Heritage High School - SJO Daily

Hannah Beck, Kayden Turner and Dylan Knight recognized as 10-year 4-H members

dani — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 12:25:27 +0000

The Vermilion County Federation is recognizing 10-year 4-H members by sharing their bios with the community. Normally, the participants would be honored them at the Vermilion County Fair. When the fair was canceled for 2020, the 4-H group decided to have a virtual show.

Kayden Turner of Danville is a graduate of Armstrong Township High School and a 10-year member with the A.C. Achievers. He has held the office of club president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. Kayden’s projects include cattle, hogs, dogs, rabbits and poultry. His favorite 4-H memory is showing at the State Fair with friends. He says that 4-H has taught him about hard work and dedication. Kayden’s future plans include Parkland diesel mechanics program and DACC Auto Mechanics. He is the son of Kent and Daphne Turner.

Dylan Knight is also a graduate of Armstrong Township High School and a 10-year member of the A.C. Achievers. He has held the office of club vice president and treasurer. Dylan showed beef cattle and his favorite 4-H memory is doing a farm tour. He says that 4-H has taught him how to work hard and to achieve his goals. Dylan’s future plans are to attend Parkland College’s collision repair program. He is the son of Tim Knight and Debbie Judy.

Hannah Beck is a 10-year member of the Stoney Creek Ramblers and a graduate of Heritage High School. She has held the office of club president, secretary and treasurer as well as Vermilion County Federation secretary and president. Hannah’s projects include beef, swine, goats, dogs, crops, visual arts, plants and soils, tractor safety, floriculture, cooking, scrapbooking, horticulture and welding. She says the most valuable life skill she has learned through 4-H is the value of leadership and interpersonal skills. Whether that be talking on a microphone for showmanship or explaining her project to a judge, 4-H has taught her how to step out of her comfort zone and express herself in front of others. This coming fall, Hannah plans to study agronomy at Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa to pursue her passion for agriculture. Hannah is the daughter of Tony and Tracey Beck of Allerton.

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Commentary: Heritage graduation ceremony captures key moments

dani — Mon, 18 May 2020 21:21:04 +0000

Editor’s Note: The SJO Daily was granted permission to attend one graduation ceremony of the four school districts we cover: Heritage, St. Joseph-Ogden, Oakwood and Mahomet-Seymour. We went to capture a visual record of graduation, as newspapers do annually. Those photos are shared here. The written account is published to capture the sentiment that cannot be captured through pictures. Our team understands and respects the reasons we could not be at other graduations, and know that this account is being experienced and felt everywhere.

By Dani Tietz
dani@sjodaily.com

It was the first time she graduated.

Sure, her kindergarten teacher helped to make a big deal about moving onto the next grade, and her eighth-grade year ended with a celebration as she moved onto high school, but this was the first time that she stood in cap and gown, honors cords draped around her neck.

Her parents stood nervously beside her as she received instructions on how long she needed to wear her mask and where she needed to stand as her picture was taken. Her dad asked if they would be able to get a family picture, too; this was the first and only daughter that would graduate from high school and the weight of the moment was not lost on him.

While their daughter waited for the minute hand on the clock to strike :30, the parents went ahead to learn where they could stand while they watched the moment they had envisioned 18 years ago.

The gymnasium was empty, mostly. The superintendent, principal and school board president stood on the stage, while a woman moving an iPad stood near the top of the three-point line on the basketball court, ready to videotape each student as they came into the gymnasium.

This graduation wasn’t a show, but the Heritage School District did what they could to add tradition to the ceremony. The girl’s name lit up on the scoreboard, white letters on a red background, and Pomp and Circumstance began to play over the speakers as she walked towards the stage.

For each graduate, the ceremony was not rehearsed. Each adult took their time to provide prompts and countdowns as the student moved from one point to the next. She stopped at the corner of the basketball court to have her photo taken, she climbed the steps to walk across the stage where her name was read. The school superintendent, her former principal, made note of her accomplishment, not over the loudspeaker, but just loud enough to hear.

