School News
Polo receives Bob Price Memorial Scholarship
The Bob Price Memorial Scholarship awarded twelve $1,000 scholarships to students in Gillespie, Carrollton, Carlinville, Litchfield, Southwestern, Nokomis, North Mac, Jerseyville, and North Greene. Among the recipients was Katharine Polo of Gillespie.
Polo is the daughter of Kevin and Therese Polo and plans to attend Southeast Missouri State University to study criminology.
The scholarship is in memory of Master Sergeant Price and a way to continue his legacy of serving others by helping students fulfill their career dreams. The scholarship is available annually to graduating high school seniors in the five counties of Illinois State Police District #18: Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin and Montgomery.
In the past ten years that the scholarship has been available, sixty scholarships have been awarded. The annual fundraiser for the scholarship is a golf outing scheduled for September 30 at Timber Lakes Golf Course.
Comments
LITCHFIELD — Lincoln Land Community College Litchfield invites prospective students and their families to an evening of exploration on Jan. 22, 2025. This event will offer valuable resources, insights and support to help attendees take the next step in their educational journeys.
Event Highlights:
5-7 p.m. – Workforce Programs Showcase Take a look at the workforce programs that can lead to high-demand careers. LLCC’s Workforce Institute directors and dean will be onsite to discuss current programs and provide a special preview of the new industrial maintenance program available at LLCC-Litchfield this fall. Learn about tuition assistance for the industrial maintenance program, provided by Make It in Illinois. The showcase is open to everyone.
5:30 p.m. – College NOW Learn about how to get a jump start on college credit while still in high school. Benefits, student qualifications, course schedule and costs will be discussed. This presentation is for high school sophomores and juniors and their families.
Financial Aid Completion, all evening – Get the guidance you need to complete your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Students and parents can work with knowledgeable staff to ensure their FAFSA is submitted accurately and on time. There will also be information on LLCC Foundation scholarships. This portion of the event is open to high school seniors and new or returning LLCC students who have already graduated or obtained a high school equivalency (HSE) certificate.
Register for the event at www.llcc.edu/litchfield. LLCC-Litchfield is located at 1 Lincoln Land Drive in Litchfield. The center is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Comments
The Partnership for Educational Excellence is gearing up for an exciting trivia night on Saturday, February 15, 2025.
The lively evening is the education foundation’s one-and-only fund raiser. Proceeds will allow The Partnership to continue programs benefitting all CUSD7 students. Since 1992 the it has awarded more than $1 million to the improved and continuing educations of local students.
Since 1992 every student in every classroom in CUSD7 has benefitted from classroom mini-grants, school-wide academic grants, and – over the past three years – district-wide grants of $90,000 for improved and enhanced student computers.
In addition, The Partnership offers individual $2,000 academic tuition scholarships to GHS graduates enrolled in accredited state and private, academic and trade colleges and universities. In 2024, a record 40% of GHS graduating seniors received these awards.
The “For the Love of Education” Trivia Night will be held at the Gillespie Civic Center, 115 North Macoupin (behind City Hall). Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the competition begins at 7:00 p.m.
Mulligans will be for sale; games and lightning rounds will keep the evening lively; and a variety of door prizes will be awarded. Contestants are invited to bring their own beverages and snacks. Alcoholic beverages are permitted with a photo I.D.
In addition, The Partnership’s annual Grand Raffle will kickoff. Two “early bird” winners will receive $100 each on February 15. Their tickets will remain eligible for the grand prize of $5,000 on Saturday 12 April 2025. The fee is only $100 per table, up to 10 people per team.
There are four ways to register:
- phone Director Mary Griffel at 217-556-5456;
- visit www.thepartnership7.org to register online or to print out a mail-in form;
- write to The Partnership, P.O. Box 125, Gillespie IL 62033.
Comments
Gillespie High School students will have an opportunity to participate in a 12-day trip to Europe to tour sites associated with the Holocaust following action by the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education Wednesday night, although the trip’s $5,000 price tag may be an hindrance to many. In other action, the board approved the 2024 property tax levy request and signed onto a multi-agency document setting statewide goals for education through 2030.
