Pope County CUSD No. 1 Board of education met Tuesday, May 17.
Here are the minutes as provided Pope County CUSD No. 1:
Minutes for Regular Called Meeting Pope County CUSD #1 Board of Education J. H. Hobbs Memorial Library Thursday, May 17, 2016 7:00 p.m. Meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Clay and the following members were present: Hansen, Simmons, Coen, Richerson, Collier, and Clay. Hogg was absent.
Motion was made by Richerson and seconded by Simmons to approve the agenda. All members present voted yea.
Motion was made by Coen and seconded by Simmons to approve the consent agenda including the following: 1) Approve minutes of Board meeting on 4/21/16; 2) Approve closed session minutes; 3) Approve bills for payment; 4) Accept Financial Report; and 4) Accept resignations of Ms. Kelly Clark as 5th grade teacher, Jr. High student council sponsor, and Jr. High cross country coach, and Mrs. Krysta Graves as high school cross country coach. After some questions, all members present voted yea.
Under Administrative reports, Mr. Blankenship reported the following: 1) Kindergarten program will be Wednesday, May 25th at 9 am; 2) Mrs. Reed?s Elementary Talent Show will be the afternoon of May 25th at 1 pm; 3) 8th grade Promotion will be Thursday, May 19th at 7 pm. They will practice the morning of the 19th. After practice, the 8th grade students will be allowed to leave; 4) Pre-K picnic will be on Wednesday, May 25th at Noble Park for the students and parents; and 5) Current enrollment as of May 9th is 387.
Mr. Fritch reported the following: 1) Baseball Regionals will be hosted here May 16-21; 2) Softball Regionals are at Dongola: we are the #1 seed in the region and #2 seed in the sub-sectional. We will play tomorrow; 3) May 20 th will be Graduation at 7 pm in the high school gym; 4) Senior Exams will be May 16th and 17 th; 5) Exams for remainder of the students will be May 25th and 26th; and 6) Enrollment is currently: Freshman 36; Sophomores 39; Juniors 40; and Seniors 33; for a total of 148. Mr. Fritch also added that sophomore, Kyle Kunath placed 3 rd in the State in Ag Power Mechanics.
Mr. Bleyer reported on the following: 1) As usual, the Illinois government is on a roller coaster ride. I will have up to date information at the meeting. The Illinois Senate passed SB 231 school reform funding bill that revises how General State Aid money is distributed to school district. The fate of SB 231 is unknown in the House as Speaker of the House Madigan has established a task force that is studying various school reform funding plans. The bill is currently still in the House Rules Committee and has not been assigned to a committee for hearing. SB 231 has three amendments that cause three varying funding scenarios. Therefore, there is still a lack of clarity. Additionally, the House will have a chance to add additional language and amendments. At this moment, there are four school funding initiatives trying to secure support in the Assembly. There is SB 231, Governor Rauner's proposal for full funding of GSA, Speaker Madigan's committee, and the Alliance's evidence based formula; 2) Last Friday, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education issued a joint directive that students must be allowed to use bathrooms based on their gender identity and touches on issues including housing, locker rooms, pronouns and gender references on identity document. Schools can't require a medical diagnosis, treatment, a birth certificate or other identification from students under the directive. The administration is studying the directive and awaiting further guidance from the state, ISBE, IASA, IASB, IASBO, and the IPA; 3) Over the last two months, the high school has been experiencing sewer back up into the locker rooms. We had tried multiple attempt to flush the lines with no success. Sutton Plumbing was called in to assess the problem. Initially, they used a camera to probe into the pipes. This revealed a major blockage in the sewer line just outside of the building. This required digging to reveal the pipe. After exposing the pipes, they cut into the sewer pipe and found among other debris a small log. How it got there is a mystery, but they suspected it to have been there for some time. Sutton replaced the old pipe with a new PVC pipe and jetted the other exposed pipes for clean out purposes. They replaced the dirt and rock. After the rains from last week, there were no more backup issues; 4) Earlier this month, I attended the Illinois Association of School Business Officials Annual Conference in Schaumburg. At this conference, I attended sessions on The Future of Illinois and State Funding for Education, Interfund Transfers Rules, Bidding and Purchasing Requirements, Effective Grant Writing, Governmental Accounting Standards Board and Uniform Guidance, Individuals with Disabilities Act Excess Cost Measures, IDEA Maintenance of Effort Guidelines, Sustainable Risk Management in School Districts, and a session on efforts to rewrite the funding formula for public education. The conference was extremely informative and provided me with essential information to perform my duties; 5) The GRP Group finished their assessment of facility needs for our district.
High School
Asbestos abatement in classroom
HVAC in gym
Gym roof
Soffit/Fascia and gutter replacement needs
Tuck-pointing
Some exterior doors in need of replacement
Building Automation System outdated
Older inefficient plumbing fixtures
K-8
HVAC split systems beyond useful life
Inefficient hot water boiler systems approaching end of useful life
Tuck-pointing
Single pane windows deteriorated
Building Automation System outdated
This report does not include the parking lots or improvement to athletic facilities; 6) We are continuing to upgrade the Agriculture/Shop rooms. Along with the grant improvements, we will be painting the walls and installing new ceiling tile. I anticipate these enhancements will improve the Industrial Arts programs and more luster to our FFA program; 7) All of the remaining older computers will be phased out and replaced with laptops. This will allow for greater mobility and modern computing while saving the district money on service and energy costs; 8) Finally, I would like to thank Tim Threlkeld for organizing the bus routes and drivers while there was a fugitive being pursued in Pope County. We had to adjust as event unfolded, but all students were picked up and delivered home each day.
