BLUE RIDGE CUSD 18 SUPERINTENDENT’S MONTHLY UPDATE Issue #

7

Blue Ridge CUSD 18 Superintendent’s Monthly Update

2019 BRHS SCHOLASTIC BOWL TEAM MARCH 2019

BLUE RIDGE CONNECT! UPCOMING EVENTS

st st 19 End of 1 Quarter 19Approximately End of 1 Quarter 40 people gathered administrators and personnel. The 3/22 Progress Reports sent home for the 3rd Annual Blue Ridge evening provided a great 26 Report cards go home 3/2526 Report-29 Spring cards goBreak home CONNECT in February. opportunity for dialog between the 4/2 Election Day 26Attendees Picture Retake; heard PBIS from Gotcha our Party school community and the school board 4/626 Picture BREF Retake; Daddy/Daughter PBIS Gotcha Dance Party, 7 pm 4/9 PSAT Day at BRHS resource officer Lara Davis on the and administrative team. 31 Halloween Parade, 9 a.m.; Parties, 2:00 31 Halloween Parade, 9 a.m.; Parties, 2:00 p.m. 4/11-12 PreK Screening p.m. implementation of our CARE 4/12-13 BRHS Spring Play “Charlie and At the March 20 school board threat assessment processes for the Chocolate Factory”, 7 pm Old Gym each of our schools. CARE Teams meeting the BR Board of 4/29 Special Board Meeting to seat the are comprised of the principals, Education discussed the feedback new board members, 6:30 pm counselors, SRO, and teachers and received at BR CONNECT. Many 5/2 BRHS Honors Night, 7 pm, New Gym support personnel who have been helpful suggestions were made for reaching out to the community 5/4 Prom trained in the threat assessment 5/19 BRHS Graduation, 2 pm process. more, working on our facilities, 6/4 Last Day of School (as of now) and to address curriculum and 6/5 Teacher Institute Other presentations included the instruction issues. The Board will 6/6 Remaining emergency Day

BR/4H Collaboration to provide be developing specific action after school enrichment programs plans based on the information UPDATED CALENDARS for our students, the use of received. Thanks to all who came The 2018-19 school calendar has Restorative Practices to support out! been updated and is posted student behavior and social at http://5il.co/2uv7. emotional learning, and the Did You Know? Proposed Memorial Plaza project. As of now, June 4 is the last day of Schneider students raised over school, June 5 is Teacher Institute, Participants were then invited to $11,500 and BRIJHS students and we have 1 emergency day left. visit tables where they could have raised over $4400 for the informal conversations with American Heart Association! The calendar for 2019-20 is also school board members and district Way to go! available at http://5il.co/2uv8 BLUE RIDGE CUSD 18 SUPERINTENDENT’S MONTHLY UPDATE 2

List of Actions/ Information-March 20 School Board Meeting The Blue Ridge Board of Education met on Wednesday, March 20, 2019. Following is a partial list of actions taken at the meeting.  Accepted the resignation of Board President, Justin Otto. The Board is accepting applications for the open seat created by the resignation through April 5. Please send letters of interest and a resume to the District Office, Blue Ridge's own Curriculum Coordinator Dr. Stanifer, 411 N. John St., Farmer City 61842. The board BRIJHS Principal Mrs. Nichols, and Kindergarten Teacher will conduct interviews of candidates on April Mrs. Parsons at the Women in Education Leading and 15 and plan to approve the new member on Learning (WELL) Summit in Springfield March 14! Way to Represent! April 17 at the regular board meeting.  Dale Schneman will serve as board president, Franci Miller as vice president, and Kenna Dunlap Johnson as secretary through April 29 when the newly elected board is formally seated. Carlos Burton, Chelsie Leffelman, and Dale Schneman (incumbent) are running for the 3 seats up for election on April 2.  Approved the following employment matters: o Appointed Karisa Yeagle to JH English/Language Arts position for 2019-20 o Appointed Mackenzie Beck as HS Volunteer Assistant Coach o Approved two positions for technology summer help, with one position to begin right away and the other position to begin in June.  Discussed feedback from BR CONNECT – see article on the front page of this newsletter.  Blue Ridge Federation of Teachers President, Don Anton, addressed the Board of Education in support of the teachers, staff and the important work they do in the district, and their desire to reach a successful collective bargaining agreement.  Approved student handbook changes for 2019-20  Approved computer network management system, updates to facility access systems  Planned to meet on May 8 for in-district professional development for the Board with Larry Dirks, Illinois Association of School Board’s Field Services Director  Discussed updates to the process used to evaluate the annual performance of the superintendent Blue Ridge Federation of  Reviewed the plans for the Memorial Plaza, Track, and Restrooms by Teachers President, Don Anton, the football field. With plans in place, we will begin fundraising addresses the Board of toward these related projects. More information will be sent out Education separately to the public. We are looking for interested people to spear- head the fundraising efforts and be involved in the project in other ways. Call Superintendent Susan Wilson at 309-928-9141 if you would like to know more. BLUE RIDGE CUSD 18 SUPERINTENDENT’S MONTHLY UPDATE 3

