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Chester BOE tables conference discussion

Posted January 21, 2016 10:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

With pressure mounting to make a decision on which athletic conference its high school teams will participate in, the Chester District 139 Board of Education tabled that decision during Thursday's meeting.

The Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference and the Cahokia Conference have both extended formal invitations to Chester, with the SIRR also extending one to Red Bud.

Interim Superintendent Rick Goodman told media after the meeting that the district has a March 1 deadline to inform the Black Diamond Conference whether it intends to withdraw.

The district's next meeting is Thursday, Feb. 18.

"Dr. (Sarah) Gass will get some more information for us," Goodman said, referring to the Chester High School principal. "She will get on the phone (Friday) and we'll discuss it in a future meeting.

"Basically, we have a timeline to give (the conference) that information if we intend to withdraw."

A former charter member of the SIRR, Chester left the conference in 2010 as part of a conference switch with growing Carterville.

This year, Albion-based Edwards County High School joins the conference, adding another two-hour-plus (one way) bus trip to a football schedule that already contains long drives to Carmi-White County and Fairfield.

On Thursday, the board had two agenda items related to the conference discussion - one that involved discussing the invitations and the other to "Consider approval of athletic conference change."

At 7:44 p.m., the board went into executive session, as stated on the meeting's agenda, to discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body.

That session also included Chester Athletic Director Mike Coffey. At 8:30 p.m., Coffey left the meeting.

Coffey later told the Herald Tribune his presence was to discuss a coach.

"Just briefly, there's too many unknown factors about it," said Goodman, when asked if the athletic conference topic was included in the executive session discussion. "One school moves to this conference, would it cause it do something else in another conference?

"We just need some clarity on what's going to happen with those schools like that."

The SIRR's invitation has a catch. Both Chester and Red Bud must be willing to move as part of a proposed plan for two seven-team divisions, with both the Yellow Jackets and Musketeers in the Mississippi Division.

Carterville would be moved to the Ohio side of the conference. Chester and Red Bud would also have to agree to a mandatory crossover football game with the Ohio Division for a period of four years before the conference decides whether to keep the same crossover opponent or change.

The schools would also be allowed to schedule whomever they wanted for weeks 1 and 9 of the season, but in his invitation letter to Chester, SIRR President Terry Ryker said the conference would "strongly encourage" crossover games in those weeks as well.

"We're just trying to add everything up and see what's best beneficial for our kids and our community," Goodman said.

Earlier Thursday, Cahokia Conference representatives met and formally accepted Salem as a member, while giving Red Bud an option to move from the Mississippi Division (large schools) to the Kaskaskia Division (small schools) for all sports except football.

Dupo is leaving the conference for the Prairie State Conference for football only in 2017.

"It was approved that it can happen, but we're still weighing that option," said Red Bud Athletic Director Kevin Cartee on Friday. "As soon as we have a decision, we'll make it public."

Red Bud Superintendent Jonathan Tallman confirmed the division switch to the newspaper on Tuesday and gave an update on Red Bud's assessment of the SIRR invitation.

"We're still deliberating and assessing the invite from the River-to-River," he said. "We're assessing what's best for us. Staying in the Cahokia or moving to the River-to-River.

"We are assessing the entire athletic program, not just football, and determining what's best for our high school students and our community."

Superintendent Search

Another major topic anticipated to be decided was a permanent superintendent for the district. After previously identifying two final candidates in its search, the board voted to extend that search on Thursday.

The board had narrowed down the field of 21 candidates (16 from Illinois and five from out-of-state) to Gardner Central Consolidated School District 72C Superintendent Tony Whiston and Bluffs District 2 Superintendent Kevin Blankenship.

Both had official visits with the district on Jan. 7 and 8.

"Basically, we're going to try and find some additional candidates," said Interim Superintendent Rick Goodman.

Goodman said nothing had changed with the current candidates, other than the board felt it needed to bring in some additional candidates to talk about.

"It's kinda like starting new, with some new candidates," he said. "We'll request some additional candidates from the search."

Goodman said the additional candidates would not be ones that the board has previously interviewed.

W.O. Smith Field

In other action, the board tabled a proposal from Kueker's Nursery and Garden Center to rehabilitate the soil - including sidelines - at W.O. Smith Field at a cost of $127,876 over six years.

"All this product is costly," said Kueker's Nursing and Garden Center owner Brad Kueker during a presentation to the board on Thursday. "There's no way around it."

Kueker's proposal calls for 72 payments of $1,667 a month and would include materials and labor. During December's board meeting, then-Interim Superintendent Bill Riley said it was possible to use sales tax funds for the project.

"At that dollar amount, it causes me to say 'Is there a different option?'" said board member Troy Clendenin, who asked how much it would cost to simply replace the soil on the field.

Kueker said it was possible to scale the program back to fit the district's budget needs.

"I think we should decide what is reasonable to pay per month and go from there," said Board Vice President Tom Welge.

Kueker was asked when he would start on the project and said he would like to do some preliminary work in late February or early March.

A decision on the proposal is anticipated during the board's February meeting.

Roundup

Chester Grade School Principal Tim Lochhead's report included the following:

- Faculty christmas program

- Band room construction

- Science lab construction/design

- Jump Rope for Heart

- Parent Career Day

- St. Mary's School will be using the gym to host regionals

- Air quality testing

Chester High School Principal Dr. Sarah Gass' report included the following:

- 4E Active Shooter training on Jan. 4

- Career Center of Southern Illinois tours

- Randolph County Relay for Life presentation

- Semester registration

- Change in date of high school prom to April 2

The board approved a request from Kids Community Bible Study Group for facility use on Mondays after school from April 4 through May 2.

The board decided to keep sealed executive session minutes from the previous six months.

The board approved the certified and noncertified seniority lists.

The board approved an architect's estimate of $3,950 for an additional annunciator panel in the maintenance shop. The current panel is included in the CHS cafeteria and controls the fire alarms.

The board approved the maternity leave request of Stephanie Jany from the beginning of the 2016-17 school year through Oct. 5.

The board approved reassigning night custodian Roger Surman from CHS to CGS effective Jan. 25.

The board approved Kenneth Ragland as an eight-hour CHS night custodian at $9.25 per hour beginning Jan. 25.

The board approved Trevor Kelkhoff as CHS assistant baseball coach.

The board approved Billy Belton as CHS volunteer baseball coach.

The board approved Eric Skorcz as CHS volunteer baseball coach.

The board approved Mike Heffernan as CHS volunteer baseball coach.

The board approved Ryan Petrowske as CHS volunteer softball coach.

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