Unit 40 looks to add new dual credit course

May 23—Effingham Unit 40 is taking steps to expand its curriculum in an effort to better prepare students for life after high school.

During its meeting Monday, the Unit 40 Board unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding for a dual credit public speaking teacher which the district has determined to be a hard-to-fill position.

According to Superintendent Andrew Johnson, Lake Land College reached out to surrounding school districts to inquire about dual credit public speaking classes for high school students, but the district is having some trouble finding a qualified candidate to teach it. However, Lake Land College is now offering to cover a portion of the cost of training an applicant to teach the class.

"In fact, we have posted previously for English teachers, but none of the applicants have the full credentials to teach dual credit public speaking," Johnson said.

Two internal applicants have applied for the position, and the district is looking to hire Dannette Williamson, one of the district's teachers, for the position. Williamson already has the credentials needed to teach English at a high school level and a master's degree.

"In order to be an approved dual credit public speaking instructor, she needs a graduate certificate in communication processes," Johnson said.

Effingham High School Principal Kurt Roberts said Williamson will be able to begin teaching the speech class once she completes half of the training course, and students could potentially begin taking the class as soon as the next spring semester. He also explained that offering the class will be beneficial for students as they transition to college.

"We've been trying to put this in place for a while," Roberts said. "Almost every four-year or two-year program that you're going to is going to require some type of a public speaking or a general public speaking course, and this takes care of that course."

In other matters, the board unanimously approved a three-year employment contract for Laura Sullivan, who will be the coordinator of the district's career and technical education (CTE) programs and pathways.

"To be honest with you, there's really nobody better qualified for that position than Laura at this point," Roberts said. "I'm excited about where this goes."

In addition to working with several school districts over the years, Sullivan is involved with the Effingham Regional Career Academy. She said she's excited to take on the new position.

"I've worked with 25 school districts for the last 19 years, promoting career and technical education throughout the region, trying to improve business connections with our students," Sullivan said.

Johnson said the new program will give district students a "great opportunity" to connect with businesses in the area. Meanwhile, the board unanimously approved a curriculum for the district's new social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum. The district hopes that adding the curriculum, which was recommended by the district's curriculum committee, will help it achieve some of the goals included in its strategic plan.

"The social and emotional curriculum recommendation for purchase for the upcoming school year is Everyday Speech," Johnson said.

The district will pay $55,949 for a three-year subscription with Everyday Speech.

"We've been doing and dealing with social and emotional learning for a long time," Johnson said. "We want some more consistency throughout the district."

Additionally, Johnson said he'd like to see some "character and culture building" included in the curriculum as well.

"We want this to be a slow roll," Johnson said. "There's lots and lots of pieces and directions for this to go."

Also during the meeting, the board unanimously approved a resolution in support of the district's utilization of a card based identification system, Safe School ID, for the employees of vendors that require access to district property. The district's plans to put the identification system in place is part of a larger effort to further ensure the safety of its students.

"This is a new program that's coming out," Johnson said. "Any vendor that would come on our property would need to register through this company at no cost to us. They will had to have paid for their employees to have that card to come onto our property."

Johnson also noted that the district will be one of the first in the state of Illinois to use the new identification system.

"I think it's a great program," he said.

In other safety matters, the board unanimously approved the purchase of security glass laminate for the district's facilities. The glass laminate will cost the district $26,966.

"Basically, this is to enhance our safety and security of our facilities," Johnson said.

Work on the glass laminate is expected to begin by the end of the summer.

"This is the start of more of these types of requests that we're going to bring to you," Johnson said.

Nick Taylor can be reached at nick.taylor@effinghamdailynews.com or

by phone at 618-510-9226 or 217-347-7151 ext. 300132.