The 2023-2024 school calendar was approved by the B-PC Board of Education in March. The District Calendar once again aligns with other school districts in McDonough County. Please click on the calendar to download a copy.

So far we've made it through the season without having to use a snow day. The last day of school for staff and students is still (tentatively) set for Friday, May 26, 2023. Contrary to districts around us, we were in session for President's Day. We had to use a non-attendance day for the first time this year for Election Day in November, so being in on President's Day still allows us to be out before Memorial Day.

​Bushnell-Prairie City Board of Education
At their regular meeting in February the Board of Education discussed books in classrooms and how those books are selected. The Board took the following action:

Personnel

• Accepted the resignations of Brandy Allaman and Nathan Harrison.
• Approve the change in status of Carrie Scarbrough from 3rd grade to 1st grade; Carol Jones from Art to Math Interventionist; Emily Jackson from ELA/Science to 5th grade; Tiffany Churchill from 1st grade to 2nd grade; Melissa Gray from 5th grade to 3rd grade; and Alicia Peterson from 4th grade to 5th grade.
• Approved the hiring of Britney Corbin as a 1:1 paraprofessional; Andrea Ferguson at the JH Scholastic Bowl Sponsor; Elizabeth Treadway for Elementary Art; and Brayden Davis for 1st grade.
• Increased the daily per diem rate for substitute teachers from $100 to $115 per day.
• Limited the salary of full-time substitutes to $38,000 per year.

Curriculum
Approved Intro to Business, Business Communication, Business Principles and Management, and Keyboarding as new classes at B-PC High School for the 2023-2024 school year. These courses will be taught by Ms. Duchow.

Board Member Vacancy
Appointed Alan Thompson to fill the vacancy created by Devin Kozicki's resignation.

The Bushnell-Prairie City Board of Education is comprised of 7 members; four of whom reside within Bushnell and/or Prairie City Townships and 3 who reside within the other townships of the district. Board member Devin Kozicki recently moved with her family to Iowa, creating a vacancy on the board. School board policy requires interested parties to submit, to the Board of Education, their interest in serving, whose members will then conduct interviews before appointing someone to fill the term until the next election. The next school board election is scheduled for April 4, 2023. If you are interested in serving on the B-PC Board of Education until the next school board election, please contact Superintendent, Kathy Dinger at [email protected] or Board Secretary, Sonja Settles at [email protected]. It is anticipated that the Board of Education will conduct interviews at their next, regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, February 15, 2023.

Portrait of a Graduate
The District invited members of the school community to come together and begin work to identify characteristics that should be promoted in every B-PC graduate. Twenty school community members (civic leaders, school district employees, students, and representatives from higher education) came together created a comprehensive list of dispositions or skills (outside of academics). They determined that B-PC graduates should be: creative, communicate effectively, ask quality questions, be problem-solvers and critical thinkers, be able to adjust and adapt, be open, show empathy, persevere, take initiative, and engage in self-reflection. The District Leadership Team is tasked with defining what these characteristics might look like and how they will be promoted in all classrooms and activities.

Bushnell-Prairie City Board of Education

• The Board of Education met on Wednesday, January 18 for their regular meeting. During her superintendent update, Dr. Dinger provided an update on the construction work that continues at B-PC High School. She also shared that the District received a refund of $10,236 from the City of Bushnell for overcharges on utilities. The District continues to work with Trent Barker from Pepsi to explore new scoreboards in the high school gymnasium. Lastly, Dr. Dinger reported out on the success of the "Portrait of a Graduate" work that occurred on the evening of January 11. Twenty school community members (civic leaders, school district employees, students, and representatives from higher education) came together to identify key characteristics that every graduate should have upon leaving B-PC High. Dr. Dinger shared the list with board members and will share more as that initiative develops.
• Building principals shared highlights of their school report cards and shared that while some of the data seemed inconsistent, there are challenges and successes unique to each building. They reported good growth and student engagement on local assessments. Mr. Harrison, principal at B-PC Junior High discussed the "Duck It" at the junior high that promotes kindness and paying it forward. Each board member had a duck at their seat and was given an affirmation, an affirmation to provide to someone else, or a reward.
• In personnel, former co-head football coaches requested that Jacob Schisler assume head coach responsibilities and Kory Schwarz assume assistant coach responsibilities. Those changes in status were approved by the Board. Contracts for Nathan Harrison, principal at B-PC Junior High and Jerry Butcher, principal at B-PC High School were approved for 5 years, through the 2028 school year. Dawna Daily, principal at B-PC Elementary is set to retire at the conclusion of the 2024 school year.
• Updates and changes to board policy by the Illinois Association of School Boards underwent a "second reading" and were approved.
• Graduation for the Class of 2023 was approved for Sunday, May 21, 2:00 pm in the B-PC High School gymnasium.
• The Board approved the calling of sealed bids for new windows at the high school (not to include new siding - which was cost prohibitive) and upgrades to the high school auditorium (seating, lighting, flooring, sound system, etc.). 
• Finally, board members discussed recent changes in athletics programming at Bushnell-Prairie City. Golf was added as an opportunity at the high school in response to COVID restrictions that limited students ability to participate in football. While successful, under the direction of Coach Tyler Snyder, there aren't enough students showing interest for next year and so golf won't be an option for student next fall, although members were supportive of revisiting student interest in the future. Junior high baseball is a sport that has high interest among B-PC students and will be added to the District's offerings in 2023.

Friday Night Basketball
Dr. Dinger has been a long-time advocate of celebrating all athletics at B-PC. This year, again, changes were made in schedules to provide the girls basketball team with an opportunity to play on Friday night. Both girls and boys varsity teams will face Brimfield High School on Friday, January 27. Tip off for the boys' game is 5:30 pm, with the girls game starting afterward.

Scholastic Book Fair is coming soon!
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SAVE THE DATE:
Oct.24th-27th (8:10-3:00 Wed. 8:10-2:00)
Thursday night (4-7:30)

Stay tuned for more details, and preview books online and set up your eWallet in the meantime.