Grundy Reporter

Coal City Community Unit School District #1 Board of Education met Aug. 5.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

CALL TO ORDER

Board President Miller called the regular meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. with the board members answering roll call present: Robert Bianchetta, Mary Gill, Shawn Hamilton, Quint Harmon, Chuck Lander, and Ken Miller. Superintendent Kent Bugg, CSBO Jason Smith, Director of Special Populations Sandy Rakes, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Tammy Elledge, and Board Secretary LaWanda Gagliardo were also present. Board member Jeff Emerson arrived at 6:04 p.m.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

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

NOTICES AND COMMUNICATIONS

1. Introduction/acknowledgement of guests. – none.

2. Principal – none.

3. Thank you from – none.

Vice President Hamilton motioned to approve the amended agenda posted on August 4, 2020.

Roll Call.

Ayes: Shawn Hamilton, Chuck Lander, Robert Bianchetta, Mary Gill, Quint Harmon, Ken Miller Nays:

Absent: Jeff Emerson

Motion Carried.

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE FLOOR

1. In regard to agenda items – none.

2. In general (Limited to 5 minutes per person.) – none.

APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA

President Miller asked if there were any items that the Board would like to remove from the consent agenda. Hearing none, President Miller asked for a motion to approve the consent agenda, and the following building use request.

Mr. Harmon moved and Mr. Hamilton seconded to approve the consent agenda including:

Roll Call.

Ayes: Quint Harmon, Shawn Hamilton, Robert Bianchetta, Mary Gill, Chuck Lander, Ken Miller Nays:

Absent: Jeff Emerson

Motion Carried.

MINUTES

July 1, 2020 - Regular Meeting

July 20, 2020 – Special Board Meeting

July 29, 2020 - Board Study Session

CLOSED SESSION MINUTES

July 1, 2020 - Regular Meeting None.

July 29, 2020 - Board Study Session

FINANCIAL REPORTS

Activity Fund Reports – June 2020

Treasurer’s Report – June 2020

Monthly Manual Check Report – July 2020

Payroll Report – July 2020

Accounts Payable Report – August 2020

CLOSED SESSION MINUTES

July 1, 2020 - Regular Meeting None.

July 29, 2020 - Board Study Session

PERSONNEL

Resignations

• Brianna Bertolino – Special Ed Teacher at the Middle School – Ms. Bertolino’s last day will be July 14, 2020.

• Tiffany Berger – Full-time Special Ed Aide – Ms. Berger will not be returning for the 2020 – 2021 school year.

• Erica Rich – 3 Hour Cafeteria Server – Ms. Rich’s last day will be July 24, 2020.

• Sandra Davis – Reading Aide at the Intermediate School – Ms. Davis’ last day will be July 23, 2020.

• Raquel Drinkwine – 1:1 Special Ed Aide at the Elementary School – Ms. Drinkwine’s last day will be July 27, 2020.

• Mary Macaluso – Part-time Cafeteria Server at the Elementary School – Ms. Macaluso’s last day will be July 29, 2020. Mary would be interested in returning when the State is back to Phase 5.

• Kristin Logan – Aide-PE/Lunchroom at the Middle School – Ms. Logan’s last day will be August 4, 2020.

Employee Transfers

• Lindsey Watters – Special Ed Teacher at the High School – Is transferring to the Middle School – Ms. Watters is replacing Ms. Bertolino.

• Kristina Davy – Reading Aide at the Early Childhood Center – Kristina will now be the Assistant Secretary at the Early Childhood Center.

• Debra Tapley – Special Aide Ed at the Elementary School – Ms. Tapley is moving to a 1:1 Special Ed Aide at the Elementary School.

• Elementary School Teacher Transfers – from 3rd Grade to 2nd Grade Brooke Hanley, Megan Post, and Mallory Betken (Steinke). From 2nd Grade to 3rd Grade Amy Foley, Brandon Petersen, and Connie Terrel.

• Intermediate School Teacher Transfers – Ronnie Aldridge – Spanish Teacher at the ECC/ES to 4th and 5th Grade Spanish Teacher at the Intermediate School, and Cris Bormet – 3rd Grade Teacher at the Elementary School to 4th Grade Teacher at the Intermediate School.

• Moree Harney part-time Special Ed Aide at the Intermediate School – Ms. Harney is moving a full-time Special Ed Aide at the Intermediate.

