Southern Illinois News

Community Unit School District #201 Board of Education met Nov. 12.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

CALL TO ORDER

On November 12, 2024 at 6:44 p.m. President Hoover called to order the regular meeting of the Community Unit School District

201 Board of Education.

Roll Call

Members Present: Adina Hoover, Carlos Hevia, Angela Steketee, Kevin Marren

Jessica Radogno arrived at 7:14 p.m.

Members Absent: Whitney Rogers, Leah Conover

Also present: Superintendent Jack Baldermann , Business Manager,

Anthony Ruelli , the Superintendent’s Administrative Assistant,

Shannon Cossairt.

Pledge of Allegiance

President Hoover led the Assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance.

CLOSED SESSION

Motion by Mr. Hevia, second by Mr. Marren, to enter closed session to discuss personnel issues, student discipline and sale or

lease of real property.

Ayes: Hevia, Marren, Steketee, Hoover

Nays: None.

Motion Carried.

Jessica Radogno entered the meeting during closed session at 7:14 p.m.

The Board entered closed session at 6:45 p.m.

The Board returned to open session at 7:33 p.m.

October 22, 2024

Motion by Ms. Steketee, second by Mr. Marren, to approve the minutes of the October 22, 2024, regular meeting of the Board of Education, as presented.

Ayes: Hevia, Marren, Steketee, Hoover

Nays: None.

Motion Carried.

October 22, 2024

Motion by Mr. Hevia, second by Mr. Marren, to approve the minutes of the closed session of the October 22, 2024, regular meeting of the Board of Education, as presented.

Ayes: Hevia, Marren, Steketee, Hoover

Nays: None

Motion Carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT

No public comment at this time.

CONSENT AGENDA

Motion by Ms. Radogno, second by Ms. Steketee, to approve the consent agenda as presented:

1. Personnel Recommendations:

● Parker Brower, Night Custodian

● Angel Ortiz Sanchez - Volunteer Wrestling Coach, WHS

● Alexander Laskowski, Volunteer JV Baseball Coach, WHS

● Resignations

2. Approval of November 2024 Expenditure Report

3. Ratification of the October 2024 Payroll

Ayes: Radogno, Hevia, Marren, Steketee, Hoover

Nays: None.

Motion carried.

INFORMATION and DISCUSSION

The Board has changed the order of discussion items for the meeting to accommodate those presenting.

Elementary Moving to Semesters

Ms. Lindsay Pietrzak, Principal, Manning Elementary School, gave the Board information on having the elementary schools changing from quarterly progress reports to semester-based progress reports. Quarterly progress reports can become quickly outdated, so when parents come in for conferences the information will not match. The learning platform, Otus, provides real time data. Parents can see a story of their child’s learning progress. Moving to semesters-based progress reports will also align better with standards based grading. The change to semester-based progress reports will start during the 2025-2026 school year. The elementary school staff will be working with and encouraging all elementary parents to login to Otus so they can monitor their child’s progress.

Illinois School Report Card

Superintendent Baldermann that the Illinois School Report Card is available online. He encourages everyone to take a look at it.

2025-2026 School Calendar

Lindsay Pietrzak, shared with the Board two calendars for the 2025-2026 school year. Ms. Pietrzak met with a committee of parents, staff and administrators to put together some options for the Board to review. When working on the calendar the committee reviews recommendations from the DuPage Regional Office of Education and the guidelines from Illinois State Board of Education. The committee worked with the Westmont Teachers Association (WTA), to move parent-teacher conferences from two days each semester, to one day each semester. This is reflected in the calendar options being presented to the Board. The Calendar Committee prefers calendar option #1.

State of the Referendum

The latest tally available on the DuPage County website the proposal to pass a referendum is down by seven votes. The official numbers will not be available till November 19, 2024. The Finance and Facilities Committee met prior to the Board meeting and discussed the prospect of going in April if the referendum does not pass. There will be another committee meeting on December 3, 2024 to discuss the going in April. If the Board does decide that is what they would like to do, they would need to vote on it at the Board meeting on December 17, 2024.

