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ABOVE: Danville District 118 Board member Christopher Easton
Towards the end of Wednesday evening’s (Dec 17th) Danville District 118 Board meeting, board member Christopher Easton pointed out it was exactly six months, going back to June 17th, since John Hart was hired as superintendent; following the separation agreement with former superintendent Dr. Alicia Geddis. And Easton says it’s time for the board to sit down with Hart and establish mutual performance goals.
Easton says most school districts around the state would have done that by now. And although District 118 found itself in a difficult situation six months ago, he just wanted to remind everyone that this has to be a high priority. Easton believes it will get done soon.
AUDIO: Like Ms. (Board President Darlene) Halloran said there’s so many proverbial fires to put out, but we just need to sit down and get it done. We can literally get it done with a piece of paper and a marker.
John Hart (center) has now been Danville District 118 Superintendent for six months.
As for Superintendent Hart himself, he stated after the meeting that yes, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride. But he’s also confident it can get done.
AUDIO: School districts have their ups and downs, and Danville’s no different that any other district. So, we have this; we will continue to move forward.
Speaking of special meetings, Hart said that he plans to get together January 5th with some district personnel to talk about the value of virtual learning days. The question seems to be: Are they accomplishing what they should, or should more regular snow days be used in bad weather situations?
AUDIO: New learning is not typically a part of virtual learning. It’s refreshing the skills that you have, or practicing the skills. But we want to make sure that it’s relevant. If it’s not relevant, we want to make sure we look at other options that we have.
There was also talk during Wednesday’s meeting about adjusting the District 118 “winter weather protocols” to include the “two hour opening delay option” (which would mean no AM kindergarten); as well as the option of not running rural bus routes, and giving those students the option of “virtual learning days.”
