The Columbia School Board saw little action at its monthly March meeting, with a good chunk of the evening featuring a presentation by students from Columbia Middle School.

The month’s building report was led by eighth grade language arts teacher Heidi Klein, who was joined by her students to discuss their ongoing work toward crafting books for their third grade buddies at Parkview Elementary.

Klein opened the presentation by noting this project started for the current class in January, and they’re continuing to make good progress.

The tradition itself, as she described, started several years ago as the school’s ELA department was looking for a way to help students improve writing skills in ways beyond grades from their teacher or participating in writing competitions.

“How can we make writing more authentic, and how can we have a true, authentic audience?” Klein said. “Someone besides the teacher reading what you’ve written and grading it and putting it in Skyward. A student 10 years ago said, ‘What if we wrote a children’s book for younger students in our district?’ And this project was born that day, and we have never looked back.”

The first student to speak was Ian Kelly, who provided an overview of the project.

He noted how the middle schoolers had originally interviewed the younger students, getting an idea of their interests and family in order to get ideas for the story they would be putting together.

Kelly also spoke about the benefits he sees in the project for both groups of students, with the eighth graders trying their best to deliver a quality, personalized book for the Parkview kids.

“It’s really a different kind of grade, because a normal grade we just turn in to a teacher and we would get a letter grade back,” Kelly said. “It’s one person looking over it and seeing our accuracy. But for this, it’s also for another purpose. It’s for a child’s entertainment. We really don’t want to let them down, so we really try to do our best on these books.”

The students who spoke afterward all shared the books they had received when they were younger, presenting certain illustrations that they are especially fond of and emphasizing their desire to provide their buddies with the same positive experience they had.

In other reports at the meeting, Columbia Assistant Superintendent Alyssa Smith shared dates for state testing in the district, with grades 3-8 taking the IAR test from April 9-17, fifth and eighth grade taking the ISA test April 20-25 and Juniors taking the SAT April 10 and the ISA April 26.

As part of her monthly shoutouts for district staff and faculty, she highlighted Director of Special Services Jeanne Goacher for receiving the Regional Leadership Award from the Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education.

Columbia Superintendent of Schools Chris Grode’s report noted the Columbia FFA banquet will take place April 18, and he also offered a reminder that the district will be open April 8 during the solar eclipse.

He also mentioned the need for a special meeting to be scheduled in May in order for the board to award bids for various civil work toward the high school project, order the switch gear for the renovations – with a 16-month lead time – and potentially approve a replacement for Smith who recently announced her departure from the district at the end of the academic year.

Grode additionally brought up this year’s graduation date of May 19 as well as his participation in the St. Baldrick’s childhood cancer research fundraiser event at Ace’s Wild on April 6, where he will be having his head shaved after several months without a haircut.

Discussion later in the meeting focused on the ongoing facility study for the high school renovation project, with Grode noting the progress being made as attention has now largely turned to the area for the new gymnasium.

Columbia School Board member Adam Hemken spoke briefly about ongoing work with the high school’s parking lot expansion in Bolm-Schuhkraft Park, with most of the concrete sidewalks having been poured.

Columbia School Board President Greg Meyer spoke further about the high school project.

“We’re battling the budget, always,” Meyer said. “We’re being told ‘no, no, no,’ and we’re saying ‘yes, yes yes. Go figure out a way.’ So far, they’ve come up with some creative ways. We’ve had to hand in some design changes and some suggestions. It’s going well.”

Grode also offered commendations for Meyer and Hemken as they have worked toward the renovations.

“I will have to say, the board members that are on this subcommittee doing the work, their eye for details and their ability to push and shove for the betterment of the community has been nice to see,” Grode said.

Regarding action items addressed at the meeting, the board approved this year’s group of teachers approaching or receiving tenure, with 13 advancing to their second year in the district, 11 going to their third year, five to their fourth year and 10 receiving tenure.

The board also approved IHSA membership for the 2024-25 school year as well as an amended 2023-24 calendar as there was a snow day on Jan. 22. The newly scheduled last day of the year will be Monday, May 20, which is a half day.

Closing the meeting, Meyer used his opportunity for comment to thank Smith for her time in the district.

“I just want to say a heartfelt goodbye to our assistant superintendent,” Meyer said. “I was very, very saddened to get that phone call and email, but we certainly understand and wish you the best. You have just fit in so well in this district and made yourself at home. I’ve not heard a single negative thing about you or your employment here from anyone.”