Belleville District 201 honors behind-the-scenes employee

The man who really decides if kids will go to school or enjoy a snow day was honored Monday night for his commitment to the district, in that and many other ways, by Superintendent Jeff Dosier.

“He’s been a great adviser to me,” Dosier said of Scott Harris, the district’s chief engineer.

Dosier said he relied on Harris early on “for a simple little project called the renovation of Belleville East. We quickly found out that nothing was simple, and I’m glad Scott was there.”

Dosier praised Harris’ can-do attitude and ability to come up with alternative solutions.

Harris’ family and more than two dozen of those in his department were in attendance.

“Everybody in this district knows that the people who make it happen are sitting in the last two rows,” Harris said, referring to the buildings and grounds crew members.

Other business

▪  The high school district hired Abby Lazer as a sign language interpreter for a student at Belleville East.

▪ The board approved another year of the Running Start program, a partnership with Southwestern Illinois College that allows students to start pursuing their associates’ degrees while also receiving credit for classes in their junior and senior years. Dosier said the district is now in its second year of the program, the approval is for next year.

▪  Jason Karstens, principal at Belleville East, said the school’s Make a Change program had raised more than $15,000, including a $2,000 donation this week.

“Throughout the year there’s a lot of tragedies, and things our families experience, and we have donations (to assist)”, Karstens said.

Parents, classes, student clubs and teachers donate to the program that will allow 30 students a shopping trip, another 30 gift cards, at least five families to be “adopted” for Christmas, and also allow donations of clothing and cleaning items throughout the year.

▪ Andrea Gannon, director of the alternative high school, echoed others during the meeting lauding the students’ success on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers assessment. More than 45 percent of District 201’s students met or exceeded standards compared to the state average of 35 percent. Gannon pointed out that “students who took the PARCC last year as juniors started the process in seventh grade ... I think those efforts paid off.”

▪ Gannon said alternative education students had been getting out in the community more, including volunteering with Project Compassion.

▪ Brian Mentzer, assistant superintendent, said the state’s audit of the district’s finances had gone very well. He congratulated the staffers, saying it’s the largest audit that he had seen the state produce and the district had eight days to produce documentation compared to the usual 45 to 60 days. He said there would be some minor payment adjustments as a result of the audit, of around $35,000.

This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Belleville District 201 honors behind-the-scenes employee."