Unit #40 Board Reviews Plans for Coming Year

Effingham Unit #40 school board members Monday heard ideas from Superintendent Mark Doan regarding the coming school year.

Those ideas included: a five-day classroom week...a school day of roughly 8am to 3pm...no remote learning unless directed by the Illinois State Board of Education...the same cleaning regimen as this past school year...finals will be given...mentors and similar individuals will be allowed back in the school buildings.

Those were just proposals; nothing will be finalized until the State gives its guidelines, which is expected to occur in early July. In the meantime, Unit 40 shared its feelings on how things should proceed with the State this past week.

Here's a statement from Unit #40, issued at the meeting;

"Effingham Unit #40 looks forward to a more normal school year in 2021-22. The District shared its strong opinions with the Illinois Department of Public Health and Illinois State Board of Education staff last week. Unit #40 anticipates receiving updated ISBE COVID guidelines in early July. These guidelines can then be utilized to help shape Unit #40 policies moving forward. At this time, Unit #40 is not prepared to adopt specific COVID policies for the upcoming school year.

The District hopes to see that the new parameters will provide flexibility to school districts with low COVID positive case activity (like Unit #40). The District's goal continues to be to provide all of our students the best educational experience possible in a safe environment."

Doan said no one in the conference call with the State was pushing masks, saying that if a student or their parents wants them to wear a mask, that's another matter. He also said that the Effingham County Health Department quarantines students, not Unit #40, saying, "We are not the vaccination police."

The Board also fleshed out its superintendent search plans, formally voting to secure the services of Educational Leadership Solutions to assist the school board with the search at a cost of $10,600. One aspect of the search will be the development of a survey with subgroups including teachers, support staff, parents and other community members, and perhaps students. Board member Jill Wendling suggested seeking out those who have had students in Unit #40 and have moved their students to other schools or to home schooling. Board members said they want good participation in filling out the surveys, saying the search is going to be heavily data-driven. 

Board members are aiming at having the next superintendent selected in October.

The Board contracted with Entec Services for preventive maintenance work on district buildings and awarded bids for dairy and bakery products. Also approved were bids for the sale of six school buses, some to Hutsonville and some to St. Elmo, and the sale of one bus outright on which no bids were received.

Board members heard from Curriculum Director Michelle Beck on the consolidated district plan, something that is required of any district receiving Federal funds. Also approved was an amended budget for the balance of the fiscal year.

Board President Robin Klosterman spoke to the matter of library budgets, which she feels are low. Klosterman noted the District doesn't have a qualified librarian, which she said isn't appropriate for a district the size of Unit #40. She'd also like consideration of increased funding for existing libraries, and a library in each district instructional building.

In personnel matters, the Unit #40 Board employed Alex Wall as a custodian at the junior high school, Denice Tarin an elementary teacher at South Side, Michelle Jeffries as a cafeteria monitor at South Side, and Abbey Meinhart for work in Special Education at South Side beginning in January. The Board approved a transfer of Rebekah Dial to a five-hour cook position at the high school, approved a leave of absence for Marisa Ruffner, and accepted the retirement of Denise Anderson as Director of Food Services for the district.

The Board also heard from a local resident who voiced allegations against a Unit #40 staff member.