Before, after-school programs begin at HES
Staff writer
Durham-Lehigh-Hillsboro USD 410 board of education heard Monday night that new programs for before and after school are underway at Hillsboro Elementary School.
Hillsboro Elementary School principal Evan Yoder said the programs are receiving positive feedback.
Yoder reported that the before-school program was solving the problem of unsupervised children in the halls from 7:30 to 8 a.m. Students go to the library where they can work in pairs, read or listen to stories. At 8 a.m., they can go to the cafeteria for breakfast, then the gym or back to the library.
"I'm very pleased," said Yoder. "There's not as much participation yet in the after-school program, but we have had positive comments."
Yoder told board members the elementary school carnival is scheduled for April 2. Local businesses will provide prizes. The carnival will be held inside the large fair building at Marion County Fairgrounds.
"We're pretty excited about what we've got in store," said Yoder.
Hillsboro Middle School principal Corey Burton reported middle school teachers are getting ready for parent-teacher conferences scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday. He also said state assessments would be taken online this year.
Beginning next week, there will be 15 juniors from Tabor College working at the middle school. They will be completing part of the course requirements for their education classes and will be responsible for teaching one lesson.
High school principal Dale Honeck reported the in-school-suspension program is going well and is proving to be a positive thing for some students.
He said the technology department is working on improving programming for Channel 45 and is talking to Galaxy Cablevision about the picture quality. After visiting other schools with similar stations, Honeck is looking forward to increased coverage of all school activities.
The board renewed administrative contracts for Evan Yoder, HES principal, Corey Burton, HMS principal, Max Heinrichs, activities director and HHS assistant principal, and Dale Honeck, HHS principal.
The board also approved a contract for Jess Tracy as assistant baseball coach for the high school.
The board discussed the projected loss of state funding due to lower enrollment, and ways to offset the loss. They hope to generate community discussion and get input from local home and landowners. Some board members commented they need to be careful not to get into a "deficit" mindset.
Enrollment and staffing projections for the 2004-2005 school year also were discussed. The past eight years has seen a decline of 127 students (16.7 percent) in the USD 410 school district.
A change in class size was mentioned as an option for elementary school staffing issues. It was noted that there currently is no policy regarding the number of students in each elementary school class.
Gordon Mohn, superinten- dent, said, "I'd like to see us working with other area schools to help each other solve employment issues."
Hillsboro schools currently have the highest number of students in the gifted program of area schools, the board learned.
"Teachers in Hillsboro are more supportive and receptive to the program, and, therefore, we identify more students," said Debbie Geis, USD 410 representative for Marion County Special Education Cooperative.
At 9:30 p.m. the board went into executive session to complete the evaluation of superintendent Gordon Mohn.
