Mt. Pulaski School Board renews agreement with Lincolnland Technical Education Center

 

[February 22, 2024]    The Mt. Pulaski CUSD 23 Board of Education called their regular meeting to order on February 21, 2024, at 6 PM in the MPGS Learning Center, all school board members were in attendance except for Doug Martin.

The first item on the agenda was to enter Executive Session to discuss evaluation of staff, employment and the purchase of property. The Board returned to open session at 7 PM.

No attendees requested Public Recognition.

The first action item was the approval of the Consent Agenda. In addition to the minutes from the regular January meeting, the Consent Agenda included the minutes from special Board meetings on February 1st and 7th. Superintendent Lamkey reported that there were no questions to the district office concerning bills and that the sales tax revenues totaled $32,415. The Board approved the Consent Agenda 6-0.

Under Reports, Mr. Lamkey first discussed the progress on the MPHS Multipurpose Floor. All of the wood floor and debris has been removed and it is now functional for the play practice and baseball practice. The flooring project will resume in April and should be done prior to the end of school. Next, Mr. Lamkey explained that the IEPA extended the timeline to complete the fill project at Veterans Park. Mr. Lamkey is in contact with two local excavating companies and both will be able to complete the task in March, weather permitting. ROE 17 Superintendent of schools, Mark Jontry, announced that there has been some positive movement on fulfilling the construction grants promised to our district in 2006. If this comes to fruition, the district would receive over $800,000 in grant money for the construction of the 2006 MPHS addition. Mr.
Lamkey also took questions from the Board concerning potential student dropoff changes at the Grade School. There has been some concern that the current plan is cumbersome and could be more safely constructed. In the last item, Mr.Lamkey reviewed a press release prepared by ZeroEye that informs the public of our new surveillance tools. After a few questions, the Board gave approval for the letter to be released.

In New Business, the Board approved renewing the intergovernmental agreement with the Lincolnland Regional Delivery System which operates LTEC, our district's technical school program. We currently have six students attending these offered programs. The measure was approved 6-0.

Next, the Board discussed parent and coach communications. There have been incidents in the last two years where parents have incorrectly addressed members of the district coaching staff during game responsibilities. The Athletic Handbook clearly states that parents are not to contact the coach during the game, but rather wait 24 hours to speak or schedule a conference. The reason for this handbook rule is to avoid distracting a coach while they are responsible for supervision of students and also to allow emotions to calm down so good discussion can take place. The Athletic Handbook is set to be reviewed this spring, allowing Mr. Kavelman the opportunity to review and recommend changes for next year.

The Personnel Report was approved 6-0 containing 4 hires and 1 resignation

● Hires

○ Jamie Anderson as MPGS Track Coach
○ Mindy Switzer as MPGS Track Coach
○ Isaiah Moore as MPHS Night Custodian

● Resignations

○ Ryan Deibert as MPHS Golf Coach

The meeting adjourned at 7:39 PM. The next regular meeting will be held at 6:00 PM on March 18, 2024.

[Sarah Farris]