South West Illinois News

Chester Community Unit School District 139 Board met Jan. 18.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

The Board of Education of Chester Community Unit School District No. 139 met in the Chester Community Grade

School Conference Room on January 18, 2018. President Hammel called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Members present: Dan Colvis, Trent Vasquez, Debi Caraway, Charles Fricke, Mitch Hammel. Members absent: Jamie Eggemeyer, Tom Welge

Motion was made by Mrs. Caraway and seconded by Mr. Vasquez to approve the agenda items as listed. Upon roll call all members voted yea. 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Don Badgley presented an overview of the Prairie State Insurance Cooperative (PSIC) program to the Board of Education.

Motion was made by Mr. Colvis and seconded by Mr. Vasquez to approve the minutes of the facility committeemeeting of December 15, 2017. Upon roll call all members voted yea, 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Motion was made by Mrs. Caraway and seconded by Mr. Vasquez to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of December 21, 2017, as presented. Upon roll call all members voted yea, 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Motion was made by Mr. Fricke and seconded by Mrs. Caraway to approve the minutes of the executive session of December 21, 2017, as presented. Upon roll call all members voted yea, 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

The Board received a monthly grade school maintenance report from Tim Paulus:

Tiled the floor in the back entrance hallway by the boardroom. Mrs. Caraway informed the Board she sent Mr. Paulus a thank you on behalf of the Board of Education on a great job and for volunteering his time.

Painted the new kindergarten room.

Helped Brian McMath with the high school gym wall padding.

There have not been any issues with the frigid weather these past few weeks in the building. All the utility lines, water, gas, etc. supplying the school have been fine. The boilers have been working properly and all pumps are good.

Minor leaking issue with one water hydrant on northwest side of cafeteria; looking into installing a separate shut off valve.

Due to the custodial staff continually having to cart the padded chairs between the gym and the boardroom and back again, Mr. Paulus is requesting the possibility of purchasing chairs that will remain in the boardroom. Mr. Hammel suggested using the old high school padded gym chairs since new chairs were recently purchased for Colbert gym.

One motor needs replaced on the grade school roof.

Mr. Paulus noted that a lot of things were accomplished during the Christmas break. Filters were all changed, the tile was completed, kindergarten room painted and set up, as well as other small odds and ends.

The Board received a monthly high school maintenance report from Brian McMath:

The salt spreader is cleaned up and running for the winter.

With the help of Tim Paulus, the pads in Colbert gym were installed. Had some issues with some of the pads but they are being taken care of by the manufacturer.

Installed new paper towel and soap dispensers in bathrooms over Christmas break.

Replaced flush valve in the women’s faculty restroom

Hung senior basketball, cheerleader, and dance banners in rafters in Colbert gym.

Yearly elevator inspection went fine.

Water heater in 1961 building went out on January 6. Contacted A&W Plumbing for a price quote.

This summer the water heater and holding tank in the 1925 building need replacing. They were installed in 2001 and are beginning to leak.

The Board received a monthly grade school athletic report from David Kaiser:

Boys and girls junior high basketball seasons are coming to an end. Our girls played in the regional championship game. The boys last regular season game is January 18 and begin their regional the following week.

Cheerleading also have their last game on January 18.

Volleyball tryouts were held and games will begin at the end of January.

The Board received an upcoming athletic schedule.

Jeremy Blechle presented a high school athletic report to the Board of Education:

The boys’ basketball record is 13-5 and the girls’ record is 8-11.

Boys’ basketball finished 3rd in the Sesser-Valier Christmas Tournament. Highest finish in team history for this tournament. Keith Kiner was named to the Sesser Holiday Tournament All-Tournament Team.

Boys’ basketball placed 3rd in the CIT. Keith Kiner and Ian Reith were named to the CIT All-Tournament Team.

The Lady Jackets took 3rd place in the LJMWC. Destiny Williams and Reese Chandler were named to the LJMWC All-Tournament Team.

The CHS dance competition team competed recently in Edwardsville and will be competing in Marion and Highland as well. They have been performing at home boys’ basketball games and have received positive feedback on their routines.

CHS has launched an official Twitter account that will keep all local fans and community members up-to-date on happenings with High School Yellow Jacket athletics and organizations.

The letter for advertising on the new chairs has been completed and is currently being distributed to area businesses.

Looking into purchasing protective covers for the new pads that have been installed in Colbert gym. The cost to be split between district funds and the high school activity account.

