At its December 4 meeting, the Burr Ridge CCSD #180 Board of Education adopted a tax levy that will maintain its trend of keeping tax rates at a reasonable and essentially same level for the past decade. The 2.497% projected tax rate reflects a slight drop below the previous year's rate and is below the 2.501% to 2.55% range that property owners have experienced for the past ten years. The CCSD 180 tax rate is substantially lower than the average tax rate of elementary school districts in Illinois, typically in the 2.70-2.90% range.

In other action, the Board . . .

. . . presented its Award of Excellence to students Jenna Carrano, Dawn Jachimiec, Jerry Roginski, Brittany Rowley, Sam Shepard, Maleri Singlar, Brittany Toomey, and Maureen Toomey for their selection to a five state Regional Honors Choir that will perform at a conference in Chicago this winter.

. . . heard a presentation by Superintendent Frank Rink regarding the nutritional, academic, and attendance benefits and the logistics of establishing a breakfast program at CCSD 180. Although the benefits of a breakfast program are compelling, Rink indicated that implementing such a program at this time would not be cost effective. The Board will revisit the topic once new kitchen and cafeteria facilities, scheduled for completion in the fall of 2002, are constructed at Burr Ridge Middle School.

. . . approved a program to enhance the appearance of Anne M. Jeans Elementary School. A "Gift Brick" campaign at the school will involve donations for plaques to be placed on a designated wall within the school building. The proceeds of the campaign will be used for school beautification projects.

. . . heard a report by Carolyn Kruse, an engineer with Wight and Company, regarding a feasibility study relative to usage of the land just to the west of Anne M. Jeans Elementary School for parking and/or school athletic fields/playgrounds. She indicated that most of the land would not be usable for such projects due to the waterway/wetland status of the property. Additional information will be forthcoming in the near future.

. . . heard a report by Josh Pittman and Matt Brodine of TAC Controls, International about their audit of the school district's energy usage and about some possible energy interventions, including the installation of additional energy controls, retrofitting of several components of the lighting system, and air conditioning of Anne M. Jeans Elementary School.

. . . reviewed a draft of a Crisis Intervention Plan for the school district for possible adoption at its January meeting.

. . . accepted the resignation of Ms. Kari Clark as special education teacher.

. . . made its second reading and adopted Board of Education Policies relative to Section 1 - School District Organization as stipulated in the board policy review schedule. The proposed policies are available on the district's website at http://www.ccsd180.org/Policy/policies.html.

. . . heard a presentation by Superintendent Rink regarding construction progress and reconfiguration of plans for kindergarten rooms at Anne M. Jeans Elementary School. The newest plan includes additional storage and will lessen the intrusiveness of new construction upon current facilities.

. . . canceled its January 8, 2002 meeting that was scheduled to include discussion about an election referendum regarding the need for the Cook County Treasurer in school finance procedures.

. . . designated Dr. Donald Higgins as the Board's representative to the Illinois Association of School Board's regional Governing Committee.

. . . discussed the direction of gifted education programming at CCSD 180. Gifted committee members, including school district administrators, will meet twice monthly to continue development/implementation of gifted services.

. . . heard a report from Board Member Bob Mihalkanin regarding his participation in November's IASB/IASA/IASBO Joint Annual Conference.

. . . approved a request by the Burr Ridge Park District to use school district facilities for the Park District's summer day camp program.

. . . was apprised of recent legislation that will increase the school district's payments to the Teacher Retirement System for retiree health insurance cost increases.

The Board's next meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 7:30 p.m. in the Board Room of Burr Ridge CCSD #180.