The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Joy Swearingen, Quill Correspondent
Jim Short was hired as principal for Illini West High School to begin July 1. Short has been dean of students for the high school for five years, starting in the fall of 2016.
The Illini West board took the action at their regular meeting April 21, hiring Short to replace Scott Schneider, who resigned earlier this spring.
Short is a graduate of Warsaw High School. He earned his bachelor's degree in education/social studies from Upper Iowa University. He completed a master's degree in counseling at Quincy University.
He taught six years in Iowa, and was at Warsaw High School teaching history for eight years. He was head girls basketball coach for West Hancock Titans for two and a half years.
A pay agreement was approved for incoming superintendent, Jay Harnack. His contract begins July 1, however the retiring superintendent will be using vacation time during June. Harnack will be paid for the days he works in June, prorated from his salary.
The board canvassed votes from the April 6 election. They declared Jesse Palmer and Beth Newton of the Dallas Elementary District, and Wyatt Green from the Carthage Elementary District as duly elected members on the board. Palmer is new to the board. Newton and Green were appointed earlier to fill unexpired terms.
No candidate was elected for the seat representing the LaHarpe Elementary District. Anyone interested in that open seat should submit a letter to the Illini West district office by May 10.
The board honored retiring members, Beth Pence and Shannon Pence, for their years of service on the board. Both had served since 2013.
Board officers were elected, with John Huston as president, Beth Newton as vice president, and Betsy Wujek as secretary. Wujek was appointed as volunteer district treasurer. Current treasurer, Kim Deitrich, had asked to be replaced, due to time conflicts with her job.
The board approved a list of regular meeting times, typically at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month.
The following board committees were assigned:
Finance – Betsy Wujek and Jesse Palmer;
Transportation – Tracey Anders and Beth Newton;
Policy – Beth Newton and John Huston;
Building/grounds – Wyatt Green and Tracey Anders.
Several other people were honored by the board. Retiring Carthage Police Chief Gary Waddell was given an appreciation award for making himself available for Illini West High School at any time of the day or night if police support was needed.
Three full time bus drivers are retiring, Dale Schamberger, Darrell Kraft and Lee Unger. They were honored with plaques. Some may continue as substitute drivers as needed.
Ag teacher Jennifer McFadden introduced three Illini West FFA members who earned spots as FFA State Proficiency Award finalists, based on their Supervised Agricultural Experiences.
McKenna Merritt was state top finalist in the area of veterinary science. She will be honored at the June Illinois FFA State Convention and advances to national competition.
Kylee Freeman and Aleah Gann each ranked in the top five for their categories, Freeman in equine science-entrepreneurship, and Gann in equine science-placement. These girls were among the top 200 in over 20,000 FFA members state wide.
Public comments
Several people spoke to the board during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Representing We Stand for Our Students, Kevin Deitrich and Michelle Merritt used a Power Point program to explain their concerns for requiring masks of students, and of excess quarantine time of healthy students. They asked the board to consider a resolution that would maintain parents' rights to choose the best health measures for their own children.
A similar resolution was recently passed by the Hancock County Board health committee (6 to 1) and the Hancock County Board (12-3), the Warsaw School Board (6 to 1) and Nauvoo-Colusa School Board (6 to 0). It was presented on April 21 to Carthage Elementary District and Hamilton Unit District, as well as Illini West.
Their material showed low vulnerability to COVID by children in pre-K through grade 12, stating there were no measurable deaths due to COVID in the population 0 to 17 years, which is 22.4 percent of total population. The age group of 85 years and over are only 1.8 percent of the total population and have sustained 31.2 percent of the COVID deaths.
Merritt outlined the harm to school-aged children in wearing masks all day, and in being absent from in-person schooling.
Tami Belshaw addressed the harm in the lengthy 14-day quarantining of healthy students. She stressed that fears of losing state funding or threatened lawsuits are unfounded.
Teacher Nancy Barnett thanked the board for what they have done regarding the many attendance changes throughout the school year, and urged them to continue to consider all the options available to them.
Jamey Weinreich of Lomax voiced a concern about busing in his area.
President Huston thanked all for their comments and asked the administration to study and formulate possible plans of action based on these concerns.
Outdoor IW Graduation
Principal Schneider outlined a plan for an outdoor graduation, favored by the senior class. Graduation would be scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, May 16, at the football field. This plan would allow all who wanted to attend, but would be subject to bad weather.
Administrators will carefully watch weather forecasts, he said.
If bad weather is imminent, they will decide as soon as possible to relocate the ceremony still at 2 p.m. in the gym.
An indoor ceremony would require limiting each graduate to two ticketed guests, for a maximum of 250 in the gym.
If the ceremony is started outside and weather turns bad during the event, it would be resumed at 5 p.m. inside the gym with limited guests.
"The decision will be made based on the forecast as far in advance as possible," Schneider said. "We have got to do what we can for these kids, even if it makes more work for us."
At the recommendation of incoming superintendent, Jay Harnack, the board approved creating a position of Director of Student Services, that would combine two administrative jobs, making a cost saving of around $90,000.
"We would go from a punishment based model for discipline to a restorative practice system," explained Short.
"This doesn't get rid of consequences, but works with the student so that (the action) doesn't happen again."
The position would require experience and/or education in the area of social work. It would be paid by an ESSA grant.
In other business, the board:
Hired Gail Duffy as summer help;
Approved pay raises for the technology director, bookkeeper and maintenance staff;
Approved the 2021-22 Risk Management Plan, Employee Handbook and Consolidated District Plan (ESSA);
Declared old Title program books and materials as surplus;
Learned about the summer credit recovery program where students can retake failed or low-scoring classes to improve their GPA
Jim Short
JAY hArNACK
Beth Pence and Shannon Pence
From left, retiring Illini West bus driver Dale Schamberger, (with board president John Huston), and retiring bus drivers Lee Unger and Darrell Kraft were recognized and thanked.
from Illini West High School presented by John Huston, Board President.
Newly appointed Illini West school board member, Jesse Palmer was sworn in.
Gary Waddell, left, retiring Carthage Police Chief, receives an Appreciation Award from Illini West High School presented by John Huston, Board President.