The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The La Harpe School Board held the Tax Levy Hearing along with their regular meeting Monday night, December 13th, in the School District Library. School board members in attendance were Dan Horton, Cindy Wear, Mark Irish, Ed Pence, and Ricky Johnson. Also present were Jo Campbell, Charlotte Davis, Lila McKeown, Pat Deitrich, Rex Johnson, Nancy Butler, John Quigle, and Shannon Campbell from the Hancock Journal Pilot.
Rex Johnson and Nancy Butler, representing the Committee of 10, reported on the convergence petition that was submitted to Regional Superintendent Baumann for his consideration. The board commended the Committee for their efforts and passed a resolution endorsing the convergence petition.
The board adopted the 2005 Tax Levy following the hearing. They also approved the appointment by West Prairie of Tyler Walker as an assistant high school boys basketball coach and the appointment of Tim Smith as assistant high school girls softball coach.
In other business, they approved an amendment to the superintendent's contract clarifying reimbursement for the unused accumulation of vacation days, decided to proceed with the district lighting upgrade with BLI Lighting Specialists if our application is approved with the Lighting Upgrade Grant Program 2006.
They also voted to grant 110 days of accumulated sick leave days to Richard Doyle in accordance with the current teacher's contract, authorized Mr. Campbell to contract with the Illinois Association of School Boards to complete a Policy Manual Customization for the district, approved an increase in support personnel salaries by $0.16 per hour beginning January 1, 2005 as a result of complying with the Minimum Wage Act.
The board approved a request by Shawn Cortelyou to rent the gym for men's basketball during January and February, directed Mr. Campbell to request membership for La Harpe CUSD #335 in the West Central Conference for the 2005-06 school year, approved the first reading of a change to the elementary/junior high handbook in the attendance policy stating that a doctor's excuse is required for an excused absence if the student has missed more than five days in a semester rather than in a quarter, and authorized the superintendent to place a hearing on the January agenda regarding the sale of Working Cash Bonds.
Elementary/Junior High Principal Charlotte David reported that the music programs were excellent. Many attendees complimented the students and teacher, Mrs. Mencel.
The sixth grade students who participated in the Drug Prevention program (Project Alert) presented by Hancock County Mental Health Department had a graduation activity during the evening of December 7th.
Cindy Jones, Kathy Kendall, and Cindy Pollock attended the Student Achievement Conference in Chicago, Brenda Sparrow attended the Title Directors meeting in Bloomington, and Charlotte Davis attended an administrators academy required for recertification. Boys basketball won the Sand Valley Tournament championships for both 7th and 8th grades. 5/6 boys basketball began practice at the end of November and their first game is January 4th. 7/8 volleyball will begin practice the end of December and their first game is January 19th.
The 5th grade went bowling and 6-8 grades went skating for their holiday activity during the elementary Christmas concert.
High School Principal Lila McKeown also commended Mrs. Mencel and the music students for an excellent Christmas program.
The girls basketball team placed 3rd in the Monmouth High School Tip-off Classic Tournament. Carlie Wear, Amber Eaves, and Meranda Reed were named to the all-tournament team. The boys basketball team played in the Suns Classic Tournament over Thanksgiving. The Dance Team has performed at several games and recently had a clinic with little girls. The first meet for the Scholastic Bowl team will be January 13th.
The Secretary of State office in Macomb recently sat up a DUI display in the lobby of the high school. The student council members decorated the high school lobby for Christmas and organized the "12 Days of Christmas activity" in which the students, who wear various Christmas items to school, get their name in a drawing.
A "Count the Coins" hour was held December 9th. The students brought in coins and the teacher could not start 4th hour class until all of the coins were counted. $169.17 was collected. The money will be used to ship the packages of items the students are collecting for the soldiers. National Honor Society is also collecting money for the postage at various businesses in town.
The high school students were treated to a bowling and billiards party on Friday, December 10th at the WIU Union. The senior class attended the annual Career Fair at the Extension Center in Carthage. The Post Prom 1985's Dinner was held December 10th. Most of the high school teachers have completed their Curriculum Maps, which link their curriculum to the Illinois Learning Standards. There will also be used in the School Improvement Plan. The Student of the Month for November was Joni Dowell, nominated by Mr. Mealiff.
Dan Horton read the Ag Report prepared by Paul Mealiff. On November 18th, Mariah Myers and Kyle Magee took 2nd place in the 8th grade division of the Section XI FFA Quiz Bowl, while Lindsey Pollock, Tanieka Rodeffer, Josh Beleville, Alex Bundy, and Dillon McKeown had to accept 3rd place by a one point loss in the 9th grade division. The Section XI Crop Judging CDE, held at Carthage High School on December 1st, was a good learning experience for our teams consisting of Jennifer Siegworth, Tanieka Rodeffer, Dillon McKeown, Lindsey Pollock, and Alex Bundy. They placed 6th out of 16 teams and are anxious to compete again next year.
Calenders and cookbooks, sold by FFA members, were distributed on December 1st, while fruit, cheese and meat products were distributed a few days later. Product sales this year were higher than any previous years. We appreciate everyone who purchased these products. Lacey Pence, Genessa Cox, Dirsten Johnson, Megan Poulter, and Claire McKee participated in the Section XI FFA Parliamentary Procedure CDE at Nauvoo-Colusa High School December 15th. Ag students will be closing out their SAE record books in December in order to start new ones in January and apply for proficiency awards. The Ag Business Management class has been studying about marketing and look forward to a trip to the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange to observe commodity trading in January.