South Central Reporter

Centralia School District 135 Board of Education met Dec. 8

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

Minutes of the regular meeting of the Centralia City Schools Board of Education, District No. 135, Marion, Clinton, Jefferson and Washington Counties, Illinois, held at 6:00 p.m., in the Administration Building, 400 South Elm Street, Centralia, Illinois 62801.

Members Present: Ron Johnson, Blake Griffin, Jeremy Martin, Renae Bauer, Derek Harlan, Lyle Gross, and Sue Williams

Members Absent:

Also Present: Supt. Craig E. Clark and Asst. Supt. Chris Becker

Due to the Tier 3 mitigations, the Board Meeting was also live streamed on the district’s Facebook page.

Board President Johnson called the regular meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. 

A Public Hearing was held on the adoption of the District’s E-Learning Plan. 

The regular meeting was reconvened at 6:09 p.m.

MOTION #1:

It was moved by Martin and seconded by Griffin to adjourn to closed session to discuss personnel. Motion carried.

Adjourned to closed session at 6:10 p.m.

Reconvened to open session at 7:06 p.m.

MOTION #2:

It was moved by Bauer and seconded by Gross to approve the consent agenda as follows: 

1. Approval of minutes of regular meeting held on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. 2. Approval of bills in the amount of $902,264.15.

3. Approval of December payroll.

4. Approval of destruction of closed session verbatim tapes from meetings held during and before June 2019 and to keep closed session minutes closed. Motion carried.

MOTION #3:

It was moved by Gross and seconded by Griffin to approve the Treasurer’s Report. Motion carried.

RECOGNITION AND COMMENTS FROM EMPLOYEES AND PUBLIC

BOARD COMMITTEE REPORT

1. The Transportation Committee met and had recommendations for buses for the upcoming year.

2. The Budget Committee met to develop a tax levy which they presented a report. 12/8/20 1

CURRICULUM REPORT

Asst. Supt. Becker reported on remote learning within the district, including the use of Zoom and Nearpod platforms. The second iReady diagnostic is also underway.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

NEW BUSINESS

MOTION #4:

It was moved by Griffin and seconded by Gross to approve the 2020 Tax Levies. Motion carried.

MOTION #5:

It was moved by Harlan and seconded by Martin to adopt the District’s E-Learning Plan. Motion carried.

MOTION #6:

It was moved by Williams and seconded by Martin to approve the bus lease/purchase agreement with Midwest Transit Equipment. Motion carried.

MOTION #7:

It was moved by Martin and seconded by Gross to approve the Maternity Leave Request from Employee #1632. Motion carried.

MOTION #8:

It was moved by Bauer and seconded by Griffin to approve the Intent to Retire from Martha Gray, Cook at Jordan School. Motion carried.

MOTION #9:

It was moved by Griffin and seconded by Gross to accept the resignation of Felicia Orta as Classroom Paraprofessional at Centralia Junior High School. Motion carried.

MOTION #10:

It was moved by Bauer and seconded by Gross to employ Michelle Atchison as a bus driver. Motion carried.

MOTION #11:

It was moved by Bauer and seconded by Gross to approve the Leave of Absence for Employee #1516. Motion carried.

A First Reading was held for the following PRESS Policy Updates: 3:40 Superintendent

3:40 Exhibit

4:80 Accounting and Audits

4:90 Student Activity and Fiduciary Funds

4:150 Facility Management and Building Programs

5:270 Employment-At-Will, Compensation, and Assignment

6:20 School Year and Calendar

6:340 Students Testing and Assessment Program

7:100 Health, Eye, and Dental Examinations, Immunizations, and Exclusion of Students 

7:140 Search and Seizure

7:300 Extracurricular Athletics

7:340 Student Records

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Supt. Clark reported on the following:

1. Building Celebrations:

Schiller

- Celebrated Veteran’s Day by learning why the day is so important to us. Many students interviewed relatives and friends who served in the military and displayed their reports.

-Teachers have attended professional development to enhance Zoom meetings and for Nearpod training to engage students in remote learning and in the classroom. More PD is planned with ULLC in the coming weeks.

- Staff had a fun time with Pranksgiving in the building when students were out of the building to help boost spirits.

- Students are finishing up their second diagnostic test in iReady and we are seeing some awesome results.

Jordan

- Students are presently taking the second i-Ready diagnostic test of the school year. This test provides teachers within sight into student needs. The diagnostic offers a complete picture of student performance and growth.

