Carbondale Reporter

Galena Unit School District #120 Board of Education met Nov. 17.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

1. Welcome

1.1 Call to Order – The Board of Education of Galena Unit School District #120 held their Regular Meeting via Google Meet on November 17, 2020. The meeting was called to order at 6:18 p.m.

1.2 Roll Call - A 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.

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

1.4 Public Comments – None.

2. Administrative Reports/AD Report/Basketball Update

2.1 Administrative Reports/AD Report/Basketball Update – The Board reviewed reports from the administrative team and the Athletic Director.

Superintendent Vincent provided the Board with an update on basketball stating currently it’s a tug-o-war between the governor and IHSA. The governor announced basketball was a “high risk” sport and pushed the season to spring. Following that IHSA issued a statement they that they were moving forward with basketball starting November 15th. IHSA has a meeting scheduled for November 19th with representatives from state organizations. Currently four local school boards have voted to play, however, approximately 80% of Illinois schools are waiting to see what comes out of the meeting on November 19th. In checking with the district’s lawyer, our district could be open to liability if we decided to proceed. Superintendent Vincent felt it was premature for the Board to act on something prior to IHSA’s meeting on November 19th. Board members agreed as they did not want to put the district at risk.

3. Board Business/Committee Meeting Reports

3.1 Business/Committee Meeting Reports – At the October 26th Facility meeting the Facility Committee discussed Facility Concepts; at their November 5th Business Meeting the Board:

● Approved Personnel as follows:

o Kailyn Stumpf as 8th Grade Volleyball Coach for the 2020-2021 School Year;

o Brandon Behlke as Volunteer for 7th-8th Boys’ Basketball and 7th-8th Boys’ Football for the 2020-2021 school year; 

o William Northrup, Martin Petitgout, Richard Randecker, Tom Blatner, John (Sonny) Basten and Eric Siese as Volunteers for Bass Fishing for the 2020-2021 School Year

● Approved approve the 2020-2021 snow removal/salt application bid from H & H Services, as presented, for snow removal and salt application for all lots at the Primary School, Middle School, High School and Transportation lot.

● Discussed Facility Concepts/Timelines with the District Architect. Board members expressed their views on the scenarios presented and were in favor of Scenario 2a which was the addition to the Middle School which would then house PreK-8. A formal vote will take place on an option at the November 17th regular meeting.

Member Einsweiler gave an update from their facility committee meeting earlier that evening stating they specifically discussed the timeline. Marty Johnson presented the committee with the original timeline which was to bid it out in January or February of 2022 and start construction that spring, with completion by the fall of 2023. Marty also stated there was the possibility of having an accelerated timeline, which could move it up by 3 -4 months, however, the problem with that is you would be moving kids mid-year rather than in the fall. Also, there are concerns with doing it in the winter; concrete could add an additional $300,000 to the cost. They felt it would be best to stay with the original timeline.

3.2 ROE Compliance/Mandated Reporter Training – Superintendent Vincent stated every five years the district has a compliance audit, and this is our year to be audited. One of the items requested in the ROE compliance audit is that local Board of Education members be made aware that they are mandated reporters under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act (325 ILCS 5/4). He notified Board members that as a member of the Board of Education, they are a Mandated Reporter. If an allegation of abuse or neglect is raised to a school board member during the course of a school board meeting, the board member shall direct or cause the school board to direct the superintendent to comply with the requirements of this act. Board members each signed an Acknowledgement of Mandated Reporter Status form acknowledging that they were aware of their status as a Mandated Reporter. From this point forward this will be brought before the Board on an annual basis.

4. Consent Agenda

4.1 Approval of Consent Agenda - Member Rosenthal moved and Member McIntyre seconded the motion to approve Consent Agenda Items 4.1 through 4.10. Roll call vote, all present voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

4.2 Approval of Board Minutes - The Board approved the following Minutes:

● October 20, 2020 Regular Meeting Minutes

● October 26, 2020 Facility Committee Meeting Minutes

● November 5, 2020 Business Meeting Minutes

4.3 Approval of Bills - The Board approved the November Board bills as presented, as well as the Revolving Fund checks issued in October as presented.

4.4 Approval of Financial Reports – The Board approved the October Financial Report as presented.

4.5 Approval of Treasurer's Monthly Statement – The Board approved the October Treasurer’s Report as presented.

4.6 Approval of Activity Fund Reports, Scholarship Fund Report and Revolving Fund Report - The Board approved the October Activity Fund Reports, Scholarship Fund Report and Revolving Fund Report as presented.

4.7 Approval of Destruction of Closed Session Audio Recordings from February, 2019 - The Board approved the destruction of closed session audio recordings from February, 2019.

4.8 Approval of Monthly Enrollment Report – The Board approved the monthly enrollment report as presented. 4.9 Approval of FOIA log: 2020-2021 – The Board approved the monthly FOIA log as presented.

4.10 Acceptance of Bass Fishing Donation – Pheasants Forever – The Board accepted the generous donation from Pheasants Forever in the amount of $500.00 to be used for the Bass Fishing Program.

