Busy Meeting for Unit 40 School Board

The Effingham Unit 40 Board of Education Monday set Effingham High School graduation for Sunday, May 22 at 2pm.

End-of-year dates were also finalized. Finals at Effingham High School will be Tuesday and Wednesday, May 24 and 25. The 25th will be the last full day for students. Thursday, May 26 will be a half-day for students with dismissal at noon, then school improvement for teachers in the afternoon. Friday, May 27 is a teacher's institute.

The Board signed an agreement with the Regional Office of Education under which the ROE will provide alternative education classes for the coming school year. Glass and Shuffett were hired to do the district audit work for the fiscal year, and a supplemental savings plan through the Teacher Retirement System will be made to teachers at no cost to the district. 

Board members voted to sell a portion of the southwest corner of Henrietta and Grove by the high school for $600. IDOT plans to improve the turning radius at the location. The Board also voted to replace the gym padding throughout the junior high building, and rejected the only bid received on patching and painting work at the junior high building as well in excess of the estimated cost. The work will likely be re-bid later. 

The Board approved three asphalting projects, all awarded to Effingham Asphalt. One project will see new surfacing behind the junior high school building for playground area for $181,376, another will involve the playgrounds at Central School, one north and the other south of the gym for $109,235, and the third will involve construction of a 30-space parking lot at East Side School just west of the school building for $167,850. 

Board members voted to sell two used trucks and four used school buses to various high bidders, and to re-bid four remaining buses.

Speaking of East Side, an Open House to show off the renovated building is planned for this Thursday evening from 4 to 6pm. The building had been used in recent years as an alternative education facility, but Unit 40 is now using it as a pre-school facility. The District also plans to schedule an Open House to let residents tour the renovated junior high building sometime in the next few weeks. The building has been renovated over the last three years.

The Board also voted to begin a systematic replacement of student laptops. 185 laptops and 220 cases were purchased at a cost of $73,577, with a grant covering $62,806 of that cost. The units will be used by next year's freshman students who will use the units over their four years in high school. There was discussion of English Language Learners and English as a Second Language students and how to attract instructors for those courses. 

In personnel action, the Unit 40 Board hired Alixandrie Summers as a Special Education teacher at South Side for the coming school year, Brenda Myers as a three-hour food service person at the junior high and Megan Ames and Connie Habing as cafeteria monitors, Ames at the Early Learning Center and Habing at Central.

Also, Weston Peno was transferred to a technology integration specialist position for the coming school year, and resignations were accepted from Hillary Kopplin as head junior high softball coach and from Donna Pierson as health care supervisor.

Leaves of absence were granted Barb Jamison, Amy Hewing, Logan Andrews, Kayla Legg and Lisa Lauritzen.