The Nashville High School Board of Education met last night and they heard from Media Center Director Leigh Ann Cloud.  She has applied for a Library per capita grant for $350, as well as for a large grant the school received last year, that being a $5,000 Back to Books grant.  Cloud used these funds to increase the biography section of the media center.  She was able to get 178 books to help students get informative books for term papers.  It would be great if the school could get the competitive grant 2 years in a row.  Cloud also presented the Board with a list of her goals, both short term and long term.  This includes working with the English Department to support the Common Core Writing Standards, writing more grant applications and cleaning up records of books in the biography section.  Then long term goals include developing assessments to help students develop more skills to get their information, continue professional development for faculty to use the library more effectively, continue to promote reading for enjoyment and continue to facilitate the use of technology.  Director of Guidance, Tesha Maschhoff, gave the Board the Assessment report.  She said the scores from the ACT for the most recent graduates went down below the state level, which as we have reported is a consistent theme with the raised standards.  Also, those students that receive accommodations are now included in the scoring, where they were not before.  She instead focused on the positives, which included the increase the students showed from their 8^th and 9^th Grade Explore Exams to their PLAN test as sophomores to their ACT test as juniors.  There was an increase in their scoring as the years have gone by for each class.  Mark these dates down, Homecoming 2014 will be on October 3^rd, the second last home game of the year and it will be against Carterville.  The last home is on October 17^th, which will be against DuQuoin.  It will be senior night and mostly likely the Chili Cookoff.  Superintendent Wendy Davis reported that the new intercom-phone-bell system is up and running.  They use a tone now instead of bells.  Some students heard the gong sound, while the school was experimenting, and a petition was begun, but Davis says the current sound is very likely to remain for a while.  One of the biggest advantages to the new system is that a teacher can call for a code red from their classroom, which was only able to be done from the main office before and it is an improved safety feature.  Principal Brian Pasero then reported how the parent – teacher conferences went last month.  He says there were 426 letters sent out and 282 teacher conferences.  These totals are down from last year, but Davis reported they may have it available as all-day for parent – teacher conferences next year.  Pasero reported that the feedback was positive.  The Board approved a resolution to support Kaskaskia College in its campaign to build a new extension center in Nashville.  Davis presented the 2013 Tax Levy, which will be payable in 2014.  The actual rates in the past 16 years average out to $1.89, which is lower than last year’s $1.91.  This year they are looking at a $1.90 rate.  She says the equalized assessed value plays a part in deciding what the rate will be.  The Board approved papers to be prepared for the next meeting on this levy at between 6 and 7 percent.  The next item for the Board dealt with a maintenance grant in the amount of $50,000.  As it is a matching grant, the items included in the request should be over $100,000.  There are 12 items listed for an amount of $113,542.75.  The projects include some work on tiled floors and demolition of 2 science cabinets, repair work on various utilities in science rooms and moving a sink, tuck pointing throughout the school, repairs on the roof, removal and replace concrete steps and hand rails, repairs on the concession stand at the football field, concrete work under some bleachers on both sides of the football field, replace existing locks with an electronic door entry on south end of building, moving fencing on property, replace or repair an HVAC unit and lockers in the boys PE locker room.  If they receive the grant, they can cut something back to $100,000 if needed.  The Board also approved for the application of an Energy Efficiency Grant in the amount of $185,000 for 4 light poles with lighting for the football field.  Davis says they would be placed at each 15-yard line on both sides of the field and the lights directed to cover the entire field.  This is a matching fund, so the school would need to pay for half of the cost of the project.  Finally, they approved Christy Vogt as a part-time teacher aide.