Members of the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education on Monday night recognized eight members of the Gillespie Middle School Girls Track and Field team who qualified during a sectional meet last Saturday at Gillespie advance to state finals this coming Saturday in Peoria.

“This year’s girls track team has been spectacular,” GMS Principal Patrick McGinthy. “It seemed like every meet, they were bringing home hardware.”

Head Coach Jacob West introduced each of the eight team members, all seventh graders, who will compete at the state level.

Ella Brawner, started pole vaulting in the sixth grade, according to West. This year, she broke the previous school record with a jump of of eight fee and five inches. At subsequent meets, she broke her own record with successive jumps in excess of eight feet, culminating with a jump of nine feet and four inches at sectional.

Though not a record breaker Alyssa Cyprian, also qualified to compete in the pole vault this Saturday.

Brawner also will compete at state in hurdles. Starting this year without blocks, Assistant Coach Jack Burns suggested introducing her to spikes and starting blocks. “Sure enough, she broke her previous record and qualified for state,” West said.

West described Jessie Bulla as an all-around athlete. “You can put her in anything at she’ll do very well,” West said. At Staunton, she threw the shotput 30 feet and one and one-half inches, breaking the previous school record of 29 feet and six inches. She came in first at the sectional meet, qualifying for the state competition.

Also qualifying to compete in the shotput competition at state is Alivia Schoen.

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“Not only will Jessie Bulla being throwing at state,” West reported, “but she will be joined by Alivia Schoen.”

Alyssa Hamilton set a new school record in discuss during the Staunton meet, throwing a distance of 86 feet and five inches. She qualified Saturday to throw at the state level.

Completing her first season in track and field, Lydia Edwards will compete in the high jump after posting a jump of four feet and five inches.

“We tried to get her to come out last year,” West said. “This year she decided to come out and she has just put her heart out there.”

West said the GMS 4×100 meter relay team consistently placed first throughout their season and qualified to run at the state level at last Saturday’s sectional meeting. Leighton Vogel will run first, passing the baton to Edwards who will pass off to Bulla. Bulla will hand off to Khloe Helvey to finish.

West reported the team placed first in every meet of their season except the South Central Conference meet, where they landed in second place. The team was in five points of first place.

“I told them to get ready for a phenomenal career in seventh and eighth grade and in high school,” West said. “You guys have something other teams don’t. This year, let’s work on making other teams nervous and sure enough they did it. I’m proud of them and they should be proud of themselves.”

“For you guys to place first in the sectional speaks volumes,” Supt. Shane Owsley said. “When you get to state, you’re not going to see anything you’re not prepared for. I don’t think this is the last piece of hardware we’re going to see from this team.”

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School Board President Mark Hayes commended West’s enthusiasm for the track and field. “It’s obvious you love what you’re doing,” he said.

West and co-head coach Chase Peterson lead 55 middle school athletes who went out for track and field this year and are assisted by Burns.

PERSONNEL

By a unanimous vote, the board rehired the following winter coaches for the 2025-26 school year:

• Anthony Kravanya as freshman boys basketball coach.
• Nikki Brawner as head high school girls basketball coach, with Matt Brawner as assistant coach and Michael Rodriguez as volunteer assistant coach.
• Alexis Lucky as head high school cheerleading coach.
• Andrea Williamson as high school head dance coach, with volunteer assistant coach Elizabeth Doghttery.
• Jarrod Herron as high school and middle school Scholar Bowl coach.
• Celia Jubelt to coach eighth grade volleyball and Elizabeth Thackrey at seventh grade volleyball coach.
• Tate Wargo as eight grade boys basketball coach and Trae Wargo as seventh grade boys basketball coach.

Board members voted unanimously to accept the resignation of Kaylee Collins and Language and Speech Pathologist, a position Collins was hire for in December 2022, filling a position that had been vacant since the beginning of the academic year. The measure to accept Collins’ resignation included posting the position as vacant for the coming academic year.

Board members also voted unanimously to hire Nicholas Davio as BenGil Elementary School music teacher and fifth grade band teacher, and hire Jessica Kelly for a Gillespie Middle School summer school position. Davio, a 2003 graduate of Milikin University, Decatur, has pursued a music career in the Chicago area for more than 20 years. A freelance singer, musician and songwriter, he was on the staff of the Old Town School of Folk Music for 10 years.

