Mercer County School District 404 Board of Education met April 13.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
The Board of Education of Mercer County School District #404, Mercer, Henderson, & Rock Island Counties, Illinois, convened at a regular meeting in the Mercer County Intermediate School Music Room, at 6:30 PM.
Prior to Roll Call, Julie Wagner opened with a brief prayer followed by the pledge of allegiance.
ATTENDANCE
Board members present upon roll call: Balmer, Bieri, Bowns, Monson, Smock (zoom), Wagner, and Yates. A quorum was present.
Absent: none
Administrators present: Superintendent Scott Petrie, Principals Day, Sedam, Koresko, Bush and Fleuette. Also in Attendance: Andrew Hofer, Morgan Braucht, Bobbi Jo Retherford, Teresa Schell, Megan Sywassink, Joyce Kadel, Jodi O’Leary, Sarah Dixon, Amy Molburg, Mark Heater, Chris DeFrieze, Jacob Marlow, Jim Campbell, Lori Nelson, Recording Secretary Angie Baker, and many staff and community members.
Reporters: Jim Taylor
RECORD OF MOTIONS & VOTES
| No. 01 | No. 02 | No. 03 | No. 04 | No. 05 | No. 06 | No. 07 | No. 08 | No. 09 | No. 10 | No. 11 | No. 12 | |
| Balmer | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | NAY | AYE | V
O I C E | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE |
V O I C E |
| Bieri | AYE | AYE | NAY | AYE | NAY | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | ||
| Bowns | AYE | AYE | NAY | AYE | NAY | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | ||
| Monson | AYE | AYE | NAY | NAY | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | ||
| Smock | AYE | AYE | NAY | AYE | NAY | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | ||
| Wagner | AYE | AYE | NAY | NAY | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | ||
| Yates | AYE | AYE | AYE | NAY | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE | AYE |
1.1 Meeting Minutes
a. Regular Meeting Minutes - March 16, 2022
b. Community Forum Minutes – April 12, 2022
1.2 Bill List
1.3 Treasurer’s Report
1.4 Financial Report
1.5 BCBS Health Insurance Account Statement
1.6 Resignation of Apollo Cook Cassandra Bevan
1.7 Resignation of Junior High Paraprofessional Samantha Szalonek
Roll Call: 7 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.
IHSA MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
2. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Wagner, to accept the 2022-2023 IHSA Membership Renewal as presented. Roll Call: 7 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.
JUNIOR HIGH BASEBALL
3. There was a motion by Yates, seconded by Bowns, to approve Junior High Baseball.
Roll Call: 2 Ayes, 5 Nays. Motion failed.
REPLACE NBE CLASSROOM OPTION 1
4. There was a motion by Smock, seconded by Bieri, to approve going out to bids for new classroom wings at New Boston Elementary and tearing down the three story portion.
Roll Call: 4 Ayes, 3 Nays. Motion carried.
REPLACE NBE CLASSROOM OPTION 2
5. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Yates, to Replace NBE Classrooms Utilizing Option #2 as presented.
Roll Call: 3 Ayes, 4 Nays. Motion failed.
Wagner made a motion to withdraw action item 8.5, to Replace NBE Classrooms Utilizing Option #3. The board took a break from 8:20-8:30pm.
CLOSED SESSION
6. There was a motion by Wagner, seconded by Yates, at 8:44PM to go into Closed Session after a short recess for Personnel discussion.
6.1 Personnel
The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity. 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1)
6.2 Real Property
The purchase or lease of real property for the use of the District, including meetings held for the purpose of discussing whether a particular parcel should be acquired. 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(5).
Roll Call: 7 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.
OPEN SESSION
7. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Bieri, to come out of Closed Session at 9:28PM.
Majority of Ayes by Voice Vote. Motion carried.
HIRE HS SPED TEACHER
8. There was a motion by Wagner, seconded by Smock, to approve the hire of High School Special Education Teacher Jill Hofmann for the 2022-2023 school year.