Leave Requests

• Kara Claypool – Speech Pathologist – Mrs. Claypool is requesting a twenty (20) day paid maternity leave, with use of accumulated sick leave in accordance with the Teacher’s Negotiated Agreement, from August 24, 2020 through September 21, 2020. She is also requesting a fifty-eight (58) day unpaid Family Medical Leave from September 22, 2020 through January 4, 2021. Kara is planning to return Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

• Allison Anderson – 4th Grade Teacher at the Intermediate School – Mrs. Anderson is requesting a thirty-two (32) day paid maternity leave, with use of accumulated sick leave in accordance with the Teacher’s Negotiated Agreement, from November 16, 2020 through January 15, 2021. Allison is planning to return Tuesday, January 19, 2021.

• Lindsey Watters – Special Ed Teacher at the High School – Ms. Watters is requesting a twenty-nine (29) day unpaid Family Medical Leave of Absence from August 17, 2020 through September 25, 2020. Lindsey is planning to return Monday, September 28, 2020.

Moving Closed Session Minutes to Open Session

Twice each year, the district must review the closed session minutes and open those minutes to the public, which no longer contain information that needs to be kept closed. Attorney Wharrie reviewed the closed session minutes and prepared the enclosed list of those minutes, which could be made open to the public. Board President Miller also reviewed the minutes and recommends the following to be open to the public:

October 16, 2019; January 8, 2020; February 5, 2020; February 26, 2020; and March 4, 2020

ADMINISTRATORS' REPORTS

A. EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER REPORT

Principal Davidson Reported:

Calendar of Events:

August 10th - New Teacher Orientation 

August 17th - Remote Learning Planning Day 

August 18th - Teachers Institute Day

August 19th - First Day with Students!!!

Current ECC Enrollment for 2020-2021:

PreK: 93

Kindergarten: 155

1st Grade: 137

Total: 385 (in PowerSchool as of July 31st, 2020)

Month-in-Review:

• July has been a busy month of planning for the students to return to the ECC. The custodial staff has worked tirelessly to not only clean the school, but also move furniture to create space for socially distanced classrooms. They’ve also been working with teachers regarding what items are removed and where the items are located. They have put in a tremendous amount of work to really make the school ready for students in a few short weeks!

• Grade level team meetings have been taking place to review the return to school plan and develop procedures for everything from when scheduled bathroom breaks will be to how we will get all students in and out of the building safely at arrival and dismissal.

• Walk-in Registration dates were July 16th and July 21st. Parents attended in-person to receive help with registration and turn in necessary paperwork. Mrs. Warner has worked on making necessary phone calls and arranging appointments with parents unable to attend the scheduled registration dates. As of July 30th, the ECC still had around 80 students needing to complete the registration process. Mrs. Warner and our new Assistant Secretary will begin to make phone calls to reach out to parents to complete registration.

• Based on preliminary results from the “in-person or remote learning” survey to parents, the ECC will (as of July 31st) have 14 Kindergarten students remote learning and 11 1st grade students remote learning.

• Teachers have been meeting and planning for the pilot of a new reading series by attending webinars and having discussions with department leaders. Teachers have also been attending webinars to receive instruction on using Class Dojo as it will be an expectation for the 2020-2021 school year of all staff.

• Continued team meetings will happen until the start of school now. I will be developing a committee to help with the arrival/dismissal procedures and the ECC will be working on developing a plan to “introduce” new students to our building and their teachers.

• Interviews for a new Kindergarten teacher took place on July 30th. Our recommendation for a new teacher will hopefully be finalized by Monday, August 3rd.

Recognition:

• A special thank you to Tracy Warner for all of her hard work and willingness to come in to help with anything throughout this uncharted summer month! It has been a summer of planning like no other and has definitely gone fast. We are SO excited at the chance to have the students back in our building and see them face to face!

• Welcome to our new Assistant Secretary, Kristina Davy! We are excited to welcome her to our ECC family for the 2020-2021 school year.

• Thank you to the custodians at the ECC! They have done a phenomenal job cleaning and sanitizing the school and arranging furniture to create socially distanced classrooms for our students to return to school safely.

• Kudos to the entire ECC staff as they all have been more than willing to jump on a virtual call or meet at any time to discuss questions and procedures and concerns throughout the entire summer for the upcoming school year.

• Thank you to Mrs. Kenney and Mrs. Carlson as we have worked together as a K-5 team to think of every possible way to keep our students in front of our teachers; at school and safe! It has been a complete team process and would not be possible without them.

B. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL REPORT

Principal Kenney reported:

Calendar of Events:

August 17 – Remote Learning Planning Day

August 18 – Teacher Institute

August 19 – First Day of Student Attendance

August 28 – BLT Meeting

ES Enrollment:

2nd Grade: 131

3rd Grade: 154

Total: 285 (based on last year’s enrollment)

Personnel:

• CCES welcomed back Charissa Dehler as the continued maternity substitute for Megan Post.

• CCES also welcomed the following paraprofessional: Katie Easton, Mandy Eaton, Molly Sterba, and Lori Johnson.

• CCES welcomed Tim Larson and Hannah Kochenburg to the custodial staff! We also are excited to have Julie Roeglin as our new head custodian, taking the place of Jim McCord who recently retired.

CCES Happenings and Recognitions:

• Congratulations to Mallory Steinke and her new husband, Collin Betken. They were married on August 1st, 2020.

• Thank you to our custodians, Lynn Pearson and Julie Roeglin, for their continued work during the construction at CCES. They have been working hard to get rooms together for our students and staff to return, busy cleaning dust out of the halls and classrooms, and working to get the office ready for August. We appreciate all of their hard work.

• Thank you to Denny Wickiser and the maintenance staff for the work that they have completed to make the return of our students and staff a safe and enjoyable one! They have worked hard this summer to provide us with what is necessary to conduct in-person learning at the building. We appreciate their work!

• Our teachers have been hard at work reading the new plan, moving their classrooms, and preparing for the return of our students. We are excited that our staff is ready to get our kids back into the classroom.

• A special thank you to the teachers that have moved their classrooms in order to put out looping plan in place. They were willing to give up their classrooms in order to make CCES a better place! Thank you to Liz Hausman, Jill Vironda, Brea Owensby, Megan Post, Mallory Betken, Brooke Hanley, Katie Ludes, Katie Condon, and Ronnie Aldridge.

• Thank you to our district administrators, building administrators, board members, staff, and community members that worked endless hours on to create the Transition Plan. We are working to get the implementation of the plan rolling and getting our students back into the building in a safe manner.

• Thank you to Matt Hook for the fresh mulch on our playground and the beautiful perennials that are in front of the building. Our building is more inviting due to his hard work!

C. INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL REPORT

Principal Carlson reported:

Calendar of Upcoming Events:

Aug 3 – Aug 14 Summer School 8:00-12:00 (Monday - Friday)

Aug 17 Remote Learning Planning Day

Aug 18 Teacher Institute Day

Aug 18 CCIS Back to School Night 3:30-5:00 and 6:00-7:30

Aug 19 First Day of School – 8:00-12:00

Sept 7 Labor Day - No School

Anticipated Enrollment:

4th Grade 167

5th Grade 164

Total 331 This includes one 4th grade student and one 5th grade student that are enrolled in other special education programs outside of CCIS.

As of 7/31/20:

New Students = 2

Remote Learning Students = 27

Homeschooling = 3

Personnel:

I would like to welcome the following staff to CCIS for the upcoming 2020-20201 school year:

• Ronnie Aldridge – 4th and 5th grade Spanish (transferring from ECC)

• Cris Bormet – 4th grade teacher (transferring from ES)

• Tom Onsen – Custodian (transferring from MS)

• Jennifer Rakes – Health Aide

• Deb Tapley – Special Education Aide (transferring from ES)

Month in Review:

• Summer School will take place from August 3 – August 14, Monday – Friday from 8:00- 12:00 with Betsy Cowherd. We have 13 students, a mix of last year’s 4th and 5th graders, that will attend.

• CCIS Back to School Night is planned for Tuesday, August 18 from 3:30-5:00 and 6:00- 7:30 p.m. Information will be sent to parents during the first week of August when we share the teacher placement. The plan is to have 1/3 of the students attend at a time with one parent for 30 minutes each. This will keep the classroom population down to a maximum of 16 visitors at a time. Temperatures will be taken upon arrival, and desks will be cleaned in-between groups. Half of the teachers will be in attendance from 3:30- 5:00 and the other half will be in attendance from 6:00-7:30 p.m.

• The CCIS Student School Day will be 8:00-12:00 each day with one hour of additional remote learning in the afternoon. The teacher’s contractual day will be 7:40 a.m. -3:20 p.m. each day.

• We are looking forward to seeing our students again, and we are brainstorming new ways to safely incorporate some fun as we meet the educational and social-emotional needs of our students.

