Unit 40 Board Tours Little Hearts Facility

(A WILD THINGS THEME IS SEEN ON ONE DOOR AT LITTLE HEARTS EARLY EDUCATION CENTER)

Effingham Unit 40 school board members went on a field trip ahead of Monday night's meeting.

Their destination? The Little Hearts Early Education Center.

(UNIT 40 PRESCHOOL DIRECTOR JENNIFER FOX SHARES DURING THE TOUR OF THE LITTLE HEARTS EARLY EDUCATION CENTER)

Located in the former Little Lambs Early Education Center, the facility was acquired by the school district and is in its first year of operation by Unit 40. Former owner Carla Holtz has helped with the transition, and Jennifer Fox, who was serving as Early Learning Center and East Side Pre-School Principal last year, is overseeing all of the pre-school operation. The Board at Monday's meeting approved a job description for an administrative assistant at Little Hearts.

(UNIT 40 SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS POSE DURING MONDAY'S TOUR OF THE LITTLE HEARTS EARLY EDUCATION CENTER...FRONT ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: JANE WILLENBORG, DESHA WEAR AND BOARD PRESIDENT JILL WENDLING...BACK ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: STEVE BONE, SCOTT VOLPI, ANDREW ALTMAN AND CHAD THOMPSON)

Fox discussed the transitions for the students, many of whom transfer back and forth from Little Hearts and East Side for whatever instruction they need.

118 students could be accommodated and 106 are currently being taught. Holtz said that some of the children are getting ready to "age up", which is why there is space available.

Once the Board moved back to the Unit 40 offices and the Board room, Unit 40 Superintendent Andrew Johnson said enrollment was at 2,290, which is up from last year, and reported that the Unit 40 Foundation has their teacher grant applications open. The Board named Katie Klosterman as a director on the Unit 40 Foundation Board, and adopted the budget for the new fiscal year.

The Board voted to establish boys and girls 5th and 6th grade basketball programs. District funds will finance the program along with a contribution from the Sportsbackers. A Memorandum of Understanding with the Effingham Classroom Teachers Association concerning the hiring of coaches was approved. The plan is to hire one 5th grade boys coach, one 5th grade girls coach, one 6th grade boys coach, and one 6th grade girls coach.

The Board also voted to purchase two vans and a car for the district fleet. Each vehicle with trade-in will cost about $25,000, through Northside Ford.

In personnel moves, the Unit 40 Board hired Cailin Gilpin and Miranda Burk as paraprofessionals, Brittany Howard as Little Hearts Early Childhood Center teacher assistant, Alicia Winskill as mentor facilitator at the junior high school, Brittney Lindsey as a paraprofessional, Lauren Blackwell as Little Hearts Early Childhood Center teacher assistant, Terry Chapman as lunchroom supervisor at Central School, and Dustin Nickles as high school fresh/soph basketball coach.

Appointments approved were those of Jean Cornell as EHS Prom sponsor, Ty Totten as freshman class sponsor, Norene Ault as sophomore class sponsor, Melissa Habing as junior class sponsor and high school assistant Scholar Bowl coach, and Lynsie Hoffman as junior high Student Council co-sponsor. Also, Jason Warner was transferred to head custodian at the high school.

Leaves were approved for Chelsea Painter, Destiny Marxmann, Tara Raddatz, Nicole Whetstone, Michaela Lustig, Shannon Hall-Nannini, Nancy McClelland, Kristyn Bowman, Makayla Poe, Lindsay Westendorf, Heather Martin and Judy Wall.

Resignations were accepted from Rachelle Childress and Britany Howard as Little Hearts Early Childhood Center teacher assistants, Amanda Hudspeth as Little Hearts Early Childhood Center lead instructor, and Brycelyn Simmons as a custodian. The Board also accepted Tina Haarmann's retirement as a custodian.