Holiday cheer! The Board of Education, administrators and audience members were delighted by a festive prelude of holiday music performed by the Emerson Middle School Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Erica Faulhaber in advance of the Board's business meeting.
Highlights of the meeting include:
- Annual audit maintains highest standards - D64 reported that independent auditors issued an unqualified audit opinion, and did not propose any adjustments to the District's year-end balances for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017. The auditors had no reportable findings in the management letters for a seventh consecutive year. The audit is an important tool to validate the accuracy of the District's financial information, and the opinions of the auditors add transparency regarding how the community's money is being spent. The audit and accompanying letters are available on the District's financial data webpage.
- 2017 levy is limited by tax cap - Following a public hearing and many months of analysis and discussion, the Board adopted an estimated total tax levy of almost $68.5 million for 2017, which is a 3.42% increase over the previous year. The percentage increase is deliberately set high enough to capture any funds available from new construction within the D64 community. No matter how large the levy request is for 2017, however, District 64 will only receive a 2.1% increase plus the taxes associated with the new construction, as allowed under the tax cap (Property Tax Extension Limitation Law). District 64 has only one opportunity to benefit from new construction when it is added to the tax rolls. But because the actual amount of new construction is not yet known, District 64 sets the levy percentage at a high enough level to make sure it can receive the full benefit from it.
- Water testing verifies safety of drinking fountains - D64 recently completed extensive water testing of drinking water sources, which included not only the required preK-grade 5 schools but our two middle schools and other non-required drinking water and/or potable water sources within the school buildings. The results verified that all functioning drinking fountains at District 64 schools have met national standards and are considered safe for students and staff members to drink from. Of the total 189 various sources tested, the District reported on follow up work on five that tested above the guidelines, including 4 classroom sinks not used for drinking water and a fountain in a multipurpose room not currently used. Read more about the testing here.
- D64 launches audit on special education program needs and staffing - Dr. Heinz updated the Board on her research into the elementary special education program and the wide age range of students now assigned together in a single classroom at each school, which necessitates seeking waivers from the state. Dr. Heinz confirmed that placement decisions for 2018-19 of fifth graders would include a range of options, including transitioning to middle school one year early, but that the regular IEP process that includes parents and staff would be used to consider each child's needs on a case by case basis. Looking ahead, D64 will conduct an audit to recommend a delivery model and identify staffing implications for these instructional classrooms. Special education staffing needs will be included as part of the 2018-19 staffing projections and recommendations presented for discussion to the Board in February.
- Interim Director of Student Services appointed - The Board approved the appointment of Michael Padavic as interim director for the remainder of the current school year. A veteran social worker and administrator, Mr. Padavic retired in June from Oak Park Elementary School District 97. Read more about Mr. Padavic in this news release.
- Additional legal review of School Resource Officer (SRO) agreements - D64 has added a second law firm to provide further insights into the draft Intergovernmental Agreements with the City of Park Ridge and the Village of Niles being developed prior to the launch of the middle school SRO pilot program. Pending completion of that consultation, a new timeline will be established for the various governmental bodies to review the proposed agreements.
- Calendars for upcoming school years presented - District 64's proposed calendars for two upcoming school years will remain closely aligned with high school District 207 holiday periods, including Thanksgiving, winter recess and spring recess. The calendar for 2018-19 and a tentative calendar for 2019-20 will be adopted at the January meeting.
- Policy 7:180 updated - As part of a standard two-year update cycle, the District's policy on prevention of and response to bullying, intimidation and harassment was reviewed and approved.
- 8th graders will participate in IL Youth Survey - Continuing a 15-year tradition, D64 students will participate in the statewide youth survey in January to better understand youth attitudes and behaviors that can impact student success. D64 participates every other year.
- Middle School Review Committee focuses on data from recent opinion research - The committee recently met to digest research from student focus groups and from a community-wide ThoughtExchange conversation. In January, a subcommittee will meet with a noted scheduling consultant to generate a variety of school day schedules for consideration. Read more about the themes identified in the research and what's ahead for the committee here.