By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Delavan-Darien School Board approved a new raffle from the high school booster club on Monday night. The raffle is a calendar-based raffle and will replace the auctions the booster club has conducted in the past.
Julie Supernaw represented the booster club and said the club felt the community was tired of the auctions and wanted something new. Supernaw said the calendar raffle could raise more money than the auctions did with fewer burdens to the community.
Once the club gets approval from the state gaming commission, which was expected to come within a few days of the school board meeting, the club can begin selling one-page calendars for $20 that offer purchasers the opportunity to win cash prizes in monthly drawings.
Each calendar will have a stub that serves as the actual raffle ticket. The drawings will occur at the beginning of monthly booster club meetings and winners are mailed checks to cover their prize amounts. The prize amounts will vary from $25 up to $100 depending on the number of holidays, Sundays, and other days each month has. A drawing will be held for each day of the month so that there will be 365 prizes issued by the end of the year. Winners’ stubs will be put back into the raffle bins so calendar owners may win more than once.
Supernaw said the club’s goal is to sell 1,500 calendars, which would raise $19,055. At least 750 calendars must be sold to make the raffle worthwhile. Supernaw said the raffle will be canceled and all money returned if that number cannot be reached by January 21, but she said the club did not foresee that being a problem.
Board discusses new public comments policy
The board approved the first reading of a new public participation policy for board meetings. A second reading will take place at the November 12 meeting.
Board member Chad Kort presented the policy to the board and the public at the meeting. The new policy encourages public participation, an element board member Steve Logterman said was lacking in the old policy.
The policy establishes a period for public comments at the beginning of each regular and special meeting except those in closed session. Citizen comments at regular meetings may address any topic related to district operations and programs except for complaints or grievances against individual staff members. Comments at special meetings will still be restricted to items on the agenda for that meeting.
Anyone wishing to address the board will be asked to register ahead of time at the start of the meeting. Public participation may be limited to 30 minutes and each speaker will be limited to five minutes. Speakers may speak only once.
Kort said the policy does not limit the board from discussing what comes up during citizen participation or answering questions but does prohibit any action from being taken on items not listed on the meeting agenda. President Jeff Scherer agreed it was his vision that the board interact with citizens, not simply listen without commenting or answering questions.
Pupil count stable
The district’s pupil count for 2012/13 is stable when compared to last year’s numbers. The adjusted student count for this year is 2,749 students the district is responsible for. Last year the count was 2,748. Business Administrator Carey Bradley said this number drives the state’s revenue limit formula.
