District 201 board meeting - May 14, 2008

[Ted]

  This is a summary of the District 201 board meeting that occurred on May 14, 2008.  The meeting started at 7:15 and ended at 8:20.  Five board members were present (Jeff Pesek, Derek Dominick, Laura Martin-Salazar, Jessica Jaramillo-Flores and Max Flores). Members Joe Keating and Michael Iniquez were absent from the meeting.

   1. Administrative re-structuring - The board announced a re-structuring of the District 201 administration.  First, the board is creating an Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum position that will be responsible for directing the curriculum and hiring certified staff (i.e. teachers). Under the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum will be 6 Content specialists. The 6 content specialists will be full time jobs to oversee curriculum content in a particular area. The 6 content areas will be Applied Technology; Social Studies & Fine Arts; Math & Science; English, Reading and Library; Physical Education & Drivers Education; Modern Languages & English as a Second Language.

  The 6 content specialists will replace the current content area co-ordinator positions, which are part time positions held by teacher's today. These teachers are paid an additional stipend to be a content area co-ordinator in addition to their regular teaching position. Board President Jeff Pesek stated that the board believed with full time positions, more time could be devoted to overseeing content and curriculum versus the way it is done today, which is on a part time basis.

  In addition, the board created an Assistant Superintendent of Finance and promoted Gail Kopf into that position (good move by the board). The board also created an Assistant Superintendent of Support Services, which sounded like a catch-all position that included checking residency and overseeing special education, among other things.  Finally, the district is hiring a grant writer to write grants to get more money for the district. The district is also creating two positions for Information Technology to maintain their computer systems.  Currently, this function is contracted out to a vendor at a cost of $270,000 per year.


   2. Finances - The audit of the financial books have been completed and were found to be in good order with no irregularities and in accordance with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). As of March 31, the district had taken in 77.9 % of expected revenue and had expended 69.3% of its expected expenses. The district will run a deficit of $4.7 million dollars, of which $4 million will be in the operating funds.  At the end of the fiscal year, it is expected that the fund balances (i.e. the "money in the bank") will be reduced to $36 million dollars.  Gail Kopf estimated that the district would be put onto the state's financial watch list and have to provide the state a deficit reduction program by the year 2012 if the current trends continue.


   3. New superintendent search - According to Board President Pesek, the district will be conducting an "extensive and thorough search" for a new superintendent and he expects the process to be a long process. He thanked Frank Zarate for taking over the position of superintendent.


   4. Terror scare - The board discussed the terror scare that occurred at Morton East and Morton West and stated that their primary concern was the safety of the students and that the district co-operated fully with the police departments of Berwyn and Cicero. The board presented awards to the Cicero Chief of Police (Anthony Iniquez, father of board member Michael Iniquez) and to the Berwyn police officer who is the Morton West liason to the Berwyn police department.


   5. Student video's get awards - Film students at Morton competed in a video contest and was awarded first place for the best dramatic video and second place for the best commercial video. The video's were shown at the meeting.  I really like the commercial video, which showed Darth Vadar asking his son, Luke Skywalker to take off his mask/helmut so that he could see his son before he dies. Whe Luke Skywalker takes off the helmut, the person underneath is the Burger King  King (the guy with the King mask) who then holds up a hamburger.  I actually thought the commercial video was better than the dramatic video, which was about a guy in a prison cell who was talking to an imaginery person in his cell.


   6. School calendar for next year - The board approved the school calendar for next year.  Veteran's Day will not be taken as a holiday so the board had to hold a hearing in the middle of the school board meeting to not have Veteran's Day as a school holiday.  The board approved the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as a holiday. The school year starts on August 26; the winter break will be from December 20 to January 4 with school starting up again on January 5; the spring break will be from April 10 to April 20 and the school year will end June 5.


   7. Summer school - The district will provide summer school to 8th graders coming into Morton using Title I money. The district will also use Title I money to provide free summer school for students who failed English or Math so that those students can catch up. Erin Kelly  wll again be director of the summer school program.