Baseball and softball scheduling and umpire confirmations, as well as track scheduling and official confirmations are being completed at this time.

Finishing up with all winter sport checklist items.

The board received the next 30 days of athletic events.

The Board received a monthly technology report from Richard Clasen.

E-Rate form 470 has been filed for grant funding for the 2018-19 school year.

Most of the districts wireless access points are on their last year of supported updates. We will need to start replacing them in the 2019-2020 school year. We should only need to replace half of them since the new AP will be using new wireless standard.

Replaced 16 computers in Mrs. Coop’s room with OKAW funds. The old computers went to Ms. Stellhorn’s room and her 2009 computers will be used as spares. We are asking OKAW to replace 14 more computers for this school year. That will give Mrs. Coop all new computers. Ms. Stellhorn will have 2014 computers.

We have 120 Chromebooks that will be 5 years old and 100 IPads that will be 6 years old at the end of this school year. We will need to begin replacing them.

We have been migrating all computers to Windows 10 version 1709. It is Microsoft’s most up to date and secure operating system. We should have all teacher and office computers done in the next month. The district owns a Microsoft Site License for all versions of Windows and Office.

Shirley Stegmann presented a curriculum report to the Board:

On January 5, Cindy Ponder presented to the CHS teachers on Childhood Trauma. She will be making the same presentation to CGS teachers on January 26.

On January 12, high school and junior high school English, Math and Science teachers, along with Special Education teachers were scheduled to meet to discuss placement of current 8th graders into 9th grade English, Math and Science classes. St. Johns and St. Marys were invited to attend as well. However, due to the snow day, this had to be cancelled. There is no reschedule date. Instead, we will be taking care of this electronically with the Google Sheet that has been prepared. We had to do this last year as we were also out for a snow day on my scheduled meeting date. The teachers were all great and worked well to help get this completed in a timely manner.

There are 48 students from the junior class who have signed up to take the ACT at CHS on February 27. Student data upload has been completed for testing.

ACCESS testing materials have been received. Testing will begin on January 17.

I am continuing to work on general planning and the process of entering accommodations for SAT and PARCC testing.

ISBE hosts webinars monthly to help keep us up to date with all state assessments. I attend these webinars and find them to be invaluable for me as I work on the planning of all the assessments for our district.

The Fall On-Site Professional Development was completed in December for CGS. There were 12 teachers who participated. Marybeth McCormick and I met on January 10 to pre-plan for a possible On-Site PD at CHS this spring.

I am tentatively planning on making a Google Classroom presentation to the CGS teachers on one of the professional development Fridays. I made this presentation to CHS teachers earlier in the fall semester. The presentation provides the basics on getting started using Google Classroom as a teacher. I also show teachers how to use Google Classroom from a student perspective.

I have shared 2016 ISA (IL Science Assessment) scores with 5th grade through high school science teachers.

The 2017 scores are supposed to be made available in approximately two weeks.

Grade School Principal Tim Lochhead presented a monthly report to the Board:

Active Shooter Training (4E) was held during the teacher institute on January 3.

Dental Safari was at CGS on January 4.

Sport pictures were taken on January 10.

CGS raised $230 for the Lions Club on January 10 during our “Positive Give Back to the Community Day”.

An administrative meeting was held on January 11.

Star Stinger Assemblies were held on January 18 & 19.

The Little Jackets Basketball program is currently being held at the grade school. There are 66 participants.

Mr. Lochhead apprised the Board that visitation and a memorial service for Lawrence “Pete” Hittmeier will be held on January 19 in the Grade School Gymnasium. Visitation will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and the memorial service will begin at 7:00 p.m. The family has requested, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Chester Grade School.

Sport pictures will be held on February 7.

PTS will hold their next meeting on February 13.

Parent/teacher conferences will be held on February 15 and 16.

Channel 4 Storm Mode will be streaming the forecast live from the grade school gym in February.

Melissa Meyer, High School Principal, reported the following to the Board of Education:

Dean Buch for Medstar held CPR training for 10 coaches/staff members.

Police Chief Coffey and other officers trained all high school staff for the Active Shooter Drill (4E).

Cindy Ponder presented to the staff on Students and Trauma.

The LJMWC went off without any major problems. The girls received 3rd place and Destiny Williams and Reese Chandler were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Mrs. Meyer praised Mr. Blechle for a job well done during the LJMWC and CIT tournaments that run back to back. She also thanked Mrs. Petrowske and her class for preparing food for the hospitality room.

Mr. Guebert has started with the juniors and their registration process.

