The masses will grow in the already-crowded Morton High School cafeteria once closed campus lunch extends to the Junior class for the 2010-11 school year.
Options to alleviate crowding were discussed at the July 6 meeting of the Morton District 709 School Board.
Freshman and sophomore students had closed campus lunch last year. District officials are looking to include seniors, and have a closed-campus policy for the entire school in the future.
Options discussed by Superintendent Dr. Roger Kilpatrick include running two-person tables down the hall outside of the cafeteria, reconfiguring the layout to provide room for additional tables, taking over a different space in the school and fencing a new courtyard area to provide overflow cafeteria space.
Kilpatrick said he and high school principal Dennis Johnson have discussed building a new library and using the school’s current library as cafeteria space.
“That’s the most expensive option,” Kilpatrick said. “It won’t be done this year. We think we can handle the overflow this year.”
“We’re going to need more room someday no matter what,” school board president Tom Neeley said. “The problem’s not going to go away even if we build a new high school and the high school becomes our junior high school.”
In other business and discussion, the board:
• heard an update from Kilpatrick about the new high school gym floor.
“We’ve completed the first phase of floor removal,” he said.
About 80 to 85 percent of the removal has been completed and bleachers have been moved, he added.
“We’re on schedule with the work, but we may have to reschedule some athletic events,” Kilpatrick said.
The floor should be completed in mid-August or early September.
• approved the resignations of Robert Bardwell, from his position as principal at Brown School, effective June 30 and Jason Bally, from his position as Assistant Track Coach at Morton Junior High School effective for the 2010-11 school year.
• approved the appointments of Kirk Schick to math teacher at MJHS, Tom Herrmann to mathematics department head at MJHS effective for the 2010-11 school year, David Price to part-time special education instructional aid at MJHS effective for the 2010-11 school year and Monica Lynch to ESL tutor effective July 7.
• approved the rehire of Alyssa Hawkinson, part-time special education instructional aide at Morton High School effective for the 2010-11 school year and Laura Smith, Jaclyn Herr, Denise Morse, Nicola Flint, Susan Ausman, Mary Bishop, Jeanie Winkelman, Dawn Smith and Elena Weber, all part-time special education instructional aides at Lincoln School effective for the 2010-11 school year.
• approved new textbooks for algebra I at a total cost of $13,990 and high school expository writing, at $2,350.
