Community News
Ben-Gil Elementary achieves “exemplary” status; Board approves $3.7 million property tax levy
Members of the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education on Monday night, Nov. 25, celebrated BenGil Elementary School’s earning of “exemplary” status from the Illinois State Board of Education, and reviewed a tentative $3.7 million tax levy for 2024 property taxes to be collected next year. The board and school district also recognized BenGil Principal Angela Sandretto upon being named Elementary Principal of the Year within the Illinois Principals Association seven-county Kaskaskia Region.
During a detailed presentation regarding the state’s annual School Report Cards, Superintendent Shane Owsley noted that BenGil Elementary earned exemplary status, the highest level possible, while Gillespie Middle School and High School each earned a status of “commendable.” Exemplary status means BenGil’s performance was in the top 10 percent of schools statewide and that no student groups underperformed state standards. Commendable status goes to schools with a minimum graduation rate of 67 percent with no underperforming student groups.
“We have no underperforming student groups in any of our schools,” Owsley announced. “That’s a huge, huge thing. I’m extremely proud.”
This marks the first time a local school achieved Exemplary status. According to Owsley, BenGil Elementary is the only school in the county to reach exemplary status with this year’s release of School Report Cards.
Upon learning BenGil Elementary was rated among the top 10 percent of elementary schools in Illinois, Owsley said he contacted the State Board of Education, in part to confirm the announcement was accurate but also to explore how the state agency assesses school performance. That information may influence how the district approaches specific issues in order to boost scoring. For example, a small part of the score is based on the number of students who participate in a “climate survey” in which students assess teachers and administrators. Schools earn full value in that category if more than 95 percent of the student body completes the survey.
“They don’t care what the surveys say,” Owsley said. “They just want to make sure a 95 percent of the students complete it.”
Owsley said the complicated formulas used to assess elementary schools emphasizes academic growth in English/Language Arts and Math. Academic growth in those areas comprise 50 percent of the score for rating elementary school performance.
“What’s important is that you’re improving,” Owsley said. “That makes a lot of sense for a school district.” Scoring for high schools, however, “makes no mention of growth whatsoever.”
BenGil Elementary, Gillespie Middle School and Gillespie High School all lost points due to chronic absenteeism.
“Absenteeism is a big thing,” Owsley noted. “If students are in school more, they’re going to score better (on assessment tests).” The district is “working to find ways to address absenteeism,” he said, including programs to reach out to parents and students when a student is chronically absent.
If the emphasis is on growth, board member Peyton Bernot asked, how can a school continue to reach Exemplary Status if more and more students are performing at the level of state standards. Owsley said he asked that question of ISBE representatives who told him they are looking at revising the formula because they “realize there are schools out there that are consistently doing well every year.”
Owsley said he looked into how the Report Cards are calculated because he sees them as sort of a “scoreboard” for school performance. “When there’s a scoreboard, I want to know how they keep score so we can improve our score.”
Owsley told the board that Gillespie Middle School came close to an exemplary rating, missing state averages by only a few points.
“Look at how close those numbers are,” he advised. GMS matched the state average in English/Language Arts proficiency and came within nine percentage points of exceeding the state standard for academic growth. Likewise, growth in math skills came within about eight points of the state standard.
ISBE gave Gillespie High School a score of 60.33 percent—enough for commendable status but about 30 points shy of exemplary status. While no student groups were underperforming, GHS students fell short of state averages in academic proficiency in virtually all subject areas. While the school earned a commendable status, GHS Principal Jill Rosentreter said numbers reflected on the report card were disappointing.
“These numbers lit a fire with the High School staff as far as setting goals,” Rosentreter said. “Teachers saw these numbers and said, ‘We have to change the way we teach.’ We’re not happy with these numbers.”
Rosentreter said the staff is strategizing to address some of the areas in which the school fell short.
The four-pronged approach includes strategies to improve student attendance and behavior, programs to implement mentoring for teachers and professional development, programs to help students prepare for ACT testing which comprising a large part of the state’s overall assessment, and a social/emotional learning component to help students cope with emotional issues.
