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Channel 1 TV, air conditioners added to Hamilton junior high, high schools
By Diane Vance/Gate City Staff Writer
HAMILTON, Ill. - The Hamilton School Board meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday for a special meeting to approve a health insurance plan and a cooperative agreement with Channel 1 TV beginning with the 2008-2009 school year.
The board also will consider changing the date for the regular June board meeting and hold a budget hearing June 30 to amend the 2007-2008 budget.
The employee health care plan has been with an Illinois state insurance co-op for several years but premiums have increased. The school district sought annual bids for coverage and the co-op offered its plan with a $558 premium per month per employee and Blue Cross Blue Shield, represented by Steve Barnett of R.W. Troxel, Springfield, Ill., came in with a a monthly premium of $388. The district pays employees' premium.
The teachers union was to review the plans and choices for health insurance plans between the May 21 bid deadline and school board meeting, and Tuesday's meeting.
“A neighboring school district has the teachers research the various plans and make a recommendation to the school board,” said board member Rusty Dowdall.
Superintendent Dr. Jim Jackson said he'd originally planned for teachers to have more say in the process but the district's tragedies (two separate car accidents that killed elementary Principal Tasha Elliott and her family in February and elementary physical education teacher Bob Califf in April) in the second semester put some agendas behind schedule.
Free TV for every classroom
Junior high/high school Principal Ron Gilbert said Channel 1 TV will give the district 20 televisions and install the equipment with cable and satellite feed at no cost if the district agrees to a commitment of three years to play TV 1's news broadcast for students each class day.
“This is a 12-minute segment of educational programs of current events and news,” he said. “We can play the 12 minutes at any point of the day. I would play it during lunch time.”
The benefits include providing an installed television for each classroom in junior high and high school, Gilbert told the school board at the May 21 meeting. The TVs can be used as free message boards, school announcements and emergency notifications from the office with the ability to post messages to each room at any time.
TV Channel 1 provides free teaching tools, videos, lesson plans and state standards correlation with lessons on its Web site www.channelone.com.
Junior high baseball
Jackson said there is concern about the number of players for junior high baseball.
“There's concern if there are enough players,” he said. “There were seven or eight seventh grade players from this year. Warsaw-Nauvoo-Colusa has nine seventh grade players. If the board wants to explore co-oping, we need to talk about it. It's a fall sport.”
It was noted only three sixth grade boys are playing Little League baseball.
“I've always promoted co-oping sports,” said board member Mark Menn. “Junior high is the time to learn how to play the sport. If there is a large team, kids don't learn. Let's let kids have the opportunity to play.”
Board President Doug Summers said the decision could wait another month.
Summer
maintenance
The board approved a $1 per hour raise for the summer work crew to $9, not to exceed a total of $20,000.
“We had $17,000 to $18,000 budgeted for maintenance for last summer, and it went over $20,000,” said board member Mark Menn.
“This is the first raise in several years,” said Steve Schlatter, head of maintenance. “The over $20,000 included work on Safford Auditorium.”
Board members asked what work is planned for the summer.
Schlatter said besides providing substitutes for the three custodians to take vacation, the extra help will be needed to move offices, clean and wax floors, paint and regular maintenance.
“We've had the same nine summer hires for eight or nine years,” said Schlatter. “I don't think we can get it all done for $17,000 or $18,000. We can't take that same $20,000 as last year, give raises and get all the work done.”
Summers said the board wants the buildings and district to be in good shape.
“The board also wants to keep track of money spent,” he said. “The board would like a little more control. I'm not saying we're not going to spend the money. We're just trying to control the budget.”
Schlatter said if the board expects costs to stay at the same level, the maintenance department will have to cut services.
“I need direction about what not to do,” he said.
Menn said when ball fields are not being used by the school district but maintained by the district, that's an expense.
Mowing for district property is bid each year. Schlatter said mowing is done once a week in season. Sometimes the ball fields need mowing prior to games before the weekly mowing.
“We need to look at possible help from the park district,” said board member Tom Schilson.
In other business:
n The school board and administrators will hold a planning retreat from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, at the school.
n Modular air conditioners are being installed in 14 classrooms at the high school. These are floor models controlled individually in each room, costing $400 each.
n Gilbert thanked Don Rhodes for donating an industrial-sized sand blaster to the district's vocational program.
n The 2008 state champion Titan basketball trophy was presented to the school board.
“Thanks to the school board and district for transportation support,” said head coach Ken Schuster. “We're happy to present the trophy and hopefully we'll add more.
“The community support all season was amazing. At Red Bird Arena, looking up into the stands and seeing the support was very gratifying. I hope you had as much fun watching as we did winning.”
n Junior High track coach Bill Knowles commended the team. Many of the athletes came to the meeting.
“We took this team to state,” he said. “The students didn't just represent Hamilton on the track, they were very good representatives of our district throughout the trip. Going overnight with 30 junior high students was an absolute blast. I had fun from start to finish, and I think they did, too.
