Hamilton Community Consolidated School District (CCSD) 328 held its regular Board of Education meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 19 at the Junior High/Elementary School. The superintendent’s report follows. The principals’ reports will be in next week’s Hamilton News & Notes.
Program Review: Junior high band students, Allison Johnson, Jacy Kelly, and Evelyn Munson, played a woodwind trio that they will perform at the Spring Ensemble competition. The young ladies are eighth graders under the instruction of Director of Bands Kyler Stuckert who was on hand with the students and addressed the Board, expressing his pleasure about being able to work with such talented young musicians. Stuckert is in his fourth year of teaching in Hamilton. He received his BM in music education from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, and his MM in music education from WIU in Macomb.
Superintendent Church presented the Board with the proposed school calendar for the 2025-2026 school year. The superintendents from Nauvoo-Colusa, Warsaw, and Hamilton worked together to construct two different calendar variations for the teaching staff of all three districts to vote on. Once a version was selected, each district set their individual preferences for holiday early outs, parent teacher conferences, and early dismissal for staff professional development. Once the Board approves the calendar it will be submitted to the local ROE for approval, then distributed to the public. The administration of all three districts hope that a common calendar paves the way for greater collaboration going forward.
Once final dirt prep work is completed, the pre-k playground equipment will be installed by the vendor. Superintendent Church anticipates this being completed by the April board meeting. The pouring of the playground surfacing is still up in the air as the material must have three consecutive dry days without the temperature dropping below 50 degrees. The new storage shed was delivered last week. It was noted that Straight Line Construction would be re-installing a piece of playground equipment that had been removed from the pre-K area to the elementary playground in the next couple of weeks.
Mr. Church discussed the necessity of some athletic facility improvements that should be made to to get specific areas up to an acceptable standard. Among the improvements suggested were stabilizing the outfield fence at the baseball diamond, installing regulation rectangular basketball backboards at the Cardinal Gym at the Elementary/JH, installing rectangular backboards on the side hoops at the HS, purchasing a public address system for football contests, constructing a new set of stairs leading to the crows nest at the football field, and some general paint and signage improvements at the HS Gym. Church suggested paying for the improvements with a one time permanent transfer of funds from the Working Cash fund to keep from limiting the District’s ability to address other facility needs at each campus. Church noted that Ameren has agreed to help install new light bulbs at the football field for no charge and that local business Nutrien agreed to provide grass seed and fertilizer so that the Park Board can rework the playing surface at the football field location. The District and Hamilton Park Board have worked together to facilitate the improvements.
Church shared with the Board service agreements presented by Frank Millard Company for both school buildings that provided routine maintenance of HVAC equipment and District refrigeration equipment. The agreement also entitles the District to a 10% discount on labor and parts for other service calls.
The following action items were considered.
The Board approved Titan Turf LLC for the mowing contract at a price of $530 per time. The District received three total bids for the project.
Approved the service agreements as presented by Frank Millard Company for the Elementary/JH and HS campuses.
Authorized Church to proceed with the required FY 25 budget amendments as stipulated by state statute.
Approved Hamilton HS’s membership to the Illinois High School Association for the 2025-2026 school year.
Approved the tentative 2025-2026 school calendar subject to Regional Office of Education approval.
At the March 19 meeting, the Hamilton Board of Education approved the hiring of Megan Wending as the new dean of students for Hamilton Elementary/Junior High. Mrs. Wendling comes to Hamilton 328 from Clark County R-1 in Kahoka, Missouri, where she currently serves as the building principal for Indian Pride Learning Center and the District Special Education Director. Prior to accepting her current administrative position, she has spent time as a Parents as Teachers parent educator, Title math teacher, elementary classroom teacher, and high school guidance counselor. In addition to her masters in counseling and specialist in educational leadership, Wendling has completed additional educational course work certifying her as a Missouri psychological examiner. She will begin her new duties at Hamilton CCSD 328 on Monday, July 28, 2025.
The next school board meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 16 at the Elementary/JH School. The public is always invited to attend.
