Carbondale Reporter

Carbondale Elementary School District #95 Board of Education met Aug. 23.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

1. Roll Call:

Upon roll call, the following members were present: Mr. John Major, President Mr. Carlton Smith, Vice President - Absent Ms. Erinn Murphy, Secretary Ms. Michelle Connet Ms. Catherine Field - Absent Mr. Gary Shepherd – Arrived at 6:04pm Ms. Natasha Zaretsky

Administrators present: Dr. Elizabeth Lewin, Interim Superintendent Mr. Justin M. Miller, Assistant Superintendent

2. Public Comments

Angela Watters: Started with a compliment on her son’s teachers and how she is satisfied with what is going on inside of her son’s class at Parrish School. Mrs. Watter’s felt like the set-up of the first day when she dropped her son off was very chaotic and very hard to identify staff. After informing the office of her son’s after school bus transportation to Alice Wright Daycare, the student was put in Parent Pick-up. Mrs. Watters was upset at the fact that for 30 minutes she was unable to locate her son because no one was answering the phones at Parrish. Mrs. Watters informed the Board of the fact students were on the bus over 2 1⁄2 hour and then returned back to Parrish School when their drop off was just around the corner from the school at the daycare. Mrs. Watter does not feet the bus transportation is safe therefore she is taking off work so that she can transport her son to daycare until this problem gets worked out with the bus company.

Scott Comparato: Frustrated with the fact that the bus company gave incorrect information at the back to school night regarding his daughter’s bus. Also it was an issue that Lewis School tried to send the student to the Parrish After School program on a day that she was not scheduled to attend. Mr. Comparato stressed the fact about these bus issues are continuing to happen year after year. There is a serious lack of communication and it’s not just the bus company’s fault, the district needs to hold a part in this responsibility.

Justin Miller: Acknowledged past bus issues and was under the assurance from the bus company that these type of issues that are presently happening would be avoided due to Michelle Cunningham being a key part of the transition. Michelle worked as the bus manager for the previous company and was very familiar with the routes and creating route sheets for the drivers. Durham was the only bus company that bided on the contract for the school year. West Bus was on a 3-year contract that ended. Part of the issues on the district side was due to switching to online registration, which eliminated the building secretaries out of the transportation process. Parents entered that information directly online, but the system to convert the information to the bus company was not available. A representative from Durham Bus Co. was available to acknowledge the issues and apologize for what has happened and presented a plan to hopefully get things on track I.e. computerized system that interfaces with the student database that will generate current bus information, hire/train more drivers, update route sheets for drivers, obtain rosters from each school of the students on each bus, and offer employee incentives.

Dr. Lewin: Commented on her observation of the situation and stated building principals and secretaries are going to have to be more responsible in this process. Dr. Lewin also suggested a transportation committee be formed in July prior to the next school year.

3. Approval of Agenda

Connet moved, seconded by Shepherd, Recommend approving the Agenda:

Roll Call Vote: Yes votes: Murphy, Connet, Shepherd, Zaretsky, Major 

No votes: None 

Absent: Smith, Field 

Motion carried.

4. Executive Session

5. Consent Agenda Items

6. Committee Reports - None

7. Old Business - None 

8 New Business

8.1 Action on Retaining Services with IASB for Superintendent Search

Shepherd moved, seconded by Connet, Recommend retaining the services of IASB for the Superintendent search for the sum of $7,900.

Roll Call Vote: 

Yes votes: No votes: Shepherd, Zaretsky, Major, Murphy, Connet A

bsent: Smith, Field 

Motion carried

Discussion:

Murphy: Suggested the Board to consider additional services that was offered to survey the population.

Shepherd: Asked if the $7900.00 was voted on could additional services be added on later?

It was verified with Mr. Miller that money is available in the budget to obtain additional services. A new motion was given to amend the recommendation.

Shepherd moved, seconded by Connet, Recommend retaining the services of IASB for the Superintendent search for the basic package of $7,900 and include additional services of conducting community questionnaires and surveys up to the amount of $3,000.

Roll Call Vote: 

Yes votes: Shepherd, Zaretsky, Major, Murphy, Connet 

No votes: 

Absent: Smith, Field 

Motion carried

9. Next Scheduled Meetings

9.1 Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Public Relations Committee Meeting CES95 Administrative Center 

4:00 PM

Thursday, September 28, 2017 Regular Board Meeting

CES95 Administrative Center 

6:00 PM 

6:05 PM Motion and Roll Call Vote to go into Executive Session (Closed) for the purpose of discussing matters relating to the performance, evaluation and compensation of specific personnel matters relating to student discipline, matters relating to collecting bargaining, and matters relating to pending litigation. 

7:00 PM Public Hearing for Adoption of FY18 Budget 

7:05 PM Reconvene Regular Board Meeting Public Session

10 Public Comments (Name & Address of Person Speaking)

11. Adjournment

Shepherd moved, seconded by Murphy, Recommend Adjournment at 7:23 PM.

Voice Vote: Yes votes: Major, Connet, Shepherd, Zaretsky, Murphy No votes: None Absent: Smith, Field Motion carried.

https://www.ces95.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=77&dataid=1756&FileName=BOE%20Minutes_August%2023%202017.pdf