NORMAL – The costs of two items offered to parents that are paid with student fees will be going up when the 2009-2010 school year begins in August.
The increases for the two items — Student Insurance and School Lunches – were approved as part of an omnibus agenda at the regular meeting of Normal’s Unit 5 School Board at District headquarters May 27.
The insurance, which is an optional item to parents, will now cost parents of K-12 students during school hours $20, an increase of $2 from past years.
Jim Gillmeister, Unit 5’s Chief Financial Officer, said the costs of around-the-clock coverage and coverage for football players will be unchanged. Around-the-clock coverage will remain $90, and coverage for football players will remain $145.
Student insurance premiums are established by National Student Accident Insurance, and the policies are written and serviced by Normal-based Van Gundy Insurance Agency.
Lunches will also cost more starting next school year. Lunch fees at both elementary and secondary school levels will go up five cents – Student lunches up to $1.65, and adult lunches up to $2.15 at the elementary schools, while student lunches will go up to $1.70, and adult lunches will go up to $2.20 at the secondary schools.
In a memo to District Superintendent Gary Niehaus, Gillmeister said the lunch cost increases were recommended in light of increased cost of both food and compensation of food service personnel.
New Principal For Towanda Elementary: Board members approved and announced that Karrah Jensen has been named the new principal at Towanda Elementary School, effective July 1. A nine-year Unit 5 veteran, she currently is a fourth grade teacher at Pepper Ridge Elementary School. Jensen, married and mother of one, was one of nine educators who were in the running for the job.
NCHS’ “Good Newsâ€: Normal Community High School officials shared two items during the meeting’s “good news†segment with the Board. First, NCHS senior Sara Roper was recognized for her attendance at the State Skills USA Conference. She received a Presidential Scholarship. She will use that scholarship toward her attending Heartland Community College. She told Board members she was interested in going into Nursing. She will also attend a National Conference in Kansas City later this month.
NCHS also recognized four students for their performance on their Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) tests. WYSE exams were administered on April 6 at Wheaton College.
The following students were recognized for getting top scores in specific subjects: Alexander Schlehuber, a junior, in Chemistry; Chris Baldwin, a senior, in Graphics; David Thompson, a senior, in Physics; and Matthew Ware, a senior, in Physics.
Two other NCHS students received honors for winning certificates for their scores in the “WYSE SMART Challenge.†Those students were sophomore Esha Wang, for earning the highest score in Chemistry; and sophomore Blake Cecil, for earning the highest score in Consumer Education and General Business.
Cecil and Wang were also among nine students to win certificates in Math. In addition to Cecil and Wang, certificates went to sophomores Raj Kadiyala, Sukumar Lagadapati, Sam Lee, Grace Leighton, Shoba Sridhar, and Sam Wylde, as well as to freshman Mahendra Reddy.
Fairview Elementary’s “Good Newsâ€: Mr. Lotus Hershberger and Mrs. Chris Culbertson were recognized for the work they do with the “Math Club†at Fairview Elementary School.
James Shaw, Principal at Fairview Elementary, explained that the help volunteers like Hershberger and Culbertson “helps enhance the education of Fairview students.â€
Disposal Of District Records Discussed: Record keeping in a district as large as Unit 5 has proven to be a big job. Properly disposing of those records, depending on their age has become a task for the district. Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Jim Braksick updated Board members on how the disposal process was going.
Braksick began by explaining that there were records found for the schools in the outlying areas of the county, dating back to late 1800s. He said that sometime this Summer, “some 700 boxes of records†will be disposed of.
He said that under the Illinois Records Act, permanent records must be kept for 60 years, while temporary records must be kept for five years.
Braksick said the district discovered that it had personnel records of employees dating back to 1948, which had been filed alphabetically. He said before the District can dispose of the records it desires to, it must receive a certificate from the State of Illinois. Once the certificate is received, Unit 5 can destroy those records.
Braksick said Unit 5 is also setting some long-range goals with regard to record-keeping. Those include:
Develop a procedure to annually seek a records disposal certificate from the State.
Establish a process for disposing of records annually.
Provide annual training of administrators, administrative assistants, nurses, and other staff members responsible for student records.
Centralize current records of students no longer attending Unit 5 schools.
Determine a need for procedures regarding other district records in the areas of transportation, finance and business, and food service
“Executive On Loan†Recognized: Niehaus and Board members honored Tom Laxton, an executive with State Farm Insurance who has been on loan to the district for the past year. Laxton, who works in the Executive Leadership Section of State Farm’s Public Affairs Division, has been working on projects with the District.
“(Tom) opened a level of conversation, not just between Unit 5 and State Farm, but also between Unit 5 and (Bloomington’s) District 87,†Niehaus said.
Part of Laxton’s assignment while with Unit 5 was to figure out how the insurance company could help the individual schools, Niehaus said.
Niehaus explained that from Laxton, the district learned “that State Farm is interested in what Unit 5 is doing, from (State Farm President) Ed Rust’s office down, and we’ll miss him.â€
“This is a tremendous district,†Laxton told Board members. “You have some tremendous advocates for kids.â€
Laxton, a 30-year State Farm employee, started his “on-loan†assignment with Unit 5 last April.