A lot of ground was covered during a brief Columbia School Board meeting Thursday night. 

Columbia School Superintendent Chris Grode addressed a viral TikTok school shooting “trend” that caused school districts all over the country to take extra precautions. According to multiple news outlets, warnings of shootings and bombings had been circulating on the social media app for Dec. 17. 

As Grode said, no threats had been made specifically toward any schools. 

“However, we did meet with our administrative teams (Thursday) and our policy to go over our plans, make sure everything is up to date,” Grode briefed the board. “Even though it’s supposed to be children who are making these threats, we are still going to take anything that gets said seriously and deal with it accordingly.” 

Both Grode and Greg Meyer, school board president, reiterated it is a Class 3 felony to make such threats.

In COVID news, Grode recapped the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision to consolidate the large lawsuit against COVID mandates and precautions in which over 140 school districts – including Columbia, Waterloo and Valmeyer – were named as defendants, with other similar cases. 

The Supreme Court also ruled this case would be heard in Sangamon County under Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow. 

There was a status hearing Dec. 15 in the case. 

Rob Swain, an attorney from education law firm Kirha-Boucek, is representing several districts named in the suit. Swain said two key dates were set at Wednesday’s hearing: 9:30 a.m. Dec. 28 regarding the IEA’s request to join the lawsuit and a temporary restraining order hearing on Jan. 5. 

The district’s test-to-stay protocol does not allow for those with household exposure to participate in-person, Grode reminded the board and meeting attendees. 

The board also heard from the district’s Director of Special Services Jeanne Goacher and Chealsea Adair, high school transition and co-op teacher. 

Goacher was pleased to report the return of a long-held tradition in the district: the ACE Olympics, come April. 

“If you don’t know what that is, it’s our version of the Special Olympics for our students and also students in four other districts,” Goacher summarized. “We have about 125 athletes who come, and the really cool part is we have our gen-ed athletes involved. It’s such a cool, cool event.” 

Adair’s students are also excited to be getting back out into the community after over a year of not being able to do so. Part of this is engaging in a Practical Assessment Exploration Program Lab with Human Support Services of Waterloo and the YMCA’s Teamwork Program. 

Adair is currently looking for community programs willing to participate in CHS’s Cooperative Occupation Program. Through this program, not only will community employers have more hands on deck during the cross-industry worker shortage, students with special needs will gain skills from the job. 

“My Co-Op Work Experience class is where they get the training from me (on) how to get a job and maintain the job, and then once we go from there, we do on-the-job training if needed,” Adair explained, adding this hopes to set students up for a future where they can work independently.

Adair said the district has also partnered with the MERS Goodwill WIOA Youth Program to help provide vocational training for students who meet the following criteria: they have a documented disability, are pregnant or parenting, dropped out of high school, are homeless, are/were in foster care, have a juvenile or adult court record, are low-income and/or are an English language learner. 

She said MERS Goodwill has also partnered with the district as a worksite. 

“Since we are a worksite we have a contract that allows up to three students to be employed by the school district,” Adair clarified in an email. “If they are hired to work in the school district through the MERS Goodwill WIOA Youth Program, they are paid by MERS Goodwill. The school district does not pay them.” 

Previously, the district had three such students filling custodial positions. 

“Our custodians really enjoyed it because, a.) We had kids learning job training skills, and b.) They were getting assistance unloading the rooms and everything like that,” Grode said. 

Businesses interested in learning how to be involved in the co-op program as well as those who have other co-op related questions may email adair.chelsea@columbia4.org. 

Just as Waterloo did earlier in the week, the Columbia board approved the first reading of potential board policy changes outlined in Press Plus Issue 108: November 2021. 

“This is my 15th year as a superintendent and I’ve never seen this thick of a press policy update,” Grode said. “A lot of it has to do with legal changes and what not, (and) there are some curricular ones in here that we’ll be in deeper discussions with.”

Grode said those that will prompt more discussion include policy 6:60 Curriculum Content and 7:315 Restrictions on Publications; High Schools. A media literacy unit, potential changes to policies surrounding sex education, computer science opporunities and more were discussed in the previous policy’s suggested draft update. In the second, adding a media literacy unit was also mentioned along with prior restraint policy language. 

The board moved forward with its tax levy request, as mentioned in coverage of its last meeting. Grode said the assessor has yet to “set the tax rates against the equalized assessed value of the property and then bill everyone.” 

They also approved a new SWIC dual credit course for next academic year titled “Horticulture Production and Management,” as well as continuing the dual credit program as a whole and the Running Start Program for next school year. 

In order to receive a grant for the middle school because of students with IEPs who were identified many years ago, the board approved a school improvement plan for all of its buildings.

Grode said he is still in discussion with the city regarding the district’s ongoing facility discussions. 

When reviewing resignations and plans to employ new personnel, Grode told the board the district is now in need of a bus monitor.

The next school board meeting is 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20 at Parkview Elementary.