Community High School District #71

Central Community High School District #71

7740 Old U.S. 50, Breese, IL 62230
BOARD OF EDUCATION - Regular Meeting
Tuesday, February 20th, 2024  5:30 PM

AGENDA

The regular meeting of the Board of Education of Central Community High School was held on February 20, 2024 at 5:30PM in the Media Center.

Members present were Mary Lou Voss, Tanya Kampwerth, Kori Voss, Laura Jansen, Amy Kruse and Tim Richter. Jeff Kampwerth was absent. Visitors included Hannah Kampwerth, McKenzie Duncan, Faith Stone, Karrie Kujawa and the Varsity Cheer Squad and Coach Porterfield.

The agenda was approved on a motion by Tanya, second by Kori. Roll call vote: Aye – Mary Lou Voss, Laura Jansen, Kori Voss, Tanya Kampwerth, Tim Richter, Amy Kruse. Nay – None

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved on a motion by Laura, second by Tanya. Roll call vote: Aye – Mary Lou Voss, Laura Jansen, Kori Voss, Tanya Kampwerth, Tim Richter, Amy Kruse. Nay – None

The financial report and payment of bills were reviewed and accepted on a motion by Tim, second by Amy. Roll call vote: Aye – Mary Lou Voss, Laura Jansen, Kori Voss, Tanya Kampwerth, Tim Richter, Amy Kruse. Nay – None

Mr. Freeze introduced and recognized the State Champion Cougar Cheer squad. He spoke of all of their accomplishments and the varieties of Trust that each individual has with themself or with their teammates.

We recently made the purchase for the turf flooring material for the field house. As you know, we awarded the bid for the project to Oster Flooring last month. As a part of the bid, it was agreed that the district would purchase the materials for the project and pay for the labor costs separately. By completing the project in this way, we were able to save approximately $3,000 on the project. The total cost for all the turf material was $50,321.69.

Summer Projects include:
1. Our maintenance staff will be installing new cabinetry in the remodeled Agriculture Classroom. We will also be purchasing new furniture for this space which will better fit the activities planned for Mrs. Wiegmann’s Ag Classes.
2. We will be purchasing new laptops for our drafting classes. We initially planned on using a separate classroom for drafting, and putting a computer lab in that room. In order to maximize our classroom space, it was decided to instead purchase laptops that can be used in the remodeled Ag classroom. This will not only free up an additional classroom at Central, the laptops will be more functional for the teaching of CAD and drafting. Our students use laptops at the State Competition in drafting so getting them exposure to the technology prior to that event will be beneficial. Also, we expect that there will be considerable cost savings with laptops as opposed to remodeling an additional classroom.
3. Our maintenance crew will be putting new wall cabinets in room 14W. Along with this cabinetry, we will also be purchasing new classroom furniture for this space. Currently 14W has the oldest student desks in the building and they are in desperate need of replacement.
4. We recently moved forward with a quote for new furniture for our Athletic Training Room in the Field House. This quote, along with a mock-up of the furniture design, is found in your board packet. (Marty was very involved with the selection of this furniture and he is ecstatic about his new training room layout.)

Dr. Foutch recently met with the other superintendents in Clinton County (who run their own food service programs in their districts). In that conversation, he learned that all of the districts are in a COOP that helps improve the food purchasing power of the group. We also recently acquired the pay and benefit information for all of our lunchroom staff (that are currently employed by Tahar Foods). It is our plan to keep the pay and benefits for the staff at similar levels for the 2024-25 school year.

The annual Tri-County Institute was held on Friday, February 16th. It is a cooperative program scheduled by the Regional Office of Education and funded by the Kaskaskia Special Education District. As always, it offers many great programs and professional development opportunities for our teachers. Our teachers are required to attend at least five sessions on that day.

The Field House construction project is progressing on schedule and we received Pay Application #2 from Millenium Construction in the amount of $1,179,000. All of the steel building materials are on-site and 90% of the excavation and concrete work are complete. Our architect reviewed and approved the pay application, and it will be my recommendation that the board approve the payment at our meeting. A motion to approve payment #2 to Millenium Construction for $1,179.000 for the Field House construction was made by Tim, second by Kori. Roll call vote: Aye – Mary Lou Voss, Laura Jansen, Tanya Kampwerth, Tim Richter, Amy Kruse. Nay – None

We recently had a meeting with Garrick Krebs from Custom Camera Solutions with regard to the installation of a new security camera system at Central. Garrick was simply outstanding to work with and he provided us with several ideas for how our district could install a state of the art camera system at the lowest possible price point. Essentially, Custom Camera Solutions will provide our district with all of the technology necessary to install the system, and we will complete all of the wiring for the cameras on our own. Garrick stated that student workers could easily complete the work (with his guidance). It would be all low voltage wiring so there are no safety concerns. Dr. Foutch has already spoken to 4 senior students who are willing to help with this portion of the project, and believes these young men are incredibly capable of completing the scope of work described by Custom Camera Solutions. The four individuals are Anthony Attaway, Andrew Jansen, Dylan Johnson, and Zach Peters. By completing the wiring portion of the project ourselves, we will save between $12,000 & $16,000. Also, for the work that Custom Cameral Solutions will be completing, their contract will total $60,900 ($57, 200 base bid + $3700 for an upgrade from 5MP to 8MP cameras). In the end, the project will cost between $90,000 and $100,000, which is approximately ½ the expense that Dr. Foutch was expecting for a new camera system. As a reminder, $50,000 of that cost will be covered by a grant we received from the State of Illinois. A motion to approve a new security camera system from Custom Camera Solutions and upgrades to the system that will be partially covered with the $50,000 maintenance grant was made by Kori, second by Laura. Roll call vote: Aye – Mary Lou Voss, Laura Jansen, Tanya Kampwerth, Tim Richter, Amy Kruse. Nay – None

