The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The La Harpe School Board held a regular meeting Monday night, April 12th, in the School District Library. School board members in attendance were Lawrence Johnson, Dan Horton, Cindy Wear, Mark Irish, Barbara Cox, Ricky Johnson, and Ed Pence. Also present were Jo Campbell, Charles Apt, Charlotte Davis, Pat Deitrich, Joanna Sholl, Valeri Dittmer, Martha Bartlett, Laurena Hunter, Arlynn Hitz, John Quigle, Jared Pollock, Adam Benhart, Jolene Duet, Sarah Billeter, Lila McKeown, Jack McKinnon, Cindy Bruns, Natalie Dutton, David Grimes, and David Pistorius from First Midstate. Mr. Pistorius presented information regarding a potential Working Cash Bond sale.
The board approved the employment of Paul Mealiff, Martha Bartlett ad Joanna Sholl who had previously received Reduction-In-Force Resolutions for the 2004-05 school year. The board accepted with regret the resignation of Pat Boyer for the 2004-05 school year due to retirement. Mrs. Boyer has taught in the La Harpe School system for 38 years.
In other business, the board approved the renewal of the IESA and IHSA membership for the 2004-05 school year, raised the pay rate for high school baseball, girls basketball, and softball officials, appointed Mark Irish, Barbara Cox, and Dan Horton to the Board of Education collective bargaining team, voted to renew the Catastrophic Student Accident Insurance Program with Hometown Insurance Center, discussed the proposed 2004-05 school calendar, set the date of either May 19th or 26th to meet with the Carthage, Dallas City, and Nauvoo-Colusa school districts at La Harpe to discuss reorganization issues, voted to raise the adult admission to high school athletic events to $4.00, approved the employment of Mary Reed as a substitute cook, approved a request by Joe Sparrow to use the cafeteria on August 14th for a class reunion, approved requests by Jason Finch to host a basketball camp May 31st-June 4th for students in grades 1-4, Carrie Finch and Meleiah Gardner to host a camp for 3-6 year old children to prepare them for school and to maintain academic growth for those in school, and by Cindy Pollock to host a volleyball camp for 3rd-6th grade girls in June.
Elementary/Junior High Principal Charlotte Davis reported that the camp requested by Carrie Finch and Meleiah Gardner will focus on pre-literacy, science, math units, motor skills and socialization. The junior high girls volleyball team will serve ice cream and pies at Summerfest to earn money for their camp at Lincoln Christian College. A WIU student, Jesse Bolton, helped the third graders plant a tree on the school campus to celebrate Arbor Day. PreK program will have a parent night on April 28th. Spring photographs and spring sport photos will be taken on April 27th. Family Day will be on Friday, May 7 and will include a music concert by grades K-4, Junior High Science Fair, Literacy Fair, and 4th grade Rock Show. The 7th grade will attend a program at the Hult Health Museum in Peoria on April 21st sponsored by the Title IV grant through the Regional Office of Education. The 8th grade trip to Chicago is on May 21st, the 5th grade class trip to the Civil War Reenactment is on April 22nd, the 1st grade will go to Burlington on May 12th for their trip, the 2nd grade will have their annual train ride on May 26th from Ft. Madison to Galesburg, the 3rd grade will visit New Salem on May 13th, the Preschool will go to the Niabi Zoo at Coal Valley on May 20th, the 6th grade trip to Hannibal will be May 18th, the 7th grade will go to Springfield on May 19th, and the 4th grade will attend the Old Thresher's Day at Hamilton on May 3rd. La Harpe hosted the junior high band and choir IESA Solo and Ensemble Contest on March 27th. Mrs. Mencel and Mrs. Ferguson (and volunteer parents) did and outstanding job of hosting the competition. The junior high band and choir will compete in the IESA Organizational Contest on Saturday, May 1st at Rushville and will also be performing at Six Flags in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 15th. There are 57 students currently out for track this Spring. The Spring Awards Night is scheduled for May 17th. The Spring Dance for junior high is scheduled for April 30th in the elementary gym.
High School Principal Charles Apt reported that the juniors will be taking the PSAE exam on April 28th and 29th at the Christian Church. The Freshmen took the Illinois Learning Standards Battery Exam on March 30th and 31st. The National Honor Society's Penny Carnival will be held on May 8th from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The funds generated from this activity will be used to sponsor one or more book scholarships for seniors attending college next year. Semester tests will be held on May 24th, 25th, and 26th. The Junior/Senior Prom will be held on May 1st at Burlington. Lee Rouson, former New York Giant football player, spoke to the Junior and Senior High School students on April 8th. The message was about making good choices.\
Dan Horton read the Ag Report prepared by Paul Mealiff. Joni Dowell and Isaac Rogers each placed 2nd in their respective areas of Ag Processing and Specialty Crop Production at the FFA Proficiency Award interviews held on March 10th. Anna Ziegler and John Dowell placed 1st in the areas of Home and/or Community Development and Diversified Livestock Production. They advanced to State Competition at the U of I on April 3rd, where they were both ranked third. Ten FFA members competed in the Section XI Livestock Judging CDE on March 13th, and the team placed 5th in the Beef Division and 7th overall. Lindy Shoemaker was top judge on our team, along with Claire McKee, Gretchen Blythe, Kristen Johnson and Megan Poulter. The upper-class team consisted of Justin Sparrow, Jacob Markey, Kelli Burr, Mitch Worley, and John Dowell. On April 2nd, eight of these students competed in the WIU Invitational Livestock Judging Contest and placed 2nd as a team overall, as well as 1st in Beef, 2nd in Swine and 5th in Sheep. Five of them will go to the State Livestock CDE on April 27th in Champaign. The students in the Horticulture class received 210 plant cuttings on March 17th which they planted in pots and hanging baskets. They have also been sowing some flower seeds as well as seeding and transplanting five varieties of tomatoes and 3 varieties of peppers. They have been pinching back many of the flowers so they will have more blooms for the Spring plant and flower sale around Mother's Day. Around 160 people attended the Annual FFA Chapter Banquet held on March 23rd. Anna Ziegler was the top individual in the Section XI Agriculture Business Management CDE held at Warsaw on March 31st. Joni Dowell and Kelli Burr attended the Illinois Farm Bureau/FFA youth Leadership Conference in Decatur, on April 5 and 6, where they learned about organizing, planning and goal setting. They also learned about outstanding FFA heritage and Co-operative Programs. The FFA Chapter officer elections will be held on April 16th and the Section XI FFA Awards Banquet and officer election will be held on May 5th. The Illinois State FFA Convention will be held June 8-10th.