The Ashley Grade School Board of Education met Monday night and Superintendent Brian Hodge says the 4 members re-elected resumed their duties.  This included Donna Hicks, Ross Schultze, Terry Schettler and write-in candidate Andy Rynski.  Also, there was no change in the Board officers, as Jeff Stern is still President, Schettler was again voted as Vice President and Tammy Ebert remains the Secretary.  They approved of Angela Smith remaining as the Treasurer to the Board, which she has been voluntarily doing for years.  Meetings will remain on the 4^th Monday of each month, except for holidays, beginning at 5:30 PM in the School Library.  Hicks will again be the school’s representative to the Kaskaskia Special Education District Board.  The Board also approved to keep Farmers & Merchants Bank as the depositor for the school.  Hodge also reports that attendance is at 153, as enrollment went down 5 since the March meeting.  He also reports that they will do some safety work to the school, as there will be 3M security film put on the windows in the cafeteria that is tinted and non-tinted security film put on the 3 doors at the front of the school.  He says this isn’t bulletproof, but it will make the glass stronger, as it might just break like a car’s windshield, yet it does provide some deterrent for someone trying to break in.  They will use money from a maintenance grant and will have to pay half of the cost, which is $2,500 for the school’s part.  They tabled any action on adding a trophy case.  They did accept the bid from MJ Mowing out of Irvington for the mowing services this year.  They also agreed to combine kindergarten and 1^st grade classes into 1 classroom, as well as doing that to the 3^rd and 4^th grade classes.  There are 2 retiring upper grade teachers and they are combining some things.  They also respectfully declined 2^nd and 3^rd grade teacher Roxanna Crain’s request to take one of these open positions, as they feel she is doing a good job where she is at and don’t want to lose her in that capacity.  The Board approved of this year’s amended school calendar, as the last day is now May 29^th at 2:15 PM and graduation is still on May 20^th at 7 PM in the gym for the 22 eighth graders.  Pre-school registration is on June 20^th from 9 AM to 5 PM at the school.  The Board then approved of the next school year’s calendar.  There is an in-service day for the teachers on August 14^th, while that is also Open House night from 6 to 7 o’clock.  August 17^th is the first day for students and it is a full day says Hodge.  Student fees will stay the same as this year for next school year.  There will be some upgrades to the computer servers that involves a gigabyte switch, which will increase computer speeds.  They are also needing to replace an old indoor security camera.  They will use R.E.A.P. funds for this replacement, as well as to purchase a new office copier – scanner – fax – printer, so these items will not cost the school anything.  The Board approved of Prairie Farms with the milk bid for next school year.  Hodge also says they had a great showing last year with the University of Illinois Extension Youth Cooking School, they will have it again this year.  It will be from June 15^th through the 18^th from 8 to 11:30 AM in the school cafeteria and kitchen.  Hodge reported they didn’t have many problems with the computers during the 1^st round of PARCC testing.  They did have a few students get kicked off while taking the test, but not many.  Also, they did not have the JAVA issues, as they had the correct updates.  Finally, there is a Trivia Night Fundraiser tomorrow night at Ashley Grade School.  For more information, contact Joe at 322-3155 or 249-8771.