RECORD
OF MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
MORRISON
COMMUNITY UNIT DISTRICT #6
April
8, 2008
The
regular meeting of the Board of Education of Morrison Community Unit District
#6,
On
roll call, the following were present: Doug Pannier, Jim Prombo, Jim Ridley,
Kevin Schlueter, Steve Swanstrom, Ted Tilton and Sally Gray. Also present were Superintendent Jody Ware,
MEA President Jerry Navarra, April Edwards, Bridie Bartnicki, Harvey Zuidema,
Tanner Girard, Dr. Suellen Girard, Recording Secretary Wendy Krajnovich, and
two media representatives.
President
Sally Gray called for any changes or corrections to the minutes of the special
meeting of March 12, 2008, special meeting of March 13, 2008, special meeting
of March 17, the last regular Board meeting held on March 18, 2008, and the closed
session special meeting held on January 29, 2008. Hearing none, she asked for a motion to
approve the previous minutes.
Motion:
Schlueter; Second: Prombo; to approve the minutes for the special meeting of
March 12, 2008, special meeting of March 13, 2008, special meeting of March 17,
2008, regular meeting of March 18, 2008, and closed session minutes of March
17, 2008. Ayes: seven. Nays: none.
Motion carried.
COMMUNICATIONS/PUBLIC
COMMENTS
Superintendent’s
Report
Dr.
Ware said she did not have anything to report, but did share an update from Jim
Broadway of State School News who reported twenty-five million dollars in the
state education budget will not be delivered this year. She stated it’s a tough year for funding, and
school districts can’t depend on state revenue for funding education.
Public
Comments
There
were no public comments.
INFORMATIONAL
REPORTS
Trend
Data: FY09 Third Grade Class
Dr.
Ware provided the class numbers month by month for this year’s current second
grade from the first month of Kindergarten.
The class has grown by five students to its current count of 82
students. This makes an average class
size of approximately twenty-seven students.
Dr. Ware noted the Board may want to consider adding another teacher to
lower the class size. If so, this
decision should be made early as there are other considerations such as
ordering extra books and other classroom supplies.
Sports
Interest Survey
The
sports interest survey required by the Illinois Administrative Code was
recently conducted. The first part of
the survey noted what sports students reported they are currently involved
in. The second part asked students what
they would play if we offered it.
Notable were cross country, diving and soccer. Other sports they would like to see are:
bowling, fishing, Frisbee, hockey, and rugby.
Dr. Ware reported that 233 out of the 387 students at the high school
participate in at least one sport. This
survey is required every four years.
Textbooks:
Industrial Arts/Drafting and Metals
High
School Principal Janet Ward and Scott Rickels, industrial education instructor,
have requested to replace the current drafting and metals textbooks which date
from 1967 and 1972. After reviewing
sample textbooks using the textbook evaluation form, they are recommending the
adoption of Exploring Metalworking and Exploring Drafting from
Goodheart-Wilcox Publishing. They are
requesting 50 of each title so there are enough for students to take home at
night. The total cost would be
$4,123.30.
District
Satisfaction Survey
The
district plan-on-a-page states that we measure student, parent, teacher, and
educational support personnel satisfaction.
We are again using the National School Evaluation Survey. The twelfth grade student surveys have been
completed. District teachers and
educational support staff are currently completing their surveys. Twenty-five
RECORD
OF MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
MORRISON
COMMUNITY UNIT DISTRICT #6
April
8, 2008
randomly
selected parents from each school building will also be surveyed. This helps generate data for school
improvement initiatives.
2008-2009
Registration and Extracurricular Fees
For
the Board’s information, Dr. Ware provided the 2008-2009 registration and
extracurricular fees. These fees were
approved by the Board two years ago.
Groundskeeper/Maintenance
Job Description
Dr.
Ware and Facilities Director Dean Wallace have developed a job description for
the newly created Groundskeeper/ Maintenance position, which was recently
approved by the Board. Approval of this
job description will be included as an action item on the next Board agenda.
External
Assurance Report
We
have received the written report from the external assurance audit that was
conducted this fall on state and federally funded programs. These are: Early Childhood Block Grant,
Reading Improvement Block Grant, Driver Education, Title I Low Income Program, and
Title II Teacher Quality Program. The
only finding that required corrective action was for the Title I Low Income
grant, which needed compliance with the Stevens Amendment. The Stevens Amendment must note the
percentage of the cost of a program that is provided by the Federal
government. This was already corrected
at the December 18, 2007 meeting of the Board of Education.
Financial
Recognition Letter
Dr.
Ware informed the Board of the receipt of a letter from the Illinois State
Board of Education putting Morrison CUSD #6 in the Financial Recognition
range. This denotes that the district is
in the highest category of financial achievement based upon the 2007 fiscal
year financial statements and the 2008 School District Financial Profile. This Financial Recognition status has been
received for the last four years.