“If you’re shooting for perfect, you can get great,” Owsley commented. “We have one school that is exemplary and I’m convinced we can get the other two schools there.”
Earlier in the meeting, as part of a District Focus segment, Elementary School Principal Sandretto addressed the board about how her staff achieved exemplary status for the school.
“We are exemplary because I have an exemplary staff,” Sandretto said. She said teachers made a commitment to individualize instruction to meet specific students at their current performance level and bring them forward. “What the staff has done is say, ‘This is where we’re at. I’m going to work every day to bring that kid forward’.”
“We spend a lot of time talking about our challenges,” Owsley said, noting that small rural school districts perceive themselves to be hampered by lack of funding, higher poverty levels, and social/economic factors that would seem to make it impossible for them to compete academically with larger, wealthier school districts.
“What they’ve done at BenGil Elementary is prove 99.9 percent of the state wrong,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what your social/economic status is or how much the state underfunds your schools, if you have the right people in the right places, and they love what they do and they do it every day, you can reach the summit. With every barrier they faced, they simply stepped over it.”
TAX LEVY
Board members reviewed a $3,725,100 proposed tax levy for 2024 taxes to be collected next year. The new levy is available for public review either at the District Office or on the District website for the next 30 days. The levy is expected to be finalized following a public hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 18, prior to the regular monthly meeting of the board.
The new proposed levy exceeds last year’s tax extension of $3,464,254 by less than $300,000 but is expected to generate only an estimated $3,590,500 due to the impact of the Property Tax Extension Law (PTELL), commonly known as tax caps and adopted by Macoupin County voters in 1995.
Owsley emphasized that the levy is the amount of money the district is requesting while the tax extension is the amount the district will actually receive. The amount levy typically exceeds the extension in order to capture the maximum amount of money the district can receive. He compared the process to a child’s Christmas list, noting, “if it’s not on your list, you’re not going to get it.”
Taxpayers are protected by PTELL, which limits next year’s extension to five percent or the Consumer Price Index (whichever is less) of the previous year’s extension.
“Because of tax caps we would leave money on the table indefinitely if we don’t overshoot,” Owsley said. The district can ask for more money than it is likely to receive, he said, because tax caps protect taxpayers from being overtaxed.
While the levy must be approved in December, Owsley said there are some factors affecting the levy that will remain unknown until sometime next year. The district’s total equalized assessed valuation (EAV) will not be known until after the first of the year. The average increase in the district’s EAV over the the past 10 years is slightly more than four percent, but reached 8,59 percent last year. To preclude undertaxing, Owsley said he prepared the levy proposal based on a 13.95 percent increase in the EAV, even though the actual increase may be far less.
“If we base the levy on an increase of 10 percent, and it turns out to be 13 percent, we will have lost out on that three percent forever,” Owsley said.
The Consumer Price Index, basically the rate of inflation, for this year is 3.4 percent, meaning next year’s extension will be limited to no more than 3.4 percent in excess of this year’s extension.
Once approved, the tax levy will be submitted to the County Clerk, who will make the necessary adjustments in regard to PTELL and the district’s finalized EAV.
Broken down by various funds, the levy requests includes $1,650,00 for Education, $437,000 for Operations and Maintenance, $180,000 for Transportation, $42,500 for Working Cash, $117,500 for the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, $105,000 for Social Security, $240,000 for Tort, $32,500 for Special Education, and $920,600 for Bond and Interest.
CROSS COUNTRY RECOGNITION
During a District Focus segment, the board recognized the GHS cross-country team that represented the school at state playoffs this year.
“For those of you who have never been involved, I can tell you this is a group of boys that are like family to one another,” GHS Principal Rosentreter said.
Head coach Jay Weber told the board the team was “dead last” in their conference two years ago.
“We set a mission to improve and get better,” he said. “They’re out running at 7 a.m. every day during the summer and in 10-degree weather in the winter. That’s just a testament to their work ethic.”
