Berwyn Talk Forum

  This is a summary of the District 201 school board meeting that occurred on March 12, 2008.  The public part of the meeting started very late (at 9 PM) and ended at 10 PM.

1. School uniforms - The administration has developed a proposal for school uniforms. The proposal will be posted on the District 201 website. The school uniform policy will allow the wearing of blouses, polo shirts, turtleneck shirts or button down shirts that are the colors of either maroon, green or white. Pants, skirts, shorts or capri pants must be worn and must be khaki color. Maroon sweatshirts will be allowed to be worn in cold weather. The district will be contacting area stores to give them the heads up that people may be coming in to buy maroon , green and white shirts or blouses and khaki pants or skirts.


2. TIF District - The Berwyn Development Corporation made a presentation about the Cermak Road and Depot District TIF districts. The districts were created in 1987 and the TIF agreement will be ending in 2010. The BDC is telling the district that the city of Berwyn will be extending those TIF districts for another 12 years until the year 2022. The BDC is asking for the support of the board in extending the TIF districts and to enter into an inter-governmental agreement on the TIF districts.  District 98 has proposed re-visting the intergovernmental agreement 4 years after the extension.

   The BDC numbers in the presentation were a surprise to Dr. Nowakowski.   Nowakowski stated that the numbers in the presentation did not match the numbers that the BDC had previously given the district. The BDC talked about surpluses in the TIF funds and threw out a number of 20%.  It was not clear to me what the 20% was for or why they were discussing the 20% number or what it had to do with a surplus in the TIF funds.   

  If I compare what I paid in District 201 propety taxes in 1987 to what I pay to District 201 in property taxes today and extrapolate that to the TIF funds, I think it is safe to estimate that District 201 is getting only around 10 to 20% of the tax dollars from the property in the TIF districts today and that the TIF funds are getting 80% to 90% of the tax revenue.  If the property taxes increase until 2022 in the same way, then by 2022, District 201 will be getting less than 5% of the property taxes from the property in the TIF districts while the TIF funds wll be getting over 90% of the property tax revenue.

  One thing that occurred to me in listening to the discussion last night was that the school districts don't even get the rate of inflation increase of the property taxes as they were in 1987.  School district property taxes have increased 600% over the last 20 years while the cost of living has increased by around 275%.  Yet, the school districts don't even get that 275% increase. All of the increase goes into the TIF districts.  I think the TIF districts should at the very least refund the portion of the TIF funds that match the cost of living increase in property taxes since 1987.  That still leaves a lot of money left over in the TIF funds that would normally go to the school districts.


3. New football coach but girls basketball coaches fired - Anthony Asay was hired as the new football coach.  The agenda indicated that this was a "re-hire".   Also rehired were the head coach and assistant coach for wrestling; the head coach for boys swimming; an assistant coach for baseball;' a "scout" for the softball team (John Molitor) and finally, the head coach and assistant coach for girls bowling (to which Java whsipered in my ear - Why do we need an assistant coach for girl's bowling??).  I was wondering why the district needed to hire a "scout" for the softball team.

  The head basketball coach and the assistant basketball coaches for girls basketball were all fired.  No reason was given for the firing. On the agenda, the recommendation of the superintendent was to re-hire the girls basketball coach and all the assistant coaches.  As happened with the football coaches, the board bi-furcated the recommendation (motion made by Joseph Keating) and voted on the girls basketball coaches recommendation separately. The board then voted to fire the girls basketball coach and all the assistant girls basketball coaches.

    It seemed to me eerily similar to when the football coach was fired. Everyone on the board seemed tight lipped and no one seemed to want to say anything.  SImilar to what happened with the football coach, the board voted to fire all the girls basketball coaches, contrary to the superintendent's recommendation to re-hire the coaches.  The only thing different this time was the superintendent did not raise a ruckus or resign in a huff.


4. HR DIrector is now Assistant Superintendent - The HR DIrector (officially called the Administrative Assistant for Personnel) had her job re-classified to "Assistant Superintendent".   Last summer, the board voted to allow the newly created HR Director position to not require someone with an education background or educational degree.  So, I guess we now have someone employed by the district with the title  "Assistant Superintendent" who does not have an educational background or degree.  No explanation was given for the reason or need to re-classify the position or create the new title.


5. Contracts - The board voted to award contracts to Chappell Studio for graduation pictures and to Tenney & Bentley for handling real estate tax objections.  Again, the board did not state publicly what the amount of the contract was.  This is the third board meeting in a row that I have attended where the board did not announce the amount of money given in a bid or contract.  The old school board under Margaret Kelly ALWAYS announced the amount of money in bids and contracts and announced all bids.  It seems the new school board doesn't feel it is necessary to announce the money awarded in contracts or who submitted bids and the amount of the bids.


