Just like in schools since the return from winter break, Thursday’s Columbia School Board meeting saw notable absences.

And just like school staff, board members came together to make it work. 

Board vice president Lisa Schumacher ran the meeting as president Greg Meyer was not in attendance, and assistant superintendent Alyssa Smith relayed superintendent Chris Grode’s remarks, as he was absent. 

Brian Reeves, Columbia High School’s principal, and Carleigh Ottwell, vice president of the Columbia Education Association and middle and high school Spanish teacher, joined the meeting with reports of their own. 

The two gave board members a window into how Columbia schools have kept the doors open despite large volumes of teacher and staff absences and shortage of substitutes due to COVID and quarantines. Reeves said as of Thursday, there were only two days since students returned from break where they had enough subs at the high school to cover teacher absences. 

“The teachers are doing a great job,” Reeves said. “We’re not finding subs every day, as Mrs. Smith mentioned earlier she was down covering other places. We have that going on throughout the district and the teachers have done a great job of stepping up.” 

This internal subbing often comes with a sacrifice, Ottwell added. 

“The teachers giving up their planning time to sub has really been the way we get through,” Ottwell said. “There are days where we have four, five or six positions not filled (by substitutes) and so people will step in and go into another classroom and take that time. That’s really one of the ways we’ve been able to get through the past couple of weeks.” 

In her report, Smith said the district has been making efforts to help teachers in whatever way possible during this stressful time. Part of a recent teachers institute was spent discussing the social-emotional health of not only students, but staff as well. 

“As an administrative team, we’re trying to do a better job at making sure we’re keeping tabs on asking the teachers, ‘How are things going? What do you need? What can we do?’ and we are trying to make accommodations when we can, or take things off their plate right now that can really be set on the backburner,” Smith said. 

Schumacher and board members Andrea Khoury and Tyson Search noted Columbia is one of the few area districts who has not had to switch to remote learning because of such issues – and others are noticing, too. 

“I have coworkers who are in pretty much every district for about a 40-mile range and I get asked every single week, ‘How is Columbia still in school?’ … ‘How do you not have the kids out?’” Search said. “So there’s a lot of accolades to you guys who are making it out on the ground and not just in the classroom but in the extracurriculars that are still going on, too.” 

Ottwell said Columbia Middle School art teacher Tammy Fulte was chosen to attend the Illinois Education Association’s Representative Assembly in the Chicago area. Ottwell explained local educational associations voted for which delegates they wished to send and these delegates will meet in the spring to discuss priorities for April’s Assembly.

“It’s good for us as a Southern Illinois school to have a representative go up north to that,” Ottwell said. 

Ottwell also reminded the board of the annual St. Baldrick’s Event, which will take place from noon to 4 p.m. March 25 at Ace’s Wild. There, locals will have their heads shaved to benefit childhood cancer research. 

Illinois school districts named as defendants in the court case filed by Attorney Thomas DeVore last year on mask and exclusion policies are anxiously awaiting Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grishow’s decision. 

Columbia, Waterloo and Valmeyer school districts were named in the suit, along with over 140 others. 

During the superintendent’s report on behalf of Grode, Smith provided an update on the matter. 

“They have continued the (temporary restraining order hearing),” Smith said. “The judge asked for both sides to bring more information, so they are to bring that information (Jan. 27). She said at that point she will either make a ruling on the 28th or she will just collect the new pieces of evidence and data from them, look it over and make a ruling after that. So, we don’t know anything other than we may know something on the 28th … right now.” 

The school board approved the second reading and adoption of board policies as outlined in PRESS Plus Issue 108. 

The item that garnered most community concern in these recommendations related to sex education curriculum, Smith said. 

Smith explained after the meeting that the new standards recommended in this recent PRESS Plus edition would be based on national standards for sex education. As of the meeting, these exact state standards were not released yet, and Smith said until the board can see the exact state standards, they will not be taking any action on that subject.