   8. Uniforms - The district will be sending letters to parents informing them of the school uniform policy for next year. The policy will be khaki pants; maroon, green or white polo shirts or turtlenecks. The district is setting up a contract with a clothing vendor so that parents can buy the school uniforms from this vendor.  This is contrary to what had been announced last October, when the board claimed that they would not be in contracting services with a vendor to sell school uniforms. Also, a bid was awarded for new physical education uniforms. The new uniforms will be a two-sided shirt with maroon on one side and green on the other side.


  9. Camera's on the bus - In part reacting to the controversy over special education students being abused on buses contracted by the district, the district approved to put out to bid having camera's on all buses that transport Morton students. The district will also be putting out to bid for a new telephone system that uses Voice over IP technology.


   10. Lawsuits - The district voted to settle two lawsuits brought against the district involving special education students.


   11. Morton West news - Morton West had its fair for 8th graders and their parents to visit Morton West. According to Morton West principal John Lucas, over 1,000 people attended the event.  Morton West also celebrated the Top 25 students in each level and the top 75 students who improved their GPA the most. Morton West graduation  will be on June 6. Tomorrow, there will be a concert given by fine arts students.


   12. Usual business - The usual business of paying the bills and payroll; expelling students (4 temp expulsions; 3 permanent); approving trips (Joe Gunty, principal at the Freshman Center is going to Vegas to present on the small school concept); approval of bids and contracts; approval of facility requests (the most unusual being a request from the Chicago Lyric Opera);  and approval of hirings, firings, resignations and retirements.  One firing was tabled. The most significant resignations were Tom Gullickson (the former football coach) from his teaching position and Mark Karadimos from his position as Assistant Principal at Morton West.  The board also approved the hiring of assistant football coaches for the 2008/2009 school year.

  For field trips, the board approved a new policy governing overnight stays by students on field trips.

The next board meeting will be on June 11, 2008 and will be at Morton West in the Morton West auditorium.     

[Mike Iniquez]

Ted.

        Are you a court reporter, man you do a good job reporting District 201 board meeting. Are you going to run for a spot on the school again? I know I would vote for you again. Maybe you should run for Mayor, We could really use you there bud. Well which ever office you decide to run for you will have the 4 votes out of my home and a monetary donation as well. Good luck.

[Felix Greco]

  This is a summary of the District 201 board meeting that occurred on May 14, 2008.  The meeting started at 7:15 and ended at 8:20.  Five board members were present (Jeff Pesek, Derek Dominick, Laura Martin-Salazar, Jessica Jaramillo-Flores and Max Flores). Members Joe Keating and Michael Iniquez were absent from the meeting.

 

   4. Terror scare - The board discussed the terror scare that occurred at Morton East and Morton West and stated that their primary concern was the safety of the students and that the district co-operated fully with the police departments of Berwyn and Cicero. The board presented awards to the Cicero Chief of Police (Anthony Iniquez, father of board member Michael Iniquez) and to the Berwyn police officer who is the Morton West liason to the Berwyn police department.
 

That Berwyn Police Officer was none other than......................................................

JIM SASSETTI

Thanks Jim for all of your hard work and efforts.

[marie]

I agree, thanks to Jim Sassetti for a job well done. 

[Bonster]

That Berwyn Police Officer was none other than......................................................

JIM SASSETTI

Thanks Jim for all of your hard work and efforts.

Yes, this same JIM SASSETTI.


But don't take it from Felix , Jim.  He's suckin' up to you to bring you on board!   
And you know now that the more you bite, the greater the speculation, right or wrong.
Get your promotion because you deserve it, not because they want you on their evil side.

Oh, and thanks for doing your job.

[Bonster]

Calm down, Felix.  Smiley faces usually denote sarcasm.

[Ted]

 @Felix - Thanks for posting Mr. Sassetti's name. I didn't catch the name when I was taking notes last night.

@ClamDiver (a.k.a. Precinct33Captain) - Geez, I did not even know that Berwyn had a precinct 33  <LOL>.  The highest precinct number I've seen in Berwyn is 8.

  Thanks for the compliments. In answer to your questions - No; probably not; and definitely not.

  Ted

[MustangJoe]

I agree that promoting Gail Kopf was a "good move" but I wish someone would take the lead over there to explain the budget better. I still don't think they do a good job in communicating things like teachers contracts and benefits costs over time. I feel like they would build more trust if they really spelled out things in more detail and in layman's terms.

