October’s Board of Education meeting
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By Taylor Wren
Thursday, Oct. 21, the Board of Education met for their monthly meeting virtually in the district board room. While virtual meetings may be the safest thing to do right now or just the easiest, it’s clear the community does not like this route. The past two months, virtual meetings have been a point of frustration approached by public comments. Another frustration pointed out was getting masks off the children of District 100. Due to state guidelines, however, this is something that cannot be changed currently. It is a goal for the district to return to a sense of normalcy when conditions allow that.
Several discussion items were approached in depth that evening. Dave Kanne spoke about the athletic evaluation process and how they are working in ways to better our athletic departments even more starting with the student athletes and their needs in correspondence with a coach and what they hope to take away from being a student athlete. All the students agreed that the key factor with effective athletes is a great coach-athlete relationship.
The school’s attorney, Brandon Wright, touched on a lot of issues revolving around COVID measures and different things the district is facing currently. He stated that the mask mandates and close contact regulations are rules we must follow. Currently, the state has put these into play and, by law, due to liability, they need to follow the rules.
“The state is a necessary party in any challenge,” said Wright. We are one of 145 districts with lawsuits against them. They are currently also keeping an eye on the Supreme Court cases involving violations of the first amendment with students and faculty. There are also legal issues regarding race and sexual harassment that were discussed. Different disciplinary topics were also touched on, one being that a child must have recess, 30 minutes a day. This is not something that can be taken away from a student as a form of discipline.
Kate Sievers gave a detailed presentation about the ESSER grants. She gave an explanation, along with the breakdown of each of the grants, and where we currently stand with them and the money left and what it was spent on.
All of the action items were approved during the meeting. Those items were as listed:
■ Resolution – Tax Levy
■ Substitute Pay Increase
■ Memo of Understanding for School Resource Officer
■ Reciprocal Reporting Agreement with Local Law Enforcement Entities
■ Board Policy – 7:270 – Administering Medicines to Students
■ Overnight Trip Date Change – Dance Team to New York
■ Fundraisers
•West Elementary
•Read-a-Thon.com – Fall 2021
•TJ’s Pizza Sales – Spring 2022
Substitute pay increase is something that was approved previously as well however, due to the demand for teachers, our need to be more competitive has called for another increase. Board Policy 7:270 in detail is regarding storing medicine for students which nurses and faculty have asked for.
Announcements:
■ Nov. 8-9 Parent/Teacher Conferences (Evenings)
■ Nov. 11 Veterans Day – No School
■ Nov. 12 No School
■ Nov. 18 Regular Board of Education Meeting – 6:15 p.m.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to protect the safety of Board members, staff, and the public, the public will not be permitted to physically attend the meeting.However, the public may attend and participate in the meeting via audio or video-conferencing.Due to the increasing metrics in the community and upon the recommendation of local officials, the Board may participate by audio or video conference without the physical presence of a quorum of the members due to the determination that an in-person meeting is not practical or prudent due to the current health emergency.For members of the public who wish to view the meeting, they may do so by clicking on this link:https://youtu.be/TFjUFLzPBcE. For members of the public who wish to address the Board during public comment at the meeting, they may do so by completing the form found at https://forms.gle/59Aqi5m1hrYr2Lab6 and calling 618-498-5561.” – Board of Education.
