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Representatives of the S.M. Wilson
company stated Central School should be completed by the time school
begins for the 2003-2004 year. The work is progressing well. The
floors in the main educational area of the building should be waxed
and finished during the first two weeks of June. The gym floor
should be delivered on about June 16 and should be installed
beginning July 1. The bleachers, which were already delivered on the
20 of May, will be ready for installation once the floor is
finished.
During Superintendent Kidd's report, he
discussed a request presented by board president Bruce Carmitchel
before a city council meeting of committees to consider squaring off
the corner at Union, Seventh and Pulaski streets. The city engineer
and street superintendent will review the intersection and report
their recommendations on this to the city council. While the
problems with the traffic at that corner are acknowledged, there may
be a problem with the storm drain at that corner if changes are
made.
The architect working on the junior
high plans says 95 percent of the structural drawings are completed.
The plumbing and electrical plans are also basically completed.
There was discussion by the board of getting a progress report on
the junior high written up and sent out to the taxpayers of the
district to keep all those paying for this well-informed of the
proposed timetable on the project. Placement of this item at the
public library was also seen as a way of dissemination the
information to the public. The possibility of a concept drawing of
the project being done and posted on the website was also discussed.
Demolition of the junior high is
expected to take a couple of weeks. The noise involved in this phase
was talked about in relation to the nearby funeral home. Steps will
be taken to ensure that funeral plans during that time are taken
into consideration when demolition occurs. This may be in about a
month. Plans to sell the gym floor from the junior high to Carroll
School for $10 were approved by vote, contingent upon Carroll
authorities deciding if they do want it.
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this article]
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Also during the superintendent's report
Dr. Kidd said that he is planning to ask the board next month to
make a loan from the working cash fund to the transportation fund so
that the year does not end with a negative balance there. This has
been necessitated by state being behind on their transportation fund
disbursements. The state owes the district $66,049.76, which
includes payments that should have been made through the end of
April.
The superintendent also stated that,
with Lois Lee, plans are being made with Lincoln College for
teacher's aides to earn associate degrees. This is needed to meet
requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act that these Title I
school aides be highly qualified. He believes this might encourage
some of them to go ahead and complete their bachelor's degree and be
fully certified, which would be of help to the district.
Concerning the 2002 year's incoming tax
money, the superintendent says the news is good. The tentative total
assessment for the district is $105,127,449, up from $100,403,505 in
2001. This happened while the tax rate decreased from 3.0370 percent
to 2.9723 percent for district taxpayers.
In other moves, the board voted to
approve hiring a teacher for the addition of an enhanced
kindergarten class for which state Title I funds will pay. This
provides for one smaller class in addition to larger ones for
students who need the extra attention. It was approved by vote to
eliminate one nurse's assistant position, which is no longer needed.
Approved, also, was the creation of a half-time curriculum
coordinator position to work on getting the curriculum in line with
ever-changing state standards.
Oberlander Communications of Peoria
gave the low bid to provide Central School with its new phone
system. The bid was $6,118 with the possibility of a total outlay of
$8,900, if the board decided to approve it, which would include a
phone in each classroom. Such phones would allow teachers to contact
parents of children and receive calls in a more convenient and
private setting. Besides this, there would be direct access to the
911 system from the classroom. This extra outlay was approved 5-2 by
the board.
Acceptance
of a bid to place a new kitchen exhaust fan in Northwest School also
passed. Work to bring certain electrical problems in the kitchen up
to code was included in this. There was also discussion of taking
bids for possible remodeling of the bathrooms at Northwest at some
future date.
[Keith
C. Wilkerson] |
