North Greene dealing with Health, Life Safety violations

By Editor | December 28, 2022 |

By Carmen Ensinger

North Greene Superintendent Mark Scott informed the board at the Dec. 21 school board meeting that the district had a visit from the Regional Office of Education (ROE) making their yearly rounds to look for Health, Life Safety violations. The ROE was very thorough this year
“I think this is the lengthiest list of violations we have ever received from them,” Scott said. “Usually, it is about two pages long and this one is five or six pages long.”
While some of the violations were more insignificant, such as windows covered up with decorations, there were some violations that are going to cost the district some serious cash.
“One of those violations is in our remodeled band rooms,” Scott said. “The risers face one way and the fire alarm strobe lights are on the opposite wall. They are required to be within the line of sight of the students.”
The second major violation has to do with the Pre-K shed at the elementary school in Roodhouse.
“The Pre-K shed that we put up around five years ago, they say, is too close to the elementary school,” Scott said. “We either need to add fire suppression to it or move it. It needs to be 30 feet from the elementary and it is only 18 feet. My question is, they do this report and inspection every year so why did it take five years for it to pop up.”
Scott said he inquired about the early childhood construction grant that the district applied for a couple of months ago.
“They said the money would be released in two waves – one in November and one in February,” Scott said. “I sent them an email the other day and immediately got a response back. They said it would be sometime in January when they notify the applicants. The awardees will be notified first and those who did not receive the grant would be notified shortly after.”
Scott gave an update on Egyptian Trust, the insurance consortium the district is a part of. This summer the district had entertained the idea of withdrawing from the trust. However, the early withdrawal penalties were too steep.
“The financials as far as the withdrawal penalty are getting better,” Scott said. “They are trending down. In July it would have cost us $189,000 to withdraw. In August it was $261,000. September it was down to $142,000 and October it was down to $126,000. So it has gone from over $250,000 to $126,000. But, it is still too significant to make a withdrawal in my opinion, given that we pay about $820,000 a year in premiums.”
Greene County Economic Development Group members had contacted Scott about using district E-rate funds to help them secure the $1.1 million needed to secure Frontier Communication to provide fiber optic internet to the entire county.
“They are trying to solicit school districts to help fund this program using our E-rate funds,” Scott said. “Somehow, in Calhoun, the district did use some of their E-rate funds, but our consultant is saying there is no way because those funds are for public libraries and public schools.”
Carrollton School Board members came to the same conclusion earlier in the week after talking with their consultant.
“I think it is a good thing they are trying to do to bring fiber optic to the entire county, but I don’t see where the school district can use our funds to send internet into people’s homes,” Scott said. “E-rate is for public entities – we can’t do anything out in the community. We will do whatever we can to help in other ways, however.”
The district applied for a $50,000 matching construction grant and that grant has been approved. Scott said he is in the process of writing a cafeteria equipment grant which is due in January.
“With this grant, we would like to put in an actual salad bar separate from the serving line at the high school,” Scott said. “We could also use some new steam tables and a warmer table for the elementary. All you can do is write for it. If you are awarded it, they usually give you around $40,000.”
In a bit of good news for the district, Scott announced that senior Jacob Haskell has been named an Illinois State Scholar.
“This award is pretty much based on a combination of their college entrance exam scores, their high school achievement tests and their potential for success in college,” Scott said. “It’s a good highlight for their academic records. It is based on their SAT scores, class size, class ranking and grade point average.”
Following a closed session, the board approved the following:
■ Employing Brad Staats as the Director of Transportation.
■ Increasing the salaries for non-bargaining unit personnel at Bright Futures including all parent educators and the secretary. Amanda Goben received a three-percent increase while Kelsey Arnold, Toni Booth, Marissa Barber and Dennis Savage all received a two percent increase.
■ Employing Tiffany Rogers as Pom Pom coach for the 2022-23 school year.