Sangamon Sun

The Ball-Chatham Community Unit School District 5 reflected on the prior semester's outstanding students and their performance data during a meeting held on Wednesday.

The students of the month were from the Capital Area Career Center, a collaborative program aimed at helping students gain important life skills and giving them experience in a future career, as well as extra credits before they start college. The following students, along with their areas of specialization, were recognized:

September: Ruth Turner (Audio/Video Production), Drew Verenski (Building Trades), Joan Gonzalez (Electrical Engineering), Emma Rightnowar (EMT), Luke Leahy (Law Enforcement), Macy Moriconi (Nursing Assistant), and Jude Yakes (Welding II)

October: Christina Mann (Audio/Video Production), Ryder Hollis (Auto Tech II), Madison Nava (Cosmetology), Apollo Nicholson (Graphic Arts), Dylan Smith (HVAC/E), Noelle Daniels (IT Networking/Cyber Security), Ty Draper (Welding I)

November: Michelle Goutsalenko (Coop/WBL), Illyania Rocha (Graphic Arts), Yasmeen Salem (Nursing Assistant)

December: Bryson Schnitker (Building Trades), Bryse Butler (Coop/WBL), Taryn Waterman (Cosmetology), Megan Ore (Medical Assistant), Traevion Amos (Nursing Assistant)

"When we were pulling the names for students to recognize, as a superintendent, I just it's just a proud moment: the number of names in our school district had on the monthly list of recognitions," superintendent Dr. Becca Lamon said. "And my perception is that it was higher for us than many of the other districts who are involved in that program, which is a testimony to the quality of our students and their participation and what a wonderful program CACC is."

Following the recognitions, Dr. Lamon and Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Farnsworth gave a presentation on the district's curriculum and equity, sharing data related to performance, academic standards, district goals and improvement efforts. All of the district's schools were designated "Commendable" except for Glenwood Elementary School, which was designated "Exemplary". All of the district's schools are currently in the top 10% of the state.

Ball-Chatham CUSD5's two main goals for 2023 are attracting and retaining highly-qualified and diverse staff members and providing equitable opportunities to bridge the achievement gap in students. The district has also been striving to improve equity in Illinois' three areas of focus for schools: student learning, learning conditions and elevating educators. They have also achieved near-negligible equity gaps while elevating their educators and have seen improvements in both kindergarten readiness scores and out-of-school suspension rates. The district has also been working to eliminate bullying in schools and trying to eliminate it to create a more welcoming and friendly learning environment.