School bids out next month; GHS students to
design foyer artwork
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
After four hours and 15 minutes of joyous time spent together, the Ball-Chatham Board of
Education adjourned its regular meeting for December Monday night as the clock closed in on 11 p.m.
There were a number of important items discussed, with an overflow crowd, and then some, on
hand for much of the evening.
The board honored the Glenwood Middle School 7th grade girls basketball state championship
team, and there were a large group of district teachers in attendance, all showing support for
proposed district-wide curriculum changes spear-headed by Christy Mulligan of the Gretchen
Courtney Group, which is a literacy engineering firm based in the Chicago suburbs.
•Progress continues to be made with plans for the still-unnamed new elementary school. Greg
Goebel of Ittner and Douglas Lim of Gilbane were on hand to update the board, with the schedule
being slightly modified in the coming months.
The board will now approve the final bid specifications and drawings at the Jan. 25 meeting, with
bids being sought immediately after board approval. The bid process will last through Feb. 25, with
final reviews and recommendations coming to the board for a special meeting March 10.
At that meeting, the board will award the bids, with construction starting as soon as the spring
thaw in April. The target goal of the school being fully operational and open in August 2011 remains.
There was considerable discussion revolving around the foyer area of the new school. Walking in
the main entrance, visitors, parents and students alike will all see the outer glass wall of the Art room
in the foyer. This wall will have a unique design, one that is expected to be designed by students at
Glenwood High School.
A competition will be held and the winning design will be burned into the glass itself, complete
with back lights and quotes to complete the design on each side. The material will be tempered
laminated glass.
Also, Supt. Bob Gillum said the artwork could tie in with the name of the new school. With this
project needing to be completed in the second semester of the current school year, the process will
now move forward in a expeditious fashion. The process for naming the new school is also being
discussed.
Administrators expressed a desire to include all students at GHS who would like to participate, not
just the Art students. Final details are still being hashed out.
And in a related matter, the board approved the annexation of the land the new school sits on into
the Village of Chatham. This will allow the Village to commit its resources to the project, including
extending utility and water lines, etc.
The land being annexed was described as the "western and southernmost" portion of the 145
acres the district purchased earlier this year adjacent to Glenwood High School.
•The State of Illinois is in dire financial straits, as most know, and the effects are being felt by
school districts across the entire state. Ball-Chatham is no exception, as Gillum and Dr. Brent
McArdle, interim Chief School Business Official, told the board that the State is $1.6 million behind in
payments to Ball-Chatham at the present time.
In fact, the Comptroller's Office has over a $4 billion backload in unpaid vouchers, meaning the
payments have been approved, but there's no money to cut the actual checks. General State Aid
payments, for the most part, have been coming in on time, McArdle said, and over 99 percent of
property tax revenues have been received, helping the district cope with the shortfall for the time being.
Gillum and McArdle said that if the State does not catch up in its payments, the district will be faced
with possible major budget cuts for the fiscal year 2011 budget, or absorb a $2 or $3 million deficit.
Those difficult decisions loom on the horizon, and Gillum wanted the board and public to be aware
ahead of time.
And again, Ball-Chatham is not alone with these issues, almost every school district in the state
will have some hard choices to make if the State does not fund programs it not only supports, but
mandates.
Gillum said area superintendents recently met with local state legislators, asking for some
straight talk.
"Our fear is will we ever get this money, and if so, when?" Gillum said. "We made a plea to the
legislators to tell us the bad news up front; don't tell us we are getting something and not give it to us.
Our message was no more unfunded mandates."
•The process for the formal withdrawal of Ball-Chatham from the Sangamon Area Special
Education District (SASED) continues to move forward, with both the BCEA and SASED teachers'
union (SEA) ratifying the agreement. The Ball-Chatham board has also approved the agreement, and
now all other area school boards involved with SASED will have to do the same.
•The board approved the tentative school calendars for 2010-11 and 2011-12. Of note, the dates
for spring break are changing, and will be determined by the Calendar Committee.
