Morrison School Budget Public Forum Announced

Ron Kallemeyn For The Prairie Advocate News

The Morrison School Board held its regular meeting on Febrary 23, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. at the high school. The meeting was overshadowed by the bad news reported by Dr. Girard that she heard from the State of Illinois earlier in the day. She reported that the state was now saying that the shortfall of funds sent to the school was going to be closer to $900,000, an increase of about $400,000 over what was previously reported.

As previously reported, Dr. Girard, was pretty optimistic that she and the school district could cut enough out of the district budget to absorb the $500,000 of reduced revenue from the state. She thought that it could be done without impacting many students as long as it didn’t happen for too many years. However, now there is more that needs to be cut. The board decided that a public meeting about the budget problems would be in order. They decided that there will be a public discussion on Tuesday, March 2nd, at 7:00 P.M. at the high school auditorium.

The board received the annual report from the Morrison Junior High principal, Darryl Hogue. He gave a video presentation created with the new flip video system the staff has been training with that allows them to create podcasts of student projects to send home. The presentation was about a new state initiative that allows some students that need extra help in math and reading to spend some extra time with those teachers during the school day.

The Morrison Music Theatre Association gave a presentation on their history and their plans for the upcoming year. The association is a revival of a theatrical group that had been active in Morrison for many years. They started again last year with the show Gilbert and Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore”. This year they will be doing a female version of “The Odd Couple”. The show is planned for June 12th and 13th. Auditions will be in April.

The Board also heard from some concerned parents about the possiblity of forming a Morrison School District Foundation to raise money for specific school related projects. The speaker announced that they are in the beginning stages of creating the foundation and that they would work with Dr. Girard and keep her posted on their progress.

In other action items, the board set the Eighth Grade Graduation Date for June 1, 2010. This is also tentatively scheduled to be the last full day of school barring future snow days. The board also approved to issue voluntary early retirement options to eligible staff members. They also approved changing the high school extra-curricular activity eligibility from allowing students to be failing in two courses to only one course. The students grades this semester will effect their eligibility in the fall.

The next school board meeting will be at 6:30 P.M. at the high school library on March 9, 2010.

world wide web prairie advocate