McLean County Unit School District 5 Board of Education met Aug. 16.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
A McLean County Unit District No. 5 Board of Education meeting was held Wednesday, August 16, 2023, beginning at - 6:30pm (Sign up for public comments will be open from 5:15pm - 6:15pm) at the Normal West High School, 501 N Parkside Rd, Normal, IL 61761.
1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
Members present: Mark Adams, Kentrica Coleman, Jeremy DeHaai, Stan Gozur, Amy Roser, Alex Williams, Kelly Pyle. Members absent: None.
2. ADJOURN TO CLOSED SESSION(6:00p.m.)
At 6:01 p.m DeHaai moved and Roser seconded to adjourn to closed session to discuss the following matter according to the exceptions provided in the Open Meetings Act and specified as follows:
• 2(c)(1) The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity.
Roll Call: Ayes: Adams, Coleman, DeHaai, Gozur, Roser, Williams, Pyle. Nays: None. Motion carried.
3. RECESS
The board recessed at 6:30 p.m. to return to closed session.
4. RETURN TO PUBLIC SESSION
At 6:34 p.m. DeHaai moved and Roser seconded to return to public session. Roll Call: Ayes: Adams, Coleman, DeHaai, Gozur, Roser, Williams, Pyle. Nays: None. Motion carried.
Also present: Superintendent Dr. Kristen Weikle, Assistant Superintendent Michelle Lamboley, Chief Financial Officer Martin Hickman, Attorney for the District M. Curt Richardson, Executive Director of Operations Joe Adelman, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dr. Kristal Shelvin, Director of Communications/Community Relations Dayna Brown, Clerk of the Board Emily Sargent.
5. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
6. FOCUS ON STUDENTS AND GOOD NEWS REPORTS
A Good News - McLean County Farm Bureau Grant Presentation
Liz Harris introduced the Ag teachers from NCHS and students from the Ag department. The McLean County Farm Burea presented NCHS FFA with a check for a lab spae for an Ag mechanics class.
B Good News - Pepper Ridge Energy Star Rating
Tom Rockwell presented Pepper Ridge Elementary with the Energy Star Rating. The energy upgrade project improved the energy score from 15 to 76.
C Staff Introductions
Weikle welcomed new administrators to the district. She welcomed Cameo Williams who is the Assistant Principal at Pepper Ridge Elementary, Jara Hendren who is the BEST Program Coordinator at Hoose, Andrea Lenz who is the Assistant Principal at Cedar Ridge, Daniel Trip who is the Associate Principal and Athletic Director at CJHS, and Dani Wipperman who is the Assistant Director of Special Education.
7. SUPERINTENDENT COMMENTS
Weikle thanked the Farm Bureau for the grant they presented tonight. She discussed the first day of school and the staff and student excitement she witnessed when visiting schools through the district. There are a lot of ways families and the community can participate to support students and staff such as 100 caring adults, PTO events, extra and co curricular activities, etx. If anyone is interested in attending these events, information can be found on the website for each school. She went on to discuss that this fall, the district will begin the strategic planning process. Strategic planning is an opportunity to examine our current realities, define our vision for Unit 5, identify priorities and develop a plan to achieve them. This work will take place over the next 7-8 months and will include opportunities for feedback and engagement from all stakeholders, including staff. She mentioned that there are still positions open such as administrative assistants, paraprofessionals, custodians, etc. Unit 5 still has several positions to fill for this year. We still need to fill some teaching positions as well as a number of teaching assistant or paraprofessional openings. We are also looking for individuals interested in working as administrative assistants, custodians, noon hour supervisors and substitutes in all positions. Interested individuals can apply online or attend a Unit 5 job fair on September 6 from 12-3 at the district office. She ended by thanking all staff who have worked hard over the summer to prepare for the beginning of the school year.
8. PUBLIC COMMENTS
- Miranda Gonzalez. Topic: Greivances
9. REPORTS
A 2023-2024 Proposed Budget
Martin Hickman and Tommy Hoerr presented the 2023-2024 proposed budget. They began with a timeline of the budget process outlining what months tasks are completed to create the budget. The district will begin receiving tax levy dollars in May/June of 2024. Hoerr went on the discuss the unaudited results and moved to explain the funds that make up the proposed budget such as the education, transportation, etc. Some of the major revenue assumptions are local revenue such as real estate EAV anticipated increase, local food service revenue increasing, and corporate personal property replacement tax decreasing. There are state revenue items that made up the revenue assumptions such as evidence based funding increasing and transportation revenue expected to remain about the same as the previous fiscal year. The final proration for the transportation revenue will come out sometime in November. Federal revenue also contributed such as the federal food service revenue increasing as well as anticipating about 6.2M of ESSER revenue.
