Kids Give St. Charles School Board Mentoring Lesson

Who said a school board meeting can’t be fun?

Some Thompson Middle School students brought more than a little cheer — and some life lessons they’ve learned — before the St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 Board of Education on Monday.

The board sometimes opts to meet at the schools for which it is responsible, and this week it met at Thompson on the city’s West Side.

So instead of listening to the Superintendent's Report, Dr. Donald Schlomann chose to let a group of Thompson students give their own report to the board about what they’ve been learning — and teaching — through a Thompson program called WEB, an acronym for Where Everybody Belongs. The program’s goal is to have older middle school students help the new sixth-graders acclimate to their first year in middle school.

One student explained that middle school is very different from elementary school. The kids have lockers, for one thing, and change classes as well.

The size of the school’s can be intimidating as well, another student explained.

Throw all that and some of the other “new school” factors — new kids, new teachers, new expectations — into starting a new school year, and starting middle school can be a little overwhelming and, as one student said, a little scary.

Some sixth-graders are concerned about lockers — such as how difficult is it to open a combination lock, to remember the combination — and what to do if you forget the combination. Others might be more concerned about which teachers they should avoid.

The WEB students are there to answer those questions. One objective early on is for the kids to develop relationships in which the older students help the younger ones learn the ropes, answer questions, offer practical advice.

The goal is to help the younger students get into the swing of middle school comfortably and adjust quickly without being fearful. In the process, it appears that the older students learn leadership and mentoring skills.

The board members clearly enjoyed the presentation — each WEB team member spoke for a minute or two about one aspect of their responsibilities. Toward the end of the presentation, one student challenged several board members to a game the older students use as an icebreaker in terms of getting to know the sixth-graders.

In other business on Monday night, the board:

• Heard several committee reports.
• Approved the sale of land near Munhall Elementary School, 1400 S. 13th Ave., to Mid Valley Special Education Cooperative.
• Approved the district’s first bookless class — high school astronomy — which relies on Web-based resources to teach the students. This is the district’s first foray into education without textbooks, and district leaders are treading cautiously. Because this is breaking new ground, new issues are likely to arise, and new questions will need to be answered. Some were raised by board members even before the vote. One question, raised by board member Corrine Pierog, was practical: “Are we assuming all children will have a computer at home?” By some estimates, 96 percent of district students do have access to home computers and the Internet. But Dr. Donald Schlomann, the superintendent of schools, told the board the school district has adequate resources for students to use at the schools to accomplish their coursework.
• Approved increasing the daily substitute teacher pay rate to $85 to make District 303 more competitive with the rates offered by other districts in the area.
• Approved an evaluation plan for St. Charles education support personnel.
• Approved the leasing of two ramp vans at a cost of $11,000 a year for out-of-district transportation of special education students. District officials estimate the lease arrangement will save the district $75,269 if it were to contract out the transportation of the students.
• Awarded a bid for a parking lot addition at its Peck Road facility to Meyer Paving Inc. in the amount of $66,870.27.

Follow St. Charles Patch by "liking" our Facebook page and following us on Twitter at @StCharlsILPatch.

You also can subscribe to have the St. Charles Patch newsletter delivered to your inbox.