Young to lead PHS Board
PRINCETON — The Princeton High School Board wants to make it easier for people to attend their meetings.
At Wednesday’s reorganizational meeting, the PHS Board agreed to move its meeting time back 30 minutes from the current 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month, starting with the July meeting.
Board member Gary Coates brought the recommendation to the board, saying the suggestion came out of the recent candidate forums held prior to the April 5 election. The comment was made that the 5:30 p.m. meeting time could make it difficult for some community members to get home from work in time to attend the school board meetings. The 6 p.m. meeting time could get more people to board meetings, Coates said.
On the other hand, Superintendent Kirk Haring said the earlier 5:30 p.m. starting time does give students and other people time to get to other possible evening commitments.
After further discussion, the board unanimously approved the 6 p.m. starting time, with the decision to be reviewed after six months.
In other business at Wednesday’s reorganizational meeting, the board unanimously elected John Young to his third term as board president. Young has served on the board for 11 years and as board president for four years.
When contacted Thursday, Young said the biggest challenge facing the PHS district is finances because of the uncertainty as to what the state will contribute to the education of PHS students. The board will have to continue to be very proactive as it handles the finances of the district in order to not jeopardize the quality education which PHS offers. The PHS Board wants to make sure it does everything it can to give a solid education to every student, Young said.
In other action at Wednesday’s meeting, the board unanimously elected Colleen Sailer as vice president of the board. Sailer has been on the board for about 18 months, having been appointed to the board in November 2009 to fill the position of retiring board member Bob Jesse. Sailer replaces former board member Jane Fredenhagen as vice president.
The board appointed Margo Obenhaus as recording secretary for the board, Pat Boesch as district treasurer, and Coates as the board representative to the Illinois Association of School Boards.
In other business, the board accepted canvass results from the April 5 election, as received from Bureau County Clerk Kami Hieronymus. Those results showed Sailer as the top vote-getter for a two-year term with 56.6 percent of the cast votes. Top voter-getters for the three open seats for four-year terms were Coates with 23.5 percent of the votes, Al Taylor with 21.8 percent of the votes, and Stephanie VanOrdstrand with 19.9 percent of the votes.
Board committee assignments were announced as follows: Sailer and Young to the Budget and Finance Committee, Coates and Taylor to the Buildings and Grounds Committee, and VanOrdstrand and Young to the Policy Committee.
The board also expressed its appreciation to outgoing board members Gary Hanna and Jane Fredenhagen for their years of service to the district.
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