Earlier in February, the committee looking into the possibility of reorganizing the Panhandle and Morrisonville school districts met in a joint meeting with those district boards to discuss their findings. On Monday, Feb. 28, the Panhandle board got the opportunity to discuss the matter at their meeting and hear from the public in attendance.
The plan looked at by the committee is deactivation, in which Morrisonville would then send high school students to Panhandle, while Panhandle would send junior high students to Morrisonville. Both districts would retain their current grade school setups and would have local control, including their own school boards and administration. If approved, a vote would occur this June, with the new school system implemented for the 2023-24 school year.
The goals of the deactivation are to improve academic opportunities for students in sixth through twelfth grades, increase the number of CTE (Career and Technical Education) opportunities, improve efficiency in delivering high quality educational opportunities for all students, improve extra-curricular opportunities beyond sports (which the two districts already co-op for), increase diversity and social opportunities with a larger student body and maintain current district boundaries and boards of education.
The committee’s report also said that the deactivation could allow for greater flexibility in scheduling courses offered, improve communication for extra curricular activities and free up faculty to teach other subjects or courses if two small classes were combined into one class.
Athletic transportation could also be simplified, with all students on a team in the same building, which could help parents who currently have to get their student from one school to another, or on a shuttle bus, for practice.
Two challenges were also listed in the proposal: 1. Both districts must overcome the inefficiencies of not acting in innovative ways to educate students in the 21st century and 2. Willingness to embrace a shared vision for the future and change in education.
The full committee report can be found under the Administration/Board tab at panhandleschools.com.
The discussion amongst the Panhandle School Board on Thursday focused mainly on three topics: the financial impact, staffing issues and getting the information out to the communities, and feedback from those affected the most by this.
Dana Pitchford said that six months ago, she wasn’t sure that the deactivation was going to be financially the best decision for the district, but is confident now that it will be a win for both. She said that it is more efficient to teach more kids and with the exchange of funds between the two districts to educate incoming students, the financial aspect is pretty much a wash.
According to the committee’s report, the cost per pupil for the deactivated district would be $6,000 based on approximately 50 percent of the average individual per pupil cost of the combined two districts when educating their own students.
The financial aspect also figured into the discussion on staffing. Originally, the discussion on deactivation included the possible transfer of Lincolnwood Junior High teachers to Morrisonville and Morrisonville High School teachers to Lincolnwood.
Pitchford said that doing this would raise the salaries at Lincolnwood slightly, but cause a dramatic increase in the teacher pay scale at Morrisonville, which they did not believe was feasible.
She said that the plan is now to have Lincolnwood teachers remain at Lincolnwood and be reassigned to high school classes when possible, while Morrisonville teachers would remain at Morrisonville and be reassigned to junior high classes when possible. Several Morrisonville staff members have expressed displeasure in this possibility, with board member Scott Cowdrey saying that he would be hesitant to agree to send Panhandle students to Morrisonville if they lost 10 teachers and were unable to fill those positions.
Superintendent Aaron Hopper said that there was the possibility of transfers between the two districts, which would allow teachers to retain their seniority and be paid under the pay scale of the other district. Hopper also said that if the districts and voters would decide to discontinue the deactivation after two years, the staff members who transferred would have to go back to their home district under that district’s pay scale.
Under the plan, Lincolnwood would also have to add five teachers, which board member Brett Slightom asked if they would be able to do and how those salaries would be funded.
Hopper said that the funds would come from Morrisonville’s contribution, as well as possible incentives from the state. Two possible incentives include a four-year salary incentive used to offset the cost of a staff member transferred to a district with a higher pay scale and a $4,000 per staff member incentive for any district who receives a transfer after any of the first three years.
The committee also noted that incentives may not be available due to the lack of staff to transfer between districts or incentive limitations by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Hopper added that Lincolnwood is currently short four full-time teachers, although the district has been working with Blackburn College on a grant that might remedy that problem. He added that the Blackburn program could be a great option for someone who already has a four-year degree, but is looking to get into teaching.
Jeremy Carron, one of the members of the public in attendance, asked if the union had any input on teacher transfers and the issues with staffing. Lincolnwood Principal Ken Schuster said that union representatives from both districts had been at the meetings, while Panhandle rep Vanessa Mulch said that the union could file a grievance after the vote took place.
Panhandle Board President Terri Payne noted that it probably wouldn’t be a major issue with the Panhandle teachers, with the exception of possible junior high teachers transferring to high school jobs.
Hopper also said that Panhandle has tried to include staff in discussions as frequently as possible.
Pitchford asked if the staff is in favor of the deactivation and said she would like to hear from more teachers on their thoughts on the project.
That thought was echoed by several other board members, not just with teachers, but with the public in general.
Slightom said that no one has asked him any questions or commented on the proposal to him and questioned whether it would be a better idea to push the vote back to the next election to give people more of an opportunity to learn about the proposal. Hopper said that was one of the reasons the committee decided to have two school board meetings before the decision to put it up for a vote, to allow the public plenty of opportunities for input.
Pitchford said she wasn’t sure if the additional time would make a difference, while Cowdrey said that even though the final decision is up to the public, it is the board’s duty to determine if moving forward with deactivation is in the best interest of the district.
Darrin Daugherty, who worked with the committee, said that he has spoken to several people about the project and said that the increased curriculum is the biggest benefit to him. Daugherty said that the sooner the vote takes place, the sooner students will have more opportunities if the measure passes.
He also said that some people don’t know the presentation is on the website, which Carron said he did not, and that the committee has considered taking a more grass roots approach in getting the information out to the public. The presence of the presentation on the website has been put out on social media and in other venues.
Lincolnwood Athletic Director Josh Stone asked about the possibility of having a town hall meeting to discuss the project. Hopper said that is the last step before it goes to the public for a vote and would come after both boards make a decision on approving the vote or not.
The public will have another opportunity to ask questions on March 21, at the March school board meeting, at 7 p.m. More information on deactivation can be found under the Administration/Board tab at panhandleschools.com.
