Published on April 13, 2026 7:15 pm
Last Updated on April 13, 2026 7:15 pm
The Effingham Unit #40 Board of Education purchased French, Science and Agri Business instructional materials Monday. The total price is $478,367.
Agri Business is a new course and will be taught at the 11th and 12th grade levels. The Science textbooks will be for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. The French textbooks will be for grades 9-12.
The Board also approved a five-year program known as ParentSquare. The purchase price is $85,799.25. ParentSquare is a replacement for Edlio, which hasn’t provided the two-way communications between parents and schools the District was seeking. Superintendent Andy Johnson said after researching two-way communication products, ParentSquare is the product they want to move forward with district-wide preschool through 12th grade for both academic and extra-curriculars. Johnson added that in addition to increasing school-home communication and decreasing the number of products a parent must have, ParentSquare is a cost savings of $26,176.25 over this 5-year period of time.
The District has checked with six districts elsewhere in Illinois, and all give positive reviews relating an ease of transition and training and easy accessibility for parents. They are also following other districts, including Teutopolis, who are transitioning and no negatives have been heard.
Resources will include the ParentSquare website, a three-minute demo, and an Intro two-minute video.
Johnson also shared with the Board facility and transportation items. One item was a bus purchasing rotation with up to seven buses and a five-year depreciation. Another was whether to purchase the portable classrooms being utilized at South Side School rather than three-year lease agreement now in place. A third is resurfacing the parking lot at Effingham High School and how that could be financed. Board members offered no input on those items.
The Board approved registration fees for the 2026-2027 school year. The only change is a 10-cent increase in breakfast and lunch prices for students and adults. Also approved was membership for another year in the IESA, and renewal of catastrophic and and voluntary student accident insurance.
Johnson said district enrollment is 2,296…four more than the previous month, but 38 fewer than the previous year.
Board members Chad Thompson and Desha Wear were not present for Monday’s meeting.
