Oswego Community Unit School District 308 Board of Education met Nov. 14.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
The Board of Education of Community Unit School District 308, Kendall, Kane and Will Counties, Illinois, met in a regular session in the Community Room at Oswego East High School.
Note for file: All roll call votes are shown in alphabetical order in these minutes; however, during the Board Meeting votes are called out in accordance with Board Policy 2:220
1. Call to Order – Executive Session (6:15 p.m.)
The meeting was called to order at 6:20 p.m. by President LaTonya Simelton
1.1 Roll Call:
Upon Roll Call the following members answered present:
Dominick Cirone, Eugene Gatewood, Jared Ploger, LaTonya Simelton
Members Absent (at roll call):
Lauri Doyle, Jennifer Johnson, Alison Swanson
2. Closed Session
2.1 Enter Closed Session under statute(s): 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1) The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of certain employees and individuals; 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(2) Collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives, or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees
A motion was made by Mr. Eugene Gatewood, second by Mr. Jared Ploger, to enter Closed Session under statute(s): 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1) The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of certain employees and individuals; 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(2) Collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives, or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 4-0
Aye: Mr. Dominick Cirone, Mr. Eugene Gatewood, Mr. Jared Ploger, Ms. LaTonya Simelton The Board of Education entered closed session at 6:22 p.m.
2.2 Return to Open Session
A motion was made by Mr. Eugene Gatewood, second by Mr. Jared Ploger, to return to Open Session.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 4-0
Aye: Mr. Dominick Cirone, Mr. Eugene Gatewood, Mr. Ploger, Ms. LaTonya Simelton The Board of Education returned to open session at 7:14 p.m.
3. Call to Order – Public Session (7:15 pm)
The meeting was called to order at 7:20 p.m. by President LaTonya Simelton
3.1 Roll Call:
Upon Roll Call the following members answered present:
Dominick Cirone, Eugene Gatewood, Jared Ploger,
LaTonya Simelton, Alison Swanson
Members Absent (at roll call):
Lauri Doyle, Jennifer Johnson
Administration Present:
Superintendent of Schools, Dr. John Sparlin
Associate Superintendent of Educational Services, Faith Dahlquist
Assistant Superintendent for Student & Staff Services, Dr. Heather Kincaid
Assistant Superintendent for Operations/CSBO, Dr. John Petzke
Director of Communications, Theresa Komitas
Others Present:
Board Attorney Maureen Lemon, Ottosen DiNolfo Hasenbalg and Castaldo, as well as employees of the District and members of the community.
Recording Secretary:
Ursula Studer
3.2 Pledge of Allegiance
Pledge of Allegiance was led by Board President LaTonya Simelton
4. Recognitions
4.1 School Board Member Day
On November 15 of each year, we celebrate School Board Member Day. Over 6,000 people serve on School Boards across the 852 School Districts in Illinois that serve approximately 2 Million students. We thank our Board members for the commitment they have made to our School District, to ensure our students can get the best possible education.
5. Public Comment
5.1 Opportunity for the Public to address the Board of Education
Jessyka Quintero – commented regarding issues her family is experiencing with transportation. She shared that her elementary students so far have either been dropped off or picked up late 19 times. With both parents working, it is very difficult to make arrangements at the last minute when families get notified.
If they arrive home late, they miss their after school activities. The buses are over crowded as well. She asked that a better plan is found very soon.
Ms. Lauri Doyle arrived at 7:25 p.m.
6. Presentation
6.1 State Report Card Data and Improvement Efforts
A summary of the Illinois Report Card data was shared by Associate Superintendent Faith Dahlquist. In SD 308, 13 schools are commendable and 7 are exemplary in summative designation. Data was compared between SD 308 and four neighboring districts (Naperville 204, Plainfield 202, West Aurora 129, Yorkville 115) in student growth rates, district spending, staffing, and student demographics. IAR Reading Data: SD308, like districts around the state, is not at pre-covid levels yet; we are slightly above the state average for “all”. Our growth rates are lower than the state in every demographic group other than Black students.
SAT Key Findings: We score better than all the comparison districts except for 204 in the demographic groups of all, low income, girls, and White students. Our boy/girl opportunity gap is larger than the comparison districts. We score better than the state in all demographic groups other than Asian. IAR Math Data: SD308, like districts around the state, is not at pre-covid levels yet. We are above the state average in all demographic groups other than Asian. We have opportunity gaps with girls scoring lower than boys and Black and Hispanic students scoring lower than White Students. Grade 3 has the highest proficiency. Our growth rates are higher than the state in every demographic group other than Asian.
