The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.


West Central Regular Meeting

At the Wednesday, February 21, 2007 regular meeting of the West Central Community Unit School District #235 Board of Education the following took place:

President Lonnie Brent called the meeting to order at 6 p.m. with all board members present.

President Brent led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

Under Good News items:

The board approved the agenda as presented.

Recognition of Audience:

The board approved the consent agenda as presented. It included:

Under "Financial Activity," the board approved as presented:

The board approved a recommendation to lease ten 71 passenger Thomas T-Liner C2 buses and one 23 passenger Thomas Mini Tour Bus with a lift for a total annual lease price of $118,300.

This proposal was from Midwest Bus Sales. It should be noted that five of the buses were leased for three years and five of the buses plus the mini bus were leased for five years.

It is also to be noted that the district will receive approximately 80% of the lease costs in reimbursement from the State of Illinois as part of the transportation reimbursement formula.

As a related motion to this action item, the board approved the trade-in of all north end district owned buses except bus 02-7, 01-5, 01-4, 98-17 for a total trade-in value of $47,450.

With this trade-in, the first year lease payment for the eleven new buses will be $70,850. This payment will come from the transportation fund and not the education fund.

The board held discussion on the recommended bid specs for student transportation services for the south end of the district. The board suggested one minor modification to that document as a result of the discussion on the proposed bid specs. Following that discussion the board approved the bid specification documents for transportation services for the south end of the school district as revised.

In addition, the board approved providing notice of the availability of the bid specifications and the desire of the district to receive proposal for transpiration services for the south end of the district.

The board reviewed a request from district resident, Pat Brokaw to have cross country offered as a high school extra curricular activity and approved his request.

The board approved a request by district music teachers, Mrs. Hilligoss and Mrs. Peterson to declare some old band instruments surplus property so that they can be sold and quite possibly refurbished and redistributed. Following a brief discussion, the board approved the request.

The board heard a report from District Curriculum director, Jeanne Serven regarding a request to purchase textbooks for West Central High School through the Illinois Textbook Loan Program.

The textbooks that were requested are math textbooks for the applied algebra I, applied geometry, applied algebra II, algebra I, and geometry courses at West Central High School. The board learned that the total request for these textbooks was $14,239.

These textbooks will be purchased by the State of Illinois on behalf of West Central High School and delivered to us prior to the start of the 2007-08 school year. The board approved this request.

The board approved a contract with Larry Lawson to continue as the north campus wastewater treatment facility operator. The board learned that Mr. Lawson operated during the 2005-06 school year without such a contract being in place and that it was necessary to have a signed contract in the file.

The board reviewed bids that were received for the district's tuck pointing project that was called for in the 10-year life safety survey. The board was informed that on Wednesday, February 14, 2007, bids were opened for this project and the district had received six bids. Following a brief discussion on those bids the board approved the low bid of $26, 000 from Northwest Restoration Company. The Superintendent was directed to contact Bill Phillips, district architect, and inform him of this decision so that the work can begin as soon as the weather will allow.

The board approved a request to purchase a web hosting software program called Simplified Online Communication System (SOCS). The board was informed that this purchase was in keeping with one of the items that had been identified as a need for the district in the state approved district technology plan. Furthermore, the board was made aware that this $5100 purchase price was eligible to receive reimbursement through the federal E-rate program. Following a brief discussion, the board approved this purchase as presented. It was pointed out that this web hosting software program will not displace our current district web page nor will it take away an opportunity for a West Central High School student to continue to learn about web page design and hosting. This software will allow us to put out a slightly different type of web page that perhaps is more user friendly and will make it easier for staff to put items on the district's web page.

The board reviewed a request from Mr. Grimm and Mrs. Serven for an ACT college prep course. It was pointed out to the board that our current junior students receive assistance in preparing for the ACT/PSAE during their tutorial time. With the move away from the 8-block schedule, there will be no such tutorial time, so this course was being proposed as a way to address the needs of those students who need additional assistance to prepare for the ACT within the context of the master schedule for next year. The board approved the request for this course as it was presented. The Superintendent informed the board that there were still some final plans to work out regarding this course and that he would report back to them once those final decisions had been made.

The board heard reports from the three building principals about the activities that they have been involved with since the January board meeting. In addition, Mrs. Serven updated the board on her activities for the last month. Mr. Grimm made the board aware that the district wide network had been down over the course of the past several days but our staff was working with folks from Derby Tech as well as J&S Electronics to identify and correct the problem. Mrs. Farniok provided a brief update on the activities that she had been involved with over the course of the last month and Mr. Blender, District Athletic Director, gave a very short report to the board about the possible football schedule that the West Central High School football team will have for the 2007 season.

The board heard an update from the Superintendent regarding the upcoming strategic planning retreat. This planning retreat will be held at Oaklane Nursing and Rehab Center in Stronghurst on March 23rd & 24th. The Superintendent informed the board that letters of invitation will be going out to approximately 60 district residents, board members, and staff members within the next week to determine who would have interest and would be able to participate in such a planning exercise.

The board reviewed three drafts of a 2007-08 school district calendar. The first draft was this years calendar put into the 2007-08 calendar with corresponding dates.

The second draft was a similar calendar but with a starting date of Monday, August 20th as opposed to Wednesday, August 15th with the first day of teacher's institute.

The third draft that was reviewed by the board showed a start date of Wednesday, August 22nd with the first day of teacher's institute and Friday, August 24th as the first partial day of student attendance.

After a fairly significant discussion, the board indicated a strong desire to designate November 16th as a not in attendance day. Because of that strong desire, that essentially ruled out for further consideration draft 3 of the proposed calendars. The Superintendent suggested that he continue to work with drafts 1 and 2 and come back to the board with a final recommendation regarding the 2007-08 school district calendar at the March board meeting.

The board reviewed a document that had been prepared by Superintendent Grimm and District Architect, Bill Phillips regarding a ten year district facilities plan.

This document identified for the board those projects that must be completed as part of the ten year life safety survey and those projects that the board should consider taking care of during the summer months beginning with 2007 and extending through 2016.

The board discussed the content of this plan and the Superintendent indicated that he would bring this plan back to the board at the March meeting for approval. Following that discussion, the Superintendent updated the board on the various district wide and building level projects that Mr. Phillips has been involved with.

The board gave permission to the Superintendent to continue dialoguing with the McDonough Co Chapter of the Big Brother/Big Sister Program. Again, the Superintendent was directed to bring to the board a recommendation in March that would call for the implementation of a Big Brother/Big Sister Program in the West Central School District beginning with the 2007-08 school year.

The board entered closed session at 8:30 pm to discuss personnel matters and returned at 10:30 pm and took action on the following items:

The board approved Resignations as presented:

The board was reminded that their next meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 in the elementary cafeteria and it will begin at 6:00 pm. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 10:40 pm.