Curriculum Update ● Coordinated 4H activities for the BRIJHS Book Fair-dinosaur virtual reality, Makey Makey carrot piano, 3D pens, Lego circuit cars ● Worked to revise the upcoming Lights, Camera, Cook! 4H course offering at BRIJHS to include 4th-8th graders ● Met with David Webb to plan for Parkland Leadership Series courses for the 2019/2020 school year ● Communicated with Tri-County regarding training needs for 2019/2020 ● Met with the BRHS School Improvement (SIP) Team to continue our work on the IL Quality Framework and Rubric ● Met with the BRIJHS Instructional Leadership Team to continue our work on Hattie’s Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn News from Schneider School Kids Heart Challenge: This spring Schneider Elementary raised over $11,500 for the American Heart Association. Students who raised over $150 were able to silly string their teacher which was enjoyed by all. Thank you to Mr. Hanson for his commitment and efforts in making this event a huge success!! PreK Screenings: Our Spring Pre-K screenings are planned for April 11th and 12th. We have 22 screening spots filled. We have a fall screening planned for August 1st and 2nd. BUG Assembly: Our Spring B.U.G. assembly will take place April 12th at 2:30 p.m. in the Schneider cafeteria.

U of I Physics Van: The University of Illinois Physics Van visited Schneider Elementary this month. This assembly involved exciting physics demonstrations with explanations. They showed our students that science is fun and worthwhile for people who wonder about why the world acts the way it does. The assembly challenges kids' mental picture of what kind of people scientists are and shows them that as long as you want to learn and have fun, there's a world of physics waiting to be discovered.

FFA Petting Zoo: Thank you to our FFA chapter for putting together a fun day for Schneider students. Pre-K-3rd grade students went over to the high school to see several farm animals and received a short agriculture lesson from our high school FFA members.

Attendance: We had 60 students with perfect attendance in February.

Behavior: 94% of our students are ticket free during the month of February. This is above our 80% target and school-wide expectation.

BLUE RIDGE CUSD 18 SUPERINTENDENT’S MONTHLY UPDATE 4

News from Blue Ridge Intermediate & Junior High

Sendoff for Kade Nichols: The 6th grade hosted a send-off party for student Kade Nichols when he left for medical rehabilitation. We are looking forward to his return later in the semester!

Congratulations and Kudos to Amy Brokaw, Heather Wilcoxon, and all staff that helped plan and implement our annual Family Reading Night and Read Across America Week! It was a collaboration between our staff, high school Key Club members, and the 4-H Extension office. There were many fun activities for kids of all ages to enjoy! Attendance: 109 students had perfect attendance in the month of February. Treats for perfect attendance will provided by the kitchen staff again this school year. Behavior: There were 97 discipline referrals in February. Restorative Practices has been implemented in all classrooms. Extracurriculars: Congratulations to the 8th Grade team on winning Regionals. We are so proud of the team and Coach K for an awesome season!

News from Blue Ridge High School

Scholastic Bowl News: Congratulations to Coach Evan Miles and the Members of the Scholastic Bowl Team for finishing 2nd Place in Both the Regional and Masonic Sectional Tournaments.

Luke Nichols and Tyler Maxwell were named to the All Sectional Scholastic Bowl Team.

National Honor Society News: Congratulations to the New Members of the Blue Ridge High School National Honor Society. They were Inducted on Tuesday, March 5th: Josephine Aldrich, Meah Carter, Kathryn Cole, Taylor Hobbs, Madison Houser, Brittney Meir, and Kalyn Warner.

Fine Arts at BRHS: Thank you to Chris Mitchell, Sara Wieber, Sarah Yeagle, and all of the Students who participated in the Fine Arts Expo on Tuesday, March 12th.

Mrs. Wieber and BRHS art students competed in the Rembrandt Society on March 8 and received the following awards: Sarah Whitehouse Won Best in Show for her work in Graphic Design, Hannah Cole Won Best in Show for Crafts; along with First Place Awards being given to Josephine Aldrich, Harley Buchanan, and Taylor Hobbs.

BLUE RIDGE CUSD 18 SUPERINTENDENT’S MONTHLY UPDATE 5

Booster Cash Bash: Thank you to the Members of the Booster Club for hosting a very successful “Cash Bash” on Saturday, March 9th.

Knight to Remember: Thank you to Ms. Eubank, Mr. Mitchell, and the Members of the Music Department for putting on a very entertaining “Knight to Remember” on Saturday, February 23rd.

Attendance: There are 226 Students currently enrolled at Blue Ridge High School. The Average Daily Attendance from February 13, 2019 through March 13, 2019 was 201. That is 89.0%. We continue to work with the Regional Office of Education and the Truancy Officer to decrease the number of Chronic Absentees.

Behavior: From February 13, 2019 through March 13, 2019 the High School has had NO Out of School Suspensions, 6 for the 2018-2019 School Year. 30 Disciplinary Infractions by 28 Students, 148 for the 2018-2019 School Year. 198 Students with No Disciplinary Infractions, 86.7% of the Student Body.

Extracurriculars:  Our athletic conference will change its name to “Lincoln Prairie Conference” beginning next year. The conference will include all of the schools who are currently listed on the banners hanging in the BRHS Gym.  Athletes of the Month for February: Meah Carter and Zach Stephens in , Courtney Reynolds in , and Nadia Beadle for Scholastic Bowl.  Zach Stephens was being named 1st Team All-Conference in the Little Okaw Valley Conference for Basketball; and for Nick Burrow for being named to the Second Team.  Meah Carter was named 2nd Team All-Conference in the Little Okaw Valley Conference for Basketball.

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