Additionally, the board accepted the resignation of Shelby Maguire as a district paraprofessional and posted the position as vacant.

BUDGET MATTERS

Board members voted to display an amended fiscal 2025 budget reflecting changes and revenue and expenditures that occurred during the fiscal year concluding on June 30. Supt. Owsley said the original budget adopted last year doesn’t appear to “be off by much.” However, the amended budget available for public inspection until June 30 is subject to change as more information becomes available. Owsley said state funds due to the school district should be in by June 30, as well as final invoices.

The board directed Owsley last month to start compiling a fiscal 2026 budget. The 2026 fiscal year starts July 1. State law requires the district to adopt a budget by the end of September. Owsley typically presents the tentative budget in August every year, after which the document will be subject to public review for 30 days.

FOIA REQUEST

Owsley reported he received another AI-generated Freedom of Information Act request of information. This follows several AI FOIA requests the board was made aware of last month. The newest request ask for copies of all purchase orders the school district generated from 2020 to date.

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Since the request appeared to be a “commercial” request, Owsley said he notified the requester there would be a charge for photocopying the documents.

“We have 600 to 700 purchase orders every year,” he noted.

OTHER ACTION

In other action the board:

• Accepted bids from Prairie Farms to supply milk for the 2025-26 school year, and from Kohl Wholesale, Quincy, to supply bread products.
• Agreed to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the South Central Illinois Regional Workforce Training and Innovation Center, Litchfield. Owsley said 21 local students plan to pursue vocational education at the facility next year.
• Approved a project to resurface playgrounds at BenGil Elementary School, using proceeds from a maintenance grant plus matching funds.
• Approved district-wide job descriptions.

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Members of the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education on Monday night voted to direct the District Superintendent to begin developing a budget to govern spending for the upcoming fiscal year. The action followed the board’s biennial reorganization during which members re-elected on April 1 were seated, and officers and committees were appointed.

By unanimous votes, the board canvased the Consolidated Election balloting and certified the vote for three incumbent board members who were re-elected. Dennis Tiburzi was re-elected with 796 votes, according to the tally certified Monday night. Peyton Bernot was re-elected with 592 votes and William “Bill” Carter, who ran as a write-in candidate, won re-election with 80 votes. All three were unopposed on the April 1 ballot.

Tiburzi, Bernot and Carter were seated after taking an oath of office administered by President Mark Hayes. Hayes was re-elected as board president by acclamation after being nominated by Bernot. Weye Schmidt was re-elected as vice president by acclamation after being nominated by Carter, and Bernot was elected as board secretary by acclamation after being nominated by Hayes. The board also voted unanimously to accept Hayes’ appointments to board committees, which are unchanged from the previous two years.

Board member Kellie Vesper was reappointed as the board’s representative to the South Macoupin County Special Education Cooperative.

Kathy McDaniel, a four-decade veteran, was reappointed to serve as the board’s recording secretary.

Essentially the reorganized board remains the same in composition and organization with the exception of Bernot assuming the role of board secretary, a role previously filled by Carter.

On a motion by Tiburzi, seconded by Bernot, the board voted unanimously to direct Supt. Shane Owsley to start work on developing a tentative fiscal 2026 budget. The routine end-of-the-year action authorizes Owsley to develop a document estimating estimated revenues and expenditures for the fiscal year beginning July 1. State law requires the district to adopt a budget by the end of September. Owsley typically presents the tentative budget in August every year, after which the document will be subject to public review for 30 days.

Last year’s budget came in at about $19.5 million, but both revenue and expenditure estimates can change during the year contingent upon unexpected expenditures and/or fluctuations in revenue.

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The board also directed Owsley to prepare an amended fiscal 2025 budget to reflect changes in revenue and expenditures that occurred during the fiscal year that concludes at the end of June. That amended budget is likely to be adopted by the full board next month.

Additionally, board members voted unanimously to authorize the Superintendent to make necessary operational expenditures between July 1 and the end of September when the final budget will be adopted.

Also in the area of school finances, the board voted unanimously to amend the district’s Risk Management Plan to cover 80 percent of salary costs for the school resource officer from the Tort Fund budgetary line item. As a result of the action, the board will be able to levy Tort funds to cover 80 percent of the resource officer’s salary, starting with the 2006 levy for property taxes payable in 2027.