5. Old Business

5.1 – Approval of Phase One of Scenario 1A Facility Concept - As a follow up from the November 5th Business Meeting, the Superintendent asked the Board for formal approval on the 13.7 million PK-8 addition to the middle school. He stated if approved the Facility Committee would then meet with stakeholder groups to fine-tune the plan while starting a parallel process to continue to evaluate the high school renovation. In addition, the public hearing to sell bonds would then happen at the December 15th meeting, as there would need to be another notification in the Gazette before the official resolution could be passed. To this end the following motion was made:

Member Rosenthal moved and Member Hyland seconded the motion approving Phase One of Scenario 1A Facility Concept. Roll call vote, all present voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

6. Presentation

6.1 Presentation by District Auditor Regarding FY2020 Audit – Mrs. Jenny Blocker from the Benning Group attended the meeting virtually and presented the FY2020 audit report to the Board. She stated the report was quite lengthy and pointed out the historical and high points of the audit.

In addition she gave a refresher on previous conversations from past years regarding pensions and possible implications for the district. She stated TRS is funded partially by the district and partially by the state. The district’s portion at this point is about $577,000. Potentially that is the amount the district would have to pay for teachers in the system now and for those that have already retired. The state’s portion is $41,000,000. This is the reason why the conversation about pension shift in the state of Illinois is that at some point in time the state won’t be able to fund this and the burden will be shifted from the state to the local level. There’s a lot up in the air right now. Talk had quieted down with the election in the forefront, however, now that the election has passed it may come back to the forefront. She said IMRF is much better managed, as the state doesn’t contribute. She said the market tanked in December of 2018 but recovered quite well in 2019 for a balance of $514,000. However, she said to keep an eye on it as with current conditions who knows what the market will look like. Also, with minimum wage rates increasing over the next several years this will also put pressure on IMRF liability.

The average daily attendance cost per pupil is $12,765. She’s hearing rumbling from other districts that they were contacted by ISBE stating the Act of God days should not have been calculated, which drove the expense per pupil down. It’s a mechanical calculation on the state’s end; if there are changes we will be notified by the state.

The district’s financial profile score for FY20 is a perfect 4.0, the same as FY19. This means the district is managing their finances well. With the potential capital projects and bond coming up, this could potentially affect the profile score in future years. However, when submitting the AFR there is room for additional comments to state the reason behind a possible lower score. At that time you could highlight the alternate revenue source bonds as an explanation, which will help.

She was happy to report there were no significant adjustments, just small minor tweaks.

They did comment that our system on Purchase Orders needs to be tweaked a bit. The district must be diligent in having all Purchase Orders approved and supporting documentation attached to the Purchase orders. She stated many places are building their Purchase Orders into a software system.

Lastly they found across most schools that expenditure reports were not submitted on time. That’s partly because of ISBE as they recommend each district follow up on state and federal grants but give them a very small time limit to submit the expenditure reports, and grants are hanging out there for approval. Once approved you have 20 days to file the reports, but also need to file reports from prior quarters. This is a compliance related procedure. They are seeing it across the board. She encourages bookkeepers to keep screen shots to prove everything is being done in a timely fashion.

In closing she said there were no significant issues raised; even though they weren’t able to do the audit in person the district did a fantastic job getting them the information needed, which made it go very smoothly.

7. New Business

7.1 Recommendation to Approve the Audited Financial Statements for Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2020 – Mrs. Jenny Blocker from the Benning Group gave a virtual presentation to the Board earlier in the evening regarding the FY20 audit (Agenda Item 6-1 - Presentation). There being no discussion, the following motion was made:

Member Rosenthal moved and Member Hyland seconded the motion approving the audited financial reports for Fiscal Year 2020, as presented. Roll call vote, all present voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

7.2 Recommendation to approve a Resolution to Adopt e-Learning Program in Lieu of the District's Scheduled Emergency Days – Prior to this regular meeting the Board held a Public Hearing to receive public comments on the proposed e-Learning Program. There were no public comments at that time. The superintendent recommended the Board approve the Resolution which will permit students' instruction to be received electronically while students are not physically present in lieu of the district's scheduled emergency days. He stressed this does not eliminate snow days, it just gives the district the option to use e-Learning days in the event they are needed. To this end the following motion was made:

Member Rosenthal moved and Member Hyland seconded the motion approving the Resolution to Adopt the e Learning Program in lieu of the district’s scheduled emergency days, as presented. Roll call vote, all present voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

7.3 Presentation of a Tentative Tax Levy - The Superintendent presented the proposed Tentative Levy to the Board. He stated the levy is the amount a district asks for and the extension is the amount the district actually receives. The received amount is capped at CPI plus new property. Illinois School Districts must ask for more than what they expect to receive because there are some unknown numbers for actual EAV and final new property numbers. This ensures that they receive the money that has been allocated to them by law.

It is anticipated the increase will be no more than 3.2%; therefore, there is no reason to hold a Truth in Taxation Hearing due to the fact that a hearing is only required when the levy request is 5% higher than the previous year's extension. Final approval on the levy will be at the December 15, 2020 regular meeting.

8. Comments

8.1 Closing Comments from Board Members – Member Rosenthal thanked the Facility Committee for their commitment, as they gave up lot of their time.

Member Stodden stated she was excited they are moving forward and accomplishing things.

9. Adjournment

9.1 Motion to Adjourn - Member Rosenthal moved and Member Frank seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:13 p.m. Voice vote, all present voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MrU9JJCGtcH8MqLRTCuZJ55oKE3AyhE1/preview?rm=minimal