Weber said the work paid off about mid-season when the team won the Coal Miner Classic meet, as well as invitationals at Southwestern and Carlinville. They placed sixth at sectionals and qualified for state despite temporarily losing one of their top runners, who suffered a stroke at school.
The team placed 27th overall at state.
“Mathematically, our team should not have made it to state,” Weber said. Marshall Garwood missed sectionals but came back to run at state, Weber said. “It was really just a crazy recovery.”
Chaz Oberkfell ran a three-mile run in 14:31 to become the first state champion in GHS, county and SCC history.
PERSONNEL
Following a 40-minute executive session during which the board discussed personnel issues, board members voted unanimously to accept “with regrets” the resignation of Beth Sies, district speech and languages pathologist, effective Dec. 31. In the same action, the board agreed to post a vacancy for the position.
Board members also voted to post a vacancy for a district GEAR UP coordinator. A grant-funded program, GEAR UP is designed to help prepare for college entry upon graduation.
The board also voted to post a vacancy for a Title I reading teacher position for the 2025-26 school year.
In separate actions, the board:
- Accepted the resignation of Michael Rodriguez as assistant GHS Women’s Soccer coach.
- Hired Cora Schalk as head cook for the GMS/GHS cafeteria.
- Hired Brittany Harrison as a six-hour cafeteria worker.
- Accepted the resignation of Alexi Lumpy as GMS volunteer assistant cheerleading coach.
- Appointed Chase Peterson as head GMS cross-country coach.
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Members of the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education on Wednesday night approved a package of four capital improvement projects totaling more than $160,000 in value. Work will start on the projects after the end of the current school year and is expected to be completed before the start of the 2026-27 academic year in August.
The board met on Wednesday night after Monday’s inclement weather forced the district to reschedule the board’s regular monthly meeting.
The board approved entering into a contract with Fisher Tracks, Boone, Iowa, to resurface the district’s all-weather track at a cost of $105,209. Supt. Shane Owsley told the board the district will use about $50,000 from an all-weather track activity fund, with the remainder to be paid with proceeds from an alternate revenue bond issue approved last year for capital improvements.
Great Western Abatement, Jerseyville, was retained to remove flooring containing asbestos from the choir room floor and middle school gymnasium school at a cost of $40,700. Great Western’s bid was the lowest of seven bids, ranging up to $65,000, submitted for the work. Additionally, the district is paying $8,900 to Reliable Environmental Services, Springfield, for engineering and design work associated with the asbestos removal.
All-purpose rubberized flooring material will be installed on the middle school gym floor by Dynamic Sports Construction, Leander, Texas, at a cost of $51,424.
For the first time in a number of years, the high school gymnasium floor will be sanded and refinished with new artwork. Blast Technologies, St. Louis, was hired to sand the 4,200-square-foot floor at a cost of $5,250. Designs Unlimited, Pinckneyville, will paint game lines and logos on the floor before sealing it with a clear stain at a cost not to exceed $18,738.
The board also accepted a bid of $33,890 from DeLaurent Construction, Wilsonville, to resurface the 118,700-square-foot parking lot at Benld Elementary School.
Though no action was taken, Board President Mark Hayes reported that the Building and Grounds Committee had directed Owsley to investigate the cost of replacing the CUSD 7 administrative building.
“This building is very much in need of replacement,” Hayes said. “It’s beyond its time.” During Monday’s torrential rainfall, Hayes said water came in through windows and water seeped in under the sill plate, bringing displaced nightcrawlers into the building. Staff members ran fans after the storm in an effort to dry out the interior.
According to Hayes, the school has been in contact with the local Baptist Church to investigate the possibility of acquiring the former Trinity Baptist Church for use as an administrative building. Church officials, however, have not yet made a decision about the fate of the former sanctuary after Gillespie’s two Baptist churches merged.
Owsley said the current administrative building comprises about 6,000 square feet. Current estimates are $400 per square foot for new construction which would translate into about $2.5 million to replace the administrative facility. The district might be able to shave some dollars off that estimate by reducing the size of the building.
