District 201 meeting - Augsut 16

[Ted]

  Morton High School District 201 will be holding a board meeting tonight, August 16, at 7 PM at the Morton East cafeteria.

  The main topic will be next year's budget.

  Ted

[Ted]

  Here is a summary of the Morton High School District 201 meeting that occurred on August 16, 2006:


1) Proposed tax rate increase lowered to 75 cents - The board voted to lower the proposed tax rate increase that will be presented to voters in a referendum in November. Last spring, the board had voted to propose a $1 tax rate increase. Because of an increase in the assessed valuation in District 201, the board voted to decrease the proposed tax rate incresae from $1 to $0.75 per $100 of valuation.  The district's EAV increased from $1.6 billion dollars to $1.9 billion dollars. With the increase in valuation, only a $0.75 tax rate increase is needed to generate a $15 million dollar increase in tax revenue.


2) FY07 budget - The budget for fiscal year 2006/2007 was approved. Revenues are expected to be around $82 million dollars. Expenses are expected around $88.5 million dollars, which means the FY07 deficit will be around $6.5 million dollars. If you look at only the education, building and maintenance, transportation and working captial funds, the deficit is $7.1 million dollars.

   The state has a new law that if the deficit times 3 is greater than the beginning fund balances, the district would have to present to the state a deficit reduction plan.  Since the starting balance is over $40 million dollars, the district is not at that point yet.  However, it was stated that the district would be at that point in 3 years.

  The administration stated that it was able to reduce the budget by holding off on buying text books, reducing the coaching staffs and limiting students to 6 classes rather than allowing 7 classes.  The district had a net increase of only 1.5 teachers, even though the administration expects the number of students to increase. In general, teacher salaries and administrative salaries are lower because of retirements in the last year.

Fund loans were made from the working cash fund to the transportation fund ($100,000) and to the teachers' retirement fund ($200,000). A discussion ensued about the cost of gasoline increasing and how it affected the costs allocated to the transportation fund.  Also, $6.3 million dollars was transferred from the education fund to the building and operations fund.

  My guess this was done to kick start the building of the new alternative school in Cicero (see bid items below).



3) Bids for building the new alternative school - Bids were approved for the building of a new alternative school in Cicero. The contracts approved were:

   General Contract - HAP Construction - $3.7 million dollars
   Plumbing contract - Premier Plumbing - $918,000
   Electrical contract - Richmond Electric - $669,000
   HVAC contract - Calumet City Plumbing - $22,200
   Fixed Equipment - Carol something or other (?) - $79,700


4) Morton West High School sign - The district received no bids for the Morton West High School sign. The district has contacted 5 vendors and has extended the bidding dealine by a week.


5) New handbook - Everyone seemed excited about the new handbook. Before this year, each school (all 4 of them) had different handbooks. This year, the principals got together and created a single handbook for the entire district.


6) Registration and residency requirements - Everyone seemed to agree that the registration process was going smoothly and that residency checking did not seem to be hindering the process. Both Morton East and Morton West have already registered about 60% of the students that they expect to attend those schools.  There have been some withdrawals because of the stricter residency checking but many people were able to go home and return with the proper identification within minutes.


7) New principals speak -  The administration and the new principals spoke about a retreat they had in Florida to talk about the coming school year. Each of the new principals spoke very enthusiastically about the coming school year and each one (especially Mr. Gunty, the new principal at the Freshman Center) seemed very excited about the coming school year.


8. Oak Park school districts withdraw from trustee district - The Oak Park school districts have withdrawn from the trustee district that it shares with District 201 and all the elementary school distrcts in Berwyn, Cicero, Stickney and Lyons.  The trustee district provides compueter and accounting services to each of the school districts. Because of Oak Park's withdrawl, each school district in Berwyn and Cicero will pay a higher cost. District 201 could have also withdrawn from the district because it has its own computer systems, but that would have meant even higher costs for the grade school districts, so it would have been a wash for the tax payers. 

