Last month, the Clinton Board of Education Athletic Committee discussed moving up start times for various sports and approved those to start the next school year.

Junior high basketball, volleyball, and wrestling along with High school JV basketball, and volleyball will all start earlier. According to Board President Dan Matthews, other schools are doing this and it was something supported by the Clinton athletic department.

As it relates to community use of the athletic facilities, Superintendent Curt Nettles says they are going to be closing their buildings on Sundays. He explains they get used a great deal by the community and that increases the workload for already busy staff.

Additionally, Nettles points out the district is going to have to start thinking about making improvements to some of their facilities soon. 

It was brought up the idea of bringing an artificial surface to the football field and Nettles points out, the districts in central Illinois that have those types of facilities benefit from a county sales tax that can only be used for facilities, something DeWitt County does not have in place. 

The school Board has tried for the one-cent sales tax twice and it has failed each time though not in the four-years under the guidance of Nettles. 

As for the earlier start times for district sports - junior high school basketball, volleyball and wrestling will all start at 5 pm. Basketball has two levels that play on a given night while volleyball has three. Meanwhile at the high school level, JV basketball will begin at 5:30 pm and volleyball will begin at 5 pm with three levels playing most nights.