Beardstown Community Unified School District 15 Board met Oct. 21.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
CALL TO ORDER
The Board of Education Community Unit No. 15, Beardstown, IL was called to order by President Mike Seaman at 7:00 p.m. in Beardstown Middle/High library 500 East 15th Street, Beardstown, IL. Pledge of allegiance. Kim Watson called the roll with the following members present: Jimmy Hymes, Barbara Hobrock, Joe Engelbrecht, Kim Watson, Wells Petersen, OJ Simpson, and Mike Seaman. Also in attendance were Ron Gilbert and Kelly Herter.
2020-2021 Budget Hearing: Mr. Gilbert gave his report on the 2020-2021 budget.
On a motion by Simpson, second by Petersen to adopt the 2020-2021 budget. Roll call vote Hymes-yes; Hobrock-yes; Engelbrecht-yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes.
On a motion by Hymes, second by Hobrock to approve the 2020 abatement of the 2005 and 2010 QZAB bonds. Roll call vote Hymes-yes; Hobrock-yes; Engelbrecht-yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes.
ADJOURN
On a motion by Hymes, second by Hobrock to adjourn the budget hearing. Time 7:07 p.m.
The Board of Education Community Unit No. 15, Beardstown, IL was called to order on October 21, 2020 by President Mike Seaman at 7:00 p.m. in Beardstown Middle/High library 500 East 15th Street, Beardstown, IL. Pledge of allegiance. Kim Watson called the roll with the following members present: Jimmy Hymes, Barbara Hobrock, Joe Engelbrecht, Kim Watson, Wells Petersen, OJ Simpson, and Mike Seaman. Also in attendance were Ron Gilbert and Kelly Herter.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS-None
ADMINISTRATORS REPORT:
Bill Myers-FFA trunk or treat Friday night 6:30-8:30 in the HS parking lot.
Matt Klett-None
Tammee Petersen-None
David Scott-None
Lori Young-None
Denise Wittler-None
Lauren Smith-None
Jim Childers-None
Ann Chilton-Thermometers on the buses. Other school districts don’t take temps on buses; some use a ticket to get on a bus. Mr. Gilbert has also contacted other districts. He feels we are being very pro-active.
Robbi Howard-Should hear on 10-28-20 about winter sports from the IHSA. Masks and spectators will be discussed. Ron Gilbert-Petitions are available at the Board Office. The district has sent out flyers about being a substitute teacher, to get more substitutes for the district. Inspire/Read/Teach the Golden Apple Accelerators program for teaching career. He reported on the new Wi-Fi installed at Gard. There have been several programs purchased for the district.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
Return to School Plan Building level discussions: Administrators have met to get feedback and input for a back to school plan. Bill Myers met as an admin team. We want what is best for our kids and community. The administrative team brought the plan of coming back. K-6 are slated to come back with all students 4 days a week and a shortened schedule on Nov. 30th. The 7th -12th graders will adjust to the new schedule on Nov. 30th. Right now, the plan has 7th-12th graders coming back in January and the possibility of that changing, and possibly coming back with everyone 4 days a week later in the year as we continue to learn and adapt to our current plan. Barbara Hobrock stated the focus isn’t to get everyone back in the building but to make them better. Seaman-We need to work together. Myers state this is going to make us better.
Lori Young-Prek 8 kids per classroom. Four year olds and high risk students. 66% to where our typical amount is. Not bringing any more three year olds in. Wrote an extra grant GEERS extra funds for our remote students. Teachers have been putting together activities for them to do at home. Teachers are supporting those. 8:00-1:30 for Gard students. Meeting biweekly with teachers. Brought back 26 remote students. Goal to support our staff. Train a teacher that would work 12.5 hours a week to work with the remote students. We can’t come back before November 16th. Recess schedule needs to be worked out. Suggested a possibility of After Thanksgiving on the 30th. 76% of our student body would be in person four days a week. Huge issue is recess. Not able to do that at this time. The kids need time to move around and be a kid.
Gilbert-Back of the plan to reconfigure. Rather than closing the whole district. Number of cases and the location. Closing wings or classes. What is the maximum number of people out to call school off? A lot of unknowns and changes. What is best for the kids? Once we get going there will be some changes to be made.
Hobrock-Communications to let all the parents about what is going on?