With Easter coming very late in 2011 (April 24), Gillum said it set off some alarm bells that maybe
the district needs to have a set time for spring break, rather than an arbitrary time determined by a
holiday (Easter) that changes dates on the calendar every year.
It was determined that having spring break in a more appropriate time in the academic calendar
would be a better approach. Bringing students back for three weeks of classes to close out the
school year after a week-long break got everyone's attention, Gillum added.
Spring break will now occur at the end of the third quarter, falling in the third or fourth week of
March each spring. However, the final decision will rest with the Calendar Committee, the board
determined, on a year-by-year basis.
The break for Easter will consist of having a four-day weekend, Friday through Monday, though
Gillum said there could be consideration to change it to Thursday through Sunday in future
discussions.
Spring break in 2011 will be held March 19 through March 27, and in 2012 it will be from March 17
through March 25. Tentative calendars will continue to be given in two-year fashion, Gillum said, to
allow parents to plan vacations or trips. The first day of school for 2010-11 will be Aug. 18, 2010.
•Mulligan's presentation on the literacy audit lasted a half-hour with some questions and answers
with board members following. She has been working on the project for several months, and has
met with a number of teachers in the district.
The final document will be presented at the next board meeting, and the audit is all-
encompassing, spanning all grade levels in the district.
Mulligan said her findings show two main themes, the first dealing with major inconsistencies
with how staff members approach teaching their students. The second involves establishing a clear
set of reading expectations at each school site.
"There is a need for systemic change," Mulligan stated. "We want to see consistencies from
classroom to classroom."
There was one main point to Mulligan's presentation, and it all centered on Reading. Reading
drives virtually every subject, and it will be from that focus point that the district should move forward,
she said.
Her areas of improvement to focus on include: instruction content and delivery, update reading
materials (more non-fiction and non-narrative), offering struggling reader support, reading
assessment and administrative support.
Mulligan said support from administrators and teachers has been strong, and administrators on
hand concurred. A comprehensive report will be provided in January, and the board will then have to
decide the next course of action should they want to proceed.
design foyer artwork
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
After four hours and 15 minutes of joyous time spent together, the Ball-Chatham Board of
Education adjourned its regular meeting for December Monday night as the clock closed in on 11 p.m.
There were a number of important items discussed, with an overflow crowd, and then some, on
hand for much of the evening.
The board honored the Glenwood Middle School 7th grade girls basketball state championship
team, and there were a large group of district teachers in attendance, all showing support for
proposed district-wide curriculum changes spear-headed by Christy Mulligan of the Gretchen
Courtney Group, which is a literacy engineering firm based in the Chicago suburbs.
•Progress continues to be made with plans for the still-unnamed new elementary school. Greg
Goebel of Ittner and Douglas Lim of Gilbane were on hand to update the board, with the schedule
being slightly modified in the coming months.
The board will now approve the final bid specifications and drawings at the Jan. 25 meeting, with
bids being sought immediately after board approval. The bid process will last through Feb. 25, with
final reviews and recommendations coming to the board for a special meeting March 10.
At that meeting, the board will award the bids, with construction starting as soon as the spring
thaw in April. The target goal of the school being fully operational and open in August 2011 remains.
There was considerable discussion revolving around the foyer area of the new school. Walking in
the main entrance, visitors, parents and students alike will all see the outer glass wall of the Art room
in the foyer. This wall will have a unique design, one that is expected to be designed by students at
Glenwood High School.
A competition will be held and the winning design will be burned into the glass itself, complete
with back lights and quotes to complete the design on each side. The material will be tempered
laminated glass.
Also, Supt. Bob Gillum said the artwork could tie in with the name of the new school. With this
project needing to be completed in the second semester of the current school year, the process will
now move forward in a expeditious fashion. The process for naming the new school is also being
discussed.
Administrators expressed a desire to include all students at GHS who would like to participate, not
just the Art students. Final details are still being hashed out.
And in a related matter, the board approved the annexation of the land the new school sits on into
the Village of Chatham. This will allow the Village to commit its resources to the project, including
extending utility and water lines, etc.
