August 20, 2026 Immediately Following the FY27 Budget Hearing - SWCCCASE Board of Directors Meeting
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1. Call to Order/Roll Call
Description:
The meeting is called to order.
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2. Recognition of Public
Description:
The Board recognizes the public in attendance.
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3. Motion to appoiont Dr. Sikora as Secretary.
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4. Placement of Items on the Consent Agenda
Description:
The following items are recommended for placement on the consent agenda, unless the Board wishes separate action on an item.
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4.1. Approval of Board Meeting Minutes from the June 17, 2026 Board Meeting.
Description:
Attached are the minutes from the June 17, 2026 Board of Directors Meeting.
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4.2. Invoices and Payroll
Description:
The Board is requested to approve the June/July/August invoices in the amount of $2,278,891.76, the June payroll in the amount of $4,889,314.89, the ESY 2026 Payroll in the amount of $1,124,889.58, the July Payroll in the amount of $323,080.06 and the estimated amount of $2,500,000 for the August payroll.
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4.3. Employment of Professional Personnel
Description:
Listed below are the Professional Personnel whose employment is recommended for Board approval.
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4.4. Employment of Educational Support Personnel
Description:
Attached is a list of Educational Support Personnel whose employment is recommended for Board approval.
Attachments:
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4.5. Resignation of Professional Personnel
Description:
Attached is a list of professional personnel resignations presented for acceptance by the Board of Directors.
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4.6. Resignation of Educational Support Personnel
Description:
Attached is a list of educational support personnel resignations presented for acceptance by the Board of Directors.
Attachments:
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4.7. Request for Leave of Absence
Description:
Attached is a list of leaves of absence requested by staff members.
Attachments:
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4.8. Board Policies First Reading
Description:
The following policies are new, suggested for a 5 Year Review or suggested for revision and adoption by the Policy Reference Education Subscription Service (PRESS) through the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB). The policies are as follows:
2:230 - Public Participation at Board of Directors Meetings and Petitions to the Board 2:230 - Public Participation at Board of Directors Meetings and Petitions to the Board 3:40 - Executive Director 3:50 - Administrative Personnel Other Than the Executive Director 3:60 - Administrative Responsibility of the Building Principal/Program Supervisor 3:70 - Succession of Authority 4:120 - Food Services 4:175 - Convicted Child Sex Offender; Screening; Notifications 5:40 - Communicable and Chronic Infectious Disease 5:70 - Religious Holidays 5:185 - Family and Medical Leave 5:240 - Suspension 6:190 - Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Activities 7:80 - Release Time for Religious Instruction/Observance 7:130 - Student Rights and Responsibilities 7:270 - Administering Medicines to Students 7:345 - Use of Educational Technologies; Student Data Privacy and Security The policies are attached. |
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5. Commence to Closed Session
Description:
The Board will retire to closed session to discuss:
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6. Return to Open Session
Description:
The Board will return to open session.
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7. Report of the Business Manager
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7.1. Statement of Position, Revenue, and Expenditure Report
Description:
The Business Manager will present financial reports for period ending July 31, 2026.
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7.2. Professional Development (PD) Assessment
Description:
The Professional Development (PD) Assessment was established after the Cooperative discontinued retaining a portion of each member district’s annual IDEA grant funds. Some member districts utilize this assessment to help satisfy the IDEA grant requirement to allocate at least 5% of their funding toward professional development.
Understanding the PD Assessment To clarify a common misconception, the PD Assessment does not directly reflect the amount of professional development provided to your specific district staff. Instead, these funds are used primarily to support Cooperative staff who serve member-district students, covering both mandatory certifications (e.g., CPI, First Aid) and supplemental training. While the vast majority of these expenditures support Cooperative personnel, member-district staff are always welcome to attend Cooperative-hosted professional development—such as Administrator Academies and legal update sessions—at no additional cost. Assessment Allocation Each district’s financial contribution is based on its share of fall housing enrollment from the prior year. |
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7.3. Tuition
Description:
The preliminary 2026-27 tuition and service rates will be shared prior to the meeting.
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8. Report of the Executive Director
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8.1. Cooperative Highlights
Description:
Attached is the August 2026 Volume of Cooperative Highlights
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8.2. SWCCCASE Program Waiting Lists
Description:
Below is a list of students who are on a waiting list.
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8.3. FOIA Request
Description:
On August 3, 2026, Sheri Reid, a Data Acquisition Specialist for SmartProcure, made a FOIA request for Purchasing Records from 1/1/2022 to the current request date of 8/3/2026.
Specifically, Ms. Reid requested: Readily available, fully electronic documents.
1 Unique Identifier (i.e. PO #, Invoice #, Check #, Encumbrance #, etc.)
The request was satisfied on August 3, 2026. |
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8.4. BoardBook Premiere Implementation
Description:
The Cooperative will be implementing BoardBook Premiere for all Board Meetings starting with our September 17, 2026 Board Meeting. This web-based service will modernize our agenda compilation, public notification, and meeting archiving practices.
