By Austin Williams
Jordan Principal Craig Bland discussed the state of the student body entering the spring semester at the Centralia City Schools board meeting on Tuesday. Bland reported that with a high number of discipline issues throughout the fall semester, the district’s mental health support staff have provided essential help by working with students and teachers to address behavioral issues.
“I’m thankful to the board for providing us with our mental health support team. They have been very helpful to me in the last several years, in taking some of that weight off my shoulders and working with those students.”
According to Bland, students as a whole have made significant progress in reading, while math remains an area of needed focus. The reading buddies program, in which volunteers including students in the CJHS SOAR program visit and read to elementary students, has been beneficial. He also reported that an after-school program for EL students has so far been helpful for children who don’t speak English as a first language.
Superintendent Craig Clark gave an update on the ongoing construction at Jordan and Central schools. Projects at both schools have finished phase one of site preparation and are ready to begin steel frame erection. Steel will arrive at Jordan on January 22 and 29 with steel workers on site the week of January 29. Steel will be delivered to Central on February 5 with steel workers on site following the Jordan installation. Clark noted that there are more workers for the Jordan and Central projects than for the previous Schiller project. Construction at both schools is scheduled to be finished in June and ready for the next school year.
The board accepted the resignation of bus driver Susan Shaw. The board approved the purchase of 32 teacher desks at a cost of $16,800.
The next board meeting is scheduled for February 13, 2024.