Our current John Deere Gator is not in the best shape, and recently had to have the starter replaced. In all honesty, we should have replaced the machine a few years ago. When Dr. Fouch looked at pricing on a new Gator compared to a Polaris Ranger, it made much more sense to move forward with a Ranger. Dr. Foutch contacted Breese Lawn and Garden, and they stated they would sell us a Ranger for their cost. Neil Hamon wanted some “extras” on the Ranger – doors, front window, etc. – that I wasn’t willing to purchase with district funds so Neil stated he could use his “C Club” concessions money for those items. Other than the items that Neil felt were necessary, the Ranger is a base model. The vehicle will be used for a variety of activities around our campus by both the athletics and maintenance departments. A motion to approve the purchase of a Polaris Ranger from Breese Lawn and Garden was made by Kori, second by Amy. Roll call vote: Aye – Mary Lou Voss, Laura Jansen, Kori Voss, Tanya Kampwerth, Tim Richter, Amy Kruse. Nay – None

Our John Deere Zero Turn mower is also a few years past its prime. The mower currently has 2,538 hours and is a couple years overdue for replacement. We recently reached out to Reichmann John Deere to see what it would cost for a new, similar replacement for our mower. Reichmann stated that a new John Deere mower would be $21,000, but they would give us $6,500 as a trade for our old mower…making the total cost $14,500. We also received a price from Breese Lawn and Garden on a new 72inch Stihl Commercial Zero Turn. The list price on the mower is $19,200, but Breese Lawn and Garden said they would sell us the machine at their cost, which is $15,700. As of the time of writing this packet, Breese Lawn and Garden has not yet given me a price for our trade in. Once we see that number, we can either decide to trade the John Deere in, or sell it via public bid. Either way, due to the cost savings, it will be my recommendation with the purchase from Breese Lawn and Garden. A motion to purchase a commercial lawn mower from Breese Lawn and Garden was made by Tim, second by Tanya. Roll call vote: Aye – Mary Lou Voss, Laura Jansen, Kori Voss, Tanya Kampwerth, Tim Richter, Amy Kruse. Nay – None

A motion to approve the resolution for the sale of the surplus lawn mower was made by Laura, second by Kori. Roll call vote: Aye – Mary Lou Voss, Laura Jansen, Kori Voss, Tanya Kampwerth, Tim Richter, Amy Kruse. Nay – None

A motion to approve the resolution for the sale of the surplus weight room equipment was made by Amy, second by Kori. Roll call vote: Aye – Mary Lou Voss, Laura Jansen, Kori Voss, Tanya Kampwerth, Tim Richter, Amy Kruse. Nay – None

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT:

The Shadow a Cougar program is currently going on with 76 students signed up! Our freshman mentors have done a terrific job hosting and showing them everything Central has to offer. This year we added a student packet for each shadow, and either myself or Dr. Foutch met with the majority of them at the end of the day.

Meredith Timmermann and Kristen Hogg have taken the lead with AI and have attended a couple webinars with me. The future of AI is still unknown, but it’s being used everyday by students around the world. Mr. Freeze purchased a book titled “AI for Educators” for all teachers in the building. This book serves as an amazing resource on how to use it to benefit instruction in the classroom.

The Central Cougar Academy will be held this year on April 11 from 2:30-5:00. Our student emcee’s will be Maya Bedard, Zach Peters, Mason Hilmes and Julie Kueper. This year’s keynote speaker will be John Foppe from Breese. The keynote is titled “Stepping out and Standing Tall: Empowering Student Resilience.

Congratulations to Central’s Academic Challenge Team for placing first at the Regional Competition held at Kaskaskia College on Wednesday, Feb. 7th.
Individual Medallist were:
- Biology: Abigail Hattan (1st), Grant Creek (2nd)
- Chemistry: Grant Creek(3rd)
- Engineering & Graphics: William Bretz (2nd), Reece Deiters (3rd), Andrew Jansen (3rd)
- English: Andrew Jansen (1st)
- Mathematics: Abigail Hattan (3rd), Anthony Huegen (3rd)
- Physics: Chris Richter (3rd), Mason Shubert (3rd)
The sectionals are scheduled for March 1 @ SWIC

Central FFA had a successful night at the section public speaking contest. - JV Extemporaneous speaking - 5th place Caiden Litteken, 6th Place - Grace Henrichs
- JV Prepared - Cara Carrillon - 6th place
- Creed speaking - 2nd place Blake Wolter - 4th place - Peyton Markus - Varsity Prepared - 6th place Shelby Hagen
- Varsity Extemporaneous - 1st place Cole Bruggemann
Cole and Blake will both advance to the district contest in April!

LifeSavers sponsored self-care week February 12-15. The week was full of dress up days and included a raffle free of charge for a chance to win a pair of airpods or bluetooth speakers. A huge thank you to Lauren Langhauser and Trisha Lohman for being our LifeSaver Sponsors

Mr. Freeze spoke about the English Department and incorporating Transitional English into the syllabus. Also he mentioned the possibility of adding an additional English Teacher to help with the overflowing class list.


The board adjourned the meeting on a motion by Kori, second by Amy at 6:38PM. Roll call vote: Aye –Laura Jansen, Mary Lou Voss, Kori Voss, Tanya Kampwerth, Tim Richter, Amy Kruse. Nay – None

Mary Lou Voss                    Amy Kruse                  

Board President                                    Board Secretary