[MortonStudent08]

   2. Finances - The audit of the financial books have been completed and were found to be in good order with no irregularities and in accordance with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). As of March 31, the district had taken in 77.9 % of expected revenue and had expended 69.3% of its expected expenses. The district will run a deficit of $4.7 million dollars, of which $4 million will be in the operating funds.  At the end of the fiscal year, it is expected that the fund balances (i.e. the "money in the bank") will be reduced to $36 million dollars.  Gail Kopf estimated that the district would be put onto the state's financial watch list and have to provide the state a deficit reduction program by the year 2012 if the current trends continue.

Ted, I was recently looking at Morton's state report card for '06-'07 & noticed that huge deficit in operating funds.  Can anyone explain why Morton is spending over $10 million a year in operating costs?  Is there some way to trim the fat there?  Compared to the state average, we're spending about 10-15% more of our total budget on operations than the rest of Illinois.

[Ted]

Ted, I was recently looking at Morton's state report card for '06-'07 & noticed that huge deficit in operating funds.  Can anyone explain why Morton is spending over $10 million a year in operating costs?  Is there some way to trim the fat there?  Compared to the state average, we're spending about 10-15% more of our total budget on operations than the rest of Illinois.

  MortonStudent08,

  The reason you see a huge deficit in the last 7 years is because of the bulding of the Freshman Center and the building of the Alternative School.  District 201 used operating funds to build those two buildings, which is why the deficit looks larger than the Illinois average in those years.

  For example, last year the operating funds deficit was $7.1 million dollars but $1.4 million was due to money needed to build the Alternative School.  The actual operating funds deficit was $5.7 million, which was the same as the previous year when money from building the new schools is excluded.

  For the last 3 years, the actual deficit to run the district (excluding the money to build new buildings) has been between $5 million to $6 million dollars per year.  Last May, the state of Illinois increased the "foundation level" for each student by $400 per student, so this year's operating fund deficit is expected to be around $4 million dollars.

  That is what I expect the operating fund deficit to be in the near future - around $4 million per year (unless the district undertakes another large capital expenditure project or unless costs increase dramatically because of inflation or teacher salary negotiations).

  So, that is why you see the huge deficit in the years in the middle of the decade.  Most of it can be attributed to the building of the Freshman Center and the Alternative School, although part of it can be attributed to the increase in the student population.

  The student population in District 201 increased over the last 15 years from 5,000 students to 8,000 students.  The district had to hire more teachers to teach the larger number of students. Since the only revenue that is variable per student is state aid and federal aid and since property tax revenue is fixed and increased only by the rate of inflation, the district had to run a deficit and issue long term bonds to make up the increase in teacher salaries and benefits due to the increase in students.

  The good news is that it appears things have leveled off as far as the increase in the student population (at least, that was something stated at a school board meeting last year). The peak of the echo boom was in 1990/1991 and all those echo boomers (people like you, MortonStudent08) will be graduating this year and next year.

  Ted

[Ted]

I agree that promoting Gail Kopf was a "good move" but I wish someone would take the lead over there to explain the budget better. I still don't think they do a good job in communicating things like teachers contracts and benefits costs over time. I feel like they would build more trust if they really spelled out things in more detail and in layman's terms.

  Actually, I think the district at school board meetings has done a good job of explaining the deficit and long term debt situation. I do think they have explained it well in layman's terms.

  I think the "trust" iseue came when Cuneen started his chicken little routine and stated that the deficit in the next few years would be $10 million to $12 million dollars per year and that a tax rate increase which would bring in  $15 million per year was needed.

  As I explained in the previous post, most of the deficit in the middle of the decade was due to the one time cost of building the Freshman Center and building the Alternative School.  If you take those costs out of the equation, then the operating deficit was much lower than the $10 to $12 million per year that Cuneen was predicting.

  Cuneen also misled people about the building of the Freshman Center. At the IVB Christmas party in December, 2005, Cuneed made a public statement saying the state paid for the building of the Freshman Center when, in fact, the district paid for a large portion of the building of the Freshman Center out of the operating funds.

  When you go before the tax payers and say you need a large tax increase and overstate the deficit in order to get that tax increase and then state that no district money was used to build the Freshman Center, that leads to a situation of no trust.

