OGLESBY — Beginning this summer, Hall High School students will have the opportunity to participate in a College Start program with Illinois Valley Community College, IVCC board members learned at their meeting April 12.
The program, modeled after the agreement IVCC has had with Putnam County High School since 2014, allows academically qualified Hall seniors to enroll in IVCC classes as part of their high school coursework.
“This is another example of our providing higher education opportunities across the district, and it will strengthen an already solid working relationship between Hall and IVCC,” said Mark Grzybowski, associate vice president for Student Services.
Helping facilitate the initiative was IVCC board member and Hall interim-Superintendent Jay McCracken, Hall counselor Susan Lucas, and IVCC Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Bonnie Campbell.
In other business, the board honored out-going student trustee Matthew Pehoski of La Salle for “dedicated and enthusiastic” representation of students and welcomed new student trustee Joseph Marenda of Spring Valley.
Pehoski was recognized last week for earning IVCC’s highest academic achievement when he was named one of 12 McCormack Scholars.
In other business, the board approved:
• Elevator upgrades totaling $19,494.
• Purchase of Citrix App Layering maintenance and support for $13,440 to manage virtual desktops for staff. It allows software to be added and updates made to numerous machines at once.
• Seeking bids for the purchase of a utility vehicle for the agriculture program to facilitate data collection (field mapping and soil sampling) and equipment simulation in the field. The estimated $14,000 purchase will be paid for by a donation to the ag program by LPO Junior College alumnus Ralph Scriba of Palos Verdes, Calif.
• Seeking bids for slope and road work to improve drainage in three areas: the south side of the gym, south of the parking lots, and the north side of Building D. The project is estimated at $50,000.
• A $107,200 bid from Vanguard Contractors of Pekin for exterior stair upgrades.
• Semester-long sabbatical leave for nursing instructor Patricia Pence for fall 2018 and English instructor Delores Robinson for spring 2019.
• The resignation of nursing instructor Maddalena Davenport effective July 31.
• Deactivating the Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) degree for lack of enrollment.
The board also learned:
• Janine Full has been hired as administrative assistant III for business services and Angelica Fanti as Institutional Research/Information Technologies (IR/IT) programmer analyst.
• Of a $1,436 change order for emergency generator repairs. Cost went from $7,869 to $9,295 because repairs were more extensive than originally estimated.
• An AAS in agronomy was approved in a March letter from the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Agronomy focuses on crop and soil science, pest management and precision ag technology. The two-year, 60-credit program beginning this fall will prepare students for work in production, research, education, communication and sales.
• Diane Kreiser was to be recognized as the 2018 recipient of the Connie Skerston Memorial Award for Distinguished Service. Kreiser has worked in the business office for 27 years.
• IVCC’s Early Childhood Education program has been approved for ECE Gateways Credential Level 4, Infant/Toddler Gateways Credential Level 4, and Director Gateways Credential Level 1 (level 1 is the highest ranking). Gateways Credentials, awarded by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) Bureau of Child Care and Development, are symbols of professional achievement that validate knowledge, skills and experience.
• In his report, IVCC President Jerry Corcoran said the U.S. Department of Education review of IVCC’s Project Success program revealed the program exceeded all performance standards in the areas of persistence, good academic standing, degrees or certificates earned, and transfer rates. Project Success earned the highest score a college can receive.
• More than 200 students and parents attended Explore IVCC March 27.
• Oglesby Police Chief Jim Knoblauch attended a recent meeting of IVCC’s Emergency Management Committee to comment on the college’s emergency preparedness plan, particularly if the college were to have an active shooter on campus. Knoblauch said that since IVCC is part of the 911 Dispatch Center, four police departments would respond to an incident with Oglesby arriving within 2-5 minutes.
“After looking at our plan, Chief Knoblauch said although there is no perfect plan, what we have in place is the best you can have,” Corcoran said.
• IVCC would be a potential site if Oglesby, LaSalle and Peru consolidate police services. “Any time there’s an opportunity to enhance the safety and security of our students, faculty, staff and visitors, count us in. The closer they are to our campus, the better I feel,” Corcoran said.
• The April 4 academic awards banquet honored 170 students and on April 9, eight IVCC nursing students were inducted into the Nursing Honor Society.
• The April 5 Giving Day raised more than $22,000 for the IVCC Foundation.
• Maintenance and custodial staff represented by SEIU Local 138 sent a memo to the board regarding timing of labor agreement discussions. “These folks do a fine job of keeping our campus in great shape, and I’m proud to have them working hard on our behalf,” Corcoran said.