Cook County Commissioner Bob Fenwick came before the school board on July 21, 2010 with an update about the proposed community center that will be funded through the county’s recently enacted one percent sales and use tax.
“The first thing we did was form a steering committee,” explained Fenwick, adding, “So far we have met three times and, although I know some people think we have been going too slow, I think that we have made good progress so far.”
Fenwick said there are 14 members on the steering committee and that their input is diverse but instructive.
Current plans include putting the community center near the high school and possibly using school property. The center would include a swimming pool that could be used by the school for swimming lessons.
Fenwick told the board his committee had met with The Northspan Group, a business and community development firm, and heard from one other entity about heading up the project. “We have decided to get further input from four more organizations and then we will elect to bring one or two or three of them back to our August 11 meeting to make presentations.
“The selected contractor will take us from dreams to construction to completion,” said Fenwick.
Once a manager is selected and a final plan is agreed upon, the emphasis will shift to seeing that as many local jobs as possible can be gained from this construction project, Fenwick said.
“We feel that if we take a couple of months now and make a good selection for [project] manager, we will save six or seven months in the future and we will save money because we will stay on budget,” added Fenwick.
The board thanked Fenwick for his input and will get an update from him when more work has been done.
In other action the board passed
resolutions approving the following:
• Allotted $45,000 for the purchase of secondary science curriculum
materials including books. • Accepted the elementary handbook with a few small changes to the language
concerning crossing guards and
language concerning communications. • Called for a general election of three school board members on
November 2. • Approved a part-time medical leave of absence for Kaye Tavernier, math instructor, from full time to .83 time, and hired Kathryn Ramberg to fill that gap. • Approved the termination of support staff (aides) Rachel Drake, Marsha Zafft, William Lovaas and Amy
Lehto, with a position vacated by Laura
LaFavor last spring to remain vacant. • Approved the hiring of the following football coaches: Mitch Dorr, head coach; Mike Boomer, assistant; Pat Eliasen, assistant; Kyler Hawkins, assistant; Bryan Carpenter, 8th grade coach; and Caleb White, 7th grade coach. Volleyball coaches approved were: Pam Taylor, head coach; Sharon Dorr, assistant; Kasia Schmidt, assistant; and Kelly Roberts, 7th & 8th grade coach. Crosscountry running coaches approved: Chris Hegg, head coach; Anne Hegg, volunteer; and April Graves, volunteer.
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