The meeting was moved from the fourth Monday of the month to meet a deadline for filing the tax levy and to avoid the start of the district’s winter break starting on Friday.
Without taking formal action, the board agreed to allow Gillespie High School students the opportunity to participate in a 12-day trip to Europe to tour sites associated with the Holocaust with CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center, Terre Haute. GHS teacher Katie Prange, who also serves on the museum’s board of directors, outlined the trip for board members and briefly discussed the role Holocaust survivor Eva Kor played in establishing the museum and organizing the trip.
Kor, who died in 2019, and her sister, Miriam, were among the twins notoriously experimented upon by Joseph Mengele while incarcerated at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Liberated by allied forces in 1945, the twins were transferred to a nearby orphanage before eventually making their way to the United States. CANDLES is an acronym for Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments.
Before her death, Kor led annual trips to Europe to tour Auschwitz and other sites associated with the Holocaust. After her death, according to Prange, the museum’s board of directors decided to continue the tours.
The trip is open to both students and adults, Prange said. The experience is not recommended for persons under the age of 16 because of the emotional intensity associated with visiting the concentration camp. This year, the museum is partnering with the Anne Frank Center to include Amsterdam and the Anne Frank house and museum. From there the group will travel by motor coach to Berlin to visit historic sites associated with the rise of the Third Reich. The trip will conclude in Krakow, Poland, where participants will visit the Krakow Ghetto and Auschwitz. The tour will leave Chicago on June 21 and return on July 3.
The cost of the tour includes airfare from Chicago to Amsterdam and from Krakow back to Chicago, lodging, transportation, tour fees and two meals per day.
Further information is available at candlesholocaustmuseum.org.
TAX LEVY
Board members formally approved a $3,725,100 property tax levy for 2024 taxes to be collected in 2025. The levy is expected to generate 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. PTELL allows the property tax extension (the amount generated from property taxes) to increase by no more than five percent or the consumer price index, whichever is less. This year’s CPI is 3.4 percent, meaning the extension cannot increase by more than that amount.
School districts and municipalities typically request more than they can receive in order to avoid eroding the base extension for future levies. The actual tax rate, the amount that must be applied to the total equalized assessed evaluation, to generate the maximum extension possible is set by the County Clerk.
During a brief public hearing held earlier in the meeting, Supt. Shane Owsley said details of the levy were unchanged from last month when he presented a PowerPoint presentation to the board. For the first time in five years, he said he received a phone call from a district resident concerned that his property taxes would increase by an unreasonable amount. He said he explained how the levy request exceeds what the school district can receive and sent the individual a copy of the PowerPoint he presented to the board last month.
In somewhat related actions, the board approved a resolution transferring $75,000 from the School Facilities Sales Tax fund to the Bond and Interest Fund to service indebtedness for previous capital improvements. The resolution also abates an equal amount in property taxes in keeping with a pledge the board committed to prior to voters approving a one percent School Facilities Sales Tax.
The board also approved a resolution abating taxes previously levied to service a $1.6 million General Obligation Bond Issue approved in May last year to finance capital improvement projects over the following three years. Those bonds are being serviced with revenue from the School Facilities Sale Tax fund in lieu of property tax revenue.
Both resolutions are routine items approved by the board on an annual basis.
VIRTUAL SPEECH AND LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY SERVICES
Board members unanimously approved Owsley’s recommendation to contract with Stepping Stones Teleservices to provide speech and language pathology services at a rate of $75 per hour. Owsley said Stepping Stones offered the lowest price of three companies contacted by the district. Additionally, the district already contracts with the company to provide virtual instruction in Spanish.
Owsley said he interviewed only one candidate for the speech and language pathologist position following the resignation last month of speech and language pathologist Beth Sies. The single candidate, however, withdrew her application before it could be presented to the board.
State law requires school districts to offer speech and language pathology services, prompting Owsley to investigate contracting with a virtual provider until such time as the district can hire a staff member. He said finding a candidate, however, may be challenging since many qualified candidates can find higher paying jobs outside the education field.
PERSONNEL AND STUDENT ISSUES
Following an hour-long executive session, Board President Mark Hayes announced the board conducted an annual evaluation of the superintendent in closed session and would take up the issue of renewing Owsley’s contract during the board’s January meeting.
