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Chester BOE establishes curriculum committee

Posted October 17, 2015 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

As part of last week's regular meeting, the Chester District 139 Board of Education announced the establishment of a special curriculum/scheduling committee.

The eight-person committee will consist of board members Troy Clendenin and Debi Caraway, along with principals Tim Lochhead (Chester Grade School) and Dr. Sarah Gass (Chester High School), Curriculum Director Shirley Stegmann and three teachers - one each from elementary (K-4th), junior high (5th-8th) and high school grades.

Gass told the Herald Tribune on Saturday that the names of the teachers have not yet been released.

During a follow-up interview last Friday, Interim Superintendent Bill Riley told the Herald Tribune that the committee will begin meeting immediately and will report its findings in April for implementation in the 2016-17 school year.

"The reason for doing a committee is you don't change (curriculum) for just one year," Riley said. "There's some growing pains and giving it a year helps with that."

The committee wasn't the only significant development to come out of the meeting, as the board met for about an hour in executive session with its attorney, Barney Mundorf, to discuss "pending litigation."

"I cannot tell you what was discussed in there," Riley said. "They came out of executive session and there was no action, but by consensus - with nobody dissenting - was to enter an agenda item on the next regular board meeting docket that would say something to the effect of 'consider recognizing the student Diversity Alliance club at Chester High School.'"

Riley said the exact wording of the agenda item's description is not yet set in stone. Diversity Alliance is the proposed LGBT support group at Chester High School that has been founded by Ashley Wagner.

"Barney the lawyer is going to send me a specific way of wording it, so whichever side doesn't get their way, that I don't get sued," he said. "It's one of those things where the lawyer will determine the wording."

Next month's board meeting is scheduled for Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. The board will have a hearing, scheduled for 6:40 p.m., prior to the meeting to hear any testimony - for or against - on a tuition waiver for students of district personnel living out-of-district.

"It's not etched in stone," Riley said of the waiver. "It won't be until November and even then, the state school board has to approve it."

The waiver idea was brought to the board during its August session by Chester teachers Amanda Middendorf and Lindsey Hargis, who both have children living out-of-district. Riley said if the waiver is approved, the affected children would also be eligible for athletics in the district.

"Really, (the board members) are all in favor of applying for it," he said.

The hearing is part of the multi-step process in applying for the waiver, which Riley said would be for a five-year period if approved and all employees - including part-time - would be eligible.

"The grade school teachers are very excited about this because it allows them to bring their kids here and not have a sitter or make other arrangements," he said.

The board did table an agenda item relating to approving district access guidelines to FOBs. The Chester Fire Department has previously asked to have a FOB available in each of its trucks, but the board has concerns about security.

"What's your guarantee that you have enough oversight on it?" Riley said.

Principals' Reports

Lochhead reported the following to the Board of Education:

• Career Day held September 25

• Focus Monitoring Workshop on September 29

• Marching Band participated in Homecoming Parade on October 2

• Science rooms construction meeting held October 5

• Faculty meeting on October 6

• Anti-Bullying meeting on October 6

• Right Track Truancy on October 6

• PTS meeting on October 13

• Anti-Bullying presentation for parents on October 14

• Great American Shakeout on October 15

• Chef at CGS on October 20

Gass reported the following to the Board of Education:

• Fire alarm drills

• Math PLC meeting

• Homecoming report

• Nuclear engineering presentation in Mr. Jones's Classroom

• Architect meeting for Science classrooms

• CEO Program

• CRDC

• Parking lot safety

• Leadership Breakfast nominees - Noah Franklin and Lucas Doiron

• Right Track Truancy meting

• Principals' conference call

• Into the Woods auditions took place October 12

• PSAT Testing October 14

• Severe Weather/Earthquake drill October 15

• Picture retakes October 28

• Parent Teacher conferences October 29 (scheduled) and October 30 (walk-ins)

Roundup

The Board approved the district bills in the amount of $417,545.53 and the district payroll in the amount of $410,133.62.

A change order from Brown Electric for the security system at the grade school in the amount of $104,180.00 was ratified by the Board of Education.

The Board approved an amended Letter of Understanding with Shannon Glaser for the round trip transportation of a student to the PEP program, not to exceed two round trips per day.

The Board approved the change order from Geissler Roofing in the amount of $5,000 for gutter replacement at the grade school.

The change order from Brown Electric was approved for emergency lights for the grade school conference room and lobby at an approximate amount of $595.

The Board approved the change order from MC Electric for additional heat detectors for the fire alarm system at the high school in the amount of $1,525.

The change order from Rapids Foodservice Contract and Design was approved by the Board in the amount of $1,370 for design and piping for exhaust of hydrovection oven and additional shelving for continental refrigerator.

The Board accepted the bid from Perandoe Educational Program in the amount of $25 each ($250 total) for the old grade school cafeteria tables.

The Board approved the high school course name and description change from Study Skills to Transitions Skills.

The Reciprocal Reporting Agreement was approved by the Board of Education for the 2015-16 school year and requested both interim superintendents to sign the agreement.

The request of the Chester Volleyball Club for use of Juergens Gym on Sunday evenings beginning October 25, 2015 - April 24, 2016 from 6-8 p.m. was approved. The Board reiterated that school activities take precedence over these dates and times and the request is, as stated, for use of Juergens Gym only.

The Board approved Steve Schwartz as high school boys' basketball volunteer coach for the 2015-16 school year.

Jeff Hammel was approved as high school boys' basketball volunteer coach for the 2015-16 school year.

The Board approved Boyd Miles as grade school boys' basketball volunteer coach for the 2015-16 school year.

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