I. Call to order and Roll call:

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Nolte with the following members present:

PRESENT Mr. Chuck Hervas Mrs. Susan Nolte Mrs. Maureen McDonald Mr. Patrick Powers Mr. Neal Schawel Mr. Dennis Torii

ABSENT Mr. Jim McCann

Also present:

Dr. Kenneth Cull, Superintendent of Schools
Dr. Marcia Tornatore, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction
Mrs. Catherine Seger, Recording Secretary
Mr. Mike Celer, auditor, Mathieson, Moyski & Celer
Members of the community and the press

II. Closed Session:

Motion made by Mr. Torii and seconded by Mr. Hervas that the Board of Education enter a closed session for the purpose of the employment and/or dismissal of personnel. The motion carried on the following ROLL CALL VOTE:

AYESNAYS

Mrs. Nolte
Mr. Powers
Mrs. Dale
Mr. Hervas
Mrs. McDonald
Mr. Torii

The board entered a closed session at 7:01 p.m.

Motion made by Mr. Torii and seconded by Mrs. McDonald that the Board of Education return to open session. This motion carried on the following ROLL CALL VOTE:

AYESNAYS

Mr. Powers
Mrs. Dale
Mr. Hervas
Mrs. McDonald
Mrs. Nolte
Mr. Torii

The Board of Education returned to open session at 7:32 p.m. President Nolte stated that while in closed session, the board had discussed the employment and dismissal of personnel and no action was taken.

III. Pledge of Allegiance:

President Nolte led everyone present in the Pledge to the Flag.

IV. Welcome to Visitors:

A. Mrs. Nolte welcomed all visitors to the meeting and extended a welcome to Mrs. Diann Dale, newly elected member of the Board of Education.

B. President Nolte acknowledged Mr. Neal Schawel, outgoing board member. She commented that he had been a positive presence on the Board and never had a negative approach to topics. In addition, he always spoke in a kind manner that made everyone feel good. He will be missed.

Mrs. Nolte presented Mr. Schawel with a plaque honoring his years of service to the Itasca School District. Mr. Schawel thanked everyone for the opportunity given to him to serve the community and extended warm wishes to the Board of Education.

IV. Communications:

Mrs. McDonald, board secretary, read a communication received from staff members, Pam Mitchell, Cary Behrendt and Christina Rice acknowledging appreciation to the Board of Education for the seed money donated for the relief fund CD project.

In addition, Mrs. Nolte informed everyone that at the special meeting held on November 13, Mr. Torii had been elected Vice-President, Mrs. McDonald had been elected Secretary and she had been elected President of the Board of Education. All of these offices are for two-year terms.

A. Agenda Addendum Items:

None

VII. Superintendent’s Report:

Dr. Cull reviewed his report, a copy of which is attached to these official minutes, highlighting items including the proposed After-School Program at Benson and Franzen, the community breakfast recently held and the District #10 Educational Association’s annual ice breaker held in October.

He expressed his enjoyment in visiting the buildings in Itasca and noted the enclosed financial reports that reflect actual, audited starting balances.

The annual N.D.S.E.C. dinner/meeting is scheduled for December 5. Board members wishing to attend should notify Catherine Seger by November 19.

Mrs. Nolte suggested that Mrs. Dale attend the IASB new school board member’s workshop scheduled for later this school year.

Dr. Cull also advised the members of the Board of Education that the annual testing report would be in tomorrow’s edition of the Daily Herald.

VIII. Board Requested Reports:

A. N.D.S.E.C. – Mr. Torii reported on the recently held meeting. He encouraged members of the Board to attend the N.D.S.E.C. dinner meeting scheduled for December 5. He reported that prior to September 11, legislators were going to provide some funding to help cover costs of special education students. Since then, they’ve cut back some of the special education programs including the 0-3 year old programs which won’t affect District #10. He is watching to see if the legislators will continue to be in favor of some of these special education programs.

President Nolte appointed Mr. Torii to continue to serve as the N.D.S.E.C. representative.

B. Middle School Report – In the absence of Dr. Nickisch, principal of Peacock Middle School, Dr. Cull reviewed the Middle School Report. He reported that the CD project is going well and that the master CD has been made and is currently being reviewed. After reviewing, it will be sent to be pressed. Orders are being taken over the web-site. Delivery should be some time around mid-December. The library has offered to help distribute and/or sell the CD’s. There are 1,500 being ordered – they are $10.00 if purchased through the school and $12.00 if purchased via the internet.

Mrs. Nolte requested a future report on community service activities being performed by the students. She also requested that some of the CD’s be brought for board members to purchase.

Mrs. Dale stated that the Peacock students are pursuing many different ways of performing community service.

C. Curriculum – Dr. Tornatore reviewed her report, a copy of which is attached to these minutes. She reported on the October 29th institute. Experts in the field of technology were brought in and workshops were conducted in each individual school. There are different needs in each of the three schools. In addition, she arranged for a speaker on the interpretation of test scores and how apply the test results. Teachers spoke highly of this presentation. She wants to continue with a strong focus on tech in the classroom.

She has a couple of speakers lined up for presentations in March.

During American Education week, employees of the district and community members read to the children.

Regarding the Talent and Gifted Program (TAG), assessment has been completed and analysis have been sent to the teachers. The next step is for the teachers to discuss TAG with the parents during parent/teacher conferences.

Planning is being done for a strong in-service for the teachers this year. It is being paid through a grant. Teachers will receive one college course credit with 16 hours of attendance at presentations.

Dr. Tornatore explained differences between two committees – the Kindergarten committee and the Kindergarten Language Arts committee .

Mrs. Nolte asked Dr. Tornatore about a presentation on cultural diversity which the District is entitled to receive as a result of a donation made to Waubonsee Community College last spring. Dr. Tornatore will report on this presentation at a future meeting.

