Students, parents and teachers are being asked to provide feedback on a statewide survey in an effort to improve student learning.
All public schools will be administering the Illinois 5Essentials Survey between Feb. 1 and the end of March. The 15-minute research-based survey will help identify strengths and weaknesses in a school's climate and learning conditions.
East St. Louis School District 189 Superintendent Arthur Culver said he's in favor of having a survey done. "We want to take advantage of every opportunity to make our district the very best that it can be," Culver said. "We encourage all our teachers, students and parents to make their voices heard by taking this survey, which will provide us with valuable information to make changes that improve student achievement."
If school districts have the required minimum survey participation, the results will be published in the next School Report Card in October, according to Susan Sarfaty, superintendent of St. Clair County Regional Office of Education.
For more information visit: https://illinois.5-essentials.org.
Granite City School District 9 is making some administrative changes for next school year. Human Resources Director Jim Parker said the school board appointed Jim Greenwald as the new superintendent and Cindy Gagich as the new principal. Greenwald is principal at Granite City High School, and Gagich is vice principal and curriculum director at the high school.
The district's Superintendent Harry Briggs will retire at the end of this school year. His last day with the district will be June 30. Both Greenwald and Gagich will begin their new positions July 1. Greenwald's annual salary year will be $161,547 and Gagich's salary will be $128,003.
U.S. Attorney Stephen Wigginton and St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly are holding a Heroin Awareness Forum for parents of Belleville West High School students from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 6 at the school, located at 4063 Frank Scott Parkway West. An hour-long schoolwide assembly for students about heroin awareness will be held at 9:25 a.m. the following day. Similar heroin awareness events are scheduled to be held in April at Belleville East High School.
Congressman John Shimkus announced his nominations to the four military service academies. They were as follows: Deven Hudson-Greenle, of Centralia, to the Air Force Academy; Harry Garner, of Maryville, to the Merchant Marine Academy; and Nicholas Ferrari, of Edwardsville, Lucas Foppe, of Breese, Nicholas Fulkrod, of Bethalto, Harry Garner, of Maryville, and Steven Munie, of Collinsville, to the Naval Academy.
These nominations were made from within the congressman's old 19th District boundaries, not his current 15th District. A congressman can nominate candidates, but the academies themselves make the final determination.
Lutheran schools in southern Illinois are celebrating National Lutheran Schools Week this week. The theme is "Baptized for This Moment." Participating schools include Holy Cross Lutheran and Good Shepherd Lutheran in Collinsville, Trinity Lutheran and Metro East Lutheran High School in Edwardsville, Zion Lutheran schools in Bethalto and Belleville, Unity Lutheran Christian in East St. Louis and St. John's Lutheran in Red Bud.
Students at Zion-Bethalto will participate in a penny war to help schools affected by Hurricane Sandy. Good Shepherd-Collinsville students will donate coins to the Lutheran Malaria Initiative. Other activities include tricycle races and hula hoop relays at Zion Lutheran School in Belleville and a performance by the Hampel Family Circus at Good Shepherd.
The Lifesavers Club at Belleville West High School is participating in a Teens for Jeans campaign, where gently-used jeans will be collected to donate to local charities. The jeans collection drive, sponsored by Aeropostale and DoSomething.org, runs through Feb. 10.
"One of our students (Senior Harlee Spencer) was looking around to find more ways we could make even a small difference," said club sponsor Cyndi Oberle-Dahm. "Lifesavers is about promoting positive choices and helping others."
Oberle-Dahm said the school has collected about 80 pairs of jeans. Belleville West is competing with 1,488 schools across the country to see who can collect the most jeans. The winning school receives $10,000, a party, and Aeropostale hoodies with the school name on them for every student.
Gently-used jeans can be dropped off at the high school, 4063 Frank Scott Parkway West; The Atrium of Belleville, 201 S. Belt West; or The TOCO Shop, 825 W. Main St.
At a speech and acting tournament Jan. 19, Belleville West placed first out of 17 schools. Event champion in the varsity division was Cody Essien and junior varsity champions were Cassie Severino and Mikayla Scott, according to Adam Jenkins, head coach of the speech and acting time.
In addition, Jenkins said five West students were named to the "Egyptian Forensic League Top 25," which is a list of the top 25 performers from all over Southern Illinois during the competitive season. They were as follows: Bethany Dain, Cody Essien, Lauren Jones, Taylor Keel and Devyn Tammons.
The Southwestern Illinois College Belleville Campus Cafe will serve a variety of hits this spring when College Activities presents its popular Concerts in the Cafe series. The concerts will be held at 7 p.m. the following Tuesdays: Four of a Kind Band, Feb. 5; You Can't Beat Experience Band, Feb. 19; Ed and Friends, March 5; Waterloo German Band, March 19; The Casuals, April 2; and The Don James Band, April 16. Concerts are open to the public, and admission is free. The Cafe is located on the first floor of the Main Complex, 2500 Carlyle Ave.
Do you have an item for Education Matters or an education-related story tip? We want to know about it. Send your ideas to education@bnd.com or call 239-2562. Jamie Forsythe now will cover primary and secondary schools. Scott Wuerz will continue to cover higher education institutions. He can be reached at swuerz@bnd.com.
