Princeton High School Board seats two members during reorganizational meeting

PRINCETON — The Princeton High School Board held a reorganizational meeting prior to Wednesday’s regular meeting.

Election results of the April 6 school board elections, which saw board members Colleen Sailer and John Young run unopposed, were announced. Young received 1,049 votes and Sailer received 1,041.

Each read their oath of office in front of the board.

Sailer was re-elected as board president and Gary Hanna as vice president.

The board also reappointed Margo Obenhaus as recording secretary, Ginger Freeberg as treasurer and board member Al Taylor as IASB Representative.

The board elected to remain meeting on the fourth Wednesday of each month.

Illinois State Scholars

PHS principal Andy Berlinski announced 13 seniors were recognized as Illinois State Scholars: Jaidyn Bass, Colin Colmone, Maddison Gentry, Tyler Gibson, Addison Grove, Caleb Haring, Brynn Hieronymus, McAuley Humphrey, Trent Kloepping, Grace May, Abigail Pence, Kailee Transou and Kristin Transou.

This recognition, Berlinski said, is based on GPA, class rank and the percentile scored on ACT/SAT testing.

Berlinski said there was a great turnout of juniors for the ACT on April 13 and during makeup testing held Tuesday.

Berlinski said PHS is looking forward to having a graduation ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 22, at Bryant Field with a rain date of Saturday, May 29. They have set two dates to allow as much opportunity for an outdoor ceremony to allow for COVID protocols, he said.

Berlinski also reported tht Alyssa Rose, life schools teacher at PHS, has proposed ranking non-GPA credit to students taking life skills courses. The change is a proposal for the next school year, has no impact on GPA and class rank and has been approved by Division. Her findings are that this change would bring PHS in line with other area schools.

Personnel

Sarah Clark was approved as assistant boys tennis coach, a position she previously held, and Eleni Leigh as volunteer soccer coach.

The board accepted resignations for Josie Dober as assistant volleyball coach and Dan Foes as assistant football coach.

The board also approved a maternity leave request for Dober.

Student handbook changes

The first reading of student handbook for the 2021-22 school year is complete. Assistant principal Jeff Ohlson said there are very few changes, which are being discussed and making some clarification on.

He complimented the committee, made up of board member Bodie Smallwood, teachers Tyler Nichols and Tiffany Gonigam, parent Betsy Kammerer and PHS students Olivia Gartin and Khristian Whitfield, for all their input.

Students of the month

Ohlson announced the six students named as Students of the Month for April. They are listed with their nominating teachers: senior Jessie Laing (Pat Marquis), junior John Mikrut (Steve Amy), sophomore Bradyn Briddick (Gary Passmore) and freshmen Caitlin Meyer (Kelsey Sarver), Jadah Shipley (Margaret DeVenney) and Jonathon Aley (Michael Fredericks).

In other action:

• The board approved the annual audit fee of $11,000 and the transfer from the working cash fund to the education fund.