The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The La Harpe School Board November 15th meeting met with members Dan Horton, Ricky Johnson, Cindy Wear, Barbara Cox, Lawrence Johnson, Mark Irish, and Ed Pence in attendance.
Also present were Jo Campbell, Pat Deitrich, Shawn Adkisson, Bobbi Pilger, Charlotte Davis, Lila McKeown, John Quigle, Shannon Campbell, David Grimes, and Dennis Anderson from Carl Sandburg College.
Mr. Anderson passed out the Envoy Publication with articles about the college.
The board accepted with regret a resignation from John Napolitano as high school English teacher for the 2005-06 school year, approved the appointments by West Prairie for Brenda Thompson as high school head basketball cheerleading coach and Tara Thompson as high school assistant basketball and cheerleading coach for the 2004-05 school year, approved the employment of Joy Pollock as head high school girls softball coach for the 2005 season, and Pat Krow as a substitute teacher special education aide.
In other business, the board accepted the Principal's Professional Development Plans, approved the annual review of the District Risk Management Plan, adopted a Resolution of Intent to sell Working Cash Bonds,
approved a building use request by Joy Pollock for use of the elementary gym for softball pitching lessons and
approved a request by Jason Finch for reimbursement for a college course.
Elementary/Junior High Principal Charlotte Davis reported that there is a Santa Sitter activity on December 1 for children in PK-4th grade so parents may prepare for the holiday.
The Eagle Booster Club purchased uniforms for 7th and 8th grade boys basketball and will host the hospitality room for the first round of the girls Sand Valley Conference Tournament.
La Harpe will also be hosting the boys tournament. The PTO provided funds for Accelerated Reader prizes and for Red Ribbon week activities. They are beginning the fund raiser to sell poinsettias for the holidays.
Conferences that teachers have attended recently are the Crisis Prevention Initiative Training and the Raising Student Achievement Conference.
Mrs. Davis attended the Administrator's Academy. The Christmas music program for 5-8 grades will be on December 8th at 7:00 p.m.
The elementary music program will be December 9 at 1:30 p.m.
Jim Dedera spoke to the students during Red Ribbon Week about staying drug free.
Martha Bartlett worked with student council members to provide activities during Red Ribbon Week beginning November 15.
The message to students was that one can have fun without doing drugs.
Activities include dress-up days for junior high, door decorations, and prizes for wearing a red ribbon.
The 5th grade had a speaker from the Hancock County Health Department on November 12 on drug abuse entitled, "Keep a Clear Mind."
There are twenty-nine boys out for 7/8 grade basketball and nine girls out for 7/8 grade cheerleaders.
The speech team competed at a next in October and one in November.
The student council will be sponsoring Hunger and Homeless Awareness during the week of November 22.
The students will be collecting food for the La Harpe Food Pantry.
High School Principal, Lila McKeown, reported that La Harpe has 11 girls and 9 boys out for basketball and 4 girls out for the dance team. Eleven students attended the initial meeting of the Scholastic Bowl.
The football banquet was held on November 10 with a good turnout.
Ten new members were inducted at the National Honor Society Induction ceremony on October 20.
Trooper Howard presented the "Operation Cool" assembly on November 5. The students signed contracts pledging to wear seat belts.
The high school Leadership Academy students visited Carl Sandburg College in Carthage on November 9 and received interesting information on the schools of Hancock County.
Students participated in Red Ribbon Week activities. The high school teachers are working on curriculum maps.
These will help to update our curriculum guide, align our curriculum to the Illinois Learning Standards and provide an outline for new teachers.
The SMILE team attended a conference on "Updating the School Emergency Plan."
We are planning on working with the rest of the staff on several scenarios and then practicing a "crisis."
Ricky Johnson read the Ag report prepared by Paul Mealiff.
Fifteen members of the La Harpe Chapter attended the 77th National FFA Convention at Louisville, Kentucky, October 27 - 30.
Anna Ziegler, Section XI FFA President, served as one of the 15 Illinois State voting delegates.
Other La Harpe members attending included: Megan Poulter, Kevin Penrod, Lindsey Pollock, Skyler Pence, Shelby Bartlett, Jason Poulter, Cody McKeown, Ben Cox, Lacey Pence, Genessa Cox, Dillon McKeown, John Dowell, Morgan Mohr and Kirsten Johnson.
Our National FFA Theme for this year is Learn, Lead, Succeed. During the first session of the convention, National Officers presented a program reflecting on the Success of FFA over the years by learning in the classroom along with supervised Agriculture Experience programs and by developing leadership skills in the FFA. Joe Theismann, former Washington Redskin quarterback, gave the keynote address. Other sessions included: National Chapter Awards, FFA Foundation Sponsor recognition, National FFA Proficiency Awards, and Stars Over America. Jay Kelley, 2003-04 Illinois State FFA President, was elected the 2004-05 FFA Eastern Region VP.
After a wet October, we were able to harvest our soybean plots on October 26. Both the corn and soybeans had excellent yields. The corn plot average was 223.6 B/A and the soybeans averaged 61.9 B/A. It was an excellent year.
The Poinsettia's, which Joni Dowell has been taking care of in the greenhouse as part of her independent Horticulture class, are starting to turn red and should be ready for sale in December.
On October 22, FFA Chapter President, Ben Cox, and Treasurer Joni Dowell, presented Dean Moore with a check for $400.00, as a community service donation to the North Hancock Ambulance Service. This was part of the income from our Summerfest Labor Auction.
With no school on November 11, (Veteran's Day), Shelby Bartlett, Jennifer Siegworth, Lindsey Pollock, Morgan Mohr,
Alyssa Swanson, Haeli Johnson and Tanieka Rodeffer went to Macomb to compete in the 4H/FFA Crop and Weed Identification Contest. Lindsey placed 2nd and Shelby placed 3rd as individuals and the team placed 2nd in the 15-18 year old age group.
Our Section XI FFA Quiz Bowl will be on November 18 and the Crop Judging CDE will be held on December 1.
The Section Parliamentary Procedure CDE will be held on December 15.