South West Illinois News

Addison School District 4 Board of Education met July 17.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

President Williams called the regular meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.

Roll call showed the following individuals:

PRESENT: Bollig, Castillo, Frangidakis, Lange, Ruffolo, Triantafillos, Williams

ABSENT: None

A quorum was declared present.

Dr. Lohse led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Motion #1: Approval of Minutes

Motion by Mr. Lange, second by Ms. Bollig to approve the Minutes of the Regular and Closed Session meetings of June 26, 2024.

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYE: Bollig, Castillo, Frangidakis, Lange, Ruffolo, Triantafillos, Williams

ABSENT: None

NAY: None…Motion #1 Carried.

Motion #2: Approval of Accounts Payable for the Month of July 2024

Motion by Mr. Ruffolo, second by Mr. Lange to approve the Accounts Payable for July 2024.

Education Fund $ 875,452.43

Operations & Maintenance Fund $ 161,904.75

Debt Fund $ 0.00

Transportation Fund $ 131,877.05

Capital Projects Fund $3,190,259.48

Working Cash Fund $ 0.00

Student Activity $ 582.57

Total $4,360,076.28

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYE: Castillo, Frangidakis, Lange, Ruffolo, Triantafillos, Williams, Bollig

ABSENT: None

NAY: None…Motion #2 Carried.

Motion #3: Approval of Payroll for the Month of June 2024

Motion by Mr. Ruffolo, second by Mr. Lange to approve the Payroll for June 2023, as follows:

Education Fund $7,782,910.55

Building Fund $ 46,278.83

Transportation Fund $ 6,943.96

IMRF/SS Fund $ 131,191.81

Total $ 7,967,325.15

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYE: Frangidakis, Lange, Ruffolo, Triantafillos, Williams, Bollig, Castillo

ABSENT: None

NAY: None…Motion #3 Carried.

Communications/Public Participation on Agenda Items: None

Presentation: Update on Strategic Plan Goals – Dr. Sutton

• Dr. Sutton reviewed the Strategic Plan Goals that were placed last year. By the end of year 1, the Climate, Culture, and Voice goal was to have consistent behavioral expectations and a district-wide data collection and review process developed. Dr. Sutton was pleased to inform everyone that this goal was accomplished this year. For the next two years, the goal is that consistent behavioral expectations will be fully implemented, and behavioral data will be analyzed to identify trends. In terms of Instruction, Dr. Sutton had placed the goal of having instructional sequence guides created for core content areas by the end of year one. Having met the goal this year, the goal for the next two years is to develop common assessments and grading practices in alignment with sequence guides.

Tentative Budget FY 25 – Mrs. Morgese

• Mrs. Morgese presented on the Tentative Budget for the Fiscal Year of 2025. Mrs. Morgese reviewed the legal requirements for budget adoption – one being that the Tentative Budget must be on public display for at least 30 days. Mrs. Morgese would like to have this budget on display in August. An overview of Revenues and Expenditures was also shared. It was mentioned that funds from Operations and Maintenance were transferred over to the Transportation Fund since there were more expenses pulled from that fund – however, this did not change the overall budget. Mrs. Morgese informed everyone that the greatest expense does come from salaries and benefits. Some budget highlights for this year are that students will be receiving free supplies, free meals, and there is continued support of Instructional Technology. In terms of Facilities, there is a new lighting system that is being implemented throughout the District and Long Range Capital Improvement Plans continue.

Mr. Frangidakis asked a question regarding free lunches and school supplies. Mrs. Morgese responded that the state provides this and the school will be refunded by the state.

Committee Reports:

Finance Committee Meeting of July 8, 2024 Report – Ms. Bollig reported on the following:

• The budget committee met on July 8th, where Ms. Morgese presented an overview of the FY24 YTD financials. In great news, we are tracking to hit a deficit of $6 million this year while we had originally budgeted for a deficit of $7.8 million. This is primarily the result of more grant funding being received than planned.

• In terms of the planned deficit spending for FY24, and what was just presented to you for FY25, this follows many years of the board saving up funds to invest in the many capital improvement projects that we are now undergoing and that B&G reports out on. The finance committee will continue to carefully monitor this spending each year to ensure we are making necessary improvements, but also keeping a healthy amount of reserve funds in place.

• The committee discussed a few other items as it related to spending in the upcoming year and managing our costs as efficiently as possible – one example of that is looking at our phone system. The committee encouraged continued focus on items such as these, especially where we can both improve the quality of service we’re getting while better managing cost.

Buildings and Grounds Committee Meeting of July 10, 2024, Report – Mr. Ruffolo reported on the following:

• There are plans to replace the HVAC system and lighting in Lincoln Elementary School in the future.

