In November of 2018, local voters signaled their support for improving the state of Jasper County's schools by passing a 1% sales tax referendum to fund capital projects within the district. A plan was drafted, prioritizing projects by greatest need, and a team was put together by the school board to work with an architectural firm and an engineering construction company to further refine the scope of work to be performed. Board member Bill Meinhart is a member of that team, and sat down with us to talk about the exciting improvements taking place in the district.

Bill was born and raised in Jasper County, and is a graduate of Newton Community High School. After high school, he had aspirations of becoming a teacher, and began classes at Eastern Illinois University with this goal in mind. However, while still at NCHS, an interest in science had been awakened by his chemistry and physics teacher, and an affinity for math by his advanced mathematics teacher. And so, not long into his college career, Bill decided that chemical engineering was a path to which he was better suited. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in Chemical Engineering, and went on to work for many years for Dow Chemical, where his job sometimes involved managing capital construction projects.

When he retired and moved back to Jasper County, he immediately began looking for a way to contribute to the community, and found it in service on the school board. "Me being a member of the school board is maybe a way for me to give back to the community that helped me in the formation of my direction and career," he explained. "And so, whatever I can do to help out the students here in the local schools - that's a passion that I have."

If you take Bill's love of the community, add his passion for service and multiply by his experience with project management, you come up with a perfect match for the job of tackling some of the issues facing Jasper County school district facilities. One of the highest priorities identified by Bill and the board's team was general facilities maintenance. Some maintenance, such as roof repair, had been put on the back burner due to budget constraints. This led to nagging problems with leaks and water damage to buildings. These issues are now being addressed as part of an approximately $2 million ongoing project.

Another major project currently in progress is the installation of elevators at the junior high/high school building. This initiative was driven by the importance of provisioning staff and students with accessibility to all levels of the school, regardless of any mobility issues they may have. For example, science labs and family and consumer science classrooms are located on the second floor of the building. If a student with mobility issues wanted to take a class that met there, other accommodations would have to be made for them on the ground floor, possibly not including all of the amenities present in the second floor rooms. With the elevators in place, students with limited mobility can attend the class in the same lab that their peers do.

Another high priority project is an upgrade to the HVAC systems in the junior high/high school building and in Newton Elementary. At Newton Elementary, a new system will replace a number of window air conditioner units that have been used to cool some classrooms. These units produce a considerable amount of noise, making for a less than ideal learning environment. Also in the elementary building, air conditioning