The Fieldcrest CUSD 6 Board of Education held its regular Board meeting on Wednesday, April 27, 2016. Members present were Tom Barth, Tammi Coons, Scott Hillenburg, Joe Kirkpatrick, Greg Kroeschen, and Danielle Reichman. Also present were Superintendent Dr. Daniel L. Oakley, East principal Mr. Nate Lorton, and several of staff and community members.
The Board held closed session prior to the open meeting for the purposes of discussing specific employee concerns, compensation, and negotiations.
During the public comment section, Mr. Jeremy Palm addressed the Board regarding attendance centers.
In Board action during regular session, the Board: approved the annual renewal of memberships in the IHSA and IESA; approved job descriptions for FY17; tabled a vote on the superintendent's contract extension pending changes based on current activity in Springfield; adopted high school and middle school sex equity plans; waived the second reading of a PRESS board policy update while awaiting guidance from the district attorney; and approved an early graduation request from a high school student.
Mr. Lorton talked about activities at East. Mr. Lorton particularly noted that the staff has worked hard to help students find ways to reduce the number of students who appear on the D/F lists, a focus for Mr. Lorton when he arrived at East. He also noted that he and the staff have been working with the Wenona community to enhance student education.
Dr. Oakley noted that the ROE quadrennial compliance survey is moving to the final stages. A large portion of the issues found have to do with curricular items that are not taught at each specific grade level required under law. The other issue is in regard to mandated trainings that the district fell behind on this year.
Dr. Oakley and the Board spend significant time on a discussion of the state of the state of Illinois, both fiscally and in regard to the new laws that are either partially passed in Springfield or that are obvious desires of powerful politicians and therefore are likely to be passed in some form soon (accompanying PowerPoint Presentation is available on the district's Board meeting website). There are number of issues that could cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars if enacted, including PTELL for all, the normal pension cost shift, some forms of changes in the state general state aid formula or even no general state aid payments at all next year, and how categorical payments are handled. Dr. Oakley stated that the Board had done its fiduciary responsibility and had taken the district from three deeply red years in FY12, FY13, and FY14 to in the black in FY15. The district also believes that it will end FY16 in the black IF the state sends the money it has promised to the district. However, Dr. Oakley noted that almost every action that is being taken in Springfield seems to not be in our favor, and therefore the Board and community cannot count on the legislature to fix our problems. Problems are going to have to be dealt with and corrected locally, and the Board and community are going to have to expect the trend of loss of state dollars to continue. This means that the Board is going to have to make some extremely hard decisions both now and in future years.
Dr. Oakley used that discussion to springboard into three large decisions facing the district: -There has been a call in some quarters in the state to not open school doors in August/September if there is not going to be any general state aid to help pay for bills. The board discussed the issues related to this and how it plays out in our district, and decided that while there is a willingness to show some solidarity with school districts that simply cannot make it without state aid dollars, it is difficult to have $7,000,000 in the bank in August of this year, have to pay salaries and benefits to employees by contract, and yet tell parents and the community that the doors will not open. The Board, in a straw poll fashion, agreed that the school doors should open in the fall, although they are open to a day or two of something to show that solidarity with other districts. What that will be will be planned by the administrative team.
-Another item that has large dollar consequences is the district's building project. The Building Committee had put forward two options at a recent community meeting: build new buildings to replace the high school and East; or put additions on the high school and East, retaining the portions of the old buildings that could be saved with minimal renovations. At the community meeting, there were only approximately 70 people who chose one or the other, and that vote was only 7 votes apart. The Building Committee asked the Board to decide which direction they should go. The Board's discussion went in several different directions, but ultimately the general consensus was that if the district cannot have a centralized location for everything as was the original plan last year, they are interested in seeing new buildings for the high school and East, most likely located in the same locations as the current buildings.
-The third item of discussion was attendance centers. Dr. Oakley had released an analysis of attendance centers that would have K-2 at South, 3-5 at West, and 6-8 at East. That analysis noted that such a move would not be about cost savings. Recently, however, the confluence of concerns related to finances and moving to attendance centers brought the question/suggestion from several persons communicating with the unit office that the district should instead consider closing a building to save dollars and have the attendance centers in two locations only. Dr. Oakley reminded the Board that once staff cuts are done – which the Board has already done – the only way to save a lot of money is to close a building. The question Dr. Oakley put before the Board was whether they desired an analysis of what a two-building attendance center solution would look like. The discussion went in several directions, but at the end, there was a desire from the majority of the Board to at least see what it would look like. Dr. Oakley noted that this information would take a while to develop, and would likely push back any vote on attendance centers by a month.
The next regular Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 25, 2016, at 6:30 pm at Fieldcrest High School band room, with closed session starting at 6:00 pm.