Kankakee Times

Kankakee School District 111 Board of Education met July 9.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

Roll Call

Members present: Christopher Bohlen

Jess Gathing, Jr.

Karen Johnston, Vice President

Angela Shea, Secretary

Barbara A. Wells, President

Members absent: Mary Archie

Darrell Williams (*entered at 6:32 pm)

A quorum was declared present.

Closed Session

At 6:31 p.m., motion was made by Bohlen, seconded by Gathing, to adjourn to the Teachers’ Lounge for closed session to discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity; the purchase or lease of real property for the use of the public body, including meetings held for the purpose of discussing whether a particular parcel should be acquired; and collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives, or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees.Roll Call Vote--Ayes: Bohlen, Gathing, Johnston, Shea, and Wells. Nays: none. Motion carried.

The closed session was adjourned at 7:01 p.m.

At 7:05 p.m., the regular session was reconvened.

President Barbara Wells led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Meeting with the Board were:

Dr. Genevra A. Walters, Superintendent

Robert Grossi, Assistant Superintendent

Dr. Kathleen O’Connor, Assistant Superintendent

Vicki Scott, Recording Secretary

There were no news reporters present.

Superintendent’s Report

 Good News

School Event Explanation

Mark Twain Partnership  Mark Twain Primary School is proud to announce that they have partnered with HomeStar Bank in supporting literacy and bi-literacy for its K-3 TwoWay Dual Language Magnet as well as its 2nd grade College and Career Academy Magnet. HomeStar Bank has agreed to provide the extremely generous donation of $5,000 to be applied towards the purchase of a digital literacy resource, iStation, which develops and supports literacy in English as well as in Spanish. Each of our dual language students will be supported in building reading and writing skills in their native language as well as in their target language. IStation has been piloted throughout the district with positive reviews by students and teachers, and they are very excited to have it available for use in their classrooms at the start of the 2018-19 school year. 

Our partnership with HomeStar will also include offering Mark Twain parents and teachers access to and training in its free online financial education resource, MoneyMatters, as well as presentations to parents about other financial literacy resources.

 Mark Twain is very excited to enter this partnership and is incredibly grateful to our community partner for their support of Mark Twain students and their parents

 Dr. Walters reported that today the administrators from the high school and central office walked through the renovations at the high school. She said the purpose of the walk was that we had the concepts on paper, in terms of the renovations at the high school, but she felt like not everyone understood it. There is a difference of walking through and talking about instruction rather than looking at a piece of paper. It was a great opportunity for them to walk through the building and talk about what instruction will look like next year particularly for our freshmen and ultimately in four years for all our high school students. Dr. Walters said a special board meeting would be arranged for the Board members to actually walk through. Once we establish available dates, we will work with our architect and employee representative to identify a date that we can call a special board meeting for the purpose of walking through the high school and talking about competency-based education and how we are going to use the learning spaces differently from the current traditional education.

Public Comments

The following public comments were made:

Name Topic

James Wasser Mr. Wasser questioned where the Spurs Stadium sign was at the high school and asked about the status and future of the sign. He spoke on the history of the stadium and asked to keep the sign in a place for honor and dignity.

Glenn Morin Mr. Morin also shared some history of the Spurs group. He hopes that there is a strong consideration to put the sign up where it was placed before it was taken down.

Robert Ellington-Snipes Asked the Board to remove Action Item G.3. He explained the reasons for the removal and stated that if it isn’t removed he will write to the Illinois

Educational Labor Review Board.

Consent Agenda

The following items were presented:

 The following Board of Education minutes were presented for approval:

o June 25, 2018 (Regular & Closed Session Minutes)

 The Regular Bills were presented for approval. (See Insert A.)

 The Payroll and Related Bills were presented for approval. (See Insert B.)

 The FY18 Audit Engagement Letter was presented for approval.

 The Resolution for the Release of Executive Session Minutes and Destruction of Recordings was presented for approval. (See Insert C.)

 The Corrections to the May 14, 2018 minutes under Head Start Documents, to include Policy

Council Minutes from January 31, March 14, and April 18, 2018, the Transportation Waiver, the Modifications to the ERSEA Policy, and the Continuation Grant Application were presented for approval.

