The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
On Wednesday, January 20, 2010 the West Central CUSD #235 Board of Education conducted their regular meeting. As a result of this meeting the following items took place.
Vice President Arnold called the meeting to order in the Elementary Cafeteria at 5:58 p.m.
All board members were present at roll call except Brent and Sams. Dr. Brent entered the meeting at approximately 6:06 p.m. and Mr. Sams entered at approximately 6:20 p.m.
Vice President Arnold led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.
The following items were highlighted under good news items:
The board approved the agenda with the addition of discussion item XII(B). Pre K Program..
No one was present to address the board on any agenda item.
The board approved the consent agenda as presented. Items approved under the consent agenda included:
The board approved payment of the December bills, the December activity account reports for WCES, WCMS and WCHS, and the treasurer's report for December as presented. The board also heard a brief update on the district's financial report from Superintendent Grimm. It was pointed out that as of December 31, 2009 the actual revenue received to budget is 64.05% and our actual expenditures incurred compared to budget are at 44.41%.
The board approved a resolution authorizing a $250,000 loan from the working cash fund to the transportation fund. This loan is necessary due to the fact that the State of Illinois has provided only one small payment for special education transportation and no reimbursement for the FY11 regular transportation.
The board approved a memorandum of understanding with West Central Association of Teachers and Staff regarding stipends for SIP team members. Essentially the memorandum of understanding authorizes the payment of a $500 stipend for members of each building's school improvement team for their work during the 2009-10 school year. Payments in the future to the SIP team members will be based on the availability of funds to pay those stipends.
The board approved the 2009-11 electronic school improvement plan for West Central High School. Superintendent Grimm provided the board a brief overview of the plan. Following a brief discussion the board gave their approval for this plan to be filed on the Illinois Interactive Report Card Website as is required by the Illinois State Board of Education.
The board briefly reviewed reports from the three building principals, Mrs. Serven, Mrs. Farniok, and Mrs. Frakes.
The board reviewed a five year enrollment projection as put together by Superintendent Grimm. Supt. Grimm indicated that the methodology used to calculate the enrollment projections in the past have actually turned out to be fairly accurate. It was also noted that we have seen a definite downward trend in the district's enrollment and that our projected enrollment for the 2010-2011 school year is 956 students which is approximately 9 students less than what we had on the 6th day enrollment this year. It should be noted that the projected enrollments going forward indicate a district wide student population, not including the early childhood students, for the school year 2014-2015 of 888 students.
The board discussed briefly the district's PreK program and some concerns that Superintendent Grimm has regarding continued funding from the State for this program. As a result of this discussion, board members Torrance and Anderson were appointed to serve on a committee to work with Superintendent Grimm on reviewing the costs associated with having this program as well as the revenues that have been received since the district's inception in 2005. A report on the financial aspects of the program, as well as other items will be prepared and presented to the board as a discussion item at the February board meeting.
Under future agenda items, it was asked that there be a review of coach's win/loss records and more information regarding the PreK program be brought to the next regular meeting.
The board entered closed session to discuss matters pertaining to personnel and the review of closed session minutes of July 2009-January 7, 2010. Included in this was a review of the Superintendent's evaluation.
The board exited closed session at approximately 8:42 p.m. and took the following action:
The board was reminded that their next regularly scheduled meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 in the elementary cafeteria.
There being no other business to come before the board, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:08 p.m.