The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
On Wednesday, December 15, 2010 the West Central CUSD #235 Board of Education conducted their regular meeting.
As a result of this meeting the following items took place.
Board President Brent called the meeting to order at 6 p.m. All board members were present at roll call except for board member Goff.
President Brent then led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Under good news items the board recognized West Central teachers Kathy Lafary and Lara Kendell for earning their National Board Certified Teacher designation. The board presented Mrs. Lafary and Mrs. Kendell with a frame in which they may put their NB certificates in when they receive them in early 2011. The board also recognized the six teachers who completed Phase I of the certification process but who have not yet successfully completed this process. Those teachers are Charlotte Ackermann, Terri Copeland, Laura Lewis, Kristi Lumbeck, Jessi Winters, and Chris Wright.
Also under good news items, the board recognized Hannah Allaman, Rachel Allaman, Alissa Crandall, Brock Heap, Mary Lewis, Sam Sanning and Amanda Schneider as this year's Illinois State Scholars.
To earn this designation each student had to earn a certain score based on their class rank and performance on the ACT test which they took as Juniors last year.
Each of the seven students were introduced and received a certificate from the Board.
Also noted as success were the following items:
Under recognition of audience request for presentation, the board allowed Mr. Dave Pistorius from First Midstate, Inc. to address them on the process of selling working cash fund bonds. Mr. Pistorius presented the board with an overview of the process to sell working cash fund bonds and encouraged the board to consider seeking the necessary approval to sell working cash fund bonds should the need arise in the future.
The primary advantage for this is that the approval process will shorten the amount of time needed for the district to secure the proceeds from such a bond sale.
The approval once received is good for 3 years. Mr. Grimm emphasized to the board that there is currently no need nor any desire to sell working cash fund bonds at this time, but it might be a good idea to seek approval to sell working cash fund bonds now because of the uncertainty of the state's ability to meet their financial obligations to school districts.
It was the decision of the board to bring this topic to the January board meeting for additional discussion.
Also during this portion of the agenda the board discussed agenda item XII(C) - Additional Support for National Board Certification candidates. During this portion of the agenda, Supt. Grimm reviewed with the board a tentative memorandum of understanding that has been discussed with WCATS regarding providing additional financial assistance to the six remaining candidates who have not yet successfully completed the National Board Certification process. It was the consensus of the board to bring this item back for approval at the January 2011 board meeting.
The consent agenda was approved as amended. Items approved under the consent agenda included:
The board approved payment of all bills presented including the addition of several bills that had been received by the Unit Office since the board packets had went out last week. The board also approved the November activity accounts and treasurer's report as presented.
During the review of the district's financial report, Supt. Grimm reported that as of November 30th, the district has received 41.21% of budgeted revenue and has expended 38.15% of budgeted expenditures. At the end of 5 months of the fiscal year, those numbers should be at 41.66%. He also pointed out that during the month of December we have received approximately 1.137 million dollars in local property tax money plus approximately $46,000 in corporate personal property replacement tax money. Supt. Grimm indicated that at the end of December the revenue picture should be right on track with actual revenue received compared to budgeted amounts.
The board approved the 2010 tax levy as presented. The tax levy that was approved calls for a total extension amount of $4,006,702.
The board reviewed and discussed several quotes for ten year health life safety survey work that have been received by District Architect Bill Phillips. The board reviewed eight quotes for various projects that need to be completed in the district and after discussion, the board approved the following six quotes:
Quotes for three of the projects that were originally provided are being sent back to District Architect Bill Phillips for further study and it was pointed out that there was no quote received for one additional project and that will be brought to the board at their January 2011 meeting.
The board gave approval to Supt. Grimm to submit an energy conservation grant to the Illinois State Board of Education. This grant is being offered to school districts to help fund energy conservation projects that meet certain criteria regarding length of pay back time.
The grant is a matching dollar for dollar grant which means that for each dollar that the district might be awarded as part of this grant, the district must match from local funds.
It was the consensus of the board to approve the submission of this grant after it has been verified that the State does have the money to make the awards for these grants.
The board briefly discussed a proposed fee increase for the student drug testing program that has been requested by the McDonough District Hospital.
As a result, the board directed Supt. Grimm to contact MDH to let them know that if the service of medical reviewer is not absolutely required, the district will waive the use of a MRO unless there is a positive test result.
The board gave approval to purchase a 2009 Chevy Express - 12 passenger van from Bruce Foote Chevrolet of Monmouth for a total price of $17450.
The board heard reports from the Building Principals Mr. Buss, Mr. Nichols and Mr. Bradburn.
They also heard reports from Mrs. Serven, District Curriculum Director, Mrs. Farniok, District Special Education Coordinator, and Mrs. Frakes, District Technology Coordinator.
As part of the district's technology report, Mr. Grimm informed the board that he would be pursuing options to provide some additional man power to our instructional technology department.
Supt. Grimm pointed out that due to the number of machines that are on our network and the complexity of the network, our current staff is in need of additional assistance to keep the network functioning properly at all times.
The board agreed with Mr. Grimm's assessment and asked him to prepare a list of alternatives that could be considered to provide that additional assistance.
The board was given direction from Board President Lonnie Brent on the process for completing the Superintendent's evaluation. Board members were asked to return the evaluations to Dr. Brent by January 4, 2011.
Under future agenda items, the board requested that the proposed revision to board policy 2:230 be placed on the agenda as a separate action item at the January 2011 meeting.
It was also requested that the shuttle buses between the north and south campuses be discussed by the transportation committee and a report of that meeting be brought to the board in January.
The board entered closed session to discuss matters pertaining to personnel and collective bargaining at 8:15 p.m.
The board exited closed session at 9:27 p.m. and took the following action:
The next meeting is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, January 19, 2011 in the elementary cafeteria.The board adjourned their meeting at 9:35 p.m.