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KHS students gain insights on secondary education, careers during Job Fair at school
by diane vance/gate city staff writer
WARSAW, Ill. - School board members from Nauvoo-Colusa and Warsaw are puzzled about statements issued by the Hamilton School Board.
Hamilton held a well-attended special school board meeting Jan. 31 to discuss co-oping all sports as Titans at the high school and junior high levels, and potential consolidation of all three school districts.
Warsaw and Nauvoo-Colusa school boards met Wednesday at Warsaw to discuss co-oping sports and consolidation.
In January, the athletic directors, principals and superintendents from the three districts met, at a suggestion from a three-way board meeting in November.
At the January meeting, the ADs, principals and superintendents came to a consensus to co-op all sports among the three districts to assure enough numbers to field teams, simplify schedules and streamline mascots and team names, according to Warsaw Superintendent Kim Schilson.
“We came up with a plan for co-oping, including who would be the administrative district in what sport, costs, and that all games would be shared equally among the communities,” said Schilson.
After the Jan. 31 meeting, the Hamilton School Board and Hamilton Superintendent Dr. Jim Jackson issued a response and requested some information from Schilson and Nauvoo-Colusa Superintendent Kent Young.
The requests regarded:
Varsity sports. Hamilton wants to be the administrative agent for girls softball and wants softball to be played in Hamilton.
Football should be played in Warsaw, but Hamilton would like to remain the administrative agent for football.
All varsity boys basketball should be played in Hamilton including tournaments. Nauvoo-Colusa would be the administrative agent for basketball.
In junior high/middle school sports, girls sports would be played in Hamilton.
Cheerleading would be located in Nauvoo-Colusa.
“The Hamilton Board of Education has taken a public position on school consolidation. This has generated a great deal of controversy, but at the same time there can be no question about where we stand on the issue. We are formally requesting that the Warsaw and Nauvoo-Colusa School Districts make a public statement on consolidation,” the response said.
“It's been three months since we last met as three boards,” said Don Roskamp, Warsaw board president. “This meeting is to encourage open conversation. We've had certain arrangements in co-oping sports we'd like to keep, such as sharing games in the communities. It's been a plus for the programs. Changing to play all of some sports in one community doesn't serve our wants.”
Nauvoo-Colusa board President Terry Knoke said he is not happy with Hamilton's proposals, though his board has not met since Hamilton's Jan. 31 meeting.
“When the administrators got together in January and came to a consensus, how did it get changed to this?” asked Warsaw board member Steve Lucie. “If we have three-way co-ops, we should be sharing games.”
Warsaw School Board member Jan Gooding said it is a good idea to have coaches who work with students everyday and have athletic directors, principals and superintendents meet to decide how to work the co-ops.
“We could meet as the three boards and discuss this, but I trust the expertise of the administrators and respect the opinions of the athletic directors,” said Gooding. “When we operated one-school sports, the board didn't make decisions on sports issues, we let the administrators and athletic directors set schedules.”
“I didn't know this was a bargaining agreement,” said Lucie. “I thought we were letting the administrators set this, but if we're going back to the boards, we're wasting the administrators' time.”
Gooding said Hamilton had a good point in gathering input from the students about co-oping sports. Warsaw will survey its students before the end of the year.
“It's probably a good idea for us to get all students' input,” she said.
After more discussion, board members agreed it is too late to come to an agreement with Hamilton and implement any changes for the 2007-2008 sports schedule.
“The schedules have been made,” said Schilson. “Contracts for officials are sitting on my desk, ready to go out.”
Young said Nauvoo-Colusa's boys basketball contract is for two years. There should not be any change until 2008-2009.
“We can add a third school to any agreement, but we can't change administrative heads or break contracts,” he said.
“As long as the third school joins the teams' schedule, there's not a problem adding a school,” agreed Schilson.
Junior high sports
Young said Nauvoo-Colusa will discuss co-oping junior high sports at its next school board meeting.
“We need to determine if Dallas City is staying with us in junior high sports,” he said.
Dallas City High School students, attending Nauvoo-Colusa for the past six years after their high school deactivated, will attend the new converged district, Illini West in Carthage, Ill.
“We're having numbers problems,” said Roskamp. “We don't have enough kids out to field teams in some junior high sports.”
Warsaw board member Tonya Thurman said the numbers show junior high needs to co-op to have enough players, but she raised concerns about long bus rides and late nights.