   You can't go to the tax payers and say give me a big increase when the tax payers find out that you misled them about the size of the on going deficit.

  But, getting back to your original point, I do think the presentation on finances made at school board meetings have been understandable and in layman's terms.  One thing I wish is that when a presentation is made to them at a school board meeting, copies of the presentation are available for the public to follow along.

  Ted

[oldberwynite]

thanks for that info ted, alot of people in this community im sure were unaware that the large deficit had to do with the building of the new schools, i had no idea either, so the deficit average is about 5 million a year without the funding for the new schools

[Shelley]

If the district ever does again ask for a tax increase, I think they SHOULD ask for more than just the amount needed to balance the budget.  I would actually have an easier time voting yes for a larger tax increase (that gets me something more) than a smaller tax increase (that basically gets me the same as I've always had).  The district should have articulated exactly what our tax dollars would be buying us.  They did this only after CARES requested it and by then it was too late, IMHO. 

Here is an example with real numbers.  Morton spends about $10,000 per pupil.  Currently OPRF spends about $15,597 per pupil.  Other high school districts (where most of our residents are fleeing to once they hit high scool age) spend near the $15,000, but I'll use OPRF as a pie in the sky amount.  If District 201 residents want for their children what these other kids get (50 minutes more PER DAY of instruction, higher paid teachers and administrators, more programming, more after-school opportunities, more honors classes, technology, current text books, etc.) we would need about $43 MILLION MORE DOLLARS!  If we want what we are currently getting (20 year old text books, outdated technology, 50 minutes LESS school EACH DAY, 4 less opportunities over 4 years to earn credits which impacts our graduation rate, few after school activities, fewer places on sports teams because we've combined the schools so that 1 team serves almost 8,000 kids while OPRF has 1 team to serve their 3,000 kids, underpaid teachers who use Morton as a training ground and then leave for higher paid jobs elsewhere just as they are acquiring those desired skills of seasoned teachers, administrators in the early years of their careers who will only stick around at Morton until the next job opportunity) then we only need about 5-7 million to balance the budget. 

Which do you want?

[Robert Pauly]

OPRF:  38% minority, 12% low income
West:  74% minority, 53% low income

Should we be spending a third less, or a third more?

BTW, Berwyn's share of Shelley's $43 million would be around $19 million, and while we're at it, it'd take another $25 million to equalize the grade schools.  Someone smarter than me should figure out how much this would cost per household - 20,000 households - $2200 per household per year???

[mustang54]

  I agree with what Shelley says but i have a different idea where the increase in funding should come from that would make public education in Illinois more fair to everyone.
It could be done county by county throughout the state and by the state. Lets say in Cook County schools the high end per student is 17 or 18k per student. The low end is us at 10.The average in the county is where OPRF is at 15k per student. The state should come up with the difference per student for those under the average in per student spending. Not the local property owners. Without some sort of funding formula the haves will always have the edge and the have nots get cheated. Students should not be cheated because the homes in their community are not valued as much as the others in the more well to do districts. Until this is fixed there will always be children left behind.

[OakParkSpartan]

  I agree with what Shelley says but i have a different idea where the increase in funding should come from that would make public education in Illinois more fair to everyone.
It could be done county by county throughout the state and by the state. Lets say in Cook County schools the high end per student is 17 or 18k per student. The low end is us at 10.The average in the county is where OPRF is at 15k per student. The state should come up with the difference per student for those under the average in per student spending. Not the local property owners. Without some sort of funding formula the haves will always have the edge and the have nots get cheated. Students should not be cheated because the homes in their community are not valued as much as the others in the more well to do districts. Until this is fixed there will always be children left behind.

Is the disparity in funding due to assessed value, or is it because just about no one in Berwyn can remember when an increase was passed?  The community has made the decision to under-fund schools.  Also, folks need to understand that good schools are valued by consumers of housing, which leads to increased home value.

[Shelley]

  I agree with what Shelley says but i have a different idea where the increase in funding should come from that would make public education in Illinois more fair to everyone.
It could be done county by county throughout the state and by the state. Lets say in Cook County schools the high end per student is 17 or 18k per student. The low end is us at 10.The average in the county is where OPRF is at 15k per student. The state should come up with the difference per student for those under the average in per student spending. Not the local property owners. Without some sort of funding formula the haves will always have the edge and the have nots get cheated. Students should not be cheated because the homes in their community are not valued as much as the others in the more well to do districts. Until this is fixed there will always be children left behind.