On a motion by Amanda Ross, seconded by Weye Schmidt, the board voted unanimously to return a student to Gillespie High School as of Jan. 7 for the start of the district’s second semester. In September the board had voted to “hold in abeyance” the student’s expulsion, enabling the student to attend Alternative School and continue to earn credits toward graduation.
On a motion by Bill Carter, seconded by Dennis Tiburzi, the board voted unanimously to re-employ fall athletic coaches as follows: Cory Bonstead as head football coach; Nate Henrichs, Korbin Clark, Alex Jasper, Jarrod Herron, J.O. Kelly, Trenton Cleveland and Florian Seferi as assistant high school football coaches; Jordan Bartok as head high school volleyball coach; Shelsie Timmermeier as assistant high school volleyball coach; Tim Wargo as head middle school baseball coach; Trae Wargo as assistant middle school baseball coach; Michelle Smith as head middle school softball coach; Jim Matesa, Joe Kelly and Melissa Height as assistant middle school softball coaches; Jay Weber as head high school cross country coach; Jack Burns, Chase Peterson, Liz Thackery, Jacob West and Laura Peterson as assistant high school cross country coaches; Jack Burns, Laura Peterson, Jacob West and Liz Thackery as volunteer assistant middle school cross country coaches; Casey Sholtis as head golf coach; and Jake Kellebrew as volunteer assistant golf coach.
The board voted unanimously to hire Quentin Heyen as a full-route bus driver, and accepted “with regrets” the resignation for purposes of retirement of Cathy Edwards as district secretary, effective August. 15, 2025, and posted the position as vacant.
As a formality, the board voted to keep all current closed session minutes closed to the public.
VISION 2030
Board members unanimously approved a resolution in support of Vision 2030, a policy recommendation ratified by the Illinois Association of School Administrators, Illinois Association of School Boards, Illinois Principals’ Association, Illinois Association of School Business Officials, Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, Superintendents’ Com mission for the Study of Demographics and Diversity, Illinois Alliance of Special Education Administratorsand the Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools. The document calls upon the state legislature to pass legislation to implement goals outlined in Vision 2020.
Owlsey said Vision 2030 is an outgrowth of Vision 2020, a previous policy statement that resulted in implementing Evidence Based Funding for Illinois schools—a policy change the increased state funding for the local school district from 62 percent of full funding to 70 percent.
“A lot of the legislators who were advocates for EBA are no longer there,” Owsley said, emphasizing the need to pursue new legislative objectives to protect EBA and improve other educational objectives.
Among the objectives of Vision 2023 is limiting unfunded mandates imposed on local school districts by the state, emphasizing future-focused learning to allow for more college and career exploration, enhancing student safety, attracting and retaining top educators, and promoting curriculum and instructional flexibility to meet the needs of individual communities.
Owsley noted that CUSD 7’s long-range plans already address the parameters of Vision 2030’s Future-Focused Learning initiatives. “I was really proud to see what we’ve done in our district,” Owsley said. “All of these things are things that we’ve been addressing.”
Vision 2030 also calls for reforms in school assessment practices and stabilizing state funding expectations.
DISTRICT FOCUS
Owsley recognized department heads during a District Focus segment early in the meeting. He called out Maintenance Director Brian Page, Technology Director Mark Carpani, and Transportation Director Tim Besserman.
“Often times these people get taken for granted,” Owsley said. “I come to work everyday and everything runs as it should because of their work. You get spoiled because those things just get done. We couldn’t do this without you and I can’t imagine doing it without you. I can’t say ‘thank you’ enough.”
Owsley pointed out Page’s dedication to seeking out information to improve operations, Besserman implementing software to design bus routes and reducing paperwork by having drivers use electronic pads to record information, and Carpani for marshaling more than 1,600 electronic devices, along with networking.
Carter praised Page’s efforts to improve student safety.
“I was shocked to see the steps Brian had taken to (ensure communication with first responders in the event of an incident),” Carter said.
“Tonight is just a small token of our appreciation,” Owsley said. “We need to say it more often.”