It was stated that District 201 was helping out straightening books and computer systems as well, even though the new District 201 business manager did not get paid for it nor did District 201 get any compensation. It sounded like the trustee district was an anachronism before the advent of smaller computers when school districts did not have their own computer systems.  Now, it sounds like the high schools have their own computer systems to do accounting, payroll, etc. but that some of the grade school districts do not and have to pay for the services from the trustee distircts.

     Sounds like another reason to have consolidated districts.

9) Hirings, resignations and promotions - The district has hired 60 new teachers (but a net of only 1.5 teachers) as well as promoting existing employees. Among the notable hirings include a new assistant varsity football coach named Barry Castrogiovanni.  Among the most notable promotions was the promotion of Erin Kelly, daughter of Board President Margaret Kelly,  to Assistant principal at Morton East, replacing Michael Whitmore.  Again, Board President Margaret Kelly voted AYE on the packaged set of promotions that included her daughter's promotion.

[Shelley]

One of the biggest concerns I have is limiting kids to 6 classes rather than 7.  How does this compare to other districts?  How might this affect Morton West's graduation rate?  It seems to me that if kids have 1 less opportunity to earn a credit per year they will be more likely to be short come Senior year.  We already have the shortest school day in the state.  When is the next Teacher contract negotiations??  I hope that part of negotiating a pay increase includes extending the school day to include 1 more class. 

[Berwyn Patsy]

Now, why would Margaret Kelly vote at all when her daughter's promotion came up?  She should have abstained gracefully.  Instead she just keeps digging a deeper hole.

[Bear]

Ah yes... This sounds like a Clint Eastwood "Hang 'em High" movie...

A fine spaghetti western movie if I ever saw one...The residents of Berwyn await anxiously,
eyes squinting in disbelief, 'gar firmly placed between the teeth, hand placed on the trigger
beneath the poncho blowing in the hot sun looking at the hapless morons ready to be strung up on a dead limb in the desert with jackals waiting anxiously to pick at your sorry carcasses
as you rot in the summer sun.

No text books?

Reduction of coaching staff?

Only six classes instead of seven?

Oh, but wait....Huge retirement packages for the inept who have put 201 into this situation?... With greater spoils awaiting those still present?

The demise of margaret kelly and the 201 board will be swift and with finality never seen before...

And the voters wont even have to draw their gun

[OakParkSpartan]

So this new school in Cicero...will Berwyn students be permitted to attend?  Or are my tax dollars going for a school which only people who don't live in my town may use?

Cheers,
Brian

[Ted]

So this new school in Cicero...will Berwyn students be permitted to attend?  Or are my tax dollars going for a school which only people who don't live in my town may use?

Cheers,
Brian

  Brian,  I don't know the answer.  I think the alternative school is for kids who have been expelled and are being given probation and a second chance, so I would guess the "bad" kids from both Cicero and Berwyn would be sent there.  If I remember from a previous board meeting, the number of students in the alternative school is around 50.  They send these kids to the alternative school so they won't disrupt regular students.  Some come back while others drop out completely.  The school has two shifts with the "better" bad kids in the morning shift and the really bad kids going in the afternoon.

  Seems like a lot of money to spend for 50 kids who are disruptive and don't seem to want to go to school anyway.   The question I had is why spend money building a new school for them?  Why not rent space somewhere?

  But, this money was "bundled" with the money to build the new Freshman Center and I think was part of the Freshman Center proposal (i.e. build a new Freshman Center and build a new alternative school, both in Cicero).

Ted

[Ted]

One of the biggest concerns I have is limiting kids to 6 classes rather than 7.  How does this compare to other districts?  How might this affect Morton West's graduation rate?  It seems to me that if kids have 1 less opportunity to earn a credit per year they will be more likely to be short come Senior year.  We already have the shortest school day in the state.  When is the next Teacher contract negotiations??  I hope that part of negotiating a pay increase includes extending the school day to include 1 more class. 

