BETHALTO - During their regular meeting on July 24, 2025, the Bethalto Community Unit School District #8 Board of Education approved the reorganization of six committees.
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The Board previously had committees on Construction, Calendar, Insurance, Finance, Operations, and Policy. Following a unanimous vote on July 24, the committees have been restructured to include Budgeting and Finance, Insurance/Calendar, Policy and Procedure, Facilities and Construction, Human Resources, and Operations.
Board member Michael Kirby suggested reorganizing the committees. He expressed his opinion that the committees could streamline the process of discussing and voting on items. He also suggested including community members in some of the committees to get the community’s input.
“If we get people with that kind of a background that are quite knowledgeable in the financial sector, et cetera, they can be placed on these committees, and anything of a financial concern, they basically give it the once-over and do all the legwork and then they come to the Board in full during our open or closed sessions where they broach us with their opinions,” he said. “I think that would eliminate an awful lot of the downtime in regards to the amount of time we spend discussing some of these.”
Union members pointed out that their contract requires a few members to be present on certain committees, including the Calendar and Insurance committees. Superintendent Dr. Jill Griffin clarified that the committees are typically made up of a few Board members, staff members, union members and herself.
For example, in the past, the Construction committee has included representatives from GRP Wegman, Inc., Board members with applicable knowledge or backgrounds, the district’s Director of Maintenance, and Griffin. If the conversation is about a specific school, that building’s principal might also sit in.
Kirby originally suggested a Human Resources and Evaluations Committee to recommend hires and resignations. He said the Director of Human Resources would be on this committee, as well as a few Board members and staff members.
“I think it is more of an oversight committee,” he explained. “It just, in my opinion, was to eliminate two hours of talking about a soccer coach at Trimpe [Middle School]. That’s important. But if we can get that done by a handful of people, that’s their job as that community person and chairperson, then they bring that information forward instead of us talking about it.”
Kirby clarified that community members would not sit in on the Human Resources committee. A union representative at the meeting added that there are procedures in place before the district can let go of certified or noncertified personnel. Griffin asked to drop the “Evaluations” part of the committee’s name, as evaluations are the responsibility of the principals, not the Board members.
Kirby asked to see the job description of the Director of Human Resources. Griffin noted that the district does exit interviews and stay interviews, and Board member Desiree Potter asked if it would be possible to share this information with the Board going forward.
Ultimately, the Board unanimously decided to create a Human Resources committee and restructure the remaining committees to include Budgeting and Finance, Insurance/Calendar, Policy and Procedure, Facilities and Construction, and Operations. Board President Todd Meiser said he would work with the Board to assign members to each committee.
