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New school will be habitable on
opening day, Tuesday
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[AUG. 23, 2003]
Parents of students who will
be attending the new Central School have been watching the progress
with interest and trepidation, worrying if the new school will be
ready by Tuesday. Take heart! Mike Hanner, Curt Cole and Sid Wilson,
representatives from S.M. Wilson Co., the construction company that
has been working on the building and grounds for the last year and
better, assured the District 27 Board of Education in their meeting
Wednesday that the school will be ready for students on Tuesday,
although some work will continue.
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The representatives said: "The kitchen
appliances are being installed now, and we are told the kitchen will
be ready to go on Friday. The cafeteria tables have not arrived as
yet, but they are expected Monday. The gym floor received its final
coat of polish today and will be ready for dodge ball and relay
races in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, let's hope for good
weather so the kids can play outside. The gym is being fitted with
retractable bleachers, which are slated for installation the weekend
after Labor Day, at which point the gym will be ready for use.
"Library shelves are being installed,
and then we assume the librarian will be hard at work shelving the
books for our children to bring home and lose! The sod is being
laid, as well, and we have been asked to keep off of it for a couple
of weeks at least, until it has time to take root and set well. For
the first week, the teachers will have some minor problems with a
lack of furniture, but the students' desks are in place, so they
will have class as scheduled."
The demolition of the old junior high
building was also discussed. At this time, the piles of rubbish that
mar our landscape are being sorted by ion search of aluminum, steel
and other materials, presumably for recycling. The bricks and
concrete will then be crushed and compacted. This task is scheduled
to begin the first week of September.
Meanwhile, preliminary drawings are
being done and revised for the new junior high, and the tentative
bid date for that is Sept. 17 or 18. The company doing the plans
will advertise when the dates are firmer.
Other business discussed in Wednesday's
meeting included the new law requiring tape recordings of closed
sessions. These tapes will be locked in a fireproof safe in the
superintendent's office and must be maintained for 18 months. The
only people authorized to access these tapes would be judges in case
a dispute arose regarding business discussed in these closed
meetings.
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The ISAT scores were reviewed, and
Superintendent Robert Kidd stated that no schools in Logan County
were on the "bad list" with the Illinois State Board of Education.
Jefferson School had previously been a concern for officials in our
district, but the Jefferson scores actually went up. The principals
will be doing school improvement planning and will use these scores
and other information to aid in their planning.
The budget was discussed, but
Superintendent Kidd had not yet received final numbers from the
state office, so he couldn't promise much there.
While discussing amendments to board
policy, the board decided to accept sport physicals conducted by a
nurse practitioner instead of a doctor. This may be good news for
parents, since the nurse practitioners at Family Medical Center are
easier to get appointments with than doctors.
The board discussed making some
amendments for student safety, as well. They would like to upgrade
the background check they require for all new staff members who will
be working directly with the children. The state police have warned
that the policy the board had been using, background check by name
and Social Security number, is virtually useless given the trend
toward changing identities to get a fresh start. The newest
standards require fingerprint checks on all new employees, including
substitutes and student teachers.
A recommendation to reimburse teacher's
assistants for any courses they have to take to meet the more
stringent certification requirements of the "No Child Left Behind"
policy was approved across the board, as was a request to raise the
pay for substitutes, which will bring District 27 up to what the
other districts in the area are already paying.
The board
also decided to move the meetings to the new Central School instead
of using the current location at Northwest.
[Ruth Halpin]
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