Carbondale Reporter

Galena Unit School District #120 Board of Education met June 4.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

Welcome

Call to Order – The Board of Education of Galena Unit School District #120 held their Business Meeting in the Galena Middle School Commons (moved from the library). The meeting was called to order at 6:04 p.m.

Roll Call – Roll call was taken, and a quorum was established. The following members were present: Member Einsweiler, Member Frank, Member Hyland, President Long, Member McIntyre, Member Rosenthal and Member Stodden.

Approval of Agenda – Member Rosenthal moved, and Member Frank seconded the motion to approve the Agenda, as presented. Voice vote, all present voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

Public Comments – none.

Business

Remote Learning and COVID-19 Implications – The principals surveyed their staff on what worked well, what did not, and what resources are needed to continue educational opportunities remotely if required. They will be putting together a report to be reviewed with the Board at the June 16th meeting. There was a pretty strong correlation between unsatisfactory and the number of people that did not have a lot of internet access which caused frustration with the process of remote learning.

The area school nurses are meeting every two to three weeks and getting plans in place for the start of next school year, whether it be having everyone back in school or via remote learning, or a mix of those two. Those plans continue to evolve.

Mr. Mathers was hoping to provide an update from IHSA regarding athletics, however, that decision has been delayed. He doesn’t know where that will head but is assuming it will be very similar to national guidelines. He will also continue to collect information from the IASA, IASB, CDC, Illinois Department of Public Health and the ROE as to how to continue to plan over the next to month to bring kids back to school.

Consideration and Possible Approval of ESL Summer Program – Mr. Mathers stated the staff has identified five kids that need extra ELL services this summer to "bridge the gap" between remote learning and fall instruction. The proposal is for individualized remote learning with Miss Russ. He stated previously an aide had also been hired to assist, however, in this format the additional staff member is not needed. The proposal is for 66 hours of instruction; 30 hours of prep, translation and delivery of student materials to their homes, for a total of 96 hours. Per the CBA, the hourly rate is $25.00 and that already includes TRS obligations. Total expense: $2,400.00. To this end the following motion was made:

Member Rosenthal moved and Member Einsweiler seconded the motion to approve the ESL summer program for 2020, as presented. Roll call vote, all present voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

Approval of Consolidated District Plan – Mr. Mathers stated as part of moving from General State Aid to Evidence Based Funding in 2018, the State of Illinois combined all the Federal Title grants into one system. The Consolidated District Plan incorporates Title One (reading supports), Title II (class size reduction and professional growth) and Title IV (technology, security, and college and career readiness) into one instructional plan.

In order to build the grants for 2020-2021, the Consolidated District Plan must be submitted and approved first. He has worked to adjust the previous plan with input from the Principals and Mrs. O'Shea to incorporate current District needs based on achievement results, survey feedback, and COVID-19 impact. He made a few minor changes to last years’ plan and pointed out one major change. In the past Galena had always a been targeted assistance Title I program; therefore, the funds/equipment could only be used for kids in the Title I program. At 40% free/reduced you can become a school- wide program which means anything that is purchased can be used for any students in the school that are struggling with reading. Currently we’re at 38.3% on that target, but is assuming by fall, with everything taking place with COVID, we would meet that threshold. Therefore, he changed the plan to school-wide to give the staff and students the ability to get access any of the materials in this grant. To this end the following motion was made:

Member Rosenthal moved and Member McIntyre seconded the motion to approve the Superintendent to submit the Consolidated District Plan to ISBE. Voice vote, all present voted aye. Motion carried 6-0.

Consideration and Possible Approval to Allow Fireworks at Graduation – Mrs. Murphy and the office did the groundwork to bring this to you, and even got insurance approval, however, our local fireworks specialist was unavailable on June 12th, so Mrs. Murphy contacted a specialist from Iowa and found out it would be very cost prohibitive to have them set fireworks off for 30 to 45 seconds during the graduation ceremony; therefore this item was tabled.

Facility Committee Update – Members Hyland and Einsweiler have been working diligently to collect data and coordinate HLS work, future District needs, normal facility maintenance, and a long-term vision to put into a "Master Plan". It is an enormous task that they were willing to take on so they could bring options back to the Board. They met with Board members individually to discuss their thoughts, goals, purpose, and challenges. They made it clear that this is the initial stage to discuss needs versus wants so a plan of action could be developed by the entire Board.

Board members then discussed the process, charge of the committee, grade organization, shovel ready concept, performance contracts, hard “yes” and hard no’s”, two-building vs. three building scenario, master plan concepts, etc.

Mr. Mathers explained with the State of Illinois the Shovel Ready Concept means if they are coming out with a grant and want to spend money quickly because they want the economic impact in the State of Illinois, they want a plan ready to go with bids so work could start within 60 to 90 days from the date the of grant approval, which is a reason to have plans lined up.

They then talked about Performance Contracts and handed out a pamphlet from Dakota Schools which recently did a Phase I upgrade to their buildings with a Performance Contractor. The upgrades were substantial, and the project came in at a cost of $7.2 million. A performance-based contractor does a free needs assessment and tells you what they think would impact your district best; they also come up with efficiency and sustainable energy solutions that saves districts money. Architects would still sign off on the project but it would incorporate HLS into it and also would bring in local contractors to do the work.

Members then shared their thoughts and ideas for creating a master plan:

Do not put the cart before the horse. You need a blueprint and solid dollar amounts.

Come up with an end goal and work backwards as to what the facilities would look like once you got there.

Brainstorm high-end wishes; include everything in the plan, eg. a competition gym, auditorium, etc. It doesn’t mean you have to include it but it’s there in the event there was a donor who leaves the school money for a project like that. You don’t want to have a plan that doesn’t include these things, and then have to redo parts of your buildings to add something on.

Have a performance contractor come in and do a free assessment and then take a look at the hard data to see what needs to be fixed and at what cost; and see how it would fit with their vision.

Bring Marty Johnson in, pour through the plans he has drawn up over the years, dissect the plans and come up with two options for the Board’s consideration.

Board must be unified.

Expand the membership on the committee to one more.

Look at master plans from other districts so you’re not starting from scratch.

Look at two-building scenarios vs. three buildings (two-building scenario had been agreed upon by a previous Board).

Meet with the principals to talk about the different breakup of grade levels-grades Pre-K to 8 and 9 to 12, or Pre-K to 6 and 7 to 12 (Pre-K to 8 and 9-12 had been agreed upon by a previous Board).

All members felt the Board needed to be unified on any decision and have a solid plan. Member Frank volunteered to assist with the facilities committee. Member Hyland made it clear that any member was more than welcome to join in their meetings. Member Rosenthal stated he was strongly opposed to grades 7 to 12 in one building. Some members disagreed with having a performance contractor coming in, while others liked the idea. It was suggested Board members send Mr. Vincent their list of hard “yes” and hard “no’s” as there was no sense in going over an item numerous times if some members were in strong disagreement with an item.

Ultimately the Board felt the next step would be to move forward with coming up with two options for the Board to look at in creating a Master Plan. They suggested bringing Marty Johnson in to assist the committee in going through all the data that had been collected over the past number of years

Adjournment

Adjourn Meeting – Member Rosenthal moved and Member McIntyre seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:05 p.m. Voice vote, all present voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cMAtmhpm6khULB8iys0N9C8DftA59630/preview?rm=minimal