District 81 School Board Highlights Nov/December, 2012

| January 1, 2013

November, 2012

Payment of Bills

• The Board authorized the payment of bills in the amount of $310,536.95.

• The Board approved payroll in the amount of $831,553.99.

Public Participation

• Mr. Brian Amsler, Assistant Principal of Lincoln Middle School, announced a new initiative, the participation of District 81 students in Special Olympics Project Unify, which is an education-based project that uses sports and education programs to encourage young people to develop school communities where all youth foster respect, dignity and advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities. Mr. Amsler distributed t-shirt order forms to the school board members.

• Mrs. Roula Karras Abajian, SPEA President, thanked the District 81 Board of Education members in recognition of School Board Members Appreciation Day. District 81 students had written the Board of Education thank you cards for their service.

Example of Excellence – School Board Members Appreciation

• Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kimberly Boryszewski congratulated school board member, Patricia Godziszewski for achieving member status of the LeaderShop Academy for professional development participation, sponsored by the Illinois School Board Association.

• Dr. Boryszewski presented a video in honor of School Board Members Appreciation Day.

Principal Reports

• Member Godziszewski requested an explanation regarding the kindergarten enrollment figures, asking if there was a reclassification of students. Dr. Boryszewski explained that the annual language screener given to students resulted in a reclassification of students into the Limited English Proficient category. This trend will taper off as students continue through the grade levels.

Old Business – Finance Update

• FOIA – There were two new requests since the October board meeting; both requests were denied. Member Downs requested the amount of money the District had spent on FOIA this calendar year.

Chief School Business Official Jessica Donato reported the amount: $4,282 since January of 2012.

Old Business – Action

• The Board of Education adopted the Educational Support Personnel Policy that was presented at the

New Business Information

• The Board Agenda included a first reading of the IASB Press Policy Update, and a policy update/review based on the 5-year review cycle.

• There were no questions regarding the Certificate of Tax Levy.

New Business Action

Mr. John Weber from Crowe Horwath presented a summary report of the 2012 audit of the District 81 financial statements. Mr. Weber stated that District 81 received an unqualified or “clean” audit opinion, which is the highest possible rating that can be provided by an auditor. Due to the large amount of federal funding District 81 receives, a single audit of federal funds was conducted, also resulting in an unqualified or “clean” audit opinion.

The following figures were presented:

Current Assets: $18,153,206 Current Liabilities: $9,648,274 Total Revenues: $19,934,478 Total Expenses: $19,561,452

• The Board of Education adopted Resolution 13-03, Prevailing Wage Rates.

• The Board of Education approved the IASB Conference expenses, per Policy 2:125.

• The Board of Education approved the Shared Services Intergovernmental Agreement. Member Delaney requested an explanation of the agreement. Dr. Boryszewski stated that a student who has attended District 81 schools since preschool and began the 2012-13 school year at Lincoln Middle School recently moved out of the district. A program could not be found that could meet the needs of the student elsewhere, so the district has agreed to place him in the SLC/SLBC program at Lincoln as an outsourced student. Dr. Boryszewski stated that the intergovernmental agreement will be brought to the Board of Education annually for approval.

• The Board of Education approved the Retirement Agreement.

• The Board of Education approved the Non Precedent Agreement.

• Personnel: The Board of Education approved the hiring, resignations, and leave of absences of stated employees.

Public Participation

• Resident Terry Doody inquired if the Education Support Personnel Policy is reflected in the current budget. Dr. Boryszewski responded that there is no projected additional costs for this policy update for the current fiscal year.

DISTRICT 81 BOARD HIGHLIGHTS December 12, 2012

Payment of Bills

• The Board authorized the payment of bills in the amount of $198,129.55. Member Fritz inquired if the residency investigations outlined in the bills list were ongoing throughout the school year. Dr. Boryszewski responded that they are ongoing throughout each school year.

• The Board approved payroll in the amount of $839,963.32

Public Participation

• There were no requests to address the Board during the first public participation.

Example of Excellence – School District 81 Music Department

• Students from Washington and Lincoln performed holiday carols for the board members and audience.

The District wishes to thank the families who came to the meeting with their children so they could share their beautiful music with the community.

Old Business Information

• Finance update: President Desecki stated that next month’s finance report will include the budget to actual report, as well as the accompanying bar graphs, per Member Godziszewski’s request.

• FOIA log: Three FOIA requests had been filed since the November meeting. Two of the three received responses; no records exist for the third request. Member Downs inquired if the request regarding taxi information was a mistake. Dr. Boryszewski responded that the request was most likely a general  investigation.

Old Business Action

• The Board of Education adopted the board policies as presented.

(A complete list of the policies adopted will be available in the official meeting minutes, upon Board approval of the minutes at the January 16th board meeting.)

• The Board of Education adopted the 2012 Tax Levy. Member Stachura requested to go on record stating that since he voted “no” to the budget, he is also voting “no” to the adoption of the levy.

• The Board of Education adopted Resolution #13-04 – Authorizing Reduction of Certain Fund Levies for the 2012 Levy Year.

New Business Information

• Employee Contracts: President Desecki stated that contracts for three members of the administrative team were in the process of being written.

• District 81 Vehicle Use: Member Stachura stated that employees should not be driving district vehicles home, and that the vehicles should remain on school grounds. President Desecki responded that the employees need to have access to vehicles at all times since they are on call seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and need to have transportation that assures they can arrive at the school sites without delay, particularly in cases of leaks, floods, and snow storms.

New Business Action

• The Board approved the designation of Jessica Donato and Karen Niewinski as the School District 81 representatives who will receive nominating petitions for the upcoming school board election. Member Delaney stated that requirement to have petitioners file before the deadline of 5:00 pm on the last day would be strictly enforced.

• The Board of Education voted to table the discussion regarding the Superintendent’s contract. Member Delaney wished to go on record that he strongly disagreed with the decision to table the discussion.

Public Participation

• Resident Terry Doody inquired why the tax levy was not posted, and stated that there was a more thorough explanation of the levy provided by the District in the past. Chief School Business Official Jessica Donato responded that in the past the District had held a tax leavy hearing, but with this current levy, a hearing and publication was not required because the District was under PTELL (Property Tax Extension Law Limit).

• Mr. Doody requested the student achievement data comparing Leyden partner schools that was displayed at the November board meeting. Dr. Boryszewski responded that the data would be available the week of December 17th in the Annual Report to the Community, which will be mailed to all District 81 residents.

• Mr. Doody inquired why the District paid more to water the grass at Lincoln Middle School than to mow the grass (per the information that he retrieved through FOIA). Dr. Boryszewski responded that the District was growing grass during a season of drought, and other solutions such as employees watering the grass were not successful. Dr. Boryszewski stated that the additional watering and care of the lawn has resulted in vast improvement.

NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING – January 16, 2013 7 pm.

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