Brush Creek preschool and literacy program highlighted; middle school students showcase National History Day projects

Brush Creek Elementary School staff and students presented a pre-K performance and described district literacy work during a Jennings County School Corporation board meeting.

The presentation opened with Brush Creek pre-K students singing and demonstrating rhyming skills to families and board members. Christy Reich, identified at the meeting as the school’s literacy coach, told the board the school has adopted evidence-based reading practices and assessment tools this year: “We are using science of reading,” Reich said, and the building’s primary team completed Orton-Gillingham training at the start of the year. Reich said teachers and the special education team (including Bridal Raymond) are using DIBELS and a core phonics screener to monitor progress and adjust interventions more quickly.

The shift, Reich said, has led to stronger decoding and spelling skills among early readers and faster adjustments when students need different interventions. Reich described teachers “starting to really enjoy the data” as students show measurable progress in progress monitoring.

Board members and the audience also heard recognitions for student reading achievements in the Accelerated Reader program: the meeting named students who exceeded the school’s 250-point top prize, with specific point totals announced for Heba King (402.8 points) and Hannah Mahoy (410 points).

Jennings County Middle School representatives and students outlined their National History Day participation. A middle school student, Whitney, described her research process after choosing a topic in women’s history and said the project taught her how to “write a thesis statement” and improve editing and presentation skills. Aiden Chen, another student, described the work involved in producing a long research paper and the technical demands of assembling his project.

Why it matters: the presentations showed the district’s classroom-level implementation of literacy training and assessment and highlighted student academic extracurricular activity that will proceed to state-level competition. Board members were reminded these are ongoing instructional initiatives rather than formal board actions.

District contact and next steps: the school asked parents and community members interested in pre-K enrollment to call the central office number provided at the meeting, (812) 346-4483. The literacy coach and school staff indicated they will report results as assessments and end-of-year data become available.

Ending: The board meeting continued after the presentations, moving into public comment and regular agenda business.