D. MIDDLE SCHOOL REPORT

Principal Johnson reported:

Calendar of Events

July 27 CCMS Softball Begins

August 3 CCMS Baseball Begins

August 7 WEB Leader Training

August 10 CCMS 6th Grade Orientation – 8:30-2:15pm

August 17 Remote Learning Planning Day for Staff

August 18 Teacher Institute

August 19 First Day of School for Students

Personnel Report

We have some new staff members who will be joining CCMS in the fall of 2020.

• Danielle Diamond will be the new CCMS Library Aide. Danielle is replacing Kathy Walsh in the MS Library.

• Lindsey Watters is our new Special Education Teacher for our Cross Categorical Classroom. Lindsey will be taking the place of Brianna Bertolino. Lindsey is a transfer from Coal City High School.

• Matthew Perry will be our new Math Teacher at CCMS. Matt is a Diamond resident and has been a substitute teacher in the district for the past few years. Matt’s math position is a one-year position.

• Paula Peacock will be the new Head Secretary at CCMS beginning in the fall of 2020. Paula will be replacing Vicky Ryan. Vicky will be helping out at CCMS for the first couple months of the school year to help Paula transition into her new position.

Month in Review – Summer

Walk-in Registration took place on July 16 and July 21 at CCHS. At the present time, we have 9 new students who have registered at CCMS for the 2020-21 school year and we have 4 students that will not be attending in the fall. Special thanks to LaWanda Gagliardo and Taryn Trotter for their work on the registration process.

Special thanks to all of the CC Unit #1 staff members who helped with the formation to our Back to School Plan. I look forward to seeing our students back in school and watching the teaching and learning that takes place on a daily basis.

E. HIGH SCHOOL REPORT

Principal Spencer reported:

Calendar of Events:

Aug 3rd -Aug 7th Band Camp

Aug 10th Golf, and Tennis start

Aug 10th New Student/Freshmen Orientation

Aug 10th New Student/Freshmen Parent night

Aug 17th Remote Learning Day-Staff work on Remote Learning

Aug 18th Staff Breakfast and Professional Development

Aug 19th Students First Attendance Day

Aug 22nd HS Fall Sports Picture Day

Recognition:

• AP results are in and after 128 tests were recorded by CCHS students the following summary was derived.

• 10 AP Scholars

Must receive a score of 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams.

• 4 AP Scholars with Honors

Must receive an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and scored 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.

• 3 AP Scholars with Distinction

Must receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all exams taken, and score 3 or more on five or more of these exams.

• Here is a look at how our Seniors performed on AP Exams over their 4 years at CCHS.

• The Custodial Staff led by Tyrone Gregory have the building looking great and will be ready to open on the 17th.

• Thank you to the Maintenance and Grounds crews for their work this summer.

Month in Review:

• We just finished our second session of summer school, we had 19 students signed up for a Math, English or Science class for the summer.

• Coal City High School welcomes 4 new staff members for the 2020-2021 school year. They are as follows: Melissa George - Special Education, Rachel Bjorklund - Physical Education, Hope Connelly – Band, and Sam Wurster - Industrial Tech

F. SPECIAL POPULATIONS REPORT

Director Rakes reported:

Special Education

Transportation plans have been delivered to Illinois Central.

There are 7 new special education students that have registered. There were 12 last year at this time.

TAG

The parents of TAG eligible students for the 20-21 school year have been contacted.

Preschool

All parents of qualified students have been contacted. 

The Preschool for all Grant has been approved.

Transportation

Illinois Central reported that most of the routes are completed. They are waiting for the update from the survey that was sent out in regards to whether or not parents are going to utilize service if eligible.

G. CURRICULUM REPORT

Director Elledge reported:

Department Information:

Summer work is wrapping up for the year. We had around 60 teachers work 800 hours. As a comparison, we had 84 teachers work 1444 hours last summer.

Professional Development:

The induction program for our new teachers will kick off the week before students return. We will be doing an abbreviated face-to-face session with them on August 10.

Several volunteer teacher trainers, Jason Smith and I will also be offering trainings on the various platforms that will be utilized for remote learning. The main platforms will be Google Meet, Google Classroom, Class Dojo and the teacher webpages (using Edlio).

Advanced Placement Information:

The results for all of our AP exams have been reported. We had 105 tests taken in 9 different classes.

The breakdown for results:

7 tests were 5s

28 tests were 4s

42 tests were 3s *those 77 tests were eligible for free college credit 22 tests were 2s

6 tests were 1s

https://4.files.edl.io/a272/09/03/20/141838-0c3c9b6d-9f3f-496b-add6-ace29b5320ef.pdf