“The kids were in bed at 10 p.m., lights out at 10:15 p.m. and there were no sounds by 11 p.m. They are very focused individuals.
“We had a lot of success on top of good behavior. That's not something you always hear about off the track.”
The board also will consider changing the date for the regular June board meeting and hold a budget hearing June 30 to amend the 2007-2008 budget.
The employee health care plan has been with an Illinois state insurance co-op for several years but premiums have increased. The school district sought annual bids for coverage and the co-op offered its plan with a $558 premium per month per employee and Blue Cross Blue Shield, represented by Steve Barnett of R.W. Troxel, Springfield, Ill., came in with a a monthly premium of $388. The district pays employees' premium.
The teachers union was to review the plans and choices for health insurance plans between the May 21 bid deadline and school board meeting, and Tuesday's meeting.
“A neighboring school district has the teachers research the various plans and make a recommendation to the school board,” said board member Rusty Dowdall.
Superintendent Dr. Jim Jackson said he'd originally planned for teachers to have more say in the process but the district's tragedies (two separate car accidents that killed elementary Principal Tasha Elliott and her family in February and elementary physical education teacher Bob Califf in April) in the second semester put some agendas behind schedule.
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Junior high/high school Principal Ron Gilbert said Channel 1 TV will give the district 20 televisions and install the equipment with cable and satellite feed at no cost if the district agrees to a commitment of three years to play TV 1's news broadcast for students each class day.
“This is a 12-minute segment of educational programs of current events and news,” he said. “We can play the 12 minutes at any point of the day. I would play it during lunch time.”
The benefits include providing an installed television for each classroom in junior high and high school, Gilbert told the school board at the May 21 meeting. The TVs can be used as free message boards, school announcements and emergency notifications from the office with the ability to post messages to each room at any time.
TV Channel 1 provides free teaching tools, videos, lesson plans and state standards correlation with lessons on its Web site www.channelone.com.
Junior high baseball
Jackson said there is concern about the number of players for junior high baseball.
“There's concern if there are enough players,” he said. “There were seven or eight seventh grade players from this year. Warsaw-Nauvoo-Colusa has nine seventh grade players. If the board wants to explore co-oping, we need to talk about it. It's a fall sport.”
It was noted only three sixth grade boys are playing Little League baseball.
“I've always promoted co-oping sports,” said board member Mark Menn. “Junior high is the time to learn how to play the sport. If there is a large team, kids don't learn. Let's let kids have the opportunity to play.”
Board President Doug Summers said the decision could wait another month.
Summer
maintenance
The board approved a $1 per hour raise for the summer work crew to $9, not to exceed a total of $20,000.
“We had $17,000 to $18,000 budgeted for maintenance for last summer, and it went over $20,000,” said board member Mark Menn.
“This is the first raise in several years,” said Steve Schlatter, head of maintenance. “The over $20,000 included work on Safford Auditorium.”
Board members asked what work is planned for the summer.
Schlatter said besides providing substitutes for the three custodians to take vacation, the extra help will be needed to move offices, clean and wax floors, paint and regular maintenance.
“We've had the same nine summer hires for eight or nine years,” said Schlatter. “I don't think we can get it all done for $17,000 or $18,000. We can't take that same $20,000 as last year, give raises and get all the work done.”
Summers said the board wants the buildings and district to be in good shape.
“The board also wants to keep track of money spent,” he said. “The board would like a little more control. I'm not saying we're not going to spend the money. We're just trying to control the budget.”
Schlatter said if the board expects costs to stay at the same level, the maintenance department will have to cut services.
“I need direction about what not to do,” he said.
Menn said when ball fields are not being used by the school district but maintained by the district, that's an expense.
Mowing for district property is bid each year. Schlatter said mowing is done once a week in season. Sometimes the ball fields need mowing prior to games before the weekly mowing.
“We need to look at possible help from the park district,” said board member Tom Schilson.
In other business:
n The school board and administrators will hold a planning retreat from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, at the school.
n Modular air conditioners are being installed in 14 classrooms at the high school. These are floor models controlled individually in each room, costing $400 each.
n Gilbert thanked Don Rhodes for donating an industrial-sized sand blaster to the district's vocational program.
n The 2008 state champion Titan basketball trophy was presented to the school board.
“Thanks to the school board and district for transportation support,” said head coach Ken Schuster. “We're happy to present the trophy and hopefully we'll add more.
“The community support all season was amazing. At Red Bird Arena, looking up into the stands and seeing the support was very gratifying. I hope you had as much fun watching as we did winning.”
n Junior High track coach Bill Knowles commended the team. Many of the athletes came to the meeting.
“We took this team to state,” he said. “The students didn't just represent Hamilton on the track, they were very good representatives of our district throughout the trip. Going overnight with 30 junior high students was an absolute blast. I had fun from start to finish, and I think they did, too.
“The kids were in bed at 10 p.m., lights out at 10:15 p.m. and there were no sounds by 11 p.m. They are very focused individuals.
“We had a lot of success on top of good behavior. That's not something you always hear about off the track.”
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