CONSENT
AGENDA
Motion:
Tilton; Second: Prombo; to approve the items on the consent agenda consisting
of personnel recommendations, and an addendum to personnel
recommendations. Ayes: Ridley,
Schlueter, Swanstrom, Tilton, Pannier, Prombo, Gray. Nays: none.
Motion carried.
ACTION
ITEMS
Pool
Bid
Motion:
Tilton; Second: Prombo; to approve the pool bid construction proposal A;
Alternate Bid A-1; Alternate Bid A-2; Alternate Bid A-4; with this amendment –
with a 10% contingency and 5% construction fee from Mechanical.
Ayes:
Schlueter, Tilton, Pannier, Prombo, Gray.
Nays: Swanstrom, Ridley. Motion
carried.
R.C.
Smith Transportation Contract
Motion:
Swanstrom; Second: Schlueter; to
contract transportation services for the 2008-2009 school year with R.C.
Smith/Scenic Stage Transportation. Ayes:
Swanstrom, Tilton, Pannier, Prombo, Ridley, Schlueter, Gray. Nays: none.
Motion carried.
Tenured
Status List
Three
teachers have earned tenure status with the beginning of the 2008-2009 school
year: Krista Baker, M. Diane Downs, and Scott Vance.
Motion:
Ridley; Second: Pannier; to accept the tenured status list. Ayes: seven.
Nays: none. Motion carried.
RECORD
OF MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
MORRISON
COMMUNITY UNIT DISTRICT #6
April
8, 2008
Scoreboards:
Football/Baseball
Motion:
Tilton; Second: Ridley; to request bids for a Daktronics Football FB-2020-11
scoreboard and two BB-2107-15 basketball scoreboards. Ayes: seven.
Nays: none. Motion carried.
RECORD
OF MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
MORRISON
COMMUNITY UNIT DISTRICT #6
April
8, 2008
Non-Reduction
in Force – Educational Support Staff
Motion:
Swanstrom; Second: Pannier; to dismiss educational support personnel Kristine
Rogers for reasons other than reduction-in-force effective at the end of the
2007-2008 school year. Ayes: Ridley,
Schlueter, Swanstrom, Tilton, Pannier, Gray.
Nays: none. Abstain: Prombo. Motion carried.
The
1996 Dodge Ram van with over 200,349 miles on it needs $2,000 in brake repairs
plus extensive rust damage. Rather than
put more money into this van, it would be appropriate to replace it at this
time.
Motion:
Schlueter; Second: Swanstrom; to purchase a 2003 Ford E-150 van from RC Smith
Transportation at the price of $8,500.00.
Ayes: Ridley, Schlueter, Swanstrom, Tilton, Pannier, Prombo, Gray. Nays: none.
Motion carried.
Appointment
of Superintendent of Schools
Motion:
Schlueter; Second: Pannier; to approve the appointment of Dr. Suellen Girard as
Superintendent of Schools for Morrison Community Unit District #6 with a
contract beginning July 1, 2008 until June 30, 2011. Ayes: Schlueter, Swanstrom, Tilton, Pannier,
Prombo, Ridley, Gray. Nays: none. Motion carried.
Dr.
Girard has signed a contract at an annual salary of $118,000 plus $11,136, as
she will not be taking the district health insurance, for a total of $129,136.
COMMITTEE
REPORTS
Policy
Committee
Jim
Prombo reported the committee will meet this Thursday.
Strategic
Planning
No
report.
Personnel/Negotiations
Negotiations
will begin next Monday.
Finance
Committee
Jim
Ridley reported the committee had met earlier today. Jamie Rachlin met with the group to discuss
fund balances, bonds, and determining when to go out for bids.
Facilities
Committee
Ted
Tilton said they still want to look at including a storage building in the HVAC
project plan. Keith O’Higgins will be
coming to the April 22nd Board of Education meeting to discuss the HVAC
project.
Citizens’
Advisory Committee
Doug
Pannier reported there was no regular meeting this month. Committee participation in the Superintendent
search interviews replaced the meeting.
Extra-Curricular
Committee
The
Board was asked to review the floor plans for the new concession stand and to get
any comments back to Arnie Vegter as soon as possible.
RECORD
OF MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
MORRISON
COMMUNITY UNIT DISTRICT #6
April
8, 2008
Insurance
Committee
No
report
Local
Wellness Committee
No
report
Energy/Utility
Committee
Steve
Swanstrom reported that fuel prices are still going up.
ADJOURNMENT
Board
President Sally Gray adjourned the meeting by consent at 8:09 P.M.
(President)
___________________________________________
(Secretary)
___________________________________________
Date Approved _________________________