• Another school that is planning to have work done in the future is Wesley Elementary School. There will

be construction made to their innovation center and main office and will have their 2 HVAC units replaced in the gym.

• Another district-wide goal that is being worked on is securing preventative maintenance for HVAC in all the schools.

Administrative Reports:

Superintendent’s Report – Dr. Sutton reported on the following:

• My new administrative team and I met July 9 and July 10 to discuss upcoming tasks, information, and goals for the upcoming school year. We remain focused on working towards our shared vision, and improving student achievement for the students we are here to serve. The next step related to this will be for principals to present their school improvement plans at the August board meeting, and to continue communicating the positive gains we have made.

• On Tuesday, June 25 my administrative team and I participated in group training based upon the leadership traits demonstrated through the television series “Ted Lasso.” It was honestly one of the most thought provoking and enjoyable group training sessions I can recall lately. It correlated many positive attributes he demonstrates into actionable recommendations within the positions we all have.

• Our upcoming Institute days are quickly approaching. I can assure everyone that our administrative team is working hard to ensure a successful and smooth start of the school year. I am particularly excited for the keynote speaker this school year, and the message he will convey about the evolution of the field of public education.

• Recently, our District has been working through a necessary upgrade with our student information system, Skyward. I mention this because it has been quite an undertaking that has impacted functionality with both staff and students. I immensely appreciate all who are involved during this transition and ask for continued patience as we navigate this with our stakeholders.

• There were three FOIAs and Dr. Lohse has responded.

Mr. Ruffolo inquired about the new Skyward updates and what the difficulty has been. Dr. Sutton explained that the system is like learning a whole new program and it has a been a learning curve.

Mrs. Morgese added that much of the information that was in the old system did not get transferred into the updated system which has meant starting over with things such as permissions and payroll. Ms. Bollig wondered if Skyward is providing any level of support with this.

Mrs. Morgese highlights that there has been some support from Skyward but not as much as is needed.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Report – Mrs. Morgese shared the following with the Board:

• Organic Life has hired a Food Service Director for ASD4 who will be working 12 months. So, we should not have an issue with the start of the school year with the new company.

• Our custodial teams continue to detail clean classrooms and address high-trafficked areas throughout the district. They also are ready to start tackling construction spaces as they become available so they may prepare them for the start of the school year.

• Our team has been working this past month on closing out FY24 and preparing for the upcoming school year. We are all learning and navigating the upgraded software system.

Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning Report – Dr. Purse shared her report with the Board:

• We are finalizing our institute days for August 12th-14th. We will meet as a district on the first day and hear from Dr. Sutton about our progress with our D4 Vision and Goals. We are also fortunate to have a keynote speaker, Joseph Fatheree, here to speak with us about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what staff need to know about implications for education. Over the three days, staff will have the opportunity to review D4 Pacing Guides to ensure alignment across grade levels and understand building-based school improvement plans and action items. Principals will also review building safety plans and back to school procedures.

• Our elementary math committee and early adopter group will participate in training with a Curriculum and Associates person to learn how to launch the I-Ready Mathematics Curriculum. These pioneers will work alongside our math curriculum coordinator to create pacing guides, redefine our math instructional practices and routines, and understand the comprehensive assessment and data system it will offer us. The pioneers include not only committee members, but also their teammates. We have more than 35 staff from both general and special education roles in this pioneer group.

• Throughout the spring and summer, our EL Resource staff and other members of the Multilingual Department have been screening students who indicated during registration that another language is spoken in their home. The Kindergarten Language Screening determines a student’s placement and what services they shall receive. In addition to this, Ms. Jimenez is working to determine student placement in our two-way dual classrooms across the district. Parents who are choosing this enrichment option will be notified soon if their child is enrolled in our two-way dual immersion program for next school year. Principals and their staff are gearing up for K Camp which begins on July 29th. During that week, they will host parent orientation meetings and deploy student Chromebooks. In addition to this, we have partnered with APPLE to bring in experts that week who will share information with parents on getting their child ready to start kindergarten.

• New staff will be trained on all curricular materials during the first weeks in August. Members of both the Teaching & Learning Department as well as our Student Services Department will provide a profile of the students we serve, our work on improving overall student outcomes in the last year, and their role in continuing this progress moving forward.

Ms. Bollig had a question about the interest of the Dual Language program in all the schools. Ms. Purse shared that there is a handful of interest in every school.

