Volunteers are needed for Tour de Donut

by Olivia Ervin

The Staunton CUSD #6 Board of Education took action during the regular monthly meeting on Monday, June 20, to fill positions within the school district.

Three administration positions were filled. The board approved Ryan Pirok as a junior high school administrator. William Carpenter was approved as interim junior high principal/principal mentor for the district administrators. Michael Kelly was hired as a part-time educational services administrator.

The following jobs were also filled:

• Dirk Muffler was approved as a volunteer junior high boys' basketball coach;

• Approved Douglas Cruthis as a junior high school special education resource teacher;

• Approved Patricia Boomer as an elementary MTSS/RtI paraprofessional;

• Approved Sandra Meyer as a junior high special education paraprofessional;

• Approved Elizabeth Sievers as a high school special education paraprofessional. 

Resignations were also accepted from Erin Geringer as head golf coach, effective immediately, and from Corrie Allan as the junior high student council sponsor. Geringer was then hired as the assistant high school golf coach.

In other business, the board conducted a public hearing regarding the amended budget for fiscal year 2022. The budget was accepted.

The board of education recognized the custodial staff and the transportation department for going above and beyond during the pandemic years. Custodial staff was assigned new and extended tasks, including cleaning common areas more often and adding extra sanitation measures. Dr. Jain commended them, stating that when the building was clean and safe, the students had a better learning experience.

The transportation staff was commended for their ability to get students to and from school safely, as well as being a friendly face for the students to see first thing in the morning, and last thing before going home. The transportation staff then thanked the board for the new busses recently added to the fleet.

The administrators' reports were brief. Elementary Principal Brett Allen (Allen doesn't assume superintendent duties until July 1) announced that Brianna Kruse, a recent 8th grade graduate, won the Illinois State FFA speech competition. She will compete in the national event in November.

Interim Superintendent Michael Kelly noted that summer school attendance was in line with the number of students who needed credit recovery.

During the financial report the board approved the amended budget for fiscal year 2022, and held a discussion regarding property, liability, auto insurance, workman's compensation insurance, and treasury bond. The district received bids from nine agencies and approved numbers from Lee O'Keefe. For the property, liability, and auto insurance package, the board accepted a three-year commitment bid from Prairie State Co-op for $140,226; Workman's Compensation will come from Starstone at $32,735; and the treasury bond will be through Liberty Mutual for $975.

Kelly then gave an update on food service information for the 2022-2023 school year. Through the pandemic, all students, regardless of economic standing, received free breakfast and lunch. The grant money for that program has expired, so starting in the fall of 2022, breakfast and lunch will no longer be free. The old system for determining a student's need for financial support in the form of free or reduced price lunches will be used during registration for the 2022-2023 school year.

The final exam exemption policy was the next topic of discussion. The committee decided that all students would take semester exams except second semester seniors. The two final days of each semester will be devoted to testing, and time allotted for each exam will be extended. Test format will be up to the teachers, with the only requirements being that the test be cumulative and count for 20 percent of the semester grade.

School board member Clayton Green objected that 20 percent of the grade seemed excessively high. In his experience, some straight-A students who come to class, participate, and do the homework are not successful when taking tests. He felt it would be unfair for them to receive a poor grade after doing everything they were supposed to do. Allen reassured Green that proper accommodations would be made for students with test anxiety.

Dr. Poonam Jain and Brad Best expressed appreciation for the new policy, voicing their opinions that testing is good for students. Kelly concurred, stating that training students to take tests is important because testing is a part of life, regardless of whether the student is college-bound or not.

Allen then announced that the district would like to return to the 10-point grading scale, rather than the 7-point scale currently in use. The implementation of the 7-point scale was done in an effort to reduce the number of valedictorians each class produced. With the use of the Latin graduation system, the number of valedictorians is no longer relevant, and the return to the 10-point scale would give consistency in grading across the district and make Staunton students more competitive for scholarship opportunities.

Jain expressed concern for grade inflation with the return to the 10-point scale, but Allen reassured her that the Latin grading system would not have that kind of impact.

Green asked if the students who had been under the 7-point scale would age out of the system and the freshmen would be the only students using the 10-point scale. Allen said that all students would be graded using the 10-point scale because some classrooms have freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors present in a single period.

In another matter of new business, Kelly announced that students with IEPs will experience positive educational change. Rather than services ending upon their 22nd birthday, students would be eligible for services through the end of the school year in which they turned 22. For example, a student who turns 22 in October will continue to receive services through May.

It was noted that the fee schedule for school registration would now include a charge of $10 per credit hour for students taking dual credit courses with Lewis and Clark Community College, unless that student receives free or reduced price lunches.

And the final order of new business was a discussion regarding possibly co-oping with Bunker Hill schools for a boys volleyball team and boys and girls tennis teams.

Those present at the meeting were school board members Dr. Poonam Jain, Dori Rhodes, Clayton Green, David Lamore, and Brad Best. Stefanie Legendre and John Renner were absent. Also present were Interim Superintendent Michael Kelly, Elementary Principal Brett Allen, members of the custodial and transportation departments, and members of the community.