Belleville high schools hopeful more students will take AP courses

Belleville District 201 has received a grant from the Equal Opportunity Schools program, which will help the district direct its minority and low-income students to Advanced Placement courses.

“The grant is not a typical grant where we receive a lot of money,” said Melissa Taylor, director of special services for the district. “Instead, the district will have a program specialist regularly visit the schools to find students “who we should be encouraging to participate in these programs.”

“Having someone come in and look at that data and identify those students is a positive thing,” she said.

Superintendent Jeff Dosier is also excited about the program, saying “We see it as a way to potentially change the path of someone’s life. ... A rigorous program is an indicator of post-high school success in education.”

The AP courses are free for students to take, but to get the college credit they must take the exams, which could cost more than $90, Taylor said. The district does not yet know if the grant will help students pay for those exams, but is hopeful there will be a fee waiver or grant that will allow for more students to take the exams.

Finance report

Brian Mentzer, assistant superintendent, presented the board with finance committee findings that included some “very disappointing” news about the equalized assessed valuation in the district.

Mentzer suggested the board act to minimize the tax levy increase by lowering levy request in the social security, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund and the tort fund.

The finance committee suggested, and the board agreed, to lower the levy and pay any shortfall out of the working cash bond at the end of the year.

“It doesn’t mark a significant increase to taxpayers,” Mentzer said. “We feel this is in our best interests to try and help manage the burden on our taxpayers because of things outside our control.”

PARRC testing

Belleville East and Belleville West students have taken the English assessment of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, Taylor said.

“PARRC has been much easier this year,” Taylor said, citing an easier process and reduced testing time. However, she said some students reported running out of time to complete the test, and the district is hopeful that will not have a negative result on scores.

“We did report to the state, to see if they need to evaluate the cut scores,” she said.

Taylor also said the state has “changed their minds” about the science assessment, and now will test Biology students but not AP Biology classes. That test is supposed to be 47 minutes long, and “science teachers breathed a sigh of relief at hearing it’ll be just one class.”

Student recognition

Belleville East Principal Jason Karstens recognized three Lancers for their achievements:

▪ Lindsey Yearian, a senior, received the President’s Volunteer Service Award by the Corporation for National and Community Service. She will attend Saint Louis University on the pre-med track and hopes to attend medical school to become a neurologist.

▪  Daniel Zeuner has accepted an appointment to the United States Naval Academy and will pursue a career as a Marine Corp pilot. Daniel has a 5.0 GPA on the 4.0 scale; he plays wrestling, football and track and is in a number of honor societies and clubs

▪  Miranda Henry won first place in the D’addario Woodwinds Student Competition, a Grammy Foundation award to study in New York, and was selected to attend the NAFME All-National Honor Band, which performed on the Grand Ole Opry. She plans to major in saxophone performance and music education with a minor in business.

Districts and reductions in force

▪ District 201 is releasing six part time probationary teachers at the end of the school year. Dosier said before the meeting that the teachers do not qualify for reduction in force because of their part-time status.

“We won’t hire them back until we know we need them,” he said.

▪ The Belleville Area Special Services Cooperative recommended to its governing board to reduce one deaf/hard of hearing teaching position; and to reduce a music teacher to a four-fifths position. Jeff Daughtery, BASSC executive director, said member districts predict a lesser need for music therapy next year. He also said one of the districts has decided to hire its own full-time teacher for the hard of hearing position.

▪ Harmony District 175 is not planning any reduction in force for the coming year, Superintendent Pam Leonard said.

“There is a process in place for RIF's, of which the union would already have been notified if there were going to be any,” Leonard wrote in an email.

▪ Belle Valley District 119 will not have a reduction in force, said Superintendent Lou Obenuefemann.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Belleville high schools hopeful more students will take AP courses."