 The following personnel items were presented for approval:

Staff Member Position Effective Date

Resignations (Licensed Educational Professionals)

Eboni Bell 5th Grade Teacher at King End of 2017-18 School Year

Krystal Christon Psychologist at Avis Huff End of 2017-18 School Year

Christine Dell Preschool For All Teacher at Proegler End of 2017-18 School Year

Lara Hamdan Science Teacher at KHS End of 2017-18 School Year

Anna Hemann Student Support Teacher at Kennedy End of 2017-18 School Year

Nathan Kroll 7th Grade Math Teacher at KJHS End of 2017-18 School Year

Emily McDaniel 4th Grade Teacher at King End of 2017-18 School Year

Resignations (Extra-Duty Assignments)

Edith Petty-Bender Hispanic Heritage Celebration Sponsor End of 2017-18 School Year Appointments (Licensed Educational Professionals)

Connor Allison Orchestra Teacher at KHS/KJHS August 20, 2018

Patricia Ferris Learning Partner District Wide August 20, 2018

Jennifer Page Science Teacher at KHS August 20, 2018

Randy Rose Data Coach at LCC July 15, 2018

Appointment (Support Personnel)

Tanesha McCrary Paraprofessional at Kennedy August 20, 2018

Internal Appointment (Support Personnel)

Jennifer Yohnka Physical Therapist at Avis Huff August 20, 2018

Appointment (Extra-Duty Assignment)

Efrain Davila Assistant Soccer Coach at KHS 2018-2019

President Wells asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agent.

Motion was made by Bohlen, seconded by Gathing, to approve the above listed Consent Agenda items with striking item F.1. (Closed Session minutes only). President Wells asked if there were any questions on the Consent Agenda items and hearing none, asked for a roll call vote on the amended Consent

Agenda Items.Roll Call Vote--Ayes: Bohlen, Gathing, Johnston, Shea, Williams, and Wells. Nays: none. Motion carried.

Action Items

1. Lobbying Services Agreement with Alfred G. Ronan, Ltd.

President Wells asked for a motion to approve the Lobbying Services Agreement with Alfred G. Ronan, Ltd.

Motion was made by Gathing, seconded by Johnston, to approve the lobbying services agreement with

Alfred G. Ronan, Ltd. as presented. President Wells asked if there were any questions on the agreement

and hearing none, asked for a roll call vote.Roll Call Vote--Ayes: Bohlen, Gathing, Johnston, Shea, Williams, and Wells. Nays: none. Motion carried.

2. Collaboration Agreement between Kankakee School District No. 111 and Equal

Opportunity Schools President Wells asked for a motion to approve the collaboration agreement between KSD 111 and Equal Opportunity Schools.

Motion was made by Gathing, seconded by Bohlen, to approve the collaboration agreement between Kankakee School District No. 111 and Equal Opportunity Schools as presented. President Wells asked

if there were any questions on the agreement and hearing none, asked for a roll call vote. Roll Call Vote--Ayes: Gathing, Johnston, Shea, Williams, Bohlen and Wells. Nays: none. Motion carried.

3. Paraprofessional Contract 2018-2021

President Wells asked for a motion to approve the Paraprofessional Contract 2018 2021

Motion was made by Johnston, seconded by Shea, to approve the Paraprofessional Contract 2018-2021 as presented. President Wells asked if there were any questions on the contract and Mr. Bohlen wanted clarification because it was his understanding that the District received official notification from union leadership that this has been approved and ratified by the union. Dr. Walters responded that they did receive official notification that it was ratified. She said there is a conflict within the union on whether or not they feel it has been ratified or not. We did talk to our attorney for a recommendation as to whether we should do our part, which is separate from the issues within the union, and she advised us to move forward with the recommended approval of the contract. President Wells asked for a roll call vote. Roll Call Vote--Ayes: Johnston, Shea, William, Bohlen, Gathing, and Wells. Nays: none. Motion carried.

Old Business

There was no old business.

Information and Proposal

1. KSD Golf Outing

Mr. Grossi shared information on the Golf Outing that will be held on July 16th at the Kankakee Country Club.

At 7:28 p.m., motion was made by Gathing, seconded by Williams, to adjourn the meeting. All ayes;

motion carried.

https://www.ksd111.org/cms/lib/IL01904746/Centricity/Domain/68/July9-18Minutes.pdf