She grabbed her diploma from the table, and the crowd, seven people, including her parents, clapped for her. She walked down the steps to her left and paused again at the bottom. The principal counted down from three, and the girl brought her tassel from the right side to the left before walking back out of the gymnasium where she laid a few of her honor cords to rest in a cardboard box.

The 15-minute slot did not leave time for her to visit with friends; by the time one graduate walked into the building, the other graduate had already left. Administrators committed to three-days, their entire weekend, to make sure all 38 graduates were recognized (31 participated in the ceremony), and that their family members were able to be by their side.

In pictures, the ceremony may seem stark, a shell of something that brings so much joy to a community each year. But the quaint setting showcased an intimacy and care that high school graduates should remember for years to come.

It was the first time administrators had imagined a ceremony to honor each young adult individually. It’s not something we document well, the nervousness and weight that goes into the moments to capture life’s transitions. This district could have chosen to go another way; they could have postponed their ceremony, they could have had graduates drive through the parking lot, they could have asked parents to stay home and brought in groups of students, they could have had the students walk in, grab their diploma and walk out.

Instead, they focused on the little touches that matter: the name in lights, the tradition of music, the conversations of what’s next, the acknowledgment of until next time.

That’s the touch that can be seen. Then they considered those touches that are unseen and unspoken; moments that happened 18 years ago, like a man holding his baby daughter in the middle of the night. He walked barefoot across the carpeted floor, his right arm across his chest, and his hand under her bottom, the fingers on his left hand holding up her head.

He brushed his lips across the baby’s fuzzy hair, feeling like the moment would last forever. The thought, just like the 20 minutes he took putting the baby back to sleep, were fleeting, though. He knew there was work to be done: the baby needed to be fed and put to sleep, she would soon teethe, then crawl, speak, then write, go to school, then play games, ride a bike, then drive a car, move from school to school, then graduate.

Maybe the child would grow up to be like her father, the boy who loved to study books and married his high school sweetheart. Or maybe she would be like her mother, someone who stood up for the rights of others and brought flowers to those who were sick. No matter who this child is, or no matter how she grows into the arms that shoot out like rockets when she is surprised, the father knows that he will be right there beside her.

It had been 18 years, a lifetime and a blink. The lines around his mouth showed the patience he gave his child. The way he raised his brow changed in response to every smile he’d given when he made an excuse as to why he had not emptied the dishwasher.

He was no longer able to glide across the floor with his child in his arms, instead her hand fit perfectly inside his as they walked up to the door of the only high school experience she had ever known.

This is, after all, their moment.

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St. Joseph-Ogden and Heritage adjust to e-learning summer school plans

dani — Wed, 13 May 2020 16:38:39 +0000

As the 2020 school year comes to an end, high schools are already preparing for a summer session that will look different from in-person school and the remote learning that students recently became accustomed to.

After receiving guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education and the phase standards administered by Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois High Schools, will move from an in-person summer school model to an e-learning model.

The e-learning model will require more of students, like “seat time” to meet state requirements.

St. Joseph-Ogden High School typically only provides one section of classroom driver’s education each summer.

Principal Gary Page said that the prior eight weeks of remote learning have prepared the school to offer the 30-hours of seat time needed to complete the course.

“We have been doing classroom driver education in this manner already during the stay at home order so we don’t anticipate any more challenges,” Page said.

Heritage High School canceled their summer driver education course, noting that only 10 students usually enroll, and those students will be able to take the course during the fall semester.

“With the drivers facilities shut down until further notice and in person learning prohibited, the course is not feasible,” Superintendent Tom Davis said. “The clock hours requirement is very stringent and with the length of time that students must hold their permits, which they can not get anyways with the facilities shut, we can easily fit the small class we have in summer into the Fall semester.”

Heritage, though, is looking how to provide an extended school year to some of its special education students through online learning, through video connections, and through paper packets for lower grade levels, much like remote learning has taken place this semester so far.

