01-28-03

• Agenda Additions and/or Deletions

It was recommended that the Board of Education delete Item VII C. from the agenda as there were no expulsions being presented.

A motion was made by Mr. Jim Gremanis and seconded by Ms. Margie Mejia-Caraballo to delete Item VII. C. Student Expulsions from the Agenda. A voice vote was called showing all members present voting "Aye". No "Nay" votes being cast, the President declared the motion carried.

• Approve Agenda

A motion was made by Mr. Jim Gremanis and seconded by Mr. Bill Cleaver to approve the agenda as presented. A voice vote was called showing all members present voting "Aye". No "Nay" votes being cast, the President declared the motion carried.

• Blanket Motion

VII. A.     That the Board of Education approve Board Policy 2452 - No Child Left Behind Act - School Choice Requirements.

VII. B.     That the Board of Education approve the Hearing Officer job description.
 
VIII. A.     That the Board of Education approve a resolution to close out the 1993/1996 Defeased Bond Escrow account into the Operations and Maintenance Fund.
 
VIII. B.     That the Board of Education approve the quarterly investment report, for the quarter ending December 31, 2002.

VIII. C.     That the Board of Education approve the December financial statements.

VIII. D.    That the Board of Education authorize the Bills for Payment dated January 17, 2003.

IX. A.     That the Board of Education approve the following Non-Certified Appointments:

Dinah Lohmeier - Secretary, Thurgood Marshall Learning Center, salary $9,448.12 based on 94.5 days with a base salary of $20,096.00.
Margo E. Harmon - Secretary - Lincoln Elementary School, salary $9,148.18 based on 91.5 days with a base salary of $20,096.
Danny R. Adams - Truck driver, part-time, District, with a salary of $14.18 per hour.

    X.    That the Board of Education approve the Executive Session I and II Minutes of January 14, 2003 and that they be kept on file as confidential.

A motion was made by Mr. Jim Gremanis and seconded by Mr. Bill Cleaver to approve the blanket motion as presented. A roll call vote was called showing all members present voting "Aye". No "Nay" votes being cast, the President declared the motion carried.

Rock Island-Milan Board of Education Regular Meeting    January 28, 2003

Education - Status of District Library Services

Mr. Bruce Bufe thanked Ms. Deb DePaepe for her hard work in putting the report together and her hard work in the libraries at the elementary schools. Mr. Bufe stated that the District must answer the question of how we desire our libraries to be utilized, staffed and material selection. He explained the importance of the libraries in student achievement. The rich adequate and professionally staffed library is crucial for students to be good life-long readers.

He presented a power point presentation to the Board of Education. He explained that the more children are able to obtain library books to entice them to read, the more they will read. Libraries and librarians should be a good source for reading materials for all students. There is a need to increase access to books for students. He shared statistics showing that the better the libraries, the better the students performed. Frequent silent reading in the classroom is better for students to improve. Large adequately staffed and number of books and use of materials positively correlated with greater student achievement.

Ms. Deb DePaepe shared a status report of the District's elementary libraries. She reviewed the number of materials available at each building. There are discrepancies in the elementaries. The age of the collections are averaging from 1975 to 1989. The average collection age should not be more than 20 years old. Our district libraries do not meet the standard average. Grant is not included as they lost all of the computer data for the buildings.

The Board asked several questions of Ms. DePaepe and Mr. Bufe. Ms. DePaepe stated that several Title I buildings have invested many materials since this report was completed. Also, many buildings have conducted a fairly extensive weeding program. Old, worn and outdated materials were discarded from the libraries. Additional weeding needs to occur in some libraries.

Ms. DePaepe explained the District has gotten to this juncture by changes over the years. She said that 25 years ago, a full-time librarian went to each building one day per week and the libraries were staffed with two para-paraprofessionals. Now there is only one part-time para-professional in each building. The para-professionals are not adequately trained. The District on average provides $700-$800 per buildings to purchase books. There were years when no books were purchased as computer technology was placed into the District. The current funding does not go very far. 35 to 70 books are purchased per year. When damaged and lost materials are removed, there is a net gain 5 books.

