Committee discusses merger concerns

Jackie Gorski
Effingham Daily News

ST. ELMO September 05, 2008 12:44 pm

— Members of the Committee of 10 updated other members on how meetings regarding the proposed consolidation of St. Elmo and Brownstown school districts with respective school district staffs were going.
Committee chairman and president of Brownstown school board Clint Feezel stated he had some people come up to him after Brownstown’s meeting stating they felt a lot better about the consolidation after learning more about it.
However, St. Elmo Superintendent Deborah Philpot said a luncheon designed to distribute information didn’t reach everyone since some staff members thought the luncheon was only for teachers.
Contracts and staff placement are a major concern among school district employees in Brownstown and St. Elmo school districts. However, as Feezel said at the Brownstown meeting, Committee of 10 members cannot answer questions about contracts or placement of teachers within the new school district because it has no authority over those issues.
“Our focus is not on contracts right now; it’s on what’s best for the children,” Philpot said.
If residents of the two school districts approve the consolidation through a referendum vote, the new school board would then consider contractual issues, he said.
Co-chairman Dean Buzzard stated placement of teachers should be made by school administrators.
Brownstown Superintendent Doug Slover stated teachers would be placed where they are most needed in the new school district.
Transportation issues were another concern raised at the meetings.
Feezel said the majority of complaints regarding transportation were from those who lived in one of the two towns and not in rural areas. He added he believed townspeople with children in the schools have less experience with bus transportation than rural parents whose children currently ride buses.
Buzzard said he couldn’t see more than 50 people being opposed to transporting students between the two towns, which are about six miles apart.
Committee members agreed to look further into parents’ concerns about bus transportation and discuss those issues at the next meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22, at the St. Elmo unit office.
Jackie Gorski can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 128 or at jackie.gorski@effinghamdailynews.com.