SE Illinois News

Pope County Community Unit School District 1 Board met August 17. 

Here is the minutes as provided by the board:

Meeting was called to order by President Hansen at 7:00 p.m. The following members

were present: Schuchardt, Wallace, Coen, Simmons, Clay, Hogg, and Hansen.

A motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Hogg to approve the agenda. All

members present voted yea.

A motion was made by Clay and seconded by Simmons to approve the consent agenda

including the following items; 1) Approve Minutes of Board Meeting on 7/20/17 and

8/1/17; 2) Approve Closed Session Minutes; 3) Approve Bills for Payment; 4) Accept

Financial Reports; and 5) Accept resignations from Candice Potts as Jr. High Science

Teacher and Jr. High Student Council Sponsor, Alice Shores as bus driver, Robbie

Reeder as 1⁄2 -time Title I Aide, and Jessi Hall as Jr. High Softball coach for the 2017

season. Roll call vote: all yeas.

Under Administrative reports, Mr. Blankenship reported the following: 1) Softball and

baseball seasons are underway. They played their first game Tuesday night when they

went to Hardin Co. They played Eldorado earlier tonight for their first home game; 2)

Cross Country try-outs will take place on August 18th; 3) Pre-School Fall Screenings will

take place on September 29th; 4) We have received some donations of school supplies

from area churches, organizations, and individuals; 5) The janitors did a good job

preparing the building for start of school; 6) Mrs. Reed, representing our school, with

collaboration from the Illinois Extension and 4H applied for a grant for trees to be

planted on the playground. Mrs. Reed has done an excellent job partnering with these

groups to write the grant. It has been submitted and we were awarded the grant. There

will be 3 pods planted, Pre-K end, middle of the school, and Jr. High end, which will be

planted in October; 7) We will also be taking part in a recycle program involving bottle

caps and lids. The bottle caps and lids will be collected and eventually exchanged for a

bench. We need 400 pounds to get a bench. The bench will be used as part of the

playground project; and 8) Current enrollment is 388.

Mr. Fritch reported the following: 1) New Curriculum: Accounting II, Computer

Applications, Biology II, Social Sciences, Ag Business Management, Welding III; 2)

Cross Country begins August 30th @ Murphysboro Invitational; 3) Boys Fall Baseball

begins September 2nd @ Century; and 4) Enrollment: Freshmen- 36 Sophomore- 42

Junior- 32 Senior- 30 TOTAL- 140. I would like to thank custodians Kevin Jennings and

Mike Smith for their work in getting the school ready for the first day of attendance. I

would also like to thank our student worker Brandon Braden and Kyle Kunath for his

work as well.

Mr. Bleyer reported the following: 1) As of today, there is still a standoff on funding of

general state aid to school districts. The state did not make its’ first general state aid

payment for this fiscal year and doubtful we will receive the second payment. The

Senate has overridden the Governor’s veto and waiting on the House to vote. If the

House votes to override the veto as well, then the State will start releasing money to the

schools; 2) The school year is off and running. We had two great days to reunite and

professionally develop; 3) After a long summer of constant work, I want to thank all the

custodians and student-workers for their excellent work on the buildings and grounds;

and 4) I also want to thank all of the office staff for their tedious efforts of preparing the

District for another school year. At this time Dr. Bleyer presented a PowerPoint

presentation on the extracurricular drug testing. He discussed the process of the

testing, what drugs would be tested for, and the policy already in place in the student

handbooks for the testing. The Board had several questions for discussion and Dr.

Bleyer suggested having an informational meeting open to the public to get feedback.

Information on the meeting will be sent home with each student, posted in the paper

and on the school websites. The plan is to have the informational meeting, get

feedback, write the procedures for the testing, get Board approval, and start

administering the tests.

A motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons to enter closed session for

the purpose of personnel employment. Roll call vote: all yeas. Board entered closed

session at 8:06 p.m.

A motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Coen to return to regular session. Roll

call vote: all yeas. Board returned at 8:27 p.m.

Dr. Bleyer distributed copies of the Tentative 2017-18 Budget and pointed out key areas

of importance. The Board discussed the budget and Dr. Bleyer explained we are in

good shape for now but our future depends on what happens with state funding. The

tentative budget will be on display in the Unit Office for 30 days for public viewing.

A motion to set the date for the Public Hearing for adoption of FY 2017-2018 Budget to

September 19, 2017 at 6:45 p.m. was made by Schuchardt and seconded by Simmons.

Roll call vote: all yeas.

A motion to approve the Lease Agreement with Southern Seven Head Start was made

by Wallace and seconded by Coen. Roll call vote: all yeas.

Motion to hire Sarah Simmons, Amber Presser, Amanda Rawlings, Tiffany Jones, and

Kathryn Jolly as individual aides for the 2017-18 SY was made by Schuchardt and

seconded by Clay. Roll call vote: all yeas.

Motion to hire Kelly Hille as the Junior High Softball Coach was made by Simmons and

seconded by Schuchardt. Roll call vote: all yeas.

Motion to hire Kelly King as Junior High Boys Basketball Coach was made by Clay and

seconded by Schuchardt. Roll call vote: all yeas.

Motion to approve Misty Franklin as a sub bus driver pending proper certification was

made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all yeas.

Motion to post for full-time bus driver was made by Simmons and seconded by Hogg.

Roll call vote: all yeas.

Motion to post for half-time Title I Aide was made by Hogg and seconded by Simmons.

Roll call vote: all yeas.

Motion to post for Jr. High Student Council Sponsor was made by Schuchardt and

seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all yeas.

Motion to approve Chris Walker and James Lewis for volunteer assistant coaches for

the 2017-18 high school baseball seasons was made by Clay and seconded by

Schuchardt. Roll call vote: all yeas.

Motion to approve Marcie Vickery and Cortney Vickery for volunteer assistant coaches

for the 2017 Junior High softball season was made by Simmons and seconded by

Wallace. Roll call vote: all yeas.

Under Old Business, Dr. Bleyer gave an update on the softball complex and stated a

contractor and architect will be here Wednesday to provide an estimate on finishing the

project. The new light pole has been purchased and delivered, just waiting on it to be

set.

Under Other School Business, Dr. Bleyer stated Tapco will be here Monday to give an

estimate on new school zone caution lights. The new lights will be solar powered and

wifi capable. The existing lights are getting old and not working properly. The east light

on the hill has low flow electric and will not work most of the time. Dr. Bleyer also added

he has contacted IDOT to clear the tree limps around the light on the west end.

With no further business, a motion to adjourn the meeting until the next scheduled

meeting to be held on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the J.H. Hobbs

Memorial Library with a Public Hearing at 6:45 pm was made by Wallace and seconded

by Simmons. All members present voted yea. Meeting adjourned at 8:49 p.m.

http://www.popek12.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_2554242/File/Board%20Minutes/Aug%2017%202017.pdf