South Central Reporter

John Essington, Ed.D., Secretary | LinkedIn

By Kristine Gonzales-Abella

Aug 17, 2025

Mt. Olive Community Unit School District 5 Board of Education met July 16.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

The Board of Education met in regular session on July 16, 2025, in the library. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by President David Brunnwoth. Present at roll call were Bertels, Brunnworth, Readenour, Remer, Rimar and Skertich. Also present were Secretary Durbin, Principal Martin, Karrie Scheller, Reese Heyen, Ben Heyen and John Hanafin. Knes arrived at 6:06.

Motion by Remer, seconded by Rimar to adopt the agenda and approve the minutes of the regular board meeting of June 18th, 2025. All ayes. Motion carried.

Recognition, comments, and correspondence from employees and public: A. Reese Heyen- recognition MJM Electric Customer- Electrical

Reese was chosen as one of two representatives from the MJM electric coop to go to Washington DC on an all-expense paid trip. 48 Juniors and Seniors were chosen from co ops in Illinois for the trip. Several students from Mt. Olive have gone on this trip before and even her dad even went on the trip in 1998. While on the trip, she went to many historical places, including: Gettysburg, Arlington National Cemetery, memorials and the National Mall. She visited many Smithsonian Museums, Supreme Court, the capital, and the White House. While in DC they attended the National conference with over 2,000 kids from around the country. Her favorite parts of the trip were the friends that were made, places they visited, learning more about the value of cooperatives in our rural communities, and even seeing President Trump rom a distance when touring the White House.

B. FOIA

1. From CT Mills Public Info Access LLc on Jun 16, 2025.

2. From Lake county gazette on June 23, 2025.

3. From Concerned Citizen on July 6, 2025.

Motion by Skertich, seconded by Rimar to approve the bills and activity accounts as presented. Roll call: 7 ayes. Motion carried

Financial Report for June 2025:

Mrs Cann reported the Education Fund is sitting at $ 2,104,075.12. Building fund is at 809,498.80. Transportation fund is at $ 475,284.14. Working cash is at $238,750.98. Total operating funds are at $ 3,627,609.04.

Budget Report: Revenues vs. Expenditures for June 2025:

Education Fund: 109% vs. 94%

Building Fund: 105% vs. 46%

Bond & Interest: 380% & 100%

Transportation Fund: 108% vs. 87%

IMRF: 101% vs. 87%

Site & Construction: 59% & 18%

Working Cash: 101% & 0%

Tort Immunity: 103% vs. 96%

Life Safety: 105% & 78%

Motion by Remer, seconded by Readenour to approve the financial report and the budget report for June 2025. All ayes. Motion carried.

Unfinished Business:

None

New Business:

Motion by Skertich, seconded by Remer to authorize the Superintendent to prepare the district budget for the 2025-26 school year. All ayes. Motion Carried

Motion by Rimar, seconded by Knes to authorize expenditures for fiscal year 2025-26 funds prior to budget adoption. All ayes. Motion carried.

Motion by Readenour, seconded by Remer to approve 5% of payment to Glandt Roofing. $90, 762.77 Additional 5% remaining. Roll Call: 7 ayes. Motion carried.

The Superintendent discussed moving custodial salaries and benefits from the Education Fund (10) to the Operations and Maintenance Fund (20) in the 2025-26 district budget.

Principals’ Reports:

Mr Martin reported the following:

• Overall, the summer has gone pretty well thus far.

• We had 8 students who were enrolled and successfully completed summer school courses. We offered credit recovery courses here at the school through the ROE 40 program.

• Currently all of the students in our HS are on track to graduate during the appropriate year. Thanks to opportunities like this HS students who have hit a snag are able to quickly get back on track to graduate.

• We had 32 of 33 students graduate for the 24-25 school year. The student who did not graduate was in attendance at the ROE 40 ACE program.

• All schedules for next year should be in TeacherEase this Friday. With the hope to make them live before Registration on July 23rd. That way if a student has a possible change they could come in on the 23rd to talk about the situation.

• After Registration, I expect to be able to let the teacher know their exact schedule and their expected rosters by July 25th.

• The athletic coops are signed and ready to continue this school year.

• Mrs. Spudich is stepping down from Play Sponsor and Concession Stand Coordinator. Her 3 daughters (HS, MS, and Elem) are keeping her busier than ever. She was thankful for the opportunities she had with our students in those capacities.

• Mr. Dunlap will be holding a band camp during August and plans to have the band march in the Old Settlers Parade in Hillsboro.

• He has really put a lot of time and effort into cleaning, organizing, and casting vision for the band room, supplies, and overall program. I really believe he is going to be a great asset to our students and community.

• Teachers have started to pop in now that the floors in their rooms are completed. It is great to see them thinking about and preparing for the upcoming school year.

• HS Hallway Updates- New seating area and updated lighting

• Mr. Grider is working on the new classroom numbers for this year. These changes were made to increase school safety and improve emergency response time and understanding/layout of our building. Safety improvements will be an ongoing project throughout the next school year. Mrs. Cann is looking into a grant to rearrange the parent entrance into the HS for better student safety.

• 5 Essentials Survey report has our High School as a commendable school.

• Exemplary, Commendable, Targeted, Comprehensive & Intensive are the summative designations a school can receive yearly.

Superintendent’s Report:

Mrs Cann reported the following:

A. Remaining grant status for multi-purpose room. $26, 685 was unfrozen and sent to the district.

B. Driver’s education- Behind the wheel instruction vacancy is still open.

C. Mr. Martin, Ms. Scheller, and I met with the Mt. Olive Educational Foundation on July 1, 2025. We will be meeting again August 26th to present several academically based requests including several assessment programs, and an elementary art-based curriculum.

D. IASB Scholarship for Janet Readenour to attend the Triple I (IASA, IASB, IASBO) Fall conference in November for school Board Members and Superintendents.

E. Auditors were here July 14 & 15

F. New teachers are scheduled to be in on August 7 to fill out paperwork and have lunch.

Motion by Rimar, seconded by Skertich to enter into closed session at 6:41 p.m. for the following purposes as allowed under the Illinois Open Meetings Act (5 ILCS 120/1 et seq.): Discussion of the appointment, employment and dismissal of employees of the public body and collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives. Discussion of pending and probable litigation against, affecting, or on behalf of the Board of Education and the District.