November 9, 2023 at 6:00 PM - Regular Board Meeting

Description:  Call to Order. Secretary to the Board will take attendance.

Description:  The Board will hold a public hearing to receive written and/or oral testimony and/or comments related to the proposed continuation of an e-learning plan.

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Individuals wishing to speak during public comment must complete the Public Comment Form and submit it to the Board Secretary prior to the start of the meeting.

Board Policy 2:230. At each regular and special open meeting, members of the public and District employees may comment to or ask questions of the School Board, subject to reasonable constraints. The individuals appearing before the Board are expected to follow these guidelines:

1. Address the Board only at the appropriate time as indicated on the agenda and when recognized by the Board President.
2. Identify oneself and be brief. Ordinarily, comments shall be limited to 5 minutes. In unusual circumstances, and when an individual has made a request in advance to speak for a longer period of time, the individual may be allowed to speak for more than 5 minutes.
3. Observe the Board President's decision to shorten public comment to conserve time and give the maximum number of individuals an opportunity to speak.
4. Observe the Board President's decision to determine procedural matters regarding public participation not otherwise covered in Board policy.
5. Conduct oneself with respect and civility toward others and otherwise abide by Board Policy, 8:30, Visitors to and Conduct on School Property.

Members of the public may speak during this portion of the meeting. Comments are limited to five minutes. Board members will not respond to public comments or questions during "Public Comments". Should total Public Comments approach or exceed a cumulative time of 30 minutes, the Board may suspend additional Public Comments until immediately prior to the Board and Superintendent Comments portion of the agenda.

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Board Policy 2:220 The President shall designate a portion of the agenda as a consent agenda for those items that usually do not require extensive discussion before Board action. Upon the request of any Board member, an item will be withdrawn from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda for independent consideration. 

There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Board Member so requests, in which event the item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered as the first item after approval of the Consent Agenda.

Description:  Regular personnel items.

Description:  Illinois Respite Coalition, $100 donation to Northview special education staff.

Description:  The recommendation is to formally waive charges for school district employees and Board members for school-sponsored events and activities. This waiver of charges does not necessarily extend to IESA sponsored events hosted in or by RCS. 

Description:  The District's Insurance Committee is recommending that the district offer two plans this year through our continued work with the IERMP. Our plans will continue to be through Blue Cross Blue Shield. The base plan will be a continuation of the plan that we are currently offering, and a second plan will be offered that has co-insurance. The district pays 91% of single employee coverage based off of the base plan. Currently, the District pays $517.79/month/covered employee, and it will increase to $579.67/month/covered employee, which represents approximately an increase of 12%. Additional changes to the insurance package this year include switching to The Standard for Dental, Vision, and Life and iSolved for other supplementals that are offered. There is no increase in the district expenditure on the dental and life benefits they provide. This continues the Board's commitment to offer competitive compensation and benefits for our employees. See the attached documents for pricing information.

Description:  The District is in the process of determining our annual Tax Levy. At the December Board Meeting, the Board will need to hold a Truth in Taxation Hearing prior to voting on the Tax Levy. For the second year in a row, the Board will be able to lower the tax rate.

The Tax Levy is the legal mechanism for the District to request that taxes are collected. It is typical that the Tax Levy exceeds the Extension (the amount collected by the county). This is done in order to account for possible errors, miscalculations, or last minute changes.

This year, the county estimates a property value increase in RCS of 11.4% with an additional $98,570 in new property. The District is limited in the amount of increase they can receive by the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL, also known as Tax Caps). For the second time since the law went into effect in Champaign County, the Consumer Price Index will exceed the maximum extension limit of 5%. This will protect local property tax payers from a large increase in their tax bill. In a non-PTELL District, there could be a significantly higher property tax rate increase and even higher tax bills. 

The Tentative Tax Levy is to ask for a net 6.54% increase ($421,028). The likely Extension is estimated as a 5.07% increase ($326,027). The estimated total tax rate for RCS will decrease from 4.5592% to 4.2997%. This is the second consecutive year that the Board will cut the property tax rate for the district.

The numbers provided here are estimates and subject to change prior to Board action at the December meeting.

Description:  10-26-23 Debbra Sweat. debbra_s@yahoo.com. Board member training information and student immunization information.

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• 10-23-2023 WCIA. TA attendance incentive. https://www.wcia.com/news/rantoul-school-district-tries-to-keep-teaching-assistants-in-classrooms/
• 10-24-2023 News-Gazette. TA attendance incentive. Attached.
• 10/30/2023 WCIA. State reports improvement in Rantoul Schools literacy, attendance rates.
• https://www.wcia.com/news/education/state-reports-improvement-in-rantoul-schools-literacy-attendance-rates/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR0nhXDp8HTFKo-IDS4AoKxJXUQOKKD23AuwlNVJv5NmNeMMr40YWfQMGek
• 11/1/2023 WCIA. Rantoul teachers creating collaborative classrooms for bilingual community. https://www.wcia.com/celebrating-central-illinois/rantoul-teachers-creating-collaborative-classrooms-for-bilingual-community/?fbclid=IwAR1UDbkwoA95ZR0J2CrZSPcbrX1yXjP3YqPXVBuMGR6KeSMQf906G-EN62o

Description:  The Board is provided a monthly report detailing student in-school suspension, out-of-school suspensions, and placements in CARE. Due to the student record data contained in this report, this report remains confidential. 

Description:  The Superintendent's Evaluation shall be placed on the agenda for the regular December meeting.

Description:  The information in this report has been posted to our website as per statute.

Description:  The information in this report has been posted to our website as per statute.

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Special Attention: 

Description:  The Board will move to closed session for the purposes of: Litigation, when an action against, affecting or on behalf of the particular public body has been filed and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal, or when the public body finds that an action is probable or imminent, in which case the basis for the finding shall be recorded and entered into the minutes of the closed meeting. 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(11).