South Central School Superintendent Kerry Herdes told the school board Wednesday night they will take part in a proposed cooperative of school districts to share teachers for online instruction.
Herdes says a grant writer will be working on funding for the project.
“We got together with some schools all over Illinois and Centralia being one of the lead players in it, to share resources and teachers and use the RISE program that will be utilizing a camera and screen system where it will appear like you are in that classroom. The classroom teacher will be at another site but the capabilities that it has to present that information is really state-of-the-art.”
Herdes says it will let districts that can’t find teachers in certain specializations to still be able to offer courses. He notes South Central and many surrounding districts are all searching for foreign language teachers.
Herdes notes dual credits through Kaskaskia College can provide help for the higher grades but don’t address the needs at the freshman and sophomore levels.
If all goes well, the RISE program could come online by the fall of 2023. Herdes also reviewed the tentative final budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30th.
He says all funds are in the black with over $400,000 in surplus funds. Herdes says that is the best position the district has been in for at least the past 17 or 18 years.
“All of our funds are in the black and we got all the money returned to us from SR2 and we have really been able to do some projects we’ve been needing to do for a while. And make the campuses safer with air quality and things that we knew we wanted to address.”
Herdes reported the architects are beginning to develop plans for improvements to the South Central Middle School that are expected to take place next summer.
The board approved a new sports co-op agreement for junior high with St. Peter Lutheran School. It will now include girls and boys basketball, track, and cheerleading. Herdes only expects a few students in each sport from St. Peter Lutheran.
