Gillespie School Board lays ground work for financing athletic field improvements

The Community Unit School District 7 School Board laid groundwork to improve its facilities and academic offerings at its regular meeting held Monday, June 23, at the Gillespie High School library.

After hearing a presentation from Tom Hyde of Springfield-based Graham and Hyde Architects, the board voted to amend some $276,000 in life safety bonds, $156,000 for lighting and electrical work and $120,000 for new bleachers for the GHS football field.

Before amending the funds, the board first voted to retain Chicago-based law firm Chapman and Cutler as bond counsel and Bloomington-based First Mid State as underwriters for life safety bond issues.

Kevin Heid of First Mid State presented the board with figures of the proposed life safety bond amendment, which would free the money needed to complete the capital projects without increasing the district's tax levy.

By refinancing some bonds to save money on interest and taxes, First Mid State also would be able to keep the amount of life safety bonds issued by the board under the yearly limit specified by law before requiring referendum approval, Heid explained.

“We want to keep the total levy where it's at as well,” Heid said.

Heid proposed the board hold a special hearing on July 10 for the public to discuss the bond amendment, and then be able to issue the bonds at the regular meeting July 28.

The funds for the capital projects could then be in hand as early as the second week of August, Heid said.

“That's kind of a win-win situation for us,” said superintendent Paul Skeans.

Before construction of the new bleachers can begin, the old bleachers must be demolished and a new concrete slab poured. The district solicited bids for those two projects and received two bids for each, Skeans said.

The board voted to accept the low bids for each project, both of which came from Mike Ranger and Sons. The accepted demolition bid was for $8,120, and the bid for the concrete slab was for $14,570.

“I'd like to get the crews off site before football season starts [Aug. 8],” Hyde said.

Hyde said Ranger's crew could begin work as early as the next day (Tuesday, June 24) and was confident the work would be completed on or ahead of schedule.

The board also heard information from Lewis and Clark Community College Associate Vice President Kent Scheffel about the GHS/LCCC dual credit partnership and new Certified Nurse Assistant program.

GHS principal Joe Tieman noted the school was working with LCCC to put the finishing touches on the CNA program, which would allow GHS students to receive Lewis and Clark credit for high school classes, culminating in CNA certification upon graduation from high school.

“As soon as they're done, they're ready to go to work,” Scheffel said.

Ten GHS students have taken the program's entrance exam thus far, Scheffel said.

“It's a challenging test. It definitely weeds some people out before they get in the program,” Scheffel said. “But it's necessary, because it's a difficult program.”

One hundred percent of students who completed the entire CNA program at Alton High School, the only other school in the area to adopt the program so far, have passed the culminating certification exam, Scheffel said.

Many students also use the program as a stepping stone toward becoming a registered nurse or other more advanced medical occupation, Scheffel said.

“Healthcare is facing such a shortage these days,” Scheffel said. “They love to have new CNAs and RNs.”

The school's pre-existing dual credit partnership, which allows students to earn Lewis and Clark credits for advanced classes taken in high school, continues to be a huge success, Scheffel reported.

GHS students participating in the program have saved more than $300,000 in tuition since the program began several years ago, or more than 4,500 LCCC credit hours Scheffel said.

“It's really the teachers that make these classes possible,” he said, explaining that teachers must shape their curricula to match the requirements of the correspoding LCCC classes.

Teachers must also hold a master's degree or more than 2,000 career hours in the subject field to be able to offer a class for LCCC credit. The stipulations help to ensure that students are prepared for the more advanced classes they can enroll in at colleges after having received credits for their GHS classes.

“When they walk into that college class, they need to be able to do the work,” Scheffel said. “The program really does work well.”

Scheffel also reported that LCCC would again open some of its automotive repair classes to GHS students after a grant allowed them to expand their facilities. The program had been closed to GHS students after Lewis and Clark's space could no longer accomodate both their students and high school students.

“It's a good thing for students to get started as soon as they can,” Skeans said, explaining that he'd already begun looking into reinstating the program. “I think we'll have students to send to you.”

“It's a great thing for the kids and for the parents who have to foot the bill,” said board member Rusty Bilbruck.

Tiemann also noted some impressive accomplishments of the recently graduated GHS Class of 2008. The 86 graduates have, as a whole, received more than $500,000 in college scholarships to date, Tieman said. He also lauded the accomplishments of the GHS cheerleading squad, which recently took four awards at a summer camp.

“We're very proud of them,” Tieman said.

Benld Elementary School Principal Angela Turcol noted that the eight district teachers who are currently enrolled in the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville master's degree program no longer have to travel to Springfield to take classes, as the program has been moved to the classrooms of GHS.

“That's been very successful,” Turcol said. Not only is it more convenient for CUSD #7 teachers, but also showcases the district's facilities to teachers from surrounding districts.

“They get a chance to work together professionally,” she said.

In other business, the board:

-Hired Tamara Garde-Laboray as a middle school resource instructor.

-Approved maternity leaves for high school instructor Ashlee Gibbs and Benld Elementary School instructor Jessi Luketich.

-Approved a posting for a middle school special education aide for the fiscal school year 2009.

-Re-hired middle school special education transportation aide Holly Muffick.

-Approved payment of $127,476.99 total in educational, building and transportation fund bills for the month of June.

-Approved Lawrence E. Smith and Associates as administrators for the school's KidGuard student accident insurance program, continuing at the same rate and coverage levels as last year.

-Adopted the prevailing wage statement as presented to the board.

-Heard reports from Tiemann and Turcol that 93 students had passed high school summer school, and another 30 third, fourth and fifth graders were finishing their summer school as well.

-Voted to retain Principal Financial Group's HealthLink program as health insurance provider for the district and Indiana Insurance-Affiliated Insurance Specialists as workman's compensation insurance provider.

-Approved a state reading block grant in the amount of $43,101 and No Child Left Behind Title I, II, IV and V grants, with the understanding that additional funds for the grants may be available at a later date.

-Were invited to attend the Lighting The Way Conference, scheduled for Nov. 21-23.

-Approved the first reading of Policy Issue #64, dealing with ethics, development and funding.

-Amended the FSY 2008 budget to equal fund revenues and expenditures by line-item and fund balance, to aid the auditor when conducting the post-year audit.

http://www.southmacoupin-news.com/articles/2008/06/27/news/001_cusd 7 school

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Gillespie School Board lays ground work for financing athletic field improvements