Hymes-How are we going to keep from letting a sick child in? Young-Our attendance person and nurse are doing excellent.
MOU MS/HS School Nurse-Raising the pay for school nurse to $25.00 an hour. States it is through this school year. Will the MOU carry over to the negotiations?
Replacement of the 90-ton condenser unit in the HS. Two bids were submitted and a third bid was submitted late. The board reserves the right to deny all bids. We need to get the best product. We will need to repost it. Take bids up to November.
MOU hire full time subs. Idea behind it is create a position in the contract for long term subs. Subs will be considered floaters. The fear is to create something that puts someone in a better position than someone that has already been in the district.
Hymes-We can’t fill other spots how will be fill those positions.
Becky Stock-Talking about the safety of the kids or the well being of the kids. What about the staff? Do you think you need to take a poll?
Simpson-If you have a class of 15 kids on Monday and 15 kids on Tuesday? How is that different then having 30 kids every day?
Simpson- We all have to work and there is risk involved.
Riddle-34 voted that didn’t feel safe. Some that would with guidelines. We are a district that is short staffed. People who cry who love their job who now hate their job. It is very difficult when you can’t help them. Individuals leaving to teach somewhere else. We are so at each other that we are pushing into a position that they are comfortable with. Why don’t we have the technology to support live streaming?
Gilbert-We have the technology to do this.
ACTION ITEMS.
On a motion by Watson, second by Hymes to approve consent agenda 1, 2, 3, and 4. Roll call vote Hymes-yes; Hobrock- yes; Engelbrecht-yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes.
On a motion by Watson, second by Hymes to table the approval of the replacement of the 90-ton condenser unit at the High School. Roll call vote Hymes-yes; Hobrock-yes; Engelbrecht-yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes.
On a motion by Engelbrecht, second by Petersen to approve the fiscal year 2020-2021 tax levy. Roll call vote Hymes- yes; Hobrock-yes; Engelbrecht-yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes.
On a motion by Watson, second by Simpson to approve the MOU for MS/HS Nurse. Roll call vote Hymes-no; Hobrock- yes; Engelbrecht-yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes.
On a motion by Hobrock, second by Watson to approve the 2020-2021 teacher classroom budgets at $200.00. Roll call vote Hymes-yes; Hobrock-yes; Engelbrecht-yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes.
On a motion by Hobrock, second by Watson to approve the early graduation of the list of students as presented for the 2020-2021 school year. Watson asked if these students will meet the graduation requirements. Most will meet the graduation requirements. The others might not but they wanted get their name approved. Roll call vote Hymes-yes; Hobrock-yes; Engelbrecht-yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes.
On a motion by Hymes, second by Petersen to enter closed session to discuss litigation, land acquisition, negotiations, student disciplinary cases, and to consider information regarding the appointment, employment, or dismissal of an employee or officer. Roll call vote Hymes-yes; Hobrock-yes; Engelbrecht-yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes. Time 8:26p.m.
On a motion by Hymes, second by Hobrock to re enter open session. Roll call vote Hymes-yes; Hobrock-yes; Engelbrecht-yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes. Time 9:40 p.m.
PERSONNEL
On a motion by Watson, second by Engelbrecht to table hiring Kathy Pate as long term sub the following:
On a motion by Hymes, second by Petersen to employ Yennie Chaidez-Transfer from Daycare to Paraprofessional-Gard Elementary; Cody Chrzanowski-Paraprofessional-Gard Elementary. Roll call vote Hymes-yes; Hobrock-yes; Engelbrecht- yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes.
On a motion by Hymes, second by Petersen to employ the following coaches: Ryan Herridge-JV Baseball; Chad Grimm (pending ASEP certification)-MS/HS Wrestling; and Dustin Zima-Boys MS Track. Roll call vote Hymes-yes; Hobrock-yes; Engelbrecht-yes; Watson-yes; Petersen-yes; Simpson-yes; Seaman-yes.
DISCUSSION-Set personnel meeting on October 29th , 6:00; Special Board meeting at 7:30 p.m. Technology on November 4th 6:00 p.m.
ADJOURN:
On a motion by Hobrock, second by Hymes to adjourn. Time 10:00p.m.
https://www.beardstown.com/vimages/shared/vnews/stories/5f6a26fbc8059/Minutes%20October%2021%202020.pdf
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