Southern Illinois News

Pope County Community Unit School District 1 Board of Education met Sept. 19.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by President Aly and the following members were present: Jeffords, Kizziar, Schuchardt, Hogg, Simmons, Wallace, and Aly.

Motion was made by Simmons and seconded by Wallace to approve the agenda. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons to approve the consent agenda including the following: 1) Approve Minutes of Board Meetings on 8/15/2024; 2) Approve Closed Session Minutes; 3) Approve Bills for Payment; 4) Accept Financial Reports; 5) Publication of Administrator and Teacher Salary and Benefits Reports SY 2024; 6) Accept Notice of Retirement from Mrs. Lisa Reed; and 7) Accept Resignation from Mrs. Beth Clutts as a long-term sub teacher. Mr. Fritch explained some bills; Amazon is higher due to teacher $100 classroom supply orders, Bridge Therapy is the online speech therapy we are using to help Mrs. Wallace with her case load, Cintas Fire inspects all fire extinguishers but looking to change to Premier for cost savings, Farmer Environmental tested the air quality after the asbestos abatement, Savvas was paid out of Title I funds for workbooks for the elementary grades. With no further comments, roll call vote: all ayes.

President Aly recognized Mrs. Graves and students from her Education 141 SIC Dual Credit class. Part of their curriculum is to attend a board meeting and write an essay. Board members welcomed them to the meeting.

Under Administrative reports, Mrs. Allen reported the following: 1) Student Involvement/Sports; a) JH baseball & softball; i) Baseball regionals begin 9/20; ii) Softball regionals begin 9/24; b) JH XC is underway; i) Regionals will be held Oct 8-9; ii) State meet is held on Oct 19; c) JH girls and boys basketball; i) Sign up

sheet located outside the office; 2) Faculty/Staff/Building Information; a) Progress reports were sent home on Sept 6; b) Mr. Graves and I have coordinated our Mandatory Safety Drills for the school year: i) Sept 20 – Intruder drill w/ Sheriff Suits & Fire drill; ii) Sept 25 – Bus evacuation; iii) Oct 2 – Fire drill and shelter in place; iv) Oct 7 – Fire drill with fire department; c) Kindergarten 3rd grade will see “James and the Giant Peach” at SIC on Sept 27; d) Family movie night has been scheduled for Oct 4; e) Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for Oct 10; f) ROE Teacher Conference at Eldorado will be held on Oct 11; g) Today was our Amazon give away day – everything seemed to go well!; 3) 2023 Enrollment 305, 2024 Enrollment 302.

Mr. Graves reported the following: 1) We have almost completely sold out of Spirit Cards and are set to make over $3000 profit; 2) Progress reports went out September 6th; 3) Picture day was held September 11th with our new company, Wagner Group. Special thanks to Mrs. Hershey; 4) Emergency drills are scheduled for September 20th; 5) Sec. 25 FFA Bow Shoot will be held September 24th at Little Creek Archery in Eddyville; 6) Bus Evac Drill is scheduled for September 25th; 7) October 9th is the end of 1st Quarter; 8) Parent Teacher Conferences are October 10th; 9) The Eldorado Teacher Conference is October 11th; 10) Amazon drop off day was held today (19th). The students took home all sorts of unclaimed Amazon items through the Good 4 Community Program; 11) The library is back up and going! Special thanks to Ryan Dixon, Mrs. Hershey, Andrew Bonnell, Mrs. Dugan, and Mrs. Markovich and some of her students; 12) Enrollment: 144.

Mr. Fritch reported the following: 1) Projects still going on; miscellaneous flooring project. Still waiting on door to be installed, wall to be painted at the grade school, flooring in Unit Office will be installed over Columbus Day weekend. Fire alarm system in high school is completed but working out some hiccups within the system. Septic system project is underway, have lines dug. Waiting on on a pump and a control panel that will be available around January so that will delay the project. Will begin building sand trap next week; 2) New Science curriculum for Jr. High will be purchased with ESSER III funds and Title I funds. This will align science curriculum with the high school; 3) Shout out and huge Thanks to Buddy Berger, custodian at the grade school, for successfully performing the Heimlich Maneuver on a student that got choked on their food during lunch. His quick action saved their life.

Motion to enter closed session for the purpose of discussion of personnel performance, procedures, and employment was made by Kizziar and seconded by Wallace. Roll call vote: all ayes. Board entered closed session at 7:27 pm.

Motion to return to regular session was made by Simmons and seconded by Wallace. Roll call vote: all ayes. Board returned at 8:30 pm.

Mr. Fritch distributed the FY 25 District Budget and discussed key areas of the budget. Motion to adopt FY 2025 budget was made by Simmons and seconded by Wallace. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Mr. Fritch explained the resolution to abate $350,000 working cash funds to maintenance and operations funds. This is due to the sewage project, to cover remaining cost once ESSER III funds are exhausted. The resolution, in its entirety, was read aloud by member Wallace. Motion to approve the resolution to abate working cash fund was made by Hogg and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.

There was no lease agreement submitted by Southern Seven Head Start. This was tabled.

Motion to approve contract with Janice Wallace, Director of Speech Services, as agreed upon was made by Jeffords and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: Jeffords, Kizziar, Schuchardt, Hogg, Simmons, and Aly; all ayes; Wallace abstained. Motion carried.

Motion to approve Rylee Hogg as Jr High girls’ assistant basketball coach was made by Simmons and seconded by Jeffords. Roll call vote: Jeffords, Kizziar, Schuchardt, Simmons, Wallace, and Aly; all ayes; Hogg abstained. Motion carried.

Mr. Fritch explained that due to rising costs of physicals, drug tests, and license renewals, the District needs to raise the reimbursement rate of these yearly requirements for bus drivers. Motion to approve reimbursing bus drivers up to $200 on yearly physical and drug test was made by was made by Hogg and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to approve reimbursing bus drivers up to $65 on yearly license renewal was made by Wallace and seconded by Hogg. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to approve reimbursing bus drivers up to $60 on background check for new drivers. All new bus drivers must drive one time before getting reimbursement for fees related to getting certified was made by Simmons and seconded by Jeffords. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Mr. Fritch distributed a recommended pay increase sheet and explained we need to increase officials’ pay to meet other school’s pay. Mrs. Allen called all area school to see what they were currently paying. We are currently paying the lowest. Motion to approve Officials Pay Scale as presented was made by Hogg and seconded by Jeffords. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Motion to approve overnight, out-of-state field trip to Indianapolis, IN on October 22-25, 2024 to attend the National FFA Convention as requested by Mrs. Wilson and Mr. Swinford was made by Hogg and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Mr. Fritch distributed a copy of the PRESS Policy 6:320, that is a requirement for the State Library Grant. Ms. Dugan applies for this grant each year and the Board need to approve this updated policy to be in compliance with the grant.

Motion to approve Board Policy 6:230 as presented was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.

Under Old Business, Mr. Fritch distributed a list of requirements for homeschool students who want to participate in extracurricular activities. If approved, this would allow homeschool students to participate in extracurricular activities at the high school. After some discussion, Wallace made a motion to approve homeschool extracurricular policy as presented and seconded by Hogg. Roll call vote: Jeffords, Kizziar, Hogg, Wallace, and Aly; all ayes; Schuchardt and Simmons; nay. Motion carried.

With no further business to be discussed, a motion was made by Jeffords and seconded by Wallace to adjourn the meeting until the next meeting to be held on Thursday, October 17, 2024 at 7:00 pm in the J.H. Hobbs Memorial Library. All members present voted aye.

Meeting adjourned at 9:03 pm.

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