Is the disparity in funding due to assessed value, or is it because just about no one in Berwyn can remember when an increase was passed?  The community has made the decision to under-fund schools.  Also, folks need to understand that good schools are valued by consumers of housing, which leads to increased home value.

OPS:  It is all of the above.  There is a chart in this blog post with a focus on elementary districts, but there is a parallel to the HS districts of the suburbs/districts.   http://berwyncares-blog.blogspot.com/2008/02/would-you-pay-more-taxes.html.  Java sometimes refers to the financial situation of Dist. 201 as The Perfect Storm.  We have lower EAV, lower tax rate, very little business interest (no Walmart or big industry, we are land-locked so there is no chance of a significant increase in housing yet w/ virtually the same tax-base we've almost doubled in population of students.  Though our students probably spend lots of dough at North Riverside Mall and their parents shop at Tony's and Jewel...we get none of that property/sales tax-revenue for our schools.  Add needier students (more low income/ESL/minority) who need more, but get less and you get lots of spillover (mobility rate, crime, grafiti, low housing values, etc.)  into the community that greatly impacts the quality of life for those with and without kids in the school system.  IT BENEFITS EVERYONE WHEN A COMMUNITY ADEQUATELY FUNDS ITS SCHOOLS.

Mustang:  I agree...there are many better ways to fund education more equitably than the property-tax dependent formula we use in Illinois.  Our state legislators have been talking FOREVER about changing that and I have lost faith that the politicians in Springfield will ever come to a compromise that will significantly benefit students.  It seems that a tax swap (property decrease/income tax increase) will generate a more equitable formula---but the amount that actually gets to local school districts is questionable because the politicians have amended the idea so much to make it passable.  (See below text of e-mail newsletter I receive).  Also, I remember asking Cuneen why, if we had been running a defecit for over 10 years did the administration and school board wait to come to the residents for an increase he repied we were hoping that the state would change the way schools are funded and we haven't found any lawmakers in Springfield that were brave enough to take on this issue.  I remember thinking that that was really hipocritical because it didn't seem very brave to wait until the year you were retiring to come to the public for a tax increase.  We can't control what goes on in Springfield, but we can control our property tax spending to a degree.

Here is the text of an e-mail (long) describing the current hearings in the Illinois Senate about  6 proposed amendments to SB 2288:

Senate hearing set on school funding amendments
> 
> School funding reform advocates will be in for some
> excitement tomorrow
> morning. The
>
[http://www.ilga.gov/senate/committees/hearing.asp?HearingID=5454&CommitteeID=383]
> Senate Education Committee has scheduled a hearing
> for six amendments to
>
[http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=2288&GAID=9&SessionID=51&LegID=36213]
> SB 2288, the pending bill that would raise the
> income tax, abate property
> taxes and result in $1.7 billion net increase in
> operating funds for
> Illinois school districts.
> 
> As SSNS newsletter subscribers know, the amendments
> are designed to reduce
> opposition to the income tax increase provision of
> SB 2288. They would, for
> example, share revenue with municipal governmnents
> statewide, assure more
> timely payment of Medicaid providers, boost State
> Police and Secretary of
> State resources, double the "tuition tax credit" for
> those who send their
> children to private schools and create a "renters
> tax credit" so those who
> do not own their homes would share in the property
> tax relief of SB 2288.
> 
> Amendment 6 to SB 2288 is a mammoth provision of
> school "accountability,"
> creating in effect a powerful measure of state
> oversight over school
> district fiscal management and requiring school
> leadership training for
> elected school board members.
> 
> What does action on SB 2288 mean at this time?
> 
> This highly controversial bill is not expected to be
> called for a vote in
> the Senate and House before the post-election "veto
> session" in November,
> although technically it is possible for it to be
> enacted before the end of
> the spring session, by May 31.
> 
> Giving it such attention now probably means that it
> will remain pending
> through the year, but with specific provisions for
> citizens to learn about
> and to compare, perhaps, with the other most likely
> alternative for a way
> out of the state's current budget crisis. That other
> alternative would be a
> massive increase in legalized gambling in Illinois.
> 
> By the November session, the public should be
> familiar enough with the
> alternatives to have expressed their choice in
> messages to their
> legislators. Then the General Assembly could act on
> the most favored (or
> least opposed) option and bring the budget crisis to
> an end.
> 
> That would be how major decisions are made in a
> democracy. We'll see, in
> the coming days and perhaps months, if that's the
> way democracy works in
> Illinois.
>
>
[http://www.stateschoolnews.com/welcome/subscribe/support.htm]
> [State
> School News Service School Policy Updates are
> provided in the interest of
> informing citizens who care about the Illinois
> education system on issues
> of school policy that are pending in the Illinois
> General Assembly. We hope
> you find them interesting and that you will forward
> them to friends who
> might also be concerned about the public schools of
> Illinois. Email input
> to [mailto:comment@stateschoolnews.com]
> comment@stateschoolnews.com]
> © State School News Service 2008
> 
>

