By Andrea Arens
A routine monthly Peotone School Board meeting produced nothing earth shattering but a bunch of interesting tidbits the community might want to know.
Business manager Adrian Fulgencio said the Consumer Price Index came in at 6.5 percent, which will allow the district to levy up to 5 percent.
Elementary school principal Carol Zurales reported academic benchmarking data for the winter benchmark, and there were significant increases in children meeting or exceeding national norms. Overall the building increased from 60-to-75 percent meeting or exceeding in English Language Arts. Previous data indicated 64 percent of students at the elementary school were below national norms academically but now only 24 percent are below.
Numbers improved for math, too. Math benchmarking data increased from 73-to-84 percent meeting or exceeding national norms. Zurales said the intervention team, consisting of reading specialists, math specialists, primary and English language specialists were able to service entire grade levels, thanks to the schedule she put into place, and she attributed the increase in scores to that intervention team schedule.
Board member Roger Bettenhausen asked if the intervention program was something put into place with the additional COVID funding and if this was something Zurales thought should be continued. Zurales replied the intervention plan was desired with or without COVID and the additional funding.
Peotone’s senior class has 109 graduating and the population of the eighth grade class is equivalent. Usually, there’s a decrease in incoming freshman lost to private schools, but it looks as though that might not be the case for the 2023-2024 school year.
The Peotone Girls Basketball team, coached by Athletic Director Steve Strough, is ranked fifth in the Associated Press 2A Class.
Board member Roger Bettenhausen suggested the home basketball game against Coal City and attendees had gotten a bit “heated.” He suggested signage be placed that reminded attendees of expectations at sports games. Principal Jason Spang agreed.
School Board President Tara Robinson mentioned the district and the board are in talks with the park district regarding the disrepair of Blue Devil Drive, which is owned by the park district but used by the district.
There was some vandalism at Peotone Intermediate Center and in town. While the culprits were not identified, maintenance has cleaned it up.