Board, forum share ideas

BY ANNA HERKAMP
Commercial-News

DANVILLE November 15, 2008 09:08 pm

— Danville District 118 School Board members Bill Dobbles and Dan Brown represented the board in a discussion forum with the Danville Caucus Saturday at the Danville Area Community College Bremer Conference a nd Workforce Development Center.
District 118 administrators and forum members exchanged ideas about helping the children in the district who are most at risk for failing in school.
Caucus members volunteer in schools by mentoring students at lunchtime or in small groups. They’ve also helped kids obtain eye glasses and other necessities.
Each principal took turns on the stage at Bremer, thanking Caucus members for their involvement in the schools.
North Ridge Middle School Assistant Principal Eliza Brooks said some kids have called Terry Barber, the caucus’s leader, a “father figure.”
South View Middle School Principal Brenda Yoho said the smallest gestures go a long way toward reaching many students. Caucus members, she said, help validate these children.
Superintendent Nanette Mellen said the eyes of many of the kids who go to school in the Jackson Building’s alternative programs light up with joy when they see Barber coming to work with them.
Often, she said, people will want to volunteer to work with kids, but show up only a few times and then stop their efforts, unlike the caucus members.
Future leadership
Caucus member Jane Campbell asked whether the pool of candidates for the next superintendent position had been narrowed.
The final applications were turned in around the first of the month.
A committee of former educators including David Fields, Beverly Kesler and State Rep. Bill Black has narrowed the pool down to six individuals, Mellen said.
The community committee that will interview down the finalists hasn’t been formed yet, Dobbles said, but the board wants to name the new superintendent as close to Dec. 10 as possible.
Board members will interview the six candidates in the two weeks. Community members can interview the final candidates around the first of December.