Lindop School District 92 Board of Education Regular Meeting June 19, 2007 7:00 p.m. Minutes A. Call to Order Meeting was called to order by Terri Sharpp at 7:05 p.m. B. Roll Call Members Present: William Calhoun, Carla Joiner-Herrod, Narvin Muhammad, Tonya Powell, Terri Sharpp, and Penny Wolford. Member Absent: Gay Chase. C. Audience Comments none D. Correspondence Thank you note from Leatha D Anza for flowers she received because of the death of her mother-in-law. Thank you note from Judy Latman for the service award and the breakfast. E. Approval of Minutes Penny Wolford identified corrections to the minutes of May 24 and June 5, 2007. Narvin Muhammad moved to approve the minutes of the May 24, 2007 open and closed sessions and the June 5, 2007 open and closed sessions as amended. Carla Joiner-Herrod seconded the motion Motion carried by voice vote. All ayes, one absent. F. Reports 1. Superintendent Dr. Carlson reported on the bilingual grant that was submitted to ISBE. Summer school enrollment was initially 246 but dropped to 236 a loss of ten students. She will review the effect of the loss on the number of teachers hired. She mentioned that they were working to improve the room decorations in certain classrooms. She was happy to report that there were no discipline issues. Tonya Powell reported that she had done a walk through of all the classes this week and found that there was a good response by the children who seemed to have been enjoying the lessons. She reported that work on the grants is on track. Ms. Powell asked for an update. She stated that there was an extension requested for the deadline for the E-rate report because we needed to eliminate pre-school enrollment from the count. 1
Dr. Carlson and Pat Carter are working on the expenditure report and the budget closeout for the fiscal year and expect to close the books on July 6, 2007 for the 2006-2007 school years. Dr. Carlson stated that her goal is to publish a community newsletter in August. Teacher recruitment is expected to start next week. Principal Vilicia Cade-Horton is coming in next week to participate in the interviews. Other position interviews (custodian and accounts payable clerk) will begin Friday, June 22 nd. Board members will not participate at this level in the process. The nurse position needs to be advertised. Ms. Wolford suggested that the qualifications include CPR, defibrillator and first aid training for children and adults. Dr. Carlson agreed to finalize a job description and bring recommendations for a salary based on a compensation survey found on the World Wide Web. Dr. Carlson discussed the plans for the June 21 st Strategic Planning meeting from 6:30 9:00 p.m. All of the Lindop families were invited to participate as well as all board members. Ms. Williams was asked to check her voicemail to see if any RSVP s were in. Mr. Calhoun and Ms. Wolford stated that they were planning to attend. The final report is due by July 2, 2007. Dr. Carlson asked Ms. Sharpp to share the information she received from the engineering firm who conducted the assessment on the plumbing issues. She commented that their preliminary findings indicate that they indirectly believe that URS should take some of the responsibility for the problem. Atty. Vasquez from Franczek Sullivan will be going back to URS to see if they will step up to the plate. There are some time constraints but, he is expected to communicate with Ms. Sharpp by June 22 nd. They may be able to get two other firms to come out to do the work if URS will not take care of it. Ms. Sharpp agreed to communicate with the board after she talks to Mr. Vasquez on Friday. She mentioned that he is aware of the urgency of this matter. The LSSA negotiations are scheduled for Monday, June 25, 2007. During the last session LSSA members mentioned that it was unclear who reports to whom. Therefore, Dr. Carlson stated that she will discuss this with the new administrative team and develop an organization chart that can be shared with the LSSA members so that reporting lines of authority are clear. Dr. Carlson complimented the student interns for their work in the office. The job description for their positions is in the board s materials distributed at the meeting. Registration packets were provided to all families and to the board members thanks to them. Dr. Carlson met with the homeless liaison at the Regional Office of Education who provided great information. She learned that it is in the law that a person cannot not knowingly falsify that a child is homeless to enter 2
