Monitoring COVID Numbers a High Priority For Mascoutah School District
By Keith Gillett
Herald Publications
MASCOUTAH – With just four items of business on the agenda last week, it was one of the shortest Mascoutah District 9 School Board meetings in quite awhile. Dealing with the pandemic was still a high priority.
Superintendent Dr. Craig Fiegel told the Board that the District continues to monitor the COVID 19 situation very closely.
“The Administration is working with principals and looking at individual classes and school situations to determine if a specific class might need to be remote. The guidance from the state is for us to remain in school. There are no metrics for changing to remote.
“The shortened daily schedule has allowed staff more time to touch base with students that are absent. It has been helpful to support our students’ absences. The District will continue with this schedule until numbers start to come down.” Fiegel said.
In other business the Board:
• Approved the purchase and replacement of a new compressor on the chiller at Scott Elementary School for nearly $28,000. Eventually, new chillers will need to be replaced at both SES and Mascoutah Middle School in the next five to ten years for close to $280,000, items that are budgeted in the Capital Improvement Plan for the District.
• Designated Dr. Fiegel and Dr. Frank Williams to prepare the tentative FY 2023 budget as required by Illinois statute which states: “Such budget shall be prepared in tentative form by some person or persons by the board, and in such tentative form shall be made conveniently available to public inspection for at least 30 days prior to final action.”
• Approved following a closed session, that executive session minutes from July to December 2021 are available for public review, however, audiotapes older than 18 months (Jan to June 2020) will be destroyed. Because there is no pending litigation, the tapes will be destroyed.
• Accepted the donation of a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 valued at $5,000 and a John Deere combine valued at $12,500 for Mascoutah High School’s FFA program.
The plan is to use both of them as disassembly and reassembly projects in the shop and not operate them as truck and combine.
Approved the following certified personnel actions:
• Hired Rachael Schneider as an ELA teacher at MHS, and Laurie Martin as an RtI teacher at Wingate Elementary; accepted the resignation of Leah Gregory as the library media specialist. Approved extra duty assignments for Jeanine Sheppard as the robotics team sponsor for MHS and Lisa Albers as the Purple Crush sponsor for MHS.
Approved the following classified personnel actions:
• Hired Christie Barnes as an individual care aide and Savannah Larcom as a bus driver. Approved Anita Kearney as a Purple Crush sponsor at MHS.
