Thursday, July 18

Central School move-in
date set for fall 2003

[JULY 18, 2002]  Construction work will resume on Elementary District 27’s new Central School next week, but students will not be moving into the building until the fall of 2003, according to Superintendent Robert Kidd.

The new building should be up and ready sometime during the spring of 2003, said members of the S.M. Wilson construction management firm, but Kidd said he did not plan to move Central School students to the new Seventh Street building until the beginning of the fall semester.

Delays in construction have occurred because of the cost-cutting, or "value engineering," which was necessary to keep construction costs within the $6 million budget. The original schedule called for the school to be completed by the end of this year.

 


[Photo by Bob Frank]
[Construction at Central School]

Rick Spahn of the Wilson firm said two concrete pours are scheduled for next week and three for the following week; then stairwells and elevator shafts will begin going up.

Because of changes in the building, using pre-engineered instead of stick-built framework, concrete pourers have been delayed while engineers worked out the plans, he said.

At their monthly meeting Wednesday, District 27 board members approved a bid of $192,596 for food service equipment. Casework and drywall as well as acoustical ceiling work will be rebid because of changes in the scope of the work, Spahn said.

Board member Leta Herrington asked how the district would make up the almost $500,000 the Central School project is still over budget.

Kidd said interest on money invested and the working cash fund, as well as some contingency money, will help make up the deficit. About $500,000 has already been cut from the original building specifications, he said.

One change in the building’s exterior will be a metal roof instead of shingles. However, the exterior will still be all brick, as originally planned.

 

"The building will look nice and will be very serviceable, but we are not getting done as quickly as anticipated," Kidd said.

Architect Dave Leonatti is now working on preliminary plans for the district’s new junior high school, Spahn said. When the new Central School is complete, elementary students will move in and junior high students will temporarily move into the old Central School building. The present junior high will be demolished and a new one built on the site. The last stage in the building program will be taking down the nearly 100-year-old Central School.

In other business, Kidd announced that because the district got a state grant for $40,095 to fund its summer school program, Life Safety Code money can be used to upgrade some of the other schools in the district.

 

 

[to top of second column in this article]

He said he was so pleased with the new gymnasium lighting in Washington-Monroe and Northwest schools he would like to put similar lighting in Adams and Jefferson schools.

He also wants to replace the 50-year-old theater curtains in Northwest and Washington-Monroe and update the bathrooms in Northwest School during the coming year.

Kidd reported that negotiations are still under way with the unions representing teachers and support staff but are going well. This is the first year the teachers union and support staff union are bargaining together.

A tentative budget for fiscal year 2003 will be posted in the district office, he said, but because salaries have not yet been determined, that budget will have to be changed later.

Carol Becker, the new principal for Jefferson and Northwest schools, attended the meeting and was introduced to the board. Becker served as a principal for Prairie Central School District for the past two years and taught in Stanford in the Olympia district for six years.

 

Becker had been a teacher in Lincoln and the Logan County area before 1990, when her name was Carol McCarthy. She taught at Chester-East Lincoln from 1979 to 1989 and also taught in Mount Pulaski.

The board voted 4-2 to raise the price of tickets to those athletic events that charge admission: girls and boys basketball, volleyball and wrestling. Student tickets will be $1 and adult tickets $2. Board president Bruce Carmitchel and member Marilyn Montgomery voted against the raise. Carmitchel said he did not want to see prices any higher, because it might keep students from low-income families from attending athletic events.

After some discussion, the board also voted, 4-2, to purchase 74 Dell computer workstations at $814 each and one server for $49,000 through the state’s purchasing pool.

"There is no local vendor who can compete with their prices," Kidd said.

The board also approved having a Bloomington computer company service the network. Voting no were Carmitchel and Jim Wilmert.

Kidd also announced that the terms of three board members, Shelley Allen, Joe Brewer and Leta Herrington, will expire in 2003 and that petitions will be available in the district office in October. The petitions must be filed between Jan. 13 and Jan. 21, 2003, for a spot on the ballot in April.

