McHenry Times

Fox River Grove School District 3 Board of Education met Oct. 16.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

I. CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Board President Devin Bright called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

II. ROLL CALL

Members present were Tom Mollet, Sara Brubacher, Gerry Blohm, Devin Bright, Kristine Hester and Steve Pickering. Also present were Superintendent Dr. Tim Mahaffy, Principals Dr. Sandy Ozimek and Mr. Eric Runck and Mrs. Heather Trom, Director of Special Education. Absent was Board member Laura Byrd.

III. WELCOME TO VISITORS, GUESTS, COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

Audience members – Theresa Meshes (ARS parent and PTO Representative) and staff members, Jessica McKenzie and Sarah Ireland – were welcomed to the meeting.

Superintendent Mahaffy introduced Shelly Casella-Dercole, managing partner of Eder Casella.

No one signed in to address the Board.

IV. CONSENT AGENDA

A motion was made by Steve Pickering to approve the consent agenda, approve and open to the public the regular minutes of the Regular Board Meeting of September 25, 2017 and approve the closed minutes of the Regular Board Meeting of September 25, 2017, approve the September, 2017 Treasurer’s Report, approve the bills and payroll from September 23, 2017 through October 13, 2017 and approve the September Activity Accounts Report. Gerry Blohm seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Voting aye – Sara Brubacher, Gerry Blohm, Devin Bright, Kristine Hester, Steve Pickering and Tom Mollet. Voting nay – None. Motion approved.

V. REQUEST FOR RECORDS UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

The District received one FOIA request this month. The request was from Kirk Allen from AWI requesting information on District debt, the debt structure, a copy of the Superintendent’s contract and minutes of the Board meeting when approved. The request was received on 10/5/17 and was complied with on 10/8/2017.

VI. OLD BUSINESS

Class Size Update – Dr. Mahaffy reviewed the class size sheet as of 10/11/2017. There have been few changes from last month. There are currently 209 students at ARS and 205 students at the Middle School. The ECE population remains at 5 students. Total in house population is at 414 students and heading into FY19 the population is projected to decrease by six students.

8th Grade Fundraising Fee

A motion to reduce the 8th grade fundraising fee from $30 to $25 for the FY18 school year was made by Steve Pickering and seconded by Gerry Blohm. A roll call vote was taken. Voting aye – Gerry Blohm, Devin Bright, Kristine Hester, Steve Pickering, Tom Mollet and Sara Brubacher. Voting nay – none. Motion approved.

VII. NEW BUSINESS

FY17 Audit Report—Mrs. Shelly Casella-Dercole briefly reviewed their audit report findings with the Board. She stated that the audit went well and FRG District 3 was not issued a Management Letter and has not received one for many years. Mrs. Casella-Dercole stated that District Bookkeeper, Sarah Ireland does a fantastic job, is very conscientious and always has everything in order for them. The profile score for District 3 is a 4.0 out of a 4.0 which is the recognition category.

In the Independent Auditor’s Report, the District did receive an Adverse Opinion on U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The only reason that this is an Adverse Opinion is because the District uses a regulatory basis of accounting (cash basis vs. accrual). This basis of accounting is prescribed by the Illinois State Board of Education and is what they force the District to report in. These are not generally accepted accounting principles; therefore it is an adverse opinion. The audit report goes on to say that based on the basis of accounting that the District is on, this is the best opinion the District can get based on the financial statements in the audit. Everything was fine.

Mrs. Casella-Dercole also reviewed the Statement of Revenues Received and Expenditures Disbursed for each fund for the year ending June 30, 2017 with the Board. This financial statement is a nice snapshot of all revenues that came in, what expenses went out and how the fund balances change throughout the year. There was only one fund that was negative in the year – Transportation. The reason for this was the interfund transfer of $850,000 to the other funds. In total, all funds were positive totaling $577,630 for an ending fund balance as of June 30, 2017 of $6,374,092. There are no real issues to point out on this.

The rule of thumb is to maintain a minimum fund balance of 3 months and a maximum of 24 months (unless the District is saving for a specific purpose) in all the funds. Mrs. Casella-Dercole stated that any funds the District wants to set aside for a specific purpose must be formalized through a resolution before June 30, 2017.

