East Central Reporter

Casey Westfield Community Unit School District C-4 Board of Education met April 21.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Call to order at 7:00 P.M.

1. Roll call.

The Casey-Westfield Board of Education met in regular session at 7:00 P.M. on Monday, April 21, 2025 at the Unit Office, 401 E. Main, Casey, IL. Upon roll call, members present were Clement, Fain, Gelb, Sharp, Huddlestun, Todd, and Hickox (phone). Administrators present were Kacie Rhoads, Jim Sullivan, Mike Shackelford, and Audra Taylor

2. Recognize visitors.

The following visitors were recognized: Mike Fouty, Laura Weber, Christian Brown, Jennifer Harris, Brittany Kibler, and Elizabeth Collins .

1) A Public Hearing was conducted to receive public comment on a proposed waiver of 105 ILCS 5/17-1.5 to allow the District to waiver the limitation on administrative costs for school year 2024-2025. Administrative costs were more than 5% higher in FY 25 than in FY 24 because the District employed a full time Superintendent as opposed to a part time, interim in FY 24.

2) Laura Weber, Christian Brown of GRP/Wegman were present to discuss the schedule of upcoming work on Monroe and the Jr/Sr HS, as well as to answer questions the Board and Administration have about the projects and schedule.

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

A. Minutes of the regular meeting of March 17, 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.

D. Approve the scheduled disposal of records for FY25

E. To authorize the Superintendent to solicit bids for bakery and milk products for the 2025- 2026 school year.

F. To authorize the Superintendent to solicit bids for gasoline and diesel fuel for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

G. To approve a working agreement with HOPE of East Central Illinois.

H. Approve a contract for 2025-26 with Bolin Fuel, Oil, & Propane for propane.

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

4) Act upon the approval of the purchase of 150 Acer 511 Chromebooks, with licenses, from Konica-Minolta All Covered at a cost of $43,665.00. Mr. Shackelford reported that we also received proposals form Two-Trees Technologies for $55,950 and CDW-G for $51,275.

Motion by Clement, seconded by Gelb to approve the purchase of 150 Chromebooks. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Hickox, Todd, Sharp, Huddlestun, Clement, Fain, and Gelb. The President declared the motion carried.

5) Act upon the approval of a proposal from D&K Bennett, Inc to refinish gym floors at Monroe, Roosevelt, and the Jr/Sr HS at a total cost of $8,680. Mr. Shackelford reported that we also received proposals from Haflich Hardwoods for $16,981 and Pike Systems for $16,580. D&K does the floors of other districts in our area and those districts are happy with their work.

Motion by Sharp, seconded by Hickox to approve the proposal from D&K Bennet, Inc. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Huddlestun, Clement, Fain, Gelb, Hickox, Todd, and Sharp. The President declared the motion carried.

6) Act upon the approval of the purchase of Maintenance and Custodial supplies for the 2025-2026 school year from Lorenze Supply of Mattoon, Illinois at a cost of $39,036

Mr. Shackelford reported that the district also received pricing from HD Supply for $45,000 and and Hillyard for $50,000.

Motion by Clement, seconded by Todd to approve the purchase of Maintenance and Custodial supplies for 2025-2026. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Sharp, Huddlestun, Clement, Fain, Gelb, Hickox, and Todd. The President declared the motion carried.

7) Act upon the approval of the purchase of the copy/printer paper supply for the 2025-2026 school year from the Contract Paper Group, Inc. at a cost of $15,336.00

Motion by Clement, seconded by Gelb to approve the purchase of copy paper from Contract Paper Group, Inc. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Hickox, Todd, Sharp, Huddlestun, Clement, Fain, and Gelb. The President declared the motion carried.

