The Fieldcrest CUSD 6 Board of Education held its regular Board meeting on August 23, 2017. Members present were Mykin Bernardi, Scott Hillenburg, Joe Kirkpatrick, Charles Lohr, Kimberly McKay, Tim McNamara and Beth Palm. Also present were Superintendent Dr. Daniel L. Oakley, High School Principal William Lapp, and a couple of community members.
The Board met in closed session to start the meeting to discuss personnel employment.
In regular session, the Board reviewed Board Policy Section 8: Community Relations. In particular, the Board noted that Board policy applies to all attendees at school events, both on school property and on property owned by other districts or entities.
In Board action during regular session, the Board: approved the consent agenda; approved a list of other insured entities under the district liability umbrella; adopted updated Board mission/vision statement, goals, and Superintendent goals for the FY18 school year; adopted a budget resolution for the budget hearing date of September 27, 2017 and for posting of the tentative budget for a 30-day public review period; waived the first reading of a Board policy update and referred it to the Policy Committee; approved an extended leave of absence for Dara Jendrey; approved an additional 40 sick days for Kevin Glowacki for a retirement date of June 30, 2018; adopted an amended Public School Calendar; and did not adopt a Police Services Agreement with the City of Minonk and instead approved hiring private security for home football games this fall*.
*There was a fairly lengthy discussion regarding this Board action. The Board's primary consideration was whether there would be a dedicated officer at each home football game, something not guaranteed in the Police Services Agreement as put forward. The Board's intent is to have a police/security presence for the entirety of each varsity home football game, and this was reflected in the decision to hire private security services.
In employment action, the Board: hired: Larry Blevins as a middle school math teacher; Bethany Doran as a high school special education teacher and sophomore class sponsor; Christian Myer as a middle school special education teacher; Sarah Underwood to fill Mrs. Jendrey's one-year leave of absence at 4th grade; Beth Hakes, Cindy Hartzler, Caleigh Murphy and Lisa Tutko as teaching assistants; Cody Miles as a driver; Nicolas Cincotti as color guard/flags coach; and Milissa Haugens as middle school cheer coach. The Board also read a statement thanking Mr. Baldwin for his year's of service as a high school track coach upon his resignation as coach.
Mr. Lapp updated the Board on summer progress in his building. He also noted a new "Front Porch" program the high school will be using, as promulgated by the Illinois Principals' Association.
Dr. Oakley addressed several issues:
1. Startup for the school year has been going very well. There have been a lot of changes from last school year to this school year on every level - local, regional, state, and federal - but everything seems to have been well planned and is going very well. Kudos to Tom Heidenreich for his planning on transportation changes for attendance centers, Kevin Glowacki and summer crews for the extensive moving and building preparation, the Teacher Advisory Committee for their work in preparing for the fall ribbon cuttings, and administration and staff for their work in making the start of the school year work well.
2. The annual 6th day enrollment figures were available. A PPT was provided outlining trends. The PPT is available on the district's meeting webpage. In short, the district enrollment is 1001, down 55 students again this year, for a total of 166 in three years. The trend has been steadily negative since about 2003-2003, when the district was 1340 students. The trend line shows the district will likely be under 1000 students next school year, and by 2021-2022, likely under 900 students. All of this data must be considered when looking at building repair/replacement over the next few years.
3. The north wall work at the high school continues. Once opened, items were found which were either improperly completed or not done at all in the work done in the 1970s, and under current code must be corrected prior to completion of planned work in this project. In addition, the infilled windows on the old gym were done without removal of the metal lintel at the top of the windows, and the lintels are rusting now and pushing out brick above them. In total, the cost of the additional items is around $49,000 with a total project cost of nearly $400,000 and insurance picking up and additional $10,000 of the cost for a total of about $350,000 in insurance coverage. The difference will be paid from district HLS funds.
4. There were no bids on decommissioned van 23 when it was up for sealed bids. Board agreed to put it back up for another round of sealed bids. Also, Dr. Oakley noted Tom Heidenreich is looking for a dealer who can supply a new van with the specifications needed, as the previous arrangement fell through.
The next regular Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 7 2017, at 6:30 pm at Fieldcrest High School band room, with closed session starting at 6:00 pm. The annual budget hearing will be held at 6:30 pm the same night.