Parent Asks Unit 40 Board to Dismiss Teacher

 

Effingham Unit 40 school board members Monday heard from the mother of a pre-school student who said her child was the recipient of physical abuse from a teacher at school. The parent said the teacher was not her child's teacher. She asked the Board to dismiss the teacher.

The incident was reported toward the end of August. The incident has been investigated, and the teacher has been returned to work. We will try to find out more about the incident.

Also Monday, Unit 40 Superintendent Andy Johnson said the district will be going "back to the drawing board" in the wake of the defeat of the 1% sales tax in this month's election. Johnson said he appreciated the support of the community. He is attempting to determine where support came for the initiative.

The Board set high school graduation for the Class of 2025 for Sunday afternoon, May 18th, at 2pm. Also approved was a lease for a special education bus with Midland States Bank at a cost of $149,000. The bus has been on order for two years. Johnson said it was cheaper to lease the bus than to buy it outright from the bus company.

Board members approved the fiscal year audit, which showed a "clean audit". Unit 40 got a 3.65 rating out of a possible 4, meaning financial recognition. The Board also approved the fiscal year tax levy, which included a 14% increase over what was actually assessed last year.

The Board also gave recognition to the high school boys golf team and the EHS girls golfer, all of whom went to State this season. Also recognized were the girls junior high softball team that went to state and the high school soccer team that set a school record for wins in a season.

In personnel moves, the Unit 40 board hired Paige Sherrod as a PFA paraprofessional at Little Hearts, Ashley Darden as a seven-hour cook at the high school, Nancy Organ as a teacher assistant at Little Hearts, Leah Snyder as a BCBA and a behavior interventionist in January, and Shanon Wagner as a school security officer. Approved as volunteers were Devan Henderson and David Stewart as wrestling coaches and Emilee Ross as a color guard and winter guard assistant. Transfers were approved for Jaiden Olinger as a three hour cashier at the high school and Katie Lacy as a paraprofessional at the Early Learning Center. A retirement was accepted from longtme South Side School custodian Richard Hirtzel. Resignations were accepted from Haley Lovins as a paraprofessional, Kenneth Pollum and Jason Root as school security officers, and Mark Burgess as volunteer assistant girls golf coach.