Grundy Reporter

Gardner-South Wilmington High School #73 Board of Education met Nov. 1.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT: Principal, Mr. John Engelman, reported on the following:

• Curriculum meetings – Mr. Engelman, Mr. DeLong and Ms. Kilmer have met with several teachers to discuss future curriculum. They will have about 4 or 5 suggestions at next month’s meeting. They would like to move forward with some new classes for next school year.

• ISU Trip – on Wed, November 3rd Ms. Kilmer and Mr. Engelman took 13 Juniors on a college day visit to Illinois State University.

• Western Illinois University – Today, Nov. 17th, a college rep for WIU was at GSW during both lunch hours. When she left, she told Mr. Engelman a lot of great things about our GSW students.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT: Mr. John Engelman, Athletic Director, reported on the following:

• Basketball season is underway. Our girls’ team started this week playing in the Reed Custer Tournament. We only have 14 girls total this year, so we will be playing Varsity games 1st starting at 5:30 PM, followed by JV games. The JV games will be 5-minute quarters with a 5-minute half-time. Our boys’ teams will start-up next week playing in Coal City at the Turkey Tournament.

BUILDING AND GROUNDS REPORT: Mr. Josh DeLong presented the following:

• Boiler – the boiler is up and running with very few leaks. Pope Joy was out and repaired all of our major 6-inch pipe issues.

• Kitchen / café – all of our remaining equipment is in and being put to use.

• Scoreboard – the new scoreboard is up and ready for use.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT: Mr. DeLong presented on the following:

• Trip I Conference = The Annual School Board Conference is this weekend Nov. 19-21. All members will be attending this year.

• Course changes = Administration has had a lot of great feedback from the staff about curriculum changes. New courses, STEAM program, social/emotional classes, honor classes, etc. have all been discussed and will be brought to the board at next month’s meeting.

• Joint Committee Update = Mr. Engelman & Mrs. Heerdt are our joint-committee. A new law was passed that all tenured teachers only have to be evaluated every few years. If a tenured teacher likes their rating, it will be left the same. If they want a higher rating, they would ask to be evaluated more often.

• Holiday breaks = Thanksgiving Break will be November 24 thru 28. Winter Break will run December 23 thru January 5 – with Jan. 5 being a Teacher Institute Day and students returning on January 6.

• Solar Farm update = The original company, RES, has already sold out to Scout Clean Energy. All this means for GSW is that we have a new contact person. It will still be a few years before work is started on this project.

• GAVC Director’s Award – Jasmine Wampler, Advanced Teaching Methods – Jasmine is a Senior at GSW High School and this is her 2nd year attending GAVC.

• GEDC Committee – Mr. DeLong received a phone call from Nancy Norton with the GEDC. He has been nominated to be on the committee. He has accepted this position and will serve From January 2022 until June 2022 as a rep for GSW High School. There are 4 meetings a year, all of which are held during the day on work hours. There is also a $250.00 fee per year for supporting this group.

• Hall of Fame = GSW selected 2 inductees during our Panther Hall of Fame committee meeting held tonight, Nov. 17th (Richard Joyce and George Bexson). They will be inducted on Friday, January 14thduring our Homecoming Basketball game, along with the 2 nominees from last school year (Leroy Brandt and David Doglio)

• Class of 2022 graduation – plans are to hold the ceremony “outside” on Sunday, May 15 at 12 noon. If inclement weather, then we will move it indoors to the gym with the same starting time.

• Estimated Tax Levy presentation = Mr. DeLong reviewed numbers with board members. The tax rate will not go up, it will stay the same or may even go down. A Notice about the Hearing will be in The Paper a week before our December meeting.

ACTION ITEMS:

• Accept the resignation of Superintendent Josh DeLong effective on June 30, 2022

• Accept the resignation of Dion Tjelle as custodian

• Approve John Sippel, Jr. as part-time custodian

• Approve Barb Harmann as part-time kitchen worker

• Appoint Mr. DeLong and Mr. Engelman as district representatives for SB& committee

• Estimate of Aggregate Tax Levy

• Truth in Taxation Resolution since the proposed tax levy exceeds 105% of last year’s tax levy extension

• Reciprocal reporting agreement with Grundy County State’s Attorney

• Revise non-certified staff contracts to add the same bereavement day language as the collective bargaining agreement

https://www.gswhs73.org/vimages/shared/vnews/stories/53b4271773d6c/November%2017,%202021%20Board%20Briefs.pdf