District 204 Board, Parents Hone Communication Skills
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ 204 School Board President Byford Reidelberger again remarked that it was good to have a full audience then allowed two parents to speak and, then a third.
Barb Taylor told the board that she attended 204 School, as did her parents. She and her husband moved back into the district to allow their children the same experience, but now are looking forward to them leaving the district for high school.
"204 used to be a community school. It was friendly," she said. "We've lost that focus. I want my kids to feel the same way they used to about school and they don't. That hurts."
Taylor added that despite the higher property taxes, the higher standards at 204, along with the lower drop-out rate than other schools that feed into Pinckneyville Community High School made it worth the price.
Both Taylor and Mary Jackson mentioned the possibility of moving their children to a private school.
Jackson told the board "You and Ms. Wood (Superintendent Patty Hilliard-Wood) seem to think this is your school. It's not; it's the taxpayers' and kids' school. You need to pay attention to what they want."
She cited the stop sign on the front door telling visitors to report to the office, staffing changes and the removal of supplies such as coffee from the teacher's lounge as creating a hostile atmosphere.
Jackson questioned whether the board received the petition to retain Dianna Silvania as the sixth, seventh and eighth grade math teacher. The board made no comment.
The petition, signed by 31 parents read "We, the undersigned, acknowledge that Dianna Silvania, 6-8 grade math teacher at 204 School, uses good instructional methods in teaching, communicates well with parents about students' progress and is available during her planning time, lunch time and after school to help students. Mrs. Silvania has significantly built up the math curriculum during her years of teaching at 204 school."
The accompanying letter stated that there were 60 students in Jr. High at 204 last year, five of whom received math instruction from Mr. Dennis Kania. The 31 signatures represent more than 50 percent of the parents of Jr. High students. It was signed "204 Parents."
Sylvania has been told she will be the fifth grade teacher in the coming school year.
The board hired Jennifer Craft, presumably to teach 6-8 grade math. The vote passed 4 to 2, with Marion Logan, Bernadine Suchomski, Jeff Suchomski and Reidelberger as the yes votes. Roxanne Place voted against hiring Craft and Cindy Opp abstained. Tom Keith was absent.
The audience applauded after the vote.
Jackson told the board that she had not voted for any of them, other than Place.
"Perhaps you've confused this school with the correctional institute down the road," Jackson said.
She admonished the board that they were elected to stand up for the values of the voters, not their own agendas.
She added that she was very disappointed that the board had extended Hilliard-Wood's contract for an additional year.
Kristy King, another parent in the district, said that she agreed with everything Taylor and Jackson had said.
Parents and faculty members are allowed to speak only at the beginning of the meeting. The board rarely responds to the statements or questions during that time. Comments and questions about agenda items are not tolerated during the regular session.
Teacher Dianna Silvania also addressed the board in the recognition of audience section of the meeting. She pointed out that none of the faculty had been contacted about reward parties in preparation for a school-wide policy.
Reidelberger did say that the school policy on reward parties that was discussed in executive session at the last meeting dealt with the performance of specific employees and that there was no need to consult the faculty because the board knew how many parties were thrown.
Following executive session, the board passed motions restricting rewards parties to one per quarter and birthday parties to one per month for kindergarten through second and third through fifth grades. Students in sixth through eighth grade will be allowed one reward party per semester and no birthday parties.
In addition, the board directed Superintendent Patty Hilliard-Wood and the faculty to work together to create three separate criteria for K-2, 3-5 and 6-8 grades for reward parties and to determine which holiday parties will be celebrated by which grades.
The purpose of the new criteria will be to move the reward system, which is based largely on behavior, from a negative reinforcement system to a positive reinforcement system. Students had been able to accumulate enough demerits in the first few weeks of the quarter to make them ineligible for the reward party. They have no incentive to improve their behavior over the quarter because there was no reward. The new criteria will specify how each age group can 'redeem' demerits to make them eligible for the reward party once again.
"Right now it's the same children not attending each quarter," Hilliard-Wood said. "There's no recovery."
Hilliard-Wood suggested that instead of demerits being a permanent deduction from each students' "points" for the quarter, the system could start each student at zero and add points for good behavior.
Following the regular session meeting, Place said that 204 was behind on security issues and needed to catch up.
"I regret that it can't be an open door anymore, but you saw what happened at that Amish school where some guy came in and killed students," Place said. "That could happen here. The safety of our kids is too important."
It is standard procedure at schools to have visitors report to the office. Parents at 204 were used to entering the building at will and dropping into classrooms. The new policy has not been popular.
In other business, the board:
-agreed to allow the Booster Club to pay for the athletic supply costs for the 2009-2010 school year for all teams. The cost is estimated at $859. The athletic fund has only $1,200 in it while the Booster fund has $8,367. The Boosters will also pay for the lettering on the sign in the gym to recognize the volleyball team's regional victory and new tiger decals for the baseball and softball helmets. The estimated cost is $50.
-agreed to allow the Booster Club to collect the admission fees at pee wee games in addition to the concession profits. The Boosters will pay for all costs associated with the pee wee teams, including uniforms and officials.
-heard from Hilliard-Wood that the Booster Club plans to ask permission to hold a 3-on-3 Tournament in the coming school year. Profits from the tournament will be applied to the purchase of a new scorer's table. The cost of the table is $2,550.
-awarded the bread, milk, fuel and cafeteria food bids to IBC, Prairie Farms, Southern FS and Bear Foods, respectively. This is the first year that 204 has selected one food provider for all cafeteria supplies. The fuel bids can be locked in at any point during the contract. Hilliard-Wood said she would allow the price to fluctuate with the market before locking in. She is hoping that fuel prices will decrease in the coming months. Preference was given to local companies.
-heard from Hilliard-Wood that the next registration date will be Tuesday July 28 from 1 to 7 p.m. She added that the first day for teachers will be Aug. 13 and the first day for students will be Aug. 14.
-heard from Hilliard-Wood that she will follow through with the paperwork to designate the school as a Red Cross place of shelter in case of a disaster.
The next meeting of the 204 School Board will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 18 in the sixth grade classroom.