Tentative 2024 Tax Levy

Anthony Ruelli, CSBO, presented and explained the proposed tax levy. His presentation included the following:

● Timeline

● Definitions of key terminology: Levy, Extensions, Collection, EAV, New Property and CPI

● Comparing Tax Levy with Inflation

● EAV History

● New Property History

● Why does CUSD 201 project so much…?

● What if the Referendum Passes?

Mr. Ruelli answered questions from the Board. The 2024 Tax Levy will be presented at the December 17, 2024 Board meeting for approval.

Presentation of Monthly Financials - October 2024

Mr. Ruelli reviewed the October 2024 financials. All documents are available to the public in BoardDocs. At this time, the District has received all revenue for the year. Currently, expenditures are down compared to years past. Financial documents are available in BoardDocs.

IASB Resolutions

Board member Carlos Hevia is the delegate for CUSD 201 at the Tri Conference starting November 21, 2024. Mr. Hevia will represent CUSD 201 in voting on proposed resolutions.

JAC Sessions

The Board is reviewing all the different sessions taking place at the Tri Conference and deciding which ones they will be attending.

They would like to make sure they are taking full advantage of the sessions and spreading themselves out to attend them.

ACTION ITEMS

1. Approval of Tentative 2024 Tax Levy

Motion by Mr. Marren, second by Ms. Steketee, to approve the Tentative 2024 Tax Levy, as presented.

Ayes: Hevia, Marren, Steketee, Hoover, Radogno

Nays: None

Motion Carried.

2. Approval of Authorization for Treasurer to pay Additional November 2024 Bills

Motion by Mr. Hevia, second by Mr. Marren, to authorize and direct the Treasurer to pay bills received in November 2024 for the 2025 fiscal year.

Ayes: Marren, Steketee, Hoover, Radogno, Hevia

Nays: None.

Motion Carried.

3. Approval of the 2025 2026 School Calendar

Motion by Ms. Steketee, second by Mr. Marren, to approve calendar #1 for the 2025-2026 school year.

Ayes: Steketee, Hoover, Radogno, Hevia, Marren

Nays: None.

Motion Carried.

SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT

Holly Days

Holly Days will be on December 7, 2024. The Board has reserved a spot. Line up information will be sent out when it is received from

the Village.

Communication

Veteran’s Day was November 11, 2024. The buildings all hosted special events to honor our Veterans.

CUSD 201 currently has about 20 exchange students from Taiwan. We are grateful to all our host families. Pete Landreth and Vicki Gomez from Westmont High School helped coordinate the program this year and did a great job.

FOIA Request

Attached in BoardDocs.

BOARD REPORTS

WHS is hosting the fall play this weekend. We encourage everyone to come out and see it.

Kyla Babb finished 3rd in state for cross country. Boys cross country were conference champs.

PUBLIC COMMENT

None at this time.

FUTURE MEETING AND EVENTS

WJHS Reading Night

Nov. 14, 6:00

Fall Play - The Play that Went Wrong

Nov. 15 and 16, 7:00 pm

WHS

Thanksgiving Break No School

Nov. 27 -29

WHS Band Craft Show

Dec. 7 9:00 - 3:00 pm

WJHS Band and Choir Winter Concert

Dec. 10, 7:00 pm

WHS Auditorium

WHS Band and Choir Winter Concert

Dec. 11, 7:00 pm

WHS Auditorium

Manning Band/Chorus Winter Concert

Dec. 12, 6:00 pm

Manning Winter Formal

Dec. 13, 4:00 pm

Manning

PR Committee Meeting

Dec. 17, 5:30 pm

Westmont Village Hall

CUSD 201 Regular Board Meeting

Dec. 17, 6:30 pm

Westmont Village Hall

COMMUNICATIONS

None at this time.

ADJOURNMENT

Motion by Ms. Steketee, second by Mr. Hevia, to adjourn the November 12, 2024, regular meeting of the Board of Education at 8:32 p.m.

Motion unanimously passed.

https://go.boarddocs.com/il/cusd201/Board.nsf/files/DBTKKK50AAC5/$file/11.12.24%20Regular%20Minutes.pdf