school and that it is prosecutable by law. She recommended that a clause is added to the residency policy that states a student must prove residency every year. She also suggested that the board members become familiar with the board s policy manual. Mr. Rich Majka will recommend a new detective service for the district. Dr. Carlson made other comments: Mr. Calhoun found a vendor for the physical education uniforms that is ten dollars less than the bid from the last vendor. Mr. Trakas has the policy ready for the student s USB drives Schedule the board s budget committee meeting The district staff evaluations are not ready but if increases are approved they can be paid retroactively. Recommendations are to be presented at the July 10 th meeting of the Board of Education. Mr. Murdock is cleaning the basement of items left by the Boys and Girls Club. Anyone interested in the items need to pick them up by Friday. Business office software will be purchased. Money will be transferred from purchased services to cover the cost of the software for the business office. The language arts and reading committee met June 19 th and will be meeting on Tuesday June 26, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. ISAT scores are due to arrive soon. Last year s scores came in March. The preliminary scores look good. Updates on the administrative tasks are in the board s packets marked in red. A formalized process will be developed for the recruitment of student interns next summer. The state authorized an extension until September 30 th for the Police Dept. s Bullying Program Grant. Dr. Carlson presented the recently elected board members with a certificate, from County Clerk, David Orr, of their election to office. Technology Report Alex Trakas reported that the new server has been configured and is installed and ready to go. Two options are available to address the problem of saving email messages. One is to create two web addresses, one for old email and a new one for current email. The second option is to download messages into the exchange server. Ms. Powell questioned whether teachers could use either Windows or MAC operating systems. Mr. Trakas responded that there has been discussion about converting one of the labs into a Windows lab. She asked for a report on the cost to convert to Windows. He reported on PowerSchool and the state s Student Information System (SIS). He suggested that the administrative support staff get training on the SIS as soon as possible. It has been proposed that training is conducted over the summer. He also stated that he needs to work with the grade level team of teachers to do PowerGrade. He presented the draft policy on the student use of USB drives. 3
The technology plan is pending approval. The technology committee is planning to meet before school starts in the fall. Business Office Pat Carter thanked the board for her gift cards, for the summer interns and for her temporary worker. She reported on the IASBO Annual Conference in Peoria, IL, May 16-18, 2007. She mentioned that Jan Baptist from District 88 would be training a new employee on the TRS report due in August and Jan will allow her to sit in on the session. Ms. Carter suggested that the district stop accepting personal checks for registration and other fees and will bring a proposal to the next meeting. Building Phil Murdock reported that he has been reviewing a bid for the door and seal. He is cleaning out the debris in the basement and asked if anyone wants any of the items left. Mr. Murdock will do an inventory of the items that are available. His deadline for returning the dumpster is June 22. G. Old Business 1. Social Work Intern After due consideration, the superintendent recommended that the social work intern consideration be discontinued for this year and until such time that the district has a fully researched plan for the use of interns at Lindop. 2. Student Admission Policy Second Reading The board reviewed the student admission policy for the second time. Dr. Carlson recommended that the admission policy include a statement that an affidavit is only good for thirty (30) days and that the person signing the affidavit has to prove their residency. 3. Student Residency Policy Second Reading The board reviewed the student residency policy for the second time. Dr. Carlson presented the board members a copy of the school code from the Education for Homeless Children Act that gives information on penalties if a person knowingly or willfully present to any school district false information regarding the homelessness of any child or family for the purpose of enabling that child to attend a school other than the school of origin. Narvin Muhammad moved to approve the student admission policy as amended and the student residence policy as presented. Carla Joiner-Herrod seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote. All ayes, one absent. 4. Park District proposal update sponsorship 4
