May 16, 2024 at 5:30 PM - Regular Board Meeting

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

Description: 

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.

Description: 

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 Upon the request of any Board member, an item will be withdrawn from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda for independent consideration.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.
• Update Non-CBA Compensation Document. Corrections to Step 0. Corrections to food service based on prior increases. Increases for LPNs and RNs beyond 4%. 
• Extend use of 2023-2024 paid vacation time from June 30 to July 31 for 12-month employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement nor covered by an individual contract. No additional cost to the district.

Description:  The board is asked to approve a donation of $100 to the Devin Fiedler Scholarship Fund on behalf of retiree Pat Fiedler.

Congratulations to former Pleasant Acres Nurse, Christina Jones, who was named a 2023-1024 LifeChanger of the Year Award Winner by National Life Group. She won a $1,500 prize plus the organization is donating $1,500 to Pleasant Acres.

Description:  Recommend accepting the updates/revisions to the Board Policies as listed. Additional details about changes are noted in the PRESS Memo.

Changes/updates as a result of five-year review: 2:40, 2:60, 2:140, 4:20, 6:185.

Related to pending changes to Title IX rulemaking: 2:260, 2:265, 4:165, 5:120, 7:185.

2:270, Discrimination and Harassment on the Basis of Race, Color, and National Origin Prohibited. New policy in response to 105 ILCS 5/22-95: Other policies updated/reformatted due to this new policy: 5:10, 5:20, 5:300, 7:10, 7:20.

4:190, Targeted School Violence Prevention Program. Policy updated in response to "Threat Assessment in Virginia Public Schools..."

5:100, Staff Development Program. Rewritten in response to multiple state laws and anticipated Title IX rule making changes.

6:60, Curriculum Content. Policy unchanged, footnotes updated.

7:180 Policy footnotes updated in relation to ILCS 5/27-23.7 and new policy 2:270.

Description: 

On Monday, May 6, 2024, one (1) bid was submitted and publicly opened and read for the purchase of a Chrysler Pacifica. The low qualified bidder is Hendershot CDJR, from Champaign, IL with a bid amount of $47,155.03. I have contacted Hendershot, and they have confirmed their bid.

In the process of securing a vehicle for district use, there was limited inventory available for the purchase of a used vehicle, and there is value in the district purchasing a new vehicle given that we would plan to utilize the vehicle for at least ten years. I did explore purchasing a new vehicle outside of the bid process by utilizing the State of Illinois’s Master Contract Program. The vendor holding the master contract did not have vehicles in stock, and the bid we received from Hendershot was within $100 of the state master contract price.

The purpose of this purchase is to provide a district-owned vehicle to transport students and families as well as to serve to transport employees (e.g. to attend a meeting out of town). Employees operating the vehicle must comply with applicable laws including being properly licensed and adhering to RCS’s transportation of student guidelines described in the January 5, 2024 memo titled Atypical Transportation of Students.

Therefore, I recommend that the Board of Education for RCS approve the purchase of the specified vehicle at a total cost of $47,155.03.

Description:  05-09-2024 Julie Dustin, julie@databid.com. Bid information.

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 FY24 Tentative Revised Budget will be posted for public review with notice in the News Gazette on May 15, 2025. A public hearing will be held at the regular June Board Meeting to consider the FY24 Revised Budget, and the Board will be asked to approve the FY24 Revised Budget