Direction of Instruction Amy Atteberry gave a presentation on the State Report Cards and State Test Scores for the district. She said State Test Scores cover grades 3 and up. The Illinois Assessment and Readiness covers reading and math for grades 3 through 8. Scores were well above average there, in most cases twice as proficient as the state averages. The Illinois Science Assessment and SAT scores are for grades 5 through 11. Science scores were below average compared to the state and SAT scores were slightly below the state average.
In the School Report Cards, Lincoln and Jefferson received Commendable Recommendations, as did the Junior High and High School. Washington received an Exemplary Ranking, putting it in the top 10% of all elementary schools in Illinois. More data can be found at illinoisreportcard.com.
The board then approved the 2023-24 School Improvement Plans for each building, which are the blueprints that will guide the teaching and learning process throughout the year.
A resolution was approved authorizing the abatement of the bond levy. The district will take one-third of the revenue from the 1% sales tax, which is $915,633 over the past 12 months, and abate $305,211 of the General Obligation School Bonds Series 2011.
Also, there will be a preliminary review of the next year’s Tentative Tax Levy at the December board meeting.
The Consent Agenda was approved, which includes leave of absence requests from Jessica Flannigan and Danielle Kuhlman, and $700 in total donations to the Brownsville School.
In the Superintendent’s Report, Jarrod Newell said Dart & Company LLC will be at the December 18th meeting to review the 2022-23 audit, and that students and staff will be on their Thanksgiving break from November 22-24. Newell also thanked the staff for how they conducted last month’s parent/teacher conferences; the board members for their commitment, as School Board Members Day was on November 15th; all the fall athletic teams and coaches; and the CWCHS Fine Arts Department for their fall play “Newsies”, which was performed November 17-19.
The board went into Closed Session at 7:45 PM.