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Beecher High School Missing a Variable in the Equation
By Jeff Vorva
The school year is ready to kick off in mid-August, and one thing is not adding up at Beecher High School.
Or subtracting. Or dividing.
At the July 10 District 200-U board meeting, Superintendent Jack Gaham was concerned about a spot still open on the teaching roster for a high school math instructor.
“If anybody knows of a math teacher, I beg of you to please reach out to family, friends, whomever – we need a high school math teacher,” Gaham said.
“We’re in a bad spot with the high school math position.”
He said the position has been open for awhile and has been advertised, but no takers. He would like to have a teacher in place to recommend to the board at the August 14 meeting.
The district also has aide positions open, Gaham said.
Keeping the camera
Upon further review, the district is not cutting its ties with Hudl Focus and will continue to use the company as a platform for its sports/extracurricular activities videos, as well as providing a camera to record those events.
“It’s a big expense for the school district,” Gaham said. “But I talked to [Beecher Principal Mike Meyer] and there is a $21,000 CD that’s been there for at least five years, and we kind of just sat on it.
“The camera helps multiple sports, it helps the band program, it helps our promotion program, and we livestream things from the Den. We agreed it would be a good cost to spend that on.”
He said he will find out when the CD matures and will try to get a multi-year cost from Hudl.
“We’ve had students earn scholarships from what Hudl provided,” Gaham said “It’s smart money.”
Board President Ashley Belt said she was happy the streams of the events would be free to residents, parents, and fans.
“It’s very frustrating to go to other places and see (a cost),” she said.
“We could have subscribed to the service used by the Illinois High School Association, and you have to pay to stream,” Gaham said. “We didn’t want to do that.”
Coming and going
The board acknowledged the resignations of elementary school teacher aides Tressa Clayton and Diana Jerkatis and boys/girls soccer coach Alyssa Kraus.
It approved the retirement of junior high math teacher Tiffany Serafin and junior high English teacher Janette Stein.
The board also approved the employment of boys assistant soccer coach Jonathan Kypuros.
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