Coal City Community Unit School District #1

Board of Education Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

President Hamilton called the meeting of the Board of Education of Coal City Community Unit School District #1 to order at 6:30 p.m. at the Coal City Middle School Community Room. Members answering roll call were Armand Bianchi, Mary Gill, Curtis Grove, Mark Jiskra, Ken Miller, Robert Pogliano and Shawn Hamilton. Superintendent Kent Bugg, Director of Business Services Jason Smith, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Tammy Elledge and Karen Vota were also in attendance. Other members in the audience included Michael Piper and representatives of the press Ann Gill and Josette Twait.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

President Hamilton led the Board of Education and others present in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

CLOSED SESSION

Mr. Bianchi moved and Mr. Jiskra seconded to go to closed session at 6:30 p.m. for the purpose of considering information regarding the review of closed session minutes; the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees; collective negotiating matters, land acquisition, and imminent litigation.

Ayes: Armand Bianchi, Mary Gill, Curtis Grove, Mark Jiskra, Ken Miller, Robert Pogliano, Shawn Hamilton

Nays:

Motion Carried.

When the Board returned to open session, President Hamilton called the regular meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. with the Board members answering roll call present: Armand Bianchi, Mary Gill, Curtis Grove, Mark Jiskra, Ken Miller, Robert Pogliano and Shawn Hamilton.

ACTION AS A RESULT OF CLOSED SESSION

1. Mr. Pogliano moved and Ms. Gill seconded to approve the employment of Katie-Lynn Ludes as Reading Specialist at the Middle and High Schools for the 2009-2010 school year, pending satisfactory completion of all state requirements.

Roll Call.

Ayes: Robert Pogliano, Mary Gill, Armand Bianchi, Curtis Grove, Mark Jiskra, Ken Miller, Shawn Hamilton

Nays:

Motion Carried.

2. Mr. Grove moved and Mr. Jiskra seconded to approve the employment of Shannon McVay as a 2 hour per day lunchroom supervisor at the Early Childhood Center, pending satisfactory completion of all state requirements.

Roll Call.

Ayes: Curtis Grove, Mark Jiskra, Armand Bianchi, Mary Gill, Ken Miller, Robert Pogliano, Shawn Hamilton

Nays:

Motion Carried.

3, Mr. Miller moved and Ms. Gill seconded to approve the transfer of Steven McCleary from Intermediate and Middle School PE teacher, to Intermediate School PE teacher for the 2009-2010 school year.

Roll Call.

Ayes: Ken Miller, Mary Gill, Armand Bianchi, Curtis Grove, Mark Jiskra, Robert Pogliano, Shawn Hamilton

Nays:

Motion Carried.

APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA

Ms. Gill moved and Mr. Miller seconded to approve the consent agenda including the minutes and closed session minutes from the regular meeting of January 20, the Board Study Session of the Whole of February 2, the December Activity Fund Reports; December Treasurer’s Report, the January Monthly Manual Checks report; the January Payrolls, the February Accounts Payable and the following building usage request:

Group Building Ins. Date

Dan Budde IS No (Waiver) Feb-April, 2009

Coal City Youth Baseball IS Yes Feb. 17 & 26, 2009

Faith Baptist Church MS No (Waivers) Feb-March, 2009

Coal City Youth Baseball MS Yes Feb-March, 2009

Major School of Dance HS Yes June 10-13, 2009

Roll call.

Ayes: Mary Gill, Ken Miller, Armand Bianchi, Curtis Grove, Mark Jiskra, Robert Pogliano, Shawn Hamilton

Nays:

Motion Carried.

NOTICES AND COMMUNICATIONS

1.  Introduction/acknowledgement of guests. President Hamilton welcomed those in attendance.

2.  Principal Patti Monk organized the February Board presentation. “Specials” staff members Amy Gernenz, Ann Kodat and Todd Painter were present to demonstrate some of the skills that ECC students have attained during their classes. The following students from the Early Childhood Center were present to “show what they know”: Keaira Williams, John Majesky, Griffin Johnson, Alex Gernenz, Gabe Ludes, Keegan Johnson, Cameron Lander, Tessa Brancato, Abbey Connor, Olivia Tjelle, Keegan Crater, Zennon Shain, Tyson Spencer, and Madison Emerson.

