The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By David Grimes, Quill Correspondent
ColchesterÐ Regional School Superintendent for Hancock and McDonough Counties Robert Baumann will do everything within his power to ensure that a pair of ballot questions regarding merging four existing school districts into one united district are on the ballot on November 5th.
That was the message Baumann delivered following a more than three-hour public hearing on whether a new district formed from Colchester, Roseville, Northwest and La Harpe school districts is genuinely needed.
Baumann received a petition from representatives of those districts in the Regional Office of Education in Macomb last month.
Following the hearing, he has two weeks to decide whether to forward the request on to the Illinois State Board of Education in Springfield.
Flanked by a court reporter, the McDonough County State's attorney and Everett Nicholas, Decatur, a¨ttorney for the districts involved, Baumann served as moderator for the hearing.
Nicholas questioned 13 witnesses testifying in support of the consolidation in the early going, asking their association with the respective districts, if they personally support the idea of a new 501 student high school and what the reasons were for their support.
"I would expect that our district would continue to see expenses exceeding revenue and eventually project a negative balance," Colchester School Board President Gerald White said when asked what he expected would happen to his school district in two years in the event the consolidation measure failed to pass the referendum.
Roseville resident Bob Dwyer said the urgency of pursuing consolidation of the four districts now became abundantly clear to him when he reflected upon how difficult his school years were.
"I realized the importance of it then for our current and future studrents," he said in supporting the petition.
Asked what he thought would happen if the consolidation push were to lose steam, La Harpe School Board President Ricky Johnson, rural Carthage, said he expected district assessed valuation and student enrollment to continue to decline and to be reflected in cuts in vocational and advanced courses, as well as in local tax increases.
"It's nearly time for the voters to decide the fate of the La Harpe School District," he said.
Mapmaker William Westerhold, who created the maps used by the districts in aligning seven new voting districts among which 9,924 voters from the four school districts were divided, testified that the new districts were formed evenly and aligned with legal requirements.
Northwest school board member and Committee of 10 curriculum committee co-chair Sue Danner, Blandinsville, testified that when the originalV feasibility study created by Max Pierson of the WIU education department included five schools, "some very enhanced opportunities were available."
Despite Southern School District's exit from the consolidation study group earlier this year, some very attractive opportunities yet exist, she added, including added foreign language courses, advanced math and science courses, journalism, expanded ag course offerings and business law.
Pierson, speaking in support of the merger, said, "If a new district is not created, each district involved will experience significant recognition problems. This (the consolidation opportunity) is the best opportunity for the boys and girls of each district for the next 25 years."
Northwest School Board President and Committee of 10 extra-curricular committee member Steve Worthington testified that the group has found opportunities for sports programs that include cross country, wrestling and golf, as well as the likely possibility for a noteworthy marching band and drama program capable of more productions.
"We would no longer have to struggle to maintain a marching band," he said, "and there would be the opportunity to produce three plays during the course of the school year as opposed to just one each year."
An additional 15 persons added their support to the consolidation drive, both in personal addresses and by letter.
But all brought a central theme in justifying their support for a new united district: to bring the best education possible to the students of their individual districts.
Colchester educator Ann Runner saw benefits for educators as well. "It would be nice being part of a department," she said, "and not being the department."