High school students should continue to have the opportunity for summer credit recovery, but they are working out how to provide assistance and supervision with the principal or counselor at the high school through a remote setting.

“It would have to be done remotely using the student’s home device or one of the units we have loaned out (we gave out over 100 Chromebooks and laptops when remote learning began),” Davis said. “The online learning platform, we have used it for many years, is called Apex and in my experience, it is very challenging and comprehensive when a student takes a course for credit recovery.”

Students can take math, English, science, and civics.

“With the situation of pass/fail this spring semester with remote learning, it is possible that the number of students needing recovery may be lower, so we will examine that also as grades start to firm up nearing the end of the semester and regular year.”

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Heritage prepares for Class of 2020 graduation

dani — Fri, 08 May 2020 22:52:32 +0000

Heritage High School Principal Cory White was looking forward to celebrating with the Class of 2020 as they received their diplomas.

“The Class of 2020 will always be special to me as they will be the first graduating class since becoming principal of Heritage High School,” White said. “I was able to have all of these students in class as a teacher so I have watched them come in as Freshmen and grow to the superb people they are today.”

Like every other high school in Illinois, Heritage had to change their original graduation ceremony plans, moving to a virtual ceremony that will be recorded on May 15-17. Seniors are currently signing up for 15-minute time slots where they will enter the building with four family members who can watch them walk across the stage.

Per Illinois social distancing guidelines, all in attendance will be required to wear a face covering, and the school will clean surfaces after each family has left the building. Graduates will be required to enter the building with their cap and gown on, and can remove their mask to take a photo after grabbing their diploma.

White said that Heritage was keen to the idea of a virtual ceremony from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but had also discussed doing something on the football field where people could be distanced. Pritzker’s phased guidelines did not allow for that in the near future, though.

“We are still in hopes of having an in-person ceremony in June or July,” White said.

Heritage seniors have been on the hearts and minds of administrators and staff since they left the school building in mid-March.

White reached out to students weekly to check up on them, and Mrs. Archer, Mrs. Sanders and White put yard signs at the homes of seniors to recognize them.

“Everyone is heartbroken for the kids,” White said. “We have had many discussions as an administrative group and received suggestions from staff on how to honor these kids. It has taken an emotional toll on our staff as all of us are very close to our students.”

The graduation video will be edited and released at a later date.

“I hope graduates feel honored by what we have done and what we are planning to do in the next week,” White said. “I wish I could shake their hand or give them a hug to let them know how much the staff and myself feel for them.

“Obviously with our current situation, they will be a very memorable class, but this will not define them. I wish their Senior year could have ended differently, but I hope they have special memories to take with them.”

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Schools look to tackle teen vaping with staff and student education

dani — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:04:37 +0000

BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com

At the time current administrators and teachers were preparing to work with students, vaping was not something they were expecting to face.

At the time parents of today’s teenagers had their children, “juuling” wasn’t a term.

In fact, while many of those educators were working towards their degrees, vaping or “juuling” was not even in their vocabularies.

They did know, though, that teen drug use would likely be something they would have to deal with at one point or another. The good news was that teenage use of cigarettes was on the decline.

According to the American Lung Association, after a spike in cigarette smoking among teenagers from 27.5-percent in 1991 to 36.4-percent in 1995, efforts to educate teens on the dangers of smoking began to take hold throughout the early 2000s as those percentages dropped to 8.8-percent of teen cigarette use in 2017.

Around that same time, vaping or “juuling” exploded onto the market.

Promoted as the cigarette that “Tastes and Feels Better Than a Real Cigarette,” vaping requires a battery-powered device, an e-cigarette that heats a liquid for consumption. Once inhaled, the substance inside the vapor is released into the body.

With the elimination of tell-tale signs of cigarette smoking, the e-cigarette device was advertised as a way to “Smoke In Style” as a cigarette box was converted into a device that often resembled a USB drive and the odor associated with smoking was replaced with flavored liquids.

