The Perry County School District #32 Board of Education discussed several key topics at its latest meeting on March. 13.
As with most meetings, the board focused some of its time on curriculum and Individual Career and Academic Plans were discussed. The plans help guide students in their post-secondary
plans. ICAPs include several components, including regular meetings with counselors beginning in eighth grade and continuing through grade twelve, College and Career Readiness (CCR) assessments and credit accrual. ICAPs will be shared with parents and their signatures will be required.
A summary of the February professional development days was provided, including vertical teams, collaborative work, data analysis, and a variety of building-specific meetings. Also, the curriculum, instruction, and assessment newsletter for March was shared.
There was also an update on the Get the lead out school drinking water Act. Dan Oberkirsch updated the board on the current progress being made to the campus drinking water. Remediation’s are underway. Once these are complete, the third draw will be done.
The districts recently received the of the “second draw” tests on the 30 water sources that were identified as having a higher concentration of lead than allowable under the law. This “second draw” was a retest of each of those sources under certain conditions conducted by an independent laboratory. The retesting showed that 9 of those 30 water sources failed the second test. All 30 water sources require remediation to be in compliance with the law.
In accordance with the Get the Lead Out of School Drinking Water Act of 2022, our district completed the first round of testing of more than 300 water sources in December 2023; this included kitchen sinks, handwashing sinks, dishwashers, water fountains and bottle fillers, ice makers, etc.
The water sources that failed the retest are located in the Board Office, Industrial Arts Building, high school, and elementary school.
So, what’s next?
Any source that indicated the presence of more than 5 µg/L of lead was labeled as non-potable and/or disabled on Jan. 18. Students and staff are reminded not to drink from those sources.
Alternate sources of drinking water have been obtained through Culligan Water for each of those locations. All 30 sources that failed the first and/or second draws will remain out-of-service until remediation is completed and testing confirms that it meets the statute requirements.
The maintenance department will begin making permanent fixes to all affected water sources, with this work required to be completed by Aug. 1, 2024. This includes all 30 of the water sources that failed the first and/or second draws. Water sources for elementary students (K-5) are, by law, the highest priority. These fixes may include installation of filtration systems, replacement of the sink/faucet/spigot, or complete removal of the source.
After remediation, each source will be tested to confirm that it meets the statute requirements. You will be notified of those results.
The paper bid was awarded to Veritiv Operating Corp. to provide the district copy paper for the 2024-2025 year at $28.40 per case.
Student Board of Education Representative: Blake Bodendieck presented his video on “what are you learning?”
A variety of students were interviewed and asked the question “what are you learning?” Some of the student’s replied, “I am learning about fossils, fractions, Boston Tea Party, auto mechanics, graphic designing and more.
The district is currently working on the quoting process for equipment and labor to video record the open session. The district nurses were in the spotlight this month. Kate Martin presented a video of all four district nurses being interviewed. Each nurse cares for approximately 50—75 students per day and during flu season the numbers in-
creases by 40 or so.
Jones also noted that April 2 is an election day and for citizens to exercise their right to vote.
Before the meeting, board members attended a workshop where Dr. Jim Welker and Mr. Daryl Panner from Southeast Regional Professional Development Center along with the
board, discussed CSIP related concerns and improvement areas to focus on for the 2024-2025 CSIP revisions. Some areas mentioned were academics, attendance, culture and climate, to name a few. Focus groups consisting of students, parents, teachers, staff, and community members will be meeting next week to gather their input as well. In April, the information collected will be summarized, analyzed and broken down into more obtainable CSIP goals.
