EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville School Board District #7 discussed included security, technology, and the Collinsville Area Vocational Center Monday at their bi-monthly meeting.

The most exciting topic of the night was the approval of District #7 moving forward in implementing the Collinsville Area Vocational Center for students of Edwardsville High School. As District #7 works with the center, it will open up opportunities for high school students to attend the center for various credits and to experience hands-on training in various technical skills.

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Dr. Jason Henderson gave his Superintendent's Report discussing the Strategic Planning Committee, Community Listening Circles, and the Teacher Technology Committee.

First, Dr. Henderson mentioned his plans for three new sub-committees.

“The plan is to have three sub-committees of the Strategic Planning Committee. One focused on academic success. One focused on organizational excellence, which will have to do with recruiting teachers, training the teachers, and things of that nature. And one we will probably call Operational Integrity and Transparency which will cover finance planning and operations of the school. It’s going to be an extensive process but we will start getting into that in January,” said Dr. Henderson regarding new committees coming to the school board.

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Dr. Henderson briefly discussed the hosting of Community Listening Circles to be held at Edwardsville High School where students could discuss educational comments and concerns that would then be brought to the School Board.

“I’d like to next give an update on the Community Listening Circles, and moving forward with the Equity Task Force. There will be listening circles at Edwardsville High School for the students. They will compile the comments and bring them to us. From there will form our Equity Task Force. We’ll talk about how that data is going to drive what we do next regarding program and education,” said Dr. Henderson.

New implementations of technology within the schools was discussed. A new Teacher Technology Committee was recently created so the district could best decide what kind of technology would be most helpful within the schools.

“We held last week the second meeting of the Teacher Technology Committee. We spent the majority of that meeting asking teachers to answer these questions. What do you struggle with instructional aspects every day that could be corrected through the use of technology? And what are the struggles you have with the current technology and what struggles do your students have with the current technology available in your classroom? Because it's not just about picking the devices it's about what are teachers struggling with that they can use technology to make improvements on. So we focused on that, we got some great feedback, we’re really wanting to take the feedback that teachers give us, listen to it and as we move forward with our timeline. We still have an aggressive timeline, and we’re hoping to have WiFi in both middle schools early in the second semester,” said Dr. Henderson.

A first reading of a Targeted School Violence Prevention Program was mentioned during the meeting. A new requirement from the Illinois State Board of Education, all districts must update board policies to include violence prevention. More will be discussed on this in the December school board meetings.

Columbus Elementary School was recognized during the meeting for its designation of an Exemplary High Performing Schools Nation Blue Ribbon School for 2019. Principal Julie Matarelli was proud of the school to have received the award.