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District 162 Teachers Receive Grants – Board Meets Tuesday


Five Teachers Receive Grants From National Council Of Jewish Women, Three From Businesses – District Board Meeting Tuesday

Matteson, IL—(ENEWSPF)— Five Matteson Elementary School District 162 teachers were recipients of grants from the National Council of Jewish Women.

Indiana School teacher Amanda Godin and Sauk School teacher Jan McCoy received a $350 grant to supplement the Wetland Biodiversity Blitz photo journals and podcasts project their students have undertaken. The students are maintaining photo and print journals of their visits to the Central Park wetlands and their schools’ outdoor classrooms where they have photographed plants, birds, insects, and other animals to track the changes that accompany the change in the seasons. Mrs. Godin’s and Mrs. McCoy‘s students have also adopted an informational kiosk for the Central Park wetland area that will focus on ways to rehabilitate the area. The grant will fund the purchase of two photo printers, two tripods for their movie cameras and supplies for their photo printers.

Illinois School technology specialist Carol Gockman received $346 for “Digital Storytelling Through Clay Animation.” After learning about fables, students will write their own fables and make clay characters with moveable arms that will enact the fable. The clay characters will be placed in shoeboxes with backgrounds and the students will take still photos of the characters as their movements are manipulated. These pictures will be loaded to a computer to create a video with film editing software. The students will narrate the movie with text from their fables. The grant will fund the purchase of supplies.

Illinois School physical education teachers Kari Cherney and Nigel Thomas received $341.30 for “The Biggest Winner!” Designed to involve all of the school’s kindergarten through eighth grade students, “The Biggest Winner” promotes physical fitness, body awareness, and the importance of an active lifestyle. Using the Presidential Fitness Test, each class was given a pre-test to determine the level of fitness of the class as a whole. Within the framework of the physical education curriculum, the students will work to become more active and fit by participating in activities to build strength and increase agility and endurance to achieve a healthier lifestyle. Post-tests will be given in March to document personal and class growth. The class with the greatest percentage of improvement will be declared “The Biggest Winner!”

Three Matteson Elementary School District 162 teachers have received grants from businesses.

Illinois School first grade teacher Stephanie Newman received a $2,000 grant from the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation for the school’s Atmospheric Amphitheatre. The grant will fund the enhancement of an outdoor classroom near Illinois School’s prairie garden. Students will build benches, trekking boxes, and birdfeeders for the area. In the spring and fall, the students will use the outdoor classroom for investigations and experiments.

Indiana School fourth grade teacher Amanda Godin and Sauk School fourth grade teacher Jan McCoy received the 2008 Best Buy Teach Award grant of $2,000. The grant will fund the purchase of items from Best Buy for materials that Mrs. Godin’s and Mrs. McCoy’s students will use in the Wetland Biodiversity Project they are involved in with the Village of Park Forest and Central Park Wetlands. With the use of digital photography and videography, the students are maintaining photo journals of the wetland area.

The Board Of Education Meeting, March 18, 2008, 7:00 P.M. At The District Office

The Board of Education will discuss several personnel matters, including new employments, leaves of absence, contract approvals, resignations and one termination. In addition, several teachers will receive honorable dismissals, ten first, second and third year probationary teachers will not have contracts renewed.

Specific personnel matters follow:

Employment

  • Approve the employment of Roseann Backlin, cook at Matteson School, effective March 7, 2008.
  • Approve the employment of Chanel Fields, cook at Huth Middle School, effective March 10, 2008.
  • Approve the employment of Antonia Fratto, 1:1 aide at Richton Square School, effective March 31, 2008.
  • Approve the employment of Scott Cline, District wide Network Engineer, effective March 24, 2008.

Leaves

  • Approve the maternity leave of Paula Jennings, third grade teacher at Illinois School, effective March 21, 2008, with an anticipated duration of six to eight weeks.
  • Approve the medical leave two days per week for Christine Castelloni, resource teacher at Illinois School, effective March 4, 2008.

Contracts

  • Approve the contract extension with Michael Bauer through June 30, 2010.
  • Approve the contract extension with Carl Cogar through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with Muriel Cozzi through June 30, 2010.
  • Approve the contract extension with Craig Englert through June 30, 2010.
  • Approve the contract extension with Pat Fears through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with Earnestine Foster through June 30, 2010.
  • Approve the contract extension with Pat Ransford through June 30, 2010.
  • Approve the contract extension with David Rupert through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with Kevin Schouten through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with Lee Stanton through June 30, 2010.
  • Approve the contract extension with Mogda Walker through June 30, 2010.
  • Approve the contract extension with Yvonne Williams through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with James Blaszcyk through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with Anthony Cozzi through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with Tamara Dotson through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with Janiece Jackson through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with Andrea Kidd through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with Shernita Mays through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with Rob Tomic through June 30, 2009.
  • Approve the contract extension with Millicent Borishade through June 30, 2010.
  • Approve the contract with Ron Jones as principal, effective July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2010.
  • Approve the contract with Kim Edwards, dean, effective July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2009.

Other

  • Rescind the resignation of Christine Rosolowski for retirement purposes for the 2008-09 school year.
  • Approve the one-year contract with Rodger Jones, teacher at Sauk School, effective August 19, 2008.

Resignations

  • Approve the resignation of Julia Drier, Indiana School resource teacher, for retirement purposes, effective at the end of the 2007-2008 school year.
  • Approve the resignation of Ann Gross, cook at Matteson School, effective March 7, 2008.
  • Approve the verbal resignation of Antoinette Esco, cook at Huth Middle School, effective February 29, 2008.
  • Approve the verbal resignation of Vannessa Cameron, student services assistant at Illinois School, effective March 10, 2008.
  • Approve the resignation of Dawn Brooks, special education teacher at Huth Middle School, effective at the end of the 2007-2008 school year.
  • Approve the resignation of LaShawn Stewart, dean of boys at Huth Middle School, effective June 30, 2008

Termination

  • Approve the termination of Jennifer Balcazar, District Office, secretary to the Pupil Personnel Director, due to job abandonment,
    effective February 19, 2008.

Support Personnel Honorable Dismissal/Reduction in Force
Approval of the resolution authorizing notice of reasons and honorable dismissal of certain educational support personnel.

Honorable Dismissal of Certain Educational Support Personnel

  • Stella Adesioye, Indiana School
  • Tamela Archer, Indiana School
  • Cherry Bennett, Indiana School
  • Valerie Churchill, Richton Square School
  • Carolyn Clark, Illinois School
  • Cassandra Gathings, Illinois School
  • Laura Martinez, Illinois School
  • Meredith Olds, Huth Middle School
  • Amanda Pieper, Illinois School
  • Michelle Ritter, Indiana School
  • Tracie Stephens, Matteson School
  • Linda Timbers, Illinois School
  • Nicole Wilkie, Indiana School

Approval of Resolution for Non-Renewal of First, Second, and Third   Year Probationary Teachers

  • Kevin O’Hea, Huth Middle School
  • Nicole Williams, Huth Middle School
  • Kerri Scanlan, Huth Middle School
  • Gregory Gaie, Huth Middle School
  • Patricia Newbrough, Huth Middle School
  • Anisha Hill, Huth Middle School
  • Deidra Strothers, Illinois School
  • Alison Kaczmarczyk, Indiana School
  • Lorraine Edwards, Indiana School
  • Melissa Brown, Sauk School

Approval of Non-Renewal of Administrator’s Contract

Approve the non-renewal of contract for Tracey Murray, District Office Administrator, effective June 30, 2008.


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