So far we've made it through the season without having to use a snow day. The last day of school for staff and students is still (tentatively) set for Friday, May 26, 2023. Contrary to districts around us, we were in session for President's Day. We had to use a non-attendance day for the first time this year for Election Day in November, so being in on President's Day still allows us to be out before Memorial Day.

​Bushnell-Prairie City Board of Education
At their regular meeting in February the Board of Education discussed books in classrooms and how those books are selected. The Board took the following action:

Personnel

• Accepted the resignations of Brandy Allaman and Nathan Harrison.
• Approve the change in status of Carrie Scarbrough from 3rd grade to 1st grade; Carol Jones from Art to Math Interventionist; Emily Jackson from ELA/Science to 5th grade; Tiffany Churchill from 1st grade to 2nd grade; Melissa Gray from 5th grade to 3rd grade; and Alicia Peterson from 4th grade to 5th grade.
• Approved the hiring of Britney Corbin as a 1:1 paraprofessional; Andrea Ferguson at the JH Scholastic Bowl Sponsor; Elizabeth Treadway for Elementary Art; and Brayden Davis for 1st grade.
• Increased the daily per diem rate for substitute teachers from $100 to $115 per day.
• Limited the salary of full-time substitutes to $38,000 per year.

Curriculum
Approved Intro to Business, Business Communication, Business Principles and Management, and Keyboarding as new classes at B-PC High School for the 2023-2024 school year. These courses will be taught by Ms. Duchow.

Board Member Vacancy
Appointed Alan Thompson to fill the vacancy created by Devin Kozicki's resignation.

The Bushnell-Prairie City Board of Education is comprised of 7 members; four of whom reside within Bushnell and/or Prairie City Townships and 3 who reside within the other townships of the district. Board member Devin Kozicki recently moved with her family to Iowa, creating a vacancy on the board. School board policy requires interested parties to submit, to the Board of Education, their interest in serving, whose members will then conduct interviews before appointing someone to fill the term until the next election. The next school board election is scheduled for April 4, 2023. If you are interested in serving on the B-PC Board of Education until the next school board election, please contact Superintendent, Kathy Dinger at dingerk@bpcschools.org or Board Secretary, Sonja Settles at settless@bpcschools.org. It is anticipated that the Board of Education will conduct interviews at their next, regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, February 15, 2023.

Portrait of a Graduate
The District invited members of the school community to come together and begin work to identify characteristics that should be promoted in every B-PC graduate. Twenty school community members (civic leaders, school district employees, students, and representatives from higher education) came together created a comprehensive list of dispositions or skills (outside of academics). They determined that B-PC graduates should be: creative, communicate effectively, ask quality questions, be problem-solvers and critical thinkers, be able to adjust and adapt, be open, show empathy, persevere, take initiative, and engage in self-reflection. The District Leadership Team is tasked with defining what these characteristics might look like and how they will be promoted in all classrooms and activities.