6. Expulsions - There were 16 expulsions.  It seemed unusual in that 14 of the 16 expulsions were for 2 years (one was for 1 year and one was deferred) and 7 of the 16 expulsions were NOT with alternate service to the alternative school.  In the past, it seemed like most expulsions were for 1 year or less and almost all allowed service to the Alternative School.  The expulsions last night seemed particularly harsh.


7. Increase in student fees - The board voted to approve an increase in student fees from $75 to $85 next year. Dr. Nowakowski stated that this would bring in additional revenue of $30,000.

  Uhmm.  OK.  So let me see if I have this right.  District 201 has 8,000 students and is increasing fees by $10 per student.  8,000 times $10 is $80,000.  So, why is the administration estimating only $30,000 in increased revenue rather than $80,000? 


8. 4 Day work weeks in the summer - The board voted to approve 4 day work weeks during the summer for clerical and administrative staff.  Dr. Nowakowski claimed that they would be working the same number of hours.


9. Usual business - The board voted to approve an emergency repair of the heating system at Morton East.  It sounded like there was a water main broken somewhere underneath the building or the streets. The board also conducted the usual business of approving minutes of the last meeting; approving payroll and payables; approve travel requests (Donna Weber is taking a road trip to Russelville Arkansas to learn about nutrition; Athletic Director Steve Lemon and Brian Manfre are going all the way to Tinley Park to attend an Athletic Director's conference; and Sherrie Brassard is going to Champaign for a United Nations competition); approving facility usage  and approvals of hirings, firings, resignations and retirements of personnel.


10. New attendance software - The district has made its new attendance tracking software available via the internet. The district has sent out 11,000 letters letting parents know that they can now log online and look at the attendance of their children.  Nowakowski stated that next fall the district will go to phase 2 and post grades online so that parents can see their children's grades via the internet. Nowakowski claimed that the new site has had over 2,000 hits since the 11,000 letters were sent out.

Uhmm... OK, again.  So, the district has 8,000 students but they send out 11,000 letters?  Do some students have more than one address?


11. Crisis Plan - It was stated that the principals had met with the police and fire departments of Berwyn and Cicero and had come up with a "Crisis Plan".  The Crisis Plan was presented to the school board in closed session.


12. Mark Titzer speaks - Mark Titzer spoke in the open forum, re-iterating a letter that CARES had sent to the district asking the district to formulate an action plan to address the problems raised in the High Schools that Work consulting study (30% of students taking math fail; only 6% of students complete the core curriculum; 59% of the work assignments are below proficiency level; too many kids are taking AP courses).  Mark also asked that the district post its District Improvement Plan on its website.


   District Superintendent Ben Nowakowski responded to the CARES letter and to Mark's statements..  In reading his response, Nowakowski stated only that the letter came from a "concerned citizen." Nowakowski never acknowledged that the letter came from Berwyn CARES or Shelley Titzer, even though Mark Titzer spoke in the open forum immediately before Nowakowski's statement.  Here is a summary of Nowakowski's comments:

   A. District Impovement Plan - Nowakowski stated that the district had submitted a district improvement plan to the state but that the state had not approved the plan. Nowakowski stated that the district did not want to publish the plan until the state had approved it because it may be changed. Nowakowski stated that the plan would be published on the district's website once the plan is approved.


   B. District Improvement Team - Nowakowski stated that district had formed  "Distrrict Improvement Teams" .  It is a team of teachers that goes out to other districts and observes teaching methods in other districts.


   C. Previous actions - Nowakowski pointed to previous actions that district had taken (before the report) that includes aligning the curriculum with the Prairie State Test and tutoring teachers in workshops on individual tutoring of students. Nowakowski also talked about the fact that the district has, for several years, have had groups of teachers looking at the curricula and trying to improve it.


   D. New attendance tracking software - Nowakowski touted the new software the district installed that does a better job of tracking attendance.


  Those were the things that he mentioned.  I am not quite sure why new software to track attendance is going to address the issue that 30% of the kids who take math fail or that only 6% of the kids complete the core curriculum.  Those are curriculum issues. I am not sure how new attendance software is going to cut down the number of students who fail math.


I was disappointed in Nowakowski's answer to the CARES letter and to Mark's statements  in the open forum.


First,  Nowakowski did not address the fact that the district has not had a curriulum director for almost 2 years.

