NORMAL – When the 2012-2013 school year opens in August, elementary school students in Normal-based Unit 5 School District can count on starting their day a little later than they have in the past, as well as being dismissed just that much later than in previous years.

School Board members voted unanimously to push back the start and end time of the secondary school day to help correct problems the district has had recently in getting students to school in the morning. The elementary school day will run from 8:45a.m.-3:30p.m., beginning this August.

In 2005, the district developed a three-tier solution for getting buses to schools in around 20 minutes. It was determined that additional time was needed in-between getting each tier of students – elementary, junior high, and high school – to class on time. To do that, it was determined more time was needed. By 2009, Unit 5 formed a committee to study the correlation between busing and start times.

During this school year, the district has been wrestling with a timing problem related to bus scheduling. Part of that problem was that elementary school students have a school day lasting 6 hours and 45 minutes, while junior high students spend 7 hours and 45 minutes in class.

The district discovered the half-hour difference in those periods makes transporting students difficult. As a result, Unit 5 has had as many as 27 buses that were late to the elementary schools – a situation that impacted 1,600 students.

The district tried a change in pick up and delivery times during both of the high school homecomings: District officials allotted 30 minutes in-between the end times for elementary students and junior high students. What resulted was a smooth transition between the groups getting home, and no reports of buses being late. As a result, District officials recommended the change be made permanent.

There will be no changes in the start and end times for the district’s two high schools or four junior high schools. Normal Community High School and Normal Community West High School will still have hours of 7:15a.m.-2:30p.m., while the four junior high schools – Evans, Kingsley, Chiddix, and Parkside – will continue their student hours of 7:45a.m.-3p.m.

“I think our transportation department was pretty frank with us” about this issue, explained District Superintendent Dr. Gary Niehaus. He said 27 late buses impacts roughly 1,000 students. “It also has issues with extra-curricular activities. This is an adjustment we needed to make this work.”

But not everyone who has been consulted about the change is comfortable, Niehaus said. He said the district has received some “push-back” from day care operators about the change. As a result, he explained, parents of those children are being allowed to bring the kids to school 15-20 minutes before the school day begins.

Board Member Mark Pritchett said there is a perception among some in the community that the shift in hours is for a reason other than late buses. He did not elaborate what he was referring to. Pritchett stressed there was no other reason, other than late buses, for the change.

Board Member Jay Reece added that, at the other end of the age spectrum, high school students are having early wake-up calls to hike to class, in some cases for at least a mile. “We’ve got kids walking in the dead of winter in the dark at 6a.m., and that is something we don’t want to encourage,” he said.

Unit 5 Foundation Members Named: In 2008, Niehaus recommended the district begin a foundation, partly as a means to assist with its funding. Members of that foundation were named recently. They are: Neil Finlen; Jennifer Lowrance; Dale W. Avery; Ronald Hofbauer; Loren Lay (a one-time former Unit 5 Board Member); Julia Turner; Julie Payne; Stacey Van Scoyoc; and Tom Ochs, Jr.

Online Registration Explained: Board members were given a demonstration of the district’s online registration program. Kurt Swearingen, the district’s director of elementary education gave Board members a brief tutorial on how parents will be able to register their children with some computer mouse clicks.

Elementary School parents were able to register their students online starting on May 1. Parents of junior high students will be able to register online starting on May 21, and parents of high school students will be able to register their students starting on June 8. Swearingen added the $1 convenience fee usually charged for the service is being waived from now through June 30. Parents needing assistance can get it at walk-in regisgtration, and there will be help available for parents who speak Spanish.

Budget Update: District Business Manager Erik Bush informed Board members the district has expected, has spent three-quarters of the annual budget it approved last year. He said among the expenses were the hiring of four teachers, and 17 Special Education teaching assistants which are mandated by the State.

NCHS’ “Good News”: Seven NCHS students received the opportunity to hear an internationally recognized figure speak about the necessity of advocating for human rights. Students Dayo Ajayi, Muddassir Bahri, Ragan Pierce, Deanna Qiao, Danny Splittstoesser, Ayna Bliss-Hosack, Georgia Myers and their Social Studies teacher, LaTishia Baker, attended the annual Multicultural Leadership Program Dinner recently. The students have been able to apply what they have learned, in their Social Studies classes, about the Rwandan acts of genocide that took place in 2004. The purpose of the dinner was to celebrate the graduation of MCLP participants.

They also attended the dinner so they could hear from keynote speaker Paul Rusesabagina. Rusesabagina is credited with sheltering refugees during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. He has received a host of awards for his efforts, including the Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize from The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. In addition, Rusesabagina’s story became the basis of the Oscar-nominated film “Hotel Rwanda.”

Locally, this MCLP promotes both community involvement and leadership competence. Program participants work with regional not for profit agencies and practice their leadership skills. Funding for the tickets, totalling $416, for Baker and her students to attend the event were provided through State Farm’s Diversity & Inclusion Initiative and the Town of Normal.

NCHS junior Alanna Santiago was honored for having earned recognition for winning an annual contest co-sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation Office of Sustainable Practices. Every year, the agency sponsors a design contest for students in which the students design a rain barrel, giving the design a conservation theme to help promote recycling. IDOT selects from winners that are given a rain barrel to decorate and use at the winner’s school.

A total of 45 creative designs for rain barrels have been chosen from participating Illinois schools in an effort to promote water recycling. This year, Santiago created a design that was one of those selected by IDOT. Prior to the end of this school year, the rain barrel will be received and painted. Alanna is the daughter of Joseph and Melissa Santiago. Alanna’s design theme was selected based on the quality of her work related to the theme of recycling and conserving natural resources.

The goal is for the students in the Agriculture Department, the Student Support Program, and the work program at NCHS is to use the collected rain to water the plants being raised in the school’s greenhouse. The plants were made possible through a grant received from Beyond the Box, part of the Beyond The Books Foundation. According to IDOT, “This annual contest is an excellent opportunity for science, agriculture, and art classes to participate in a program that enhances lesson plans regarding the importance of sustainability and the environment while encouraging students to get their creativity flowing.”

In a related item, NCHS special education teachers Hilary Ruyle, Carrie (Leonard) Stevens, Molly Stolfa, and NCHS’ Agriculture teacher, Dr. Kevin Enderlin, NCHS

agriculture teacher, were honored for their having jointly submitted a request for and received the Beyond the Box grant which was worth $10, 000. The focus of

the grant proposal was two-fold. First, the project was to update the NCHS greenhouse and second, to provide additional learning opportunities for students enrolled in the Student

Support Program classes. An academic component of SSP is to “allow students to develop basic vocational attitudes and skills in an actual job environment,” according to the instructors who operate it.

The grant provided NCHS’ staff an opportunity to expand their vocational lessons to the green house. Dr. Enderlin facilitated installation of electrical outlets and getting the

environmental controls operating. Students enrolled in the program assisted with cleaning up and making repairs to the greenhouse. While in this program, students are also learning to care for plants and are in involved in the preparation of a plant sale. Monies from the plant sale will be

used to purchase additional plants and materials for the green house. Students who work in the greenhouse also receive payment for their work. Each member of the Board, Dr. Niehaus, and other staff sitting around the Board table received a plant from the plant sale at the meeting.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 at 10:11 pm and is filed under The Normalite, Unit 5. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.