engagements per day. The ACES team, Academic Challenge in Engineering and Sciences, formally known as WYSE, placed second at regional competition on February 6th. The following students earned individual awards:
Connor Hallam -1st in physics Jenna Watkins- 2nd in English Soren Keller - 1st in English Lily Yana -3rd in math Abby Sartin and Soren Keller -2nd in math Braden Benns- 1st in math.
The team will compete at sectionals in March at SIU. Mr. Corbit’s homeroom coordinated a food drive to support the comfort closet.
The drive was a huge success collecting all kinds of nonperishable goods. It was a close contest that was a bit controversial between Mr. Emmons homeroom and Ms. Maze homeroom. Both classes are winners in Mr. Corbits book because the two groups collected twice as many goods as the 3rd or 4th place classes. The top team was promised a pizza party and I am going to throw in some Davis Pastry cookies as well. My (Mr. Corbit's) homeroom has had a lot of fun with this project and we look forward to doing it again next year. Spanish 4 students recorded a 10 second promo for Locura de Marzo, or March Madness, which is an event where students around the world vote on their favorite songs in Spanish during the month of March. AJ was just one of dozens of other schools that participated in the promo video. Last year over 50,000 students voted in the competition, and students in Spanish classes at AJ are excited to participate again this year. Mrs. Vancil, two art students and their families attended the Scholastic Awards ceremony in Mt Vernon yesterday. One student’s Gold Key work advances to compete in NYC. See program. Mrs. Cleghorn’s Culinary Arts classes helped prepare food for Kaitlin McWhorter’s Miss ORE Coronation Party that was held at the VFW this past Saturday. They have also prepared food for the girls and boys basketball games, and we catered the 1984-1985 Elite 8 dinner. Mrs. Treece helped Mrs. Cleghorn with the set up and tear down for the dinner that night. We are currently working on our annual chocolate covered strawberry sale and those will be delivered on February 12th. The Interior Design class is getting ready to construct 5 doll houses to decorate which will be purchased with money from Wildcat T’s. Each group of students will select an exterior and interior color scheme and apply those to their doll house, and they will lay flooring down too. The doll houses will then be donated to the toy drive next Christmas.
Mr. Finders reported on Student Performance and Academic Improvements.
Principal Detering reported on the Cafeteria Report, Enrollment, Discipline, and Court Committee.
Superintendent Wright reported to the board that the spring IASB Shawnee Division Meeting will be March 18 at Unity Point. He completed the application for the School Maintenance Grant Program. He also made a presentation on financial projections that he has been working on with the Illinois State Board.
On motion by Mr. McGrath and seconded by Dr. Blakely for the Board to enter into closed session at 6:52 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). Collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives, or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees. 5ILCS 120/2 (c)(3). Student disciplinary cases. 5ILCS 120/2 (c)(9). On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. McGrath and seconded by Mr. Osman to return to regular session at 8:04 p.m. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
Economic Interest Statements were handed out and completed.
On motion by Dr. Blakely and seconded by Mrs. Ashby to approve Memorandum of Understanding to add a Safe Celebration Coordinator to the collective bargaining agreement. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. McGrath and seconded by Mr. Partridge to approve bid from Precision Lawn Care for mowing of the Soccer Fields. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
Principal Detering reported on the Cafeteria Report, Enrollment, Discipline, and Court Committee.
Superintendent Wright reported to the board that the spring IASB Shawnee Division Meeting will be March 18 at Unity Point. He completed the application for the School Maintenance Grant Program. He also made a presentation on financial projections that he has been working on with the Illinois State Board.
On motion by Mr. Partridge and seconded by Mr. Osman to approve BETA Club State Convention overnight trip to Springfield. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.
The Board was reminded, for compliance purposes, as to their responsibility as mandated reporters.
On motion by Dr. Teske and seconded by Dr. Blakely to approve the 10 Year Health Life Safety Survey submitted by Baysinger Architects. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. Osman and seconded by Mrs. Ashby to approve the bid from Kehrer Brothers for the lower gym roof replacement. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. Osman and seconded by Dr. Blakely to approve Resolution 20-02-10 To Prohibit Sexual Harassment. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. Partridge and seconded by Dr. Teske to approve the following Spring Assistant and Volunteer Coaches pending background checks: Assistant Girls Soccer: Elle Basler Volunteer Baseball: Hunter Englehart. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
Mr. Wright updated the board on the recommendations of Rick Livesay, Athletic Director, for the protection of lower gym floor during use of ball team for practices.
Mr. Wright presented the board with financing options and the tax impact of a possible referendum that would be necessary to build a new school.
Mr. Wright also noted some repairs that were needed on the upper gym roof.
On motion by Mr. Osman and seconded by Mr. McGrath to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 8:37 p.m. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.
The next regularly scheduled Meeting is Monday, March 16, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. in the Superintendent's Office
https://aj81.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/February-2020-Minutes.pdf
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