The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The La Harpe School Board held a regular meeting Monday night, April 15, in the school's District Library.
Board members in attendance were Don Latherow, Larry Caston, Barbara Cox, Mark Irish, Ricky Johnson, Lawrence Johnson, and Dan Horton.
Also present were Jerry Arthur, Charles Apt, Pat Deitrich, Steve Rodeffer, Tracey Anders and David Grimes.
The board employed Jo. R. Campbell from Golconda, as Superintendent for $68,000 and accepted with regret the resignation due to retirement of Kathy Driskell as speech pathologist.
In other business, the board renewed the agreement with David Gerst to work with technology in the district, voted to reject all bids for the Johnson Building roofing project, approved the recommendation from the building committee for the purchase of carpet from Rheinschmidt's Carpet for the building trades house, and voted to officially congratulate the 7th grade volleyball team for their participation in the state tournament.
Mrs. Davis was unable to attend due to another commitment, but sent her report to the board.
She included several items in her report. Mrs. Bartlett, Mrs. Kendall, Mrs. Jones and Mr. Napolitano attended a workshop on Peer Mediation. The students in 4th and 5th grades will be trained for next year in handling minor conflicts that occur at recess.
The trained mediators will meet with both students and try to help them work out a resolution. Bullying behaviors and other major discipline concerns will not be addressed by this group.
Two teachers attended the Illinois Reading Conference in Springfield this year, Mrs. Bruns attended the Illinois Math Conference, Mrs. Finch, Mrs. Hensley and Mrs.Driskell attended a workshop on autism, and Mrs. Bartlett will be attending a worship on bullying prevention in May. There are currently about 55 students participating in track, which is a slight increase from previous years. Grandparents Day is planned for May 3rd in the afternoon.
The K-4 grades will perform a concert at the end of the day. Prior to this, families can visit the Literacy Fair, Rock Show and Science Fair. Junior High will have their spring dance on April 27th.
Mr. Apt reported that the IHSA music organizational contest was held Friday, April 12th.
Jason Apt participated in the state level of competition of WYSE in Champaign on Monday, April 15th.
The juniors will be taking the PSAE exam on April 24th and 25th at the Christian Church. The Freshmen took the ILSB achievement exam on April 16th and 17th.
Mrs. Stevenson's art students received 15 first place ribbons at the Bi-County art show on March 15th.
The art show is on display at First State Bank. A good crowd attended the very successful school play under the direction of Nancy Barnett, Mary Eves, Pam Sparrow, and Kate Harden.
The National Honor Society's Penny Carnival will be held on April 20th. The funds generated from this activity will be used to sponsor one or more book scholarships for seniors attending college next year. The baseball and softball are doing well. The baseball regional will be held at La Harpe.
Mr. Mealiff sent the Ag report to the board. The FFA Livestock Judging team tied for 4th at the Section 11 CDE in Bushnell on March 16th. Cody McKeown tied for 1st place in the Sheep division and Joni Dowell was 5th place overall individual.
Isaac Rogers placed 2nd in Specialty Crop Production at District FFA Proficiency Award competition on March 6th, while April Horton and Kayla Reische each placed 3rd in Diversified Livestock Production and Safety. Anna Ziegler placed 4th in Home and/or Community Development.
Anna also placed 4th out of 10 in the prepared division of the District III FFA Public Speaking CDE at WIU. Over 170 people attended the annual Parent/Member banquet on March 19th. Due to the large number in attendance, it was held in the high school gym.
The keynote speaker was Illinois State FFA treasurer, Jesse Faber, who is the grandson of Ernest and Pat Painter.
The greenhouse is really blooming with over 45 hanging baskets, 275 pots, 35 flats, 6 flower bags and 6 garden bowls containing many different kinds of flowers, as well as some peppers and tomatoes.
Students in the Horticulture class have been busy planting, potting, transplanting, watering and pinching back some of the blossom so the flowers will be in full bloom for the plant sale which is Friday, April 26th and Saturday, April 27th.
Matt Swanson and Anna Ziegler attended the Youth Leadership Conference at Decatur, sponsored by the Illinois Farm Bureau and the FFA, where they learned about cooperatives, goal setting, teamwork, and new technology in agriculture.