SE Illinois News

North Wayne Community Unit School District 200 Board met Aug. 19.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

A special meeting of the Board of Education of Community Unit School District 200, DuPage County, Illinois, was called to order at the Hubble Middle School, 3S600 Herrick Rd, Warrenville, IL by Board President Brad Paulsen, on Wednesday, August 19, 2020, at 6:00 PM.

ROLL CALL

Upon the roll being called, the following were present:

Board Members:      Brad Paulsen

Chris Crabtree

Susan Booton

Dave Long

Absent: Rob Hanlon

Ginna Ericksen

Jim Mathieson

Also in Attendance:  Dr. Jeff Schuler, Superintendent

Mr. Bill Farley

Dr. Charlie Kyle

Mrs. Erica Loiacono

Mr. Rodney Mack

Mrs. Melissa Murphy

Dr. Chris Silagi

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

President Paulsen led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance.

STATEMENT FROM BOARD PRESIDENT

President Paulsen noted this meeting was scheduled to formally approve the revised school calendar in which the start day for the 2020-21 school year had previously been communicated. This would be the only agenda item for the meeting. Families were encouraged to continue to watch their email box closely for messages from the school district and their individual schools. The Board appreciates everyone’s patience as the teams continue to work through many details and will get out information as fast as possible, while also considering which information needs to be the priority for students and their families.

The community was reminded that specific questions regarding District 200’s Reopening Plans for the 2020-21 school year should be sent to a dedicated email address: communications@cusd200.org.

PUBLIC COMMENTS – Procedures for Public Comments for August 19, 2020

Due to the ongoing pandemic and continued interest in re-opening plans for schools, the Board In accordance with Board Policy 2.230, members of the public who attended in person had the opportunity to make public comments during this meeting.

Community members not attending this meeting in person, and who wanted to provide comments to the Board of Education, had the opportunity to send an email to the Board between the posting of this Agenda and 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19, 2020. All Board Members received and will have read these emails. It was noted on the posted agenda and the website that these emails were to include in the subject line that they were intended for acknowledgement at the August 19, 2020 Board of Education Meeting. These emails were acknowledged, but not read in their entirety, during the meeting and will be placed in the Board Communications Log as a matter of public record.

As with all comments, please be aware that it is the Board’s regular practice, to not directly discuss, ask questions or take action on public comments until the time has been taken to gather adequate information. The Board is there to listen. Lack of action or a direct response following public comments does not imply any lack of interest in what is being shared.

Per Board Policy, the Board allocated 30 minutes for public comments, and comments on any one subject may be limited to 20 minutes. The Board may shorten the time allocation for each person to less than 3 minutes to allow the maximum number of people the opportunity to speak.

In addition, to preserve confidentiality, the Board and its President reserve the right to request that items relating to either personnel or students be provided to the Board privately or in writing for consideration in a future closed session, if necessary.

The Board must protect the civility and decorum of the meeting. The public was reminded to please be respectful for the duties of the Board, our District Leadership Team, and the democratic process in public comment:

- Please include your name and whether you are a resident of the District.

- Please limit your email comments to a length that can be read in 3 minutes.

- Please be factual and courteous, and do not include statements that are personally disrespectful or condescending to members of the Board or staff.

The public was thanked for their understanding of the need for this temporary procedure for the August 19, 2020 meeting and for their interest in providing feedback to the Board of Education.

Speaker:	Amber Brown Harold Lonks
Topic	Reopening Plan Feedback

It was noted the Board had received public comment emails from the following individuals which were acknowledged by Dr. Schuler.

Emails Sent By:	Amy Bowers Kristi Stacey Cara Lockwood Mary Ellen Schwartzhoff
Topic:	Reopening Plan Feedback

ACTION ITEMS

Approval of Revision to the 2020-2021 School Calendar

Based on new guidelines from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), reopening plans needed to be changed and a communication was shared with the community on August 14, 2020.

Based on the new guidance and changes that need to be made to the D200 reopening plans, the 2020-21 school calendar has been adjusted. The proposed start of the school year for students is September 1, 2020. One day of remote planning was pushed to the front end of the calendar, instead of October, so the end of the year is pushed back four days to June 10th. The proposed revised calendar for the 2020-2021 school year was attached to the board agenda.

There was additional information on the following:

 The desire, plan, and goal of the administration and the Board of Education is to get all kids back into our schools.

 The change in plans for Middle and High School students to begin the year in remote learning and the impact on the calendar was not due to a lack of contingency plans, but to logistical challenges that come from shifting from an in-person to a remote learning option.

 There is a lot of information for parents and students that families are anxious for – going to get information out as soon as possible.

 Middle Schools and High Schools will be communicating information out to parents on the pick up of supplies and materials, chromebooks, etc. toward the end of this week.

 Referenced questions regarding changing student breaks/scheduled days off to make up for the later start – the goal is to access as much in-person school as we can, and the belief is moving those days to the back end of the calendar at the end of the year gives the District the greatest likelihood of being able to do that.

There were questions/comments/discussion on the following:

 The imbalance of semester one vs. semester two – thought process?

o Impact on finals at the high school level?

o Impact on AP classes and spring AP exams?

o Teacher input, calendar committee input.

o The difficulty in comparing semesters; uncertainty as to when transition from remote learning to in-person learning will occur.

o Semester transition point – the need to be flexible as we move through the first semester if an adjustment needs to be made.

 No foreseen obstacles as of this meeting to push the start date back from September 1, 2020.

 This calendar is comparable to Naperville School District 203, one of our benchmark districts.

 Coming back to full in-person learning when conditions allow – IDPH metrics dictating when those conditions would allow this to happen.

It was recommended that the Board of Education approve the revised 2020-2021 calendar as presented.

MOTION

Member Crabtree moved, Member Long seconded that the Board of Education approve the revised 2020-2021 calendar as presented. Upon a roll call being taken, the vote was: AYE 4, NAY 0.

The motion carried 4-0.

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION

There being no further business to come before the Board in Open Session, Member Booton moved, Member Crabtree seconded to adjourn the meeting. Upon a voice call being taken, all were in favor and the motion carried 4-0.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:23 PM.

https://www.cusd200.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=22857&dataid=33609&FileName=Minutes_Aug_19_2020.pdf