Lyons Elementary District 103

Board Meeting Report

6/14/10

Below is a synopsis of Lyons Elementary District 103’s most recent board meeting.  These are not official minutes, but an overview of the work the board of education completed.

Superintendent’s Report

End of the Year – Dr. Warner thanked all the staff members for such a good school year.  He noted how hard everyone worked to make this year a good one.  Dr. Warner said they are already working on preparations for next school year.

COPS Grant – District 103 is working with the Lyons Police Department to submit a grant application to the federal COPS program.  Board president David DeLeshe, who is a member of the Lyons police department, is working with Tom Sheehy, Director of Buildings and Grounds for District 103.  The COPS grant provides matching funds to local organizations to beef up their security.  District 103 will be applying for funds to complete the process to standardize all inside and outside keys and to purchase a card reader system for some outside doors.  The grant, if awarded, will match local expenditures dollar for dollar, which would provide District 103 with a 50% savings on the cost of these two important safety items.

Fourth of July Parade – The Village of Lyons, after taking a year off, will once again be sponsoring a Fourth of July parade.  The village invited District 103 to submit its Little Red Schoolhouse as an entry in the parade.  Board members and Dr. Warner will be with the float as it goes through the community.  Board member Deanna Huxhold has been invited to help make announcements during the parade  The parade will be held on Saturday, July 3^rd.

Educational Foundation – Dr. Warner updated the board on discussions regarding the formation of an educational foundation.  Dr. Vladika, Miss. Bernard, Mr. Schiffer, Dr. Warner and Mr. Frana discussed startup costs for form the foundation, the need for bylaws and vision statement, and potential board members for the foundation.  Dr. Warner said that the District 103 board may be asked to provide a loan to provide initial start-up funding for the educational foundation.

Discussion Topics

1. Morton High School Joint Board Meeting – Mrs. Schaeffer, after receiving the letter from the new superintendent of Morton High School, suggested that we invite their board to meet with our board.  Dr. Warner was asked to discuss this with the new Morton superintendent Dr. Mike Kuzniewski.
2. Medical Procedures – The board discussed an incident in the Robinson lunchroom in which the lunch staff failed to notified the principal, health aide, or call 911 after they dislodged a piece of food choking a student.  Dr. Warner assured the board that the principal Mr. Molina met with the aides the next day to reinforce proper procedures to be used in the future.
3. Focus Group Results – During the month of May, Dr. Warner and Dr. Vladika conducted 8 focus group meetings.  Over 130 parents, community members, and staff participated in the focus group discussions.  Each group was asked to respond to the following two questions: What do you most value about District 103 and this school? and, What do Quality schools do that you think District 103 schools should be doing more of?

Each group was asked to rank their ideas using dots.  Dr. Warner then assigned a ranking to each group, giving the ideas with the most dots a rank of #1, the second most number of dots #2, etc.  Dr. Warner also categorized each comment and sorted the list according to the comments.

Dr. Warner noted that issues such as curriculum, good staff, and extracurricular programs came up often.  The board will reflect on the findings before setting goals for next year.

4. Meeting to set goals for 2010-11 – The board agreed to meet on Wednesday, June 30^th at 6 PM to create goals for next school year.
5. Baker-Tilly Audit Information – The District 103 auditors, Baker Tilly asked that information be provided to the board regarding their procedures and the board’s role in the audit.  Board members were asked to contact Mr. Schiffer or Baker-Tilly if they had any questions.
6. Budget Timeline – Mr. Schiffer presented a timeline for the creation of the 2010-11 school budget.  He recommended that the board adopt the budget at its September 27^th meeting.
7. Energy Management Contract – Mr. Schiffer reviewed the energy contract the board authorized him to sign.  The contract is for electricity for the next three years.
8. PTAB Savings – Mr. Schiffer reviewed a document which showed the PTAB (Property Tax Appeals Board) requests and the reduction amounts finally negotiated by our attorney since 1999.  The chart showed that without legal intervention on behalf of our attorney, District 103 would have had to refund about $1.8 million more than it has in the last 11 years.
9. Review of May Finances – Mr. Schiffer reviewed the current financial status of the district.  He pointed out that the state continues to owe District 103 over $1.2 million.  He also stated that if the fall property tax bills are due any later than the first week of January, the district will probably need to obtain a line-of-credit loan in order to meet its payroll and bills in January.

The next regular board meeting will be on Monday, June 28^th at the Admin Building at 7:00 PM.

The next Committee of the Whole meeting will be on Monday, August 9th  at the Admin Building at 7:00 PM.