Dieterich School Board Names Three New Members

Even after the April election, the Dieterich Board of Education needed two more members due to a lack of candidates on the ballot.

The Board asked for volunteers to fill the vacancies and appointed two of those volunteers, Diane Aherin and Charity Bohnhoff to fill the seats.

The number of candidates, though, led incumbent board member Justin Gephart to resign at the meeting and another candidate, Doug Baxter to be appointed to fill the balance of his term.

Dieterich Superintendent Cary Jackson reported that Gephart had only sought another term because of the lack of candidates.  Jackson said once saw there were qualified replacements, he resigned.  Baxter will serve until the next school board election in the spring of 2015.

The Dieterich board chose officers for the next term, including President Mike Winters, Vice-President Cory Niebrugge and Secretary Charity Bohnhoff, and Gloria Adams was chosen as district treasurer.

In regular business, the Board heard a presentation from RTR Investments regarding a possible project on a section of District-owned land.  After hearing the presentation and learning of the sale procedure, the Board tabled the issue until their June meeting.  Board members voted to approve the student fee schedule for the coming school year.

Jackson presented a transportation funding projection.  If the governor's budget is passed, transportation funding will be pro-rated to 20%.  Jackson said it would have a major impact on rural and suburban districts that transport their students.  The Dieterich district would see transportation funding drop from $182,000 to just over $34,000.

The Board heard from Junior-Senior High School Principal Kevin Haarman on the master schedule for the coming year and then approved the schedule.  The Board also heard from Haarman and Elementary Principal Kathy Pattenaude regarding changes in the student handbook and then approved the changes.

In personnel moves, the Dieterich board accepted resignations from Bill Radloff as junior high baseball coach and from Glenn Addis as bus driver. 

Board members also heard that the Dieterich Community Education Foundation Golf Outing is set for Meadowview Golf Course at Mattoon on June 1 at 1pm.