“There’s a lot of unusable space in this building,” Owsley said, suggesting a more efficient floorpan could reduce cost. He also mentioned the possibility of a basement to provide storage space for outdated documents.
In addition to construction costs, Owsley noted, the district would be responsible for tearing down the existing building.
“I have no idea what’s in this building,” Owsley said, raising abatement concerns. “I’m guessing disposal of this building is going to be expensive.”
Hayes said Kevin Wills, the district’s bond issue advisor, will attend the June board meeting to discuss the possibility of refinancing some existing bonds to free up enough revenue to build a new administrative building. The administration currently is housed in a “temporary” structure that has served as the administration building for several decades.
MINE SUBSIDENCE STUDY
After several minutes of discussion, the board took no action in relation to entering into a contract with Marino Engineering and Associates to assess the district’s risk for incurring damage from a mine subsidence event. Owsley said existing maps show that portions of Gillespie Middle School are undermined. While the high school is not undermined, a major subsidence would likely damage the high school as well as the middle school. In recent months, more than one residential home on Elm Street near the school property has experienced damage from mine subsidence.
Marino’s $94,000 Phase I proposal would “determine the likelihood of something happening to one of our buildings,” Owsley said. The problem is that too much information could negatively impact the district’s ability to purchase subsidence insurance. “Information is great until it’s not.”
The district currently pays about $300,000 for mine subsidence insurance on the middle school, high school and vocational arts building. The school carries no subsidence insurance on BenGil Elementary because mine shafts under the building were grouted before the school was built.
“If we find out there’s not a major concern,” Owsley noted, it could reduce the district’s subsidence insurance costs.
On the other hand, if the study reveals a high risk of experiencing mine subsidence, the insurer could drop the district at the end of the current policy’s term. With only two companies in the country offering subsidence insurance, the district could end up with no insurance at all to cover damage from mine subsidence.
The only way to avoid that scenario would be to implement whatever options Marino might recommend to reduce risk. Those recommendations would likely include grouting (backfilling) mine shafts under the middle school. Grouting for the elementary school cost $4 million. To grout under the middle school would likely run as much as $6 million or more.
The only way the study would make sense, Owsley suggested, would be if the district was “comfortable making the corrections the study is going to make.”
Moreover, $94,000 would cover only a preliminary assessment.
“To get a full understanding of what’s going on underground, we’d be looking at a half million dollars,” said Owsley.
The issue was allowed to die when no board member moved to consider the contract.
COMMUNITY SOLAR PARTICIPATION
On a motion by Bill Carter, seconded by Weye Schmidt, the board voted unanimously to enter into a contract with Summit Ridge Solar to participate in a community solar project. Under terms of the 15-year contract, the district will realize a 13 percent savings on electrical power bills. The contract is automatically renewable for five years unless the district chooses to withdraw.
“Illinois provides a number of incentives for using solar,” Owsley said. “However, not everyone likes the look of having solar panels on their property. This will get us the benefits without putting up solar panels on our property.”
Summit Ridge’s proposal was the most lucrative of the proposals the district received. Other companies offered shorter terms with savings of five percent.
After 20 years, it’s likely the savings would drop to five percent. Owsley said he was told the district was better off going with the longer contract to get 13 percent in savings for as long as possible.
The school district was able to secure such favorable rates, according to Owsley is because there is an issue with solar fields storing the power they generate. “Our main usage time is during their maximum production time.”
DISTRICT FOCUS
During a District Focus segment, the board recognized sophomore Matrix Wright, whose art was the only entry from the United States included in the 2026 TOLI International Student Art Exhibition. The exhibition is a project of The Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies in New York. The exhibit includes student art relating to themes associated with the Holocaust.
Wright’s work, entitled “An Immortal Continuum,” attempts to portray “the constant entrapment a Holocaust survivor might feel.”
Exhibition organizers received more than 250 entries from around the globe.
