MINUTES - REGULAR MEETING OF
THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
The Board of Education of the
Mrs. Janet Smith, Board President, established a
quorum and the following Members were present: Mr. John Hanson, Mr. Keith
Davis, Mr. Uvaldo Herrera, Mr. John Dirks. Mrs. Cheryl Jackson was absent.
Present from the administrative staff were Dr.
Robert Nielsen, Dr. Roger Kilpatrick, Mr. Barry Reilly and Mrs. Sally Tucker.
Ms. Linda Aschenbrener, Public Relations Facilitator, was also in attendance.
Present from the news media was Ms. Sharon Wolfe
from The Pantagraph.
It was moved by Mr. Dirks, seconded by Mr. Hanson to
appoint Ms. Delores Anson Secretary Pro Tem.
Upon a roll call vote all Members present voted “Aye”. Motion carried.
Mrs. Smith presented the Minutes
for approval. It was moved by Mr. Davis, seconded by Mr. Dirks that the Minutes
of the Regular Meeting held on
Dr. Nielsen stated that the recipient of our recognition, Ms. Mindy Laub, State Farm, is not here this evening. State Farm has contributed $50,000 in a grant to District 87 to provide staff development in the area of Standards Aligned Classrooms which will be a three year program funded by State Farm. Ms. Laub, will come back at a future Board Meeting.
Mr. Hanson reported that he
attended a recent McLean County Regional Planning Commission meeting. Mr.
Hanson noted the I74-I55 bypass has been temporarily shelved.
Mrs. Smith noted that negotiations
with the Bloomington Education Association (BEA) will occur on Thursday at
Mr. Hanson announced that the
Booster Club's recent Steak Fry brought in $36,000 in proceeds. There was
$8,000 in expenses.
Mrs. Smith stated she was pleased
to see that the Raider football team beat
Dr. Roger Kilpatrick presented information regarding the
• Funds are provided to us to be able to determine whether it is in our best
interest to establish an
• If a plan is designed and approved, IDHS would provide operating funds of
$120,000-150,000 for the first year. In the second year of operations, the
funds are reduced by 25% and the third year by 50%, where they would stay for
the remainder.
• According to the IDHS, the purpose of the Center would be "to improve
the overall physical and emotional health of students by promoting healthy
lifestyles and by providing available and accessible preventive health care
when it is needed."
• The Centers are usually cooperative arrangements between the school district,
medical providers such as hospitals, the County Health Department, and other
community
organizations.
• The Center is operated 12 months a year and only serves students, but can
serve
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students from
multiple schools.
• The grant money would be used over a twelve month period to visit other
school sites as well as employ outside consultants, determine if a site is
appropriate for us, establish and meet with the required Advisory Committee,
and assist in getting the site up and running.
• Part of this process will help us to determine if
• With Board approval, an outside consultant may be hired, with the grant
money, to assist us in determining the approach that is in our best interest.
Mrs. Smith asked would a Board Member be on the Advisory Committee. Dr. Kilpatrick stated yes, IDHS specifies a minimum of 8 members on the Advisory Committee. Mrs. Smith asked if we adopted this would we save money by not using school nurses in some of the schools? Dr. Kilpatrick stated that he believed it was too early to determine that, but typically these programs work in conjunction with school nurses.
Mr. Davis stated that after hearing the presentation on this grant he was utterly stunned since the State of Illinois had promised money for our students’ education and they had reneged on $1.1 million in the Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax and $1 million in State Aid over two years as well as additional cutbacks over the next two years. The State is saying they are going to take money away from programs for our children that are mandated by law but we will promise to pay you part of the cost of what is not mandated by law which is already provided by other resources in the community e.g. Chestnut Health Systems, Center for Human Services, County Health Department. And we will promise to reimburse part of the expense, just like we promised to give you State Aid and the Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax. Mr. Davis stated that he doesn’t believe that will happen and he will not support this program. This money is coming out of the taxpayer pockets in terms of income tax. We’ll probably have to pay about $50,000 in income tax to get a $30,000 grant. Mr. Davis stated he had a suggestion for the State which is to not pay us this $30,000 grant, pay us $20,000 and we will put it in our Education Fund so we can provide some relief for our taxpayers for the programs for our children that we are required by law to provide.
Mr. Dirks stated that a couple of years ago there was a group called the Healthy Community Taskforce which included the Early Childhood Taskforce, the hospitals and the community health clinic and we may want to find out what had been done with them which may avoid having to retread some of that ground.
Mr. Hanson stated that he
shared some of the same sentiments as Mr. Davis. Mr. Hanson asked Dr. Kilpatrick in his best
estimation right now with all the medical care we have in this community how
much of the population can the District serve with a program like this? Dr. Kilpatrick stated he was unsure. Mr. Hanson asked Dr. Kilpatrick how much of
this is being done in the State right now?
Dr. Kilpatrick stated the program has been in existence for several
years and we would want to look at other areas like
Mr. Dirks asked are the Districts that are doing this, liable for the healthcare that’s being provided? Dr. Kilpatrick stated that in his own experiences, the programs were not operated by the District they were operated by other providers
e.g. the hospitals. They provided the staffing, the training etc. and those programs are supervised by the Department of Human Services. Dr. Kilpatrick stated that the parents enroll the children, they aren’t automatically in the program.
Mrs. Smith presented the Consent Agenda for consideration. Mr. Davis asked the Personnel Report and the Bills be moved to Board Action. It was moved by Mr. Dirks,
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seconded by Mr. Hanson that the Consent Agenda (Resolution: Review of Minutes of Closed Executive Sessions) be approved. Upon a roll call vote, all Members present, voted “Aye”. Motion carried. (See with Original Minutes, Attachment 9-10-03/1)
Dr. Nielsen and Mr. Herrera
announced that there will be a special assembly at BHS on September 19th from
Dr. Nielsen stated that we need to remove the name
of Beth diGiacinto from the Personnel Report.
It was moved by Mr. Davis, seconded by Mr. Hanson that the Board approve
the revised Personnel report. Upon a
roll call vote, all Members present, voted “Aye”. Motion carried. (See with Original
Minutes, Attachment 9-10-03/2)
Mr. Davis
stated on page 2 of the Bills, there is a check drawn
It was moved by Mr. Hanson, seconded by Mr. Herrera that the Board go into Closed Session to consider collective negotiating matters between the District and the Bloomington Education Association (BEA) and the Bloomington Education Support Personnel (BESP), or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees; and litigation, when an action against, affecting or on behalf of the particular public body has been filed and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal, or when the public body finds that an action is probable or imminent, in which case the basis for the finding shall be recorded and entered into the minutes of the closed meeting. Upon a roll call vote, all Members present voted “Aye”. Motion carried.
It was moved by Mr. Hanson, seconded by Mr. Davis that the Board return to the Regular Meeting. Upon a roll call vote all members present voted “Aye”. Motion carried.
There being no further business to come
before the Board, Mrs. Smith adjourned the meeting.
APPROVED:
_________________________________
President
ATTEST:
_______________________________
Secretary