District 100 board meeting - October 28, 2009

[Ted]

 
  This is a summary of the District 100 board meeting that occurred on October 28, 2009.  All board members were present except Carol Frankovic.

1. School improvement plan - The district approved its school improvement plan for 3 schools (Pershing, Freedom and Heritage) that did not meet AYP standards. It was stated those 3 schools did not meet state standards was due to not meeting state standards for educating physically and mentally challenged students.  In all other categories, all schools in District 100 met the state AYP standards.

2. Dashboards and assessment tools - There was a demonstration of the new dashboard tool that is online and available to the public. There was also a discussion about how the new online assessment tool is helping teachers to identify and address specific student learning areas more quickly.

3. Student awards - 16 students were given awards for outstanding achievement.

4. Rummage sale - The district will be holding a rummage sale in mid-November to sell off old computers.

5. Finances - The distrct has received $5 million dollars so far this year in operating revenue and $8.3 million dollars in operating expenses (24% of budget). It was stated that the state of Illinois is behind in paying vouchers for all schools across the state by an amount of $600 million dollars.

6. Administrative cost exception - The board held a hearing and then approved the waiver of the 5% limit on administrative costs.  District 100 ranks 364 out of 377 elementary school districts in the state in administrative costs per student. A district that is in the 25% within the state of Illinois can waive the 5% limit.

7. Test Scores - It was stated that the Life newspaper will be putting out an article next week on test scores and District 100 will be one of the school districts documented in the story.

8. Traffic congestion relief - The district is in discussion with the city about ways to reduce traffic congestion when parents drop off their children.

9. Goals for 2009 - The superintendent presented the district's goals for 2009, which included use of SMART boards, ThinkLink assessments and other technologies; bi-lingual intervention for ESL students; counselors at the middle schools; more parental involvement via parent clubs and open houses; addressing traffic problems around the schools; improve attendance

10. School visit day - On November 18, District 100 will open up its schools so that parents and pre-schoolers can visit the schools.

11. Charitable endevours - The charitable endevours over the past year were re-capped. The administrator mentioned teachers using Donors Choose more to fund projects.

12. H1N1 virus and vacinations - The district has seen an increase in illnesses in general. There has been a greater emphasis on keeping things clean and sending kids home if there is any sign of an illness. Only 1 case of H1N1 has been found so far in a student. The district is co-operating with Cook County and it was stated that District 100 would be a vacinnation center.The district can provide only one dose while the norm is for a child to get two doses.

  Usual business of approving the minutes; approving payroll and payables; approving personnel decisions (no public statement was made about Karen Grindle); approving the state improvement plan and approving the waiver of the 5% limit of administrative costs.

[buzz]

12. H1N1 virus and vacinations -
  Only 1 case of H1N1 has been found so far in a student. The district is co-operating with Cook County and it was stated that District 100 would be a vacinnation center.The district can provide only one dose while the norm is for a child to get two doses.

Ted, did they say why ?

[Ted]

12. H1N1 virus and vacinations -
  Only 1 case of H1N1 has been found so far in a student. The district is co-operating with Cook County and it was stated that District 100 would be a vacinnation center.The district can provide only one dose while the norm is for a child to get two doses.

Ted, did they say why ?

  Money, I think.  They stated in the meeting there was enough money one for one dose per child but not two.  It was stated in the meeting that it would be up to the parents to get the second dose.

  Ted

[Ted]

  I received the following email about item #6 above.  I forgot the word "bottom" in item #6 above (that's what I get for typing too fast - my apologies). 

  The item should read that a district which is in the bottom 25% can waive the requirement.

Here is the clarification from a District 100 administrator:

 State law prohibits administrative costs in school districts to increase by more than 5% from one year to the next. The State has specific expenditures that they classify as "administrative costs" that must be compared. The only exception to this is, if your administrative costs per pupil are in the lowest 25% in the State for similar districts. There are 378 elementary school districts in the State. Our ranking in administrative costs per pupil is 364. Because we are  in the lowest 25%, we are allowed to waive this 5% limitation.

Last night a public hearing was held and the Board later approved the waiver of the limitation. Since we have been in the lowest 25% since the law was passed about 10 years ago, the Board has approved the waiver every year even though we have not been exceeding the 5% increase from one year to the next.