8) Administrator Reports

o Jr/Sr HS Principal, Jim Sullivan, recognized Cheryl Johnson, Karla Waymoth, Sarah Richardson, and Jennifer Harris for their work with the junior class on preparing for the ACT Test coming on April 23rd. The BIO II Class attended the STEM event at Lake Land College recently and the Science and Math departments took 39 juniors to Lake Land on April 3. They were grouped and rotated through Chemistry, Physics, Anatomy, Math, and Microbiology/Biology sessions. They discovered numerous STEM Careers, used up-to-date lab equipment, and learned of Lake Land's Engineering Pathways Program. Any students accepted into the program have guaranteed acceptance, upon completion, to the University of Illinois College of Engineering. Mrs. Ramsey had eight students participate in "Math Madness" for 6 weeks. This was an online competition where we competed against other schools from across the US, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. Students competed individually and as teams, and the top 5 scores from our team were combined to make our school's score. Our record was 2-4, a significant accomplishment as most schools were private or charter. The students who participated were Lexi Boyd, Kolton Davidson, Alanna Clark, Peyton Birchfield, Corbin Easton, Chloe Taylor, Jack Mumford, and Gabriel Cornejo.

Mrs. Waymoth’s ACES competed at the state competition on April 14th at Eastern. Zoe Miller placed 5th in biology and 1st in English! Mr. Eckerty’s Senior Math class is beginning its last unit on budgets and taxes. They started by creating a spreadsheet to display a monthly budget. The students were introduced to using formulas to calculate their net income.

o Monroe Elementary Principal, Kacie Rhoads, reported that IAR State Testing went well. Students worked hard and enjoyed earning tickets and rewards. All make- up testing is complete. Students and staff raised over $600 on Friday, April 4 for a local family. The First and Second grade program, the Musical Telling of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, was a huge success. The PTO Coin Wars raised $2,523.66. Students had fun putting their coins into teachers’ bins (usually to sabotage them!) We are looking forward to the debut of the 5/6 grade choir at the end of the year awards. They will be singing the song, “How Far I’ll Go”, from Moana. We are grateful for the recent visit from David and Lisa Dhom from Newton. Their presentation on bees and beekeeping was a fantastic complement to our science curriculum. The students even got to taste test honey. The University of Illinois Extension Office has started coming on Wednesdays to present their “Let’s Get Growing” lessons. These ongoing STEM activities have been very beneficial, allowing our students to learn about plants and soil. The Strong Girls program is off to a great start. We have 22 4th-6th graders participating.

o Superintendent, Mike Shackelford, recognized Mallory Foster for her continued work with the Illinois State Board of Education on the DLM Alternate Assessment modules. The Bond closing was held for the Series 2025 HLS Bonds on April 15. The proceeds were deposited in our account at Casey State Bank. Jessica Stinson of CSB has also confirmed that the funds have been fully collateralized. The District received several requests for information from commercial organizations this month. Mr. Shackelford provided a review of the District’s budget through the first 3 quarters of the fiscal year. Overall, the District is running slightly under budget. We have received certification of election results from Clark County, and expect certifications from Cumberland, Coles, Jasper, and Crawford in the next couple of days. Once those are received, we will need to hold a special meeting to seat the new Board. The deadline to do this is May 11, 2025. No date was set, but the Board discussed a possible special meeting on May 5, 2025 at 7:00 pm.

9) Addendum

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

Motion by Todd, seconded by Sharp to adjourn to closed session. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Clement, Fain, Gelb, Hickox, Todd, Sharp, and Huddlestun. The President declared the motion carried at 7:46 pm.

11) Act upon approval to reconvene to regular session.

Motion by Huddlestun, seconded by Sharp to reconvene to regular session. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Clement, Fain, Gelb, Hickox, Todd, Sharp, and Huddlestun. The President declared the motion carried at 8:21 pm.

12) Act upon approval of closed session minutes of March 17, 2025.

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

13) Act upon approval of employment recommendations.

The Board accepted the resignation of Jalyn Chrysler as Title I Interventionist; Zach Kuhn as Custodian at Roosevelt and Jr/Sr HS; Mike Brandenburg as HS Baseball Assistant Coach; and Josh Roberts as HS Girls Basketball Head Coach. The Board approved the reassignment of Kristy Redman from Classroom Aide to Title I Interventionist for the 2025- 26 school year. The Board approved the employment of Cole Borders and Jeff Schnetzler as HS Social Studies teachers for the 2025-2026 school year.

14) Addendum

15) Act upon approval to adjourn.

Motion by Huddlestun, seconded by Clement to adjourn the meeting. Upon roll call, members voting yea were: Fain, Gelb, Hickox, Todd, Sharp, Huddlestun, and Clement. The President declared the meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm.

https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1373/Casey_Westfield/5557872/Tentative_Minutes_4-21-25.pdf