Glenwood graduation ceremony to stay at PCCC
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
Following a study conducted by a 12-member Action Team, the Glenwood High School graduation ceremony will remain at the
Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield for the foreseeable future.
GHS principal Jim Lee presented the Action Team's findings at Monday's regular Board of Education meeting. The AT also
recommended that the administration contact other local school districts to gauge their interest in moving their ceremonies to Sunday at
the PCCC in future years.
Other members of the AT included David Hay, Chris Becker, Kevin Moore, Bob Cox, Ryan Bandy, Lisa Weitzel, Alan Harling, Susan
Nation, Rae Long, Amy McKenzie and Scott Johnson.
Currently, Glenwood is locked into the 8 p.m. slot on a Saturday night, usually the first or second week of June. The cost to the district
is $2,400 per year. This arrangement provides plenty of seating (no limits on tickets for graduates and their families) and limited set-up
work for GHS staff.
Issues include having no control over the date or time, seniors not graduating in their own school and parking downtown on a busy
night.
The estimated attendance for a Glenwood graduation ceremony was put at 2,500 to 3,000 in recent years at the PCCC. In order to
accommodate that number of people at the GHS campus, the ceremony would have to be held outside on the football field.
In case of inclement weather, the ceremony would have to be moved inside, either to GHS or the PCCC. Both options were studied
and considered.
Seating inside GHS would have the ceremony being held in the West Gym (1700 seats), with the ceremony being available on
televisions in the Auditorium (700 seats) and Commons (500 seats). Graduates would be limited to five tickets apiece in the West Gym
under that scenario, with two tickets for the Auditorium.
All of this discussion brought forth four different options - keep the ceremony as is at PCCC, move PCCC ceremony to Sunday, move
ceremony to the GHS football field (with indoors at GHS as back-up plan) and move ceremony to the GHS football field (with PCCC as
back-up plan).
Surveys were sent out to both students and parents. Unlimited seating access was a huge factor, with 88 percent of parent
respondents saying they would need five or more tickets. Eighty-three percent of respondents said it was somewhat to very important to
have unlimited seating at graduation.
The time slot issue was also looked at, and moving the ceremony to Sunday at 2 p.m. was the most popular response when staying
at the PCCC.
When costs were studied, the AT learned that moving the ceremony to Sunday would move the price from $2,400 to $5,660. If other
schools could be brought in to use the facility on that date, those costs to Ball-Chatham could be brought down.
Lee also cautioned that if the district gives up its Saturday 8 p.m. slot, it's likely they would not get it back. Costs for holding
graduation at GHS were estimated at $3,000, with most of that money being for speakers, wiring and microphones, along with costs for
custodians and security.
The option of holding graduation at the high school football field, with the PCCC still being rented as a fall-back option, came to a
cost of $5,400 ($3000+$2,400).
In other news from Monday's meeting:
•Jennifer Barham, who has been serving this school year as the Acting Special Education Director, had the "Acting" title removed.
She has completed all the requirements to be a State-Approved Special Education Director, and she will now be known as the Special
Education Director for Ball-Chatham. Her duties will not change.
"I'm very excited," Barham told the Clarion. "This is my 10th year in the district, and I've progressed through the ranks as a teacher,
assistant principal, special education coordinator and now director. I'm very excited to lead a district with high expectations in the area of
special education.
Ball-Chatham broke away from SASED a couple of years ago to form its own special education curriculum, with Janet Bambrick
leading that process.
"It was a seamless transition," Barham stated. "Mr. Gillum and Janet Bambrick, who was my mentor in this process, really did an
excellent job positioning the district and preparing us for the shift from SASED."
•The FY 2011 property tax levy was approved by the board. All of the projected numbers are the same as reported last month. The
overall tax rate is expected to go down, from 4.3131 to 4.3058. This will result in a $2.07 reduction in property taxes for a $100,000 house
on the district's portion of the bill.
The projections assume a 4.76 percent increase in overall EAV, from $626,731,831 to $658,065,947.
•The district's farm land lease renews each March. There are just under 140 acres that are farmed, located at the Second Street
property and the areas around GHS and GES. The cost per acre will go up from $250 to $300.
•New course offerings at GHS for the next school year will include Journalism I and II, along with Spanish for Native Speakers. There
are also changes for the Drama and Chorus curriculums.
•The board approved the addition of a part-time resource officer position to be shared between the elementary schools. The hourly
starting pay was set at $18.
•From closed session, the board upheld the administration's recommendation to dismiss employee Linda Sprinkle for policy and
procedure violations.
•In personnel moves, the board accepted the following resignations: Kim Cooper (bus driver), Charles Clinton (bus monitor), Bill
Lemon (bus driver - retirement), Malia Macken (CE library aide), Carla Ivers (GHS assistant boys tennis coach), Zilda Blazina (school
psychologist), Jennifer Monsour (GE special needs aide) and Emma Ladage (CE special education teacher).
The board voted to employ the following: Don Keith (bus driver), Holly Tiesman (bus driver), Donald England (bus driver), Brian
England (bus driver), Sarah Trine (GE second grade teacher), Kim Davis (BE cafeteria worker), Kristin Barker (BE playground supervisor),
Tyler Morris (BE Pre-K aide), Lisa Hack (CE full-time library aide) and Kami Mergler (CE cafeteria supervisor). Leaves of absence
requests for Marc Kuhn and Jay Lipe were granted.
The board has two meetings in January, the first on Monday, Jan. 9 for Transportation. The regular meeting will be held Monday, Jan.