Because the school district is subject to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), commonly known as tax caps, the change will not result in additional taxes for district property owners. However, the change will allow the district to shift 80 percent of the resource officer’s salary from the Education Fund to the Tort Fund, potentially freeing up additional money for educational expenditures.

Tort Funds typically are earmarked for risk management cost, including attorney fees, legal expenses and insurance costs. Owsley said he consulted with the district’s attorney, who agreed the district could legally use the Tort Fund to cover a portion of the school resource officer’s salary.

PERSONNEL

Following an hour-long executive session, the board voted unanimously to hire Ashlee Gibbs as a high school summer school math teacher, and hired Jennifer Brown and Rob Macias as summer school drivers’ education teachers. GHS Principal Jill Rosentreter confirmed about 18 students have enrolled for summer classes at the high school level.

The board also voted unanimously to post a vacant position for a middle school summer school teacher. GMS Principal Patrick McGinthy told the board he expects eight to 10 middle school students to enroll in summer school.

By a unanimous vote, the board hired Alicia Sloan and Amanda Manley as cafeteria workers for the summer school programs.

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The board voted unanimously to hire Addison Mays, Glen Carbon, as the new BenGil Elementary School music teacher for the 2025-26 school year. Mays is a 2025 graduate of Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Mays will step into a vacancy created by the resignation of Aubrey Morgan last month.

With one dissenting vote, the board hired Andrew Hirstein as a six-hour cafeteria worker, pending a routine background check. The hire was approve 6-1 with Tiburzi voting “no.”

In other personnel action, the board hired Shari Scott as a district paraprofessional for the 2025-26 school year, and accepted the resignation of Lexi Busman as Gillespie Middle School cheerleading coach and posted the position as vacant.

AI-GENERATED FOIA REQUESTS

The routine approval of the board’s consent agenda prompted a discussion regarding the relatively new phenomenon of Freedom of Information Act requests generated by artificial intelligence. Supt. Owsley reported to the board that he and his staff responded to nine requests under the state’s Freedom of Information Act for voluminous amounts of information for data regarding annual expenses paid to vendors, firms and individuals for multiple fiscal years between 1998 and 2023.

Responding to questions from board member Bernot, Owsley said the Illinois Association of School Administrators’ Legislative Committee is working on ways to address the issue of AI-generated FOIA requests with possible new legislation.

“You had nine FOIA requests?” Bernot asked.

“Yes,” Owsley responded.

“And they were all AI-generated?”

“They were,” Owsley confirmed.

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“Whoever is behind it, these AI requests were sent to every school district in the State of Illinois?” Bernot asked.

“Yes,” said Owsley.

Owsley told the board he checked with the district’s attorney several times. “Unfortunately, there is no law about AI-generated requests,” he said. He told Bernot that collecting the information to respond to a single request took two to three hours for him and another staff member.

Bernot said he was aggravated that the district had to spend so much administrative time responding to what amounts to an anonymous FOIA request. He suggested simply ignoring the request to force whoever is responsible for them to file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Public Access Department. “My understanding is that they have to use their name to file a complaint,” Bernot said. Bernot said the AI-generated requests all came from a blind email called ad.cuius.bonum@proton.me. The proton.me suffix suggests the email is being routed through foreign servers to shield the IP address of the sender.

“No one really knows where they’re coming from,” Owsley noted. “I felt a little better knowing we aren’t the only ones receiving them.”

DISTRICT FOCUS

Kayla Wills, FFA sponsor, accompanied several Gillespie High School FFA members to the meeting to discuss recent competition successes and upcoming programs.

“This is really a good group of students who have chosen to step into leadership roles,” Wills told the board, adding that the FFA program challenges students to take on new opportunities and “try things that can be a little scary.”

“This is one of the best groups we’ve had in the seven years I’ve been here,” she said. “I can hardly keep up with all the new ideas they bring forward. I can definitely say they’ve have done a lot for the community.”

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Current FFA Vice President Kayden Koelker told the board the club’s Parliamentary team placed first at the sectional competition but fell short of advancing to the state level, placing third at the district level. “I’m confident that with the team we have for next year, we will make state.”

Landon Higginbotham told board members that the FFA Ag Power team swept all of their competitions at the sectional and district levels and were scheduled to compete at the state level this week in Construction, Surveying, Welding and Electricity.

