Stew-Stras, Windsor to Co-op in Additional Sports

The Stewardson-Strasburg and Windsor school districts have agreed to cooperate in additional sports, some as soon as this coming spring.

Stew-Stras Superintendent Steven Harsy said the schools would cooperate in high school baseball, but the coaching staffs for both schools will stay intact for this season and work together.  Windsor will be the host school.

The schools will also cooperate in junior high baseball with Stew-Stras as the host school, in high school softball with Stew-Stras as the host school, and in junior high softball with Windsor as the host school.

The districts already cooperate in golf and in junior high girls basketball. 

Stew-Stras also cooperates with the Shelbyville district in girls high school basketball and Harsy said the girls from Stew-Stras like the arrangement.  That arrangement is not as involved as the agreements will be with Windsor since the Stew-Stras girls just go and play as part of the Shelbyville team.

Meanwhile, talks continue regarding academic cooperation.  Harsy said Stew-Stras and Windsor will both hold registration for next school year in January.  They will then meet in February to check numbers to see whether co-oping on some classes would be beneficial.  Harsy said it's possible the Neoga and Beecher City districts could still be involved in the academic co-oping discussions.

In other business, the Stew-Stras board is awaiting a report from a third party on the geothermal units installed to determine whether the units are functioning as they should.  The district and the contractor have each had their own studies done, so the district wanted the third party evaluation before deciding how to proceed.

The Board is also working on utilizing construction grant funds to replace fascia around the exterior of the high school gym to seal the structure.  Board members also agreed to discuss a possible education fund tax referendum during their December meeting, approved the tentative tax levy for the coming fiscal year, and reviewed five-year budget projections for the district.  The Board also finalized a memorandum of agreement regarding a letter of retirement from teacher Ruth Anderson, allowing her a salary bump in the the three years prior to her retirement.  The district's agreement regarding retirement is about to expire.