Following is a summary of minutes of a regular meeting of the Board of Education of Jasper County
Community Unit School District No. 1 held in the office of the Board of Education on Monday, October
18, 2021 at 6:30pm. Board members present were Mrs. Mandy Rieman, Mrs. Holly Farley, Mr. Bill
Meinhart, Mr. Jerry L. Jed Earnest, Mr. Jason Kuhl, Mr. Brady Shull and Mrs. Mandi Utley. Members
absent: None.
All votes are considered unanimous unless otherwise noted.
Mandy Rieman called the meeting to order.
Agenda was approved as presented.
There were 2 FOIA requests. 1 from Data Research Partners and 1 from Jerry L. Jed Earnest.
Approval to pull financials from the consent agenda.
Approval of the Consent Agenda:
Regular Minutes for September 20, 2021, Special Minutes for September 27, 2021 and closed session
minutes from the Special Meeting on September 27, 2021,
Destruction of closed session recording for August 19, 2019,
Volunteer – Larry McClain for NCHS Girls Basketball to start with the 2021-2022 season,
Donations: $310 to the NCHS Chorus – Anonymous Donor,
$10,092.77 for training room upgrades – Newton Athletic Boosters,
$1,739.96 from the First National Bank of Olney for new tennis court lights,
$3,000 from First Baptist Church for FCA,
Technology items declared as surplus.
Mandy Rieman asked for recognition of guests and public comments. Andy Pullen spoke of several
concerns he had regarding April 2021 election and bond issue.
Krista McClaren of Kempers CPA Group in Olney presented the FY21’ Audit. The district received a clean
audit as of June 30, 2021 receiving a 4.0 financial rating which is a perfect score. Approval of the FY’21
audit.
Approval to appoint Mandy Rieman as the delegate to represent the board at the joint annual
conference in November. Mandy has done this for our district for several years now.
Approval of the memorandum of understanding with JCEA for teacher evaluations for FY22’.
Performance evaluations are waived for all tenured teachers during the 2021-2022 school year.
Probationary teachers will be evaluated during the 2021-2022 school year. This is that same contract
that was agreed to in FY21’ for the tenured teaching staff. The process is a two year rotation for all
tenure certified staff.
Task Order 15 with Farnsworth (JH/HS Elevator) has been tabled until the November board meeting.
Mr. Earnest stated that this type of work must be bid and this was not bid therefore no action should be
followed out at this meeting. It was also stated by Mr. Earnest that the contract with Farnsworth has
expired and statute states this must be bid. Therefore, more research will be followed out by Mr.
Johnson for the purpose of making sure the proper method to accomplish this work is carried out by the
Board of Education.
Approval of 2020 Newton Station Settlement Agreement. Mr. Earnest did ask who negotiated this
agreement and Mr. Johnson stated that Mr. Paul Woods, Andrew D. Johnson, worked with Scott
Ginsburg with Robin and Schwartz Law Firm to finalize this agreement. All taxing entities were involved
in the initial meeting with the attorney firm. Ayes: Shull, Kuhl, Rieman, Farley, Utley, Meinhart. Nays:
Earnest. Motion carried 6-1.
Approval to direct the Superintendent to seek and negotiate project proposals with Farnsworth Group
and Holland Construction for architectural and construction management services related to a potential
HVAC project, and to present recommended proposals, if any, to the Board for consideration. The
rationale for this action is to move to the next step in seeking the best process to provide an upgrade to
the HVAC (heating and cooling) for the Newton Elementary Building and the Jasper County Junior High
School and Newton Community High School. Grant money has been designated for this project – if that
money is not spent by September 30, 2023 for ESSER II and September 2024 for ARP (ESSER III), the
district will not be eligible to use the grant money for this project.
Approval of FY22’ FFA Alumni and JCCU1 Agreement. Identical agreement to the previous couple years
since this grant became eligible.
Approval of 3 Circles Ag Grant for John Lidy, Brock Tarr and Travis Tarr. Identical agreement to the
previous couple years since this grant became eligible.
Approval of a leave of absence for Nichole Lidy, JCJH Special Education Teacher effective October 26,
2021 through November 29, 2021.
Under the superintendent’s report:
Mrs. Probst reported on the strategic plan – student involvement. The JCCU#1 School District will strive
to engage all students by offering a diverse set of additional programs and extracurricular activities from
Kindergarten through grade 12.
Bill Meinhart updated the board on the District Strategic Plan:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-
1vTk705ZVKxGkdzfXdq59b44JJC8B_n8GPid7WeSLAFNd3cNbIcHle_nBqMVcLX8or8jIp_P2Ka_2UyQ/pub
Certificates of Public School Recognition have been received from Regional Office of Education #12. The
district received Full Recognition. This process was not active over the past couple years. But the Illinois
State Board of Education has begun the process again starting this year.
Mr. Bill Meinhart provided Mandy Rieman with the Illinois Association State Board Master School Board
Member Award. This is a point process for attending and being involved in many opportunities that the
IASB provide from July 1 of one year until June 30 of the next year. We appreciate all that Mandy does
for our own district, but also representing our area in the Wabash Valley Region and at the State level!!
The board went into executive session at 8:06pm for 5 ILCS 120/2 ( c ) ( 1 ) – To consider information
Regarding Appointment, Employment or Dismissal of Individual Employees and 5 ILCS 120/2 9 c ) (5) –
Purchase or lease of real property.
Approval to return to open session at 8:40pm.
Meeting adjourned at 8:42 pm.
Next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 15, 2021 at 6:30pm at the Board Office.