While it remained illegal in all 50 states for children under the age of 18 to purchase and consume nicotine, by 2018, 37-percent of high school seniors reported vaping, according to News In Health.

What the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) now calls an “epidemic” is seen in junior high and high schools across the nation, including in East Central Illinois.

Mahomet-Seymour Education Association’s President James Heinold said high school teachers have brought up concerns with allowing students to go to the bathroom during class because they may use the space to vape.

Oakwood High School’s Principal Tim Lee said that in 2018, staff were “overwhelmed with students going to the bathroom frequently, causing tardies to class and a variety of other issues.”

St. Joseph-Ogden High School’s Principal Gary Page said that while bathrooms are problematic, they have also had to “address issues with (vaping) happening inside of classrooms and the hallways.”

“Vaping devices are so easily concealed, look similar to USB devices and pens, and they can be concealed so easily, there are some students that have the brass to do it in the very short moment it takes for a teacher to turn around to help another student,” Page said.

“I have a friend that teaches in another school district that told me of a student that wore a sweatshirt that used the drawstring of the hood as a delivery device. The student vaped as they were talking to the teacher. The teacher only knew of it because another student later told them about it.”

While adults, administrators, teachers and parents alike were learning about the new trend, marketers targeted teens with colorful ads, young consumers and flavored cartridges.

Today it is estimated that 5.3 million children under the age of 18 are vaping, according to NPR.

“Outside of the concerns everyone has, the biggest concern is that young people have been lied to and in some cases have convinced themselves that there are not health or addiction risks associated with vaping or at least the health risks are not as detrimental as smoking,” Page said.

Christie Clinic’s Dr. Jeanelle Murphy, who practices Family Medicine in St. Joseph, said that 7 in 10 teens are exposed to e-cigarette advertising which increases the likelihood that the teen will try e-cigarettes and possibly become addicted.

The long-term side effects of vaping are still something to be experienced, but the short-term effects have doctors warning parents and educators to educate their students on how vaping will immediately impact them.

Heritage Community School District Superintendent Tom Davis said the conversation has taken place at Heritage High School for several years.

“We discussed changing our policies as far as discipline, but decided to take a different approach instead,” Davis said. “We emphasized prevention and warning kids especially in our health classes and we also put up a variety of posters, some with some pretty direct messages, about the dangers of vaping.”

Keeping in mind that a student’s long-term health is most important, Oakwood also thought it would be a good idea to place the posters where students were most likely to vape, near bathrooms and locker rooms.

Davis said, “the posters highlight the health issues (vaping) can create. This is a teen health issue foremost, so we wanted that message out there along with enforcing our handbook steps for disciplinary action.”

According to Murphy, research has shown that vaping is more dangerous than smoking.

“The most popular vaping device known as Juul has the same amount of nicotine as 20 regular cigarettes,” she said.

“Juul contains nicotine salts, which allow high levels of nicotine to be inhaled more easily with less irritation of the throat.

“Juul always contains Nicotine even if it is claimed that it doesn’t. Nicotine harms the developing brain and the brain is still developing until the age of 25 years, so the more nicotine, the more harm.”

Murphy said that the e-cigarette aerosol is also full of chemicals that “do not release harmless water vapor, but very dangerous chemicals that can lead to illness and death in the user.

“When e-cigarette aerosol is inhaled many harmful substances fill the user’s lungs including Nicotine, ultrafine particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs causing damage; flavorings such as diacetyl which is a chemical linked to a serious lung disease, volatile organic compounds, cancer-causing chemicals, and heavy metals such as nickel, tin and lead,” Murphy said.

Alongside being linked to an increased risk of depression in teens, vaping has also been linked to damaging the developing brain, causing memory loss, problems with learning, impulse control as well as mood and attention disorders, according to Murphy.

“Depression is already a big problem in teens with suicide being the second leading cause of death in young people ages 12-18 years,” she said.

Recently, doctors have been diagnosing cases of a life-threatening condition, EVALI, an e-cigarette/vaping associated lung injury that can present with fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, chest tightness, belly pain and loss of appetite.

