MINUTES - SPECIAL MEETING OF
THE BOARDS OF EDUCATION OF
August 31, 2005 6:30 P.M.
The Boards 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. Keith Davis, Mr. John Hanson and Mr. John Dirks, Board President.
Mrs. Millicent Roth and Mr. Uvaldo Herrera were absent.
Present from Unit 5’s Board were Ms. Gail Ann Briggs,
Ms. Meta Mickens-Baker, Mr. Martin O’Connor, Mr. John Puzauskas, Mr. Jay Reece,
Mr. Steve Whittington and Mr. Scott Lay, Board President.
Present from District 87’s administrative staff were
Dr. Robert Nielsen, Mr. Barry Reilly, Mrs. Sally Tucker, Mr. David Wood, Mr.
Jim Peterson and Mr. Jim Cooper.
Among those present from Unit 5’s administrative
staff were Dr. Alan Chapman, Superintendent, Mr. John Pye, Assistant
Superintendent of Operations/Human Resources, Mr. Todd Altenberg, Chief
Financial Officer/Treasurer, Mr. Jim Braksick,
Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum/Instruction, Ms. Cory Tello, Director of Special Education-Instruction, Ms. Cathy
Greene, Director of Elementary Education, Ms. Donna Lutkehaus, Director of
Technology/IMC and Ms. Megan Leiseberg, HR/Community Relations.
Ms. Linda Aschenbrener, District 87 Public Relations Facilitator, and Mrs. Cynthia Prescher, Unit 5’s Clerk of the Board, were also in attendance.
Present from the news media was Ms. Phyllis Coulter,
The Pantagraph, Mr. Erik Stock, WJBC Radio Station, Ms. Melissa Dunton, WEEK-TV and Ms. Melissa Wahl, TV10 News.
Mr. Dirks called the meeting to order. Each Board Member introduced themselves and
stated their years of service on their Board.
Discussion
included the following topics: 5 year Fall Housing Reports, Existing
Cooperative Ventures, Achievement Gap Task Force and Impact Fees.
• Enrollment Data - 5 year Fall Housing
Reports: Dr. Nielsen reported that District 87's enrollment will decline
slightly, but overall will remain fairly stable over the next few years.
Dr.
Chapman reported that Unit 5 will continue to see enrollment increases of 2-3%
each Fall.
• Existing Cooperative Ventures:
District 87 and Unit 5 currently collaborate and cooperate in the following
areas:
- Communication between Superintendents, Principals and Special Education
directors
- Pre-K and ELL/Bilingual grants; staff development for Standards Aligned
Classrooms (SAC)
- Association in the Bloomington Normal Educational Alliance (BNEA), which
oversees the Minority Teacher Recruitment Project, Technology Committee and Students
in Technology;
- Shared educational programs such as the Bloomington Area Vocational Center,
Alternative Education and Reading Unites Book Award program
- Technology infrastructure
- Joint purchasing power for paper and school supplies
- Support and resources via association in Large Unit District Association
(LUDA)
- Beyond the Books Educational Foundation
- Representation in the Coalition for School Funding Reform
Board of Education Members from
each district offered suggestions regarding further collaborations, including:
addressing student mobility rates between districts, sharing of utility costs,
video conferencing in classrooms, sharing speakers, emergency preparedness
resources/plans, staff development opportunities, sharing library materials,
shared athletic facilities, Grounds and Maintenance staff collaboration,
increased support for "at risk" students and further commitments to
address diversity and multiculturalism.
• Achievement Gap Task Force:
As announced last Spring, the internationally known McKinsey Group has offered
to provide their services pro bono to District 87 to help close the Achievement
Gap. Initial interviews with community leaders resulted in questions of why
Unit 5 was not involved. It was announced during the meeting that Unit 5 will
join District 87 efforts.
• Impact Fees:
Both Districts are considering asking the City of
Mrs.
Willie Halbert, community member, asked the districts to institute a reading
and math program after school with tutoring done by community members. Mrs. Halbert asked about the process for moving
a student to the Alternative Ed program.
Both Dr. Nielsen and Dr. Chapman stated that each student is evaluated
on a case by case basis. Mrs. Halbert
also asked both Districts to hire more minorities.
Mr.
Mike Williams, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) Bloomington/Normal Chapter President, commended State Farm for funding
the McKinsey Group to help with the Achievement Gap Taskforce. Mr. Williams stated that he was pleased that
Mr. Willie Brown, State Farm, would be chairing the Achievement Gap Task Force.
He also stated that he was very pleased with the Kingsley Program, a mentoring
program in Unit 5, and that Dr. Lynette Mehall, Kinsley Junior High School
Principal was very committed to the program.
Mr.
Dirks stated that McKinsey was not being funded by State Farm, but was working
on the Taskforce pro bono.
Mr.
Otis Evans, Chairman of the Bloomington/Normal Human Relations Commission,
stated that the next Martin Luther King, Jr. luncheon will be held on January
14, 2006 with guest speaker Mr. Alan Paige.
Student of the Year Forms will be available soon. He also stated that
tickets for this event will be available in October for $15.00 each.
Mr.
Buddy McCree, community member, stated he had three grandchildren in Unit 5
schools and appreciated how the children were treated in their schools.
Ms.
Barbara Stuart stated that she would like to see the Minority Committees in
both Districts be combined. She also
stated that parents of students at the lower end of the achievement gap should
be considered to be part of the Achievement Gap Taskforce.
Mr.
Lay stated that we need to see how the two Districts can work together on this
Taskforce.
Dr.
Nielsen stated that the goal for this taskforce is to have representatives of
the entire community. The next meeting
of the Taskforce will be on October 11, 2005.
Mr.
Lay and Mr. Dirks thanked everyone for coming.
Dr.
Chapman stated that he felt very fortunate to be part of this community.
Dr.
Nielsen stated he echoed Dr. Chapman’s sentiment and that there is a healthy
rivalry between the two school districts.
There being no further business to come before the Boards, Mr. Lay adjourned the meeting.
APPPROVED: ATTEST:
___________________________ ___________________________
President Secretary