New Pekin School Year to Feature Public Project Due Dates, Positive Office Referrals

PACKWOOD – During the Sept. 9 meeting of the Pekin School Board, 7-12 Principal Shawn Dorman stated the school would soon launch a “Weekly Big Board” to improve communication. Teachers will add the due dates for big upcoming projects to a public sheet, to give parents a view of what’s going on at the school. He stated the sheet would be posted to the district Facebook soon. Elementary Principal Liz Goodwin stated her school would begin offering “Positive Office Referrals,” where students would keep track of students who do good things and send them to the office for pictures and rewards.

Superintendent Jeff Maeder stated that Pekin would begin charging $5 entrance fees for all sporting events, as opposed to the previous $3 charge for junior varsity games and $2 charge for junior high games. He stated that sport officials are hard to come by and have begun charging more, that the school hasn’t raised prices in a long time, and that it was important to not raise the price of varsity games.

During the public comment section, art teacher Matt Guise stated he was in favor of the idea of switching the school board to at large positions, something that was to be voted on the day after the meeting. Guise stated that other school districts in the area are not “carved up” like Pekin and that Pekin needs to come together as one community. He stated that board members needing to campaign for their positions was a good thing. He acknowledged concerns that one town could take over with multiple candidates, but said that it was the responsibility of the community to use their vote to stop this. He stated he did not want the school board members to lose their jobs, but that there was a lot of talent in the area and that switching to at large elections would open up that pool.

Another concerned citizen disagreed. He claimed that parent group Pride in Pekin, responsible for arranging the special election, had not tried to work with the board or understand what’s going on. He stated that the grass looks greener to them, but that the only reason the grass is greener is because people have worked hard to keep it green. He stated that changing things would not fix Pekin’s problems. He stated it was hard to campaign for an unpaid position. The concerned citizen ended his time by quoting 2 Timothy chapter 4, a bible verse where Paul states that a time will come when people reject the teachings of Jesus and follow the words of teachers who just say what they want to hear, apparently comparing voting to make school board positions at large to rejecting the teachings of Jesus.

The board approved selling the old bleachers to a local man for $351. The board approved purchasing 40,000 gallons of propane from Agriland at $1.30 a gallon.