Minutes from the October 6, 2011 Board Meeting

Please click her for the Minutes of the Regular Board Meeting on October 6, 2011

Minutes from the October 6, 2011 Special Board Meeting

Please click here for the Minutes of the Special Board Meeting on October 6, 2011

Board Brief for Oct. 20, 2011

Recognition:

Board members presented Mike Sroka with an Above and Beyond Award for his work with students in the autism program at Eisenhower.

The Board also presented several Ambassador for Excellence awards.

• Armstrong literacy coaches Sara Maduzia & Lisa Killebrew received a $2,000 Target Corporation grant to support third-grade literacy stations.
• Lisa Killebrew, Armstrong Literacy Coach, published her first children’s leveled reading book, “Crash Cars.” Three additional titles have been selected for publication.
• Dr. James Getty, a behavior specialist at Addams, was honored this summer at the Crisis Prevention Institute’s International Instructors Conference as a “Meritorious Instructor.”
  This distinction was awarded to 46 Certified Crisis Prevention Instructors out of the more than 26,000 active instructors worldwide.
• Web Specialist John Rork and Community Relations Director Terri McHugh received the 2011 Golden Achievement Award from the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) and the Illinois Chapter of NSPRA for the process of creating a new website and the final product – http://sd54.org.

Public Comment: No one asked to speak.

Freedom of Information Act Requests: There have been three requests since the last board meeting related to bids for custodial cleaning, art and paper products, and information for the construction project at Blackwell School.

Consent Agenda:

• Minutes of the regular, special and closed-session meetings on Oct. 6, 2011
• Resignations, employment and salary adjustments of personnel
• Checks dated Oct. 7, 2011
• Monthly update of revenues and expenditures for September 2011
• Treasurer’s report on cash and investments for August 2011
• A contract with Verisight Inc. to conduct a compensation study for the non-represented support staff positions
• The application for the Illinois State Library Grant for 2011-12
• Acceptance of 2011 Illinois State School Report Cards, which are now available online http://sd54.org/schoolreportcards/
• The destruction of verbatim records of the closed-session school board meetings held March 18 and April 15, 2010, for which minutes have been approved.

Superintendent’s Report: Superintendent Ed Rafferty discussed District 54’s 90-day school improvement plan process. School teams have been presenting their plans to Cabinet members, who provide feedback and also learn from the school teams.

District 54 is training administrators and staff members in the Danielson teacher appraisal program.

Rafferty also praised the Frost seventh- and eighth-grade students whose photographs are now hanging in the hallway at the District Office. The project was organized by Frost art teacher Habib
Behrouzi.

Visitors from the U.S. Department of Education visited Fairview and Fox schools this week to study District 54’s support for English language learners. We were identified as one of the nation’s “Programs of Promise.”

Report of the President of the Board of Education: Board President Teresa Huber congratulated Charlotte Kegarise who was elected vice chair of the North Cook Division of the Illinois Association of School Boards.

District Citizens’ Advisory Committee Report: Board Member Barbara Hengels reported that DCAC learned about the Run to Read raising $11,000 to purchase books for classroom
libraries and the Food Pantry at Mead. DCAC also reviewed the proposed junior high health materials.

ED-Red: Board Member Barbara Hengels spoke about the P20 Council and its goal to make the state report card more relevant to families.

Schaumburg Township Elementary School Foundation Report: Board Member Bill Harper encouraged everyone to sign up for the Foundation’s partnership with Groupon and Amazon. Visit www.d54foundation.com for more information.

PTA Report: PTA Council President Lisa Guagenti talked about highlights from school PTAs, including family activities and book fairs. This year’s theme for Reflections is “Diversity means …” She thanked everyone who attended the District 37 meeting on Monday and invited everyone to the blood drive from 1:30-6:30 p.m. Oct. 27 in the board room.

New Business:

• The Board awarded a contract to First Student Inc. for student transportation beginning with the 2012-13 school year.
• The Board approved revisions to policies GCIA – Principal Assignment and Transfer, GCBC – Employee Benefits (non-union) and GCOB – Professional Research and Publishing.

Adjournment: The Board adjourned at 7:35 p.m. to closed session for employment/appointment matters and collective negotiating matters.

