News from the February 22nd Board of Education Meeting:

In his “Good News” report, Superintendent Gillum noted the following:

·         ISBE Certificates of Recognition were given to building Principals and Superintendent Gillum. These certificates acknowledge that the schools and district are in compliance with state mandates.

·         Chatham Elementary School’s garden was highlighted in the national publication, “Weekly Reader”.
To  view the article, click
http://www.boarddocs.com/il/cusd5/Board.nsf/files/82SN965ECA50/$file/weekly+reader.pdf

·         Chatham Elementary has earned an Academic Excellence Award - 2009 Illinois Honor Roll by the Illinois State Board of Education.

·         Superintendent Gillum along with Board President Mark Bartolozzi, and board members Mike Falter and Linda Carter, will present “Strategically Connecting to the Community" at the Abe Lincoln Division meeting on March 4, 2010 in Cerro Gordo, Ill.

·         The National Conference on Education proved eventful in other ways for Superintendent Gillum. During the annual meeting of the Century Club 100, Gillum was elected to membership of this most prestigious honorary educational organization. Active organizational membership in the Century Club 100 is limited to two superintendents from each state. They facilitate a cross-country exchange of ideas and foster educational leadership.

Old Business
The Board heard from the building principals, and teachers Bob Cox, Mike Wisniewski and Peggy Pratt, regarding recent updates to their school improvement initiatives (specifically IPI data). They explained IPI’s primary and secondary purposes, and specifically noted findings on student engagement  garnered from Instructional Practices  Inventory events which occurred between October through February. The principals detailed how they were utilizing the Gretchen Courtney Group’s literacy recommendations in their respective schools. 

New Business
The Intergovernmental Agreement between the Village of Chatham and the Ball-Chatham School District was approved by Board members.

The BOE approved the 1% sales tax resolution, helping to pave the way toward readying the resolution for the Sangamon County Board to place on a future ballot. All estimates and forecasts from the proposed sales tax continue to show Ball-Chatham revenue to be near the $3 million per year threshold. This revenue source can only be used for infrastructure and/or bond abatement. Board members expressed support that this type of retail sales tax would eliminate the need to bond any new construction against property taxes.  Superintendent Gillum stated that the County Sales Facilities Tax is the only new source of revenue the state has made available.  He further noted that even in these turbulent economic times the sales tax receipts for Sangamon County have only declined 3.41% in a year when other revenues and receipts have experienced double digit declines. This is a stable revenue source long term.

Dr. McArdle, Interim CS BO, presented the FY2010 Cash Flow Analysis as requested by Superintendent Gillum. Details included a comparison of revenue and expenditures by month thus far along with projected expenditures and revenues for the rest of this school year. McArdle projects a $1 mil. deficit by the end of the school year, even though the district is within its set budget parameters. The projected deficit is what the State of Illinois will owe the Ball-Chatham School District by the conclusion of this school year.  In addition, McArdle presented a budget scenario with State’s foundation level staying current versus a likely declining foundation level. If the latter comes to fruition, the district could lose $2.2 mil. in revenues for the 2010-2011 school year. 

Superintendent Gillum discussed the FY2011 Budget Forecast  with the Board, and presented a list  of potential cost saving recommendations (Tier 1) that would save the district approximately $3.4 mil.  A few of the items on the list include: eliminating bus purchases (one year moratorium – cost savings, $417,107),  delaying implementation of one to one computer options (cost savings, $416,000), eliminating the paper District Bulletin and emailing a digital link only (cost savings, $40,000), eliminating the district’s Pre-K Program (special education pre-school excluded) until a secure funding source is available (cost savings, $298, 705), increasing student registration fees by $20 and increasing athletic fees (amount not known at this time), and delaying hardware rollover (cost savings, $750,000). Gillum explained that at this tier, K-12 classroom instruction and teachers are not affected.

The scope of work recommended by the Facilities Action Teams was presented in detail at the Operations meeting. Since that time, Facilities staff members have worked in-house to frame the projects by fund eligibility, building scope, potential timeline, cost and funding solution. Dave Murphy, Director of Facilities and Grounds, along with Superintendent Gillum, presented the  findings to the Board. Board members discussed the projects and their potential funding, and directed administration to apply for Health Life/Safety bonds up to $10 mil.  to pay for needed repairs and also take advantage of the Build America Bond program’s 35% interest reimbursement incentive.  The full list of the capital projects can be viewed at http://www.boarddocs.com/il/cusd5/Board.nsf/files/82WLAR55A6B6/$file/Capital+Projects+Fy+10-13.pdf

The recommendation to pursue a performance contract for lighting renovation work is on hold until the March 10 Board meeting. The timing of this recommendation is scheduled to coincide with the published timetable that was specified in the RFP (Request for Proposal).

Finally, the Board set a tentative date of March 20, 2010 for their annual Board Retreat.
 

_____________________________

 

 

 

 

BCSD Website Translation
Spanish	Russian	Chinese	Japanese
Translation provided by Google.  District 5 provides this external link to our website for the convenience of non-English readers.  Other languages can be found on the Google Translation website.  BCSD #5 is not responsible for any errors or impropriety in the translation.