The District 118 School Board has adjusted a controversial policy left over from the previous administration under former Superintendent Geddis. There was a restriction on who exactly could contact the school district’s attorney if they had a concern. As Superintendent John Hart explains, he was asked to make the adjustment; so any board member, rather than just the superintendent or president of the board, should they feel the need, can call the district’s attorney and say, “hey, what about this.”
AUDIO: The board really felt like it was restricting some conversations that they’ve wanted to have. And so, (they) asked that I look into rewriting the policy. No board member’s any more powerful than any other one, or supercedes any of the other ones.
District 118 custodial staff is honored at School Board meeting for projects completed over the summer.
Meanwhile, a couple years ago, a change in the bullying law was done to make sure that when an official complaint is made by a student, both the accuser and accused party’s parents or guardians are notified. During the last school year, 27 official complaints were handled district wide. Of those, nine were founded and 18 unfounded. Hart says when a complaint is unfounded, it’s sometimes determined to have been a misunderstanding.
AUDIO: Maybe a child will go home and say “I’ve been bullied.” And it may not meet that definition of “repeated causing physical or mental anguish.” A lot of times we’ll investigate, and it’ll be a one time incident. So those do not count as like a founded case of bullying.
Also, the newly proposed District 118 budget is now officially on display, meaning it can be viewed at the superintendent’s office. Interim Finance Director Todd Pence says the proposed budget currently shows $101 million in revenues, and $108 million in expenses.
