South West Illinois News

Anna-Jonesboro School District No. 81 Board of Education met February 12.

Here is the minutes as provided by the board:

The Anna-Jonesboro Community High School held its regular meeting on February 12, 2018. Upon roll

call at 7:03 p.m. the following members were present: Mrs. Teske, Dr. Reach, Mr. Hughey, Dr. Blakely,

Mr. Edwards, and Mr. McGrath. Mrs. Boget arrived at 7:12. Also present was Superintendent Wright,

Principal Brett Detering and Curriculum Director Scott Finders.

On motion by Dr. Reach and seconded by Mr. McGrath to approve the Agenda as written. All members

present voting yes. Motion carried

On motion by Mr. Edwards and seconded by Dr. Blakely to approve the Consent Agenda which

contained the following items: approval of board minutes on 1/8/18; approval of closed session

minutes; approval of payment for bills, acceptance of financial reports. On roll call, all members present

voting yes. Motion carried.

Bryce Massey spoke about his involvement on the Illinois Student council.

Jaci Woodward and Taylor Harvel represented the Student Council:

Student Council is currently planning their next blood drive which will be on Wednesday February

28 from 830 am - 3 pm. We have reached out to the newspaper to encourage community members to

come donate.

Project Be Amazing is outside of the Cafeteria. Students took pictures to show that they are “more than

labels” and made several posters with words of encouragement. This project was created by student

council members in hopes to encourage students to always be themselves.

Mrs. Hase and Mrs. Miller represented the teachers:

The PR committee would like to report the school FB page has been a success. To date, we have 370

page likes and 374 followers. If you aren’t following us, you can find us on Facebook under The AJ

Wildcats. We would also appreciate a share so we can gain followers from the community. AJ Baseball

Coaching staff attended the I-70 Baseball clinic in Greenville, Illinois over MLK weekend. The large group

sessions covered many topics ranging from hitting to pitching. It was a great atmosphere for learning

and we plan on attending future I-70 clinics. Ms. Maze’s Government classes have been learning about

free speech and protection of the American Flag (Texas vs Johnson), and the controversy surrounding

Confederate Statues. Students have been working on letters to their representatives asking them to

take a stand on one of the following topics. Students are eager to hear back from their representatives

on these issues. Ms. Maze is currently enrolled in a six week online Civic Workshop offered through

ISBE. She is excited to bring these new teaching strategies and lessons to her classroom. Terry Bartruff,

the Union County county clerk, will meet with Ms. Lewis’s seniors on Feb. 13th. He will bring in sample

ballots and the ballot reader and discuss how the voting process works. He will also register any eligible

seniors to vote, if they would like to. WYSE team placed 1st at regional competition at Shawnee College

on February 8th. This qualifies them to advance to sectional competition at SIU in March. Individual

medalists were as follows: English: 3rd-Hunter Miller, 1st- Colton Goins Computer Science: 3rd-Jakob

Eddleman Math: 3rd-Connar Hadley and Colton Goins Chemistry: 1st-Hunter Miller Biology: 3rd-Madi

Johnston and Ender Schmidt, 2nd-Catie Mays Physics: 3rd-Jakob Eddleman, 2nd-Madi Johnston, 1stBryce

Massey Other team members were Ashley Detering, Clair Boget, Audrey Haar, Trenton

Newberry, Alex Rogers, and Megan Tehandónrs.

Mr. Finders reported on the Illinois Science Assessment form 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. He gave an

update on the SAT Prep Incentives. Mr. Finders spoke about a couple grants that he has submitted for

and he is very hopeful on being recipients of the grants. He also reported that they will be finishing up

on evaluations this month.

Principal Detering reported on the Cafeteria Report, Enrollment, Discipline, and the weighted classes.

Superintendent Wright reported to the board that the spring IASB Shawnee Division Meeting will be

March 13 at Meridian. He spoke briefly about our preliminary Annual Financial Profile, he will present

financial projections at the next meeting. He went over possible ideas and estimates for potential

summer projects. The IASB Board Workshop has been scheduled for March 5, 2018 from 5:30-9:30.

On motion by Mr. Edwards and seconded by Mr. Hughey for the Board to enter into closed session at

7:52 p.m. for the following reasons (1) the purpose of appointment, employment, compensation,

discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employee of the public body or legal counsel for the

public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body

or against legal counsel for the public to determine its validity. 5ILCS 120/2(c) On roll call, all members

present voting yes. Motion carried.

On motion by Dr. Reach and seconded by Mr. McGrath to return to regular session at 8:11 p.m. On roll

call all members present voting yes. Motion carried.

Economic Interest Statements were handed out and completed.

Annual Report on Student Performance and Improvement was discussed.

On motion by Mr. Edwards and seconded by Mrs. Boget to approve BETA Club State Convention

overnight trip to Springfield. All members present voting yes. Motion carried.

On motion by Mr. Hughey and seconded by Mrs. Boget to recognize David Eaves for his service to the

district in the past and award him with a lifetime pass to school events. All members present voting yes.

Motion carried.

School safety was discussed in light of recent events that have taken place at other schools.

The possibility of a co-op with Dongola in Bowling was discussed and the general consensus was not to

move forward with it at this time.

On motion by Mr. Hughey and seconded by Mr. Edwards to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 9:06 p.m.

All members present voting yes. Motion carried.

The next regularly scheduled Meeting is Monday, March 19, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in the Superintendent's

Office

http://www.aj81.net/Board%20of%20Education/Minutes%20-%20PDFs/2017-2018/February%202018%20Minutes.pdf