[Joan Crabb]

Celebrating American Theatre

Lincoln Community Theatre

presents

Dearly Departed

July 12-20
Johnston Center
for the Performing Arts

for ticket information, call 732-2640
or
click here: http://www.geocities.com/
lincolncommunitytheatre

Want your ad to be seen all over Logan County?

Advertise with

Lincoln Daily News!

Call (217) 732-7443
or e-mail
ads@lincolndailynews.com 

Our staff offers more than 25 years of experience in the automotive industry.

Greyhound Lube

At the corner of Woodlawn and Business 55

No Appointments Necessary


Committee plans sesquicentennial
fund-raising dance for Sept. 21

[JULY 18, 2002]  The committee to plan Lincoln’s sesquicentennial celebration is organizing its first fund-raiser, a street dance, for Saturday, Sept. 21.

The committee voted Wednesday night to hire Bobby Remack, a variety band from Springfield, for the fund-raiser. The band plays swing, polka and other types of dance music.

The event is scheduled to run from 6 to 11 p.m. in downtown Lincoln. The first hour is for food and the remainder for dancing in the street. Beer will be sold, and food suppliers are being sought. Planners say some activities will be available for children.

Money earned will go toward funding the full schedule of events and exhibits planned for Aug. 21-31, 2003, to celebrate the city’s 150th birthday. Mayor Beth Davis chairs the committee for the sesquicentennial, and at least 24 subcommittee chairs and co-chairs are each responsible for a specific activity.

Re-enactment and Lincoln College cluster chair Ron Keller announced that the 33rd Volunteer Regiment band has agreed to participate in several sesquicentennial events. The band will march in the parade, set up an encampment and play for a Civil War ball. The group is also available for a concert, Keller said.

 

Activities discussed at Wednesday night’s meeting include

•  Re-enactment of the christening of Lincoln with local actors in period costumes.

•  A parade on Saturday, Aug. 30. Parade co-chair Roger Matson said that in addition to floats, bands and celebrities the parade will include horses, clowns, ethnic groups and antique vehicles.

•  A quilt show in the courthouse rotunda. Quilting classes and bees are in progress at Sew Many Friends on Kickapoo Street, according to chair Nancy Rollings Saul. Participants are making quilt squares used as signals on the Underground Railroad. Some of the quilters hope to enter the juried show.

 

[to top of second column in this article]

•  A dance with music from the 1950s-60s. Music co-chair Greg Pelc is pricing potential bands.

•  A black history exhibit. Committee member Russell Allen is doing research for the display. History co-chair Paul Gleason said the surprising achievement of blacks from Lincoln is documented in the archives.

•  A nondenominational church service on Sunday, Aug. 31. Co-chair Glenn Shelton said the Lincoln Ministerial Alliance has committed to participating in the service, and he is seeking clergy from throughout the county as well.

•  Many souvenir items. For people eager to make a statement, the first chance to purchase sesquicentennial T-shirts is at the Lincoln Art Fair and Balloon Fest next month.

•  A special postmark commemorating the event.

 

The committee is establishing a speaker’s bureau to inform local organizations about sesquicentennial plans. Thressia Usherwood, executive director of Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County, is the contact person.

Committee treasurer Paul Short reported that, thanks to two recent donations of $1,000 each, the committee’s balance is now about $4,100.

In addition to money raised at the street dance, the sesquicentennial treasury will benefit from the offering at Lincoln’s second annual Community of Thanks service. Jody Duncan, who is organizing this year’s service, announced the planned contribution Wednesday night. The Community of Thanks service is planned for Sunday, Nov. 24, at Lincoln Christian College chapel. Duncan said last year’s choir consisted of over 100 singers from 14 churches, and she hopes for even greater participation this year. She suggested that this choir might also participate in the sesquicentennial church service.

[Lynn Shearer Spellman]

Return to current Top Stories page

Back to top


 

News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries

Community | Perspectives | Law & Courts | Leisure Time | Spiritual Life | Health & Fitness | Calendar

Letters to the Editor