District 124 Board Meeting Recap: Jan. 19

Evergreen Park Elementary School District 124, Superintendent Diane Cody and the Board of Education met for January's regular board meeting on Wednesday and discussed a variety of topics.

Recognition of New Board Member

The Board of Education recognized newest board member , who filled James Flanagan's Seat after Flanagan resigned as president in November. Schergen, who is also on the , was appointed to his seat after an application and interview process in early January.

"We just felt that Tom shined through in terms of his background and what we hope for him to bring to this board as a whole," said board president Terry MacDonald.

Schergen is currently the Marist High School Athletic director. He previously worked as director of the Evergreen Park Recreation Department's Day Camp program for several years. He also taught special education at Bremen High School in Midlothian.

Board Reorganization

Before reorganizing, the board approved a resolution honoring James Flanagan for his seven years of service, nearly six of them as board president. "James B. Flanagan has provided selfless service to the students, parents and community of Evergreen Park, IL," Board Member and Secretary Joan Boss read from the resolution. 

MacDonald officially resigned as board president. He became president when James Flanagan resigned.

Board Member Kathleen Rohan, who is up for re-election, was unanimously voted to become President of the board and immediately took her seat.

The board voted for MacDonald, to return to his previous position before Flanagan's resignation, Vice President.

The Board of Education voted for Secretary Joan Boss to keep her position. Boss is not running for re-election and said she will train her replacement before leaving her post.

Student Highlight

The board recognized student Kali Pytel for winning an Anti-Drug poster contest. Pytel's poster was chosen to be in a calendar.

Staff and Board Reports

Cody reported that her monthly "Conversations and Coffee" meeting with parents and teachers was a success. The next conversation will be Feb. 23 at 9 a.m. in the multi-purpose room.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Services Fran LaBella gave a presentation on food service options. LaBella said as the food service director and head cook both retire in the next few months, the district will need to replace them. LaBella's presentation was about an option to either continue to prepare lunches in-house at Central Junior High School, hire a management company to manage the food services and still cook meals in-house, or to oursource the food service to a third party company.

The Communications Committee recently designed a survey to gather information from people on what method they would like to communicate with the district. Committee head Rohan said the survey will be available on paper and online between Feb. 1-15.

The board decided to make the Health and Wellness Committee an official group. During public comments at the December board meeting, a villager suggested that the committee be formed. "This kind of grew out of a grant that we had learned of," said Rohan. "We were hoping to be able to apply for the grant. After looking into it more we realized that we wouldn't be eligible."

Rohan said one of the major issues was that the district does not have a working committee that would be able to sustain the effort. "In the grant they didn't want it to just be a one shot deal. They wanted it to be something that would continue on," said Rohan. "It is now on the table as a district committee."Rohan said the committee would have sevral different representatives in the community. Schergen will be the Board of Education representative. According to Rohan, the purpose of the committee would be to "increase physical activity, support walking and safe routes to school, and foster healthy eating lifestyles for students in District 124."

The next Evergreen Park Elementary School District 124 Board of Education meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at Central Junior High School.