The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

La Harpe School Board Meeting

In regular session Monday night, February 9, school board members accepted with regret a resignation from Jason Finch as high school head girls basketball coach.

The board also heard a presentation by Lila McKeown of the results from the district resident survey regarding district reorganization.

In other business, the board

•  approved scheduling a public hearing under the regular order of business for the March 8, 2004, meeting of the Board of Education to address the question of honorable dismissals based upon economic necessity,
• authorized superintendent Campbell to obtain IDEAL to complete the district required asbestos survey, to direct Supt. Campbell to proceed with necessary steps to submit a School Construction Grant Application for a multi-purpose room and classrooms,
• approved building use requests by Larry Caston and Joy Pollock for use of the elementary gym for athletic practices,
• approved a request for duel credit for a college course to be taken by Crystal Ryder,
• voted to enter into the school board minutes the results of the survey presented by Lila McKeown.

Elementary/Junior High Principal Charlotte Davis reported that

• Preschool Screening is schedule for February 26th and 27th.
• Brenda Sparrow, Joanna Wright, Cindy Irish, Laurie Myers, Arlynn Hitz, and Charlotte Davis attended the Title I Conference in Chicago. They made a presentation at the conference on Preparing Students for the Extended Math Response section of the ISAT.
• Cindy Bruns and Laurie Myers will be going with Jerry Schmitz to the ICE Technology Conference the end of February.
• Dr. Donna McCaw from WIU will be meeting with the Internal Review Building Team to assist in our data collection methods and analysis procedures before writing our School Improvement Plan. This is being paid for with funds from the Regional Office of Education.
• Students will complete bus safety training for the second time this year on February 20th.
• Fifth grade will be attending a WIU Bureau of Cultural Affairs Program on February 23rd.
• Sixth grade bowling trip to WIU will be rescheduled due to bad weather.
• Jim Dedera will be presenting drug prevention instruction for four days to the students. This activity is paid for by the Title IV grant.
• ISAT assessments will begin March 29th and run for 2 weeks.
• La Harpe is hosting a 7th grade volleyball tournament on February 21st .
• Local Spelling Bee will be February 18th. The two winners will continue on the Hancock County Contest in Carthage.
• An Honors Group Induction lunch and activity for new members will be held on February 25th.
• The first awards night for 5th-8th grade students is scheduled for March 30th at 7:00 p.m. in the high school gym.
• Spring photos for PK-8th grades will be on February 18th. Jump Rope for Heart for K-6 was held on February 13th during the morning.

High School Principal Charles Apt reported that

• La Harpe will host the Bi-County Art Show on March 4th, 5th, and 6th and will be open to the public on Friday evening and Saturday morning.
• Bi-County Band Festival will be at Monmouth College on March 9th.
• Laura Pfeiffer, Levi Pfeiffer, Ty Huston, Anna Ziegler, and Chelsie Lotz competed in the regional tournament on February 7th.
• Chelsie and Ty advanced to the sectional in Rock Island.
• Bi-County Scholastic Bowl was held at Southern on February 18th.
• high school boys basketball regional tournament will be at Carthage with La Harpe competing on Wednesday night, February 25th at 8:00 p.m.
• WYSE team went to Carthage on February 10th for the regional competition. Levi Pfeiffer will advance to the sectional contest in Chemistry.

Dan Horton read the Ag Report prepared by Paul Mealiff.

• Kirsten Johnson, Claire McKee, Lacey Pence and Genessa Cox attended the FFA Made For Excellence Conference held at Lisle, on January 23rd and 24th.
• At the January chapter meeting, ten members received their Chapter FFA Degree.
•  January 31st, twenty-six FFA members and guests enjoyed a pizza party at Pizza Plus to celebrate their successful fruit and calendar sales.
• Alex Bundy, Joni Dowell, Skyler Pence, and John Dowell placed 4th in the Section XI Invitational Bow Shoot held on February 4th at the Archery Range in Carthage. Out of 300 points Alex scored 280 which earned him 4th place individual. Others competing as individuals from La Harpe were Ben Cox, Genessa Cox, and Claire McKee.
• Received 400 plant plugs which members of the Horticulture class planted into hanging baskets, 4 and 6 inch pots, and hanging bags Varieties included: geraniums, impatients, fucus, and coleus. Working on the project were: Ben Cox, Tyler Ferguson, Jason Gunning, Austin Johnson, Eric Magee, Christie Newlan, Drin Smith, Tiffany Spence, and Ryan Yelton.
• Section XI FFA Public Speaking and Creed Speaking will be held on February 26th at WIU.