“It is unclear how many chemicals in E-cigarettes cause EVALI but it seems vitamin E acetate is a cause.”

Since Dec. 27, 2019 — little more than a month ago — there have been 2,561 hospitalized cases of EVALI and 55 deaths in the United States and U.S. territories.

Vitamin E acetate is found in cartridges with THC or marijuana. The National Institute on Drug Abuse released a study on Dec. 18, 2019 and reported that 20.8-percent of 12th-graders and 19.4-percent of 10th-graders had vaped marijuana. Those figures were nearly doubled from the 2018 study.

___________________________________________________________________________

According to the CDC e-cigarette usage among teens is higher than cigarette usage:

Grade	E-Cigarettes	Cigarettes
8	9.5%	3.6%
10	14%	6.3%
12	16.2%	11.4%

5.8% of teens using e-cigarettes report using marijuana in their e-cigarettes
66% of teens using e-cigarettes report using just flavoring in their e-cigarettes however it was found that 99% of e-cigarettes contain Nicotine even if the manufacturer claims the device does not contain nicotine.

___________________________________________________________________________

Vapers are also using liquid laced with DMT (N-Dimethyltryptamine), Spice, or synthetic marijuana, and Flakka.

Health professionals are also learning that it is not only the user that is affected by the vapers, but much like with cigarette smoke, those nearby can be subject to second-hand exposure.

“When an e-cigarette user exhales into the air they are exposing those around them to the harmful aerosol thereby putting others at risk for the lung, heart and brain damage,” Murphy said.

“E-cigarette aerosol is more dangerous to children and teens than adults, so an adult using an e-cigarette around a child or teen is putting that young person at significant risk.”

Murphy added that 50-percent of calls to poison control centers for e-cigarettes are for children ages five years and younger.

Teens who try e-cigarettes are also more likely to start smoking in the future.

“30.7 percent of teens using e-cigarettes start smoking within 6 months compared to 8.1 percent of teens who are not using e-cigarettes,” Murphy said.

“We know that Nicotine is a highly addictive substance and that cigarettes cause cancer and life-threatening lung and heart diseases. We know that half of all people who smoke long term will die because of smoking-related illnesses.

“E-cigarettes also contain nicotine which makes them addictive as well and teens and young people who vape are more likely to start smoking cigarettes. Studies are ongoing on the harmful effects of e-cigarette use. We likely don’t know as much as we will in the future, so it’s best not to start using e-cigarettes, just like it’s best not to start smoking.”

Schools are taking the message to the classroom. Heritage, Oakwood, Mahomet-Seymour and St. Joseph-Ogden have made sure that the effects of vaping are covered in their health courses, alongside conversations in other classes.

Page said that St. Joseph-Ogden has added educational conversations about vaping in advisory class alongside sending student mentors around to classes to educate their fellow students on vaping.

“A great resource is https://e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/. We utilized this website as a starting point for conversations. Last year we shared this link with our parents as well,” Page said.

According to Mahomet-Seymour High School Principal Chad Benedict, the school district modified its policy so that “students violating the policy have to complete a webquest on vaping. They have to read various articles and complete questions. Our goal is to continue to educate students on the dangers of vaping.”

Educating students only comes with educating the staff, too, though. Several school districts have provided training for teachers and staff to recognize vaping devices and have equipped them with ways to talk to their students.

“Last year we had training on vaping, which exposed the staff to the various paraphernalia to look out for, so much of it looks like ordinary school equipment that the teachers were surprised and were sure they had seen them in their classroom but didn’t know what they were,” Lee said. “There is much less of that now that the staff is more aware.”

Page said St. Joseph-Ogden has taken a similar approach.

“We have done training on identifying different types of vapes as well as disseminating information to teachers on the dangers of vaping to promote education through conversation between teachers, as well as arming teachers with information to be able to have conversations with students.”

The training comes in handy as teachers and staff, and at times students, are the ones monitoring the vaping activity during the school day or at extracurricular activities.

