The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.


West Central Has 6-Hour Meeting

The president and trustees of WC CUSD #235 Board of Education gathered for their regular meeting Wednesday, February 20, 2008 with the following items taking place:

Board Vice President Arnold called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. All board members were present at roll call except board members Sams and Brent. President Brent arrived at the meeting at approximately 6:07 p.m. Vice President Arnold led the members of audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Recognized under "Good News" items were:

The board approved the agenda as presented.

Under recognition of audience request for presentation, the board heard a brief report from Lari Jo Smith of the West Central Athletic Booster Group. Mrs. Smith reported that the booster club is ready to move forward on the construction of a concession stand near the outdoor athletic facilities on the south campus. The board also heard a brief report from Sam Sudakar, the CSC Envoy, and Board President Brent welcomed Jeff Bryant, Monmouth/Roseville's high school principal who was in attendance to observe a meeting for a class that he is taking.

The board requested that action item A, WCMS art work be removed from the consent agenda. The consent agenda was then approved. Items approved under the consent agenda included: Minutes of the January 16, 2008 regular meeting and closed meeting and the Illinois Textbook Loan Program in the amount of $18,830 for K-6 textbooks.

Under financial activity, the board paid the bills as presented, approved the activity accounts for January as presented and approved the January treasurer's report as presented and heard a brief overview of the district's financial report from Superintendent Grimm.

The board approved some permanent art work for the middle school after making a minor revision to the proposed drawing. The board asked that the symbol of the pitch fork and the dragon's tail be removed from drawing. Mr. Nichols indicated he did not think that would be a problem.

The board approved a quote for the marquee to be placed on the north side of the north campus from Century Signs, Inc. The quote that was approved was one of three that was submitted. The approved quote was in the amount of $37,883.

The board also heard a report from the Student Council marquee committee representatives that the student council has raised approximately $32,000 towards the purchase price of the marquee and asked if the board would loan the group additional funds if necessary to cover the remaining costs that they will incur to purchase and install the marquee. The board did approve the request for a loan as needed.

The board approved requests for early graduation from five West Central High School students contingent upon their completion of all graduation requirements by the end of the first semester of the 2008-09 school year. The five students who requests were approved are Kayla Burgus, Shayna Perry, Kristen Plath, Cody Postle and Rachel Sams.

The board spent a considerable amount of time discussing a request for recognition of a Schools for Schools student organization and a corresponding activity fund account. This was the second meeting that the board had discussed this issue with WCHS senior Cody Harden. Several questions were raised and issues were addressed relative to this request; however, the board voted not to approve this request for the creation of this student organization and activity account.

The board took no action for an increase in fees which would have led to an admittance fee for 6th grade sporting events.

The board discussed the electronic school improvement plans for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years that the high school and middle school have been working on. Following a brief questions and answer session on the content of the plans, the board approved the plans as presented.

The board established the dates for eighth grade promotion and high school graduation ceremonies. The WCHS graduation program will be on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 2 p.m. and will be held in the WCHS gym. The eighth grade promotion ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 15, 2008 beginning at 7 p.m. and be held in the WCMS gym.

The board heard principal reports from Mr. Buss, Mr. Nichols, and Mr. Geiser. The board heard a brief reports from District Curriculum Director Jeanne Serven, District Technology Director Barb Elliott and District Special Education Director Jamie Farniok. The board also heard a brief report from West Central Early Childhood Center's parent educator Jessica Burrell.

The board heard an update on a recently held board's building and grounds sub-committee meeting. Board members Clark and Arnold updated the board on the items that were discussed at that meeting. It was agreed that the building and grounds sub-committee needed to meet with Mr. Grimm in the near future to discuss a request to air condition the music room on the north campus.

The board was presented with the first look at the 2008-09 school calendar. Copies of that draft calendar have been sent to all buildings to be posted in the teachers' work room. The board was encouraged to review the calendar and to contact Mr. Grimm with questions or concerns. The board was informed that the draft calendar will be placed on the March meeting agenda for adoption.

The board reviewed a set of statistics from WCHS for the first semester of the 2008-09 school year. A brief discussion about the statistics on attendance, grades and discipline referrals followed.

The board heard a report from Mr. Grimm regarding the district finances and rumblings from Springfield that he has been hearing concerning the state's ability to pay all of its financial obligations for this school year in this school year. Mr. Grimm informed the board that it would appear that our 23rd and 24th general state aid payments as well as reimbursement for special education personnel and transportation are in jeopardy of not being paid completely during this fiscal year. The board discussed the content of the memo that Mr. Grimm presented and agreed that the district's finances need to continue to be monitored on a going forward basis.

The board conducted a brief discussion on board policy 8:20 Community Use of School Facilities. The board discussed some possible revisions to that policy that they would like to see made. Mr. Grimm indicated that he would make those revisions and return to them the first draft of those proposed revisions at next month's meeting.

Under future agenda items, the board indicated that they would like to see a possible revision to the early graduation policy, a possible revision for the community use of school facilities, and the WCHS girls basketball team and their coach invited to the March meeting for recognition. A request was also made to have a financial update on the operation of the district's breakfast and lunch program.

The board entered closed session to discuss matters pertaining to personnel and collective bargaining at approximately 10:05 p.m. Superintendent Grimm was excused from the closed session at approximately 10:45 p.m.

The board exited closed session at 11:55 p.m. and took the following action:

The board was reminded that their next meeting is Wednesday, March 19, 2008. That meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and be held in the elementary cafeteria in Biggsville.

There being no other business to come before the board, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 12:05 a.m.