MINUTES
Cumberland Community Unit School District 77
Monday March 15, 2012
Unit Office 7:00
P.M.
Meeting was called to order
at 7:00 P.M. by President Marje Jackson.
Members present were: Marje Jackson, Steve Layton, Jack Ingram, Rob Plummer, Laurie Titus, and Cheryl Flood. April Flood arrived at 7:25pm
Visitors:
Dan Carr and Stacy Keyser
President Jackson addressed the board and visitors, expressing that it was a day of sadness in the district as James Cox, a former graduate and the son of a former teacher, Deanna Pease Cox, had passed away. EveryoneÕs thoughts and prayers go out to Deanna Cox.
President Jackson
then recognized Dan Carr and Justrite Manufacturing with the – ÒAbove and
BeyondÓ award for the generous donation of cabinets and other items to the
district. The cabinets will be utilized in the high school science rooms this
summer during a much needed upgrade/remodeling of the
science labs. Dan Carr, an alum of Cumberland CUSD 77
and Justrite Manufacturing made this remodeling of the science rooms possible
and their contributions are greatly appreciated.
Acted
upon consent agenda items III A-D
Acted
upon approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of February 16, 2012. There
were no corrections to the minutes.
Reviewed the financial and budgetary reports and acted upon approval of the current invoices for payment.
Superintendent Ragon highlighted a couple of bills for the Board.
á Health Resource Service – Fee for doing the Medicaid claims. This is the company that received the State contract and replaced MRC Consulting.
á Upchurch – Fee for preparing all the bid documents and bidding the roofing project.
There were no other questions.
Acted upon and approved IHSA and IESA membership for the 2012-13 school
year.
Superintendent commented that this is a regular annual
item. The IHSA does not charge fees for membership. The IHSA gains its revenues
from the post-season tournaments, advertising revenues, licensing and
television rights. The IESA, however, relies on membership dues and fees for
each activity that a school participates in.
Approved the Substitute List
A motion was made to
act upon and approve the consent agenda items IV A-E by member Steve Layton and
seconded by member Jack Ingram.
Members voting Yea
were Marje Jackson, Steve Layton, Jack Ingram, Rob Plummer, Laurie Titus, and
Cheryl Flood. There were no Nay
votes.
Reviewed
Bids and acted upon approval of bid for roof work on the High School gymnasium.
Superintendent Ragon reviewed the 3 bids submitted for the roof work at the high school, noting there were 3 bidders, Industrial Services of Mattoon - $49,200, Top Quality Roofing of Mt. Zion - $36,400, and Crafmasters, Inc. of Decatur - $35,000. Mr. Ragon said that the architect had certified all three of the bidders and recommended accepting the lowest bid. The Board then voted to accept the bid of $35,000 for the roof work on the high school gymnasium by Craftmasters, Inc.
A motion was made to
act upon and approve the consent agenda items IV A-E by member Rob Plummer and
seconded by member Jack Ingram.
Members voting Yea were Marje Jackson, Steve Layton, Jack Ingram, Rob Plummer, Laurie Titus, and Cheryl Flood. There were no Nay votes.
Discussion Item: Review of proposed bullying/harassment language to be added to student handbooks as part of board policy.
Members of the board reviewed the proposed language changes to the student handbooks pertaining to bullying/harassment. There was a very lengthy discussion involving all members of the board and the administration. At the end of the discussion, Superintendent Ragon was directed to have the attorney review the language, to have the language available for the March 30 School Improvement Day for the teaching staff to review and comment, and to submit the policy to the Board Policy Committee to review, along with the attorneyÕs recommendation and the teaching staff input. The Policy Committee will review the information and have a recommendation at the April board meeting.
Board and Administrator Reports
Elementary – Mr. Butler
á
The
Intermediate students have completed the ISAT, the students and teachers worked
very hard.
á
Thank you to Janet Padrick, Sally
Huffman, Cathy Funneman, Amanda Kirk, Rhonda Brown and Karen Chaney who
volunteered their time helping our students during the state tests.
á
Friday
March 30- Teacher In-service-We will be dismissing at 12:18.
