Anna Jonesboro Community High School District 81 Board of Education met Oct. 16.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
The Anna Jonesboro Community High School held its regular meeting on October 16, 2023, it was called to order by President Vosburgh. Upon roll call at 6:00 p.m. the following members were present: Mr. Vosburgh, Mr. Houseman, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Plott, Mr. Mix, and Mr. Bracken.
On motion by Mr. Mix and seconded by Mr. Bracken to approve the Agenda. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. Vosburgh and seconded by Mr. Mix to approve the Consent Agenda which contained the following items: approval of board minutes on 9/25/23; approval of closed session minutes; approval of payment for bills, accept resignations of Nathan Guined (Credit Recovery_ and Brett Detering (Head Football Coach), approve publication of Annual Statement of Affairs and acceptance of financial reports. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
Recognition of Visitors and Correspondence, Public Comments: Austin Burkland with Byrne & Jones.
Mrs. Richbourg and Ms. Morrison presented for the teachers: The National Honor Society held a food drive during the first week of October to help stock the Comfort Closet. They were able to collect 366 items. Mrs. Margraff’s first hour class will be awarded a breakfast pizza party for donating the most items. NHS will end the month with a Trick or Treat event for the community on October 28th and an Acts of Kindness day on October 31st. The Student Services department hosted a college application on Monday Oct. 10th. We had over 30 students complete more than 50 college applications during this time. We would like to thank SIUC, SEMO and Shawnee for making time to be on campus that day and assist students that were applying to those schools as well. Beta Club has been working hard this school year helping out around the community. They have volunteered at the Fishing with First Responders event, Constitution Day at Lincoln Park, the Jill Treece Benefit, and at the Jonesboro Elementary Fall Fest. Beta Club also collects all of the recycling around the school. The Anna Arts Council rewarded Beta Club for all their hard work by giving us a free square at the Paint the Town event at Anna Colorfest downtown. Our upcoming events include the Lick Creek Fall Fest and Christmas in downtown Anna. Mrs. Maze’s Civics classes are currently discussing areas of improvement for our school community. Students have discussed issues such as offering more extracurriculars (specifically a variety of foreign language classes), later start times, improving classrooms, improving equipment in the science/math classrooms, more funding for sports, longer lunch periods, improving the school issued water bottles, restrooms in Union hall, weight room, upper and lower gym floors and the soccer fields to name a few. Students are currently working on an action plan, to see how they could then implement these changes to help improve our school community. This includes research, surveys, and finally writing a letter to the school board to discuss their issues and their potential solutions. This is a project Mrs. Maze’s students do every year, and they love hearing from our school board and seeing how their plans could potentially become reality. The Art Club will be holding a Haunted House every Friday and Saturday of this month, Monday the 30th and Halloween 31st at the Anna Arts Center from 7 to 10pm. The cost is $5 per person or 5 people for $20. The students are enjoying giving everyone a scare while also collaborating with the community. Auditions for the 2024 Spring Musical. The Addams Family, will be held next week November 23 and 24. Cast rehearsals and Stage Crew will begin in November. The musical will be March 16-18, 2024. We are excited to see this show done for the first time at AJCHS!
Curriculum Director Finders spoke about new curriculum requirements from ISBE. Principal Detering spoke about failure reports, discipline, and lockers.
On motion by Mrs. Plott and seconded by Mrs. Johnson for the Board to enter into closed session at 7:02 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 Mrs. Johnson and seconded by Mr. Houseman to return to regular session at 8:07 p.m. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. Mix and Mr. Vosborgh to appoint Tim McGrath as the IASB Delegate. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.
Mr. Wright presented the FY23 Annual Financial Report.
The administration discussed school security updates with the Board.
On motion by Mr. Houseman and seconded by Mr. Bracken to approve using the 2024 School Maintenance Program Grant towards renovations to the Science Lab Classrooms. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mrs. Plott and seconded by Mr. Houseman to approve the proposal from Byrne & Jones Construction to install Shaw 2.0 Legion Pro artificial turf on the football field with stabilization if necessary, in addition to purchasing a groomer and sweeper kit for maintenance. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
The board discussed the details of purchasing of a new bus.
On motion by Mr. Vosburgh and seconded by Mr. Mix to approve hiring Ashton Stanley as the assistant girls basketball coach. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mrs. Johnson and seconded by Mr. Houseman to approve the following volunteer coaches pending background checks: Wrestling – Nate Kisat, Band – Michelle Brady, Mark Hasty, Serena Hasty. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.
On motion by Mr. Houseman and seconded by Mrs. Johnson to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 10:30 p.m. On roll call, all members present voting yes. Motion carried.
https://aj81.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/October-2023-Minutes.pdf
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