Wethersfield has a new varsity boy’s basketball coach. Kyle Galli was approved to fill the position for the 2024-2025 season by the Board of Education at its April meeting Thursday night.
Galli replaces Tom McGunnigal whose resignation was accepted by the board last month.
Galli is a 2007 graduate of Wethersfield High School where he played basketball all four years for former coach Jeff Parsons and was on the first Wethersfield team to travel to Florida to play in the Wally Keller Classic. His senior year he also had the best free-throw average on the team, according to his yearbook entry. Mr. Galli is currently employed as a paraprofessional by the Wethersfield School District. (The Kewanee Voice will have more about Wethersfield’s new basketball coach in the near future.)
The Wethersfield Board of Education opened its meeting with a special presentation. With her parents, Amber and Chad looking on, WHS senior Kennady Anderson listened as board president Dan Bryan read a framed letter congratulating her on being named one of 26 student athletes in the state named to the 2024 IHSA All-State Academic Team. The letter began, “On behalf of the entire Wethersfield School District I extend our heartfelt congratulations,” and continued that the honor was “well deserved and a testament to your hard work and dedication.
Nominees needed to have a minimum 3.50 grade point average on a 4.0 scale after their seventh semester, have participated in at least two IHSA sponsored activities each of the last two years of high school and demonstrated outstanding citizenship. Anderson has a GPA of 5.04 on a 5.0 scale, with a class rank of 8th out of 32.
In her four-year high school career, Anderson has compiled a long list of accomplishments and set a number of records in basketball, volleyball, track, and cross country. This fall she will be attending the University of Illinois where she’ll be a member of the track and cross country teams and will major in kinesiology in the pre-physical therapy program.
Wethersfield Athletic Director Tom McGunnigal said that as each member of the all-state academic team walked off the stage after receiving the prestigious award, they were handed a $1,000 scholarship.
In other news, district employee Jerry Newman addressed the board about the increasing difficulty of handling the four students he drives in an SUV to and from classes each day at the Excel Alternative School in Atkinson.
“I’m just about ready to hang it up,” said Newman, who has been a driver and aide with the district for 20 years.
He said in recent days it has become almost impossible to control the students by himself while driving the vehicle and asked if an aide could be assigned to help control the students. Superintendent Dr. Andrew Brooks said they were working on a solution and should have an aide in place on Monday.
The board also approved a $20,650 quote from Potter & Sons Blacktopping, of Wyoming, for asphalt repair work, sealcoating and crack filling this summer on surfaces near the bus barn and Blish Building.
Also approved was a new outside freezer to replace the existing unit used by the cafeteria staff. The new, 12-by-20-foot freezer will be slightly larger than the old one which needs to be replaced due to its age and condition. It will cost just short of $60,000, according to Dr. Brooks.
Board member Steve Newman reported that the officers of the Frank H. Craig Wethersfield Alumni Association assessed the status of their scholarship fund at a meeting earlier this week and decided to add a third scholarship to a graduating senior planning a career in the field of education. The alumni association currently offers scholarships which provide $1,000 per year for four years to two students.
The board also approved hiring Erin Lopez as a third grade teacher for the 2024-2025 school year.
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