á
Spring
break- Early dismissal on April 5th at 2:18
classes resumes April 10th.
Middle School – Mr. Maynard
Building Report
1. ISAT testing has been completed
2. Congratulations to Cole Willenborg and Hayden Kanizer along with Mrs. Sarah Brown for their participation in the Lake Land College energy fair on March 7th.
3. March 16th will be the end of the 3rd quarter. Report cards will be sent home on March 23rd.
4. Early dismissal on April 5th at 2:20 and No School April 6th or April 9th for the Easter Holiday
5. Good luck to all middle school students and accompanist participating in the IESA solo/ensemble contest at Paris-Crestwood on Saturday, March 24th.
Sports
1. Congratulations to the players and coaches on a fine Volleyball season.
2. Scholastic Bowl is very active in their season right now. Their next match is March 20th at Robinson.
3. Track practice has started with about 50 boys and girls out this season. The first scheduled track meet is March 22nd at Newton.
High School – Mr. Hall
á
Scholastic
Bowl Team will compete in State Tournament in Peoria on March 16th.
They won both the Regional and Sectional and will be at State for the second
year in a row.
á
WYSE
Team will be competing in State competition on April 2nd at the
University of Illinois.
á
The
Music Department will be hosting the ÒSpring Fling FundraiserÓ on Saturday,
April 14 at the Toledo Christian Church. There will be a spaghetti supper that
evening from 4-8 PM in the Fellowship Hall that will be a freewill donation. Tickets will be sold for performances by Middle School students
at 5:30 and High School students at 7:30. Tickets will be $5.00 for one
performance or $7.50 for both. Money raised will go towards a new sound system
for the Middle School Gym.
á
Third
Quarter ends on March 16th. Report Cards will go out on March 23rd.
á
SADD
Week will be March 19-23. (Students Against Destructive Decisions)
á
Freshman
Orientation will be on Monday March 19th in the High School Gym
starting at 6 PM.
á
The
Booster Club will be hosting Meet the Pirates for spring sports on Wednesday
March 21st at the High School Cafeteria and Gym.
á
We
will have a 12:10 dismissal on March 30th for a teacher in-service.
á
On
April 5th we will dismiss at 2:09 for Spring Break. There will be no
school on Friday, April 6th or Monday, April 9th.
á
PSAE
Testing will be held on April 24th and 25th.
á
Boys
and Girls LIC-NTC All Star basketball game on Saturday, March 17th
at 5:00pm. The LIC Boys and Girls were victorious.
District – Mr. Ragon
á As was reported at last monthÕs meeting, work had begun on next yearÕs school calendar. Mr. Ragon submitted different options to the teaching staff and the information presented is what the majority of the staff was in favor of for the 2012-13 school year. If the Board is in agreement, then Mr. Ragon will have the 2012-13 School calendar placed on the agenda for approval at the April meeting. In addition, barring any last minute snow/ice storms, Mr. Ragon will have a final calendar for the 2011-12 school year for board approval at the April meeting. Currently, the final day of school (Report Card Day) for the 2011-12 school year is May 23, 2012.
2012-13 School Calendar: Of the options provided, the majority of the staff voted for:
¯ August 23rd would be Teacher Institute Day and First Student Attendance Day is August 24th (10:00am dismissal)
¯ Christmas Break December 22nd through January 3rd. Teacher institute on January 4th and students return on Monday, January 7th.
¯ Spring Break: March 28th through April 1st Thursday through Monday). Students will return on April 2nd.
¯ Casmir Pulaski Day will continue to be waived and students in attendance.
¯ All 7 emergency days will be placed at the end of the calendar.
¯ Without snow days, the last student attendance day will be Tuesday, May 28th (Report Card Day)
¯ Mr. Ragon recommended continuing with the 7 emergency days just in case there is an unusually bad year. If they are not needed, then the days are subtracted from the end of the school year. This would hopefully keep the district from needing to use Act of God days in the future, and the State may no longer approve Act of God Days.
á Driver Education Car: Superintendent Ragon wished to thank Randy Goebel and Goebel Equipment of Montrose and Carol Jo Fritts and First Neighbor Bank for providing the district with a new driver education vehicle.
