FEBRUARY 9, 2005 REGULAR BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING
I. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Vice-President Patrick Powers. The following ROLL CALL:
PRESENT ABSENT
Mrs. Diann Dale Mrs. Susan Nolte
Mrs. Nancy DiCiolla
Mr. Chuck Hervas
Mrs. Maureen McDonald
Mr. Patrick Powers
Mrs. Rose Zelenka
Also present
Dr. Ken Cull, Superintendent of Schools
Dr. Reinhard Nickisch, Principal, F.E. Peacock Middle School
Dr. Joanna Medwick, Principal, Elmer H. Franzen Intermediate School
Dr. Dawn Turner, Principal, Raymond Benson Primary School
Dr. Marcia Tornatore, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Development
Mr. Charles Kapachinski, Director of Technology
Mrs. Catherine Seger, Recorder
Interested staff and citizens of the community
II. Pledge of Allegiance – Vice-President Powers led all present in the Pledge of Allegiance.
III. Welcome to visitors – Mr. Powers welcomed all to the meeting.
IV. Communications – Mrs. McDonald, board secretary, noted communications received during the previous month.
V. Agenda Addendum Items – Mrs. Dale added an item to the reports - Intergovernmental Meeting.
VI. SuperintendentÕs Report – Superintendent Cull reviewed the SuperintendentÕs Report, a copy of which is attached to these minutes. He noted that the Lake Park calendar had been adopted. Students at Lake Park will be going to school on VeteranÕs Day and in lieu of VeteranÕs Day, they will be off on the day before Thanksgiving. District #10 is going to follow Lake ParkÕs calendar with the exception of the starting and ending days. Dr. Cull congratulated Carol Nolph, a Peacock teacher who has been named one of 32 finalists for the Golden Apple Award. Dr. Cull reminded board members of the IASB meeting scheduled for February 22. Board members planning to attend the meeting should call the District Office. The meeting is at 6:00 p.m. and there is a pre-meeting for school board candidates at 5:00 p.m. Dr. Cull presented the board with a list of fund transfers and stated that they could review this list and give him a call with any questions. In looking at the Education fund balance, it was nearly $3,000,000 and is now at $2,300,000. This is a reflection of the hard work the board has done when significant cuts were made.
Dr. Cull reported on an item not listed in his report. There has been a change in election law. In the past, the board had to be canvassed within 7 days following the election. Now the election officials have to count provisional ballots, votes from people who may have voted who were not on the election list. Election officials have 20 days to count the ballots.
Dr. Cull also discussed the issue of the contingency funds. The District is at the point where the account needs to be closed. The law requires that all funds be spent by June, 2005. There have been discussions particularly around the Industrial Technology room as a use for the remaining funds relating to the project. It would be Dr. CullÕs recommendation that the $40,000 in interest plus $60,000 of the money be transferred. There is only about $42,000 or $43,000 in maintenance fees owed for this year. He suggested that we use this $60,000 for maintenance fees and the interest be put into the Education fund. Discussion ensued. Superintendent Cull was directed to proceed as suggested.
VII. Board Requested Reports:
A. Middle School – Dr. Nickisch, principal of F.E. Peacock Middle School, reviewed his report, a copy of which is attached to these minutes. One pressing issue has been a decline in parent involvement in the school. Turn-outs have been disappointing. A recommendation from the committee was to facilitate mini presentations during a portion of the curriculum night at a time when parents have a fixed break during the schedule. Hopefully, this will bring more parents out but also make them aware of the drug awareness program as well as other types of programs. The committee suggested that the distribution of the surveys be done at the end of the 3rd quarter and sent home in the report card envelopes. Parents need to sign off that they have received the report card and then they can possibly complete the report card. We are hoping to get a greater return than we have in the past. Dr. Nickisch also reported that there is one less member of the athletic conference. Churchill in Elmhurst has pulled out of the conference next year. Churchville decided to pull out and join their surrounding area. Hopefully, we will be able to find a replacement for Churchville. Mrs. Dale asked why there were a higher number of children on academic probation than in previous years. Dr. Nickisch explained that there was a great percent of 8th grade students whoÕs GPAÕs, though not on academic probation, were falling significantly. Mrs. Dale also asked about homework assignment policy for students who are absent. The policy is that if a student is out for two or more days, the teachers provide the homework. However, the homework hotline is up-dated every day at 4:00 p.m.
B. Curriculum – Dr. Tornatore, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction reviewed her report, a copy of which is attached to these minutes. The writing committee will be a 3-year on-going committee. The committee will write more philosophy next year. She also briefly discussed the calendar as well as the technology plan. Mrs. DiCiolla asked how the trainer to be trained for the 6 plus 1 Trait of Writing will be paid.
