Entire District Of Staunton Invited To SHS Open Houses

By BRETT ALLEN

Staunton Jr. High students who had received an IESA Sportsmanship Pin during the 2023-2024 school year kicked off the board spotlight at the Monday, May 20, 2024 Board of Education meeting.

These students were recognized for the positive sportsmanship they exhibited during post regular season competitions. In addition, the board recognized Mike Kelly for his commitment and dedication to the Staunton School District for the past three years. Kelly is ending his time with the School District as this school year comes to close.

District Architect, Kevin Meyer, provided an update to the entire board regarding the current facility planning process that is taking place through the formation of a community engagement team. He shared that over the course of the last two months, the engagement team has been working diligently to review the current facilities, with a primary focus on the high school, as it is in the most need of maintenance repairs and upgrading.

The engagement team has worked with FGM architectural staff to develop various concepts and initiatives to address the current facility issues that include scenarios for demolishing current structures or remodeling certain buildings.

More importantly, the entire Staunton School District community is invited to attend two open houses at the high school to review ideas and provide feedback to the community engagement team. The open houses will take place on the following dates and times: Saturday, June 8, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.;

And Monday, June 10, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

To learn more about this process and to RSVP to an open house, please visit the following website: https://www.stauntonschools.org/page/bulldog-blueprint.

Board member, Clayton Green, provided an update in reference to Press Policy Update 114. The majority of recommended changes for this press update involve minor changes to language and legal references amongst various policies. This is primarily due to a new policy being recommended for adoption that prohibits discrimination and harassment and pending updates to Title IX regulations.

Superintendant Brett Allen noted that district office staff are working diligently to amend the current budget to be reflective of both finalized revenue and expenditures for the school year.Amending the budget ensures transparency the fiscal year closes and it provides accurate balances to begin work on the FY 2025 budget after July 1. The finalized amended budget will be presented at a public hearing at 6:15 p.m. on Monday, June 17.

Next, Allen shared that district administrators are currently exploring the possibility of purchasing and installing video scoreboards for the main gym and football field. In order to pay for these boards, a fundraising campaign would need to take place and at this time, conversations are just taking place. Should the boards become a reality, they could be a potential revenue source for athletic programming.

The District’s Educational Services Administrator, Steve Moore, updated the members on work items he has been completing, including the review and creation of various internal documents to help streamline operational services throughout the district.

Additonally, Moore shared that he has been conducting exit interviews with various staff members, and he is starting work on refining the Risk Management Plan for Staunton Schools.

Moore discussed his presentation at the most recent City Council meeting and shared that the council seemed supportive of recommendations that were provided through the work of the safe routes to school grant initiatives Additionally, he shared that a new sidewalk may be installed from the current soccer fields to the northwest corner of school district property by the City of Staunton.

For finances, the renewal of the District’s Treasurer’s Bond through Liberty Mutual for the 2024-2025 school year was approved with an annual premium of $1,300 and a bond amount of $2 million.

In reference to new business, the members conducted the first official reading of Press Plus Policy 114. Allen then reviewed the developmental process of the 2024-2025 Consolidated District Plan including the timeline, top academic areas of need, primary items for inclusion, and specific goals related to the title one grant. The plan was unanimously approved.

In order to maximize the utilization of title one grant dollars across all three schools within the district for the 2024-2025 school year, members approved title waivers for both Staunton Jr. High School and Staunton High School. This is related to their free-reduced lunch percentage falling slightly under the required percentage threshold.

Next, board members renewed ENGIE Resources LLC, as the school district’s energy supplier for a two-year period. Allen shared that the Staunton School District is part of the Illinois Energy Consortium Powered by Future Green and they provide member districts access to lower cost energy solutions by conducting a thorough RFP process.

Opaa! Food Management, Inc., was approved as Staunton’s Food Service Management Company for a five-year period. The school district conducted a request for proposal process following guidance and regulations issued by the Illinois State Board of Education and officially issued the RFP in Feb. of 2024.

After carefully reviewing the materials submitted by Opaa!, it was determined by a committee that they met all requirements outlined. In addition, a detailed plan has been developed to help increase the number of students accessing healthy breakfast and lunch options as we move into next school year.

The next item approved via recommendation from the district’s insurance committee, was a health insurance contract renewal with United Healthcare (UHC) and a renewal of dental, vision and group term life insurance with Principal. The renewal results in a 19 percent increase in health insurance costs and no rate increase for dental, vision and group term life.

The final item under new business was the approval of a resolution declaring surplus equipment that authorizes district administration to sell, trade-in, or dispose of the items listed. The District is planning to trade in a Kubota tractor and Toro zero-turn lawn mower then proceed to purchasing a new mower as well as selling an air compressor and concrete saw.

Upon returning to open session, resignations of the following were accepted: Taryn Markezich, high school counselor; Bill Augustine, school bus driver; Kelly Knight, one-on-one paraprofessional; Dewitt Blankenship, one-on-one paraprofessional; Ethan Booth, eighth grade boys basketball coach; Blake Peterson, high school assistant girls basketball coach; Victoria Anastasia Wilde, elementary resource teacher; and Claudia Puricelli, elementary teacher.

The members also accepted the advanced retirement requests for the following: Suellen Goebel, Dec. 2025; Tamra Johnston, May 2026; Troy Redfern, May 2026; and Sandra Meyer’s request to retire at the end of the current school year was also approved.

A FMLA request for Jodee Langer and an unpaid leave of absence for Pete Klein was also approved.

Under employment, the following individuals were approved for hire: Jennifer Cearlock, high school counselor; Monica Boyer, high school administrative assistant; Sara Johnson, elementary resource teacher; Ashley Hunsinger, elementary resource teacher; Jacquelin Anderson, elementary teacher; Erin West, elementary teacher; Sydney Brown, long-term substitute kindergarten teacher; Candace Carlen, one-on-one paraprofessional for summer school; Chandler McDaniel, assistant boys soccer coach; Spencer Laughlin, part-time summer maintenance staff; Austin Sherfy, part-time summer maintenance staff; also Jack Pritchett, Collin Gusewelle, and Nick Raaphael for full-time summer maintenance staff.

The next regularly scheduled meeting is Monday, June 17, 2024 at 6:30 p.m.