Board Report for March 18th School Board Meeting

Jasper County Community Unit #1, Board of Education Meeting

Report March 18, 2024

Recognition of Visitors:

The Jasper County Board of Education and Peoples State Bank recognized the Newton Community High School Illinois State Scholars.
- Elley Bennett, Kye Bergbower, Aleah Higgs, Katie Shamhart, Luke Weber
To be an Illinois State Scholar:
- Perform in the top one-half of your high school class at the end of the third semester prior to graduation*, and/or score at or above the 95th percentile on the ACT or SAT
- Graduate from high school during the academic year in which you were selected as a State Scholar
Brett Lessley from Peoples State Bank awarded all scholars with a silver eagle coin.

Superintendent’s Report:

Legislation out of Springfield

All evidence is pointing to the State of Illinois fully funding the Evidence Based Funding Formula (E.B.F).
Although E.B.F is looked to be fully funded, the categorical funds for transportation and special education will most likely be prorated.
- This means that they will not be funded at 100%.
- This will impact the budget for next year as the District relies on funding for transportation due to the massive square miles of Jasper County.
Currently, the General Assembly has filed:
- 9,476 pieces of legislation
- 5,668 House bills
- 3,808 Senate bills.
- Legislation that affects our education system totals to 1,120 bills.

New Business

Approved Renewal for the IHSA and IESA
Approved to Amend 2023-2024 School Calendar
Approved 2024-2025 School Calendar
- First day of school for students will be on August 14, 2024.
- The five emergency days are from May 19 through May 23, 2025.
- If none of the emergency days are used, the last day of school for students will be on May 16, 2025.
Approved a Contract with Kajeet
- This company provides wifi routers to every bus and activity bus that the district has.
- Students are able to access wifi from all of our transportation vehicles.
- The wifi routers also allow the transportation department to see all our bus locations in real time.

Action out of Executive Session

Approved to keep closed session minutes closed from July 1, 2021 – December 31, 2021

Resignations/Retirement

Approved the Retirement of Tonya Hall as a NES Teacher at the end of the 2026-2027 School Year.
Approved the Retirement of Cindy Frohning as a NCHS Teacher at the end of

the 2025-2026 School Year.

Hires