MINUTES - REGULAR MEETING OF
THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
December 13, 2006 6:30 P.M. Educational
The Board of Education of the
Ms. Marianne Clancy, Board Secretary, established a
quorum and the following Members were present: Mrs. Janet Smith, Mrs. Cheryl
Jackson, Mr. John Dirks, Mr. Michael Harrison and Mrs. Millicent Roth. Mr. Joseph Butcher and Mr. Keith Davis were
absent.
Present from the administrative staff were Dr.
Robert Nielsen, Mr. David Wood, Mr. Barry Reilly, and Mrs. Teresa Hill.
Ms. Linda Aschenbrener, Public Relations Facilitator, was also in attendance.
Present from the news media was Ms. Michelle Steinbacher, The Pantagraph.
Mrs. Smith presented the Minutes for approval. It was moved by Mr. Dirks, seconded by Mrs. Roth, that the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Education held on November 8, 2006 and the Minutes of the Closed Meeting of the Board of Education held on November 8, 2006 be approved. Upon a roll call vote, all Members present voted “Aye”. Motion carried.
Mrs. Smith stated that we will now have a Public
Hearing for the Tax Levy 2006. She
stated that “In accordance with the Truth in Taxation Law (35 ILCS 200/18-60)
the Board of Education will now hold a public hearing on the 2006 Tax Levy for
the Bloomington Public Schools, District #87.
The District prepared a 2006 Levy Report which the
Board reviewed at its November 8, 2006 meeting.
The Board also approved a resolution which determined the amount of
money estimated to be necessary from the property tax for the next fiscal year
at that meeting.
Notice of a Public Hearing on the 2006 Levy was
published in The Pantagraph on December 1, 2006.
The proposed 2006 levy, including debt service, is
$36.8 M, an increase of 2.3% over the 2005 levy and a 5.5% increase over the
2005 extension. The primary need for
additional funds is to pay increases in salary, benefits, and purchased services
and to offset changes in state and federal funds.
Mr. David Wood, Chief Financial and Legal Officer
for District #87, will summarize the 2006 levy and the Board and members of the
public will be given an opportunity to discuss the budget.
Mrs. Smith asked Mr. Wood to please summarize the
2006 levy.
Mr. Wood indicated that nothing had
changed since the Levy Report was presented in November. The Levy assumes the Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) grows 6% and the tax rate is
reduced from $4.48 this year to $4.46 next year. The 2006 Levy raises
$36.8 M for the District of which $34.3 M is for Operations (Education Fund,
$26.5 M and O&M Fund, $4.1 M) and $2.5 M is for Debt Service. The
Operating Levy is $0.7 M more than the 2005 Levy (2% increase) and $1.8 M more
than the 2005 extension (5.5% increase). The
Board Meeting
December 13, 2006
Page 2
additional $2.5 M to be extended by the County for debt
service is $0.1 M more than the 2005 extension.
Mr. Wood pointed out that EAV is likely to grow less than
the 6% assumed in the Levy. If EAV grows closer to 3%, the same as this
year, the tax rate will remain at $4.48 and the District will collect $1.1 M
more than last year, a 3% increase.
The specific amount paid by each taxpayer will ultimately
depend on their particular assessment and the final tax rate.
Mrs. Smith asked “Is there any discussion from the
Board?”
There was no discussion by the Board
Mrs. Smith asked “Is there any discussion
from the public?”
There was no discussion from the public.
Mrs. Smith stated “The Public Hearing is now
concluded."
Mr. Dirks stated that
there was a Facilities Meeting a couple of weeks ago where we talked about the
Mrs. Jackson stated that the Board should have received a memo from Mr. Doug Blair, the Cornbelt Division of the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) Field Advisor, which contained several dates for future IASB Cornbelt Division Meetings including Tuesday, March 6, 2007, which will be the Spring Dinner Meeting and the Fall Dinner Conference will be October 9, 2007.
Mrs. Jackson also stated
that the IASB Conference in
Mrs. Smith stated she attended the last meeting of the McLean County Regional Planning Commission. A new President and Vice-President were elected for next year. She stated that Mr. Butcher will be taking over the District 87 appointment on the commission starting in January.
Mrs. Jackson stated that she attended the State Testing Review Committee Meeting last week. She stated that it is a good thing that Pearson Educational Measurement is taking over the Illinois State Achievement Testing (ISAT) contract. She stated that hopefully the ISAT results will be received in a more timely fashion so they are actually usable.
Representative Dan Brady addressed the Board on the State Special
Education rules that are about to be taken under advisement by the Illinois
State Board of Education (ISBE). The General Assembly has requested that
ISBE not act on these proposals until the General Assembly convenes in
January. ISBE has this on their agenda as a recommendation to send to the
Joint Committee of Administrative Rules (JCAR).