Math SAT Findings: Our low-income and Asian groups have a lower percentage proficiency than the state. All other demographic groups are higher than the state. We score better than all the comparison districts, except for 204, in the demographic groups of all, non-low income, boys, girls, and White students.
Information was shared on how the district is focused on improving student achievement and scores, along with points from both the literacy and math frameworks. District improvement and design teams are focused on these areas, sharing best practices and expanding staff development. Additional staff, programs and resources have been added within the district for improvement.
o 18 Academic Interventionists
o 5 Instructional Coaches
o Additional Counselors and Social Workers
o Elementary Summer School
o Kindergarten Step Up Program
o Purchased Reading Materials with DEI in mind
The complete presentation on the State Report Card Data and Improvement Efforts, including audio, can be found at the following link: https://go.boarddocs.com/il/oswego308/Board.nsf/vpublic?open
7. Comments/Reports
7.1 Superintendent Report
Fall Athletic Accomplishments:
o 1st time in district history, both the boys and girl’s Cross Country teams from both high schools qualified for the state final. The OEHS girls finished 18th and the OHS girls finished 21st with Audra Soderlind from OHS finishing 19th as an individual. The OEHS Boys finished 15th with Parker Nold finishing 8th as an individual, while the OHS Boys finished 25th.
o OEHS girl’s volleyball team set the school record for the most wins and won the programs 1st ever regional title.
o Girls Swim and Dive Co-op; Katie Malm was the Sectional Champion in diving and advanced to State. The team finished 4th at the Sectional and the following swimmers advanced to State: Chloe Diner, Katie Gresik, Caitlin Stoddard, Maddie Liska, and Juliana Pignato.
o Wednesday, November 16, the second meeting of the Community Advisory Committee at Oswego East from 6-7:30 pm. This committee meeting is open to the public to listen, watch the conversation and dialogue, and participate in public comment.
o Earlier this school year we had a presentation from Mr. Bell and Mr. Frieders on what we are doing to increase safety in our schools. Additional updates were shared.
o At this weekend’s Triple I Conference- admin, students and BOE presenting in Chicago on “Amplifying Student Voice with a Seat at the Board Table”
o Currently in the process of increasing the number of students that are on the Superintendent Student Advisory Committee.
o Dr. Waller and the student coalition presented at the Amplify event that was held on November 3 at OE. The focus of the event was on mental health.
7.2 Board Member Comments
President Simelton shared information about the Board of Education Public Forum which was held last Monday. Board Members sat at tables with staff from different departments. Community members had the opportunity to join a table for 15 minutes before moving on to another station, to discuss specific topics and ask questions. The Board members desire to help grow engagement and interactive 2-way conversation with attendees.
Each Board member then shared a summary of questions and topics from their table. Mr. Ploger and Mr. Cirone shared about their visits to schools recently.
7.3 Board Committee Reports
Equity Committee – English Learners were discussed, multi-lingual enrollment is at 12% (over 2,000 students). Elevated growth in high schools with recent move-in students new to the district and EL programming. The vast majority of SD 308 EL students are born in the US. Multilingualism is an important skill, it provides students growth and opportunities - including deaf, hard of hearing sign language, and in a broad sense, also the language of music or math. Discussion of low enrollment at Boulder Hill for English speaking students in Dual-Language. Growth across the EL programs is causing space issues, a possible 3rd elementary location was discussed. Junior high engagement concerns were also discussed.
7.4 Student Ambassador Reports
Finalized application for the student advisory committee was distributed today, responses are due November 22. Currently the committee includes 7 students, the desire is to increase committee participation in order to best represent the student body. The committee desires exploration of mental health dimensions and how to address them. The expansion of the committee will provide a better understanding. The committee members are preparing for their attendance at the Triple I conference in Chicago, where they will participate in a presentation about student voice.
8. Approval of Consent Agenda
8.1 Approval of Minutes from previous Meetings
8.2 Acknowledgement of Freedom of Information (FOIA) Requests
Mr. Ploger asked about the gap in the numbers assigned to the FOIA’s. Dr. Petzke shared that the FOIA was responded to and the response was added to the website. It was missed adding it to the Board of Education meeting. It is included on today’s report. There might also be a gap due to the amount of time it takes to respond.
