South West Illinois News

Aledo Community Unit School District 201 Board of Education met Feb. 11.

Here is the agenda provided by the board:

CALL TO ORDER

On February 11, 2025 at 6:33 p.m. Vice-President Conover called to order the regular meeting of the Community Unit School District 201 Board of Education.

Roll Call

Members Present: Whitney Rogers, Jessica Radogno, Angela Steketee, Kevin Marren, Leah Conover

Members Absent: Adina Hoover, Carlos Hevia

Also present: Superintendent Jack Baldermann , and the Superintendent’s Administrative Assistant, Shannon Cossairt.

Pledge of Allegiance

Vice-President Conover led the Assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

January 28, 2025

Motion by Mr. Steketee, second by Mr. Marren, to approve the minutes of the January 28, 2025, regular meeting of the Board of Education, as presented.

Ayes: Rogers, Radogno, Steketee, Marren, Conover

Nays: None.

Motion Carried.

January 28, 2025 - Closed

Motion by Ms. Radogno, second by Ms. Rogers, to approve the minutes of the closed session of the January 28, 2025, regular meeting of the Board of Education, as presented.

Ayes: Rogers, Radogno, Steketee, Marren, Conover

Nays: None

Motion Carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Public comment given by Ryan Wild.

CONSENT AGENDA

Motion by Ms. Radogno, second by Mr. Marren, to approve the consent agenda as presented:

1. Personnel Recommendations:

● Audrey Evans, Long Term Sub, WJHS Dual Language

● Retirements

● Resignations

2. Student Tour Requests - WHS and WJHS

Ayes: Marren, Steketee, Conover, Radogno, Rogers

Nays: None.

Motion carried.

INFORMATION and DISCUSSION

Presentation of Fiscal Year 2024 Audit

Don Shaw, Principal, Lauterbach & Amen, LLP. reviewed the 2024 audit with the Board. CUSD 201 received the award in 2023 and should receive the award again for 2024. Mr. Shaw reported there were no issues found during the audit. The District is audited annually as part of state statute. The audit will be posted on the website.

Elementary School Building Timeline

Joe Papanicholas, Nicholas Construction, has shared with the Board a proposed timeline. The timeline is for the building of a new elementary school should the referendum pass in April. The goal would be for the new school to be open in August 2027.

Menu of Preliminary Architecture Pre-work

Rob Wroble, Legat Architects, shared with the Board a timeline for starting the design phase of the new elementary building. To accommodate the August 2027 timeline, should the referendum pass, the architects need to start working on schematic designs before election day. Legat and Nicholas have been working closely together on the timelines. Mr. Wroble and the whole team at Legat respect how the Board would like community involvement and input, which means they need to factor in more time to work on the project. Mr. Wroble also shared how their relationship with the District is very important; they would like to offer their services to start the process free at this time. If the referendum passes, they would bill us for the work done at that time. This is a huge risk for them, but they believe in the work being done and would like to do this for CUSD 201. If the referendum does not pass, then the Board will not be billed for the work done.

Mr. Baldermann would like to thank Nicholas and Legat for all their hard work. He would also like to thank Legat for starting the schematic designs right now. He knows their time and expertise are valuable and recognizes this is a very generous offer. Typically, this cost can exceed well over $25k.

Quality Data Review

Dr. Carla Braun, Director of Continuous School Improvement and Professional Learning, is sharing the mid-year review for the District. Her presentation included the following:

● Goal Setting, Action Planning & Follow-through

● Comprehensive Data Overview

● CUSD 201 2024-2025 Goals

● ELA Goals

● Math Goals

● PLC Goal

● Chronic Absenteeism

● Area of Focus

● The Big 3

● Results Orientation

● Equity and Student Engagement

● We had a great last year! We are having another great year!

● Thank you!

The Board and Dr. Braun discussed the high school moving to the ACT exam.

ACTION ITEMS

Approval of Policies

Motion by Ms. Radogno, second by Mr. Hevia, to approve the policies, as presented.

Ayes: Steketee, Conover, Radogno, Rogers, Marren

Nays: None

Motion Carried.

Approval of Expenditure for Architect Pre-work

This item has been tabled. The Board is very appreciative that Legat will be not charging the District to get this project started. If the referendum passes the cost of the pre-work will be charged then.

SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT

Communication

Superintendent Baldermann reminded everyone that the schools will be doing e-learning tomorrow, February 12th. Mr. Baldermann would also like to share how proud he and the district are of all our students. Soon we will have a video on line to show all the great things being done at TCD. TCD has many offerings that 15% of our students at the high school choose.

FOIA Request

None.

BOARD REPORTS

Ms. Steketee would like to thank everyone who attended and participated in all the events that took place last week at the high school. The elementary had a dance, the Jr. Sentinels played, and the Athletic Boosters had one of their biggest fundraisers.

PUBLIC COMMENT

None at this time.

FUTURE MEETING AND EVENTS

Institute Day, No Student Attendance

Feb. 14

No School- Presidents’ Day

February 17

Family Event - 123 Andre

Feb. 25, 6:00 p.m.

Westview Middle School

CUSD 201 Regular Board Meeting

Feb. 25

Village Hall

CLOSED SESSION

Motion by Ms. Steketee, second by Mr. Marren, to enter closed session to discuss personnel issues, student discipline, and sale or lease of real property.

Ayes: Marren, Steketee, Conover, Radogno, Rogers.

Nays: None

Motion Carried.

The Board entered closed session at 7:45 p.m.

The Board returned to open session at 8:29 p.m.

COMMUNICATIONS

None at this time.

ADJOURNMENT

Motion by Ms. Radogno, second by Ms. Steketee, to adjourn the February 11, 2025, regular meeting of the Board of Education at 8:29 p.m.

Motion unanimously passed.

https://go.boarddocs.com/il/cusd201/Board.nsf/files/DE4RQE6F143F/$file/2.11.25%20Regular%20Minutes.pdf