District News
March
Grant
High school librarian Brooke Fleuette just received word that a project she submitted to donorschoose.org has been funded so the library will be getting $875 in new career and college resource books. The resource books will be used for 10th grade research papers this spring.
Student Award
Matt Rillie, has been selected as a Mathematics Scholar as Teacher award winner for 2009 by Western Illinois University. Matt hopes to be a math teacher some day. Kay Hucke is the teacher who nominated him.
Student Athlete Honor
Brett Anderson has been chosen by the Associated Press as an honorable mention for basketball. That is quite an honor. He scored 47 points in one game this year. That would be a school record for most schools.
Choir
Two Saturdays ago, the JH choral and band dept. participated in IGSMA contest at Geneseo. Once again the 7th & 8th Gr. Chorus and The Notables Show Choir earned Division One ratings and have qualified for State Contest. This marks the 25th straight year that the AJH Choral Dept. has qualified for State.
February
Computer Virus
The Trojan virus made its way through our security software and into the Apollo computers. Our computer technicians Geff Long and Kim Sheese worked to isolate the virus and remove it from the infected computers. Many of the computers could not be used because of the problem. The virus has been eradicated and everything is now back to normal.
High School Settling Update
For several years, the district has been monitoring the 1970s addition at the north end of the high school to see if there has been any settling. The first analysis showed the addition had settled about eighth of an inch over the course of a year. The engineering firm (McClure) has determined that the building was stable this past year. They will continue to monitor the check points every six months until we are reasonably certain that we do not have a problem.
January
ACT Class
This is the second year the Regional Office of Education has partnered with area school districts to offer an ACT preparatory class. The class meets for nine Saturdays in January, February, and March. Students can attend a 2nd class that is being held in Monmouth. Last year, we had 8 students attend. This year, we have 22 students signed-up. This is an excellent opportunity for the students – it was very effective last year.
Mentoring
Junior High teacher Kathy Olson has volunteered to be the mentoring coordinator for the district. The mentoring program is for teachers who are in their first or second year of teaching. Mrs. Olson has developed a mentoring curriculum for both the mentor and the protégé. She attends monthly meetings at the ROE and takes care of all details required by the state. Social Studies teacher Adam Link is our only “first year” teacher and he is participating in the program.
District Wellness Policy Adopted
The Aledo School Board has adopted a district-wide Wellnes Policy. Use the link to download a copy of the new policy:
George Pratt Memorial Stadium Project
The Aledo School Board gave initial approval for the development of a plan to significantly upgrade Aledo High School's football and track facilities.
Those of who have been to the stadium know the renovation project is long overdue. Many of the wires running between the poles do not have insulation on them anymore causing them to arc when they touch. A lighting consultant has measured the nighttime light levels on the field to be 8-10 foot candles - they should be 30-50 foot candles. Each summer, the custodians examine all the bleacher boards and replace the “rotten” ones, but despite this, people have still fallen through the bleachers in each of the past two years. The cinder track is in such horrible condition that we don’t host high school track meets here anymore. The grass on the practice field and the game field is patchy and in poor condition. Clearly, something must be done to improve the stadium facility.
As always, district finances are tight. The resources we do have need to be channeled into our curriculum needs, staff salaries and maintenance of the buildings. Some community members have expressed an interest to help the district by establishing a community fundraising effort to renovate the stadium facility. Initial committee members include Trisha Hank, Brian Dennison, Alan Boucher, Cullen Welter, Andy Frye, Brett Lee, Jason Potter, Pam Myers and Rusty Ruggles.
Community Projects for Aledo (CPFA), a 501C3 nonprofit organization, will be used to coordinate this fundraising effort. This organization has completed several projects in the past such as the Aledo bandshell, the Northside Park lighting project, and softball field improvements. Each year, CPFA handles Country Bank’s charity golf fundraising event and they fund the Aledo Youth Sports Foundation program.
The proposed project would include new lights, an all-weather track, new bleacher boards (aluminum), retaining walls, improved natural grass playing surface, terracing and new fencing around the facility. Preliminary estimates show that the entire project would cost around $750,000.
At Monday’s board meeting, Brian Dennison gave a presentation to explain the situation and share some preliminary ideas about how the issue can be addressed. He asked the board for permission to develop a detailed plan, for limited access to the district’s architect and engineers, and for permission to look into acquiring the park district land that is adjacent to the south side of the field. The board approved all of Mr. Dennison’s requests. The intent is to present a detailed plan of action to the board within the next two months and, if everything is approved, begin renovations this summer.
