Burr Ridge CCSD #180 Board Meeting Summary

BOARD

Burr Ridge CCSD 180 Board of Education
Mrs. Paula Dupont, President
Dr. Donald D. Higgins, Jr., Vice President
Mr. Louis Ebert, Treasurer
Mrs. Jenifer Mihalkanin, Secretary
Mrs. Helen Bell
Mr. Eric Bergstrom
Dr. Jeanette Paintsil

Summary of November 19, 2007
Board of Education Meeting

The Burr Ridge C.C.S.D. 180 Board of Education held their regular meeting on Monday, November 19, 2007. The meeting was held in the Burr Ridge Middle School Band Room.
After approval of the previous month’s minutes and expenditures, the Burr Ridge CCSD #180 Board reviewed several recent communications. Highlighted items are included below:

The Suburban Life published a brief article regarding the recognition of several staff members with the “Those Who Excel” award. The Doings also published a review of this information on October 18, 2007.

The Doings also wrote and had a photo of the gifted program’s activities. This was an outstanding article. The information presented was accurate and demonstrates a great working relationship with our architectural firm.

The Doings had another great article about our schools, this time AMJES. The story discussed the work that the AMJES staff has done in implementing PBIS. The story contained several photos and did an outstanding job of telling how effective these measures have been in working with students.

The Doings published a very nice article on November 15, 2007 regarding the gifted program and the poet who visited AMJES.

The USA Today misquoted the length of time that students are asked to be silent, but the superintendent is quoted in the November 16, 2007 story regarding the moment of silence.

Communications from DuPage County Public Works regarding the work on 91st street, which has been completed. The result has been a change in traffic flow from across the street in an effort to get everyone to use the crosswalk and not the driveway. This will take some getting used to, but will result in a much safer way to cross the street.

A copy of the thank you letter that was sent to all of the parents and volunteers who assisted with the Fall Family Festival.

Reviewed SASED’s Child Count information for December, 2006. This most recent information shows that the district’s percentage has gone up to 16.5% just slightly higher than the state average. A comparison with other local schools was also provided, and, in general, we are pretty close to these other districts regarding special education percentages. This is useful information when engaging in discussions with the public regarding the number of identified special education students.

The board then heard the Principal’s reports. The principal’s reports included:

BRMS:

A review of the excellent attendance at the most recently completed parent-teacher conferences.
Information regarding the Skill Development classes which have been instituted to provide students with additional skills.
A summary of the steps the staff is making to comply with the RtI (Response to Intervention) strategies.
An overview of the MENTA and “silent goals” that the staff is working on in an effort to reduce the number of referrals.

AMJES:

Continued work on the successful implementation of AIMESweb as the district attempts to gain more information regarding the skills and progress students are making.
A summary of the reading program which will include Brie (Mrs. Gosselink’s dog) as a way to motivate students to read.

INSPIRE:

Significant work has been accomplished regarding the development of curriculum and preparing students to take the ISAT.
The INSPIRE program continues to evolve to work with students in a productive manner.
Continuous contacts with parents have been instituted in an effort to reinforce the district’s efforts to improve student achievement.

From the Superintendent’s report the board learned of the following items:

Creating a safe and productive school climate

The scores for students who stay in our district for two years or more are very impressive.

69% of the students who stay in our District two years or more meet or exceed in Reading.
74% adjusting for Special Education Students.
85% of the students who stay in our District two years or more meet or exceed in Math.
89% adjusting for Special Education Students.

In the superintendent’s belief that most important thing that took place in the district recently was the implementation of our progress monitoring assessments. We will be able to measure student growth over time and can administer this assessment as often as necessary. AIMES Web is a critical piece to measuring student progress and providing an objective measure of the measuring the effectiveness of our instruction so that we may work together to improve. Additionally, this assessment will help us anticipate our ISAT scores now so that we may address the needs that our students have prior to taking the test.

Creating a safe and productive school climate

C. Serving the needs of all of our students
D. Efficient management practices
E. Future facilities planning

The Board of Education took action or considered the following items:

Improving Student Achievement
Creating a safe and productive school climate
Serving the needs of all of our students
Efficient management practices

Acceptance of Resignation/Termination of School District Personnel.

Accepted the recommendation to use the Illinois Association of School Business Official’s endorsed Procurement Card.

The benefits of utilizing a procurement card are reduced paperwork as well as benefit of being able to make orders on-line. Not only with this allow us to reduce our paperwork costs, but we will also be able to take advantage of discounts offered by vendors and a refund of 1% on purchases. This procurement card will result in the savings of some money to the district, the reduction of a significant amount of paperwork, and a small return on some of purchases while actually increasing the ability to audit and track purchases to avoid malfeasance.

The bottom line is that the procurement cards will allow us better tracking of purchases with a redundancy of documentation (receipts and electronic) as well as allow us greater flexibility in the vendors we can use via the internet. Further, as purchases are tracked electronically, the purchase order and documentation of receipt of goods can be further improved. On top of all that, there is a rebate for purchases.

Adopted policies: 7:195. (This policy is available on the district web site.)

Approved employment of Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. insurance broker.

Approved review of the State Library Grant Guidelines

Accepted the 2006-07 audit review.

Accepted Estimated Levy Amounts for 2007

As has been the case in the recent past, the district proposed, for levy purposes, a 15% increase over the previous year to avoid an under-levy which would have resulted in the school district losing tax money and because of increases in the EAV (equalized assessed value) in excess of 10%.

This is called a balloon levy and it is done to make sure that all of the new growth in EAV is captured under the tax cap law. Basically, as the amount of money the district receives is based on the previous year’s amount received, if a district fails to levy for all which is available in one year, it means it can never be reclaimed by the district and is lost forever. So, districts ask for more than they can and know they will receive to ensure that they get all of they are entitled to in the current year and beyond. Obviously, as our district’s EAV continues to rise, our overall tax rate drops. (See: District Web Site for additional details)

As our district levy is over the 5% cap, we will be required to publish notification as well as hold a public hearing regarding the levy. This Truth-in-Taxation hearing is a process that the district has been going through for the last several years as we have levied at 15% for the last few years. At our December meeting, the district will have a hearing and actually adopt the tax levy for 2007.

Approval of Resolution to submit the proposition to increase the limiting rate for Community Consolidated School District 180 to the voters of the District at the general primary election to be held on February 5, 2008.

At our last regular meeting, the Board approved the FY08 budget that contained a significant budget deficit. Since then, the board has held a special meeting to review district finances and possible deficit reductions and alternatives for finding new revenues. At this meeting, the board will be asked to consider asking taxpayers to support a referendum for the school district. Several options have been considered regarding the length of the referendum. (See: District Web Site for additional details)

When making this decision, our goal is to pass the referendum, which sets the district up for the longest period of time possible. The one-year referendum tax swap will probably be only good for 5-7 years before tax caps erode that amount and the district is in a similar position.

BOARD MEMBER ITEMS/FUTURE AGENDA TOPICS/CALENDAR