Roll Call: 7 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.
HIRE HS ENGLISH TEACHER
9. There was a motion by Wagner, seconded by Bowns, to approve the hire of High School English Teacher Seth Hankins for the 2022-2023 school year.
Roll Call: 7 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.
HIRE APOLLO FULL TIME TEMP COOK
10. There was a motion by Wagner, seconded by Bowns, to approve the hire of Apollo Full Time Temporary Cook Sara Coulter. Roll Call: 7 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.
HIRE HS CHEER COACH
11. There was a motion by Wagner, seconded by Bowns, to approve the hire of High School Cheer Coach Ashley Clark for the 2022-2023 season. Roll Call: 7 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.
ADJOURN
12. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Bowns, to adjourn the meeting at 9:30 PM.
Majority of Ayes by Voice Vote. Motion carried.
OTHER REPORTS AND DISCUSSIONS:
ADDITIONS/ DELETIONS
1. None
PUBLIC COMMENT
2. Community members and school district staff addressed the board in regards to the decision being made with the New Boston Elementary School building. Many were in favor of moving the elementary to the Joy location and utilizing the kitchen, gym, and football field. Transportation issues and the amount of time elementary students arrive before school in New Boston were also mentioned. It was expressed to the board to do what’s best for the students while keeping the district financially sound. Chris DeFrieze, the
Mayor of New Boston, addressed the board with reasons to keep the elementary school in the town of New Boston.
BOARD COMMENTS
3. Julie Wagner mentioned the Mercer County Schools Excellence in Education Foundation page on the districts website. Looser Flake is matching all donations dollar for dollar. Donations can be made using PayPal on the district website.
Mike Bowns encouraged the community and the board to stick together and move forward once the decision is made tonight.
CORRESPONDENCE
4. A thank you card was received for a memorial sent to the family of Gary “Doug” Lafever.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
5. No additional comments or discussion on committee reports.
JH BASEBALL
6. Mr. Petrie discussed the concerns with adding Junior High Baseball next school year. The baseball season begins a week later than softball causing a three week overlap with football during contest play. Our current conference, The Prairieland Conference, has not adopted Junior High Baseball. Students would not be able to compete in both baseball and football. At this time the recommendation is to not approve, but to reconsider this at a later date in hopes that more conference schools would become interested in adding junior high baseball.
NBE CLASSROOMS UTILIZATION OPTIONS #1, #2, #3
7. Mr. Petrie, as well as each board member, discussed the reasons as to why they were choosing to either upgrade classrooms at NBE, or move the elementary school to the Joy location. Once everyone had a chance to explain their reasons, a vote was taken.
FOIA REQUESTS
8. We responded to a FOIA requests from SmartProcure.
COMMUNITY FORUM
9. Mr. Petrie discussed the Community Forum held on April 12th, thanking the participants whom attended. The same survey that the attendees completed has been shared with the public on our social media sights. The discussion and survey results will be used to help set priorities for the 2022-2023 school year. The survey will be available to the public until May 13th. The survey results will be shared on social media once completed.
HS CLASSROOM
10. Mr. Petrie provided the board with some information regarding school construction grants. The school construction law was revised this year. It was passed by both Houses in March and awaiting the governor’s signature. Grant opportunities will not be available this year. Once funding is available, districts will apply each year in a competitive kind of nature. Five areas of improvement at the high school were mentioned where grant money could be utilized if awarded.
TAX INCREMENT FINANCING
11. Mr. Petrie attended the Joint Review Board meeting on March 31st with the City of Aledo. Information provided in the board packet was reviewed in regards to the Aledo Downtown 2022 TIF. A public meeting will be held on April 25th.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
12. In addition to the written reports, the following was mentioned: Mrs. Day asked the board members to complete the forms for reserved seating at the graduation ceremony.
Mr. Sedam mentioned the IPA Student Leadership breakfast that Mrs. Day helped organize for the Black Hawk Region. He and Mr. Bush chaperoned two students from each building who were chosen to represent our district.
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