Motion to enter closed session for the purpose of personnel performance and employment was made by Collier and seconded by Richerson. All members present voted yea. Board entered at 7:20 p.m.
Motion to return to regular session was made by Richerson and seconded by Simmons. Board returned at 8:02 p.m. All members present voted yea.
Mr. Bleyer highlighted some changes made to the budget and discussed the amendments. After all the Board members had a chance to view the amended budget a motion to approve tentative amended budget for FY 2015-16 was made by Richerson and seconded by Simmons. All members present voted yea.
A motion to approve the PRESS updates to Board policy as presented at the last Board meeting was made by Coen and seconded by Hansen. All members present voted as follows; Hansen, Coen, Simmons, Collier, Clay; yea, Richerson abstained. Motion to approve the superintendent?s contract was made by Coen and seconded by Richerson. All members present voted yea.
A motion to hire April Hogg for Middle School English/Language Arts Teacher was made by Richerson and seconded by Simmons. All members present voted yea.
A motion was made by Simmons and seconded by Coen to approve overnight trips for FFA students to the State Convention on June 14-16 in Springfield, Illinois and overnight retreat on July 22-24 for the FFA officers at High Knob Campground – Karbers Ridge. All members present voted yea.
Motion to post for 5 th grade teacher, Jr. High Student Council Sponsor, Jr. High Cross Country Coach, and High School Cross Country Coach was made by Richerson and seconded by Simmons. All members present voted yea.
At this time, Board member Richerson distributed a letter addressed to the Board that read as follows: On Friday, May 13, 2016, the White House issued an eight page decree stating in short, that all public schools nationwide must allow students to use whichever bathroom they choose based on the gender they identify with, at that, or any particular time. Failure to comply with this decree, or conform to this way of thinking, would result in the withholding of federal funds by the Department of Education. This edict does not carry the weight of the law, however, it is yet another attempt by the Obama administration to usurp duly elected Congress and the U.S. Constitution, to advance an agenda that is counter to the founding of this great nation. Set that aside, compliance with this decree would have the unintended consequences of utter chaos, confusion, unanswerable disciplinary actions, for our administrators, faculty and staff, not to mention the students. Title IX states that: “No person in the United States shall on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” Our district has certainly been in compliance with the Title IX since it?s inception, providing protection of equality of the sexes in education and education activities as well as sports and other extracurricular activities which was the intent of the law. To add an overarching element of “fluidity of gender” to Title IX will potentially cost school districts and tax payers across the nation, more money than they receive from federal government, not to mention it leaves the bounds of good sense, the Laws of Nature and Nature?s God. It is my desire at this time to enter in the form of a motion that this Board of Pope County CUSD #1 will ignore this unconstitutional decree issued on May 13 of this year and keep in place our longstanding policies concerning our male and female students and which restrooms and locker rooms are to be appropriately used as well as our visiting public. I realize this is no easy matter to address and may place the board in an uncomfortable position. However, not to speak is to speak and not to act is to act. Let us as a board be counted among those who would not remain silent. Signed, Kevin Richerson, Pope County School Board Member.
Under Other School Business, Member Simmons asked if a trophy case could be build or installed at the elementary instead of displaying all the trophies in the library. Mr. Blankenship said he would find some options and report back.
President Clay asked about getting replacement/new banners in the high school gym. Mr. Fritched said Athletic Director, James Forthman, was working with Green Bean Graphics on the project
Member Hansen stated there needed to be something in the trophy case at the high school for Dustin Turner, all-leading scorer for Pope County and there needed to be a banner for 1,000 Point Club. Mr. Fritch stated he would look for a plaque for Dustin Turner and look into a banner for the 1,000 Point Club.
President Clay stated the Board needs to have a group picture taken on May 20th at 6:15 pm in the high school library before graduation. Lifetouch will be here to take the picture.
Member Coen stated he would like for the Board to expand on the GRP report that was just done on the buildings and include the parking lots, access road, and sports facilities. He would like the Board to get a cost and prioritize the needs to develop a schedule for the projects to be completed. There will be more discussion at the next meeting.
Member Collier thanked the Board, Superintendent, and Board Secretary for remembering him and his family during the passing of his mother.
President Clay reminded all members that 8th grade Promotion will be at 7 pm Thursday, May 19th and to meet in the Superintendent's office at 6:45 pm. High School Graduation will be at 7 pm Friday, May 20th and to meet in the library at 6:15 pm for the group picture.
A motion was made by Simmons and seconded by Richerson to adjourn the meeting until the next scheduled meeting to be held on Thursday, June 16, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the J.H. Hobbs Memorial Library. The Public Hearing for Amended Budget to be held at 6:45 pm and the Public Hearing for the Resolution to be held at 6:30 pm. All members present voted yea. Meeting adjourned at 8:49 pm.
Allen Clay, President Paula Baker, Secretary Board of Education Board of Education
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