 As the meeting began, Jeff Brooks told the guests in attendance that
the board had received a letter from the attorney general's office.
The letter was a notification that a violation of the Open Meetings
Act had been filed by Leslie Starasta. Starasta filed the report
after May 5, when the school board had a special meeting. The agenda
had been produced at a previous special meeting on May 3. The other
potential violation that had been reported was the meeting of the
new board members and discussion prior to their election.While
the letter went on to say that no violation was found by the office,
there are two other reports that have been filed on the district,
and they are undergoing review.
Alan Schuch, who was appointed as the new district treasurer at
another special meeting on May 30, was present to provide financial
reports for April and May, as well as input on his new job.
Schuch said the reports for both months would indicate that the
school's finances seem to be close in terms of balance. The report
for April was off by about $2,100, and May's report was a little
closer.
Schuch told the board members that as part of his newly appointed
position, he will work on organizing the budget in terms of
paperwork. For example, he said that with board permission, he would
like to rename one of the accounts that the school uses, in order to
avoid confusion with other funds. The working cash account would
become the general account. Currently, there is a second working
cash fund in another area of the budget.
On another note, Schuch said that Skyward, the software CEL uses
for online services, is helpful, yet a little confusing, as it is
constantly being altered by the creators of the program.
Furthermore, the monetary figures are not updated as frequently as
other aspects.
As part of her superintendent's report, Jennifer Hamm reminded
any of the new board members who have not completed their mandatory
board training seminars that they need to complete the training.
Hamm also said that the district's Title I funds increased by $14,
but the Title II funds dropped by $1,400. Title II funds are used
for anything involving teacher improvement.
Mark Graves of CTS and Hamm told the board members that the
asbestos abatement is moving along on schedule, and it should be
finished by the end of next week. The engineers have also been
working on finding other areas for saving money during construction.
As an example, Hamm said the art room will use old skylights that
were found in the ceiling during construction.
Graves said that working with Christy-Foltz, a general contractor
working on the school, has gone very well, and that while the
construction is going on, he would be happy to provide pictures of
progress to the board. Hamm said the pictures could be put on the
school website as well.
The district is also waiting on news of a maintenance grant that
they applied for. The state offices in charge of the grant received
a large number of these requests. As a result, CEL has new windows
waiting to be installed, as the grant would be used to pay for that
part of the construction.
After the update on construction, it was decided by the board
that Lori Birnbaum and Tish Podunajec will be sent to the Triple-I
Conference in Chicago this fall. Hamm expressed concern because the
cost of registration has gone up from last year and the next budget
will be tighter than this year. As a result, only those two will go
to the conference, rather than three attending last year.
Furthermore, Birnbaum and Podunajec volunteered to pay for their own
transportation and food expenses.
[to top of second column] |
 Ben Roland said he attended in 2011, and the conference is worth
going to for learning what goes into being a board member.
The board also discussed the salary Schuch would receive as
treasurer. He offered to volunteer for the position. Hamm said she
was almost certain that a non-board member has to be paid for the
position, but a board member would have to volunteer, according to
the school code. The issue was tabled while Hamm looks for the
solution in the regulations.
Roland said that the work the treasurer does is valuable to those
on the board.
Hamm said the next board meeting has to be moved to July 17 in
order to meet a time requirement for displaying the amended budget
for 2013.
Hamm said it is time for the board to consider pay raises for the
noncertified staff of the school -- those employees who are not
full-time teachers. Hamm presented two options. The first option was
for the educational aides who make less than $10 an hour to have
their pay bumped to that amount.
"Every single one of our instructional aides has a four-year
degree except for one. Many of those instructional aides have a
teaching degree as well," said Hamm. "We have a lot of highly
qualified employees here."
This option would also come with a 2 percent raise for
noninstructional employees. That percentage is based on the raise
that certified staff would receive. In total, those raises would
combine to cost $18,234.
The second option would be a blanket 2 percent raise for all of
the noncertified employees, which would come to $6,400.
"I think that for the type of instructional aides we employ here,
they are highly educated, highly proficient in their field; many of
them are teachers. I would just hate to lose them," said Hamm.
Hamm said that any of the aides making less than $10 an hour
would be relatively new employees.
Birnbaum said that in her opinion, the first option was not the
solution. Birnbaum also asked that the topic be moved into executive
session, as she had specific employees she wanted to ask questions
about.
After an executive session that lasted nearly an hour, the board
members present voted unanimously to go with the second option for
noncertified employee raises, which is a 2 percent raise across the
board for the noncertified staff.
Board members present were Ben Roland, president; Jeff Brooks,
vice president; Lori Birnbaum, secretary; Tish Podunajec; and Jason
Toft. Superintendent Jennifer Hamm was also present.
[By DEREK HURLEY] |
