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Chester District 139 seats new board member

Posted July 19, 2015 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler The Herald Tribune

CHESTER -- The Chester District 139 Board of Education took significant steps in getting its house back in order on Thursday.

Former Chester High School Assistant Principal Debbie Caraway was seated on the board as the replacement for Larry Asselmeier, who resigned last month. Caraway, a 1973 CHS grad, was assistant principal at the high school from 2004 to 2012.

She will serve the remaining two years of Asselmeier's tenure.

"The main reason was I've been with this district since 1974; I've always had the philosophy that students must come first," Caraway said in a media interview after the board meeting. "Whatever is in the best interest of students. I feel I can help, as a board member, to bring in the perspective that I have as a teacher, as a former administrator and I can help with the tough decisions that the state is forcing us to make."

The board also made a large number of personnel decisions, including bringing back Pat Knowles for his third stint as CHS girls basketball coach. According to IHSA.org, Knowles went 44-59 from 1996 to 2000 and 11-40 from 2011 to 2013 for a combined record of 55-99.

The Lady Yellow Jackets went 16-30 in two seasons under Connie Clendenin, including 10-16 last season. Clendenin was not retained for 2015-16 in a 4-3 vote by the school board during its May session.

In a separate agenda item, the board approved volunteer football coaches Mike Heffernan, Boyd Miles, Benjamin Hunter and Billy Belton.

Belton was previously arrested by the Chester Police Department on suspicion of driving under the influence on April 9. According to a news release from the CPD, officers were called to the scene of a traffic crash in the 1800 block of Swanwick Street at 8:10 p.m.

Officers determined Belton was traveling eastbound along the street when his 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier drifted to the right and struck an unoccupied parked vehicle. The release stated that Belton's vehicle struck the parked vehicle with enough force that it pushed the parked vehicle into a second parked vehicle.

During Thursday's meeting, Belton, Chester High School football coach Jeremy Blechle and former CHS football coach Bryan Lee spoke to the board during executive session.

"That talking that was done with them was in executive session and that's confidential," said Chester District 139 Interim Superintendent Bill Riley in a follow-up interview with the Herald Tribune on Friday. "Personnel matters are included in executive session."

Riley said the board "has worked very hard not to set any precedent to one person."

"We try to extend what we have done in the past and try to compare what they've done on a previous issue," Riley said. "That's the hard part about being an administrator, things may look the same, but there's little different tweaks around it."

The board also heard a presentation from two Baysinger Architects representatives on the progress of the Chester Grade School gym construction.

Baysinger Engineering Coordinator Earl Kleidon informed the board that this spring's excessive rainfall has weakened the base of the upper parking lot.

"We've looked at several ways to fix it," Kleidon said. "Without digging it up and reinstalling it, there's no good way to fix it."

Kleidon said the cost of resurfacing the area is $91,000 and would be reflected in a change order the board will have to approve. The area will be resurfaced with 3 inches of asphalt on top of 8 inches of compacted rock.

"That's the biggest issue, keeping the parking lot going," Kleidon said.

Kleidon said Red Dot Construction and Equipment Rental is the contractor working on the parking lot.

"If we had a dry year and we had it covered, it would probably not be an issue," Kleidon said.

The board had scheduled a presentation by Tom Search in regard to the driver's education vehicle, but Riley said it was moved to next month's session.

The next meeting of the Chester BOE is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 20, at 7 p.m.

Roundup

The BOE approved the second reading of the CHS Student Handbook.

The BOE approved the removal of surplus inventory by Rich Clausen.

The BOE approved the first reading of several board policies, including ethics and conduct, curriculum development and access to district public records.

The BOE adopted the amended 2015-16 district calendar.

The BOE axed an agenda item relating to a Capital Development Board (CDB) grant agreement, stating the work will be done with a change order instead.

The BOE accepted a milk bid from Chester Dairy for the 2015-16 school year. The price of a gallon of 2 percent white milk was set at $3.45.

The BOE accepted a paper bid from Midland Paper for the 2015-16 school year at a price of $23.95 per case for 450 cases.

The BOE tabled a bread bid for the 2015-16 school year due to no bidders. Earthgrains was stated as a possibility.

The BOE accepted a transportation agreement with Southwestern Illinois Bus Company for both the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years.

The BOE approved employing Dave Kaiser as full-time CGS assistant principal and athletic director for the 2015-16 school year.

The BOE approved employing Benjamin Hunter as social studies teacher for the 2015-16 school year, replacing Bryan Lee.

The BOE approved employing CGS special education teacher Aaron Eggemeyer for the 2015-16 school year.

The BOE approved employing the following coaches: Curt Gilpin (CHS cross country), LaVerne Misselhorn (CHS golf assistant), Charles Colvis (CHS football assistant), Trevor Kelkhoff (CHS football assistant), Luke Lochhead (CHS girls basketball assistant), Jenny Stumpe (CHS girls track head coach/CGS cross country coach), Jeremy Blechle (CHS baseball head coach), Tracy Colvis (CHS softball head coach) and Alisa Herrell (CGS cheerleading).

The BOE appointed the following volunteer coaches: Dwight Lochhead (CHS trapshooting), Paul Stallman (CHS cross country), Mary Stallman (CHS cross country) and Paul Estel (CHS bass fishing).

Informational Items

Technology - Rich Clausen informed the board about plans to host a public recycling day. The date has not yet been announced.

Maintenance - Board member Dan Colvis asked about recycling an old icemaker at Chester High School.

Athletic - CHS Athletic Director Mike Coffey told the board all fall sports begin on Aug. 10, with the first activity being a golf match on Aug. 18.

Principals - CGS Principal Tim Lochhead said his staff's focus is training on the new fingerprint readers and other equipment associated with the new cafeteria area being constructed as part of the gymnasium project. An anti-bullying meeting has been scheduled for Aug. 25.

"It's not going to be a change in policy, it's going to be a change in approach," Lochhead said.

CGS registration is Aug. 3 through 6 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Lochhead is urging all students to attend registration to get their fingerprints registered.

Superintendent - The board agreed to post notification of a position for a full-time grade school Title I aide. The board also approved an additional three-hour CGS cafeteria aide, bringing the total to six cafeteria workers to be able to handle the double lines of students.

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