Second, nothing was stated about actions being done to address the SPECIFIC issues raised in the High Schools that Work report.  There is no action plan in place to address the fact that 30% of the students are failing math.  There is no action plan in place to address the fact that only 6% of the students complete the core curriculum.

  Instead, Nowakowski pointed to new software and general stuff that had already been going on before the report.  I would have liked to have seen a specific action plan that addresses the specific problems identified in the report (e.g. that 30% of students are failing math).

   I didn't hear anything new or anything that addresses the specific problem of 30% of the students failing math.

Quote from: Ted on March 13, 2008, 10:27:36 PM

2. TIF District - The Berwyn Development Corporation made a presentation about the Cermak Road and Depot District TIF districts. The districts were created in 1987 and the TIF agreement will be ending in 2010. The BDC is telling the district that the city of Berwyn will be extending those TIF districts for another 12 years until the year 2022. The BDC is asking for the support of the board in extending the TIF districts and to enter into an inter-governmental agreement on the TIF districts.  District 98 has proposed re-visting the intergovernmental agreement 4 years after the extension.

   The BDC numbers in the presentation were a surprise to Dr. Nowakowski.   Nowakowski stated that the numbers in the presentation did not match the numbers that the BDC had previously given the district. The BDC talked about surpluses in the TIF funds and threw out a number of 20%.  It was not clear to me what the 20% was for or why they were discussing the 20% number or what it had to do with a surplus in the TIF funds.   

  If I compare what I paid in District 201 propety taxes in 1987 to what I pay to District 201 in property taxes today and extrapolate that to the TIF funds, I think it is safe to estimate that District 201 is getting only around 10 to 20% of the tax dollars from the property in the TIF districts today and that the TIF funds are getting 80% to 90% of the tax revenue.  If the property taxes increase until 2022 in the same way, then by 2022, District 201 will be getting less than 5% of the property taxes from the property in the TIF districts while the TIF funds wll be getting over 90% of the property tax revenue.

  One thing that occurred to me in listening to the discussion last night was that the school districts don't even get the rate of inflation increase of the property taxes as they were in 1987.  School district property taxes have increased 600% over the last 20 years while the cost of living has increased by around 275%.  Yet, the school districts don't even get that 275% increase. All of the increase goes into the TIF districts.  I think the TIF districts should at the very least refund the portion of the TIF funds that match the cost of living increase in property taxes since 1987.  That still leaves a lot of money left over in the TIF funds that would normally go to the school districts.

I went to the District 100 school board meeting where the BDC gave the same presentation.  The 20% refers to a possible negotiating point in an Intergovernmental Agreement where the TIF would give 20% of any surplus back to the city (county?) where there would then be some type of formula to divide it up among the taxiing entities (school districts, parks, etc.) and provide relief.  The conservative estimate given by the BDC for District 100 was $91,000 per year during the 12 year extension.  Joanne Zendol said several times , "So, we've never gotten anything, and now we'll get something?"  Dawn Reinhart asked what the CURRENT surplus was and it was stated that it was $3 1/2 million.  It was stated that there could be some negotiations of relief provided from that current surplus, also.  Beth Pechous asked specifically what the increase in the EAV has been over the life of that TIF.  The BDC said it has gone from 25 million to 43 million. 

Quote from: Shelley on March 13, 2008, 11:30:39 PM
...   Dawn Reinhart asked what the CURRENT surplus was and it was stated that it was $3 1/2 million.  It was stated that there could be some negotiations of relief provided from that current surplus, also.  Beth Pechous asked specifically what the increase in the EAV has been over the life of that TIF.  The BDC said it has gone from 25 million to 43 million. 

So, the EAV of the TIF districts has increased by only 66% from 1987 to 2008?  I find that hard to believe.  But, beyond that, it is not just the EAV that is important.  What has been the increase in property taxes from 1987 to 2008?  My school district property taxes and city property taxes have increased by 600% over the last 20 years because of rate increases.  So, I think a more interesting number would be how much in property taxes does each school district get versus what the TIF gets in property taxes from those properties.

  Does the BDC have the TIF property tax numbers posted on any website?  I would have liked to have had a copy of the presentation that the BDC gave at the District 201 board meeting.

  The other thing I find interesting is that District 100 board members were asking questions and making comments.  No one from the District 201 asked any questions of the BDC or made any comments.  The only one who said anything was Nowakowski.

  Ted

There are annual reports the city must file for the TIF's.  There was also TIF information in the 2008 Budget that you can find off of the clerk's page on the city site.