The regular meeting of the Fieldcrest CUSD #6 Board of Education was held at the Fieldcrest South Elementary School in Minonk, Illinois on April 15, 2004.
Public Communications to the Board
Nancy Turner, President of the Fieldcrest Education Association formally notified the Board of Education of the intent to bargain the decision and impact of the reduction in force as per the Board action of March 18, 2004. The Board is to notify President Turner by April 20, 2004 of possible dates within the next two weeks to commence this impact bargaining between the Association and the Board of Education.
Nancy Turner also recognized Celia Finck and Marylu Pille who were recipients of the Teacher Excellence Award." The South Elementary School staff nominated these two fine veteran educators. The IEA-Region for District 6 reviews all nominated teachers' qualifications
For this Teachers Excellence Award and chooses those educators that meet their criteria for this award. The teachers will be honored at a banquet on April 23, 2004.
David Gerjets spoke on the elimination of library aides at East and West middle schools. Not only was he concerned about the affect on reading he was equally concerned about the prospects of missing and stolen books. David is the president of the West PTO and he and his organization have donated money for books at the West library. He understands the financial plight of the District but hopes something could be done about this loss of library assistants.
Also, the Illinois Coaches Association has chosen Fieldcrest East and West Middle School coaches Greg Peterson, Ron Krieser and Jerry Schmidt coaches of the year. Greg teaches at West and Ron and Jerry both teach at East middle school.
Principal's Report
High School Steven Wallick reported on the Alternative High School also known as the "school within a school". The program is for freshmen students who need additional academic assistance. Students are instructed by different teachers than they previously had. The program is housed in the former industrial arts classroom in Minonk.
Superintendent's Report
Superintendent, Dr. Michael Stagliano reported that a preliminary budget is being built and will be ready for review by the middle of May. At this time state aide and latest EAV figures are unavailable. The District's financial condition has slightly improved, but is still very precarious.
Action Items
The Board of Education reviewed for the public and non-committee members the special Board committee meeting on Attendance Centers. Those minutes are part of the record. The next meeting will be April 26th @ 6:30 am in the District Offices in Minonk. Letters of nomination for additional committee members will be mailed the week of April 19, 2004.
The Continuing Discussion and Approval of Curriculum Council Recommendations was tabled and will be addressed at the May 20, 2004 regular meeting of the Board of Education.
Officially Set Last Day of Instruction for Spring 2004 and First Day of Instruction for Fall 2004. Set the last day of K-8 regular instruction on Tuesday, May 25th. Report cards will be handed out May 27th. Graduation for Fieldcrest East and West Middle Schools will be May 29th @ 1:00 and 4:00 pm respectively. Fieldcrest high school graduation ceremonies will be Sunday, May 30th @ 3:00 pm. The first day of instruction for the fall of 2004 will be Wednesday, August 25, 2004.
Accepted the resignation of Wendy K. Smith, 8th grade girls' basketball coach at Fieldcrest East middle school in Wenona.
Results of Special Board meeting on April 5
The explicit purpose of the committee meeting was to begin preliminary discussions on planning for attendance centers. Nine (9) configurations were presented on a spreadsheet. Above those configurations listed were various factors that would impact any decision to implement any particular configuration. The factors listed were the following: net operating cost savings through reducing grade level sections, net operating cost savings through building closings, whether a building referendum was required to accomplish a particular configuration, did any particular configuration foster district unity, whether children would remain with their classmates through their K-12 experience, whether athletic opportunities were fostered by the configuration and last whether a long-range plan is required. Cost savings were ranked from minus 1 (additional costs) through 5 (very high savings).
The committee also explored additional individuals to become part of this exploratory process. Initial thoughts are to include a teacher from each building, as well as 2 or 3 from the Citizens Advisory Committee. Other possible names that were suggested include the following: Kathy Sullivan, Chuck Volker, Dave Shirley, Garilyn Wells, Tom Marriotti, Amy Rossman, and Yovanne Rich.
No action taken. Discussion only.