Hickman moved on to discuss the proposed budget expenditure mix and the major expenditure assumptions are salaries and benefits such as salaries and benefits, third year of laborers' contract, health insurance contribution increasing and assuming positions will be filled this school year. Other expenditures are in the operations and maintenance, transportation, and tourt funds, supplies and purchased services increasing as well as other expenditures. He went on to discuss the working cash transfers.
B Requests for Information Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act The District has received and processed the following requests for information: 1 FOIA List 08.16.23
10. CONSENT AGENDA
Weikle reviewed and recommended the following consent agneda items for approval.
A Approval of Minutes
Minutes are not released for public viewing until approved by the Board of Education
1 07.19.23 Regular Minutes
2 07.19.23 Closed Minutes
B Personnel Matters
C Payment of Bills and Payrolls
1 Bills & Payroll Reports
D Approve Finance Department Reports
1 Financial Statements - June 2023
E Approve Board Policies, Administrative Procedures, and Exhibits
1 Section 2: Board of Education
a. Policy 2.110 Qualifications, Term, and Duties of Board Officers
b. Exhibit 2.250-E2 Immediately Available District Public Records and Web-Posted Reports and Records
2 Section 4: Operational Services
a. Policy 4.60 Purchases and Contracts
b. Administrative Procedure 4.60-AP1 Purchases
c. Administrative Procedure 4.60-AP3 Criminal History Records Check of Contractor Employees
d. Administrative Procedure 4.60-AP4 Sexual Misconduct Related Employment History Review
3 Section 5: Personnel
a. Policy 5.30 Hiring Process and Criteria
b. Policy 5.90 Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Approved
c. Policy 5.125 Personal Technology and Social Media
d. Policy 5.150 Personnel Records
e. Administrative Procedure 5.30-AP2 Investigations
f. Administrative Procedure 5.30-AP3 Sexual Misconduct Related Employment History Review (EHR)
g. Administrative Procedure 5.150-AP1 Personnel Records
4 Section 6: Instruction
a. Administrative Procedure 6.230-AP1 IMC Collection Development
5 Section 7: Students
a. Administrative Procedure 7.270-AP1 Dispensing Medication
b. Exhibit 7.270-E2 Request for Authorized School Personnel to Perform a Medical Procedure
c. Exhibit 7.270-E4 Individualized Health Care Action Plan
d. Exhibit 7.285-E1 Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Emergency Care Plan
F Approve Requests for Authorization to Use Fire Prevention and Safety Funds
1 CJHS Amendment #40
G NCHS Student Activity Fund Dissolutions
H NCHS Student Activity Fund Establishment
I Approve Unit Office Postage Machine Lease Extension
J Approve Commerce Bank Agreement for Payment Hub
K Approve 60 month lease agreement with Clayton Holdings, LLC, for mowers
L Approve Overnight Trip Request
M Approve Donation Request
DeHaai moved and Williams seconded to Approve the Consent Agenda as presented Roll Call: Ayes: Adams, Coleman, DeHaai, Gozur, Roser, Williams, Pyle. Nays: None. Motion carried.
11. BOARD REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE MEETING REPORTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND COMMENTS
Williams welcomed all of the new staff. He mentioned that the Citizens Advisory Committee is beginning to meet again. He also congratulated NCHS for the Farm Bureau grant.
Roser welcomed all staff and stuednts back this school year. She acknowledged all of the hard work that was put into preparing for the new school year especially the work done towards restorative justice. She also acknowledged the new security measures at Normal Community High School and the safety measures that brings for our district
DeHaai welcomed students and staff back for the new school year and wished them all a safe school year. He thanked Tom Rockwell and congratulated Pepper Ridge for the energy star rating. He also thanked the farm bureau for their grant. There is a safety meeting scheduled on August 31st
Gozur welcomed all new staff and students. He thanked the Farm Bureau for their contribution as well as the donation that was made to Field.
Coleman welcomed back students, families and staff. She thanked the Farm Bureau for their investment in students. She expressed excitement for strategic planning and encouraged everyone to provide support and input during the process. There will be a board policy meeting on September 6th.
Adams mentioned the work that has been done by the operations and maintenance department over the summer. He welcomed back staff and students for the school year.
Pyle thanked those that made donations to the district. She welcomed back students and staff and wished them a safe and productive school year. She thanked IASB for facilitating the self evaluation that the board attended this Monday. She encouraged the board to attend 100 caring adults events throughout the district.
12. ADJOURNMENT
At 8:02 p.m. the Board meeting adjourned.
https://meetings.boardbook.org/Documents/CustomMinutesForMeeting/1482?meeting=595817
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