á Alternative Classroom: We are currently working on putting together a proposal for an alternative education classroom at the high school. It would be an alternative classroom at the high school that would be very similar to the Bridges program where the district is currently sending students. It would utilize the APEX software curriculum and it would be used for those students who fail and get behind on credits, and who are the ones that have the potential to drop out of school. These are students the district is sending to Bridges or is losing as the students drop out of high school and enroll in the Pathways program. The alternative classroom would be a means of keeping these students in school and keeping them in our district, allowing us to collect the State Aid, as well as, reduce transportation costs (which are not being fully funded and faces delayed payments), and improve the graduation rate. The program can be operated at the high school without adding any additional staff.
á State Maintenance Grant: The State of Illinois approved $50,000 maintenance grants as part of the capital bill (included in with the school construction). The grants are matching funds. Therefore, we would be able to receive matching funds on any maintenance work that needs to be completed and the State will match what the district spends, up to $50,000. The roofing project, the countertop work for the new donated cabinets in the HS science rooms, and even the water pump that needs fixed.
á Water Pump at GS: The water pump that was put in place when the new addition was constructed has been leaking. The leak has gotten worse. In order to repair the leak, the water needs to be shut down and that is not possible with students in the building. We had hoped to wait until the summer, but I think because of the amount of water that is leaking, we will need to do it sooner. WenteÕs should be able to complete the work on Good Friday and the Monday following the weekend, while we do not have any students. It will be a fairly expensive repair. The cost will be approximately $5,000. I checked with our architect and unfortunately we cannot remove the pump and bypass it. To do so, we would have to replace the piping for the sprinkler system because it is designed for a pressure of 200psi, and that is the purpose of that pump. It would be more expensive to eliminate the pump and replace the piping than it would be to repair the pump.
á Other
Mr. Ragon was approached by a parent about a banner that recognizes the wrestling teamÕs accomplishments with a banner in the gymnasium. The board had a lengthy discussion regarding recognition of all programs. After much discussion it was decided that teams should have banners in the gymnasium, recognizing all IHSA state series accomplishments such as regionals, sectionals, state qualifying, etc. The Board also recommended to Mr. Hall, that he and Mr. Clapp research and have boards placed in the cafeteria that recognize the individual records and state qualifiers, for all IHSA events, including Scholastic Bowl, Academic teams, Music Contests, etc.
A Motion was made to
act upon approval to adjourn to closed session under c1 (employment), c3
(selection of a person to fill a public office), and c5 (real estate) of
section 5 ILCS 120/2a of the Illinois by member Steve Layton and seconded by
member April Flood at 8:48pm.
Members voting Yea
were Marje Jackson, Steve Layton, Jack Ingram, Rob Plummer, Laurie Titus, April
Flood, and Cheryl Flood. There were
no Nay votes.
A Motion was made to
act upon approval to reconvene to regular session at 9:20pm by member April
Flood and seconded by member Steve Layton at.
Members voting Yea were Marje Jackson, Steve Layton, Jack
Ingram, Rob Plummer, Laurie Titus, April Flood, and Cheryl Flood. There were no Nay votes.
A motion was made to act upon and approve the consent
agenda items XI A-B regarding certified staff and extracurricular assignments, by
member Jack Ingram and seconded by member Rob Plummer.
Employment of the
following as tenured teachers for the 2012-13 school year:
Justin Roedl, Missy Peters, Beth Wormhoudt, and Jamie Carreon
Fourth Year non-tenured: Dawn Grubb, Lee Walk, Megan Walk, Tammy Hall, Brian Muhr
Third Year non-tenured: Jessica Bradley, Sarah Brown, Kalee Dahnke, Katie Weathers
Second Year non-tenured: Amy Sandschafer
Accept Letter of
Resignation from Laura Roley of all teaching and extra duties, effective at the
end of the 2011-12 school year.
Approve FMLA request
leave for Katie Weathers, beginning April 2, 2012 and running through May 28,
2012.
Employ Mariellen
Edwards as the Middle School girls track coach for the 2011-12 school year.
There
was no addendum.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:24pm