The District 58 Board of Education held its regular business meeting on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. View the agenda and presentation links. Highlights from the meeting include:
2017-2018 Budget Hearing
The Board discussed and then voted to approve the 2017-2018 legal budget. View the 2017-2018 Budget.
Flag Salute and Presentation: Indian Trail
In honor of Patriot Day, Indian Trail Student Council members Matthew, Jessica, Kimmy and Kylie presented a remembrance of Sept. 11, 2001, including a moment of silence to honor the victims, first responders and their families.
The students also shared their plans for the upcoming school year. They already hosted a successful fundraiser, Hats for Houston, donating over $1,500 to those affected by Hurricane Harvey. Other fundraisers planned are candy cane and taffy apple sales, a BoxTops contest and school supply sales at Indian Trail’s School Store. Student Council coordinates Spirit Days to encourage school spirit, organizes activities during Teacher Appreciation Week, reminds students during Red Ribbon Week to stay drug free, and invites parents and community volunteers to teach mini lessons to students on Community Day. They will also collect supplies to create birthday party kits for children in shelters through Humanitarian Service Project’s “Party in Bag.”
Spotlight on our Schools: New Teacher Induction & Phone System Update
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction Justin Sisul shared highlights from New Teacher Week, when the District welcomed 40 new staff members. In a collaborative effort of administrative staff and experienced teachers, on the first day new teachers were introduced to the District’s administrators, available resources such as instructional coaches and LRC, EL and reading specialists, and the District’s core beliefs, outlined in its mission and vision statements. Over the next four days new teachers explored content areas including Social and Emotional Learning, differentiation, assessment practices, specific curricula such as Math and English/Language Arts, and goal-setting.
Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Dr. Jayne Yudzentis also shared that new teachers were introduced to the District’s community partnerships through the 86th Annual Lions’ Club New Teacher Luncheon at Gatto’s and the Education Foundation’s luncheon at Carlucci’s, where they learned about programs that support our schools such as the Downers Grove public library, police, fire department and park district. New teachers are also supported through a mentor program that pairs veteran teachers with a new teacher. Through systematic contact, they can observe one another, collaborate and give feedback. Additional support comes from building principals, grade level teams, specialist groups, instructional coaches and three more new teacher meetings during the year. Second year teachers continue to receive training in areas such as lesson development, and have opportunities to identify areas of success and areas where growth is needed. Dr. Yudzentis stressed that all aspects of new teacher induction stem from the core philosophies of putting students first and supporting people in every role within the District and community.
Director of Innovative Technology and Learning James Eichmiller, along with Assistant Superintendent for Business/Chief School Business Official David Bein, gave an update on the planned upgrade to the District’s phone system. The new system will have lower annual operating costs and alleviate outages caused by old hardware that can no longer be serviced. It will also offer increased productivity and mobility features that can be customized to staff needs. Cutover from the old system to the new is planned for Oct. 10.
Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Dr. Kari Cremascoli shared several updates with the Board including:
- School is off to a great start and everyone has enjoyed the comfortable cooler weather.
- Patriot Day was recognized in each school in various ways.
- Cremascoli thanked the Board for supporting the change in special education transportation service providers, stating that there has been dramatic improvement in transportation services so far this year. Reliable transportation makes a huge difference to students, families and staff.
- Curriculum Nights were held last week for north side schools, O’Neill Middle School and Herrick 8th grade, and will be held this week for south side schools and Herrick 7th grade. These nights provide a valuable opportunity for parents and teachers to get to know each other and establish channels of communication as well as for parents to understand the classroom instructional approaches and curriculum. All of District 58 benefits significantly from strong home-school partnerships and we appreciate the engagement and support of so many of our parents.
- Coordinated by Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Justin Sisul, curriculum committee meetings, professional development, grade-level meetings and specialist groups have begun to be scheduled.
- Enrollment update:
- Average class size in grades K-6 is 23.6 students. The average class size for each school ranges between 21-25. About 10 sections have less than 20 students, while another 10 have greater than 27. The District tries not to have classes above 30, and has used instructional assistants to support larger classes.
- Compared to the forecasts from last year’s demographer’s report, district-wide enrollment is within a 2 percent range of those predictions.
- Lester’s enrollment grew more than predicted, while Highland and Kingsley also showed growth. The largest class cohorts are in eighth, second and fifth grades.
- District enrollment overall shows no notable growth or decline, but there are pockets of growth and decline in various neighborhoods.
- In a neighborhood school model, there is no perfect boundary modification that would ensure stable, even enrollment every year across the district and within each classroom. Policy adjustments are another option to help balance enrollment.
- The Board will discuss next steps at the Oct. 10 meeting, and Dr. Cremascoli encouraged the Board to reach out with ideas, comments and suggestions for the administration to consider. She stressed that decisions should be made in light of what is best for students, making sure that there is access to programming for all.
- The Teacher and Administrative Salary and Compensation Report and the IMRF Salary and Compensation Report are available for viewing on the District website.
- Generous donations of school supplies were made by the Downers Grove Roadrunners Soccer Club, Downers Grove Public Works, Downers Grove Old Navy and the Smith Family. Supplies have been distributed to schools and are in use by students.
- The District 58 Education Foundation’s Oktoberfest will be held Sept. 16 and 17 in downtown Downers Grove. There will be music, food and fun for all ages. Volunteers are still needed.
Business Report
Assistant Superintendent for Business/Chief School Business Official David Bein provided the business report to the Board. Key highlights include:
- Illinois has new school funding legislation. The evidence-based model is intended to bring districts across the state to an adequate level of funding, and guarantees that districts will not receive any less funding than they did the year before. Final state funding numbers are still being calculated by the Illinois State Board of Education.
- The District is working to increase short-term interest earnings on available deposits, which is especially helpful during the low cash-flow point in May when liquidity is necessary. Mr. Bein recommended IDB Bank as a new depository for District funds to facilitate investments in CDs.
- The state has made three of the four mandated categorical payments for last year, bringing the outstanding amount owed to the District down to $922,357.45. The District has also begun to receive this year’s state aid payments.
- Referring to a discussion at the August Budget Workshop of the cost of borrowing over time, Mr. Bein shared, “At the moment there does not appear to be the expectation of multiple near term (interest rate) hikes.”
Board Committee Reports
District 58’s Financial Advisory Committee, Meet & Confer Strategic Plan Committee, Policy Committee and Legislative Committee did not meet since the last Board meeting.
During the meeting, the Board also:
- Approved minutes from the Aug. 14 Regular Business Meeting, the Aug. 21 Special Meeting, and the Aug. 28 Budget Workshop.
- Approved all items on the Consent Agenda as presented in the packet materials.
- Approved the CDARS Deposit Placement Agreement, facilitating investments in CDs to maximize short term interest earnings on available deposits.
- Approved the Closed Session Minutes from July 10 and conducted its semi-annual review of closed session minutes.
Upcoming events:
- Thursday, Sept. 14 at 7 a.m.: Meet & Confer Strategic Plan Committee Meeting at Longfellow
- Tuesday, Sept. 19 at 7 a.m.: Policy Committee Meeting at ASC
- Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 7 a.m.: Legislative Committee Meeting at ASC
- Monday, Oct. 2 at 7 a.m.: Financial Advisory Committee Meeting at ASC
- Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m.: Regular Board Meeting (location TBD)