• Education Week published an update on the status of the No Child Left Behind
  reauthorization. The article points out several areas of contention between major
  factions in the education community regarding the law in going forward. As a
  result, it doesn’t appear as if schools will seen any result of major revisions until
  2009, perhaps until the next president takes office. This reauthorization is of
  special interest to us as the language which addresses the way IMPACT is
  distributed is included as a part of this reauthorization.

• The School Management Alliance has provided us with an overview of recent
  activities in Springfield. The budget implementation act has been amended and
  approved by the general assembly. Additional information regarding a
  gaming/capital bill and the school accountability measures that are being discussed
  in conjunction with that bill is also included. There are special requirements for
  board members that are also being discussed.

• The Suburban Life also covered our referendum proposal, and clearly stated the
  major issues involved with the referendum. It also highlighted the fact that there
  has been little opposition to the referendum. This was a very fair approach to
  covering the referendum and was later posted on our web site.

• The DuPage County Health Department has provided information from the dental
  sealant program. As you can see, this program is well utilized and provides a
  valuable service for our families. A thank you note was sent on behalf of the Board
  to the health department for these services.

The board then reviewed the Principal’s reports included in the board packet. Of primary
interest was a report on the Read 180 program in the schools. The data presented demonstrated
that a majority of the students participating in the program made gains in reading. The overall
presentation from the principals demonstrated that Read 180 has had a positive impact on the
reading abilities of our students and is tremendously valuable.

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

A. Creating a safe and productive school climate

• There was considerable discussion regarding the school calendar.

• The district will revert to a more traditional schedule of having parent-teacher
conferences and teacher institute days on the same days for all schools in the
district. The district will still have two days/evenings of meeting with parents as
is indicated on the calendar.

• The first parent-teacher conference day to the day prior to Thanksgiving break.
This means that the Tuesday of Thanksgiving break will be a full day of school
followed by parent teacher conferences and then a half-day of parent-teacher
conferences on the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving break. The other parentteacher
conference will be prior to the President’s day holiday in February.

• Veterans Day is on a Tuesday in 2008 and a Wednesday in 2009. The Disrict
will be asking ISBE for a waiver, but as a part of that waiver, we will need to
have some educational activity focused on recognizing the contributions of
veterans on the traditional November 11th.

• Pulaski Day is at the start of ISAT testing and creates a four-day weekend when
combined with the countywide Institute Day. In order to stay in line with the
H.S. and have the full compliment of time allowed for testing, the district will
be asking for a waiver for this day as well. (As Pulaski Day is a holiday for
Illinois employees under IMRF, the district will need to close the building
sometime over Spring Break to make up for this holiday.)

• The district will be closing school (with no emergency closing days) on
Thursday, May 28th. This is similar to this year and will allow us to make up an
emergency day (if there is one) without having to come back after a weekend.

• The district has moved the October half-day to Halloween in an effort to limit
disruption to the school day.

• The calendar is looking for two waivers which will require a hearing and
publication as well as notification of local legislators. Due to these waivers, we
will not have an official calendar for publication until the March board meeting
at the earliest, due to the processing time at ISBE. The district will publicize a
tentative calendar on our web site (as no calendar is official until the ROE
approves it) after this meeting.

B. Creating a safe and productive school climate

• The district is exploring a summer program which provides meals as required by
school code.

C. Serving the needs of all of our students

• A district newsletter was reviewed which will inform residents of the referendum
question on the ballot on February 5th.

D. Efficient management practices

• The district is working with the teacher’s union in developing a seniority list which
is in-line with school code and contract language.

• The superintendent met with Terry Tamblyn and Terry Cockrell, the DuPage
County Assessor on December 20th to complete the Impact Aid Application. This
application has been received electronically by the Department of Education. There
is no indication as to what our proposed allocation may be for the coming fiscal
year. Given the delay in the reauthorization of NCLB, it is more important than ever
to be sure that the district’s position is not eroded by new language. The importance
of making sure that the language is in the district’s favor is made even more evident
in consideration of the slight reduction in Section 8002 funds in the recently signed
FY 08 appropriations bill. These funds have been reduced 1.75% or $142,000.
While this does not seem like a great deal of money in a $62 million dollar
appropriation, but given this reduction and a slight increase in the number of
eligible schools, it is possible that the district will see a decrease in the amount of
IMPACT aid funds we are eligible to receive.

• The district is reviewing recently enacted 403B regulations and how they may
impact this program for our employees. It is possible that additional assistance will
be needed to manage this regulation.

• The district is still considering joining a gas and electric cooperative, to save money
in purchasing gas and electric. One such cooperative may be the IASA and IASB’s
cooperative.

E. Future facilities planning

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

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

a. Approval of Administrative Cost Reductions: Reduction in Force

• The district did not renew the contract of the INSPIRE Academy principal for the
2008-09 school year.

b. Approval of the 2008-09 Board of Education Meeting Calendar

• The board approved the Board Meeting Calendar through December, 2009. This
schedule of meetings will be posted and publicized to all interested media and
reviewed every six months.

c. First Reading of PRESS Recommended Policies

• As a subscriber to the Illinois Association of School Boards PRESS Policy, we
receive periodic updates to our policies. Many of these suggestions reflect current
legal rulings, ISBE rule making or new laws. The board approved these policies at
the January meeting after their second reading. Part of these new policy additions includes policy 7:180 the Prevention of Bullying, Intimidation and Harassment policy. By school code, this policy needs to be adopted by the board and then sent to the state. Additionally, we are to inform
parents of this policy annually. This information will be placed on our web site and
then included in all future parent handbooks. A copy of the policy and letter to the
state is included.

d. Approval of Title I Plan

• Principal Gosselink and Title I Reading Teacher Cathe Smith have completed Title
I Plan that is required as a part of NCLB. The basic goal of this plan is to bring
together all of the aspects of the NCLB Act in one unified plan. The difficulty is
basically bringing all of the things that we are currently doing in to one condensed
narrative as related to our current practices. As a part of the plan, Cathe and the
administrative team may be meeting with staff and parents to pull this together.
The Board approved this at this meeting.

BOARD MEMBER ITEMS/FUTURE AGENDA TOPICS/CALENDAR
A. December 21, 2007 End of 2nd Quarter—Begin Winter Break
B. January 7, 2008 School Resumes
C. January 9, 2008 PTC Meeting @ AMJES @ 9:30AM
D. January 11, 2008 School Improvement Day—Early Dismissal
E. January 14, 2008 Board of Education Meeting—7PM

The Board’s next regular meeting will be held on Monday, February 11th at 7:00 p.m. in the BandRoom of Burr Ridge Middle School.