“Our middle school students are suffering in eligibility and grades now,” she said. “I'd like to investigate the costs of having the middle school students go to the eight-block schedule.”
Warsaw High School operates on an eight-block schedule, giving students more class time for homework and assignments and taking more courses.
Consolidation
“We're not prepared to make any statements on consolidation,” said Knoke. “We have a tax referendum on the ballot in April on the advice of our Advisory Committee. We need more money to stay as a stand-alone district. Since we'd be losing (nearly half of our) students to the new converged high school, we've RIFed (reduction if force) some positions.
“If the referendum fails, the Advisory Committee does recommend consolidation. We're willing to talk with anyone about it.”
Nauvoo-Colusa board member John Schwan said he is not in favor of closing the district's elementary building.
Knoke agreed there was no consensus for closing the older elementary building.
“I'm disappointed in the TV media coverage,” said Lucie. “I heard on Channel 7 last night that we are consolidating. I didn't know that. We haven't sat down as three boards since the feasibility study (released in March 2006 about district reorganization among the three districts).
“What's being proposed in not in the best interest of all kids,” said Gooding. “Personally, I would not want consolidation right now. It's not something to rush into. Our finances are in good shape. We're proactive in offering our kids good academic programs.”
Roskamp agreed, saying it has to be approached the right way, with all three communities involved.
“We will not turn down well-thought out plans,” said Roskamp.
Warsaw board member Rod Yuskis said unless Illinois school funding changes drastically, district reorganization will have to be faced eventually.
“We need to keep working to satisfy everyone and get the best for all,” said Yuskis.
A Nauvoo-Colusa resident in the audience asked, “Isn't having three-way discussions about junior high sports a way to walk before running?”
Thurman said at the last three-way board meeting two or three months ago, Hamilton said it didn't need to co-op junior high sports because it had enough participants.
Board members agreed to keep communications open and work toward co-oping all sports as Titans for the 2008-2009 school year.
Warsaw and Nauvoo-Colusa school boards then went into closed session together to discuss teachers.
Warsaw board members attending Wednesday's meeting included all seven: Roskamp, Thurman, Lucie, Gooding, Yuskis, Don Savage and Todd Hardy.
Nauvoo-Colusa school board members at Wednesday's meeting were: Knoke, Schwan, Tony Knipe and Jim Boyles.
Doug Summers, a Hamilton School Board member, attended and sat in the audience, as did a Hamilton resident.
Hamilton held a well-attended special school board meeting Jan. 31 to discuss co-oping all sports as Titans at the high school and junior high levels, and potential consolidation of all three school districts.
Warsaw and Nauvoo-Colusa school boards met Wednesday at Warsaw to discuss co-oping sports and consolidation.
In January, the athletic directors, principals and superintendents from the three districts met, at a suggestion from a three-way board meeting in November.
At the January meeting, the ADs, principals and superintendents came to a consensus to co-op all sports among the three districts to assure enough numbers to field teams, simplify schedules and streamline mascots and team names, according to Warsaw Superintendent Kim Schilson.
“We came up with a plan for co-oping, including who would be the administrative district in what sport, costs, and that all games would be shared equally among the communities,” said Schilson.
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The requests regarded:
Varsity sports. Hamilton wants to be the administrative agent for girls softball and wants softball to be played in Hamilton.
Football should be played in Warsaw, but Hamilton would like to remain the administrative agent for football.
All varsity boys basketball should be played in Hamilton including tournaments. Nauvoo-Colusa would be the administrative agent for basketball.
In junior high/middle school sports, girls sports would be played in Hamilton.
Cheerleading would be located in Nauvoo-Colusa.
“The Hamilton Board of Education has taken a public position on school consolidation. This has generated a great deal of controversy, but at the same time there can be no question about where we stand on the issue. We are formally requesting that the Warsaw and Nauvoo-Colusa School Districts make a public statement on consolidation,” the response said.
“It's been three months since we last met as three boards,” said Don Roskamp, Warsaw board president. “This meeting is to encourage open conversation. We've had certain arrangements in co-oping sports we'd like to keep, such as sharing games in the communities. It's been a plus for the programs. Changing to play all of some sports in one community doesn't serve our wants.”
Nauvoo-Colusa board President Terry Knoke said he is not happy with Hamilton's proposals, though his board has not met since Hamilton's Jan. 31 meeting.
“When the administrators got together in January and came to a consensus, how did it get changed to this?” asked Warsaw board member Steve Lucie. “If we have three-way co-ops, we should be sharing games.”