BUDGET PROCESS
On a motion by Peyton Bernot, seconded by Board President Hayes, board members voted unanimously to begin work on developing a district budget for fiscal 2027. Board members also approved a routine measure to permit expenditure of fiscal 2027 funds after July 1, pending approval of a new budget.
The school district’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30 but new budgets typically are approved two to four months after the start of the fiscal year.
The current fiscal year’s $19 million budget was approved in September last year.
PERSONNEL
Following a one-hour executive session to discuss personnel and other issues, the board voted unanimously to approve the request of long-time middle school English and language arts teacher Kim Henderson, effective at the end of the 2028-29 school year.
Board members also voted unanimously to hire Andrew Crook as a first-year, non-tenured high school English teacher for the 2026-27 school year, pending documentation of certification and a routine background check. A graduate of Gillespie High School, Crook earned his teaching certificate at Illinois College, Jacksonville and for the past two years, he taught English at North Mac High School.
In separate actions, the board made multiple assignments to staff the district’s summer school program. Those hired include: Jessica Kelly as a middle school teacher, Ashlee Gibbs as a high school math teacher, and Jennifer Brown and Rob Macias as high school drivers’ education instructors. Each of the positions are contingent upon adequate student enrollment to offer the classes. In addition to academic staff, the board hired Andy Hirstein as a summer school food service worker.
The board voted unanimously to accept the resignation of Foli Seferi as high school paraprofessional and as assisted football coach. Both resignations are effective immediately.
In other personnel action, the board appointed Cate Plovich as the BenGil Elementary School yearbook sponsor, and appointed Josh Ross as a volunteer assistant football coach, pending documentation of certification and a routine background check.
OTHER ACTION
In other action, the board:
• Approved a mens highs school soccer coop with the Carlinville School District, with the provision Carlinville will dissolve the agreement if it pushes its program into a higher competitive classification.
• Approved an intergovernmental agreement with Lewis and Clark Community College under which the college will recognize some high school courses as college level credits.
• Approved early graduation requests for an undisclosed number of students, provided all graduation requirements are met.
• Approved renewing the district’s membership in the Illinois Elementary Schools Association.
• Approved the final calendar for the 2025-26 school year pending no further emergency days. Barring the use of emergency days, Monday, May 18 will be the last day of student attendance, with graduation ceremonies set at 2 p.m., Sunday, May 17.
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One of the greatest annual events in American sports is the Saturday is the Kentucky Derby, which will be run for the 152nd time this Saturday. One past champion was bred in Macoupin County.
This week marks 137 years since the victory of Spokane, who captured the 1889 Kentucky Derby during the infancy of the event. The horse was bred at “The Meadows,” the farm of Gen. Richard Rowett one mile north of Carlinville.
Rowett horses, and their jockey colors of orange jacket and blue cap, were on tracks throughout the west and south. But Spokane was the greatest production of The Meadows, a nationally recognized breeding ground for thoroughbreds.
In 1885, a prized dark brown horse named Hyder Ali was standing at The Meadows when Rowett bred him to one of his top mares, Interpose. This pairing had produced favorable offspring in the past, including Grey Cloud, a fine racer owned by Noah Armstrong of the Doncaster Ranch near Twin Bridges in the Montana Territory.
Armstrong’s famous stable included such horses as Lord Raglan, the third-place finisher in the 1883 Kentucky Derby. When Rowett offered Interpose for sale late in 1885, Armstrong, familiar with the high quality of Rowett stock, purchased the pregnant mare and her suckling filly, Madelin, for the price of $1,000 and shipped the brood to Montana.
The Doncaster Ranch was known for its spectacular, three-story round barn that featured an indoor track. While in Spokane in the Washington Territory on business, Armstrong received word of the birth of Interpose’s colt. In honor of the city, he named the colt Spokane.
Spokane showed great promise as a two-year-old, winning two of five starts in 1888, and Armstrong entered him in the 1889 Kentucky Derby. Although a premier race, the Derby had not achieved the monumental status it enjoys today.
The race was run on May 9, 1889–a Thursday–in front of a crowd of 25,000, a fraction of the throngs that fill Churchill Downs today.
