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La Harpe School Board April Meeting

The La Harpe School Board held a regular meeting Tuesday, April 18, in the school district library.

School board members in attendance were Barbara Cox, Dan Horton, Ricky Johnson, Mark Irish, R.D. Trout, Cindy Wear, and Nancy Butler. Also, present were Jo Campbell, Pat Deitrich, Ann Logan, Melissa Johnson, Jack McKinnon, John Quigle, and Dawn Todd.

Melissa Johnson urged the board to consider the addition of another kindergarten teacher for the 2006-07 school year.

The board

The board also voted to officially call a special joint board meeting on May 1 in the La Harpe school cafeteria at 7:00 p.m. for the Carthage, Dallas, and La Harpe school boards to discuss questions regarding formation of the new high school and elementary districts.

Michelle Heninger from the Illinois State Board of Education will be in attendance to address reorganization questions.

Junior High/High School Principal Lila McKeown sent her report to the board.

Baseball and softball teams are doing well.

High school track athletes are competing in several meets.

Mrs. Logan has been giving practice ACT and Prairie State tests in the evening.

The freshmen took the Illinois Learning Standards Battery (ILSB) on April 4 and 5.

Along with the Prairie State, ILSB, and sophomore PLAN tests, we will be using a 12th Grade exit exam to triangulate data for our School Improvement Plan on student learning of the Illinois Learning Standards. This Exit Exam will be given to juniors.

The ambulance crew and fire department gave a a very interesting assembly on driving safety and making good choices on April 6.

They demonstrated the equipment they use to extricate victims from wrecked autos and the procedure for putting a victim on a backboard.

Kendall Beals explained his role as coroner if a fatality occurs.

Jim Dedera was in high school classes on Friday, April 7. He brings a drug free message to the students. Josie Earle, with the Regional Office, is in charge of the grant that brings Mr. Dedera to our school.

Meranda Reed signed a letter of intent to play basketball with Robert Morris College in Springfield on May 12.

The Student Council planned "Spring Reliever Week" April 10-14. They had dress-up days during the week and games for the students on Thursday.

The junior class and their sponsors, Mrs. Holtsclaw and Mrs. Stevenson, have been busy preparing for Prom to be held on April 29.

An "Evening with the Arts' was held April 22. Mrs. Cindy Jones and Mrs, Kathy Kendall worked with the students to present a melodrama.

Mrs. Stephanie Mencel and her music students provided the music. Mrs. Judy Stevenson had students art work on display.

Mrs. Janet McKoon was responsible for the dessert and decorations. The cast presented the play to the elementary and junior high students on April 21.

Junior high track has started. There are 59, 5th-8th graders participating.

Dominic Jones and Ashley Haynes were winners in the Illinois Coal Calendar's 18th Annual Art and Essay Contest sponsored by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's Office of Coal Development. Mr. McKinnon was in charge of submitting the entries.

Jim Dedera met with the junior high students on April 6 and 7.

A volleyball reception was held on April 19 to honor the 7th grade volleyball team's 2nd place finish at state.

The 8th grade students will also be taking an exit exam on April 26-27. The data generated will be used in the School Improvement Plan as our local assessment.

The Student Council will be sponsoring a dance on April 28 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Ricky Johnson read the Ag Report prepared by Paul Mealiff.

Lindsey Pollock and Morgan Mohr traveled with 9 other students from Hancock County to Decatur on April 3 and 4, where they attended the IAA/FFA Youth Leadership Conference They attended training sessions about Cooperatives, Heritage, Member Involvement, Teamwork, CDE Competition, and Planning and Organization.

The Section XI FFA Spring Trap Shoot will be held April 22 at the Smokin' Gun Hunting Club north of Hamilton.

Due to the increased day length and warmer temperatures, the plants in the Greenhouse have really been growing and blooming. Our plant sale is planned for May 5 and 6, but we may need to start sooner.

We have our usual large variety of flowers along with Roma, Big Boy, Better Boy, Rutgers, and cheery tomatoes, along with Bell Sweet Banana and Jalapeno peppers.

Mr. Mealiff will be taking a Livestock and a Dairy judging team to the state competition at the U. of I. in Urbana. Team members include: Mariah Myers, Jazmyn Passmore, Tanieka Rodeffer, Killon McKeown, Megan Poulter, Lindsey Pollock, and Dillon Pollock.

Alex Blythe worked down the corn and soybean plots last week. We plan to plant the corn in 10 days and soybeans in the first week of May.