Minutes from the September 22, 2011 Special Board Meeting

Please click here for the Minutes of the Special Board Meeting on September 22, 2011

Minutes from the September 15, 2011 Board Meeting

Please click here for the Minutes of the Regular Board Meeting on September 15, 2011

Board Brief for Oct. 6, 2011

Discussion of 2011 State and District Assessment Results – presented by Assistant Superintendent Karen Hindman:

A majority of District 54 students met or exceeded state standards based on the state assessments in reading and math given in March 2011: 94.6 percent in math and 90.8 percent in reading.

In 2011, 17 schools met the board-adopted goal of at least 90 percent of students at the school meeting or exceeding standards in reading and math. In addition, 24 schools scored 90 percent or higher on the ISAT math test only.

Students in third through eighth grades in Illinois take one of two state assessments:  the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) or the Illinois Alternate Assessment (IAA). The state uses these assessments to determine which schools in Illinois are making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The goal of the law is that all children in theUnited Stateswill meet or exceed state standards by the 2013-14 school year. This year at least 85 percent of students in each subgroup must meet or exceed standards. Subgroups include racial background, low income, limited English proficient and students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).

In 2011, 20 District 54 schools made AYP, including Keller Junior High School which did not make AYP in 2010. 

However, Mead, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Einstein, Muir, Lakeview and Addams did not make AYP because one or more of their subgroups did not make AYP. Because this is the third year that Lakeview has not made AYP, the district was required to offer Lakeview parents the choice to attend another district school. Twenty students transferred to Hoover.

District 54 will continue to face challenges as the AYP percent increases significantly each year. For 2012, 92.5 percent of students must meet or exceed state standards in reading and math.

In District 54 we also assess student growth through Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) three times a year. In 2011, 67.1 percent of students in grades 2 to 8 met their growth targets in reading and 67.21 percent of students in grades 2 to 8 met their growth targets in math. We are still working toward improving our current reality.

To meet these challenges, several action plans are underway, including:

• Continue to implement the kindergarten through second grade Literacy Plan and Assessment Package;
• Continue to implement the new District 54 Writing Framework;
• Continue to implement the English Language Learning Instructional Framework;
• Continue to implement Professional Learning Communities; and
• Pilot benchmark assessments aligned to the Common Core Standards.

For the complete report presented at the board meeting, visit http://www.boarddocs.com/il/sd54/Board.nsf/Public.

Public Comment: No one asked to speak.

Freedom of Information Act Requests: There have been eight requests since the last board meeting related to bids for custodial cleaning and paper products, and the student transportation contract and invoices.

Consent Agenda:

• Minutes of the regular and closed-session meetings on Sept. 15, 2011
• Minutes of the special open and closed-session meetings on Sept. 22, 2011
• Resignations, leaves and employment of personnel
• Re-employment of personnel who received dismissal notices
• Checks dated Sept. 23, 2011

New Business:

• The Board appointed an additional representative to the District Citizen’s Advisory Committee.
• The Board approved revisions to Board Policy BGA – Board Member Use of Electronic Mail.
• The Board had the first reading of revisions to the following board policies:  GCIA – Principal Assignment and Transfer, GCBC – Employee Benefits for Employee Groups Not Covered by Negotiated Agreements, GCQB – Professional Research and Publishing, and IGBG – Home and Hospital Bound Instruction.

Announcements:

• Board Members Mary Kay Prusnick and Karen Strykowski attended Hale’s Pinwheels for Peace and  participated in the Read for the Record by reading Llama, Llama Red Pajama to kindergarten classes at Hoover and Dirksen.
• Board Member Karen Strykowski added that she attended the Hoover Math and Science Academy dedication ceremony along with Board Members Barbara Hengels and Mary Kay Prusnick. She commented that the science labs are phenomenal and that with the district’s professional learning communities whatever is successful at Hoover is going to spill over to other schools and make science more exciting for all students.
• Board Vice President Charlotte Kegarise said she was pleased to see how many legislators attended the breakfast; and felt that the legislators all learned something from the data presented by Assistant Superintendent Karen Hindman.

Adjournment: The Board adjourned at 7:55 p.m. to closed session for employment/appointment matters and collective negotiating matters.