Carrollton rehires technology company
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By Carmen Ensinger
Greene Prairie Press
After being tabled at last month’s school board meeting, board members reluctantly approved the outside technology contract from MMC Consulting.
The district was forced to hire outside help when their IT person left and they were unable to fill the position. Despite posting to fill the position, the district has had no applicants.
Newly seated board member Robert Bryant expressed concerns about the company.
“I’ve had quite a few teachers tell me we have a problem with this,” Bryant said. “They can’t get into something for two or three days until something is fixed. They can’t report on some of the things they need to because it doesn’t work properly.”
Bryant said if there was a person in-house, there wouldn’t be a two to three day wait.
“If we had a person sitting here who could take care of the problems instantly it would be better,” he said. “I wish we just had one person versus hiring an outside company.”
Bryant also asked if any other company had expressed an interest in the job. Superintendent Mark Halwachs said there was another company that was interested, but that they had never worked in a school before.
The board unanimously voted to hire MMC Consulting on a one year contract.
When it came time to rehire Board Secretary Gina Settles, Board President Jeff Krumwiede asked for a motion for her approval. However, Bryant pointed out that, according to the rules, the board is supposed to ask for nominations. It was asked if there were any other nominations and with there being none, Settles was unanimously approved.
The board approved an intergovernmental agreement with Lewis and Clark Community College.
“This is something we do annually and it entitles us to have the dual credit class at the high school,” Halwachs said. “Right now all we have is the dual credit English class that Mr. Caldwell teaches. This agreement spells out how the tuition is reimbursed. We reimburse the university and the students reimburses us.”
The board approved the high school student handbook. High School Principal Leslee Frazier explained about the handbook to the new board members.
The Illinois Principals Association sets up a model handbook which guarantees we are meeting all of the state policies at the high school and grade school,” Frazier said. “Most of the changes were at the high school level and it was only in the wording.”
Frazier said one of the biggest changes was in the hairstyles.
“You can’t force someone to change their hair because of their cultural background,” Frazier said. “Otherwise, the changes were all minor – nothing that is going to stand out.”
Also approved was the staff handbook, coaches handbook and the Hawk Code.
