Effingham Daily News, Effingham, IL

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  • Fourth-grade teacher Jenna Wohltman talks to Unit 10 Curriculum Director Kevin Schultz about needs for her clasroom Wednesday. Wohltman was to be a teacher's aide this year, but an enrollment spike caused Unit 10 to hire her as a full-time teacher. Bill Grimes

    Altamont teacher/Wohltman

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August 18, 2011

Surprise Promotion

Unit 10 OKs creation of additional class as school enrollment spikes

Bill Grimes Effingham Daily News

ALTAMONT — School hadn’t even started and Jenna Wohltman was being sent to the principal’s office.

    Wohltman, a recent graduate of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, reported to the Unit 10 office Tuesday morning to fill out paperwork for what she thought was going to be her new job as a teacher’s aide at Altamont Grade School.

    Instead, unit staff sent her to see grade school Principal Jerry Tkachuk.

    Unbeknownst to Wohltman, the Unit 10 board had authorized the creation of a new fourth-grade class at Monday’s meeting because of a spike in enrollment. After that vote, Tkachuk had other plans for Wohltman, a 2007 Altamont High School graduate.

    And that is why he wanted to see her in his office.

    “I got over there and he (Tkachuk) told me about the switch,” Wohltman said. “I had been wondering what he wanted to tell me. But I had no idea this would happen.”

    Instead of being a teacher’s aide, Tkachuk hired Wohltman as a full-fledged teacher. Her fourth-grade class will be in a makeshift room with collapsible walls that was formerly a special education classroom.

    The new section was added because enrollment increased from 487 last fall to 523 as of Monday. Tkachuk said six more students have enrolled this week to run the total up to 529.

    Tkachuk isn’t complaining.

     “It’s a nice problem to have,” he said. “If any other families with school-age children want to move here, the door’s open.”

     Unit 10 Superintendent Jeff Fritchtnitch said the enrollment increase reflects favorably on the entire Altamont community. But he can’t pinpoint a reason.

     “I’ve asked several people what’s happening in Altamont to make people want to move here,” Fritchtnitch said.

    It’s not just people moving to town from elsewhere in Effingham County, he said.

    “We have new families from Missouri and farther north in Illinois,” he said. “It’s a pretty good problem to have. We’re still small enough that we know the kids by name, but we still provide a quality education.”

    The increase has caused other adjustments to be made, however. For one thing, middle school science teacher Ralph Rounds doesn’t have a science lab anymore because the space was needed for a fifth-grade classroom.

    “We’ve put science on a cart,” Tkachuk said. “That will enable Mr. Rounds to go from class to class with his lessons. We’re using every available inch of space in this building.”

    That’s why Wohltman’s first teaching job is based in a made-up space with collapsible walls that don’t reach all the way to the ceiling. But she’s not complaining, though she admits she’ll have some long days this week.

    “Maybe I should get a cot,” she said.

    Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 132 or bill.grimes@effinghamdailynews.com.

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