Shelley,

  I think this depends on what the cost savings were.  That is something that would be interesting to know.  Is the district saving millions of dollars per year?  If so, given the financial situation of the district, that might be something that needs to be done.  If, however, the district is saving just thousands of dollars ( of even just tens of thousands of dollars), then the question becomes is it justified?

  I thought teachers got paid a fixed salary based on years of experience and level of education, not on the number of classes they taught.   If teachers taught 7 classes last year and if there is no new contract, what are the savings of having only 6 classes per student this year?

  I don't know the answer.

Ted

[Berwyn Patsy]

Ted and Shelley all the above questions are legitimate questions and as tax payers, and parents I think we are entitled to have some answers.  The problem always seems in getting the answers. As usual I think the administration and board members are not used to being questioned.  Was the next school board meeting announced?
  We should submit these questions at that time, and expect a reasonable answer in a reasonable time frame.

[Ted]

Ted and Shelley all the above questions are legitimate questions and as tax payers, and parents I think we are entitled to have some answers.  The problem always seems in getting the answers. As usual I think the administration and board members are not used to being questioned.  Was the next school board meeting announced?
  We should submit these questions at that time, and expect a reasonable answer in a reasonable time frame.

  The next board meeting is September 13.  The board does have an open forum part of the meeting where questions can be asked.   There was also a separate open forum part of the meeting on August 16 to ask questions about the budget.  I didn't have any questions to ask at the time.  I agree, Pat, that it might have been better to get a copy of the budget ahead of time and come up with a list of questions,

Ted

[java]

So this new school in Cicero...will Berwyn students be permitted to attend?  Or are my tax dollars going for a school which only people who don't live in my town may use?

Cheers,
Brian

My understanding is that the Alternative School is for both kids with disciplinary problems, as well as for some, perhaps all, self-contained special education programs (for kids from the entire district, i.e., Berwyn, Cicero, etc.).

[Joe Keating]

Ted and Shelley all the above questions are legitimate questions and as tax payers, and parents I think we are entitled to have some answers.  The problem always seems in getting the answers. As usual I think the administration and board members are not used to being questioned. 

Berwyn Patsy:

I'm confused, when was the administration and/or board members asked these questions you refer to and who had a problem providing the answers? 

[Terri]

JMan,

Since you asked:
#1. Why did the District need to borrow/loan $200,000 to put into the Teacher's Retirement Fund? 
#2. How can the District justify building another school given the state of the budget?  Has the District considered renting space for an Alternative school?
#3. Why does School Board President Margaret Kelly continue to vote on appointments that may be a conflict of interest? 

I see the budget is being cut in a way that does not further the students education. Delaying the purchase of textbooks that would  better education would be the last budget cut made if there was a good working School Board.  Yet there was another request for money via tax increase.  Combinding the student handbook was a good idea.

Terri

[Ted]

  I wanted to add one more item I forgot about in the summary.

The district had underpaid its water bill to the City of Berwyn by about $42,000 because of a change in meters.  The district and the city agreed to split the difference and the district had to pay only $21,000.

  Also, I wanted to say that I was impressed by all the new principals.  Maybe it is just because it is the beginning of the school year, but I liked the enthusiasm I saw.  I hope the results can match their rhetoric.

  I also wanted to add that I and Java spoke with Dr. Nowokowski afterward and he was very forthcoming in answering our questions.  My questions revolved around the tax rate proposal and the new way levies are handled under PTELL.  There is no more tax caps per district on each individual fund (Except the state mandated defaults).  Instead, the cap is on the overall tax rate excluding the bond rate.

  So, the education fund tax rate levy is no longer limited to a $1.20 limit.  The district can levy as much as it wants in any fund.  It is the overall PTELL tax rate that is limited.  So, the newly proposed referendum is slightly different than the March referendum in that the March referendum was to raise the cap on the education tax rate while the November referendum is to raise the overall PTELL limited tax rate.