“We monitor it at (Oakwood) by the same old tried-and-true methods of having adults be visible in all the places where this may occur,” Lee said.

Davis said having a School Resource Officer is also an added benefit.

All four school districts have looked into vape detectors to install in designated areas throughout the school, but the price per unit and the effectiveness of the detectors raises additional questions among staff.

Davis said he has seen the collective efforts Heritage has made over the last couple years impact students.

“I will say that we feel the efforts school-wide have made a difference as the number of reports and actual offenses tracked for discipline has dropped significantly over the past 2.5 years,” Davis said.

“A student, (whom) I will, of course, not identify, was forthright with us that he/she had stopped vaping because of the effect it had on their lungs and breathing and their sports.”

School officials hope that education efforts are also taking place at home. Davis said that anytime a student has been caught at Heritage, parents have partnered with the school.

“I have been gratified that when we have had a case of a student caught doing this that the parents are our allies in addressing it with their child,” Davis said. “School is about learning in all facets of life, including making health decisions, so this is another aspect of that we try to teach.

“It is rare that the parent(s) are not supportive in what the discipline will entail, but also joining us in sending the student a message that this can have negative long term effects and we are here to help stop it.”

Lee said even parents who don’t think their child has vaped can step up to the plate.

“I would urge (parents) to talk to their kids,” Lee said. “I was blown away by some of the percentages that students would tell me were vaping last year. If they were right — and they probably know more than I do — then there is a good chance their student had at least tried vaping. It is a serious epidemic that could affect this generation far into the future if we don’t get them to stop soon.”

Just like educators, parents need to know what to look for. For many school districts, recognizing sweet fragrances is often a sign that vaping has occurred.

If a child exhibits behavioral changes, mood swings, agitation, shortness of breath, poor performance, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, mouth sores, abnormal coughing or throat-clearing, chest pain or seizures, it may be time to seek help.

“It is important for (parents) to be diligent in monitoring their children and know what to look for,” Page said. “Too many parents — me included — either choose to bury their heads in the sand or not want to believe that this is something their child would do or at least is feeling the pressure to do.”

Murphy said it is important that parents should avoid criticizing or lecturing their child, but instead help educate the child about the dangers associated with e-cigarette and cigarette use.

“Parents can start the conversation by asking their child or teen what they think about seeing someone smoking or vaping, or when they pass a vaping shop or an e-cigarette or cigarette advertisement.”

“As an educator, I hope that schools can help be a catalyst to address the vaping epidemic that faces our youth, but the responsibility cannot rest completely on the schools,” Page said. “It is going to take diligent parenting, help from community leaders, and government legislation that has real impact in order for this issue to be properly addressed.

“Schools should continue to educate and be a part of the conversation, but until our society says enough is enough schools are chasing their tails trying to address vaping.”

Citations:
American Lung Association. (2020, 02) Overall Tobacco Trends: Tobacco Trends Brief. https://www.lung.org/our-initiatives/research/monitoring-trends-in-lung-disease/tobacco-trend-brief/overall-tobacco-trends.html

News In Heath. (2019, 03). Vaping Rises Among Teens. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2019/02/vaping-rises-among-teens

NPR. (2019, 11). More Teens Than Ever Are Vaping. Here’s What We Know About Their Habits. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/11/06/776397270/more-teens-than-ever-are-vaping-heres-what-we-know-about-their-habits

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21 Heritage and Villa Grove alumni named to Parkland’s 2019 Dean’s List

dani — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 14:02:48 +0000

In honor of their outstanding scholastic achievement, the following students have been named to the Parkland College Dean’s List for fall 2019. To make the list, students must earn a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 grade scale for the semester in which they are being honored. Students who earn less than 12 hours in that semester can make the dean’s list by achieving a 3.5 cumulative GPA for 12 or more hours in the academic year.

