Scott County Times
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2020
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Times NEWS SIUE announces fall dean’s list. See page A2 Crimestoppers fugitives. See page A3
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WINCHESTER, IL 62694
VOLUME NO. 153 NUMBER 6
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Winchester HS holds public hearing on drug testing By CARMEN ENSINGER Scott County Times Winchester Superintendent Kevin Blankenship and members of the school boards of both Bluffs and Winchester, along with policy committee members from both schools held a second public hearing in Winchester on Jan. 29. There were around 35 in attendance at the meeting. Blankenship opened the meeting by stating why the drug testing policy was written. “We have identified a problem in both district – we noticed we have had a higher incidence of some drug infractions with school age kids,” he said. “So, we wanted to develop a policy that we hope will serve as a deterrent.” One subject brought up at the last meeting was that
the American Association of Pediatrics says drug testing in school does nothing to stop students from using drugs. “When it comes right down to it, while the AAP claims it doesn’t work, at the same time there is no proof that it doesn’t either,” Blankenship said. “This policy is just going to be another tool in our tool box to identify kids with problems so we can offer them assistance.” Many of the issues discussed came from posts made on social media. “Social media is a great invention that helps us out because we get to see the comments being made and what the concerns are,” Blankenship said. The one topic discussed on social media and at the last meeting was the fact that the policy violates the student’s rights and the district should
not be doing it at all. The district consulted their attorney on this matter.
“This policy is just going to be another tool in our tool box to identify kids with problems so we can offer them assistance.”
Kevin Blankenship Winchester Superintendent There were two Supreme Court rulings which held up the drug testing in schools. The first ruling was Veronia School vs. Action in 1995. The Supreme Court held up as
constitutional a school district policy which required student random drug testing as a condition for participation in interscholastic athletics. In 2002, the court case of Board of Education vs. Earls expanded the testing to include non-athletic extracurricular activities such as FFA, student council, Spanish Club, etcetera. The ruling stated that such a policy was a reasonably effective means of addressing the school districts legitimate concerns in preventing, deterring and detecting drug use. As the policy stands now, any student who plans to participate in any extracurricular activity their parents must give their consent to let their child be randomly drug tested. This includes driver’s education, prom and homecoming. Some of the posts asked about the graduation ceremo-
ny. “The courts have ruled that the graduation ceremony is a privilege and not a right – you don’t have to go through the ceremony,” Blankenship said. “Do we want that included or excluded? No decision has been made on that. It could be but that doesn’t mean the board is going to include that in this policy.” Another question of concern was the method to be used for the testing. There are several different types of test with the urine test being the most common, oral fluid testing (swab in the mouth) and hair testing. The hair testing seemed to be the one that had parents most concerned. “There is some confusion about the hair testing,” Blankenship said. “There is (See, TESTING, A2)
West Central takes on Greenfield. See page A3 Evans nearly breaks school record. See page A3
WEEKEND WEATHER FRIDAY, FEB. 7
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SATURDAY, FEB. 8
32 22 High
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SUNDAY, FEB. 9
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Scott County Times
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Scott County Times Obituaries listed in this issue: Oswald All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Carmen Ensinger/Scott County Times
Carmen Ensinger/Scott County Times
Winchester first grader Logan Glossop shows off the two books he wants to purchase during Family Night at the Winchester Grade School Scholastic Book Fair.
Ainsley Freeman, a third grader at Winchester Elementary, looks over the many different items available to buy during the Scholastic Book Fair last week at Winchester Elementary.