Motion #4: Approval of Personnel Report

Motion by Mr. Ruffolo, second by Mr. Frangidakis to approve the Personnel Report for the following individuals:

LICENSED STAFF- EMPLOYMENT

Ashley Aparicio      Effective Date: 08/12/2024 

Position: Dual Language Kindergarten      School: Lake Park

John Cossio      Effective Date: 08/12/2024 

Position: 3rd Grade Dual Language School: Army Trail

Sarah Kesseler      Effective Date: 08/12/2024 

Position: 4th Grade      School: Lake Park

Karla Koehne      Effective Date: 08/12/2024 

Position: LDR      School: Fullerton

Janae Small      Effective Date: 08/12/2024 

Position: 2nd Grade      School: Fullerton

Guadalupe Vallejo      Effective Date: 08/12/2024 

Position: Dual Language School: Indian Trail

LICENSED STAFF- RESIGNATION

Michelle Cada      Effective Date: 05/30/2024 

Position: LD Resource      School: Army Trail

Renato Guerrero      Effective Date: 05/30/2024 

Position: 2ⁿᵈ Grade Dual Language      School: Lincoln

Kaitlin Spice      Effective Date: 05/30/2024 

Position: LD Resource      School: Fullerton

LICENSED STAFF – RETIREMENT

Maria Romero      Effective Date: 05/28/2025 

Position: 1st Grade Dual Language      School: Army Trail

ESP STAFF – EMPLOYMENT

Anthony Stravropoulos      Effective Date: 08/01/2024 

Position: Facilities Level 2 Technician      School: District Office

LEAVE OF ABSENCE – LICENSED STAFF

Kara Dohman     Dates: 07/15/2024-07/26/2024 

Position: Principal      School: Ardmore

LEAVE OF ABSENCE – ESP STAFF

Kali Placencio      Dates: 08/12/2024-11/06/2024 

Position: Paraprofessional      School: Stone

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYE: Lange, Ruffolo, Triantafillos, Williams, Bollig, Castillo, Frangidakis

ABSENT: None

NAY: None…Motion #4 Carried.

Motion #5: Approval of Hazardous Crossings within District 4 Boundaries for 2024-2025 Motion by Mr. Lange, second by Mr. Frangidakis to approve the Hazardous Crossings within District 4 Boundaries for 2024-2025, as presented.

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYE: Ruffolo, Triantafillos, Williams, Bollig, Castillo, Frangidakis, Lange

ABSENT: None

NAY: None…Motion #5 Carried.

Mr. Ruffolo asked what crosswalks are considered within the boundaries. Dr. Sutton explained there is certain criteria that a crosswalk must check to be considered.

Motion #6: Approval of Placing the Tentative Fiscal Year 2025 Budget on Display

Motion by Mr. Ruffolo, second by Mr. Lange to approve the placement of the Tentative Fiscal Year 2025 Budget on Display, as presented.

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYE: Triantafillos, Williams, Bollig, Castillo, Frangidakis, Lange, Ruffolo

ABSENT: None

NAY: None…Motion #6 Carried.

Motion #7: Approval of the Appointment of Special Conflict Counsel Regarding Potential Action Related to the Termination of the Intergovernmental Agreement with the Addison Park District Motion by Mr. Frangidakis, second by Ms. Bollig to approve the Appointment of Special Conflict Counsel Regarding Potential Action Related to the Termination of the Intergovernmental Agreement with the Addison Park District, as presented.

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYE: Williams, Bollig, Castillo, Frangidakis, Lange, Ruffolo, Triantafillos

ABSENT: None

NAY: None…Motion #7 Carried.

Discussion Items:

• The next Regular Board of Education Meeting is on Wednesday, August 21, 2024 at 6:00pm in the Indian Trail Board Room.

• The Addison-Medinah Shriners Parade will be held on Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 3:00pm on Army Trail Road starting at ATHS and ending at Indian Trail.

• Information will go out in August for this year’s Citizens’ Advisory Committee (CAC), so the list can be approved at the September Board meeting.

• Dr. Sutton shared information on a potential D88 Intergovernmental Agreement & Grant opportunities.

• First Day of School for Students:

o 1st through 8th grade - Thursday, August 15, 2024

o Kindergarten - Thursday, August 15, 2024

o Early Childhood/Preschool - Thursday, August 22, 2024

• Dr. Sutton shared more on the District E-Learning Plan.

• Dr. Lohse shared the first reading of Board Policy Updates.

• There were no Communications To and From the Board.

Communication/Public Participation of Non-Agenda Items: None

Miscellaneous/Unfinished Business: None

Motion #8: Motion to Adjourn

Motion by Mr. Lange, second by Ms. Bollig to adjourn the Wednesday, July 17, 2024, Board of Education meeting.

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYE: Bollig, Castillo, Frangidakis, Lange, Ruffolo, Triantafillos, Williams

ABSENT: None

NAY: None…Motion #8 Carried.

The regular Board of Education meeting adjourned at 5:44 p.m.

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