ALLERTON
Vivian A Brown

BROADLANDS
Aric Q Roberts
Autumn R Walker

HOMER
Alexander J Baszis
Aidan P Cunningham
Makayla A Fults
Lena C Leonberger
Marissa L Lewis
Shani Lynn McMullin
Brett M Perry
Elijah J Richards
Collin K Rohl
Cole A Woodmansee

VILLA GROVE
Keyaira C Bielert
Angela Renee Graham
Deann M Hauersperger
Zachary L Hooker
Kathrine L Hudson
Daniel E Olson
Rose A Renfrow
Ryan A Tufano

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Two Heritage High School Students named Illinois State Scholars

dani — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 00:50:42 +0000

Heritage High Schools’ Jada Davis and Kailee Eldridge were named to the Illinois State Scholar Program by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC).

Illinois State Scholars must be a U.S. citizen or an eligible non-citizen who is also a resident of Illinois. The student must attend an approved high school, take the ACT or SAT between Aug. 1 and June 30 before the third semester of high school graduation, perform in the top one-half of the high school class at the end of the third semester prior to graduation and/or score at or above the 95th percentile on the ACT or SAT. They must also graduate from the high school during the academic year in which they were chosen as State Scholar.

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Heritage Winter Programs December 13

dani — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 17:46:05 +0000

Heritage Performing Arts will be hosting their winter program on Dec. 13.

Grades K-4 will present their winter program in the Heritage Elementary and Junior High Gym from 2 to 3 p.m.

From 7 to 8 p.m., fifth-grade students will perform with the Heritage Junior High and High School choral ensembles at Heritage High School.

On Dec. 14 from 7 to 8 p.m., the Heritage High School and Junior High bands will perform their selections at Heritage High School.

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VGH boys’ basketball takes third at Cerro Gordo Thanksgiving Tournament, girls top Tuscola

Fred Kroner — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 13:57:06 +0000

BY FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com

Villa Grove/Heritage Girls’ Basketball

The Blue Devils (4-1) overcame a halftime deficit on Tuesday to post a 49-43 victory at Tuscola. The host Warriors led, 22-20, at halftime, but VG/H went on a 17-5 tear in the third quarter and took control.

Aliya Holloman scored 18 points, Kyleigh Block had 15 and Samantha Campbell hit a season-high 12 points for the Blue Devils.

Block has nailed a team-high 10 three-pointers through five games.

The Blue Devils will play their home-opener tonight against Westville (0-5).

Villa Grove/Heritage Boys’ basketball

The Hawks (3-1) opened and closed the Cerro Gordo Thanksgiving Tournament with wins and captured third place.

VG/H topped Sangamon Valley 50-20 in Monday’s opener and followed with a 51-36 triumph over Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg.

A third-round loss on Friday to LeRoy, 49-23, set the stage for Saturday’s bounceback game, a 59-44 verdict over Cerro Gordo/Bement.

Jake Eversole canned a season-high 22 points against CG/B. Logan Nohren (12 points) and Issac Mahoe (11 points) also had their top-scoring performances of the week.

Mahoe canned three three-pointers and Eversole hit two treys.

VG/H led 40-33 after three quarters, but pulled away for the win.

Against LeRoy, the Hawks connected on only six second-half points. Mahoe had five points, Sam Reno had three points and Ierik Sorenson also scored three points.

The points by Reno and Sorenson came on three-pointers.

Against Windsor/SS, VG/H used a 13-2 third-quarter run to take control. Nohren tallied a team-high 11 points. Contributing eight points apiece were Eversole, Reno and Blake Smith.

Eversole fired in 13 points and Nick Coffin had 12 points in the season’s first game, against Sangamon Valley. Smith added seven points.

The Hawks led 32-5 at halftime.

Eversole was picked for the all-tournament team after scoring 45 points for the week.

The Hawks play their home-opener on Tuesday at Heritage against Urbana University High School.

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Heritage receives “Commendable” designation on Illinois Report Card

dani — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 23:58:27 +0000

BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com

The Heritage School District received a “Commendable” designation on the Illinois Report Card, which was released on Oct. 30.

