South West Illinois News

Alsip Hazelgreen Oaklawn School District 126 Board of Education met Oct. 12.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

The Board and audience stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

ROLL CALL

The Roll was called.

Present: Marigrace Sinnott-Snooks, President

Joe LaChica, Vice President

Lori Pierce, Secretary

Muna Conley

Harry Tannehill

Jennifer Warrick

Absent: Therese Zaker

Also Present: Craig Gwaltney, Superintendent

Steve Gress, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations

Lori Connolly, Director of Teaching and Learning

Robert Condon, Director of Special Education

Nicole Leggett, Bilingual Director

INTERFUND TRANSFER

Harry Tannehill moved, seconded by Muna Conley, "To open the Public Hearing on the Interfund Transfers as duly advertised." Upon roll call, the vote was as follows: Aye: Sinnott-Snooks, LaChica, Tannehill, Conley, Warrick. Nay: none. The motion carried 6-0.

There were no questions/statements or positions from the Audience or Board.

Joe LaChica moved, seconded by Harry Tannehill, "To close the Public Hearing on the Interfund Transfer." Upon roll call, the vote was as follows: Aye: Warrick, Sinnott-Snooks, Tannehill, Conley, LaChica. Nay: none. The motion carried 6-0.

FINANCIAL

Disclosure of Cash Balances by Fund

Jennifer Warrick moved, seconded by Joe LaChica, "To adopt the Resolution Providing for the 2023 Tax Levy." Upon roll call, the vote was as follows: Aye: Conley, Power, LaChica, Sinnott-Snooks, Tannehill. Nay: none. The motion carried 6-0.

Harry Tannehill moved, seconded by Jennifer Warrick, "To adopt the Resolution Providing for the 2023 Levy for Working Cash Fund." Upon roll call, the vote was as follows: Aye: Sinnott-Snooks, LaChica, Tannehill, Conley, Pierce, Warrick. Nay: none. The motion carried 6-0.

Harry Tannehill moved, seconded by Jennifer Warrick, "To adopt the Resolution Allocating Tax Levy to Individual Funds of the District - Property Tax Extension Limitation Law, as amended." Upon roll call, the vote was as follows: Aye: Conley, Power, LaChica, Sinnott-Snooks, Tannehill. Nay: none. The motion carried 6-0.

Jennifer Warrick moved, seconded by Joe LaChica, "To adopt the Certification of Compliance with the Truth in Taxation Law." Upon roll call, the vote was as follows: Aye: Pierce, Sinnott-Snooks, LaChica, Tannehill, Conley, Warrick. Nay: none. The motion carried 6-0.

Harry Tannehill moved, seconded by Muna Conley, "To adopt the Resolution Authorizing Interfund Transfer from Education Fund to the Operations and Maintenance Fund." Upon roll call, the vote was as follows: Aye: Warrick, Conley, Pierce, LaChica, Sinnott- Snooks, Tannehill. Nay: none. The motion carried 6-0.

Joe LaChica moved, seconded by Harry Tannehill, "To adopt the Resolution Authorizing Interfund Transfer from Education Fund to the Tort Fund." Upon roll call, the vote was as follows: Aye: Pierce, Tannehill, Conley, Warrick, LaChica, Sinnott-Snooks. Nay: none. The motion carried 6-0.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Jennifer Warrick moved, seconded by Muna Conley, "To approve the minutes of the September 14, 2023, Committee of the Whole Meeting." Upon roll call, the vote was as follows: Aye: LaChica, Conley, Tannehill, Warrick, Pierce, Sinnott-Snooks. Nay: none. Abstain: The motion carried 6-0.

Harry Tannehill moved, seconded by Joe LaChica, "To approve the minutes of the September 14, 2023, Board Meeting." Upon roll call, the vote was as follows: Aye: Warrick, Conley, Sinnott-Snooks, Pierce, LaChica, Tannehill. Nay: none. Abstain: none. The motion carried 6-0.

CONSENT AGENDA

Harry Tannehill moved, seconded by Muna Conley, "To approve the Consent Agenda." Upon roll call, the vote was as follows: Aye: Tannehill, Sinnott-Snooks, Conley, LaChica, Pierce, Warrick. Nay: none. The motion carried 6-0.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

Steve Gress stated that we received FOIA requests from SmartProcure and Painters District Council #14 Chicago this month and we responded to them within the proper length of time.

EDUCATIONAL REPORT

Lori Connolly informed the board about Bernie's Book Bank Mobile. They delivered a set of 8 books to all our students in grades K-6 at each of our elementary schools. Faculty and our students are so fortunate to have this opportunity and we look forward to continuing this partnership with Bernie's Book Bank students provided much positive feedback. We had many parents express their gratitude as well. Prairie is currently on the waiting list and our EC Center signed up with Bernie's as well.

Students and staff participated in Rock Your School. Each school chose a different theme for the day. The teachers and staff did a fantastic job!!! Since having Hope and Wade King present as keynote speakers at our district's opening institute day back in 2021, our district has participated in their organization's Rock Your School event. This year, it was held on September 29, 2023. Once again, our elementary teachers nailed it! The school-based themes this year were Disney, On the Farm, and Fall. There were so many creative ideas throughout the district making the day a unique day of learning for all of our K-6 students. The Rock Your School event is for the school to come together and engage in an educational day filled with fun and learning.

Lori spoke about the ESL Department transitioning from a pull out model to a co-teaching model of support for students. This model of instruction invites the content and language teachers to co-plan and co-teach in order to help English Learners access content and develop their language skills. The district is consulting with Dr. Joan Lachance, Associate Professor of Teaching English as a Second Language from University of North Carolina at Charlotte, co-author of the National Dual Language Education Teacher Preparation Standards, and co-author of the book, Collaboration and Co-Teaching for Dual Language Learners.

Lastly, Lori reported on the fall NWEA results. The fall NWEA (MAP) results reflect that the students are near or above the national RIT for the start of the year. The results represent all of our students, including English language learners, special education learners, and our two-way immersion students. Below is a comparison of our students' growth from Fall of 2022 to this Fall 2023. It shows where the cohort of students at each grade level currently compares to the grade level projected growth. There is no growth data for first grade students because they do not take the MAP assessment in kindergarten, so a full year of growth cannot be measured. While we continue to see some skills being impacted from COVID, this data demonstrates our students are closing the gaps resulting from COVID and are continuing to make progress.

OLD BUSINESS

Craig updated the board on the construction project at Prairie Junior High. He stated that construction is almost complete with just few punch list items left to complete.

ADJOURNMENT

Therese Zaker moved, seconded by Lori Pierce, "To adjourn the meeting". Upon roll call, the vote is as follows: Aye: Sinnott- Snooks, LaChica, Tannehill, Warrick, Conley, Nay: None. The motion carried 6 at 7:26 p.m.

https://www.dist126.org/boe/board-minutes-and-agendas-archive