  Also, the new state law requires that the wording of the referendum state the increase in taxes per household for a house valued at $100,000;  I like this - when people vote on a tax referendum now, they will know the amount of the increase on their taxes because it is stated in the referendum. 

Ted

 

[Joe Keating]

Terri,

In response to your questions:

1) The transfer was made to IMRF, which is the pension plan for non-certified staff (i.e. not the teachers) The transfer is required by law (there must be a positive balance as of June 30th of each year) and is refunded when tax receipts are received in the fall/winter. Because of the tax cap, the portion of tax allocated to IMRF is held as low as possible to allow a greater portion to be allocated to the education fund.

2) When District 201 recieved the state grant to build the Freshman Center, 2.7 million dollars was also allocated by the state for the building of the Alternative School. If we do not use those funds, they are lost. In addition, the District currently owns property in Cicero with a value of approximately 1.5 million dollars which will be sold and put toward the cost of building an Alternative School. Also, the District is in line to receive approximately 400,000 dollars from the Federal Government for the building of the Alternative School.
 The district has not only considered renting space, it is currently doing so. The Alternative School is currently being housed in what was St. Anthony's School, 4935 W. 15th Street. I encourage you to take a look at it some day. It's not a place I would want my children attending. Other sites have been explored and none were satisfactory, whether it be cost, size, life/safety violations, etc.
The additional space to be  provided by the new Alternative School will also give the district another option in dealing with overcrowding at the West campus. Currently, all special education classes are housed at the West campus. Moving some (or all) of the special ed classes to the new Alternative School would free up class space at West. While no firm decision has been made on this issue, the option will be available.

3) You would have to ask Margaret Kelly that question as I do not speak for Dr. Kelly, or any other board member. However, I will say without hesitation that Erin Kelly is qualified for the position of A.P. and has more administrative experience in the district than other district employees who have recently been promoted to similar positions.

Finally, I am more than happy to answer, to the best of my ability, any other questions regarding Dist. 201. I simply choose to do it directly. Feel free to call me. (That goes for everyone).

Joe Keating

[OakParkSpartan]

Joe,

Thanks for taking the time to explain.

Cheers,
Brian

[Shelley]

Thanks, Joe, for taking the time to answer the questions.  I hear lots of officials complain that this board is misinformed but for some reason these officials refuse to participate and explain.  I think this refusal feeds the attitude of mistrust that seems to exist among residents.  I think it is really helpful to hear from those who have the answers first hand and opening up dialogue will go a long way toward a better informed citizenry.  So, thanks.   

Do you know how much money is saved by limiting kids to 6 classes instead of 7?  I think I heard that the 7th class was offered 0 hour (before school officially starts).  How does District 201 compare to other districts in terms of opportunities for students to earn credits toward graduation?

Shelley

[Just Me]

If a student wanted to take a 7th class, they were able to take a 0 hour.  Not all classes were offered at this time.  Actually, very few were.  One was a Lifesaving course.  So, no, teachers are not teaching any LESS classes.  They are teaching the same amount they have always taught.  Any teacher who taught an extra class was paid extra to teach it.  The students who elected to take a 0 hour were either students trying to get ahead, or get caught up because they had failed classes in day school.  I agree with NOT offering students a FREE extra class if they threw away their chance to pass it in day school.  They should then take it in Night School.  Morton has TOO many students who fail MULTIPLE classes in day school.  They were offered it once for free... Why should tax payers have to pay for them to take it twice.  However, it is a shame to punish the few kids who would take advantage of it to get ahead. 

[Shelley]

Just Me,

I think all kids should be allowed to take 7 classes per day during the regular school day just like the other high schools in this area (the ones with higher graduation rates).  Our school day is too short and our kids deserve the same chance that other kids get.  Right now, the families who beleive that their kids deserve this are choosing to move or pay tuition.  I think a longer school day should be negotiated into the next teacher contract.  When is the current contract up??

Shelley

[Terri]

Thank you Joe for your detailed answers. 

Terri