C. Technology – Mr. Kapachinski, Director of Technology, reviewed his report, a copy of which is attached to these official minutes. He discussed the site visits done earlier this year. Mr. Kapachinski reported that during the institute day at Benson, the trainer had a number of teachers log into the management portion of the system. This caused corruption to the database and eventually, crashed the program. Mr. Powers asked about the new student management system. He wanted to know who is part of the committee and what the process had been. Mr. Kapachinski stated that it was a multi-phased process. He had reviewed some of the programs and narrowed it down to 14 from 20. He had also talked with other districts that had been reviewing systems. From that, he narrowed it down to 5 and brought those five vendors in to demonstrate for members of the faculty, secretaries, district office, etc. This involved two days of visits. Following that, participants were surveyed and the vendors were narrowed down to three. At that point, six or seven staff members went to site visits. It was then narrowed down to 2. Mr. Kapachinski said he would like it to be understood that, with a program such as this, it is not a system that is put in but rather, it will have to be phased in over 2-3 years. Everyone should be aware that it is something that has to be phased in. Mr. Powers would like to see a time line in place for the phasing process with some part of the phase put in for the parents. Mrs. Zelenka asked if this is replacing what is currently in place. Yes it is. It will also have the functionality for parents to check on grades.
Mrs. Dale asked if the in-service had gone on as planned following the crash of the program. This happened at the end of the day and the trainer was one of our staff members. So there was no cost to the district.
D. Character Counts! – Mrs. McDonald, Character Counts! Coalition representative gave the report. She discussed several things that the committee has been doing. The Park District has been sponsoring five clinics for anyone participating in sports. The video is mandatory. There has been a fairly good response and attendance. The Event committee is planning a dance at Peacock on April 29. They are going to try and connect the dance with Character Counts!. An additional event being planned to piggyback on National Night Out in August. One sad note – Alva Kreutzer, coalition coordinator, is resigning at the end of this month. She is taking a job in town. The coalition will be looking for someone to replace Mrs. Kreutzer.
E. Springbrook Nature Center Representative – Mrs. Zelenka has one person who is willing and excited to be taking on the job as a representative. It will be Nadine Casper. Mr. Powers thanked her for doing that.
F. Freedom of Information – Dr. Cull reported no requests had been received.
Intergovernmental Meeting – Mrs. Dale stated that she received a phone call from Mr. Lattoria about another traffic meeting. The meeting is set for February 28. It should be attended by as many people as possible. It is an open meeting. The village is going ahead somewhat on putting in stop signs. They are going ahead with the 2/28 meeting because they still want to talk with the bus drivers, crossing guards. etc.
G. Opportunity for Community Input Regarding Board Requested Reports – No input from the community.
XIII. Consent Items –
A motion was made by Mrs. McDonald and seconded by Mr. Hervas that the minutes of the January 12, 2005 regular meeting, February 2, 2005 special meeting and closed session, and the expenditures for the month of January, 2005, be approved. Mrs. Dale asked a question related to WorkersÕ Compensation. Dr. Cull explained what he had done to find out what had occurred. He determined that we were estimating payroll by increasing it by the prior year and in the calculation on that increase, an error was continually made each year for several years. It was a math calculation error on our part. WorkersÕ Compensation also found something on their end. It is corrected and Dr. Cull has a different methodology going forward.
Following an opportunity for further questions and discussion, the motion carried on the following ROLL CALL VOTE:
AYES NAYS
Mrs. McDonald
Mrs. DiCiolla
Mr. Powers
Mrs. Zelenka
Mr. Hervas
Mrs. Dale
IX. Action Items –
Extension of Laidlaw Transportation Contract – A motion was made by Mrs. McDonald and seconded by Mrs. DiCiolla that the Laidlaw Amendment to the Extension of Pupil Transportation Services Agreement at an increased rate of 2.5% for a period of one year be approved. Dr. Cull noted that the district has not had a fuel escalator contract with Laidlaw Transportation. Mrs. Zelenka asked how long the district has had this contract. Laidlaw has been pretty consistent with one-year extensions. So far, neither Laidlaw nor any other vendor has requested going out for bid. Following a further opportunity for questions, discussion, and community input, the motion carried on the following ROLL CALL VOTE:
AYES NAYS
Mrs. Dale
Mr. Powers
Mrs. McDonald
Mrs. Zelenka
Mr. Hervas
Mrs. DiCiolla
B. Appointment of Superintendent as Treasurer of Activity Funds – A motion was made by Mr. Hervas and seconded by Mrs. McDonald that the Board of Education appoint the Superintendent as Treasurer of School Activity Funds. Following an opportunity for community input, questions, and discussion, the motion was carried on the following VOICE VOTE: All AYES: NAYS none.
X. Board Requested Reports –
