•August 18, 2021•
by Ariana Cherry
NP Writer

Concerned parents, guardians and members of the ALAH school district community filed into the high school gym Thursday, August 11, to voice their concerns about the recent mask mandate that Governor Pritzker has put into place. At the time of the public meeting, the school had voted on a safe return to school plan, citing that “masks were recommended for those who were not vaccinated,” but they wouldn’t be checking vaccination statuses, etc. The district wanted to focus more on being educators and not allowing the pandemic to get in the way. Although, with the rising cases of the new Delta variant, many of us are feeling “deja-vu”, and it seems as if we are on replay from last year as mandates and mitigations come back into our lives once again. Read More

•August 11, 2021•
By Crystal Reed
NP Writer

During Monday’s meeting, the City Council unanimously approved an amendment to the personnel policy for city of Sullivan employees. The amendment says that an employee shall receive 40 hours of vacation on his first day of employment for use in the following year. The resolution took effect immediately and applies retroactively to any active full-time employee who is currently in his first year of employment.
In addition, the resolution says that an employee shall be allowed to carry any unused vacation hours credited to him on his first day of employment for his second year of employment. Thereafter, any vacation time credited to an employee may not be carried over year to year, a year being defined as an employee’s anniversary date to anniversary date.
Upon termination or resignation, employees shall receive compensation for all earned but unused vacation at the employee’s regular straight-time hourly rate as of the employee’s date of termination. The final compensation of a separated employee shall be paid in full on his next regularly scheduled payday. Upon retirement any unused accrued vacation days, as of an employee’s last physical day of work, will be used to extend out his date of retirement. The balance of unused vacation hours will be treated as a salary/hourly payment to the employee, which simply pushes back his retirement and final paycheck to a later date. Read More

Bettinger

•August 4, 2021•
by Ariana Cherry
NP Writer

Life Scout and upcoming senior at ALAH, Jacob Bettinger, and his mother of Lovington, would often notice students waiting outside in the elements for the school bus - especially during frigid cold winters and rainy weather. Jacob’s mom suggested to him that perhaps it would be ideal if the students had some type of shelter in which to stand while they waited for the bus.
Back in February, Jacob presented his Eagle Scout project to the school board. He informed them that the bus stop would measure about 6 feet by 12 feet. The plan was to fit about 10-12 students in it. Read More