Morris High School Board discusses mascot

MORRIS – The Morris Community High School District 101 board met Monday and discussed again the possible changing of the school mascot.

“We talked and asked some questions,” board President Scot Hastings said. “We talked about what the committee presented at the last meeting, but we haven’t formulated the next step yet. Everyone wants to get more information. It probably makes sense to get the current student body involved as well.”

The board also discussed a proposal for updating the weight room in the fieldhouse.

“A lot of the equipment in the weight room is pretty old,” Hastings said. “We want to come up with a proposal to update the equipment. It will benefit not just the athletic teams, but the [physical education] classes use it, too.”

The board agreed to a planning agreement with Green & Associates.

“The last time we had a safety audit, they mentioned our open campus,” Hastings said. “This agreement is for Green & Associates to see what they could do to connect more of the campus and give us more room for classrooms.

“There is a ‘50s wing, a ‘60s wing and a ‘70s wing, so the school hasn’t been any major renovations in a while. We like the location and don’t want to move, so we are looking at what can be improved on and what the costs would be.”

Other items acted on at the meeting were adoption of fiscal 2021 amended budget; designation of bank depositories: Grundy Bank, Illinois Public Treasurer’s Investment Pool, Illinois Liquid Asset Fund, Community Foundation of Grundy County; first reading of Section 7:40 of the Board Policy Manual; Consolidated District Plan; .ATI Athletic Training Services; MCHS Band/ChoirTrip to Orlando, Florida; and creation of a General Education Teacher’s Aide Position. All items passed.

The board also accepted a donation from the Jim and Carol Baum Fund of $1,154.62 to the honors program, and the MCHS Education Foundation donated $850 to the family consumer science department for a garden project.