Morrisonville CUSD #1 board discusses early graduation for seniors, honor roll changes part of meeting business

MORRISONVILLE (Heartland Newsfeed) — Several imminent changes are about to take place for students at Morrisonville High School beginning in the 2018-19 academic year, according to presentations given during the January 18 meeting of the Morrisonville CUSD #1 board of education.

According to remarks made by district superintendent Dave Meister, Morrisonville High School principal Ann Little and curriculum committee members Ann Ganther and Roberta Harker, several upcoming changes will before effective at the beginning of the next school year, such as changes to the junior high and high school curriculum, honor roll format changes, changes to the “senior project”, the potential availability of online curriculum, the expansion of dual credit coursework with Lincoln Land Community College for juniors and the potential of early graduation in December. These ideas were discussed during a committee meeting on January 10.

Morrisonville High School will be reducing the honor roll categories from three – Honor Roll, High Honors and Super High Honors – to two categories. The changes effective in the next school year would result in Honor Roll (3.5000 to 3.7999 GPA) and High Honors (3.8000 to 3.9999 GPA). After much discussion and concern that straight A students with a 4.000 or higher GPA weren’t being acknowledged, the board agreed to a compromise notating those students with an asterisk next to those students or the student’s name formatted in bold italics.

Incoming MHS juniors will now be to enroll in online high school elective courses, as well as online college courses which allows for earning dual credit for college in the upcoming 2018-19 academic year. The option was previously available to seniors. The district board policy would need to be revised to allow for students to accumulate dual credit for approved college courses, although no specific language was offered as what qualifies as such, even if it part of the district’s current curriculum offerings at the high school. While in the past students receiving a B or better grade in this courses would be rewarded with a $100 reimbursement incentive, with the current financial quagmire the district is in, the board opted to suspend the reimbursement incentive until further notice.

Seniors at MHS can be eligible for early graduation in December starting in the next school year, as long as local and state requirements are meant. There was some discussion as to what these early graduates can and cannot participate in. It was determined that early graduates will be ineligible to participate in winter and spring sports and will not be able to attend the prom in the spring.

Morrisonville Grade School principal Christy Willman updated the board about ongoing Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) testing taking place and the process has begun in rolling out the utilization of Chromebooks around the school. Students travelled to the Christian County YMCA in Taylorville for swimming lessons. Willman also added that she had finished the grant-writing process for a pre-kindergarten grant for the next school year.

In additional meeting business:

• A small-level school summit will be taking place soon in Morrisonville where smaller school districts in the area have been invited to share scheduling and resource information, as well as social and emotional education.
• Meister called for a meeting of the technology committee with members Robert Gowin and Ed Goebel, which is set for February 15 at 3:30 p.m. after citing some issues with a hard drive on one of their servers.
• Meister called for a meeting of the building and grounds committee with members Gerald Goebel and Dale Brockamp. The date and time was not presented at the meeting, but was to be determined pending schedule availability.
• The board approved a sports co-operative agreement with Pawnee for junior high and high school track on a trial basis before deciding to launch their own program.
• The board discussed the success of the recently-passed Mohawk Classic basketball tournament. The Nokomis Redskins defeated defending champions Lincolnwood Lancers to bring home their 25^th tournament title in the championship round 55-40 on January 13, while Vandalia and Mulberry Grove took home third and fifth place in their respective victories against Edinburg and Carlinville.
• Longtime Morrisonville High baseball coach Bob Montgomery was going to be inducted into the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association’s (IHSBCA) Hall of Fame January 20 during their annual banquet in Lombard. In his 37-year coaching career, Montgomery accrued a 614-458-1 record with 466 of those victories at the helm of the Morrisonville Mohawks baseball squad following prior coaching stints with Englewood Christian in the Kansas City metropolitan area and Springfield’s Calvary Academy.

Jake Leonard

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.

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