Mr. Bufe concluded that he feels the District needs to increase the number of books and lower the average age of the collections in each library. Also, to increase the time para-professionals work in the buildings. He provided a position paper from the International Reading Association.
 
Ms. Gay reported that the week before last she visited Frances Willard. During the visit the students were doing accelerated reader or accelerated math. The students were very excited.

Ms. McDevitt appreciated the opportunity to see the data. Glad that we are tracking the data, even though we are behind. Ms. Gay inquired about hard copy of encyclopedia versus the Internet or software. Ms. DePaepe said that it is not the same as using a book.

A copy of the report presented to the Board is filed with the official minutes of the meeting.

Education - School Improvement Plans Reports

Dr. Markward made copies of the seven pages mentioned in the report for the Board Members.

Rock Island-Milan Board of Education Regular Meeting    January 28, 2003

Mr. Darryl Taylor, Principal, Grant Elementary School, reviewed some of the programs that the school has implemented to improve student achievement. The School selected the America's Choice school reform model. The choice was made after a study lasting more than one year.  This model is in line with State requirements and District requirements. It focuses on English/language arts. The school has a primary literacy coach and intermediate literacy coach. The Principal receives training and networking opportunities to improve instruction. It is a "train the trainer" model. The literacy coaches model and train all other staff on effective instruction models. Currently the staff is focusing on readers workshop. They will be moving to math as a focus area.

Effective staff training is provided during the school day. Twice per week, staff members are released for two hours for training. The first hour they view modeling of lessons by literacy coaches. The second hour they debrief what they saw. The next day they teach the lesson. A meeting is held to debrief their experience.

Additional means of support include the Educators in Residence and Regional Office of Education. The REA grant allowed the school to put books in the hands of students. Many partners are assisting in helping students, Blackhawk State Bank, 1st Congregational Church and RSVP. The Illinois State Board of Education may provide additional assistance through funding a grant to have a staff member assist in social studies, science, arts and other curricular areas.

To continue extra supports the building has applied for a Reading First grant. If the grant is approved, it will continue to fund the America­s Choice program. They have also applied for a 21st Century grant. These funds will expand the before, during and after school program offerings for the students. Used survey results of students, staff and community to drive future direction. Also, use multiple assessments to analyze movement.

Mr. Cleaver commended Mr. Taylor and his staff for their efforts in educating the students at Grant. He inquired about what the biggest impediment to advance the performance of students. Mr. Taylor stated that the students come with many needs. The staff constantly looks for new ways to continue to have commitment and support for all students to be successful. They also scramble to provide the necessary resources to implement these programs. They attempt to develop all students through knowledge of where they are when they come to the school. They must have sustained effort to see improvement in performance. They must be flexible to accept ever-changing strategies and programs to meet the ever-changing student needs.

It was moved by Mr. Jim Gremanis and seconded by Mr. Bill Cleaver that the Board of Education approve the Grant Elementary School Improvement Plan as presented. A voice vote was taken showing all present voting "Aye". The President declared the motion carried.

Mr. Bill Osborne, Principal, Longfellow Elementary School, echoed Mr. Taylor's comments on how hard the District staff is working. As a follow up to last year, this year have Longfellow is pleased to have Augustana College as a business partner. 45-50 employees of Augustana College assist students every week.

Ms. McDevitt commented that the 3rd grade scores were great. She questioned the test scores for writing. It seems they do not align with ISAT and District writing assessments. Mr. Osborne said the ISAT prompt was difficult for students to answer. A brief discussion occurred about the differences in the prompts. Ms. McDevitt commented on the last statement that students are improving as the school's demographics are rapidly changing.

Ms. Gay commended Mr. Osborne and his staff for the variety of the music at the Holiday program. 
Rock Island-Milan Board of Education Regular Meeting    January 28, 2003

It was moved by Mr. Jim Gremanis and seconded by Ms. Margie Mejia-Caraballo that the Board of Education approve the Longfellow Elementary School Improvement Plan as presented. A voice vote was taken showing all present voting "Aye". The President declared the motion carried.