A motion was made by Mr. Eugene Gatewood, second by Mr. Dominick Cirone, to approve all items under consent, including 8.1 Minutes from the Board of Education meeting on October 24, 2022, open and closed session; the Special Closed Session meeting on October 25, 2022; the Board of Education Public Forum on November 7, 2022 and 8.2, to acknowledge the FOIA requests received by the District.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 6-0
Aye: Mr. Dominick Cirone, Ms. Lauri Doyle, Mr. Eugene Gatewood,
Mr. Jared Ploger, Ms. LaTonya Simelton, Ms. Alison Swanson
8. Information
9.1 Financial Statements
There were no questions on the Financial Statements
9.2 Cyber Security Contract
Brent Kiger and Kevin McDonald, Directors of Technology, shared a presentation on Cyber Security. Cyber-security has always been a concern in education, however; there has been a dramatic increase in attacks to the educational sector over the last few years. Not only have they increased in frequency, but also in complexity and variety. The typical security measures of anti-virus software and firewalls aren’t enough to adequately protect any dynamic environment. A security plan has to be built in layers that address prevention, education, preparedness, detection, and response. The directors recommend that the district enter into a contract with Sentinel Technologies Inc. and Darktrace to provide a Security Operations Center (SOC) and a software/hardware solution that will help monitor, detect, analyze, and respond to any threats needing attention.
The SOC will provide 24/7/365 monitoring and alerting with human intervention when a threat is detected. If a threat is found, they will alert the district and help triage the situation. If needed, they would also be able to come onsite to assist with recovery at a discounted hourly rate. Having this service would expedite response and recovery times if anything were to happen since they would be familiar with the district’s internal infrastructure.
The complete presentation on the Cyber Security Contract, including audio, can be found at the following link: https://go.boarddocs.com/il/oswego308/Board.nsf/vpublic?open
9.3 Vendor and Contract Reports
Dr. Petzke shared an updated list of Vendors and Contracts for the 2022-23 school year representing a cost, or accumulated cost, of $20,000 and higher. This updated list includes 74 contractual agreements and 140 vendors for a total cost representing $75,764,640. Keep in mind that this total may be representative of multi-year contracts. The categories were added as well.
The Finance department will be monitoring purchases and communicating our purchasing practices with district and building administrators. While we may use several different vendors, our focus is ultimately obtaining the best purchase price, and ensuring vendors have the product in stock. Mr. Ploger asked about Outsourcing and for more information to be provided at a future Board meeting. It has been done for nurses before, but this is the first year for TA’s.
The Board members would like to see some additional information on this report and Mr. Gatewood and Dr. Petzke will work on this together.
Mr. Ploger asked to vote on the Personnel report at this time.
A motion was made by Mr. Jared Ploger, second by Ms. Alison Swanson, to vote on agenda item 10.5 – Personnel report.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 6-0
Aye: Mr. Dominick Cirone, Ms. Lauri Doyle, Mr. Eugene Gatewood,
Mr. Jared Ploger, Ms. LaTonya Simelton, Ms. Alison Swanson
Mr. Ploger commented on the pay that our TA’s are receiving and discussed what we are currently outsourcing. Somehow this has to be adjusted, because the way it’s handled now is costing us money.
10.5 Approval of Personnel Report
A motion was made by Mr. Eugene Gatewood, second by Mr. Jared Ploger, to approve the Personnel report as presented
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 5-1
Aye: Mr. Dominick Cirone, Ms. Lauri Doyle, Mr. Eugene Gatewood,
Mr. Jared Ploger, Ms. LaTonya Simelton,
Nay: Ms. Alison Swanson
9.4 Resolution for Property Tax Appeal Interventions
This resolution allows the Assistant Superintendent of Operations/CSBO the authority to determine which appeals warrant intervention before the Kendall, Kane, and Will County Boards of Review and the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, and authorizes and directs Whitt Law LLC to file Requests to Intervene in such appeals as directed by the Assistant Superintendent of Operations/CSBO on the School District's behalf and to represent the Board of Education. Further, the Board of Education delegates to its Assistant Superintendent of Operations/CSBO the authority to take such actions as are necessary and in the best interests of the School District in those proceedings, including but not limited to hiring an appraiser, engaging in settlement negotiations, settling such proceedings, or preparing for and participating in administrative hearing(s), upon the advice of counsel. A specific law firm was listed to intervene and represent the district. After some discussion, the Board asked for the firm to be removed from the resolution at this time.
9.5 2022 Tax Levy
Taxing bodies in Illinois must adopt and file their tax levies by the last Tuesday in December. In order to comply with Truth in Taxation a taxing body must estimate the tentative levy, calculate the percentage increase over the previous year's tax extension and if in excess of five percent (5.0%) of the previous year's extension, and conduct a public hearing prior to final adoption. Due to the CPI being 5%, the 2022 tax levy represents a 9.58% increase over the prior year extension of $110,798,402. While requesting $121,407,687, out of the 9.58%, 5.0% represents the CPI (Consumer Price Index) and the remaining 4.58% is an estimate based on the new construction estimates of $20 million. Since the new construction amount is not known at the time of levy, overestimating these values captures all the dollars from the new construction if an unforeseen increase in EAV occurs.
