Altamont School Board Schedules Community Meeting on Budget Matters

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Published on April 12 2016 11:07 am
Last Updated on April 12 2016 11:07 am
Written by Greg Sapp

The Altamont school board has scheduled a community meeting to discuss budget issues.

The meeting will take place at 7pm on Monday, April 25 in Altamont Community High School Gym. School officials say the school district budget and state budget matters will be addressed.

Altamont Superintendent Jeff Fritchtnitch shared the current state of the district Monday and shared about his conversations with St. Rep. John Cavaletto and St. Sen. Dale Righter. 

Fritchtnitch shared the need for the community, parents, students, Board members and any others to contact their legislators to encourage approval of a K-12 budget for the coming fiscal year. He also plans to share about the school funding formula.

Fritchtnitch has shared that the Altamont district and others in Illinois might be forced to delay the opening of schools this fall until there is a state funding agreement in place.

Altamont board members approved fee increases for the coming school year. New course fees at the high school are $20 for Art, Science and Biology, FACS, Ag, and Industrial Tech; $50 for Okaw Vocational; and $10 for Social Studies and English. The grade school Art fee was increased to $15, and a high school parking fee of $20/year was added. Lunch fees at the high school were increased to $3 for students and $3.50 for adults, and lunch fees at the grade school were increased to $2.25 for students and $3.50 for adults. The milk fee was increased to 75 cents.

The Board upheld the suspension of a student and expelled a student for gross misconduct through the first semester of the coming school year; and approved use of the funds donated by the Coslet estate to support District athletics in the coming school year if there is no State budget.

The Altamont board approved the first reading of Board policy updates; approved maternity leave requests for Ashley Meers and Stacey Zerrusen; approved a leave without pay for Kris Ledbetter; approved Glass and Shuffett to conduct an annual audit for not more than $11,000; and approved Ricoh as copier supplier for the next five years.

Also Monday, the Altamont board:

--adopted a resolution to honorably reduce a groundskeeping position to a maximum of 20 hours per week

--shared that 8th grade promotion is set for 2pm on Friday, May 20 in the grade school gym including presentation of the Teacher of the Year Award and that high school graduation will take place at 7pm on Saturday, May 21 in the ACHS Gym. Baccalaureate is set for Sunday, May 15.

--heard that work continues to communicate with parents in regard to students whose academic performance is in the failing range

--learned that the high school band has cleared the first hurdle for a performance in Washington, DC in the 2017 Memorial Day Parade. If Altamont is accepted, the trip would probably replace the every-fourth-year traditional trip to Disney World

--heard from a parent regarding guidelines for playground surfacing and requirements she researched from the State Board of Education and Regional Office of Education