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School Board Approves Water Tower  Share
During its May 18 meeting, the Crete-Monee Board of Education approved a proposal from the Village of Crete permitting the village to construct a water tower on the far west edge of the new high school campus. The action allows the village to take advantage of an opportunity to purchase a water tower being dismantled in Manhattan and to erect it in the village on a site permitting easy access to the water distribution system. The village will cover all costs of erecting, protecting and maintaining the tower. When Crete Mayor Michael Einhorn presented the school board with the proposal during its April meeting, he conveyed a sense of urgency because, if the village did not act quickly, it would lose the opportunity to purchase the tower. Einhorn requested consideration of two sites Ð the one the school board approved and one in front of the new high school.
The school board would not consider the front-of-the-school location and expressed some concern about soil conditions at the other site, which is near the bog that necessitated some plan changes when the high school was built. Soil tests including a core sample, showed the soil conditions to be good to a depth of 30 feet, sufficient for the tower. The agreement with the village gives the school district authority over the identifying logo on the tower and may provide the district with a structure on which an antenna can be mounted. The board received a status report on to the expansion of the International Baccalaureate program at Coretta Scott King Magnate School in University Park. The school recently received full recognition from the International Baccalaureate Organization that CSKMS is a Primary Years Program IBO school. Without allowing any dust to settle, Erin Debartolo and her staff have begun the process to win recognition for the school as an IBO Middle Years Program school. A recognition ceremony at CSKMS was held recently to celebrate the successful completion of the process of becoming the first IBO Primary Years Program School in Illinois. Chris Putlak and Megan Sharp attended the meeting to report to the board concerning the Special Olympics program at the high school. The duo appeared before the board during its February 17 meeting to pitch their idea for C-M students' participating in the competition. With board approval they launched the program and returned to the board to introduce the student participants and medal winners. Putlak informed the board that several students will be advancing to state competition this spring. Parents of several of the student participants rose to thank the board for the opportunity it allowed for their children to compete and, as one mother put it, ''to wear the school colors.'' They were visibly moved by the impact this opportunity had on their children and on them. Three newly hired administrators were introduced to the board during the meeting. Lyle Neal will be the new principal at Talala Elementary School. Superintendent John Rodgers described the process leading to Neal's selection. The district received 105 applications for the position. Through paper screening, the number was reduced to 20 candidates and after phone interviews with all 20, the number was reduced to four candidates, who were invited to come for a series of interviews. Each was interviewed by several panels Ð central office administrators, building staff, and parents Ð Neal was the number one choice of each of the panels. Brian May was hired as assistant principal at the high school after going through a similar interview battery with the same results. The third hire was Sandy Lessentine as Math Department chairperson at the high school. Lessentine taught in the district before as a math teacher. Tom Thompson is a reporter for Russell Publications.
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