It's that time of year again! For those interested in pre-ordering any plants for the Spring this year, please submit an order by Wednesday, February 1st. I will be placing a seed order for our plant sale this spring. You can also just come to the plant sale, which will be May 13th at school. You can send in the order sheet to school or email it to me at amanker@brussels42.net. The following link will take you to the order form: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cYqbJQxOAIRaiskoSXUTBT7CG8FwpX0cZKGzfCxeLO4/edit?usp=sharing
Mrs. T. Long's STEM class finished up their Forces and Motion chapter in Physical Science. Students built roller coasters to show potential energy, kinetic energy, gravity and friction. Only 3 supplies of cardboard rolls, masking tape and straws were available to students to build their roller coasters. Students enjoyed this activity and their roller coasters were pretty successful!
Golden Eagle Youth Trap Team
A picture is worth a thousand words. This says it all! Congrats girls!
At Brussels CUSD we are making some improvements to our infrastructure. Part of these improvements include a new phone system. The new system will improve safety in our district and communication between buildings and classrooms. The materials for this new system were purchased mainly with grants from various sources. BCUSD would like to thank Fred Kuhn, Chad Brodbeck, Blade Technology and Illinois Rural Electric for their efforts and support in installing equipment and getting the system up and running.
Illinois Science Assessment
Each year students in fifth, eighth, and eleventh grades take a state assessment to measure their science knowledge. Students can score as emerging, developing, proficient, or exemplary. We have received the scores from the students who tested during the 21/22 school year and are excited to share that our students really did a great job on this assessment. All students in the fifth grade scored proficient or above and all of them scored above the state average. In the eighth grade, 63% of our students scored proficient or exemplary and 50% scored above the state average. In the eleventh grade, 66% of our students scored proficient or exemplary and 53% scored above the state average. We are so proud of our students and teachers.
At the district’s January 17th Board of Education meeting, candidates who met the December deadline for submitting petitions to the County Clerk’s office will have the opportunity to interview for the one Board position open at this time.
The meeting on January 17, 2023 will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will meet in the grade school cafeteria. If you have questions, you are welcome to contact Mark Martin at mrmartin@brussels42.net or at 618-883-2131
Prior to leaving for break, the BHS Literature class went over to the grade school to read to the 1st and 2nd grade classroom. Our theme was “Banned Books” as that was the theme of our class this past semester. Don’t worry, the books selected were banned at some point throughout history for silly reasons. If you have time, look up banned books. You’ll discover a plethora of mainstream, classic, and children’s books, many of which you have probably read at some point. Why some books get banned is interesting to say the least, and the students at BHS have thoroughly enjoyed diving into this genre. Now on to Mythology.
PUBLIC HEARING
On January 24, 2023, at 5:00 p.m., Brussels CUSD will hold a public hearing in the elementary cafeteria on a proposed plan to provide eLearning for students when in person instruction is cancelled. This plan will allow eLearning to be utilized in the case of bad weather, facility issues or other unforeseen circumstances in order to provide a continuation of learning without disruptions.
Hello All!
No school on Thursday, December 21, due to predicted extreme weather conditions. Middle and high school students will still need to check in on the Brussels Strong page for attendance purposes. If you have questions, please contact your principal. mrmartin@brussels42.net or plong@brussels42.net
Thank you and have a Happy Holiday! See you all in January!
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Probably like you, here at school we are watching the weather predictions closely
for what to expect on Thursday. From what I am seeing, it seems like there is a
good chance that we will not be able to have school tomorrow.
Your students are coming home this afternoon (Wednesday) with some learning
materials provided by their teachers. If we are not able to have school on
Thursday, your student should complete the materials and turn them in to his/her
teacher when students return to school on January 5. These materials will be
graded and used to record student attendance for the day.
Thank you all for a great first semester and your continued support of the students
who attend Brussels Elementary School!
Happy holidays everyone! Stay healthy.
Elementary Field Trip Change!
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As you are probably aware, the weather on Thursday, December 22, is predicted to include the probability of snow and very cold temperatures. For the safety of our students and staff members, we are moving the planned field trip activities to Wednesday, December 21.