Board Meeting
December 13, 2006
Page 3
Mrs. Roth stated that she attended the Triple I Conference in November. She stated that the proposed Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) Resolutions at the Conference that the District 87 Board did not support did not pass and the ones the District 87 Board did support passed. Mrs. Roth stated that based on discussions she took part in she believes there will be discussions in the near future regarding restructuring the IASB dues and how districts are required to pay.
Mr. Dirks stated that in mid-November there was a meeting of the Achievement Gap Taskforce. Mr. Dirks reminded the Board that one of the subcommittees is a technology taskforce and that he, Dr. Nielsen, Mr. Jim Peterson, District 87 Technology Director, and some representatives from McLean County Unit District No. 5 (Unit 5) will be visiting the Naperville District tomorrow to see what they have in the way of technology. Mr. Dirks stated that another subcommittee is for after school programs which Mrs. Hill chairs. He stated State Farm Insurance Companies has given both District 87 and Unit 5 a grant for $36,000 each, $21,000 to fund an Early Start Program at one school in each District(Sheridan School will house the program in District 87), and $15,000 for an After School Program in each District. He stated this is a great result from forming the taskforce.
Mr. Dirks stated that he attended the School Board Convention and he has materials to share regarding questions that school boards should ask. He also attended sessions on Community and Communication and on Good to Great: Boards and Districts.
Mr.
Harrison stated that he attended the School Board Conference. He stated
that it was an excellent Conference. He attended a session on student
achievement that addressed narrowing the gap between students.
He stated he brought back a lot of materials that could be useful to the
District.
Mrs. Smith stated she attended the School Board Conference. She stated that she and Mr. Butcher attended a session on Student Discipline. She stated Mr. Butcher has the information to share with anyone interested that was handed out at that session.
Mrs. Smith stated that
she, Mrs. Jackson and Dr. Nielsen attended an intergovernmental meeting between
Unit 5, the Town of
Mrs. Jackson stated that the information on alternatives to the juvenile court system, discussed at the intergovernmental meeting, was very interesting and sounds promising.
Dr.
Nielsen presented the following Board of Education Policy for First Reading: 6.320, High School Credit for Proficiency. He asked the Board for any suggestions or
comments on these policies. He stated
that this policy will be brought back in January for Second Reading.
Dr.
Nielsen presented the following Board of Education Policies for Second Reading: 5.280,
Educational Support Personnel; 6.130, Services for Academically Talented
Students; 6.340, Student Testing and Assessment Program; 7.060, Residence; 7.100,
Health and Dental Examinations,
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December 13, 2006
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Immunizations, and Exclusion of
Students; 7.240, Conduct Code for Participants In Extra Curricular Activities; 8.030,
Visitors to and Conduct on School Property; 8.090, Parent Organizations and
Booster Clubs. He asked the Board if
they had any changes they would like made.
There were no changes suggested.
Dr. Nielsen stated that these policies will be brought back in January
for Board consideration.
Mrs. Hill stated that each
year the District receives a grant from the Secretary of State’s office that
supplies some funds for our school libraries and media centers to purchase
materials to add to their collection. We
come to the Board each year to provide a report on what the status is of our
school libraries and media centers. We
currently have a full time school library or instructional media center in each
of our schools. Those centers are
staffed by a certified teacher who can provide additional assistance to
classroom teachers with finding resources for their students, both for research
and for finding things that will enhance what they are doing in the
classroom. We receive about $3,800 per
year for this grant. It is allocated to
the schools based on a per pupil allotment.
The schools are able to decide how to use the allocation. Typically it is either for adding books to
the current collection or for purchasing items to promote reading including the
quizzes for our Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) program and Reading Counts
Program. This money is in addition to
the money that is allocated for each media center and library from the building
level. She stated that we are working
with our library media specialists and our principals to help revamp our
library media curriculum. We will be reviewing our State Standards on how to
promote information literacy, the ability for students to be able to find
research, to use the internet, etc., e.g. to use the things they will use in
the workplace later in life. We will
also be looking at the current technology standards to make sure we are
supporting teachers in teaching those kinds of skills.
