The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.


West Central Board Approves Easement As Precurser To 34 4-Lane

The West Central School Board approved a recommendation to sell approximately one acre of north campus ground that sits adjacent to Route 94 to IDOT for an easement in the amount of $9,000, at their regular November board meeting last month. In a second motion the board approved a request from IDOT for a temporary construction easement that also runs parallel to Route 94 on the north campus.

IDOT will pay the district $1,000 for this temporary construction easement. Both of these items are related to the construction of the Route 34 Biggsville by-pass project.

It was noted by Superintendent Grimm that there are a couple of language items that need to be addressed in the legal material related to these transactions.

The board authorized Supt. Grimm to sign the documents on behalf of the board when these language items have been resolved to the satisfaction of the school district.

Also, during this portion of the meeting, the board discussed agenda item XII(E) - IDOT Access to Route 94 during Construction of Rt 34 Biggsville Bypass.

The board was informed that IDOT is requesting a temporary easement that would allow traffic into and out of the IDOT yard during construction of the by-pass.

This access is needed because the current driveway into the IDOT yard will be inaccessible during part of the by-pass construction.

West Central CUSD #235's November 16th regular meeting was called to order by Vice President Brad Arnold. Board members Lonnie Brent and Dick Goff were absent at roll call.

Vice President Arnold led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance that followed with "Good News" items:

¥Speech presentations from three members of the WCMS speech team: Nathan Wetzel, Mallory Lafary and Curtis Nichols. Four groups received "Judges Choice" awards. 45 students were on the speech team this year.

¥Gretchen Higgins was named to the LTC First Team and Taylor Meldrum was named honorable mention.

¥Gretchen Higgins and Hannah Brueck were named to the LTC All-Academic Team.

¥WCHS Bowling Coach Sue Rothzen has been named IHSA Bowling Coach of the Year.

¥WCMS 7th grade girls' basketball team placed first in the SVC tourney.

The board approved the consent agenda:

-Minutes of the October 19, regular board meeting;

-Service agreement for the water management program as provided by America's Best Water Treaters, Inc. for a period of one year beginning November 23, 2011 at a cost of $3,150;

-The following proposed policy revisions on first reading: Policy 2:250 Board of Education - Access to Public Records, Policy 3:60 General School Administration - Administrative Responsibility of the Building Principal, Policy 4:80 Operational Services - Accounting and Audits, Policy 5:90 General Personnel - Abused and Neglected Child Reporting, Policy 5:100 General Personnel - Staff Development Program, Policy 5:200 Professional Personnel - Terms and Conditions of Employment and Dismissal, Policy 5:240 Professional Personnel - Suspension, Policy 6:60 Instruction - Curriculum Content, Policy 6:150 Instruction - Home and Hospital Instruction, Policy 6:320 Instruction - High School Credit for Proficiency, and Policy 7:305 Students - Student Athlete Concussions and Head Injuries (New)

The board also:

¥Approved the payment of all bills as presented. (Supt Grimm asked that the bills from Gunther Companies be amended to $32,014.07 from $31,014.07 as a result of an additional charge for the south campus driveway work that was not included in the original pay certificate.)

¥Approved the October activity accounts and the October treasurer's report as presented.

¥Heard a brief update on the district's financial report. Supt. Grimm noted that actual figures to budget should be at 33% as of the end of October. It was noted that actual expenditures were 30.88% of budget and actual revenue received was 37.19% of budget as of the end of October 2011.

¥Reviewed three possible tentative levy scenarios that were presented by Supt. Grimm.

The first levy scenario called for nominal ($1056) increase in the 2010 levy extension amount to cover a slightly higher bond payment.

The second scenario called for a 4.8% increase in the 2010 levy extension amount.

The third scenario presented showed the board what the increase would be if levy were increased to the maximum rates approved by the voters in 2005. The board discussed each of the scenarios.

Opportunities were given to ask questions and were answered by Supt. Grimm. The board approved a tentative 2011 tax levy extension amount of $4,235,068 which is a $1,056 increase over the 2010 total actual levy extension amount.

This levy amount will be presented to the board for approval as the 2011 extension amount at the December 20, 2011 board meeting.

¥Approved a one-year lease agreement with Midwest Bus Sales for the lease of 18 - 2013 - 71 passenger Thomas Safe-T-Liner C2 buses at the per bus lease amount of $12,550 as presented.

It was noted that this is the third year in a row that Midwest Bus Sales as held the per bus lease amount steady and has not increased the lease amount per bus.

¥Approved a three year proposal for auditing services from Cavanaugh, Davies, Blackman and Cramblet as presented. The cost for the three years are $12,000 (which is the same amount the district was billed for the 2011 audit) for FY12, $12,500 for FY13 and $13,000 for FY14.

¥Approved the WCHS electronic school improvement plan as presented. This plan will be posted on the Illinois Interactive Report Card Website as required by ISBE.

¥Reviewed some proposed permanent artwork for WCMS. Following that review the board approved the addition of the permanent artwork to West Central Middle School.

The board heard reports from the building Principals Mr. Buss, Mrs. Hanson, Mr. Nichols, and Mr. Bradburn.

Supt. Grimm briefly updated the board on a couple of items that he has been dealing with relative to the district's curriculum. The board reviewed the reports submitted by Mrs. Farniok, district special education coordinator on her activities this past month.

¥Heard a report from the district's building committee on a meeting that was held with representatives of the Henderson County Board regarding the construction of a Safe Facility. As a result of the conversation, the board directed Supt. Grimm and members of the building committee to meet again with representatives from the Henderson County Board to continue discussion about his project. Supt. Grimm is to report back to the board in December on this topic.

The board set a tentative date of January 21, 2012 to conduct an all-day strategic planning retreat.

The board briefly discussed the possibility of adding a texting feature to the Skyward Student Management System as another means of communicating with district stakeholders. Following a brief discussion, the board agreed that it was not necessary to pursue this item at this time.

The board heard a report from Supt. Grimm and the district's building committee on the architect's report on the south campus building. This agenda item came as a result of a request from District resident Marty Lafary and WCHS Softball Coach John Morrison to consider transforming one of the out buildings on the south campus into a batting cage. It was reported that district architect Bill Phillips has conducted a thorough review of these buildings and has concluded that the buildings were simply not safe for student occupancy under any circumstance. Therefore, the board, by consensus, indicated that no further action relative to this request will be taken. It was also suggested that the buildings will be cleaned out, weather permitting, sometime over the course of the next several months and that at least one, if not both, of the buildings be torn down. It was also noted that if the softball program wishes, they may continue to use the Media facility for an indoor batting and pitching facility during the winter months.

The board discussed the possibility of putting security cameras on district buses.

As part of the discussion, the board was updated on the concerns that have been raised by several bus drivers to the administration over the course of the last several weeks regarding the conduct of some students on some buses.

Supt. Grimm reported that the bus drivers have formally requested that the board consider putting cameras on the buses as a way to help control behavior.

As a result of this discussion, the board indicated that at this time they are not interested in putting cameras on our school buses, but they did direct Supt. Grimm to collect some additional information about some other possible alternatives.

Under future agenda items, Board member Robbins requested that "deer hunting day" be put on the December board meeting agenda as a discussion item.

With regard to personnel, the board:

The next regular board meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 20, in the elementary cafeteria at 6 pm.

The board adjourned their meeting at 8:47 pm.