ADMINISTRATORS' REPORTS

A. EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER REPORT

Calendar of Events

February 5, 19, 26—Becoming a Love and Logic Parent, Part 2, 3, & 4

Fine Arts Festival—February 8

February 12 & 13—Parent Conferences

February 11—First session of Special Education Annual Reviews

February 19—RTI student meeting

February 21—Grundy County Early Learning Screening at ECC—8:00 AM to noon

Personnel

·  Patti Gens, Nancy DeAngelo, and Rene McLuckie attended the Early Literacy conference sponsored by Illinois Reading Recovery. They will also attend continued training for Reading Recovery at the end of February.

·  Tricia Togliatti, Marianne Alberico, and Kathy VanDuyne attended a conference for “Skill Building to Help Students Become Better Readers”.

·  Kim Haab and Amy Aichele visited a classroom in Joliet that is set up for the “Daily 5”. This is a management system to help children stay on task during literacy centers. They are currently doing research on how to create areas of learning in their classroom that are meaningful for learning.

·  Todd Painter and Pam Vigna will attend the state RTI conference. This is made possible through funding from the Title One Grant.

Pupil Personnel

Students from the Early Childhood Center will “show what they know” at the February meeting. “Specials” staff members will be present to demonstrate some of the skills that ECC students have attained during their classes.

The added benefit for ECC students and staff is that enough specials were created to allow a thirty minute block of time for regular teaching staff to give extra teaching and learning time to those students who struggle. Our assessments show the benefits.

Guidance Curriculum

Student contacts during
the month of January
Responsive Services / 62
Guidance Curriculum / K -150 + 150 + 150
1st – 160 +160+160
Total = 930
Social Worker activities planned for the month of February
Responsive Services
·  Continue Social Skills Groups
·  Individual student caseload is increasing
Guidance Curriculum
·  Second Step
System Support
·  Bi-monthly Student Services meeting

Kailee Marketti, MS Social Work Intern, will be helping me out with some Second Step lessons and social skills groups.

Student Achievement

The results from the DIBELS assessment, is now available for staff to evaluate. Some of the assessments have fall tests to compare. Some of the assessments are introduced during the mid-year benchmarking.

KINDERGARTEN

INITIAL / SOUND / FLUENCY
deficit / emerging / establ
2% / 48% / 50%
LETTER / NAMING / FLUENCY
at risk / Some risk / low risk
2% / 11% / 87%
PHONEME / SEGMENTATION / FLUENCY
At risk / Some risk / Low risk
4% / 7% / 89%
NONSENSE / WORD / FLUENCY
At risk / Some risk / Low risk
2% / 8% / 90%
FIRST GRADE
PHONEME / SEGMENTATION / FLUENCY
deficit / emerging / established
1% / 3% / 96%
NONSENSE / WORD / FLUENCY
deficit / emerging / established
8% / 42% / 50%
ORAL / READING / FLUENCY
at risk / some / low risk
4% / 10% / 86%

Staff Recognition

Staff has created rules for working together. A representative culture committee took all the input from staff collected since December and put it into a document. This was given to staff during a February meeting. This now exists as our “Rules of Engagement.” Three areas have been identified; General Communication, Between Team Communication, and Within Team Communication. Goals and action plans have been addressed at each area.

This document will be reviewed as needed to promote clear communication between and within teams. Calendars can now be seen posted at key places in the ECC building.

Parenting Opportunity

The ECC began a parenting class called, “Becoming a Love and Logic Parent” on January 29. The first session, brought in 6 parents to participate in the program. The second session, February 5, added a new member. Positive feedback has been heard so far for program content. There are four more sessions. Participants who attend the six sessions receive a certificate of participation.

This program has been provided by a Unit #1 Foundation grant.

B. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL REPORT

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

February 2 Board Study Session

February 3 PSO Meeting – 6:30pm – CCES

February 4 100th Day of School

3rd Quarter Midterm

February 9 LLT – CCMS – 5:30pm

February 12 11:45am EARLY DISMISSAL

Staff Development Day

Parent/Teacher Conferences – 4:00-8:00pm

February 13 NO SCHOOL for Students

Parent/Teacher Conferences – 9:00-1:00 (8:00-9:00am by appointment)

February 16 NO SCHOOL – President’s Day

February 17 RTI Day at CCES

Board of Education Meeting – 7:00pm – CCMS

February 19 K. Miller/T. Johnson to Small College Job Fair – Oakbrook Terrace

February 20 PSO 2nd Grade Dad’s Night Out – 6:00pm

February 27 PSO 3rd Grade Dad’s Night Out – 6:00pm

Grade / Teacher / Males / Females / Total / Special Needs
Second / Hausman / 11 / 10 / 21
Kaye / 9 / 11 / 20
Masters / 12 / 9 / 21
Petersen / 10 / 11 / 21
Provance / 10 / 10 / 20
Rutkowski / 8 / 12 / 20 / 1 f, 1 m
Terrel / 8 / 12 / 20 / 1 f, 1 m
Vironda / 11 / 10 / 21
Total / 2nd = / 79 / 85 / 164
Third / Adkins / 10 / 9 / 19 / 1 f, 2 m
Bernstein / 10 / 11 / 21
Doster / 11 / 8 / 19 / 2 f, 1 m
Feeney / 10 / 10 / 20
Hanley / 11 / 9 / 20
Skubic / 11 / 9 / 20
Watson / 8 / 11 / 19
Zafran / 8 / 11 / 19
Total / 3rd = / 79 / 78 / 157
SN = 2nd/3rd / Cuchra / 5 / 5 / 10
Grand Total / 163 / 168 / 331

PERSONNEL

*Jody Jackson has been employed as a one on one aide position at CCES. Jody is working with our new Chinese student and supporting him in the classroom and around the building. Jody was previously a reading aide at CCES

Sue Hancock has joined the staff of CCES as a reading aide to replace Jody Jackson. She was working in the district as a lunchroom supervisor at the ECC.

STAFF RECOGNITION

*On January 5, I made a presentation to the Board of Education on the proposed Evaluation Tool for Certified Staff Members. The new Evaluation Plan was completed by the District Evaluation Committee with the assistance of Dr. Don Kachur of IL State University. The plan took a year and a half to develop and was the result of staff and administration working together. The plan is a combination of Charlotte Danielson’s Evaluation process and the IL Professional Teaching Standards. With the completion of the plan, the next step is to give adoption by the school board and the teacher’s union. After receiving approval from the board and the union, the administration will begin planning a training program that will help implement the new evaluation tool and develop reliability and validity among the administration. I would like to recognize the staff members and administration that helped with the development of this plan.

Staff Administration

Pam Vigna – ECC Tammy Elledge

Kris Shipla – ECC Kent Bugg

Jackie Larson – MS Ken Miller

Dean Vigna – HS Travis Johnson

Greg Wills – HS

*The District Title I Plan has been approved the Illinois State Board of Education. and have sent it to the State IIRC website for final approval.

*On January 5, the Coal City District held a Teacher Institute day for all the teachers in the district. Dr. Bugg spoke at the district breakfast and updated the district on events affecting the whole district. At CCES, we held a brief faculty meeting to discuss building issues and then teachers continued work on grade level and special area formal assessment review, curriculum and assessment validation and curriculum planning. Teaches also had time to complete any final grading activities for the first semester and prepared for report cards to be distributed.

*On January 27, I attended a workshop that featured Michael Fullan and the process of making change in schools. The workshop was very good and focused on the change process and the steps needed to ensure that effective and lasting change happens when developing new initiatives. The workshop also provided time to discuss with other educators and administrators about making changes in your own building or district. The workshop was sponsored by the Midwest Principals Center.

MONTH IN REVIEW

*On January 6, PSO held their annual monthly meeting. Items discussed at the meeting included the updating of PSO’s by-laws, Dad’s Night Out activities, the election process for new officers and upcoming events sponsored by PSO.

*On January 6, Dandy the Dog visited the students of CCES to discuss what Dandy does for the Coal City School District. Dandy visited students in their health classes. More information on Dandy’s visit can be found at http://www.coalcity.k12.il.us/cces/spotlights/dandy/index.htm.

* On Friday, January 9, 2nd quarter report cards were sent home with the CCES students.

*On January 14, LLT meet at the Coal City Methodist Church.

*On January 19, students observed Martin Luther King’s birthday.