23.
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
Following a study conducted by a 12-member Action Team, the Glenwood High School graduation ceremony will remain at the
Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield for the foreseeable future.
GHS principal Jim Lee presented the Action Team's findings at Monday's regular Board of Education meeting. The AT also
recommended that the administration contact other local school districts to gauge their interest in moving their ceremonies to Sunday at
the PCCC in future years.
Other members of the AT included David Hay, Chris Becker, Kevin Moore, Bob Cox, Ryan Bandy, Lisa Weitzel, Alan Harling, Susan
Nation, Rae Long, Amy McKenzie and Scott Johnson.
Currently, Glenwood is locked into the 8 p.m. slot on a Saturday night, usually the first or second week of June. The cost to the district
is $2,400 per year. This arrangement provides plenty of seating (no limits on tickets for graduates and their families) and limited set-up
work for GHS staff.
Issues include having no control over the date or time, seniors not graduating in their own school and parking downtown on a busy
night.
The estimated attendance for a Glenwood graduation ceremony was put at 2,500 to 3,000 in recent years at the PCCC. In order to
accommodate that number of people at the GHS campus, the ceremony would have to be held outside on the football field.
In case of inclement weather, the ceremony would have to be moved inside, either to GHS or the PCCC. Both options were studied
and considered.
Seating inside GHS would have the ceremony being held in the West Gym (1700 seats), with the ceremony being available on
televisions in the Auditorium (700 seats) and Commons (500 seats). Graduates would be limited to five tickets apiece in the West Gym
under that scenario, with two tickets for the Auditorium.
All of this discussion brought forth four different options - keep the ceremony as is at PCCC, move PCCC ceremony to Sunday, move
ceremony to the GHS football field (with indoors at GHS as back-up plan) and move ceremony to the GHS football field (with PCCC as
back-up plan).
Surveys were sent out to both students and parents. Unlimited seating access was a huge factor, with 88 percent of parent
respondents saying they would need five or more tickets. Eighty-three percent of respondents said it was somewhat to very important to
have unlimited seating at graduation.
The time slot issue was also looked at, and moving the ceremony to Sunday at 2 p.m. was the most popular response when staying
at the PCCC.
When costs were studied, the AT learned that moving the ceremony to Sunday would move the price from $2,400 to $5,660. If other
schools could be brought in to use the facility on that date, those costs to Ball-Chatham could be brought down.
Lee also cautioned that if the district gives up its Saturday 8 p.m. slot, it's likely they would not get it back. Costs for holding
graduation at GHS were estimated at $3,000, with most of that money being for speakers, wiring and microphones, along with costs for
custodians and security.
The option of holding graduation at the high school football field, with the PCCC still being rented as a fall-back option, came to a
cost of $5,400 ($3000+$2,400).
In other news from Monday's meeting:
•Jennifer Barham, who has been serving this school year as the Acting Special Education Director, had the "Acting" title removed.
She has completed all the requirements to be a State-Approved Special Education Director, and she will now be known as the Special
Education Director for Ball-Chatham. Her duties will not change.
"I'm very excited," Barham told the Clarion. "This is my 10th year in the district, and I've progressed through the ranks as a teacher,
assistant principal, special education coordinator and now director. I'm very excited to lead a district with high expectations in the area of
special education.
Ball-Chatham broke away from SASED a couple of years ago to form its own special education curriculum, with Janet Bambrick
leading that process.
"It was a seamless transition," Barham stated. "Mr. Gillum and Janet Bambrick, who was my mentor in this process, really did an
excellent job positioning the district and preparing us for the shift from SASED."
•The FY 2011 property tax levy was approved by the board. All of the projected numbers are the same as reported last month. The
overall tax rate is expected to go down, from 4.3131 to 4.3058. This will result in a $2.07 reduction in property taxes for a $100,000 house
on the district's portion of the bill.
The projections assume a 4.76 percent increase in overall EAV, from $626,731,831 to $658,065,947.
•The district's farm land lease renews each March. There are just under 140 acres that are farmed, located at the Second Street
property and the areas around GHS and GES. The cost per acre will go up from $250 to $300.
•New course offerings at GHS for the next school year will include Journalism I and II, along with Spanish for Native Speakers. There
are also changes for the Drama and Chorus curriculums.
•The board approved the addition of a part-time resource officer position to be shared between the elementary schools. The hourly
starting pay was set at $18.
•From closed session, the board upheld the administration's recommendation to dismiss employee Linda Sprinkle for policy and
procedure violations.
•In personnel moves, the board accepted the following resignations: Kim Cooper (bus driver), Charles Clinton (bus monitor), Bill
Lemon (bus driver - retirement), Malia Macken (CE library aide), Carla Ivers (GHS assistant boys tennis coach), Zilda Blazina (school
psychologist), Jennifer Monsour (GE special needs aide) and Emma Ladage (CE special education teacher).
The board voted to employ the following: Don Keith (bus driver), Holly Tiesman (bus driver), Donald England (bus driver), Brian
England (bus driver), Sarah Trine (GE second grade teacher), Kim Davis (BE cafeteria worker), Kristin Barker (BE playground supervisor),
Tyler Morris (BE Pre-K aide), Lisa Hack (CE full-time library aide) and Kami Mergler (CE cafeteria supervisor). Leaves of absence
requests for Marc Kuhn and Jay Lipe were granted.
The board has two meetings in January, the first on Monday, Jan. 9 for Transportation. The regular meeting will be held Monday, Jan.
23.
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Issue Date: Dec. 15, 2011
