Illini West School Board Votes Against Co-Op

By Joy Swearingen, The Quill Correspondent

The question of a sports co-op agreement with Southeastern High School returned to the Illini West High School board meeting March 18.

In May 2025, the board voted against setting up an agreement with Southeastern. A proposal for a two-year co-op for three sports, boys basketball, and boys and girls wrestling and cross country, was presented.

Board member Wyatt Green supported the plan due to low numbers projected for Illini West in the coming year.

“If we had the numbers we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Green said. “This plan is sustainable. We’d have a system in place to grow the program. If we are ever going to give it a shot, now is the time.”

The goal would be to have enough players at all levels to support freshman, J-V and varsity teams.

Darcy Stonger said she believes adding another school would discourage some Illini West students from going out for teams.

“I wish we could use all this energy to try to get more Dallas City and La Harpe kids to come out. I feel bad for Southeastern, but I have to think what’s best for Illini West,” said Stonger.

Shannon Kissinger agreed, saying that there might be only a few coming from Southeastern, but those athletes could cause more IW students to think they would not get playing time.

Beth Webster said she believed that Illini West needs to fix their own issues before inviting someone else into the program.

Boys basketball head coach, Blaze Kimmel, spoke in support of the plan. He stressed that his staff works hard to get students from all parts of the district to participate. Assistant coach Bill Rasmussen spoke in favor of the agreement. Parent David Steinkamp noted: "The downfall I see is with the kids who don't get to play much, it might discourage them to go out at all.  I'm not taking sides either way. It's just a sad situation. It is not an easy decision to make."

Beth Newton said she believes there is a bigger question than who is coming out next year. 

“I totally agree that we need to get our kids to play, but that’s a separate thing.  The reality is  our numbers are going down. It is going to affect us in the future where we’re not going to have teams. Southeastern is not going to have a team and neither are we. I think kids deserve the opportunities to play what they want to play.”

The board voted against the agreement, with Green and Newton voting “aye,” and “no” votes from Stonger, Kissinger, Webster, Shaun Lohmeyer and Brian Covert.

At the beginning of the meeting, Ag teacher McKenna Merritt introduced officers of the Illini West FFA. Each officer explained some of the many educational and community service projects held by the group.

In other business, the board approved hiring Jessica Knicl for a two-year contract as assistant principal and special education coordinator. 

Michael Lafferty was hired as head football coach for the 2026-27 school year. Santos Castillo was moved from volunteer to paid assistant wrestling coach.

The board accepted the resignation of business English teacher, Tyler Cregger, at the end of this school year.

 The board approved the continuing the managed technology services of K-12 ITC. This company manages all new infrastructure hardware such as servers, switches, routers and cables. Additionally they oversee services such as telephone, 24/7 network monitoring and support, incident detection and response, and many technology security issues.

The service costs $68,842.16 per year for five years. A one-time cost of $7,018.43 for labor to have all new infrastructure installed this summer was approved.

 A district-wide policy for the use of A-I by students and staff was reviewed and approved. Illinois districts are required to establish a plan, according to Harnack. Professional development on A-I use is planned for staff.

“With this plan in place then, we will begin to explore a variety of A-I tools,” Harnack said. “Used in the right way, A-I is a great help to the teacher. The tools we are talking about bringing in have built-in guardrails. If a kid says ‘Do this for me,’  the program knows to say ‘I can help you achieve your goals, but here are the steps you must take.’”

The addition of a full-time equivalent position in industrial technology was approved. Two overnight trips for the girls basketball team in June were approved. The district renewed membership in IHSA.

The District Consolidated Plan for 2026-27 was approved. This is a report annually submitted to Illinois State Board of Education describing how the district will meet the requirements of numerous Illinois educational acts.