Happy holidays everyone! Stay healthy.
Mark R. Martin
Superintendent/Elementary School Principal
Our BHS Sophomore class along with our BJHS students took a field trip to our own Calhoun County Courthouse. Judge Charles Burch spoke to our students about the judicial branch of government and answered all kinds of questions from our students. Thank you Judge Burch for providing our students with an experience they will remember.
After our visit to the courthouse, our students went to the local restaurant, Straight Home, and received a great lunch and enjoyed a new experience for many. Thank you, Straight Home for accomodating our group of kids and providing great food and service.
All in all, a great day for these BHS and BJHS kiddos.
Pep Club shirts are in and look fantastic! For those folks that missed out on the chance to put in an order, we are putting a second one in on Tuesday. If you're interested, please send us an order by Tuesday morning. These shirts will most likely arrive after the holidays.
TUTORING:
The last day for tutoring for this semester will be December 19. Tutoring will resume on January 9. Please remind your student(s) to bring all the materials needed to make the most of their time. If you have questions, please reach out to your administrator. Thank you!
ATTN: EARLY BIRD PE STUDENTS
Plans have changed! There will be early bird on Friday, December 16 in the gym. Please see Mrs. Long if you have questions. Thanks!
Learning opportunity through Lewis & Clark Community College. Please see the attached flyer.
After a 3 year COVID break, National Honor Society was excited to bring "Santa's workshop" back to Brussels. Our Brussels Elementary and St. Mary's students enjoyed shopping for their family members with the help of our NHS students. It is a great start to this holiday season. HO!HO!HO!
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As you are probably aware, when we returned from our Thanksgiving break last Monday, we discovered that the HVAC system which worked perfectly before the break was no longer providing heat for the elementary school. Here’s an update on the repair work so far.
Updike Heat and A.C. is the company that installed our updated systems in the grade school, high school and gym. Workers from that company have been here every day this week trying to diagnose and fix the problem. It took some time to diagnose the problem to determine if we had a leak or an electrical problem. Finally, it was determined that the compressor in one of the buildings three HVAC units has failed. While the diagnostic work was going on, an attempt was made to heat the building using just the two functioning HVAC units. After multiple attempts, this was unsuccessful. As the work was under way, we made arrangements for our elementary school classes to use available high school classrooms or the library if their room became uncomfortable.
Yesterday afternoon, Chad Brodbeck experimented with reactivating the old electric heat system in the cafeteria and was successful. Work is underway today to do the same thing with the electric heaters in each elementary classroom. By lunchtime today, we had three classrooms heated with the old electric heaters. Our hope is that this can provide enough heat until the parts needed are available and repairs are made. It is most likely that those repairs will take place during our Winter/Christmas break.
Sincerely,
Mark R. Martin
12/2/2022
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As you are probably aware, when we returned from our Thanksgiving break last Monday, we discovered that the HVAC system which worked perfectly before the break was no longer providing heat for the elementary school. Here’s an update on the repair work so far.
Updike Heat and A.C. is the company that installed our updated systems in the grade school, high school and gym. Workers from that company have been here every day this week trying to diagnose and fix the problem. It took some time to diagnose the problem to determine if we had a leak or an electrical problem. Finally, it was determined that the compressor in one of the buildings three HVAC units has failed. While the diagnostic work was going on, an attempt was made to heat the building using just the two functioning HVAC units. After multiple attempts, this was unsuccessful. As the work was underway, we made arrangements for our elementary school classes to use available high school classrooms or the library if their room became
uncomfortable. Yesterday afternoon, Chad Brodbeck experimented with reactivating the old electric heat system in the cafeteria and was successful. Work is underway today to do the same thing with the electric heaters in each elementary classroom. By lunchtime today, we had three classrooms heated with the old electric heaters. Our hope is that this can provide enough heat until the parts needed are available and repairs are made. It is most likely that those repairs will take place during our Winter/Christmas break.
Sincerely,
Mark R. Martin