Board members must determine whether to use their district or cooperative email account to access BoardBook. Additionally, Superintendents who currently use BoardBook will have the ability to toggle between their District and Cooperative profiles. |
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8.5. SuperEval Implementation
Description:
The Cooperative will be implementing SuperEval to conduct my evaluation for 2026-2027. SuperEval is an online, collaborative, and evidence-based process to evaluate superintendents. The system saves time, improves communication, and drives continuous professional growth.
A welcome email and login credentials should have been sent to your Cooperative email address on 8/18/2026. Laurie Catanzaro will serve as district clerk and will be able to reset your password and assist with navigating the platform. I propose the following timeline for my evaluation: Timeline: Step: September 17, 2026 Formally present my 2026-2027 goals. December 11, 2026 Self-evaluation and supporting evidence for goals due in SuperEval. December 17-January 21, 2027 Board Members review self-rating and evidence and issue individual ratings. January 21-February 12, 202 Board President to review all entries and finalizes the evaluation. February 18, 2027 Final evaluation is presented and signed. |
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8.6. Extended School Year (ESY) 2027
Description:
In 2026-2027, the last day of school for programs in Cooperative building sites and satellite locations is Friday, June 11, 2027 (Arbor Park Middle School, which houses 2 CD classrooms and 2 DESTINY classrooms).
The earliest ESY could begin is Monday, June 14, 2027. In an effort to keep our ESY days in FY27, we will run ESY for 12 days as opposed to the historical 15 days. To make up some of the instructional time, we will extend each day by half an hour (8:30am - 3:00pm instead of 8:30am - 2:30pm). |
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9. Action Items
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9.1. Non-Member School District Agreement
Description:
The Cooperative currently allows for non-member school district enrollments when there is classroom space and program personnel who can serve the student without negatively affecting member district placements. Historically, there has been a ten percent tuition premium charged to non-member districts. This tuition revenue was used to offset member district tuition in the respective program.
Starting this school year, the Cooperative will require non-member school districts to sign intergovernmental agreements. These agreements will increase the premium to twenty percent and clarify that no refunds will be issued after year-end reconciliations. The non-member intergovernmental agreement template is attached. |
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9.2. FY27 Budget
Description:
The tentative FY27 budget was presented at the June 17, 2026 Board Meeting. The budget has been made available for public inspection from July 1st until August 20th at the SWCCCASE Administration Building. The public has been invited to provide comments during the public hearing held prior to this Board Meeting.
The FY27 budget is attached. |
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9.3. Contractual Administrative Support
Description:
For SY27 there are 103 certified staff evaluations (58 non-tenured/probationary and 43 tenured/continuing certified staff members - teachers, social workers, SLPs, OTs, PTs, and nurses), 14 sign-language interpreters, and 7 secretaries to be evaluated.
Historically, the 10 program supervisors have each been assigned 8 evaluations for their certified staff/secretaries due to many of them being the only administrator at their site/program and in consideration of their day-to-day roles and responsibilities. 2026-2027 Certified Staff Evaluation Time allocations Certified Non-tenured/Probationary 1 evaluation planning meeting (30 min) 2 Pre-observation meetings (30-45 min each) 2 formal observations (45-60 min each) 2 formal post-observation meetings (30-45 minutes) 1 informal observation (30-45 minutes) Observation write-ups/Evidence pairing in Evaluwise (60 minutes per observation) Summative preparation (60-90 minutes) 1 summative meeting (30-60 minutes) 540 minutes (9 hours) - 705 minutes (11 hours 45 minutes) Tenured/Continuing Employees 1 evaluation planning meeting (30 min) 1 Pre-observation meeting (30-45 minutes) 1 formal observation (45-60 minutes) 1 formal post-observation meeting (30-45 minutes) 1 informal observation (30-45 minutes) Observation write-ups/Evidence pairing in Evaluwise (60 minutes per observation) Summative preparation (60-90 minutes) 1 summative meeting (30-60 minutes) 375 minutes (6 hours 15 minutes) - 495 minutes (8 hours 15 minutes) Going back to 2015, the Cooperative has contracted with two retired special education administrators, Diane Gallik and Denise Bettenhausen, to help cover the overflow of certified evaluations. I recommend that the Board approve Diane Gallik for 40 days at her daily rate ($600/day) and Denise Bettenhausen for 30 days ($450/day) to cover those evaluations and be available for administrative subbing, should anything come up that myself or Lisa Promis could not cover. |
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10. Approval of Consent Agenda
Description:
The following items are recommended for approval on the consent agenda, unless the Board wishes separate action on an item.
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11. Board Reports
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12. Adjournment
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