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Cole went over a spreadsheet on
the final cost estimations for the project. He said the estimates
are updated daily and he would continue to give the board copies of
the cost projections. A cost of $25,000 was included that will be
incurred to fill in the hole left after the removal of an original
foundation on the site.
Apparently, the original high
school's foundation was merely covered up when the last school was
built. It has now been removed, and the new school will be built on
the same site with a new foundation. Coles said that so far
everything is right on budget for the junior high project.
The board also spent a great
deal of time discussing and deciding upon a few optional purchases
for the new building, such as a stage area for productions, complete
with the lighting, sound systems, curtains and backdrops like the
board purchased for Central School. Other options were the number of
basketball hoops and bleachers to be installed in the gym, the type
of conduit for lighting and electrical work, and different types of
fire sprinkler systems for the classrooms.
The board also had a
presentation from district librarian Elaine Knight on the "Live and
Learn" state library grants, which pay up to 75 cents per student in
the district. Knight discussed the ways the library supports
classroom education by providing additional books and resources to
the teachers to complement or supplement the curriculum. She said
last year's grant money was used to purchase many books from the
recommended reading lists to correspond with the new reading
textbooks in all six grades.
This year Knight hopes to use
the money to upgrade the computer systems in the library for ease in
finding books and keeping track of which books are in the library.
The current program is DOS-based and is very cumbersome, but a new
system has been developed using Windows XP.
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this article]
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District Superintendent Robert
Kidd reported on an upcoming meeting in Springfield for the Abe
Lincoln Governing Committee and expressed a desire to host an
upcoming fall dinner meeting for this group. He also discussed a
donation from the Kiwanis Club, a book review published by Knight, a
request for information and a report from Marsha Dallas, the
district's half-time curriculum coordinator.
Board Scholar students were
announced prior to the signing of certificates. Qualifying students
are in seventh and eighth grade and earned A's in all classes,
including physical education and band. Only about 10 students earned
this honor for this grading period. Their names will be released
after they receive their awards.
The board accepted the
resignation of two current coaches. Donnie Aeilts as head girls
track coach and Kitty Logan as assistant girls basketball coach.
Jan Malerich will replace Logan
as assistant girls basketball coach for the rest of the season.
Marianne Hays has also been
hired as a half-time LD teacher at Jefferson School for the rest of
this year.
A leave of absence was approved
for Lisa Cook.
Other items discussed in the
meeting were an estimated tax levy, which cannot be done accurately
yet because some final figures are still outstanding.
Health-Life Safety inspections
of the school buildings and board policy changes were also
discussed. Proposed policy changes include the mandatory taping of
closed sessions, banning child sex offenders from serving on the
board and policies based on the No Child Left Behind Act.
The
board adjourned to closed session to discuss a student disciplinary
action and the appointment, employment or dismissal of an employee.
[Ruth Halpin]
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