The land being annexed was described as the "western and southernmost" portion of the 145
acres the district purchased earlier this year adjacent to Glenwood High School.
•The State of Illinois is in dire financial straits, as most know, and the effects are being felt by
school districts across the entire state. Ball-Chatham is no exception, as Gillum and Dr. Brent
McArdle, interim Chief School Business Official, told the board that the State is $1.6 million behind in
payments to Ball-Chatham at the present time.
In fact, the Comptroller's Office has over a $4 billion backload in unpaid vouchers, meaning the
payments have been approved, but there's no money to cut the actual checks. General State Aid
payments, for the most part, have been coming in on time, McArdle said, and over 99 percent of
property tax revenues have been received, helping the district cope with the shortfall for the time being.
Gillum and McArdle said that if the State does not catch up in its payments, the district will be faced
with possible major budget cuts for the fiscal year 2011 budget, or absorb a $2 or $3 million deficit.
Those difficult decisions loom on the horizon, and Gillum wanted the board and public to be aware
ahead of time.
And again, Ball-Chatham is not alone with these issues, almost every school district in the state
will have some hard choices to make if the State does not fund programs it not only supports, but
mandates.
Gillum said area superintendents recently met with local state legislators, asking for some
straight talk.
"Our fear is will we ever get this money, and if so, when?" Gillum said. "We made a plea to the
legislators to tell us the bad news up front; don't tell us we are getting something and not give it to us.
Our message was no more unfunded mandates."
•The process for the formal withdrawal of Ball-Chatham from the Sangamon Area Special
Education District (SASED) continues to move forward, with both the BCEA and SASED teachers'
union (SEA) ratifying the agreement. The Ball-Chatham board has also approved the agreement, and
now all other area school boards involved with SASED will have to do the same.
•The board approved the tentative school calendars for 2010-11 and 2011-12. Of note, the dates
for spring break are changing, and will be determined by the Calendar Committee.
With Easter coming very late in 2011 (April 24), Gillum said it set off some alarm bells that maybe
the district needs to have a set time for spring break, rather than an arbitrary time determined by a
holiday (Easter) that changes dates on the calendar every year.
It was determined that having spring break in a more appropriate time in the academic calendar
would be a better approach. Bringing students back for three weeks of classes to close out the
school year after a week-long break got everyone's attention, Gillum added.
Spring break will now occur at the end of the third quarter, falling in the third or fourth week of
March each spring. However, the final decision will rest with the Calendar Committee, the board
determined, on a year-by-year basis.
The break for Easter will consist of having a four-day weekend, Friday through Monday, though
Gillum said there could be consideration to change it to Thursday through Sunday in future
discussions.
Spring break in 2011 will be held March 19 through March 27, and in 2012 it will be from March 17
through March 25. Tentative calendars will continue to be given in two-year fashion, Gillum said, to
allow parents to plan vacations or trips. The first day of school for 2010-11 will be Aug. 18, 2010.
•Mulligan's presentation on the literacy audit lasted a half-hour with some questions and answers
with board members following. She has been working on the project for several months, and has
met with a number of teachers in the district.
The final document will be presented at the next board meeting, and the audit is all-
encompassing, spanning all grade levels in the district.
Mulligan said her findings show two main themes, the first dealing with major inconsistencies
with how staff members approach teaching their students. The second involves establishing a clear
set of reading expectations at each school site.
"There is a need for systemic change," Mulligan stated. "We want to see consistencies from
classroom to classroom."
There was one main point to Mulligan's presentation, and it all centered on Reading. Reading
drives virtually every subject, and it will be from that focus point that the district should move forward,
she said.
Her areas of improvement to focus on include: instruction content and delivery, update reading
materials (more non-fiction and non-narrative), offering struggling reader support, reading
assessment and administrative support.
Mulligan said support from administrators and teachers has been strong, and administrators on
hand concurred. A comprehensive report will be provided in January, and the board will then have to
decide the next course of action should they want to proceed.
Chatham Clarion
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Issue Date: Dec. 24, 2009