REGION III SPECIAL EDUCATION COOPERATIVE EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mr. Hlafka, Chairperson, at 10:00 a.m. Roll was as follows: Present Not Present Dr. Blasa Mr. Moore Mrs. Rogers (arrived 10:06) Mrs. Kreuztrager Mr. Pearson (arrived 10:06) Mr. Skeans Mr. Settles Mr. Murphy Mr. Skertich Mr. Hlafka Mr. Levek RECONGINATION OF VISTORS CONSENT AGENDA DIRECTOR'S REPORT FINANCIAL Ms. Penrod introduced Chris Mendoza from the Madison County Regional Office of Education. Also, introduced was Mr. Ed Settles the new Superintendent of Jersey 100 Community School District. Mr. Murphy moved to approve the Consent Agenda. Mr. Levek seconded. Roll call was taken with Members Voting, Yes 7-0. Motion carried. Ms. Penrod stated that included in the board packet are instructions for the Special Education Data Authorizations through the IWAS system. This process needs to be completed in order to transmit special education data to the State Board of Education. Mr. Levek moved to approve the Amendment to the Section 125 Benefit Plan. Mr. Settles seconded. Roll call was taken with Members Voting, Yes 7-0. Motion carried. Mr. Skeans moved to approve the School Treasurer Bond for Janice Kirk, Region III Bookkeeper. Mr. Settles seconded. Roll call was taken with Members Voting, Yes 7-0. Motion carried.
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING PAGE 2 Ms. Penrod presented the 2010-2011 Region III Budget. Ms. Penrod stated that past practice has been to distribute the IDEA Part B and Preschool Grant monies based on the December 1 child count. For the 2010-2011 school year Ms. Penrod stated that ISBE is requesting that the IDEA Part B and Preschool Grant monies be distributed according to the FY 2011 IDEA Part B and Preschool Final Allocations. Ms. Penrod also stated that in the FY 2010 Region III Budget the non certified Administrative Staff salary was paid through the IDEA grant, for FY 2011 those salaries are reflected in the budget. Also, the $92,000.00 ERO penalty and the retirement bonus will be placed in the tuition billing and then will be offset with Administrative Outreach monies. Ms. Penrod explained that is appears that there is $980,128.00 beginning balance but actually that is grant money that has not been requested by the districts. Ms. Penrod stated that the ARRA Grant monies need to be requested as the district pays that money out. The Region III Special Education Cooperative Budget consists of three parts, IDEA Grant Flow through, Tuition Programs and Administrative. A decision was made to conduct the Governing Board Meeting on Wednesday, September 29th,. 6:00 p.m., at Castelli's 255. Ms. Penrod stated that Region III has received a letter from Dupo Community Unit School District #196 requesting permission to join Region III Special Education Cooperative in the 2011-2012 school year. Ms. Skeans suggested that Ms. Penrod contact ISBE concerning the procedure for this matter. PERSONNEL Mr. Pearson moved to approve the re-employment of certified staff as presented. Dr. Blasa seconded. Roll call was taken with Members Voting, Yes 9-0. Motion carried. The certified staff included:
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING PAGE 3 Theresa Barton, CLIP Program, EA/WR High School Maria Day, Parent Program, Madison County Health Department Mary Beth Paul, BD Program, Lewis & Clark Elementary Katie Snider, BD Program, Lewis & Clark Elementary Michelle Watkins, Speech & Language Therapist, CLIP Program Mr. Settles moved to approve the re-employment of support staff as presented. Mrs. Rogers seconded. Roll call was taken with Members Voting, Yes 9-0. Motion carried. The support staff included: Sherri Fogarty, Teacher Assistant, BD Program, Lewis & Clark Jr. High School Gloria Gowin, Teacher Assistant, BD Program, Lewis & Clark Elementary Mrs. Rogers moved to accept the notification of intent to retire letter from Tracy Willhoit. Mr. Skertich seconded. Roll call was taken with Members Voting, Yes 9-0. Motion carried. Ms. Penrod stated that she received a letter from Mr. Ric Stephenson, Region 6 Director, IEA/NEA concerning contracting outside the union for OT/PT services. The letter was included in the Board packet. Ms. Penrod stated that Region III has contracted with Therakids for the past 15 years to serve the districts in Macoupin and Jersey County. In the beginning of the Therakids contract they were more expensive than the Region III contracts/personnel, it was decided by the board to combine all the expenses for both Region III and Therakids to average the bill for all eleven districts. Now the averaging is hurting some of the districts. The purpose of Region III is to look at the cost of services. Ms. Penrod stated that she instructed the
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING PAGE 4 Region III OT/PT staff to find more economical ways to provided services to students. Region III currently has two concerns, cost/billing and excess minutes that need to be addressed in the Macoupin and Jersey School Districts. Ms. Penrod stated that the OT/PT staff will be required to use software that will track their job duties, whether that is direct service, evaluation, travel, supervision, paperwork, etc. This software will help give a clearer picture of the OT/PT services. It was the census of the Board to continue Region III contracting with Therakids, but will no longer average the bill, each district will be billed the exact cost that is billed from Therakids to Region III. Ms. Penrod stated that she would like a committee to be formed to develop a Cooperative Improvement plan. This plan would define what the cooperative is, what services are needed, what is the target, etc. Mr. Skeans, Mr. Settles, Mr. Levek and Mr. Hlafka volunteered to be part of that committee. PROGRAMS Ms. Penrod informed the Board that each District should have TextHelp installed within their district. This program will be monitored through Region III staff to ensure this program is in use. Ms. Penrod stated that Dr. Mark Dixon, ABA Consultant will continue to work with the Region III Districts. Dr. Dixon will be working on continued development and service of the autistic population and the continuum of services to meet the ever changing needs of this intense population. The Bus Driver Inservice will be held August 24th at Belk Park Clubhouse, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Ms. Penrod stated that Region III will be providing CPI training for all Bus Drivers at a later date. OTHER BUSINESS Mr. Skeans moved to approve the 2010-2011 Executive Board Meeting Dates as presented.
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING PAGE 5 Mr. Settles seconded. Motion carried with Members Voting, Aye-9, Nay-0. ADJOURNMENT Mrs. Rogers moved to adjourn the meeting at 11:29 a.m. Mr. Murphy seconded. Motion carried with Members Voting, Aye 9-0. NEXT MEETING The next meeting for the Region III Executive Board will be held, Thursday, September 16, 2010, 10:00 a.m., at the Region III office. Respectfully Submitted, Kathy L. Sales, Administrative Assistant Mr. Kyle Hlafka, Chairperson