Dr. Carlson reported that the transportation to the park district is free again this year. She stated that they should start negotiations for next year early. Ms. Powell suggested a meeting with the park district to coordinate the services and should be attended by the superintendent or another administrator. Dr. Carlson agreed to find the sponsorship letter and to attend the regular park district board meetings. The proposal on sponsorship was tabled until the July 10 th meeting. H. New Business The Policy Committee report was presented by Penny Wolford, Board Member who recommended to the board that we contract with IASB for their policy manual customization development services and after our six months of free press-plus services we contract with them to provide this service too. Carla Joiner-Herrod moved to approve the purchase of services from IASB to review the district s policies as recommended by the policy committee. Narvin Muhammad seconded the motion. I. Action Items 1. Approve Blue Bear Software 2. Approve Purchase of Treasurer s Office Additional Modules Dr. Carlson reported that the motion for purchasing modules from the treasurer s office was not necessary because the purchase amount is within the authority of the superintendent to approve. Penny Wolford moved to purchase the Blue Bear software for $1972 as presented. Tonya Powell seconded the motion. J. Financial Report Voucher #99 $65,335.36 Voucher #42 $61,561.64 Payroll # 21 $132,410.49 Payroll # 22 $10,846.13; $10,846.13; $10,846.13 Payroll # 23 $10,846.13; $10,846.13 Carla Joiner-Herrod moved to approve the invoices and payrolls as presented. Narvin Muhammad seconded the motion. Motion carried by roll call vote. Five ayes, one abstention, one absent. K. Important Dates: Terri Sharpp read the following important dates: June 21, 2007 Strategic Planning 5
June 25, 2007 June 26, 27 or 28? June 29, 2007 July 1, 2007 July 2, 2007 July 4, 2007 July 9, 2007 July 10, 2007 July 12, 2007 LSSA Negotiations Board Interviews Discipline Committee *Strategic Plan Unveiled to Board of Education *Written Assessment and Recommendations regarding middle school math and science curriculum to Board of Education *Written report assessing and recommendations regarding the efficient and effective operation of the business office Director of Curriculum begins Independence Day No School Principal and Assistant Principal begin School Board Meeting Last day of summer school L Narvin Muhammad moved to enter closed session at 8:35 p.m. William Calhoun seconded the motion. Motion carried by voice vote. All ayes, one absent. While in closed session the board considered the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of a specific employee and to considered student disciplinary matters. Final action is anticipated following the session. Narvin Muhammad moved to adjourn the closed session and enter open session at 10:36 p.m. Carla Joiner-Herrod seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote. All ayes, one absent. M. Final Action Tonya Powell moved to employ Lynda Taylor as Director of Curriculum. Marvin Muhammad seconded the motion. Narvin Muhammad moved to employ Vilicia Cade-Horton as Principal. Carla Joiner Herrod seconded the motion. Penny Wolford moved to employ Darlynn Terry as Assistant Principal. Tonya Powell seconded the motion. Tonya Powell moved to accept the resignation of Gay Chase from the Board of Education. Penny Wolford seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote. All ayes, one absent. 6
Penny Wolford moved to employ Karen Frazier as a one on one teacher aide for a special education student. Narvin Muhammad seconded the motion. Carla Joiner-Herrod moved to adjourn the meeting at 10:42 p.m. Narvin Muhammad seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote. All ayes, one absent. Respectfully submitted, Terri Sharpp, President Penny Wolford, Secretary 7
Lindop School District 92 Board of Education Regular Meeting June 19, 2007 7:00 p.m. Minutes Closed Session Call to order Meeting called to order at 8:35 p.m. by Terri Sharpp Roll Call Members Present: William Calhoun, Carla Joiner-Herrod, Narvin Muhammad, Tonya Powell, Terri Sharpp, and Penny Wolford. Member Absent: Gay Chase. While in closed session the board considered the appointments of new administrators, board relations, and scheduling interviews for board member candidates. Narvin Muhammad moved to adjourn the closed session and enter open session at 10:36 p.m. William Calhoun seconded the motion. Motion carried by voice vote. All ayes, one absent. Respectfully submitted, Terri Sharpp, President Penny Wolford, Secretary 8