Payton Bertolis described a Barnyard Day the group has planned May 8 at BenGil Elementary School during which FFA members will teach students about various farm animals and give students a chance to pet and interact with them. Tember Miller discussed a new outreach program allowing FFA members to teach ag-related topics to middle school special needs students.

Brooklyn Crockett, junior greenhouse manager, announced dates for the FFA’s annual greenhouse sales during which plants grown by FFA members will be available to the public. The greenhouse will be open for sales this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 2-4, as well as next Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 9-11. Senior Greenhouse Manager Nate Spencer told the board that he is managing the group’s sweet corn plot. “This year we are using phased planting so we’ll have sweetcorn all summer,” he said. Proceeds from sweetcorn sales and greenhouse sales help support FFA scholarship funds.

Cedrick Krieter described a tractor/vehicle safe driving event the club has planned for May 20.

Also during the District Focus segment, Jennifer Parker described a cross-curricular Volume Unit recently completed by 70 fifth grade students. Students were assigned to research an animal before constructing a representative of the animal using cardboard boxes. The students then were required to measure the boxes and determine the total volume of their model. Determining volume and area is a large part of the IAR assessment test fifth graders take.

Students also were assigned to write a poem about their animal and speak about their project during a special parents’ night, bringing language arts and public speaking aspects into the program.

Parker said students enjoyed the program, which “gives them an opportunity to be creative and work together.”

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EARLY GRADUATION REQUEST

With one dissenting vote, the board approved an early graduation request for Hunter Hegel. The measure will allow the student to graduate at the end of the first semester of the 2025-26 school year, provided he has completed all graduation requirements. Tiburzi cast the sole “no” vote.

“I think our early graduation rate is too high,” President Hayes noted, adding he would like to know how the rate at GHS compares with surrounding school districts.

GHS Principal Rosentreter said the school typically approves 12 to 15 early graduation requests every year but some of those students later opt to complete the school year. The majority of early graduates chose to leave school early in order to enter the work force, she said.

“We have some things—positive things—coming up that will help deter (the number of early graduation requests),” she said. The district is looking at a work-school program that would allow students to enter the workforce while continuing their education for the final semester.

Supt. Owsley said the district also could consider making graduation requirements more stringent.

“Our graduation requirements are less than some other districts,” he said. “We require two years of science, for example. I think that could easily be bumped up to three years.”

OTHER ACTION

In other action, the board:

• Renewed the district’s membership in the Illinois Elementary Schools Association at a total cost of $1,415. The membership fee is based on the number of competitive sports, including Scholar Bowl, the school offers.

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• Approved a fee and textbook rental schedule for the 2025-26 school year. The textbook fee remains at $75 per student. Lab fees remain at $25 for elective classes other than drivers’ education, which remains at $100. Student lunches and breakfasts will continue to be free of charge, provided the federal government releases USDA funds to subsidize the free lunch program for low income school districts.

• Approved an intergovernmental agreement to offer more than a dozen dual credit high school courses in cooperation with Lewis and Clark Community College.

• Amended the current school calendar to reflect adjustments in the dates for parent-teacher conferences during the past year.

• Agreed to move the date for the board’s June meeting from June 23 to June 30.

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Gillespie High School proudly celebrated its senior athletes on Wednesday, April 9, as they signed letters of intent to continue their academic and athletic pursuits at colleges and universities nearby.

The ceremony honored the dedication and achievements of these talented students, who will now take the next step in their educational and athletic journeys:

• Haylie Otten will attend the University of Health, Science, and Pharmacy in St. Louis, where she plans to major in nursing and continue her passion for soccer.
• Mia Brawner will join Lewis and Clark Community College to pursue a major in sonography while competing on the basketball court.
• Corinne Fellin has committed to Lincoln Land Community College, majoring in radiology and continuing her soccer career.

“We are incredibly proud of our seniors and their accomplishments both on the field and in the classroom,” said GHS Athletic Director Jeremy Smith. “Their dedication and hard work have truly paid off, and we look forward to seeing all they will achieve in the next chapter of their lives.”

This year’s signing day highlights the strong tradition of student-athlete success at Gillespie High School, where academics and athletics go hand in hand to prepare students for bright futures.