Southern Illinois News

Anna Community Consolidated School District 37 Board of Education met Jan. 16.

Here is the agenda provided by the board:

Board President Josh Gooden called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

Roll Call

                               Present         Absent        Arr. Late

Josh Gooden    _____X____ __________ __________

Jim Hammer     _____X____ __________ __________

Pam Needling  _____X____ __________ __________

Cheryl Ligon    _____X____ __________ __________

Brooke Frank   __________ _____X____ __________

Collin Crane    __________ _____X____ __________

Lottie Smith     _____X____ __________ __________

Superintendent Brent Boren

Principals, Mark Laster, Angela Clay, Rob Lannom

Staff, Clarissa Ralls, Jenny Hall, Jennifer Osman

Visitors, Lisa Hoehner, Alison Smith

A motion was made by Jim Hammer and seconded by Josh Gooden to approve the agenda for the meeting. Voice vote. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Cheryl Ligon and seconded by Pam Needling to approve the consent agenda of the following items: Minutes from the December 19, 2023 Regular Meeting, Financial Reports: Activity Fund, Revolving Fund, Treasurer’s Report, Cafeteria Report, Insurance Report, Approve Bills and Payroll, Destroy Executive Session recordings made before July 2022, Keep all Executive Session Minutes closed to the public. Roll call vote: Josh Gooden, yea; Jim Hammer, yea; Pam Needling, yea; Cheryl Ligon, yea; Lottie Smith, yea. Motion carried.

The AEEA report was given by Jenny Hall. Mrs. Hall stated that the winter break was nice but staff has hit the ground running upon return. The Train Your Brain on the first day back was a hit with the staff and students. The new parking lot has been useful and convenient. At the same time, she is concerned with the steep entrance on Jefferson St. The Staff is excited about this basketball season and has enjoyed the successes. Student growth assessments are underway as well as teacher evaluations. School Improvement team meetings have been good. Mrs. Hall comments that communication has been good and open this school year. This is appreciated by all of the staff. She believes that the past teaches lessons and encourages board members to continue to be part of the solution and healing.

The property at 113 Hendra Street was discussed. Mr. Boren gave an overview of the property and asked for permission to open negotiations for the property. The property would be used for the placement of a bus barn and storage. This is an immediate need since our buses are repeatedly vandalized.

A motion was made by Josh Gooden and seconded by Cheryl Ligon to accept the resignation of Sarah Goforth effective at the end of the 2023-2024 School Year. Roll call vote: Josh Gooden, yea; Jim Hammer, yea; Pam Needling, yea; Cheryl Ligon, yea; Lottie Smith, yea. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Pam Needling and seconded by Cheryl Ligon to accept the resignation of Tanya Hammer as Cross Country Coach. Roll call vote: Josh Gooden, yea; Jim Hammer, yea; Pam Needling, yea; Cheryl Ligon, yea; Lottie Smith, yea. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Jim Hammer and seconded by Pam Needling to approve the hiring of Samantha Taylor as the 2023-2024 5th Grade Girls Basketball Coach. Roll call vote: Josh Gooden, yea; Jim Hammer, yea; Pam Needling, yea; Cheryl Ligon, yea; Lottie Smith, yea. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Lottie Smith and seconded by Josh Gooden to accept the Director of Maintenance job description as written. Roll call vote: Josh Gooden, yea; Jim Hammer, yea; Pam Needling, yea; Cheryl Ligon, yea; Lottie Smith, yea. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Jim Hammer and seconded by Cheryl Ligon to authorize Mr. Boren to enter negotiations for the property at 113 Hendra St. Roll call vote: Josh Gooden, yea; Jim Hammer, yea; Pam Needling, yea; Cheryl Ligon, yea; Lottie Smith, yea. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Josh Gooden and seconded by Pam Needling to establish a Golf Activity Fund. Roll call vote: Josh Gooden, yea; Jim Hammer, yea; Pam Needling, yea; Cheryl Ligon, yea; Lottie Smith, yea. Motion carried.

Superintendent Boren would like to thank our custodial staff for the outstanding work they have done recently including the organization and cleaning out of the junior high storage and Pre-K building. We made $750 by scrapping the old lockers which has been deposited into the General Activity Fund to be used to fund student and staff recognition activities. The administration team met with Casey Wills, the ISBE representative for our school improvement, on January 4th. Mr. Boren maintains a positive outlook when looking forward. Regarding the property at 113 Hendra Street, there is a newer detached garage that could be kept and used for storage. The architect is working on a drawing of the new bus barn that would replace the existing house on this property.

Board President Gooden asked about the gym sound system as there were issues during the D.A.R.E. graduation ceremony. The administration will get an estimate on a whole new sound system from Mayberry Music.

Mr. Laster reported that teacher evaluations are in progress and will be complete by January 31st. Mid-year academic checks are in progress. All student grades are examined for the dangers of retention. Student support team meetings are scheduled. School Improvement Update: The administration completed the IQF for all three schools on January 2nd. Administration met with our ISBE school improvement coordinator on January 4th. Mr. Laster met with David Prudente from the American Institutes for Research on January 5th. AIR will be conducting an on-site needs assessment at Lincoln and Davie on January 17th. This visit will include classroom observations, a teacher focus group at each building, an interview with Mr. Laster, and a survey for all instructional staff to complete. We should receive a report with their findings in late February, which will be used to help build our implementation plan for next year. On January 8th school leadership teams finalized their work on the Illinois Quality Framework Rubric, which is a tool designed to help schools assess their performance on various standards and indicators related to leadership, vision, curriculum, instruction, climate, etc. This will now be submitted to ISBE for their analysis. School leadership teams will meet again on January 22nd to plan the process for analyzing the IQF and local math and ELA data to include in the implementation plan for next year.

Mrs. Clay reported that she leads the junior high school improvement team. Student support team meetings for potential retentions will be complete by the end of January. The teachers have done a great job preparing for those meetings.

Mr. Lannom reported that the girls' basketball team won the regional championship and will play Friday in the state tournament. The boys' basketball regionals begin next week. There was one in-school suspension in January.

A motion was made by Cheryl Ligon and seconded by Pam Needling to enter Executive Session for the purpose of the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees 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 body to determine its validity. 5 ILCS 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. 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1), student disciplinary cases. 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(9) Voice vote. Motion carried.

Board entered Executive Session at 6:37 p.m.

Board returned to Regular Session at 7:40 p.m.

A motion was made by Jim Hammer and seconded by Pam Needling to adjourn at 7:40 p.m. with the next Regular Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 20, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. Voice vote. Motion carried.

https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/2796/Anna_CCSD/4021977/January_16__2024_minutes.pdf