Warsaw School Board member Jan Gooding said it is a good idea to have coaches who work with students everyday and have athletic directors, principals and superintendents meet to decide how to work the co-ops.
“We could meet as the three boards and discuss this, but I trust the expertise of the administrators and respect the opinions of the athletic directors,” said Gooding. “When we operated one-school sports, the board didn't make decisions on sports issues, we let the administrators and athletic directors set schedules.”
“I didn't know this was a bargaining agreement,” said Lucie. “I thought we were letting the administrators set this, but if we're going back to the boards, we're wasting the administrators' time.”
Gooding said Hamilton had a good point in gathering input from the students about co-oping sports. Warsaw will survey its students before the end of the year.
“It's probably a good idea for us to get all students' input,” she said.
After more discussion, board members agreed it is too late to come to an agreement with Hamilton and implement any changes for the 2007-2008 sports schedule.
“The schedules have been made,” said Schilson. “Contracts for officials are sitting on my desk, ready to go out.”
Young said Nauvoo-Colusa's boys basketball contract is for two years. There should not be any change until 2008-2009.
“We can add a third school to any agreement, but we can't change administrative heads or break contracts,” he said.
“As long as the third school joins the teams' schedule, there's not a problem adding a school,” agreed Schilson.
Junior high sports
Young said Nauvoo-Colusa will discuss co-oping junior high sports at its next school board meeting.
“We need to determine if Dallas City is staying with us in junior high sports,” he said.
Dallas City High School students, attending Nauvoo-Colusa for the past six years after their high school deactivated, will attend the new converged district, Illini West in Carthage, Ill.
“We're having numbers problems,” said Roskamp. “We don't have enough kids out to field teams in some junior high sports.”
Warsaw board member Tonya Thurman said the numbers show junior high needs to co-op to have enough players, but she raised concerns about long bus rides and late nights.
“Our middle school students are suffering in eligibility and grades now,” she said. “I'd like to investigate the costs of having the middle school students go to the eight-block schedule.”
Warsaw High School operates on an eight-block schedule, giving students more class time for homework and assignments and taking more courses.
Consolidation
“We're not prepared to make any statements on consolidation,” said Knoke. “We have a tax referendum on the ballot in April on the advice of our Advisory Committee. We need more money to stay as a stand-alone district. Since we'd be losing (nearly half of our) students to the new converged high school, we've RIFed (reduction if force) some positions.
“If the referendum fails, the Advisory Committee does recommend consolidation. We're willing to talk with anyone about it.”
Nauvoo-Colusa board member John Schwan said he is not in favor of closing the district's elementary building.
Knoke agreed there was no consensus for closing the older elementary building.
“I'm disappointed in the TV media coverage,” said Lucie. “I heard on Channel 7 last night that we are consolidating. I didn't know that. We haven't sat down as three boards since the feasibility study (released in March 2006 about district reorganization among the three districts).
“What's being proposed in not in the best interest of all kids,” said Gooding. “Personally, I would not want consolidation right now. It's not something to rush into. Our finances are in good shape. We're proactive in offering our kids good academic programs.”
Roskamp agreed, saying it has to be approached the right way, with all three communities involved.
“We will not turn down well-thought out plans,” said Roskamp.
Warsaw board member Rod Yuskis said unless Illinois school funding changes drastically, district reorganization will have to be faced eventually.
“We need to keep working to satisfy everyone and get the best for all,” said Yuskis.
A Nauvoo-Colusa resident in the audience asked, “Isn't having three-way discussions about junior high sports a way to walk before running?”
Thurman said at the last three-way board meeting two or three months ago, Hamilton said it didn't need to co-op junior high sports because it had enough participants.
Board members agreed to keep communications open and work toward co-oping all sports as Titans for the 2008-2009 school year.
Warsaw and Nauvoo-Colusa school boards then went into closed session together to discuss teachers.
Warsaw board members attending Wednesday's meeting included all seven: Roskamp, Thurman, Lucie, Gooding, Yuskis, Don Savage and Todd Hardy.
Nauvoo-Colusa school board members at Wednesday's meeting were: Knoke, Schwan, Tony Knipe and Jim Boyles.
Doug Summers, a Hamilton School Board member, attended and sat in the audience, as did a Hamilton resident.
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| Home and Leisure Show coming Feb. 17 | KHS students gain insights on secondary education, careers during Job Fair at school |