Each year, the Illinois State Board of Education gives schools summative designations based on data provided.

Schools receive Exemplary School, Commendable School, Underperforming School, and Lowest-Performing School designations.

Heritage High School, Heritage Elementary and Junior High School received “Commendable” designations.

With 449 students district-wide, enrollment in the Heritage School District declined by 30 students in 2019 after gaining approximately 10 students from 2015-2018.

Grades 6 and 12 saw the increases at 12 and 14, respectively.

The district has 41-percent low-income students. The low-income rate has fluctuated between 36 and 42 percent since 2015.

The report shows that chronic absenteeism, meaning students who miss 10-percent or more of school with or without a valid excuse, decreased by 3 percent from 21-percent in 2018 to 18-percent in 2019. The state average has been 17 and 18-percent in 2018 and 2019.

But chronic truism rates, 5-percent or more of school days per year without a valid excuse, is rising. In 2015 and 2016, the rate was 2 and 1-percent, respectively. In 2017 and 2018 it was 11-percent and in 2019 it was at 13-percent.

High School drop-out percentages also increased. In 2015-2016 the district reported zero, but in 2017 and 2018, drop-outs were at 1-percent and in 2019 they were reported at 8-percent.

A five-year look at 4-year graduation rates showed Heritage High School losing a bit of steam after a 97-percent 4-year graduation rate in 2018. The 4-year rate in 2017 was 83-percent and the 5-year rate in 2019 was 97-percent.

As a class, 75-percent of freshmen were on track to graduate in 2019. The percentage was at 83-percent in 2017 and 76-percent in 2018.

Heritage High School students see near-state-average scores on their SAT test. In 2017, students received an average score of 503 on the English Language Assessment (ELA) part of the test and a 472 on Math.

Math scores in 2018 were an average of 450 as did ELA scores at 494.3. In 2019, Heritage students scored an average of 476 on ELA and 447.5 on Math.

Since graduating in 2019, 61-percent of Heritage graduates have enrolled in college. That number is down from 2018 when it was 78-percent. In 2017, the rate was 60 percent and in 2016, the rate was 71-percent.

The district spends roughly $12,000 per student enrolled. According to ISBE’s report, the district spends $12,708 per student at Heritage High School. Expenditures per student at Heritage Junior High and Elementary are at $11,232 per student.

The Heritage District was designated at a Tier 2 school for Evidence-Based Funding in 2019. At $4,634,504 Evidence-Based Funding Resources, they are at 87-percent capacity to meet the $5,313,550 Adequacy Target.

Average class size throughout the Heritage District has been below the state average since 2015. With the state average holding steady at 21-23 students per class, overall, Heritage classrooms fluctuate between 11 and 20 students per class.

The Heritage School District, which has a total of 35 teachers has a student to teacher ratio of 15.1 at the elementary level and 14.1 at the high school level. The state average is 18.1 at the elementary level and 19.1 at the state level.

The teacher retention rate, the 3-year average percentage of teachers returning to work at Heritage, remains above the state average, at 89-percent.

On average, teachers within the Heritage School district see a lower salary than their state-wide counterparts. This has held true at least since 2015.

Currently, on average, Heritage teachers are paid $51,208 per year. The state average is $67,049.

The percentage of teachers who are absent more than 10 days per year rose in 2019. In 2017, 95-percent of teachers had fewer than 10 absences within the school year, but in 2018, 71-percent of teachers missed fewer than 10 days and in 2019 75-percent of teachers missed fewer than 10 days.

In 2017 and 2019, 100-percent of Heritage teachers received Excellent or Proficient designations on their evaluations. 94-percent of teacher received the highest rating in 2018.

The Heritage School District falls behind the state average of administration to student ratio. The state average of admins to students was 173:1 in 2019, but Heritage was at 225:1.

Average administrator pay was closer to the state average, though. In 2019, Heritage administrators made an average of $107,622 whereas the state administrators made an average of $109,592.

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