Southern Illinois News

Pope County Community Unit School District #1 Board of Education met Sept. 22.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Meeting was called to order by President Hogg at 7:00 p.m. The following members were present: Kizziar, Aly, Wallace, Simmons, and Hogg. Walker and Schuchartd were absent.

A motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Aly to approve the agenda. Roll call vote: all ayes.

A motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons to approve the consent agenda including the following items; 1) Approve Minutes of Board Meeting on 8/18/22; 2) Approve Closed Session Minutes; 3) Approve Bills for Payment; 4) Accept Financial Report; 5) Publication of Administrator and Teacher Salary and Benefits Report SY 2022; and 6) Accept Resignations; Sherri Morris as Jr. High Special Ed, Laura Hosfeldt as teacher, Chad Nalley as Jr. High baseball coach. President Hogg asked questions regarding the Teacher Salary and Benefits Report. Mr. Fritch commented on the Heartland Mechanical and ICI Mechanical bills. President Hogg asked about the air compressor from Blanchard’s, which was for the bus garage. With no further comments, roll call vote: all ayes.

Under Administrative reports, Mrs. Allen reported the following; 1) Teacherease is still a work in progress; 2) Mrs. Hynes is the 2022-23 Spelling Bee coordinator, classroom spelling bee will be done by 10/21, school spelling bee tentatively set for 11/17; 3) Ms. Jackson will be taking the 7th grade to the Fort Massac Encampment on Oct 14th; 4) The first of three required fire drills was held on September 15th, the drill with the fire department has been scheduled; 5) We are establishing safer areas in the building in case we need to seek further shelter (tornado, inland hurricane, etc.); 6) Bus evacuation drill was conducted on Sept 21st; 7) Intruder/active shooter drill with Sheriff Suits has been scheduled/; 8) Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for Oct 6; 9) The JH boys and girls basketball coaches posted sign-up sheets this week; 10) The JH baseball season ended as of September 21st; 11) The JH softball team won their semi final game vs Galatia on 9/22, 3-2. We will play Crab Orchard at Crab Orchard on Friday, 9/23 for regional champions. State series games will be held Oct 1, 4 & 6; 12) The JH cross country team will attend their pre-state meet on Saturday, Sept 24 at DuQuoin. State series is held on Oct 15 at DuQuoin; 13) The current enrollment is 318 as of September 22nd.

Mr. Graves reported the following; 1) Spirit Card sales are going well and are still for sale, $10; 2) Picture Day was held today September 22nd; 3) Progress reports went out September 12th; 4) Intruder Drill with local law enforcement has been scheduled for September 26th; 5) FFA is hosting the Bow Shoot at Eddyville on September 27th; 6) October 3rd will be a fire drill conducted with the local fire department; 7) October 5th is the end of 1st Quarter; 8) Parent Teacher Conferences are October 6th; 9) Baseball, Cross Country, and Volleyball are all underway, Baseball won tonight, Volleyball is doing well, much improvement since last year; 10) We are still working and learning

Teacherease, transcripts are not merging, have a webinar on grade cards; 11) Enrollment is at 167.

Mr. Fritch reported the following: 1) The high school gym floor is almost complete, installed new wench just waiting on the electricians to wire; 2) HVAC in the high school gym is almost complete, waiting on them to clean up and put up fence around units outside; 3) HVAC at the grade school is going to the bid process with opening on the 14th; 4) Sounds system in the high school gym will be replaced by the electric company, electrician stepped on the box, fell off the ladder, destroyed sound system equipment; 5) Septic project is being surveyed again; 6) Thank you to all the people that had to move and stepped up to fill the voids, Mrs. Hershey, Mrs. Hogg, Mrs. Graves, Ms. Kirkland, the start of this year has not be easy; 7) Head Start has dropped their 3 – 5 year old program and will have a 15 months – 3 years old program. We will go back to a full Pre-K program; 8) October 7th will be a workshop at Eldorado for the teachers sponsored by the ROE.

A motion was made by Simmons and seconded by Wallace to enter closed session for the purpose of personnel performance, procedures, and employment. Roll call vote: all ayes. Board entered closed session at 7:32 p.m.

A motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Aly to return to regular session. Roll call vote: all ayes. Board returned at 9:34 pm.

Mr. Fritch presented the 2022-2023 FY Budget. With no further discussion, a motion was made by Simmons and seconded by Wallace to approve FY 2022-2023 budget. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to approve $50,000 Matching Maintenance Grant for the replacement of elementary gym HVAC unit was made by Wallace and seconded by Aly. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to approve out-of-state, overnight trip for the FFA to attend the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, IN in October was made by Simmons and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to hire Stephanie Walker as full-time Individual Aide was made by Wallace and seconded by Aly. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to hire Mackenzie Starwalt as full-time Individual Aide was made by Wallace and seconded by Aly. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to hire Tracy O’Neal as Special Education Aide was made by Simmons and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to hire Beth Clutts as full-time substitute teacher for Jr. High was made by Kizziar and seconded by Wallace. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to hire Tim Green as part-time substitute Choir Instructor was made by Aly and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to approve Jake Lane as Speech Team Sponsor was made by Wallace and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: Kizziar, Wallace, Simmons, Hogg; ayes, Aly abstained.

Motion to hire Tyler Presser for Jr. High Assistant Basketball coach was made by Simmons and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to approve Nathan Hungate as volunteer Jr. High Cross Country Coach was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to approve Jessica Hershey as High School Yearbook Sponsor was made by Kizziar and seconded by Aly. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to hire Tiffany Jarvis for part-time Individual Aide was made by Simmons and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to reassign April Hogg to High School under Provisional Certification was made by Simmons and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: Kizziar, Aly, Wallace, Simmons; ayes, Hogg abstained.

Motion to dismiss Employee B was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to post for night custodian was made by Wallace and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: all ayes.

A motion to approve insurance addendum to the PCEA Contract was made by Wallace and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: all ayes.

A motion to take bids for the 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier, Driver’s Education car was made by Simmons and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: all ayes.

A motion to take bids for two new school buses was made by Kizziar and seconded by Wallace. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Under Old Business, Mr. Fritch stated he had spoken with Hardin County Superintendent regarding their School Resource Officer and they have an agreement with the municipality of Elizabethtown to provide an officer.

Other School Business, Member Wallace asked when the vape detectors would be installed. Mr. Graves stated once the program is completed they should get them. It has become a major problem in the high school, 35 vapes have been confiscated. Members asked administration to get prices of detectors and testers to report at the next meeting. Member Wallace also asked for an update on the door locks. Mr. Fritch stated he hasn’t heard from nor has been able to get ahold of Security Alarms.

With no further business, a motion to adjourn the meeting until the next regular meeting to be held on Thursday, October 20, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. in the J.H. Hobbs Memorial Library was made by Simmons and seconded by Wallace. Roll call vote: all ayes. Meeting adjourned at 9:02 pm.

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