The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The La Harpe school board held a regular meeting Monday night, October 6th in the School District Library.
School board members in attendance were Barbara Cox, Ed Pence, Dan Horton, Ricky Johnson, Lawrence Johnson and Mark Irish.
Also present were Jo Campbell, Charles Apt, Pat Deitrich, Tracey Anders, John Quigle, and Natalie Dutton for the Hancock Journal Pilot.
Tracey Anders spoke with the board regarding the Parent Teacher Advisory Council meeting which will be held October 29th at 7:00 p.m. in the School District Library.
The board approved the employment of Candy Lee as a special education teacher helper, Jenny Reische as the 5/6 cheerleading sponsor, Stacey Reed as the 7/8 grade cheerleading sponsor, and Sandy Olson as a substitute teacher helper, cook, janitor, and secretary.
A request by Barbara Ramsey for reimbursement for a college course was also approved.
In other business, the board approved the Fiscal Year 2003 independent audit report as prepared by Allan Reusch, approved the second reading and adoption of the Freedom of Information Act Policy-Administrative Procedures-AP2:250 as board policy, appointed Lawrence Johnson as board delegate and Ed Pence as alternate to the Joint Annual Conference in Chicago on November 20-24, and approved the first reading of the revised extracurricular participation policy (705.092) for private school students.
They also approved the increase of the Imprest Fund to $10,000, accepted the Professional Development Plans submitted by Elementary/Junior High Principal Charlotte Davis and Superintendent Jo Campbell, appointed Barbara Cox and Ricky Johnson to represent the La Harpe Board of Education at the October 28th school district reorganization discussion meeting at Carthage, amended and approved the first reading of Board Policy 500.04 establishing the amount of reimbursement for physicals required for lunchroom workers, approved a request by Janet McKee for use of school facilities, approved the purchase of high school baseball uniforms from Santos Sports, and appointed Ed Pence and Cindy Wear to represent the board at the Parent Teacher Advisory Council meeting on October 29th in the School District Library.
High School Principal Charles Apt reported that staff will be attending Teacher Institute at Macomb October 10th, sponsored by the Regional Office of Education.
The volley ball senior night will be held on October 23rd. Seven girls will be recognized with a short ceremony before the beginning of the varsity game.
The football senior night will be on Friday, October 17th at La Harpe. Fifteen football players as well as cheerleaders and band members will be recognized in the usual manner before the beginning of the game.
Parent/Teacher conferences will be held on October 30th from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and on October 31st from 8:15 a.m. to 12:00 noon.
Elementary/Junior High Principal Charlotte Davis reported that Melissa Sturlic supervised the Book Fair this year. A Family Night was planned by our parent coordinator, Lynne Ward and staffed by elementary teachers. A sack supper was served to 115 people and everyone had a chance to visit the Book Fair and get their name in a drawing for free books. The profit from the fund raiser is used to purchase additional materials for our Accelerated Reader program.
Vision and hearing screening will be conducted the week of October 20th.
First State Bank of Western Illinois and La Harpe Telephone Company are sponsoring the WIU Regional Theaters again this year. There are two performances for PK-8th grade students.
La Harpe Junior High has a beautiful trophy case donated by the Donna Wear Memorial Fund.
Elementary and Junior High teachers will also be attending Teacher Institute in Macomb on October 10th.
At School Improvement Day October 17, Todd Porter will be leading a curriculum mapping of Social Studies.
Junior High teachers completed technology training for engaged learning funded through the Area 3 Technology Hub grants program. They are working on a cross-curricular unit related to Recycling and will return for additional training the end of October and again in January. This grant also provides funding for materials needed for the units they are planning.
The La Harpe Fire Department brought the fire truck to the school and gave presentations to PreK through 5th graders on October 3rd.
Kindergarten and Preschool visited the Rogers Pumpkin Farm and the seventh grade attended the Health Fair in Carthage on October 1st.
Martha Bartlett has been preparing folders of character lesson activities for teachers to use with students. The teachers addressed Good Citizenship during September. The theme for October is Fairness.
The 7th and 8th grade girls basketball teams took 2nd place in the Dallas City Tournament. The 5/6 girls basketball team played their first game on October 2nd. Boys basketball will begin practice October 20th. There are thirteen 7th graders and eight 8th graders signed up to play. Cheerleading practices will also begin to prepare for the first game.
Plans for Red Ribbon Week are in the process. It will run October 27th through October 30th.
The PTO is sponsoring a Fall Festival on October 22nd from 5-7 p.m. at the Clubhouse. They have also donated $100 to Red Ribbon Week and are purchasing 100 red tulip bulbs to be planted in the Memorial Garden in front of the school.
A Preschool Family night is scheduled for October 16th.
Eagle Boosters have been working to fill the volunteer spots for the 5/6 basketball games. They are also going to provide the hospitality room for the Sand Valley Girls Basketball Tournament.
Dan Horton read the Ag Report prepared by Paul Mealiff. The annual WIU/FFA Greenhand Conference was held on September 11th with seven attending from La Harpe. They included: Ayssa Swanson, Morgan Mohr, Lindsey Pollock, Alicia McConnell, Lathan Comstock, Kellee Brown and Seth Sparrow. Also, Anna Ziegler and Lacey Pence attended the FFA Reporters Workshop that night, while Mitch Worley and Kelli Burr signed letters for the Illinois FFA Foundation kickoff.
Kevin Mershon earned a Blue rating while Meranda Reed and Lacey Pence received White ratings at the State FFA Horse Judging CDE Sept. 13 at Blackhawk C.C. with over 300 there.
Our team placed 3rd at the Section XI Land Use CDE held south of Colchester on Sept. 23rd. Mitch Worley placed 4th, J.D. Hobby 5th as individuals. Other team members were Kelli Burr, Jacob Markey, Justin Sparrow.
Justin Mohr and Anna Ziegler were selected as 2003-04 FFA King and Queen and got wet riding in the Homecoming Parade.
October 2nd we harvested the test plots. Greg Blythe furnished the weigh wagon and Ed Bollin harvested the corn in the morning. Bill and Troy Greenig harvested the soybeans in the afternoon. FFA members helping included Isaac Rogers, Justin Mohr, Ben Cox, Kevin Penrod and Reo Read. The corn averaged over 199 B/a, with a range of 135-220 B/a. Our soybeans had excellent height, but lacked the necessary rains in August to fill out the pods. They averaged just over 40 B/a, with a range of 32-43 B/a.
Anna Ziegler is caring for the poinsettias in the greenhouse. They are looking good and we will need to pinch them back shortly.
The Section XI FFA Forestry CDE will be held on October 8th at Kibbe Wildlife Area near Warsaw. Those planning to compete include Gretchen Blythe, Kylen Carpenter, Genessa Cox, Claire McKee, Lacey Pence, and Lindy Shoemaker.
October 29 - November 1 are the dates of the National FFA Convention which is held at Louisville, Kentucky. Ten members from La Harpe are planning to attend.