Community Unit School District 200 Board of Education met Nov. 12.
Here are 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 Wheaton Park District Community Center (Memorial Room), 1777 S. Blanchard St., Wheaton, IL, by Board President Chris Crabtree at 7:59 AM. Local legislators were present at the meeting to discuss issues surrounding public education with local government officials who represent the school district.
ROLL CALL
Upon the roll being called, the following were present:
Board Members: Chris Crabtree
Dave Long
Susan Booton
Brad Paulsen
Mary Yeboah
Absent: Rob Hanlon
Angela Blatner
CUSD200 Staff: Jeff Schuler – Superintendent of Schools
Charlie Kyle – Asst. Superintendent of Administrative Services
Erica Loiacono – Director of Community Engagement & Communications
Melissa Murphy – Asst. Superintendent of Educational Services
Brian O’Keeffe – Asst. Superintendent of Business Services
Chris Silagi – Asst. Superintendent of Student Services
Jason Spencer – Executive Director of Innovation & Technology
Elected Officials: Betsy Adamowski – Wheaton Public Library Director
Candice Adams – DuPage County Clerk of the Circuit Court
Vickie Austin – Wheaton Chamber of Commerce President
Mike Benard – Wheaton Park District Executive Director
Robert Berlin – DuPage County State’s Attorney
Erica Bray-Parker – City of Wheaton Councilwoman
David Brummel – City of Warrenville Mayor
John Coakley – City of Warrenville Administrator
Terra Costa Howard – State Representative - 48th District
Kevin Dahlstrand – City of Warrenville Director of Finance
Michael Dzugan – City of Wheaton Manager
Grant Eckhoff – DuPage County Board Member
Suzanne Fitch - City of Wheaton Councilwoman
Bob Frey – Wheaton Park District - President
Miriam Jones – Carol Stream Chamber of Commerce Director
Richard A. Jorgensen – DuPage County Coroner
Marty Keller – Milton Township Community Emergency Response Team
Chris LeVan – Milton Township Assessor
Don Longacre – Village of Winfield Trustee
Steve Massie – Winfield Park District - President
Terry Mee – Wheaton Park District Commissioner
Laurie Metanchuk – Wheaton Public Library Board President
John Monino – Milton Township Supervisor
Ray Morrill – Wheaton Park District Commissioner
Debra Piscola – Village of Winfield Trustee
Tim Reinbold – Warrenville Park District Executive Director
Sheila Rutledge – DuPage County Board Member
Carl Sorgatz – Village of Winfield President
Phil Suess – City of Wheaton Mayor
John Vires – Wheaton Park District Commissioner
Donna Wandke – Chief of Staff to State Rep. Janet Yang Rohr
Scott Weller – City of Wheaton Councilman
Sandy Whitmer – Warrenville Public Library Director
Colin Wilkie – Warrenville Park District - President
Janet Yang Rohr – State Representative – 41st District
MOTION
Member Paulsen moved, Member Booton, seconded to suspend the rules and adjourn to a workshop setting. Upon a roll call vote being taken the vote was: AYE 5, NAY 0. The motion carried 5-0.
Welcome and Program
Dr. Schuler welcomed all and thanked everyone for joining today and noted the collaboration and work that is being done together to provide services and support around the communities. All those present introduced themselves and the areas they represent.
Dr. Schuler and members of the District 200 Senior Leadership Team shared information on the District 200 profile, finance and facilities overview, and the Portrait of a Graduate initiative, which included the following:
∙ The District 200 “Connect With Us” card – provides all of the ways to connect and follow the School District. All were encouraged to share the card with someone in the community.
∙ The District profile is updated annually and contains information on:
o Communities Served
o Students – enrollment and demographics
o Facilities – total number and by level
o Staff – licensed, retention, master’s or higher
o Finance – budget, fund balance, S&P bond rating, operating cost per student o Student Opportunities – graduate numbers and rate, clubs and athletics, AP classes, college (2 or 4 years), national merit finalists
o Technology Center of DuPage (TCD) - a proud partnership
o Vision for Learning
o Social-Emotional Learning
o Parent Workshops
o Facilities Infrastructure Improvements
∙ Thankful for the guidance and direction of the Board of Education – allowed the District to accomplish goals due to managing of finances.
∙ Expanding AP and Dual Credit Class opportunities for students – the link between this and future success.
∙ Significant increase in technology – application of learning taken to the level that students need.
∙ Noted new Naperville development – bringing new students to the District.
∙ Finance highlights: the 12th consecutive year of running a balanced budget; financial recognition designation from the State Board of Education for the last five years, S&P bond rating at AA+; fund balance 35%; operating expense per student is second-lowest among five other benchmark districts; debt service continues to drop.
∙ Facilities highlights: capital facilities work spending by year and location from 2018 through projected spending in 2022; the 2017 Master Facilities Plan projects – completed, in progress, and projects not started (middle school work).
∙ The academic side of the District – intentional focus for this year and heavy emphasis on learning acceleration plan.
∙ Federal dollars - $14 million in federal relief to be used in 3 fiscal years- supported technology that needed to be brought into schools, maintained lower class sizes in elementary, and brought significant resources in math and reading, through interventions/coaching.
∙ Shifting of resources due to pandemic and establishment of Virtual Academy – new assignments at the start of the 2020-21 school year.
∙ Elementary students had the opportunity to be in school every day during 2020-21.
∙ Career pathways initiative – helping high school students to think about what they want to do, intentional of how we help students figure this out before getting off to college; every student should have the opportunity to have hands-on experience with their interests; noted the Business Incubator program at the HS level.
∙ Portrait of a Graduate (POG) journey– what are the skills we want our students to possess when they leave the District? The impact of the pandemic on the journey.
∙ POG initiative - why do it?; characteristics desired and how to get our students there when they leave us; the correlation to the end of the Vision 2022 strategic plan and working on a new strategic plan this winter; will drive future efforts, programming and work going forward; POG timeline and design team.
∙ Provided the QR code to the group to provide feedback on the POG initiative, as the input is valuable to the District.
Dr. Schuler thanked all present for being partners with the District 200 and working closely in the last challenging 18 months.
There was a comment on the following:
∙ Recognition of a recent rating of the City of Wheaton as the 3rd best city within their size parameters. Specific criteria for the ranking included quality of education, as well as health and recreation. A shout-out was given to District 200, the library, and the park district, all of which helped the city obtain that ranking.
Dr. Schuler and President Crabtree thanked everyone for attending and sharing.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None
MOTION
There being no further business to come before the Board in Open Session, Member Booton moved, Member Paulsen, seconded to adjourn the meeting. Upon a voice call vote being taken, all were in favor and the motion carried 5-0.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:46 AM.
https://www.cusd200.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=22857&dataid=36045&FileName=Minutes%20Nov%2012%20spec%20mtg%20with%20local%20officials.pdf
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