- Teachers are continuing to strengthen their remote learning skills and recently received training on the use of Nearpod to create interactive presentations that can contain quizzes, polls, videos, and collaborative boards.

- Teachers received training on identifying the priority standards in math from Kathy Kubic from ULLC. Teachers then identified these standards in content that has already been taught and will identify these standards as they progress through the curriculum.

- The Pediatric Sleep Center at SSM recently sponsored a hat and glove drive for students. All students at Jordan Elementary School received a new hat and gloves to keep them warm during the winter season.

- On December 15th, faculty, staff, and students will be treated to a virtual performance of “Winter Wonderland” at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, MO. This presentation will include a wonderful mix of winter and holiday music including “Winter Wonderland”, “I’ll Be home For Christmas,” and many others including the Oscar-winning song from Frozen, “Let It Go.”

- All students will receive a winter-themed book, “How to Catch a Snowman” (2nd grade) and “Snowy the Surprise Puppy” (3rd grade) as a Christmas gift compliments of Jordan Elementary School.

- “Christmas Spirit Week” will be celebrated the week of December 14th-18th. Special themed days will include: Merry Morning Monday – wear your pajamas, Tinsel Tuesday – wear anything that sparkles, glitters or shines, Wacky Wednesday – wear festive or ugly sweater, Topper Thursday – wear a Santa hat, elf hat, antlers, or a festive hairdo, and Flannel Friday – wear flannel clothing. 

Central Middle School

- Fourth Grade October Tiger Cubs of the Month are Brigham Lewis and Matthew Smith

- Fifth Grade October Tiger Cubs of the Month are Lily Hull and Liliana Norcerinos 

- C.M.S. celebrated, featured teacher, Cortney Denton for her excellence in teaching P.E. during the pandemic while adhering to the NASPE standards, Illinois Learning Standards and the enhanced Physical Education Task Force Standards while implementing enhanced P.E. while maintaining requirements set forth by the CDC. 

- C.M.S. celebrated, Computer Technician, Trace Witthaus. Trace has been a lifesaver with his assistance in all things technology in our school.

- Ag Day through Monsanto – Fifth graders participated in the annual Ag Day presented by Monsanto. Due to the regulations, the field trip was presented virtually this year.

- Fourth and Fifth graders completed their five series viewing of performances provided by the Sheldon Theater.

- C.M.S. students celebrated their “Halloween” parties on Thursday, November 12th. Due to the earlier shutdown, parties had to be moved out to November. 

- C.M.S. has presented an additional 15 positive office referrals ranging from improved grades, maintaining good grades, being respectful, being helpful, adhering to the Tiger Cub traits, mastering math vocabulary, and overall positive.

Centralia Junior High School

- We celebrated our Edcational Support Professionals the week of November 20th. We had donuts for the staff to celebrate.

- Students worked hard while on remote learning. Incentives were given to students for being on for every class every day. Six students were drawn out to receive gift cards from Walmart, Dairy Queen and McDonald’s.

- We had multiple positive office referrals from Mrs. Hocking, our Full Remote Teacher. These students were able to get all of their assignments completed for the first quarter.

- We are starting our new Multi Tier System of Support (MTSS) model at Centralia Junior High School. Our Data team will determine areas that students need improvement. We will focus each month on a different skill to help fill the gaps in education. Students will complete iReady lessons twice a week and then teachers will have a scripted lesson that they will deliver twice a week (one in English/Reading and one in Math). At the end of the month we will have a grade level class competition through Gimkit and the winning class will receive a reward.

- The MTSS Universal team focuses on the climate and culture of the building. Due to our classrooms being stationary, we are creating team names and team flags. Our homerooms will have the ability to earn badges, ribbons of honor, and pins for accomplishments. Our new motto is… We can… We will… We must… We are T.I.G.E.R.S.! Tigers will represent-Togetherness, Integrity, Growth, Education, Respect and Success. We will focus on these in our building and educate students on what these words mean to us. We are excited to get started!

- While on remote learning, Mr. Queen and Mrs. Emrick were able to make over 40 home visits to help families understand the technology and encourage students to continue working hard.

2. Other: Mr. Terry Herrell will be inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MOTION #12:

It was moved by Bauer and seconded by Griffin to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.

https://ccs135.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Minutes-Dec-8-20.docx.pdf