Bushnell-Prairie City Board of Education

• The Board of Education met on Wednesday, January 18 for their regular meeting. During her superintendent update, Dr. Dinger provided an update on the construction work that continues at B-PC High School. She also shared that the District received a refund of $10,236 from the City of Bushnell for overcharges on utilities. The District continues to work with Trent Barker from Pepsi to explore new scoreboards in the high school gymnasium. Lastly, Dr. Dinger reported out on the success of the "Portrait of a Graduate" work that occurred on the evening of January 11. Twenty school community members (civic leaders, school district employees, students, and representatives from higher education) came together to identify key characteristics that every graduate should have upon leaving B-PC High. Dr. Dinger shared the list with board members and will share more as that initiative develops.
• Building principals shared highlights of their school report cards and shared that while some of the data seemed inconsistent, there are challenges and successes unique to each building. They reported good growth and student engagement on local assessments. Mr. Harrison, principal at B-PC Junior High discussed the "Duck It" at the junior high that promotes kindness and paying it forward. Each board member had a duck at their seat and was given an affirmation, an affirmation to provide to someone else, or a reward.
• In personnel, former co-head football coaches requested that Jacob Schisler assume head coach responsibilities and Kory Schwarz assume assistant coach responsibilities. Those changes in status were approved by the Board. Contracts for Nathan Harrison, principal at B-PC Junior High and Jerry Butcher, principal at B-PC High School were approved for 5 years, through the 2028 school year. Dawna Daily, principal at B-PC Elementary is set to retire at the conclusion of the 2024 school year.
• Updates and changes to board policy by the Illinois Association of School Boards underwent a "second reading" and were approved.
• Graduation for the Class of 2023 was approved for Sunday, May 21, 2:00 pm in the B-PC High School gymnasium.
• The Board approved the calling of sealed bids for new windows at the high school (not to include new siding - which was cost prohibitive) and upgrades to the high school auditorium (seating, lighting, flooring, sound system, etc.). 
• Finally, board members discussed recent changes in athletics programming at Bushnell-Prairie City. Golf was added as an opportunity at the high school in response to COVID restrictions that limited students ability to participate in football. While successful, under the direction of Coach Tyler Snyder, there aren't enough students showing interest for next year and so golf won't be an option for student next fall, although members were supportive of revisiting student interest in the future. Junior high baseball is a sport that has high interest among B-PC students and will be added to the District's offerings in 2023.

Friday Night Basketball
Dr. Dinger has been a long-time advocate of celebrating all athletics at B-PC. This year, again, changes were made in schedules to provide the girls basketball team with an opportunity to play on Friday night. Both girls and boys varsity teams will face Brimfield High School on Friday, January 27. Tip off for the boys' game is 5:30 pm, with the girls game starting afterward.

Scholastic Book Fair is coming soon!
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SAVE THE DATE:
Oct.24th-27th (8:10-3:00 Wed. 8:10-2:00)
Thursday night (4-7:30)

Stay tuned for more details, and preview books online and set up your eWallet in the meantime.

We welcomed staff back on Monday and Tuesday, August 15 and 16 and students back on Wednesday, August 17. Due to slight construction delays, high school students were welcomed back on Monday, August 22. An active shooter drill was conducted (staff only) during our first back-to-school institute days. We learned a lot and will continue to work to improve staff and student safety.

Construction Update
As mentioned above, the start of high school student attendance was delayed for a few days due to construction. All classrooms and most areas have been completed. We are a few weeks away from having locker rooms finished, classroom doors are due in November, and we need to complete a few finishing touches in other areas . . . but the building looks amazing. We hope to hold an open house later this fall once all is complete. We will be holding all upcoming high school athletic events in the gymnasium. 

Student Safety
As mentioned in the  August Monthly Minute, we continue to explore ways to make getting to and from school safer for our students. Dr. Dinger is meeting with city and agency officials to explore expanded transportation options for students. Please continue to exit the JH and HS campus out the front drive during school hours and remember not to pass stopped school buses with flashers and crossing arms extended. Spartan Drive is one-way only during school hours (7:30 am - 3:30 pm).

Workforce Pathway
October is manufacturing month. Juniors and seniors will have the opportunity again this year to tour and learn more about McDonough County employers. We appreciate the collaboration between MAEDCO (the McDonough County Economic Development Council), the Workforce Office of Western Illinois, and local businesses to provide this for students at B-PC High School, Macomb High School, and West Prairie High School.

Board of Education
The B-PC Board of Education met for its regular meeting in August. During construction, all board meetings have been held in the conference room in the District Office. We anticipate receiving HS library furniture in September and look forward to having board meetings back in the HS library in October. The Board meeting time was adjusted to 5:00 pm during the summer months. The board meeting will begin at 6:00 pm in September and for the remainder of the school year. 