D. Technology Up-Date – Dr. Cull reviewed the Technology Report which had been prepared by Mr. Kapachinski.

Since the District office does not have cable, Dr. Cull has asked Mr. Kapachinski to see if it can be installed into the Administrative Center. Since cable is very expensive, other options will be reviewed including a satellite dish. Since Mr. Ron Putzell is the chairman of the cable consortium, he may be able to help with the situation.

E. Character Counts! - Mrs. McDonald was appointed as representative of the Board of Education on the coalition and will be making monthly reports. However, since she was not in attendance at this evening’s meeting, Dr. Cull made the report. He discussed Mrs. Kreutzer’s work with the coalition and the fact that she’s been very active in the community. He said that some future projects are in the works but would not elaborate on them until they were further along.

F. Auditor’s Report – Mr. Mike Celer, District #10 auditor, reported on the audit. He reviewed the audit for members of the board and the audience. An opportunity was given for questions and discussion.

He also reviewed two specific items to the district contained in the management letter. The first item is the collateralization of deposits. This collateralization of deposits has been an item for the past couple of years. Cash and investments of the districts should either be insured by FDIC, or the bank should have some kind of collateral pledge to the district. At the end of June, 2001, FDIC insurance and pledged securities that District #10 had were short about $200,000 of the bank balance. Mr. Celer has spoken with Dr. Cull regarding this as well as the bank.

The second item he discussed was the allocation of personal property tax. The state requires a certain amount of money be allocated to IMRF (personal property taxes were allocated to the IMRF). This has not been done in the district this year and should be done automatically. It was recommended that with the first payment received from the state, this money be allocated to the IMRF and then it is completed.

The last point discussed by Mr. Celer is that there is sweeping changes coming on the horizon for local governments but probably won’t be applicable until June 30, 2003. Two items that will affect District 10 could affect how the audit report is done and how it’s filed with the State of Illinois. All school districts are going to be on the modified accrual basis of accounting. We are currently on the cash basis of accounting. It could have an affect on fund balances but has no affect on the cash for the district. It will be something that the accounting firm will have to discuss with the district as this is an internal accounting issue. This is just something for the board to be aware of and he is not recommending that the district switch to accrual basis of accounting at this time.

Further discussion ensued.

Dr. Cull thanked Mr. Celer for the extra time he put in to help him. He also acknowledged Mrs. Cindy Kuta, bookkeeper, for her assistance.

Mr. Hervas commented that the financial report included in the packet is very helpful and is a vast improvement from when he began on the board.

G. Freedom of Information - No Freedom of Information requests were received during the previous month.

H. Opportunity for community input regarding board requested reports – None.

IX. Consent Items:

A motion was made by Mrs. McDonald and seconded by Mr. Torii that the minutes of the October 10, 2001 regular meeting, the expenditures for the month of September, 2001, the employment of Nancy Bernal and Mary Krapil, and the resignation of Ellen Ryndak be approved. Following an opportunity for further questions and discussion, the motion carried on the following ROLL CALL VOTE:

AYESNAYS

Mr. Hervas
Mr. Torii
Mrs. Nolte
Mr. Powers
Mrs. Dale
Mrs. McDonald

X. Action Items:

A. Student Teachers –

Motion made by Mr. Powers and seconded by Mrs. McDonald that the Board of Education approve Meghan Beran as a student teacher for Amy Hourigan from January 19, 2002 through March, 2002, and Amanda Babyar as a student teacher for Dorothy Ronzheimer from March, 2002, through May, 2002. Following an opportunity for questions, discussion, and community input, the motion carried on the following VOICE VOTE: All AYES: NAYS none.

B. Board of Education Policy #6:235 – Access to Electronic Network; Policy #7:10 – Equal Educational Opportunities; and Policy #8:20 – Community Use of Facilities –

Motion made by Mrs. McDonald and seconded by Mr. Patrick that Board of Education Policies (all are being revised) #6:235 Access to Electronic Network; #7:10 – Equal Educational Opportunities; and #8:20 – Community Use of Facilities, be approved for second reading. Following an opportunity for questions, discussion and community input, Mrs. McDonald amended the motion to remove Policy #6:235 – Access to Electronic Network from the motion. Mr. Powers seconded the amendment.

The amendment passed with the following VOICE VOTE: All AYES: NAYS none.

The motion passed with the following VOICE VOTE: All AYES: NAYS none.

C. N.D.S.E.C. Board Policy #6:120 – N.D.S.E.C. Special Education Procedures Assuring the Implementation of Comprehensive Programming for Children with Disabilities-

Motion made by Mr. Torii and seconded by Mr. Hervas that the N.D.S.E.C. Policy #6:120 – Special Education Procedures Assuring the Implementation of Comprehensive Programming for Children with Disabilities be ratified. Dr. Cull stated that District #10 has this same policy to meet with current changes in federal law regarding this issue. This policy is for N.D.S.E.C. Following an additional opportunity for discussion, questions, and community input, the motion carried on the following VOICE VOTE: All AYES: NAYS none.

D. FY2001 Audit –

Motion made by Mr. Powers and seconded by Mr. Hervas that the FY2001 audit be approved. Following an opportunity for community input, discussion, and questions, the motion carried on the following ROLL CALL VOTE:

AYESNAYS

Mr. Powers
Mr. Torii
Mrs. Dale
Mr. Hervas
Mrs. McDonald
Mrs. Nolte

XI. Board Requests for reports:

No requests were made at this time.

XII. Adjournment:

There being no further business, Mrs. Nolte adjourned the meeting at 8:46 p.m.

___________________________________ Mrs. Maureen McDonald, Secretary Board of Education

________________________________ Mrs. Susan Nolte, President Board of Education