Board Meeting Highlights - August 28, 2017

Complete Meeting Packet


BUDGET HEARING

Dr. Lechner opened the budget hearing. The Board approved the FY18 tentative budget at its May 22nd meeting. After tonight’s public hearing and approval, the new budget will be submitted to the State Board of Education. Ms. Buscemi presented the District 39 Budget.

District 39 continues to serve as the fiscal agent for the WCSEA, which provides a special education financial umbrella for D39 and Avoca School District 37.  The Illinois State Board of Education requires WCSEA to keep separate accounting records, following the same Illinois budget guidelines required of all Illinois schools. This budget provides a mechanism to “flow through” and distribute state/federal funds to both school systems.  Ms. Buscemi presented the WCSEA Budget.


HEARING ON RESOLUTION TO AUTHORIZE A PERMANENT INTERFUND TRANSFER

Dr. Lechner opened this hearing. The administration is requesting a permanent fund transfer of $2,500,000 from the Education Fund to the Operations and Maintenance Fund to pay for construction projects. Notice of this hearing was published in the newspaper on August 10th. Gail Buscemi presented the Resolution to Authorize a Permanent Interfund Transfer.


REGULAR MEETING

Board Assignment Reports

  • Committee of the Whole: Mark Steen Reported. Next Committee of the Whole meeting is Monday, September 11th at 8:00 am

School Finance –  Reviewed the FY 18 budget. Discussed pension cost shift noting that the District continues to budget for this based on most recent suggested legislation. Discussed the permanent interfund transfer. Reviewed the treasurer report.

Facilities Development – Reviewed summer construction – all projects completed on time. Investigating an air conditioning noise issue at McKenzie. Each school now has two large communal areas that are air conditioned. Reviewed Health and Life Safety Plan. Continued to discuss construction options for Highcrest to address overcrowding and space configuration issues. Expect that the Board will vote on plans that include adding classrooms next year in phase 1, with three additional phases to follow. Phase 1 costs would be approximately $4 million. More about this will be coming in the next few months.


Legislative Update

Tracy Kearney reported that Springfield remained focused on educational funding. The House and Senate had passed a bill that was vetoed by the Governor. A new compromise bill was presented but had not passed the House.

NOTE: As this Board of Education meeting progressed, the compromise bill did pass the House on a subsequent vote and now goes to the Senate


Information Items

Announcements from the Superintendent

Opening Days - District 39 welcomed 29 new teachers for Orientation Days from Tuesday, August 22nd through Thursday, Aug. 24th. Paraprofessional Training Day will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 30th. This year’s Teacher Institute Days begin on Thursday, August 31st with building-based meetings focused on mandated staff trainings. On September 1st, all staff are welcomed to the District-wide Institute Day. Students will be welcomed back on Tuesday, September 5th for their first ½ day of school!

Summer Construction – Over the summer the District completed maintenance including back top sealing and striping. We also had some new construction on a highly-needed boiler at WJHS and some awesome new learning spaces at Romona & McKenzie Elementary Schools.

New school phone numbers -  This year D39 replaced its phone system, and new easy to remember phone numbers were assigned to each school. 

FOIA


Strategic Plan Updates

  • Response to the Community Review Committee (CRC) Report CRC Dr. Lechner - This report is the Superintendent’s response to the CRC Report, “School Climate," presented to the Board of Education in June 2017. The report had seven recommendations that will be embedded into the District’s strategic plan including embracing a statement of inclusion, respecting and celebrating differences, reviewing Social Emotional Learning programs, and providing training on the differences between social conflict and bullying. A draft of proposed action steps is included in this report. The entire Strategic Plan will be presented at the September Board meeting.
  • Statement of Inclusion Approval – Dr. Lechner - The first public draft of the Statement of Inclusion was presented at the June 19th Board meeting. The intent of the statement is to enhance communication of District beliefs in support of the District’s mission to nurture, guide, and challenge students to be more productive citizens of a global society, and to be proactive in areas of empathy, diversity and inclusiveness. Upon approval, the statement will be placed on the District webpage below the Mission Statement.

Annual Business

  • Enrollment Update  - Dr. Glowacki - Each August we provide an update on D39 student enrollment.  This report details the current status of students attending each grade level at each school. The full time equivalent (FTE) of homeroom teachers is the same as last year (146).  
  • FY16 Administrator and Teacher Salary and Benefits Report (ATSB)Dr. Glowacki – Each year the District is required to present and post administrator and teacher salaries and benefits.

Board Action

The Consent Agenda was approved including the following:

The following annual budgets were adopted:

The following item was pulled from the Consent Agenda, amended, and approved.

The next meeting of the District 39 Board of Education will be on Monday,
September 25, 2017 at 7:00 PM at the Mikaelian Education Center.