Du Quoin school board votes Aug. 14 start and May 29 end to 2013-2014 school year

The Du Quoin Board of Education met Thursday and considered the following agenda.

Du Quoin resident and John A. Logan College employeeTom Hamlin addressed the board concerning the high school not participating in the John A. Logan College WYSE competition for the past several years. Hamlin aired his concerns in a letter to the newspaper published last week.

Paul Lunsford, district architect, gave an update to the Board regarding the high school construction project. The board approved the payment of bills for the project as presented by the district architect.

The board examined the calendar options as developed by the DEA calendar committee. After consideration of the options the Board approved the 2013-2014 school year calendar that received the most votes of the faculty and staff. The 2013-2014 school year will begin with a Teacher's Institute Day on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013 and the first day of student attendance on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013. The tentative ending date will be a teacher's institute on Thursday, May 29, 2014.

The Building Principals shared considerations currently being discussed regarding an academic awards program for students in grades 4 through 8 and at the high school level. The new honors night will key on honor roll students, state scholars and scholarship key winners.

Dr. Kelly shared information with the board regarding current practices and considerations pertaining to facility accessibility as part of safety/security items.

Those plans will be detailed in the newspaper's annual Progress Report.

The Board entered into executive session at 7:21 p.m. and returned to regular session at 8:05 p.m.

The Board accepted the resignation of Lindsey Bush as DHS assistant girl's track coach effective at the present time.

The Board employed the following as 21st Century Program Personnel: Teachers: Candace Manning and Jessica Sanders; Aides: Laura Rea and Nancy Keith.

The Board employed the following to extra-curricular positions for the 2012-2013 school year: High School Assistant Boys Baseball Coach - Jeromie Morgan, high school assistant boys track coach - Mike Riggio, and DHS assistant girls softball coach - Jacob Emling. The Board approved the spring extra-curricular volunteer positions as presented by the DHS athletic director.