Mr. Reilly presented the
first draft of the 2007-2008 School Calendar to the Board of Education. The
calendar proposes the following:
August 15th through 17th - Teacher Institute
Days
August 20 - 1st day of school
December 21 - End of 1st Semester (finals would
be held the week prior to Winter Break)
December 24 through January 4th - Winter Break
(school to resume on the 7th)
March 20 - Good Friday/no school - now a legal
school holiday defined by the IL School Code
March 24 through March 28 - Spring Break
(school to resume on March 31)
May 27 - Last day of school if no emergency
days are used
Mr. Wood described how the District surveyed 375
parents, approximately 10%, of the 3,743 students riding buses, concerning
satisfaction with transportation services. To date, 75 surveys have been
returned (approx. 20%). Most issues surveyed were identified by parents
as “very important” or “important.” In general parents were satisfied
with current services and there were no overwhelming issues identified.
Of greatest concern were bus crowding and student behavior. The next step
is to finalize tabulation of the results and review them with a parent focus
group. This will occur in combination with any information regarding
transportation identified by the bullying survey.
Board Meeting
December 13, 2006
Page 5
Dr. Nielsen stated that in the past nine years,
District 87 has continually implemented security measures in our District.
▪ We have developed emergency plans for the
schools with the help of the Bloomington Police and Fire Departments. Crisis
Plans for the current year will be presented to the Board this evening during
the Closed Session and will be up for Board consideration at the January 13,
Board Meeting.
▪ Community resource officers work full time
at Bloomington Junior High School (BJHS) and Bloomington High School (BHS) in
cooperation with the Bloomington Police Department.
▪ We installed locks on the inside of the
classroom doors and offices.
▪ We needed to have communication between the
classrooms and the offices so we installed intercom systems in schools and now can
have instant communication throughout the buildings.
▪ Security cameras have also been installed in
all of the schools. There is limited access to all of our schools using video
entry ways except BHS.
Dr. Nielsen stated that District 87 has adapted a
Student Safety Survey from the Ministry of Education in
Dr. Nielsen stated that safety of the children and
staff is our absolute primary goal.
While all the hardware is important, it becomes disconnected if schools
don’t work on relationships. He stated
we are working on relationships every day where students feel comfortable going
to adults, which can be the difference between a safe school and an unsafe one.
Mr. Colin Manahan, Director
of Facilities Management, proposed to the Board that several projects take
place in our schools this summer. If approved, it will mark the fourth year of
comprehensive summer renovations/additions. During previous years,
infrastructure work was addressed and included electrical upgrades, air conditioning
and misc. other work at each of our schools. This past summer, more noticeable
work was performed as BJHS' addition was completed and
At Bent School, architect Mr.
Russell Francois proposes redesigning both frontal stairwells, planting shrubs
and trees around the perimeter of school and playground, having defined
entrances for the playground area (including moving the parking lot entrance to
Walnut St), resurfacing the playground and replacing the existing fence and
playground equipment. Additional lighting will also be installed. At
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December 13, 2006
Page 6
reconfigured. New exterior signage will replace
the existing
visible from Empire St. In addition, a new
entryway and lamp posts will be installed at the back entrance to the Area Vocational
Center (AVC). The design is intended to mirror the existing south courtyard as
much as possible.
If approved by the Board,
this work will be funded by the Operations & Maintenance (O & M) fund
as well as by revenue generated from capital improvement bonds that were issued
by the District a few years ago. The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on
the approval of these projects at their January 10th meeting.
Mrs. Smith
presented the Consent Agenda for Approval. It was moved by Mrs. Jackson, seconded by Mr. Harrison,
that the Consent Agenda (Human Resources Report, Bills, Payroll, Treasurer’s
Report, Financial Summary, Bloomington High School Proposed Course Changes and
Health/Life Safety Statements of Completion) be approved. Upon a roll call vote, all Members present voted
“Aye”. Motion carried. (See with Original Minutes, Attachment 12-13-06/1)
Dr. Nielsen stated that this
is the last Board Meeting of 2006. He
wished everyone Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year.
It was moved by Mrs. Jackson, seconded by Mr.
Dirks, that the 2006 Levy Resolution be
approved. Upon a roll call vote, all Members present
voted “Aye”. Motion carried. (See with Original Minutes, Attachment 12-13-06/2)
Mr. Steve
Perry, community member and District 87 parent, addressed the Board regarding
his concerns about the lack of lighting around Bent school. He also is concerned that the new proposed
landscaping at Bent school will eliminate parking near the school.
Dr.
Nielsen stated that the District will be addressing both these issues in the
future.
It was moved by Mrs. Roth,
seconded by Mrs. Jackson, that the Board go into Closed Session for the purpose
of considering the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline,
performance, or dismissal of specific
employees of District 87,
including hearing testimony on a complaint
lodged against an employee
to determine its validity; and to consider security procedures and the use of
personnel and equipment to respond to an actual, a threatened, or a reasonably
potential danger to the safety of employees, students, staff or public
property. 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.
APPPROVED: ATTEST:
______________________ ___________________________
President Secretary