Aledo Junior High Receives Academic Improvement Award
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has awarded its "Academic Achievement Award" to Aledo Junior High for improved test scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT). The improvement was demonstrated over the last three years (2004 to 2006). During this time period, the student scores increased by 26.4 percentage points. More can be learned about the Academic Improvement Award and other award categories for the Illinois by visiting ISBE's website at www.isbe.net.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has supplied a concise summary of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA of guidelines on how to prevent its spread. More information is available online at http://www.cdc.gov/Features/MRSAInSchools/
School Resource Officer
As the result of a partnership agreement with the city of Aledo and the Aledo Police Department, the Aledo School District will be having a new School Resource Officer (SRO). The position is full-time and will be funded by the city of Aledo.
Officer Shay Litwiler has been selected to serve in this capacity and will begin his duties within the next week or two. Officer Litwiler grew up in our community and currently works for the Aledo Police Department.
One of the main goals of the SRO is to develop a positive and healthy relationship with the students. The SRO will go into classrooms to make presentations on issues such as bullying and safety. The SRO will also work with students individually and in small groups and will work with staff members as needed. Officer Litwiler’s office will be at the junior high, but he will be spending a lot of time at all three buildings.
Officer Litwiler will not be wearing a traditional police officer’s uniform, but will, rather, wear a shirt with an imprinted logo identifying himself as the School Resource Officer. He will be armed and he will possess a pair of handcuffs. The schools will not be involving Officer Litwiler with regular matters of school discipline. He may, however, become involved with criminal matters.
The district believes that having a School Resource Officer will enhance building safety, will strengthen the relationship between students and law enforcement and will streamline the district’s educational efforts.
Questions may be directed to Superintendent Alan Boucher (582-2238).
Superintendent State of the District Report
Aledo School District Enrollment History
1998/1999 1,094
1999/2000 1090
2000/2001 1,033
2001/2002 1,015
2002/2003 1023
2003/2004 1,009
2004/2005 988
2005/2006 966
2006/2007 932
2007/2008 918
Consolidation Feasibility Study
Table of Contents(pdf file) Table of Contents(Word file)
Introduction(pdf file) Introduction (Word file)
Operational Areas(pdf file) Operational Areas(Word file)
Justification and Recommendations(pdf file) Justification and Recommendations(Word file)
Appendix(pdf file) Appendix(Word file)
As a part of the Aledo/Westmer Consolidation Feasibility Study, a survey was given to the district staff, district students, and the Aledo community. The following is a compilation of the results from the survey.| Yes | No | Undetermined | % Yes | |
| Community | 185 | 58 | 8 | 74% |
| Staff | 39 | 6 | 2 | 83% |
| Students JH | 100 | 90 | 2 | 52% |
| Students HS | 68 | 188 | 2 | 26% |
No Child Left Behind
The Illinois State Board of Education has notified the district that it has met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as determined by the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The AYP designation is determined by the results of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) and the Prairie State Achievement Test (PSAE) that are administered each spring to students in grades three through eight and grade eleven. Here is a chart of the test scores. They are listed as the percentage of students who met and/or exceeded the Illinois Learning Standards.
| Reading | Math | |
| Apollo | 80.3 | 95.0 |
| Junior High | 80.5 | 88.0 |
| High School | 54.4 | 59.5 |
Other District News:
EMERGENCY WEATHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
If school is to be cancelled or delayed because of weather conditions or other emergencies, the announcement will be made with the following news media: Radio Stations Television Stations WRMJ 102.3 KWQC Channel 6 KUUL 101.3 KLJB Channel 18 WLLR 101FM WAAG 1400 AM WPXR/WKBF 1270 AM Note: Morning cancellations or delays will be called in about 6:00 a.m. Afternoon adjustments will be called in by 10:30 a.m. Immediate emergency situations will be phoned in as soon as possible.
PEST MANAGEMENT NOTIFICATION
This notification is to inform parents/guardians that if for some unforeseen reason, AAA Pest Control needs to perform their monthly maintenance other than the scheduled second Monday of the month, parents should come to the Unit Office at 402 East Main Street to sign a sheet.This sign-in sheet will request that a letter be sent to the parents/guardians if an off-schedule maintenance is to be performed which will indicate the date and time. This unscheduled event is when we will initiate a letter from the sign-in sheet.
SCHOOL BUS CAUTION
As the buses are transporting our students to and from school, particular caution should be given. Buses need to make wide turns so we need to allow for this and give them room to do so. When buses are leaving or picking up students at the schools, cars should maintain their distance until the buses depart. The bus drivers are trying to do their job by getting the children to and from school in a safe manner. Buses normally run on a time schedule every day so if need be, parents that are dropping off or picking up students should get to the schools either before or after the bus drop off or pick up. Cooperation between all drivers will ensure safe transportation for our students.