The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
-submitted by Jo R. Campbell, Superintendent
As mentioned in a previous article, a subcommittee of the Parent Teacher Advisory Council and representatives from the Board of Education are developing a survey to be distributed to the residents of La Harpe CUSD 335.
The survey will focus on obtaining input from the school community that will assist the Board of Education as it addresses issues facing the district.
The main issues revolve around the district's financial status and associated with it, the ability to continue to provide the quality of services expected by district residents.
The survey should be completed in December and forwarded to the Board of Education for approval at the regularly scheduled meeting on January 12, 2004.
A Special Meeting of the La Harpe CUSD 335 Board of Education has been called for 7:00 p.m. on January 7, 2004. This will be a joint meeting that will also include the boards from Carthage, Dallas City, and Nauvoo Colusa.
The planned location of the meeting is in the multipurpose room of the Primary Attendance building in Carthage.
The purpose of the joint meeting is to review with the full boards of the four districts, information regarding school district reorganization that has been discussed by representatives from the various boards during reorganization discussions over the past six months.
The joint meeting will provide all board members an opportunity to discuss the various reorganization options and address questions and concerns they may have.
Regional Superintendent of Schools, the Honorable Robert Baumann, has consented to the district superintendents' request to chair the joint meeting.
Each superintendent from the four districts will provide a summary of information for one of the agenda items.
While this is an open public meeting, as mentioned earlier, it is mainly an information-sharing session, and it is not expected that an all-encompassing presentation will be made to the public.
I anticipate that information from the January 7 joint Board meeting and the school community survey will be used to plan for a district-wide community meeting to occur in February or March.
The La Harpe Board will make significant decisions during the next few months regarding the organization, structure and governance of the district.
The time frames for decisions that involve referendums on an election date are very limited.
November of 2004 (General Election) is the earliest date at which a question could be presented to voters, and if no construction of facilities was involved, the 2006 school year would be the absolute earliest implementation period for any type of reorganization.
April of 2005 (General Primary) is the next possible date, with the 2006 school year as the earliest implementation time, but more likely not possible until school year 2007. Beyond that, March of 2006 would enable one to push a change into effect for school year 2007.
The fourth possible date of November 2006 will result in the 2008 school year as the earliest possible implementation date.
The La Harpe Board of Education desires input from their school community.
Obtaining an understanding of the situations regarding our schools is very important for all of us.
Please keep all of this in mind as you receive the forthcoming district survey, and receive other information regarding this most important topic.
Questions, comments and concerns regarding this series of articles and information contained therein may be directed to the La Harpe Unit Office at (217)659-7739.
Or, discuss the topics with your elected members of the La Harpe Board.