[MortonStudent08]

Ted, I was recently looking at Morton's state report card for '06-'07 & noticed that huge deficit in operating funds.  Can anyone explain why Morton is spending over $10 million a year in operating costs?  Is there some way to trim the fat there?  Compared to the state average, we're spending about 10-15% more of our total budget on operations than the rest of Illinois.

  MortonStudent08,

  The reason you see a huge deficit in the last 7 years is because of the bulding of the Freshman Center and the building of the Alternative School.  District 201 used operating funds to build those two buildings, which is why the deficit looks larger than the Illinois average in those years.

  For example, last year the operating funds deficit was $7.1 million dollars but $1.4 million was due to money needed to build the Alternative School.  The actual operating funds deficit was $5.7 million, which was the same as the previous year when money from building the new schools is excluded.

  For the last 3 years, the actual deficit to run the district (excluding the money to build new buildings) has been between $5 million to $6 million dollars per year.  Last May, the state of Illinois increased the "foundation level" for each student by $400 per student, so this year's operating fund deficit is expected to be around $4 million dollars.

  That is what I expect the operating fund deficit to be in the near future - around $4 million per year (unless the district undertakes another large capital expenditure project or unless costs increase dramatically because of inflation or teacher salary negotiations).

  So, that is why you see the huge deficit in the years in the middle of the decade.  Most of it can be attributed to the building of the Freshman Center and the Alternative School, although part of it can be attributed to the increase in the student population.

  The student population in District 201 increased over the last 15 years from 5,000 students to 8,000 students.  The district had to hire more teachers to teach the larger number of students. Since the only revenue that is variable per student is state aid and federal aid and since property tax revenue is fixed and increased only by the rate of inflation, the district had to run a deficit and issue long term bonds to make up the increase in teacher salaries and benefits due to the increase in students.

  The good news is that it appears things have leveled off as far as the increase in the student population (at least, that was something stated at a school board meeting last year). The peak of the echo boom was in 1990/1991 and all those echo boomers (people like you, MortonStudent08) will be graduating this year and next year.

  Ted

Thank you for clearing that up, Ted.  I was guessing that the FC costs were included in there as well, but wasn't sure.  I would think they'd put the cost of the FC and alternative school in its own sub-budget, but that's just me.  If Morton offered AP Microeconomics, I might just understand it a little better

[Ted]

Thank you for clearing that up, Ted.  I was guessing that the FC costs were included in there as well, but wasn't sure.  I would think they'd put the cost of the FC and alternative school in its own sub-budget, but that's just me.  If Morton offered AP Microeconomics, I might just understand it a little better

  Actually, that is something we asked about 2 years ago. The accounting people in the administration told us that the accounting of the freshman center had occurred before they had been hired.

  It is sort of scary to look at some of these education websites and see District 201 having a $12 to $27 million dollar deficit in the operating funds each year and wonder what the heck is going on.

  But, as I said, the deficit the last 3 years for operating the district (excluding the building costs) has been between $5M to $6M the last two years and $4M this year (the decrease due to an increase in state funding by about $1.6M

  Ted

[MustangJoe]

Ted,

Thanks for posting the info. This financial situation is scary. I'd be interested in hearing your top 5 suggestions on how to get things on track. Any ideas?