Skeans answeres Mr. Rauzi's question concerning the lawsuit.

Mr. Rauzi opened discussion up on the New Elementary School when he was recognized during the ‘Public Recognition’  session by the board. Rauzi asked, “I want to talk about the lawsuit, where are we at on that?” Superintendent Skeans quickly responded with, “It is a lawsuit and it is a matter we cannot discuss because it is a legal matter.” Skeans went on to inform that the lawsuit is still pending and an answer could be given within the next year or the next 5 years, he is unsure. “We will not discuss this in any public fashion,” Skeans noted.

Tom Hyde, district architect, updated the board the on the current construction. Hyde stated that he put the building and construction bids off until December 9 due to the fact that there was not enough time to receive the bids over the Thanksgiving holiday. “As of now, the foundation and structural steel are ready to begin but there have been some delays,” Hyde expressed, “The delays are due to the grouting that have to do with some of the processes that have been encountered.”

Some of the issues include some difficulty in locating the mine. “It has been located much more firmly than it was before,” Hyde noted. From what Hyde had on his original drawings, the mine was about 20 feet away further to the east and 10 feet further to the north. The delay did not impact the construction, but it did impact to where they were drilling. According to Hyde, they were hitting too many coal holes and not void holes. “We got it straightened out, we have the mine located much more firmly,” Hyde addressed, “The work is proceeding in two different phases.”

Luke Vermeulen, staff engineer, shows his documentation from being in the mine.

Reschedule wise, “the construction is behind about one week.” Luke Vermeulen is a staff engineer from Marino Engineering Associates out of Urbana, Illinois. Vermeulen is on the site every day, all day when work is taking place. There are about 20-25 workers on site every day along with a handful of engineers and administrators.

Vermeulen’s job is to monitor where the mine is and to send a camera down, per Skeans request, to assure that they are in the right location. Vermeulen gave a short video documenting his videos he collected from his boring hole. “The mine is about 320-330 feet deep,” Vermeulen started, “It takes about 20 minutes to get down there with my camera.” The site is about 100 feet of clay and silt and below that is 200 feet of rock down to the mine.

“The mine is dry, there is no water down there,” Vermeulen stated, “I have not seen water in any of the holes.” The mine is typically about 10 feet high which, according to Vermeulen, is typical since the coal seam was about 9 feet. The mine is held up by many timber props that are about 1-2 feet in diameter. Vermeulen said he is willing to discuss anything with anyone in the public at the site, just stop by and he will answer any questions that anyone is pondering. Vermeulen confirmed that all the props are wood and he has not seen any steel. “The area was mined in the 1940’s or 1950’s,” Vermeulen closed.

Skeans went on to say that he responded to Litchfield and Carlinville to deny their request to potentially combine high schools in the future. Skeans acted on the boards decision. The school board is interested in sharing teachers via technology which Skeans referred to as “distant learning”, so board member David Griffel penned a letter that Skeans is going to take to three nearby districts. The decision would use the internet to increase the opportunities in the curriculum.

Tieman explains that the high school is in the top 31% of the State of Illinois.

For the Benld Elementary School, Skeans advised that the board is looking for grants to demolish the building or would consider selling the building.

The board explained that Andy Easton, who was in an accident, is on his way to recovery. “It is going to be long journey for him,” Griffel stated, “But he is in good spirits.” Easton is a business teacher in the high school and coaches football and girls basketball.

In personnel actions, Superintendent Skeans will be evaluated by the school board in the months of December and January. The school board went on to hire Rachelle Prough from Godfrey, Illinois as a first year, non-tenured special education instructor. Prough was previously a resource teacher at Southwestern school. Under non-certificated personnel, Misty Parker was transferred to the nurses office to assist and Parker’s job, Elementary Aide, was posted as vacant. A job vacancy was also posted for K-8 Counselor.

Mr. Tieman covered 3 parts of the district school improvement plans. The plans are state mandated and is an Illinois State Board of Education template that is driven exclusively from the school report card. Each of the documents are close to 40 pages and can be viewed by anyone.

“I would like to announce that the Partnership of Educational Excellence has approved a mobile laptop lab,” Tieman stated, “The lab will be used primarily in the middle school, but as needed in the high school and elementary school.”

Tieman went on to say that the Partnership approved the purchase of 10 new computers. In the past year, the Partnership donated a mobile iPad lab. Skeans opened it up to the administrators to update the board on their school building:

Mr. Tieman, Assistant Superintendent, gave the update on the high school after the absence of Principal Dennis Tiburzi. Tieman highlighted that the high school placed in the top 31% in the State of Illinois for ACT scores. Tieman announced the high school’s 5 Illinois State Scholars: Abbie Cline, Dallas DeMartini, Ricky Mock, Adam Schmidt, and Michael Taylor.

The combination of their GPA and ACT Score nominated them for this award. Tieman went on to note that Dallas DeMartini received first in the physics competition at the recent Blackburn College Science Day.

In sports, Sam Wasylenko and Loni Nicole Manalia were selected as first team all conference for volleyball while Taylor Wasylenko, Allison Goldasich and Alexis Burns landed second team all conference. In football, 6 athletes were selected to the first team all conference and those selected were: Ricky Mock, Johhny Cox, Alex Greff, Adam Schmidt, Keith Lovejoy, and Jessie Smith while Cort Hellmann, Jessie Smith, Johnny Cox, Ethan Martin and Derrick Tibuzi were selected to second team.

Ms. Lori Emmons, principal of the middle school, advised that student council is sponsoring a penny drive with all donations contributing to the Joyful Angels. Emmons went on to explain possible factors that resulted in the low math ISAT scores and then continued with solutions the staff is taking to address them.

Principal of the elementary school, Angela Turcol, informed the board that the new technology has been beneficial to the students. The new promethian boards were placed in a 3rd grade classroom in the modulars and the other was placed in a first grade classroom in the middle school. Turcol went on to say that the Big Brother/Big Sister program is going really well and the date for the Christmas program is set for December 20.

Weye Schmidt explains what he learned about technology the school board's trip to Chicago.

Under consent agenda, the school board approved the November bills as follows:

• Education Fund: $337,105.26
• Building Fund: $15,378.42
• Transportation Fund: $10,370
• Site & Construction Fund: $220,789.51
• Insurance Fund: $30,922.80
• Grand Total: $614,565.99

In closing under new business, the board identified and reviewed bids for the identified surplus real estate property located in the Village of Henderson. After a tie in bids, the board called the two bidders to either increase or decrease their bid for review by the board. James Timpe was the highest bidder for lot 15, block 14 with a bid of $1,400. “The property is property that the district would probably never use,” Skeans advised, “It was an ongoing cost with mowing, liability, and a tree hit with lighting.” The board voted 6-1 to accept the bid as presented, with objection from Peyton Bernot.

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