East Central Reporter

Casey Westfield Community Unit School District C-4 Board of Education met Feb. 24.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Call to order at 7:00 P.M.

1) The Casey-Westfield Board of Education met in regular session at 7:00 P.M. on Monday, February 24, 2025 at the Unit Office, 401 E. Main, Casey, IL. Upon roll call, members present were Clement, Fain, Gelb, Hickox (phone), Sharp, Huddlestun, and Todd. Members absent- None. Administrators present were Kacie Rhoads, Jim Sullivan, Mike Shackelford, Audra Taylor, and Dalton McFarland. 2) The following visitors were recognized: Mike Fouty, Tammy Davis, Kendall King, Betsy Collins, Cody Heer.

2) A Public Hearing was held proposal of the Board of Education to issue $4,500,000 School Fire Prevention and Safety Bonds. Casey resident, Cody Heer, addressed the Board regarding his concerns about the current cost of property taxes in the state of Illinois. Heer reported that Illinois is the 2nd highest state in the US for property taxes. He asked that the Board consider factors such as rising teacher salaries, the cost of doing business, the high cost of improvement projects, interest rates, as well as alternate means of funding while deliberating this decision. President Gelb thanked Mr. Heer for taking the time to address the Board about his concerns and called for any other comments. None were offered. The hearing was declared closed.

3) Kendall King, of King’s Financial Consulting, Inc, was present to address the Board regarding the bond issue. He presented the Board with the current state of the Districts bonding capacity and reviewed the tentative debt service schedule. The District currently has a low ratio of long term debt versus its bonding capacity. The Board thanked Mr. King for his report.

4) Act upon approval of the following consent agenda items:

A. Minutes of the regular meeting of January 27, 2025;

B. Review of the financial and budgetary reports and approval of the current invoices for payment;

C. Destruction of the verbatim record of those meetings 18 months and older as authorized by Board Policy 220 and 220-E1; and

D. 2025-2026 School Calendar

E. Approve the 2024-2025 Support Staff seniority list.

The Board approved the final 2025-2026 school year calendar. The school year will begin with two days of Teacher Institute on August 13 and 14, with students reporting for their first day on August 15.

Motion by Sharp, seconded by Todd to approve the consent agenda. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Huddlestun, Clement, Fain, Gelb, Hickox, Todd, and Sharp. The President declared the motion carried.

5) Act upon the approval of the purchase of a portable shed.

Motion by Clement, seconded by Gelb, to purchase an 8x14 portable shed from Wagler Mini Barn Products at a cost of $3,899. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Hickox, Todd, Sharp, Huddlestun, Clement, Fain, and Gelb. The President declared the motion carried.

6) Administrator Reports

Monroe Elementary Principal, Kacie Rhoads, reported that Monroe students celebrated the 100th day of school on February 3rd with a parade and 100th day activities throughout the day. The Kids Heart Challenge was a resounding success! The goal was to raise $10,000. The total raised by students was $14,665.05. The Read-A-Thon kicks off on Sunday, March 2nd with sign up information going home in backpacks on Friday, February 28. The next Family Reading Night will be March 4th from 5-7 pm, with a Mad Science theme.

Jr/Sr HS Principal, Jim Sullivan, reported that the musical, Annie Jr., will be on Thursday, February 27 and Friday, Febraury 28th at 7:00 pm and Saturday, March 1 at 2:00 pm at Arts Hall. The ACES team placed third at regionals and advanced to sectionals. IHSA Spring sports, as well as IESA Jr. High track will begin on Monday, March 3. Course registration for the 2025-26 school year will begin on Friday, February 28 for high school students and Monday, March 3 for jr. high students. Eighth grade Social Studies students celebrated President’s Day with a Presidential Recital, where they recited the 47 US President in order. Quite impressive! Mr. Sullivan extended congratulations to Tommy Roberts, who was selected as an Illinois State Scholar.

Superintendent Mike Shackelford highlighted the major K-12 education points of Governor Pritzker’s recent FY26 budget proposal. The governor recommended an additional $350 million in Evidence Based Funding, which is the statutory minimum. The governor also recommended an additional $20 million for Mandated Categoricals, and $1.3 million for Career and Technical Education. These recommendations fall well short of the $140 million requested by ISBE to maintain the status quo on reimbursements to districts. He and bookkeeper, Brette Cummins, will be attending a demonstration of the School Insight Financial Management System by Common Goals. The District currently uses School Insight for its student management system, and we are looking for some cost savings by switching to Common Goals for the financial piece.

7) Addendum

8) Act upon approval to adjourn to closed session under c1 (employment), c2 (collective bargaining/salaries) and c21 (discussion closed meeting minutes) of section 5 ILCS 120/1 et seq. of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

Motion by Sharp, seconded by Clement to adjourn to closed session. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Fain, Gelb, Hickox, Todd, Sharp, Huddlestun, and Clement. The President declared the motion carried at 7:24 pm.

9) Act upon approval to reconvene to regular session.

Motion by Sharp, seconded by Todd to reconvene to regular session. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Huddlestun, Clement, Fain, Gelb, Hickox, Todd, and Sharp. The President declared the motion carried at 8:33 pm.

10) Act upon the following consent agenda items:

A. Act upon approval of closed session minutes of January 27, 2025. B. Act upon recommendation to keep closed session minutes closed.

Motion by Clement, seconded by Todd to approve the consent agenda items. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Sharp, Huddlestun, Clement, Fain, Gelb, Hickox, and Todd. The President declared the motion carried.

11) Act upon employment recommendations

- Accepted a letter of retirement from Monroe Library Aide, Rebecca Stutesman, effective at the end of the 2028-2029 school year.

- Accepted a letter of retirement from District Technology Specialist, Stephanie Hanners, effective June 30, 2029.

- Accepted a letter of resignation from Pre-K Special Education teacher, Berdeena Leturno, effective at the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

- Employed Chelsea Cox as 1st Grade teacher for the 2025-2026 school year.

- Employed Branda Schrock as 2-hour cook at Monroe Elementary for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year.

- Employed Dakota Strange as Jr. High Track Assistant coach for the 2024-25 season.

- Approved administrative salary increases of 4% for the Superintendent, Jr/Sr HS Principal, Jr/Sr HS Assistant Principal, and Monroe Elementary Principal for fiscal year 2026.

12) Addendum

Becky Clement asked about the timeline for replacing the parking blocks between the Arts Hall parking lot and the tennis courts. The blocks were moved for the resurfacing of the tennis courts, and are necessary in order to keep people from parking too close to the fence during school days and tennis matches. Mr. Shackelford will check with Maintenance to be sure it is done as soon as the parking lot gets firm enough to drive the loader on without damaging the lot.

13) Act upon approval to adjourn

Motion by Gelb, seconded by Huddlestun to adjourn the meeting. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Clement, Fain, Gelb, Hickox, Todd, Sharp, and Huddlestun. The President declared the meeting adjourned at 8:42 pm.

https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1373/Casey_Westfield/5435019/Tentative_Minutes__February_24__2025.pdf