There should be no additions to the agenda from Board members per Board Agreements. 

RECOMMENDATION:  I recommend you approve the agenda as presented.

We will need a motion to approve these reports which are attached.   If you have specific questions relating to any of these items, please call me or email me and get clarifications before noon Monday. 


RECOMMENDATION:  I recommend you approve the consent agenda as presented.

Nobody has formally requested to address the Board. 

The terms of Board President Dwaine Shaw Jr., Board Secretary Brian Childs, and Board member Alvin Landwehr will be up for election on April 4, 2017.  The first day for petitions to be circulated for that election is September 20, 2016.   The first date for a candidate to file their petition is December 12, 2016 and the final date for filing is December 19, 2016.Candidate legal information can be obtained at the Henry and Bureau County Courthouse or online at www.henrycty.com.   At our Board meeting on December 20, 2016, I should have the complete list of all candidates who have filed with the Henry County to be on the April 4, 2016 ballot and will present that list at the Board meeting. 

The group met on December 13, 2016.  Jerad Heitzler and Nancy Goodman will report to you on Wednesday.

ESSA is the federal education program that is replacing NCLB.  Every year we have to do an application to apply for federal funds.  I see this as being much the same.  I am simply supplying the latest information shared by ISBE.  ISBE doesn't even have to apply for federal ESSA approval until April of 2017.  This is over a year away.  We will operate according to how the State of IL tells us to, just like we have for many, many years.

Attached is the latest information I have on this.

I have attached a current technology update.  This is informational only, just to let you know that we will be looking at getting staff laptops for the 2017-2018 school year.

 

Mr. Brau's Report is attached.  In an efficiency of time, we will not verbally go over reports item by item, but just mention a couple as we all can read.

Mr. Buresh's and Mrs. Wolf's report is attached.  In an efficiency of time, we will not verbally go over reports item by item, but just mention a couple as we all can read.

Mr. Huber's report is attached. In an efficiency of time, we will not verbally go over reports item by item, but just mention a couple as we all can read.

An Annawan-Wethersfield Cooperative Meeting was held on Friday, December 16th.  Mr. Buresh, Mr. Huber, Mr. Shaw, and Mr. Heitzler attended and will give a verbal report at the Board meeting.
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  We are still waiting on a quote to fix the broken heat pipes in the high school office area.  On another topic, on of the rooftop units that was making an extremely loud noise has been rectified and the sound is much smaller now.

Attached is a Henry County School District cost efficiency sheet from the 2015-2016 school year.  As the chart shows you, the Annawan CUSD 226 had the 2nd most efficient cost in the County.  Unless, the Board wants me to pursue outsourcing our transportation system, I think once again, we do things extremely efficiently.  Ironically, the Geneseo District does outsource and their cost per mile were the highest in this example.

No meeting scheduled.  The next Board of Education Finance Committee meeting will be held on Thursday, February 2, 2016 from 8:30-9:30 AM.

At our ROE Superintendent Meeting, we heard a presentation on the Evidence Based Funding Model.  It was stated that it would cost the State $5 billion to implement this.  They can't fund what they have, thus at the very most, it will be implemented over many years.  I have attached the information I received at our December 14th meeting for your knowledge.  This is the first time most of us have seen this information, so you have it literally days after we have it for the first time.  Once again, it is extreme, and until something that looks like it will be enacted or a certain part of it, I do not plan to give you any further information on it or spend any more time on it unless you, as the entire Board, tell me to do so.

I put the operating our own bus fleet comparisons in the transportation committee report although it was inquired by a finance committee member.  I was very impressed at how efficient we manage our transportation system based on 2015-2016 data from Henry County. 

When put on the spot and asked at the November Board meeting on plans for TIF monies and sales tax monies I had generic items.  A listing of some these items (all of which have been mentioned at various times before) include repairs or new boiler and/or heating system upgrades, air conditioning, sidewalk and parking lot repairs/replacement, new bleachers on the football field, new ceiling tile in the high school, completing 10 year life-safety work, replacing/recovering elementary gym floor.  Once again, in the past few years we have been in an ultra-conservative don't spend any money mode unless necessary, but here is a list.  If you wish to add to the list, please let me know what your suggestions are. 

I called Angie at IASB again regarding Board policies.  It does seem like our responses are similar to many in the state.  I am open to whatever suggestions you want, and would suggest if you want something different than was recommended that you email me your suggestions by noon on Monday, and then I will compile those and send them out to the entire Board by the end of the day to make this segment more efficient during the meeting.

I did not reattach this massive document.  Please reference your November 2016 Boardbook document for the updated policies.

RECOMMENDATION:  Approve as presented.

I did ask about the update for a link to the Press plus policies so we didn't have to scan and upload them.  She said they are still working to refine their system and it is not working well right now.  She stated that she hoped that they had a good workable solution to this in 2017.

In communicating with both the Henry and Bureau County Asessment Officers, there has been no adjustments in the last month, thus, the levy presented is the same as the tentative levy presented in November.  If there is a change that I am aware of on/by Monday, I will consider that adjustment and present it at the meeting if it negatively affects the levy.
RECOMMENDATION:  I recommend you approve the 2016 levy and the estimated FY 2018 budget dollars as presented.

*****Anytime school personnel or individual student issues are discussed, the discussion needs to take place in Closed Session, with action only coming in Open Session.

We will be going into Closed session for review of the completed Superintendent evaluation that will be approved in Open Session.  The composite results will be shared with Board President Dwaine Shaw Jr. and presented Wednesday.

Semi-annual review of Closed Session minutes will be done.  We have always kept all Closed Session minutes Closed.

If there is any new news on the pending litigation with Webster vs. Annawan CUSD 226 I will let you know .

Student discipline reports for the year to date will be given for approval.

Mr. Buresh will speak briefly about current staff who have administrative licenses and those who could have their Superintendent Endorsement by the end of the 2017-2018 school year.  Mr. Buresh will be retiring at that time and the Board should be starting the search process next fall (if a search is done) and have a new Superintendent hired by February 2018.  Chris Kidd currently plans to retire in June of 2018 and Wayne Brau will retire in June of 2019.

A Board member questioned noncertified staff evaluation instrument and implementation on my evaluation.  I just attached the form that has been used for a long time.  If I was supposed to redo that form last year, I did not understand that and we are continuing to use that same form this year.