Home state favorite Proctor Knott was the overwhelming favorite at 1-to-2, while the relatively unknown Spokane was listed at 10-to-1 odds. That was enough for Frank James, brother of outlaw Jessie and a regular at countless tracks.
James, flush with a windfall of $2,400 from an earlier race that day, asked a bookmaker of the odds on Spokane. The reply was “Ten-to-one and the sky’s the limit.” James threw down $5,000 on Spokane, causing the bookmaker to reply, “As far as I’m concerned, that’s the sky!”
Under jockey Thomas Kiley, Spokane edged Proctor Knott by a head, setting a record at 2:34 ½ over the mile-and-a-half layout (it was changed to a mile and a quarter in 1896). He remains the only Kentucky Derby winner ever born in Montana.
Proving the win was no fluke, Spokane again beat Proctor Knott five days later at the Clark Stakes in Louisville. On June 22, Spokane won another key race of the era, the American Derby at Washington Park in Chicago, to become the first horse to win both races in the same season.
Back in Illinois, Rowett did not live to see the triumph of Spokane, as he died on July 13, 1887. His death was covered on page one of the New York Times the following day.
In addition to breeding, Rowett is also remembered as the first to introduce the true-bred beagle hound to this country from his native England. Prior to that, he was a Civil War officer and state politician.
The only horse actually born in Illinois to win the Kentucky Derby was the 1970 champion, Dust Commander.
Tom Emery of Carlinville, who wrote the award-winning biography Richard Rowett: Thoroughbreds, Beagles, and the Civil War, may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.
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A former Carlinville High School football standout has signed as an undrafted free agent with the New England Patriots.
Kyle Dixon, a record-setting receiver at Culver-Stockton, an NAIA program in Canton, Missouri, inked the deal with New England after being passed over in the NFL Draft April 23-25.
Dixon was seen as an outside shot at being selected in the draft. He reportedly had visited at least one team, including Indianapolis, and was the subject of Internet speculation from various writers on his potential.
At Culver-Stockton, Dixon named to the American Football Coaches Association – NAIA All-American team. He was also a Heart of America Athletic Conference first team pick for the second straight year.
The 6-4, 216-pound Dixon was fourth in the NAIA with 83 receptions and third with 1,282 receiving yards in 2025.
New England advanced to last February’s Super Bowl, losing to Seattle.
It was the tenth Super Bowl appearance in the last 25 seasons for the Patriots, one of the NFL’s marquee teams over the last quarter-century.
New England won six Super Bowl titles in that span. The Patriots also played in the Super Bowl after the 1985 and 1996 seasons.
Though most undrafted free agents have an outside chance of sticking on NFL rosters, some future superstars began that way. Notable UDFAs include NFL Hall of Famers Kurt Warner, Warren Moon, Antonio Gates, Adam Vinatieri, and John Randle.
In 2025, eight NFL teams had at least three starters who had been UDFAs coming out of college.
The Patriots are known for their development of UDFAs. The franchise has had sixty starting players who were undrafted free agents from 2011-25, more than any other team in the NFL.
At Carlinville High School from 2015-18, Dixon finished in the top 20 in Illinois High School Association history in single-season receiving yards and touchdowns, career touchdowns, receptions, and receiving yards, and career interceptions on defense.
An all-state selection as a defensive back, Dixon was an all-South Central Conference pick as a receiver. He was also a two-time all-SCC pick in baseball.
Prior to Culver-Stockton, Dixon played baseball at SIU-Carbondale, SIU-Edwardsville, and Georgia Gwinnett College.
Dixon will try to become just the third Carlinville product to play in the NFL.
The others were Leland “Tiny” Lewis, who appeared in 14 games over the 1930-31 seasons with Portsmouth (now the Detroit Lions) and a now-defunct Cleveland franchise, and Mike Seyfrit, who played in 13 games for now-defunct franchises in Toledo and Hammond in 1923-24.
(Tom Emery may be reached at ilcivilwar@yahoo.com or 217-710-8392).
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