Education - German American Partnership Proposal

Ms. McDevitt shared a concern regarding providing credit for the program. Since she has been on the Board, there have been questions about credit and weighting of classes. She thought it should be dis-cussed prior to voting on the proposal. Dr. Snyder said the classes were not weighted.

Ms. McDevitt also inquired about any consideration given if third or fourth year credit based on differentiated requirements for each course. Mr. Rehder said they would work out the criteria to be used to grant credit, then will give to Board.

Ms. McDevitt said that the document had language saying the program may ask the Education Foundation for scholarships for students who could not fund the program. She stated that the Foundation typically does not fund this type of activity, but provides scholarships for staff.
 
It was moved by Ms. Sue McDevitt and seconded by Mr. Jim Gremanis that the Board of Education approve the German American Partnership Proposal as presented. A voice vote was taken showing all present voting "Aye". The President declared the motion carried.

Education - Study Table Report

Mr. Bob Swanson provided a handout to the Board showing the results of a survey taken by the students attending the study table sessions. He summarized the findings. There are 237 students participating in winter sports. 93% are getting better than a 2.0 standard. The remaining 7% are below the 2.0 but eligible by IHSA standards. He went through some of the demographics of the study table and history of the program.

Mr. Swanson stated that the vast majority thought the study table was very helpful or somewhat helpful to improve their grades. They also answered 64% that the study table makes them work harder to get good grades. 74% work harder to get out of attending study tables. It is difficult to pin down the purpose of the study table. There seems to be ambiguity of its purpose when it was implemented. He requested that Board assist administration in defining the purpose of the study table program.

Mr. Swanson said that there are now English teachers in the study table. Soon they will have math teachers available. Mr. Ressler is a retired science teacher. The administration wants the assistance to be proactive in the approach to students. He has explained to the students their role in the study tables. He recommended that the Board continue study table program and 2.0 rule. It will be reviewed again. If changes are deemed necessary, they will come back to the Board. He would further recommend that we enforce this program for all extra-curricular activities. If not, change the program to state that it pertains only to athletics.

If funding is available will continue to provide additional certified teacher support. If additional funds are available it would be worth consideration to extend the program in the afternoon or evenings. Some students have viable reasons why they cannot attend in the morning.

The Board may wish to expand to all activities outside normal school academics such as: homecoming court, color guard, and other such activities. Finally, he recommends continued monitoring and future reporting to the Board.
Rock Island-Milan Board of Education Regular Meeting    January 28, 2003

Mr. Cleaver asked about two statistics on attendance and actual measures of improvement. Mr. Swanson said that they have seen students get out of study table after second grading period grades were released. The difficulty is that sports seasons do not align with course schedules due to the switch in semesters. In order to be counted present, the students need to be there 5 minutes after bell rings. Need to be there to end of period. They can go meet with their teachers, but need to show evidence of meeting with the teacher.

Mr. Gremanis asked if any consideration was given to the student going to the teacher directly to get to the grade improved. Dr. Snyder stated that they have not implemented that. They have provided certified teachers in the room and want to see how that will work prior to changing.

Ms. Mejia-Caraballo asked if there is a statistic on number of repeat students. She would like to see this statistic. Mr. Swanson said there are not a lot of repeaters. 4-5 kids tend to be repeaters. They are in the 1.5-2.0 area and seem to hang there. Not sure they are not trying.

Executive Session

It was moved by Mr. Jim Gremanis and seconded by Ms. Margie Mejia-Caraballo that the Board of Education move to Executive Session to discuss acquisition of property, security, employment of personnel, and evaluation of administrators. A roll call vote was taken showing all present voting "Aye". The President declared the motion carried.

The Board entered Executive Session at 7:50 p.m.

Return to Open Session

It as moved by Mr. Bill Cleaver and seconded by Ms. Margie Mejia-Caraballo that the Board of Education return to open session. A voice vote was taken showing all present voting "Aye".  The President declared the motion passed.

Board returned from Executive Session at 10:00 p.m.

Adjournment

There being no further business to be conducted, the Board of Education adjourned at 10:02 p.m.

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