Winchester Elementary Book Fair puts books in the hands of kids By CARMEN ENSINGER Scott County Times Winchester Elementary School held their second book fair of the year with an amazing turnout, especially on Family Night, which was held on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Title 1 Teacher Michelle Turnbull sponsored the book fair which ran the week of Jan. 27-31. Her room at Winchester Grade School was set up as a mini bookstore with racks of books for ages pre-k through 8th grade. The books are sent on consignment from the Scholastic Book Company. “They send them out when whatever
we don’t sell, we box up and send back to them,” Turnbull said. “The receipts tell them what we sold and then they bill us for them.” The profits from the book sales goes right back into the school. “We plan to use the profits from this book fair to buy books for all of the classrooms,” Turnbull said. “We usually average around $1,000 from these books fairs and we are looking to purchase three or four books for each classroom with these profits.” Through the week, each classroom has the opportunity to come down and buy books. This year they are using something called E-Wallet which
allows parents to put money into their child’s account to buy books with. “The good thing about E-Wallet is that no cash is actually exchanged,” Turnbull said. “Parents can rest easy knowing they don’t have to give their child money which they might lose. It’s still new so a lot of the parents don’t know much about it but once they do try it I think they are going to think it is a good thing.” During Family Night, a steady stream of parents, grandparents and children made their way through the book fair from 4 to 6 p.m. “I’m very pleased with the turnout for Family Night,” Turnbull said. “It is
one thing for the students to come in during the day and buy a book or two, but to have their parents with them, or their grandparents, that shows that the adults are taking an interest in their children.” As for the most popular genre, Turnbull said it is easily the graphic novels. “They have just become so popular in the book world today,” she said. In the old days, we would have called them comic books but these have a lot of pictures with words in a little box. It is something to draw the students interest so they will read and that is what we want to do -get them to read.”
State’s Attorney Candidate Work on Logan’s Ag Forum in Winchester Feb. 19 in Scott County continues The Pike-Scott Farm Bureau will host a State’s Attorney forum Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Court Room of the Scott County Courthouse in Winchester. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. The forum is designed to give voters a chance to hear from the three Republican candidates for Scott County State’s Attorney ahead of the
March 17 primary election. Candidates Bethany Doolin, John Paul Coonrod, and Rick Crews are vying for the nomination for State’s Attorney on the Republican ticket. Each candidate will get an opportunity to share a bit about themselves, present the reasons they are running for office, and respond to questions on important
issues facing Scott County. The Pike-Scott Farm Bureau is a general farm organization with the goal of representing the interests of our members in areas impacting their lives and livelihood. For more information, call the Pike-Scott Farm Bureau at 217-2852233 or info@pikescottfb. org.
Early voting starts today By BETH ZUMWALT Scott County Times Early voting for the March 17 primary in Illinois starts today, Feb. 6. According to Jennifer Hoots, deputy clerk in the Scott County Clerk’s office, early voting will be from 8-4 Monday through Friday. Saturday, March 14, voters will be able to early vote 9 a.m. to noon. “Grace voting begins Feb. 19,” Hoots said. “That’s where people who are not
registered to vote, can come to our office and register, but have to vote at the same time.” Cut off for regular voter registration is Feb.18. On-line registration is accepted until midnight that night. Scott County Republicans will have choices on the ballot. Three candidates are running for state’s attorney, Rick Crews, Bethany Doolin, John Paul Coonrod. There is also a race on the Republican ballot for the one open commissioner seat.
New comer Charles Pine is challenging incumbent Robert Shafer. Stacy Evans, also a Republican, is running unopposed for re-election to the circuit clerk’s office. Democrats will have a voice in picking a presidential candidate, although the field may be narrowed by March 17. Teenagers who are not 18 by March 17, but, will be by the November election, may vote in the primary if they register first.
By BETH ZUMWALT Scott County Times Work on converting the former IMCO Precast Concrete Plant into a Logan Ag facility is progressing nicely, according to Ed Logan, owner of the company. The plant is expected to be fully functional within the next month. “The offices are done. Our plant manager, Dennis Ryan, is there working and we expect our office manager, Haley White, to start next week. We will have a phone number soon.” Logan acquired the 15 acre property with 7, 500 feet of warehouse space last fall with the intention of turning it into a facility similar to the one they have in Griggsville. “Our fertilizer containment is complete,” Logan said. “The footings for the load pad and dirt work were supposed to be poured this week, but may be next week, weathering depending.”
Logan said the mild temperatures of the winter, so far, have allowed the construction crew to complete many of the outside projects. “We have all the bulk storage tanks in place except one,” he said. “Our mix system is in place. We have two guys in Winchester working on doing overhead hoses, so the hoses won’t be on the ground.” The Winchester facility affords many options for Logan Ag to expand its service ability east of the Illinois River. Anhydrous ammonia continues to be sourced from the NH3 site east of Florence; dry fertilizer will be delivered into the area from the greatly expanded storage facility at Griggsville; custom application of herbicides will be offered from the Winchester plant along with package and mini-bulk herbicides and seed. Petroleum products will be delivered from the present Petroleum Distribution Facility in Griggsville.