Meeting Summary and Briefs: Litchfield Community School District #12 Board of Education for August 18, 2026

Litchfield Community School District #12 Board of Education | August 18, 2026

The Litchfield Board of Education met for 47 minutes on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, at the district office, 1100 N. Old Route 66, and voted unanimously on every item before it, with Vice-President Ron Anglin the only member absent. The board’s two significant financial actions were a resolution declaring its intention to issue $1,100,000 in working cash fund bonds — the first of three steps, with a public hearing and a formal sale resolution still to come — and a motion setting a Sept. 17 public hearing on the 2026-2027 budget. Both are covered in full in separate articles, as are the board’s August bills and treasurer’s report, where the board packet and the approved minutes give totals that differ by $2,928.32.

The board also advanced a large package of Illinois Association of School Boards policy revisions from PRESS Issue 122, with a locally added change confirming a $10,000 capitalization threshold; approved a memorandum of understanding with the Locust Street Resource Center for school-based behavioral health services; raised employee meal reimbursement caps; and, after a closed session, accepted three resignations and approved three hires. Administrators reported on the opening of school. Each of those items is covered separately.

Student Handbooks Approved for 2026-27

The board voted 6-0 to approve the district’s student handbooks for the 2026-2027 school year, on a motion by David Belusko seconded by Mark Bloome. Superintendent Dr. Kelly McClain thanked the administrators seated at the meeting for assembling the administrative updates, and said each administrator’s changes were highlighted in the board packet. She told the board the district does not receive legal updates from the Illinois Association of School Boards until later in the summer and that another release was expected in August, which may require further handbook updates. The handbooks will be posted on the district website so they are easily available to families, she said.

Phone System Costs Cut Roughly in Half

Reviewing the month’s bills, McClain pointed the board to the district’s RingCentral charge, which she said is “about half of what it has been historically.” She credited Abe Loveless of the district’s technology staff, who she said has been working with the vendor to reduce the cost. McClain told the board that most of the district’s Consolidated Communications fax charges should come off next month’s bill as well, with lines retained only for elevator service because that is the only way to support them. No dollar figure for the savings appears in the minutes, the packet or the recording.

Cafeteria Moving Away From Styrofoam

McClain told the board the district has ordered baskets for breakfast service and carts for lunch trays as part of a multi-year effort to move away from styrofoam containers at the elementary level, a conversation she said has been underway for a couple of years. She credited the Kilton Foundation with funding the purchase in full, and thanked food service staff, Adam Favre and Paula Dal Canton for their support. The materials had not all arrived as of the meeting, McClain said, so the change is not yet in operation, and a plan is in place to wash and ready trays for the following day.

Maintenance Hire Tracked for Savings

McClain thanked the district’s custodial staff and named Nick McCorkle and a maintenance employee identified in the recording as Lonnie Law, saying “there have been great things happening and they seem to just know when something is going to happen.” She told the board McCorkle is keeping a spreadsheet estimating what the district is saving by handling in-house the work it would previously have called out a contractor to do, and said she would share that spreadsheet with the board. No estimate was given at the meeting.

Board Meets 14 Minutes in Closed Session

The board entered closed session at 6:30 p.m. and returned to open session at 6:44 p.m., both on motions by Belusko seconded by Bloome and both carried 6-0. The stated purpose was the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees of the district or legal counsel, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee or legal counsel to determine its validity, under 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1). It was the only closed session item on the agenda. No action may be taken in closed session; the board’s six personnel votes followed in open session, and the meeting adjourned at 6:47 p.m.

Agenda’s ‘Make It Report’ Does Not Appear in Minutes

The printed agenda listed a “Make It Report” as the first of three information items, ahead of the administrative report and the superintendent’s report, and the packet carried a page headed “MAKE IT REPORTS.” The approved minutes record no such report, and the recording of the meeting contains none. The term is not expanded or explained anywhere in the board’s materials, and nothing in the record indicates whether the item was simply passed over or whether it is a standing heading the board does not always use.