Juniors attended Morris Library on January 17 for their project day. The seniors will go next week.

Congratulations to the Elks Students of the Month for January: Jessica Kattenbraker and Curtis Meyer.

Mrs. Meyer informed the Board that Madison Hoffman has signed with Missouri Baptist for volleyball.

A blood drive will be held at the high school on February 14.

Superintendent Pasero reported the following to the Board of Education:

Congratulations to Tracy Woods who was awarded a $750 Library Grant.

The Board received information on the Illinois State Science Assessment.

Eliminating township restrictions for school board elections was discussed. Mr. Pasero informed the Board there is an August deadline for filing with the County Clerk to be placed on the November ballot.

Mr. Pasero met and requested quotes from four vendors regarding the district’s copy machines.

Superintendent Pasero received a quote of $13,158 from A&W Plumbing for a water heater, expansion tank and mixer that are needing replaced at the high school.

Mr. Pasero has received teaching applications for agriculture, but none for industrial arts. The deadline is January 31. Mr. Guebert is in the process of surveying students regarding their general interests in these areas.

Mr. Vasquez questioned the possibility of parents transporting cheer and dance members to competitions, rather than paying for bussing. He stated there have been numerous times the bus has returned home empty because students ride back with their parents.

Motion was made by Mr. Vasquez and seconded by Mr. Fricke to enter into executive session at 8:20 p.m. for the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body and to conduct a semi-annual review of closed meeting minutes. Upon roll call Mr. Colvis voted yea, Mr. Vasquez voted yea, Mrs. Caraway voted yea, Mr. Fricke voted yea, Mr. Hammel voted yea. 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Motion was made by Mr. Colvis and seconded by Mr. Vasquez to return to open session at 8:40 p.m. Upon roll call Mr. Fricke voted yea, Mrs. Caraway voted yea, Mr. Vasquez voted yea, Mr. Colvis voted yea, Mr. Hammel voted yea. 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Motion was made by Mr. Fricke and seconded by Mrs. Caraway to approve the district bills in the amount of $344,970.22 and the district payroll in the amount of $410,259.05. Upon roll call Mr. Colvis voted yea, Mr. Vasquez voted yea, Mr. Fricke voted yea, Mrs. Caraway voted yea, Mr. Hammel voted yea. 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

After review, motion was made by Mr. Fricke and seconded by Mrs. Caraway to approve the first reading of the attached Board policies. Upon roll call all members voted yea, 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Motion was made by Mr. Vasquez and seconded by Mr. Fricke to accept the semi-annual review of closed meeting minutes and have determined that all minutes will remain closed to the public. Upon roll call all members voted yea, 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Motion was made by Mr. Fricke and seconded by Mrs. Caraway to approve the following high school curriculum additions to be effective for the 2018-19 school year as recommended by administration. Upon roll call all members voted yea, 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Math: Probability and Statistics, Calculus, Trigonometry, Mathematics Proficiency Development

Science: Astronomy, Environmental Science

Social Studies: Western Civilization

Motion was made by Mr. Colvis and seconded by Mr. Vasquez to accept the resignation request of Aaron Halstead as freshmen boys’ basketball coach effective immediately. Upon roll call all members voted yea, 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Motion was made by Mr. Vasquez and seconded by Mr. Fricke to approve Adam Guebert as a volunteer high school boys’ track coach for the 2017-18 school year. Upon roll call all members voted yea, 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Motion was made by Mr. Colvis and seconded by Mr. Fricke to accept the retirement request of Jonelle Evers as high school secretary at the conclusion of the 2021-22 school year taking advantage of the 6% salary increase during her final four years of employment. Upon roll call Mr. Fricke voted yea, Mrs. Caraway voted yea, Mr. Vasquez voted yea, Mr. Colvis voted yea, Mr. Hammel voted yea. 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Motion was made by Mr. Fricke and seconded by Mr. Vasquez to approve the FMLA request of Karen Whittenburg retroactive to November 17, 2017. Upon roll call Mr. Colvis voted yea, Mr. Vasquez voted yea, Mrs. Caraway voted yea, Mr. Fricke voted yea, Mr. Hammel voted yea. 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

Motion was made by Mr. Colvis and seconded by Mr. Vasquez to adjourn the meeting at 8:54 p.m. Upon roll call all members voted yea. 5 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; motion carried.

http://www.chester139.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_105222/File/January%2018,%202018%20Regular%20Mtg%20Minutes.pdf