Pope County Community Unit School District 1 Board of Education met Sept. 21.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
Meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by President Aly and the following members were present: Jeffords, Kizziar, Schuchardt, Simmons, Wallace, and Aly. Hogg was absent.
Motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Schuchardt to approve the agenda. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Kizziar to approve the consent agenda including the following: 1) Approve Minutes of Board Meetings on 8/17/2023; 2) Approve Closed Session Minutes; 3) Approve Bills for Payment; 4) Accept Financial Reports; and 5) Publication of Administrator and Teacher Salary and Benefits Reports SY2023. Mr. Fritch mentioned the bills are higher than normal this month due to the start of school with purchasing more supplies and materials. We had 2 HVAC units go down having to replace them. With no further comments, roll call vote: all ayes.
At this time, President Aly recognized Ms. Leah Dugan and Mrs. Candice Lemon to discuss the Elementary Library air conditioning unit. Ms. Dugan thanked the Board for their time and began with discussing issues they are having within the library. Mrs. Lemon continued explaining her concerns and health issues possibly due to the conditions in the library. They have turned off the A/C unit, opened all the windows, and running a dehumidifier and air purifier. Mr. Fritch explained this has been an ongoing issue for several years and have had several people look at the issue. The A/C unit is functioning properly and has been completely cleaned, filters replaced, and serviced. The Board agreed to bid out replacing the unit and/or duct work replaced/redesigned and the air quality tested. Baysinger Architects will be onsite Tuesday and will discuss the issue with them.
Under Administrative reports, Mrs. Allen reported the following: 1) Student Involvement/Sports: a) Jr High baseball season ended on 9/15; b) Jr High softball defeated Lick Creek in the Class S Semi-Final game on 9/20, 9-7. They are scheduled to lay in the Final game on 9/22 vs New Simpson Hill at NSH, 4:00pm; c) Jr High Cross Country is underway. Regionals will be held Oct 3-10 and State meet is held on Oct 14; 2) Faculty/Staff/Building Information; a) Met with Buddy, Bart and Chris on 8/22 to discuss building maintenance and establish a tentative repair/replacement schedule; b) Progress reports were sent home on Sept 8; c) Intruder/active shooter drill with Sheriff Suits was conducted on Sept 13; d) The first of three required fire drills was held on Sept 15. The drill with the fire department has been scheduled for Oct 4; e) Bus evacuation drill was conducted on Sept 18; Mr. Roper did a great job; f) Fifth grade and 8th grade scored “Proficient” in the 2023 Illinois Science Assessment, Level 3 Proficient (799-831); g) School Improvement 2:00 dismissal scheduled for Sept 25. Mr. Davison will present part 1 of 2 in working with autistic students; h) Parent-Teacher conferences are scheduled for Oct 5. The ROE Teacher Conference at Eldorado will be held on Oct 6; 3) Enrollment: 305.
Mr. Graves reported the following: 1) Spirit Card sales are going well and are still for sale ($10); 2) Progress reports went out September 8th; 3) Intruder Drill with local law enforcement was held September 13th; 4) Bus Evac Drill was held September 14th; 5) SIC conducted the Accuplacer Test at our school on September 19th for those interested in taking college coursework; 6) Picture Day was held today (21st); 7) October 4th will be a fire drill conducted with the local fire department (this was rescheduled); 8) October 4th is the end of 1st Quarter; 9) Parent Teacher Conferences are October 5th; 10) The Eldorado Teacher Conference is October 6th; 11) We will be hosting the GEC Cross Country meet at Lake Glendale on October 12th; 12) The sign over the gym has been fixed and reinforced by Wesley’s Custom Graphics; 13) Our district scored in the ‘Proficient’ range on the Illinois Science Assessment given to Juniors; 14) Kevin and I have devised and categorized a repair list based on the board committee’s assessment of the building; and 15) Enrollment: 171.
Mr. Fritch reported the following: 1) Another Maintenance Grant will be available soon and would like to remove the walk-in freezer and put a new bigger one outside, to regain the storage and classroom areas on the back side of the elementary gym; 2) Original ESSER III Grant has ended and remaining funds have been rolled over into another ESSER III Grant, which has been written and submitted. Mr. Fritch distributed a budget summary page and explained how the funds will be spent; 3) Septic system project has developed some major snags, finding the easements have been difficult, too many utilities already going down the hill, not enough room. Boring under the creek may be a problem and we will be responsible for the pipes and all repairs once the project is complete. Discussed just building a lagoon on the elementary side. Asaturian Eaton will be onsite next week to discuss options. Since the funds for this project is in the ESSER III Grant, we have until September 2024 to spend the funds; and 4) Elementary gym HVAC unit project has been completed.
Motion to enter closed session for the purpose of discussion of personnel performance, procedures, and employment was made by Wallace and seconded by Schuchardt. Roll call vote: all ayes. Board entered closed session at 7:53 pm.
Motion to return to regular session was made by Kizziar and seconded by Wallace. Roll call vote: all ayes. Board returned at 9:08 pm.
Mr. Fritch distributed the FY 24 District Budget and discussed key areas of the budget. Motion to adopt FY 2024 budget was made by Simmons and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Mr. Fritch distributed a copy of the FY 2023 audit. He pointed out some key areas of findings and explained why we received them and how we have already corrected them. He directed them to the Profile Summary and stated we received “Recognition” with a score of 3.55. Motion to approve the FY 2023 audit as presented was made by Wallace and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Mr. Fritch discussed the $50,000 Matching Maintenance Grant for FY 2024 would soon be available for applications. He stated he would like to move the indoor walk-in freezer outside and purchase a new one, renovate the storage and classroom areas, and/or remodel an elementary restroom with the funds. This was tabled until the next meeting for collection of cost estimates and further information.
Mr. Fritch stated Head Start is using both outside buildings and have totally remodeled the inside of the building we were using as storage. Since they have done so much work on it, we agreed to not charge them rent on that building. The lease will remain the same for this year, $600 per month. Next year will we need to revisit the agreement. Motion to approve Southern Seven Head Start Lease Agreement for the 2023-24 SY was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to approve FMLA request was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to approve Angela Bailey as volunteer Jr High Cross Country coach was made by Simmons and seconded by Kizziar . Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to post for High School Speech Team sponsor was made by Wallace and seconded by Kizziar. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Mr. Fritch stated our 3 new-to-us buses have been delivered. We have 4 old buses that need dropped from our fleet. He suggested we take bids on them to move them out. Motion to take bids for 4 old school buses with a minimum bid of $500 per bus was made by Wallace and seconded by Jeffords. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to approve out-of-state field trip to St. Louis, Missouri Botanical Gardens Chihuly Glass Exhibit for Art and Science Club on September 28th as requested by Jaime Markovic was made by Simmons and seconded by Wallace. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Under Old Business, Member Wallace asked about the cameras for the new van and new buses. Mr. Fritch stated he ask Mr. Roper to get some estimates.
Under Other School Business, President Aly stated she was asked by a parent who has a student playing sports in Jr High and one in high school, if there was some kind of discount for admission for families who attend every single game. After some discussion, the Board asked that this item be placed on the agenda for the next meeting.
With no further business to be discussed, a motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Schuchardt to adjourn the meeting until the next meeting to be held on Thursday, October 19, 2023 at 7:00 pm in the J.H. Hobbs Memorial Library. All members present voted aye.
Meeting adjourned at 9:36 pm.
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