Dr. Mahaffy stated that the Board has always asked to make sure we have a 40% fund balance in order to have enough money in May to pay the bills to avoid going out for TAW’s (Tax Anticipation Warrants). This does not include the TRS On Behalf of Payment.

Mrs. Casella-Dercole said the footnote disclosures to the financial statement are basically the same as last year – just different numbers. There is nothing unusual to report.

Dr. Mahaffy reminded the Board and Auditor that the O&M Fund is three years heavy. We are currently in the process of putting a Facilities Committee together to review these funds. In February or March this committee will be coming to the Board with a Resolution to earmark these funds for future projects. Dr. Mahaffy stated that is something that the auditors suggested the Board to do over the past few years.

Mrs. Casella-Dercole briefly commented on TRS (Teacher Retirement System) responsibilities, pension liabilities, pension expense, and deferred outflows of resources and deferred inflows of resources related to pensions. District 3 has paid their portion of TRS already. This added liability continues to grow each year. When State pension reform happens and the actual additional amounts owed by every school district in Illinois are revealed, remains to be seen. It will need to be a major pension shift. Mrs. Casella-Dercole said District 3 should not be budgeting for these additional payments.

The other pension fund for school districts is IMRF (Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund). IMRF is fully funded and does not have the same problems as TRS. Some Districts have chosen to put more funds into IMRF to offset some potential future needs.

Board President Bright thanked Mrs. Casella-Dercole, Mr. Bob Blumberg, District Treasurer and Mrs. Sarah Ireland, District Bookkeeper for all their efforts.

A motion to approve the FY17 Audit Report as presented was made by Steve Pickering and seconded by Tom Mollet. A roll call vote was taken. Voting aye – Devin Bright, Kristine Hester, Steve Pickering, Tom Mollet, Sara Brubacher and Gerry Blohm. Voting nay – none. Motion approved.

Science Curriculum Guide for K-8

Dr. Mahaffy reminded the Board that the District has already bought and paid for the Science Curriculum which we have been using for a year. After one year, the guide is developed for current teachers, future teachers, parents, community members, etc. to understand our scope and sequence of each curricular area.

Dr. Ozimek stated that the committee had worked with Fermilab and their Educational Resource Center to review curriculums to see the strengths and weaknesses of each one. The District chose STEMScopes for K-6 and Discovery Education for 7th and 8th. Both curriculums were written to address the Next Generation Science Standards. Curricular changes were made at every grade level. More literature was brought in at the Kindergarten and First Grade level due to curriculum being written at such a high level for these grades.

Mr. Runck stated that we waited one additional year compared to other schools since it was such a big undertaking. Most of the schools that District 3 had articulation meetings with ended up scrapping their original science program and then had to go through the process and purchase new materials again. District 3 also worked with Cary Grove High School. Mr. Runck also felt working with Susan Dahl of Fermilab helped tremendously with this process. Mr. Runck also gave kudos to the Science team for all their hard work and research.

A motion to approve the Science Curriculum Guide for K-8 was made by Sara Brubacher and seconded by Steve Pickering. A voice vote was taken. Voting aye – all ayes. Voting nay – none. Motion approved.

VIII POLICY

A motion to approve the first reading of the following new or revised policy: 2:140 – Communications To and From the Board – was made by Steve Pickering and seconded by Tom Mollet. A roll call vote was taken. Voting aye – Kristine Hester, Steve Pickering, Tom Mollet, Sara Brubacher, Gerry Blohm and Devin Bright. Voting nay – none. Motion approved.

Board member Sara Brubacher recommended adding a sentence on the website for the public so they understand that any email sent to an individual Board member could be shared with all Board members. Dr. Mahaffy will add a notation before the send button to this effect so the individual is not surprised when an email is shared with other members.

A motion to approve the second reading and adoption of the following new or revised policy: 7:270 – Administering Medicines to Students – was made by Kristine Hester and seconded by Steve Pickering. A roll call vote was taken. Voting aye – Steve Pickering, Tom Mollet, Sara Brubacher, Gerry Blohm, Devin Bright and Kristine Hester. Voting nay – none. Motion approved.

