Chaney resigns from school board
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Left to right: Chrisman school board member Cody Denton, Cory Chaney, board member Jeff Eddy.
The meeting of the Chrisman School Board began with the resignation of Cory Chaney. Chaney had been on the board for a number of years, but recently made the decision to step down.
With no correspondence or public comments, the board approved previous meeting minutes along with the approval of financial matters and the imprest fund reimbursement in the amount of $4,194.22.
At the elementary school, Kelly Schluter informed the board of recent events as well as upcoming events at the building. Theme Day was October 6th with the students wearing their favorite sports team apparel.
On October 8th, the students didn’t have school due to Teacher’s Institute. The teachers were able to see a program from Gerry Brooks. Fall Harvest parties will take place on October 29th. The elementary school currently had eight students in quarantine.
The Junior High/High School students will have a dance on October 29th. On November 5th, the faculty will have an ALICE Refresher course with Chief Dolan. The FFA Convention will take place on October 28th and 29th. Junior Carnival will be November 6th. The Junior High currently has two quarantined and four at the High School.
The High School/Junior High has had campus visits by both of their partner organizations through the Federal School Improvement Grant. HMH has been individualized coaching with the schools Math teachers in both buildings.
EdDirection did a building-wide survey of all different stakeholders and is working on compiling a report that will give the school some indicators of school improvement. EdDirection also trained the faculty on how to hold Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s), which they will be doing the rest of the school year on 2:05 dismissals. “Our PLC’s will be analyzing data and brainstorming to make teaching improvements,” Principal Cole Huber said.
The IHSA has officially sanctioned E-Sports as an IHSA activity this year, so Mr. Colvin and his students will be able to compete in the IHSA competition. It will cost $100.00, similar to fees for other IHSA sports.
Per a new law passed, the High School/Junior High will be working with their faculty to change their evaluation process. Tenured teachers who receive a “Proficient” or “Excellent” rating will only be formally evaluated every three years starting next school year.
There is also a requirement that there will be a required informal observation done in the off years. Mrs. Schluter and Mr. Huber will be meeting with the faculty over the next few months to put together a proposal for the school board next spring.
Huber recently participated in the first of several county-wide meetings to update the county’s ‘Disaster Mitigation Plan’. Mayor Danny Owen and Fire Chief Mike Marvin also participated. “We will be helping update our thirty year old plan and this will give us access to federal funds in the future to spend on upkeep for facilities for potential disaster mitigation,” Huber said. More information will be shared at the next meeting.
The October Sales Tax Revenue for the school facilities for the district came to $11,887.54. The district is still averaging over $9,000 per month. The Edgar County Assessment Office has recently provided the district with an estimated 2021 EAV.
The estimate suggests a total increase in EAV of about 4%. “I anticipate bringing a tentative levy to the board in November, with the final levy to be considered at the December meeting,” Superintendent Acklin said.
The district has discussed the idea in the past of selling bonds to have the necessary bonds to cover larger projects, using sales tax money to leverage the bond payments so there is little to no impact to the overall property tax rate. With interest rates still at historic lows, the board may consider having a bond sales representative to make a presentation at a future meeting.
Ideal Environmental has discovered that the window glazing on the elementary school windows contains asbestos. This was found during a routine inspection. The board looked over quotes before deciding on D&M for the project at a cost of $23,400.
At $90.00 per day, the district is tied for the lowest pay rate for substitute teachers in the region. The ROE school district range is between $90-$115 per day. Additionally, on a per hour basis, a substitute paraprofessional now makes more than a certified substitute ($11.41 per hour vs. $11.25 per hour). After some discussion, John Rogers moved to raise the substitute pay to $100 with Cody Denton seconding the motion.
The board adjourned from General Session at 7:25 p.m., then moved into Executive Session. The regular session was called back to order at 8:12 p.m. with the following approvals: Reed Nolan moved to approve $24.00 per hour for Head Maintenance Direction Chad Porter. Jim Spesard seconded.
Jeff Eddy moved to approve Shahata Pinnel as substitute cook at $11.41 an hour contingent upon successfully passing a background criminal/sex offender screening. Karen Webster seconded.
John Rogers moved to approve Katelyn Tarter as a 1-1 paraprofessional at $11.00. Cody Denton seconded. Reed Nolen moved to approve Kathy White as a substitute bus driver pending a driving test. Jeff Eddy moved to approve Sherri Brown as a substitute bus driver pending a driving test.
Jim Spesard moved to approve Dennis Tingley as the new board member until next term. Jeff Eddy seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 8:17.