The following items were discussed or acted upon at the August Board of Education meeting:

• The Board approved the transition to Skyward Financial Services. This will allow the District to better integrate with our student management system, also provided by Skyward.
• The Board reviewed an opinion letter received from a traffic engineer who indicated the closing of Spartan Drive is an option for improving student safety. Members also discussed the current plan to make Spartan Drive one-way during school hours (7:30 am - 3:30 pm) and the changes implemented for drop-off and pick-up at B-PC Junior High and B-PC High School. These changes will continue and signs will be ordered to provide better information to motorists. The tentative budget for FY23 was approved for display and the personnel report and the parent/student handbook were approved. Dessa Powell resigned as a HS cook, Kathy Torrence was welcomed back as a part-time teacher in Family and Consumer Science, Emily Corkern was hired as a program assistant, and Jean Nelson, Minnie Keime, and Carol Worthington were approved as cooks. Mr. Arnold’s intent to retire at the conclusion of  the 2025-2026 school year was accepted and approved. 
• Mr. Arnold spoke to the Board of Education on behalf of parents interested in the District including junior high baseball as a school sport. Dr. Dinger is gathering additional data to present to the Board at their September meeting for further discussion.

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Important Dates
August 29: STAR Benchmark Assessments
September 5: Labor Day, NO SCHOOL
September 23: Homecoming Game vs. Peoria Heights
September 24: Homecoming Dance

If you are a school family, please remember to check Daily Announcements in Skyward and to check our school calendars for upcoming school and athletic events.

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Section 2001(i)(1) of the ARP Act requires that each Local Education Agency (LEA) that receives ARP ESSER funds develops and makes publicly available on its website a "Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan". Section 2001(i)(2) requires that the LEA seek public input on the plan and take those comments into consideration in the development of the plan.

In compliance with these federal requirements, Bushnell-Prairie City remains committed to ensuring the safety of all staff and students and has continued to adapt, as necessary, to changing circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The District initially developed a Return-to-Learn Plan in July of 2021 with revisions, based upon public comment, developed and adopted in February of 2022. The following strategies within our most recent "Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan" will be implemented to continue the District's efforts to maintain a safe and health learning environment for its staff and students. This plan will be reviewed no less than every 6 months and modified as needed based upon current conditions and feedback received from the school community. To provide comments regarding the District's current, "Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan", please access the following email.

Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan

The District will monitor and implement safety recommendations issued by the Center for Disease Control local health agencies in McDonough, Warren, and Fulton Counties, the State of Illinois, and the Illinois State Board of Education for:

• the wearing of masks;
• use of physical distancing in the classroom and on school district transportation;
• handwashing and respiratory etiquette;
• cleaning and maintaining health facilities, including ventilation;
• contact tracing and community vaccination efforts; 
• providing accommodations for children with respect to health and safety policies; 
• ensuring continuity of services for students' academic needs;
• continuity of services to support students' and staff social, emotional, and mental health; and,
• any other identified needs (not limited to student health and food services).

Strategies:

• Masks (as needed or required) will be made available to all staff and students.
• Modify classroom and common areas, as needed, to provide additional physical distancing of students.
• Encourage frequent handwashing and safe respiratory etiquette (i.e. covered coughing) in classrooms.
• Disinfect and clean all classroom and instructional areas and surfaces regularly.
• Upgrade physical plant to improve ventilation and facilitate clean surfaces.
• Continue cooperation with the McDonough County Health Department during contact tracing and to support access to vaccinations to the school community.
• Provide individualized consideration to staff and students with disabilities to ensure optimal health and safety.
• Utilize digital tools and schedules to address continuity of students' academic needs, including, but not limited to, remote learning, summer tutoring, and academic support during times of prolonged absence.
• Provide access to social work services for students to address their social, emotional, and mental health needs and continue strategies that support the same for staff (incentives, additional staffing support, adapted working conditions, etc.).
• Monitor students' access to food services and provide assistance during times of food insecurity (meals sent home and/or delivered).

A public hearing will be held on Wednesday, June 22, 5:50 pm at the meeting of the Bushnell-Prairie City Board of Education. The purpose of this hearing will be to accept public comment on the District's intent to submit a waiver to the Illinois State Board of Education allowing for tuition-free attendance of licensed employees, upon request.

The Board of Education, at their regular meeting in May 2022, unanimously approved a resolution to transfer $2,362,953 from the Working Cash Fund to the Operations and Maintenance Fund. School districts are prohibited from paying expenses from the Working Cash Fund. These funds were generated through the sale of bonds and will be used to complete renovations at Bushnell-Prairie City High School.