IX. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Board Dashboard – Dr. Mahaffy briefly reviewed the Board of Education Dashboard. In November we will be approving the Tentative Levy and the Resolutions for Interfund Transfer, if there are any. The levy will look different with the new State funding and State code. The final levy will be in December and must be to the County Clerk and Regional Office of Education by the 3rd Tuesday in December. The Music Curriculum Guide will be reviewed at the December Board meeting. The CPI-U is trending at 1.9. District 3 now only has an independent contractor for physical therapy as we have hired our own School Psychologist. Current enrollment is at 430 students and this includes ECE and out of District students. Upcoming curriculum development for FY19 includes 5-8 ELA and K-4 Math because we are at the end of the digital contract in FY18.

Building Principals/Director of Special Education --

Mr. Runck reviewed the MS School Improvement Plan (SIP) and the goals as follows:

SIP Goal 1 - During the 2017-18 school year, we will continue the process of implementing the SAMR Model (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition) to enable our teachers to design, develop, and infuse digital learning experiences utilizing new technologies.

SIP Goal 2 - During the 2017-18 school year, middle school English Language Arts (ELA) teachers will come to consensus on developing a curriculum aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and New Illinois Learning Standards (NILS).

SIP Goal 3 - During the 2017-18 school year, the middle school staff will continue to build standards aligned classroom assessments (formative, interim, and summative).

These three goals were summarized as to how they would be measured and how to show growth.

Dr. Ozimek reviewed the ARS School Improvement Plan (SIP) and the goals as follows:

SIP Goal 1 - During the 2017-18 school year, teachers will explore and utilize instructional strategies and resources to challenge their high achieving students.

SIP Goal 2 - During the 2017-18 school year, K-4 teachers will implement Benchmark Advance, the newly adopted English Language Arts curriculum, with fidelity.

SIP Goal 3 - During the 2017-18 school year, K-4 teachers will explore changing the K- 4 report cards to standards-based report cards.

SIP Goal 4 - During the 2017-18 school year, teachers and students will utilize the Google environment and Chromebooks.

These goals were summarized as to how they would be measured and what would be the evidence of goal attainment.

Mrs. Trom stated that the District’s Comprehensive Plan was submitted to the attorney and we are currently waiting for their response.

X. COMMITTEE REPORTS

Board members, Laura Byrd, Kristine Hester and Tom Mollet (with Gerry Blohm as back up) along with Dr. Mahaffy will be attending the Tri-Conference in November.

XI. ANNOUNCEMENTS, NOTICES AND COMMUNICATIONS

Mr. Runck gave kudos to the cross country athletes and coaches for their great effort at State. Overall, we have been much more competitive this season in all sports. He also thanked the PTO for helping the 8th grade go on a field trip to the Field Museum last week. The 8th grade will also be going to a health career fair this week at Woodstock North High School.

XII. EXECUTIVE SESSION

A motion to adjourn from the regular session of the October 16, 2017 Board Meeting and go to executive session at 8:07 p.m. to consider information regarding the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees of the District was made by Steve Pickering and seconded by Tom Mollet. A roll call vote was taken. Voting aye – Devin Bright, Kristine Hester, Steve Pickering, Tom Mollet, Sara Brubacher and Gerry Blohm. Voting nay – none. Motion approved.

XIII. ACTION FOLLOWING EXECUTIVE SESSION

A motion to return from executive session to open session of the October 16, 2017 Board Meeting at 8:40 p.m. was made by Tom Mollet and seconded by Steve Pickering. A roll call vote was taken. Voting aye – Steve Pickering, Tom Mollet, Sara Brubacher, Gerry Blohm, Devin Bright and Kristine Hester. Voting nay – none. Motion approved.

XIV. ADJOURNMENT

A motion to adjourn the meeting of October 16, 2017 at 9:14 p.m. was made by Kristine Hester and seconded by Steve Pickering. A voice vote was taken. Voting aye – All ayes. Voting nay – None. Motion approved.

https://www.dist3.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=697&dataid=664&FileName=BOARDMIN-10-16-17.pdf