Belleville District 201 school board hires teachers, approves contract

Belleville District 201 officials hired teachers and approved a contract that will increase salaries of administrative assistants while reducing the cost for the district at its monthly board meeting on Monday. The school year “is just 22 days away,” according to Belleville West principal Rich Mertens; and the board also modified cellphone and headphone policies for students.

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School board members hired five teachers, two assistant athletic directors and one wrestling coach. They are: Riah Haswell, who will split time between Belleville East and West as a science teacher; Kassandra Korte, business teacher at West; Lindsey Toenjes, a special education teacher at East, Neal Eilers, an art teacher at East, and Lindsay Karban, an English teacher at West. Haswell, Korte and Toenjes are hired pending licensure. Haswell, Eilers and Karban are not full-time, and assistant superintendent Brian Mentzer said their benefits will be pro-rated.

Todd Blomberg and Cameron Pettus were hired as assistant athletic directors of East and West; and Mic Barriger was hired as West’s assistant wrestling coach.

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Belleville East does not yet have suspects in the soccer field’s vandalism, which is already recovering from someone driving on a corner, officials said.

“Someone’s going to brag about it and I know all the soccer players keep their ears open because they’re definitely not too happy about it,” said Jason Karstens, Belleville East principal.

Board members also:

▪  Voted on a change to the parent and student handbook, which clarifies when and where students may use cell phones and headphones.

▪  Approved spending $11,300 to purchase new software for a system that controls Belleville East’s HVAC mechanical system. Mentzer said the system was no longer supported by the manufacturer and called for a Health Life Safety Emergency Board Resolution regarding the purchase.

▪  Approved a contract with the Administrative Assistants Council, Federation of Teachers, Local 434, which includes a raise for members, Superintendent Jeff Dosier said. Assistant Superintendent Brian Mentzer after the meeting said the raise would be 1.7 percent over four years; the district will not replace one assistant who retired from Belleville East. Dosier said because of the retirement, the districts costs go down even as the salaries go up.

▪  Tabled a beverage provider agreement between Coca-Cola Refreshments and District 201 for another month, with Dosier saying “we need a little more time to act on that.”

▪  Voted 2015-16 prices for a la carte lunch items will remain the same.

▪  Approved Abbott EMS to provide medical standby services for the Belleville West 2015 football season and Medstar Ambulance Service to provide medical standby services for the Belleville East 2015 football season

▪  Dosier explained to the board that O’Fallon District 203’s decision to leave Belleville Area Special Services Cooperative required the 201 board, as a district, to approve or deny.

“At next months meeting we will have some financial impact numbers for you to consider before you make that decision,” he said. “We will need some time to study the financial implications” of a district leaving BASSC.

This story was originally published July 20, 2015 at 11:06 PM with the headline "Belleville District 201 school board hires teachers, approves contract."