Neoga Board Votes to Close Elementary Building; Consider Referendum

Neoga school board members have voted to close the Neoga Elementary School building following the current school year.

The Board has also directed Superintendent Chuck Castle to prepare the necessary resolution for a referendum in the amount of $800,000 to be available for the Board's December meeting.

The school board at Neoga has been working for months to resolve a problem of not enough revenue and too many bills. Closing one of the three school buildings has been a major consideration, although not an easy one. Realigning the grades that attend what are now the middle school and high school buildings will be done in conjunction with closing the elementary building.

As to the referendum, the Board has determined that even more painful cuts would be necessary without additional revenues, leading to the decision to seek passage of the referendum.

Meanwhile, the Neoga board formalized the retirement of Castle as district superintendent, effective February 28, 2015, not at the end of the school year as was first expected. The district has been talking with neighboring districts about sharing resources, so that would be a possibility in handling Castle's duties, but the Board has also learned more about other districts and how they've adapted with a reduced number of administrators. An example is Stewardson-Strasburg, a district with a superintendent and one building principal.

Also at the monthly meeting, the Neoga board approved a tentative tax levy for the coming fiscal year, declared a Macbook I and a school bus as surplus property, and voted to have trees planted as a memorial for the late Evelyn Alexander, a former longtime employee of the Neoga district.