Ohio Grade School 5-19
OHIO — The Ohio Grade School Board took action on the following items at its meeting May 19:
• Amended the 2008-09 school calendar due to five snow days. The district finished the school year with its required 179 days of attendance on May 27.
• Established dates for board meetings for 2009-10.
• Appointed Marilyn Johnson as district treasurer.
• Authorized Amcore Bank of Princeton, Citizens First National Bank of Princeton, Citizens First State Bank of Walnut, First State Bank of Van Orin, Centrue Bank, Central Bank of Princeton and Illinois School District Liquid Asset Funds as depositories for district funds.
• Appointed Baumann and Associates of Peoria as auditors for the district.
• Appointed Landes, Benson and Parkins of Chillicothe as architect for the district.
• Appointed Ward, Murray, Pace & Johnson, P.C. of Dixon and Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, Ltd. of Chicago as legal representatives for the district.
• Approved a new five-year lease with Illinois Valley Business Equipment for a copier.
• Heard from Superintendent Sharon Flesher that Mr. Wamholf has been repairing the water leaks around the windows. Flesher said there have been more leaks from the last rains, so Wamholf will be coming back to see what more he can do to correct the problem.
• Received the state results of the State Special Education IDEA evaluation and both districts received the highest rating of 4.0 out of 4.0.
• Heard Justin Mapes, director of the Ohio Public Library, has proposed the district enter into a joint agreement between the district’s library and the town library to utilize the online loan materials from the Prairie Cat system. Flesher said this is a very expensive system and will provide additional services to the school in exchange for a small donation equal to the PALS membership fee of $50-$75.
• Heard the staff wished to stay with the same Blue Cross Blue Shield policy. The district received the renewal rates for the employee health insurance from Miller and Buettner and shared them with the staff. The rates have gone up 25 percent.
• Heard Flesher is waiting to get the bills from the water issues to determine where she is on the building funds. She asked the board for a verbal go ahead to hire Jill Thompson to paint and possibly someone else if she finds she has the need and the funds. Mr. Swanson has a resource of free labor from a camp on Tuesdays. They can help empty classrooms and work on the outside of the building. The district may also use B.E.S.T. employees.
• Heard that due to advice from the Bureau and Putnam health departments, the seventh- and eighth-grade trip to Great America was postponed until August.
• Heard from Principal Mark Downey that Sarah Hansen took the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, staff, parents, and some high school students to Outdoor Education in Mt. Carroll, Camp Benson. It was very organized, and the students all had a good time. Besides doing nature hikes and trust activities they also did math, English, etc. Downey thanked Sisler’s who donated ice cream and Avanti’s for donating cheese.
• Heard the awards program and graduation went very well.
The next regularly scheduled meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 23, in the school library.