The 2022 levy is the amount the District has requested. The final amount the district will collect (extension) is calculated in March or April of 2023. In the spring of 2023, when final equalized assessed valuation and new construction figures are known, the county clerks’ offices will determine tax rates and extensions of the taxes levied within the constraints of the school district’s tax rate limitations and the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL).
The complete presentation on the Tax Levy, including audio, can be found at the following link: https://go.boarddocs.com/il/oswego308/Board.nsf/vpublic?open
9.6 Student Information System
On July 20th, SD 308 received notification that the current Student Information System (SIS) - Tyler SIS will no longer be supported starting in the 2023 - 2024 school year. In order to know the most important components to a new SIS, a staff survey was conducted with 561 responses across several employee roles. A multi-disciplinary team of 52 individuals was formed to interview potential vendors and demo products, the vendors were Infinite Campus, Power School, Skyward and Synergy. At the December 5th Board of Education meeting, a recommendation for vendor choice will be presented. Migration of student information and data must start as soon as possible in order to be ready for implementation in Summer 2023. School and district staff training for implementation of new SIS will begin in Spring 2023.
10. Action Items
10.1 Approval of Bills for Payment
A motion was made by Mr. Eugene Gatewood, second by Mr. Dominick Cirone, to authorize the payment of bills in the amount of five million, three hundred twenty-nine thousand, four hundred sixty-eight dollars and thirty-two cents ($5,329,468.32) as presented
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 5-0-1
Aye: Mr. Dominick Cirone, Ms. Lauri Doyle, Mr. Eugene Gatewood,
Ms. LaTonya Simelton, Ms. Alison Swanson
Abstain: Mr. Jared Ploger
10.2 Policies Second Read and Approval: Section 2: School Board (2:260, 2:265) Section 4: Operational Services (4:60, 4:140) Section 5: General Personnel (5:10, 5:20) Section 7: Students (7:20)
A motion was made by Mr. Eugene Gatewood, second by Mr. Jared Ploger, to approve the following Board Policies: Section 2: School Board (2:260, 2:265) Section 4: Operational Services (4:60, 4:140) Section 5: General Personnel (5:10, 5:20) Section 7: Students (7:20)
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 6-0
Aye: Mr. Dominick Cirone, Ms. Lauri Doyle, Mr. Eugene Gatewood,
Mr. Jared Ploger, Ms. LaTonya Simelton, Ms. Alison Swanson
10.3 Approval of Fuel Bid for Transportation
A motion was made by Mr. Eugene Gatewood, second by Mr. Dominick Cirone, to approve a three year Diesel/Fuel contract for Transportation with Petroleum Traders Corporation, Fort Wayne, IN
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 6-0
Aye: Mr. Dominick Cirone, Ms. Lauri Doyle, Mr. Eugene Gatewood,
Mr. Jared Ploger, Ms. LaTonya Simelton, Ms. Alison Swanson
10.4 Approval of Building Administrator Contract
A motion was made by Mr. Eugene Gatewood, second by Mr. Jared Ploger, to approve the Building Administrator contract as presents
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 6-0
Aye: Mr. Dominick Cirone, Ms. Lauri Doyle, Mr. Eugene Gatewood
Mr. Jared Ploger, Ms. LaTonya Simelton, Ms. Alison Swanson
10.5 Approval of Personnel Report – approved after informational item 9.3 Final Resolution: Motion Carried 5-1
Aye: Mr. Dominick Cirone, Ms. Lauri Doyle, Mr. Eugene Gatewood,
Mr. Jared Ploger, Ms. LaTonya Simelton,
Nay: Ms. Alison Swanson
11. Adjournment
11.1 Adjourn
A motion was made by Mr. Eugene Gatewood, second by Mr. Dominick Cirone, to adjourn.
All were in favor unanimously to adjourn.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 6-0
Aye: Mr. Dominick Cirone, Ms. Lauri Doyle, Mr. Eugene Gatewood,
Mr. Jared Ploger, Ms. LaTonya Simelton, Ms. Alison Swanson
Meeting Adjourned at 10:46 p.m.
https://www.sd308.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=9932&dataid=77481&FileName=11.14.22%20Board%20Meeting%20Minutes.pdf
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