Du Quoin briefs: Summer food program starts June 1

<b>Summer meals begin June 1 at two sites</b>

The 2020 summer food program in Du Quoin will begin June 1 and run through July 31 at two locations, the Du Quoin Elementary School, 845 E. Jackson St. and AME Zion Church, 101 N. Maple St. The program will reprise the "grab and go" bags that were handed out Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the just-completed school year and contain breakfasts and lunches. The meals will be handed out curbside between 10 a.m. and noon, and each Monday and Wednesday bag will contain two breakfasts and two lunches. For the 25 years of the summer food program breakfasts and lunches were done inside both buildings, but this year no one will come inside either building to limit the personal contact and thwart the spread of the coronavirus. Meals are free for children age 0-18. For ages 19 and up, breakfasts are $1 and lunches are $2.

<b>District 300 hirings</b>

The District 300 school board has hired the following for the 2020-21 school year:

Carrie Wolfe, an elementary teacher.

Tim Davis, a middle school social studies teacher.

Josh Carnahan, a high school social studies teacher.

Elizabeth Fisher, a high school English teacher.

Meanwhile, the board transferred John White to the high school physical education position for 2020-21.

The board hired the following extracurricular positions: Bailie Caldwell, assistant softball; Sadie Day, and assistant softball and volleyball; Kirsten Kremer and Bri Green, Indianettes coaches.

The board hired the following summer food program workers: Supervisor Donna Lively; cooks Danielle Swayne, Robert Manser, Missy Higgins, Brenda Ridgeway and Kara Dearmond; and internal substitutes Erin Kroeger and Linda Harris.

<b>Short-story writers win reading awards</b>

Three Du Quoin Elementary School students won awards for their short stories in the Southern Illinois Reading Council 2020 Short Story Contest: Ashlyn Strode, third place; Kai Travis, first place and Kaila Kiechler, first place.