Thursday, October 20, 2022 This meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:00 PM. Due to a Special Meeting of the Board at 4:30, it is possible this regular meeting will be delayed. This regular meeting will not begin prior to 6:00 PM. - Regular Board Meeting

Description:  Call to Order. Secretary to the Board will take attendance.

Description: 

Board Policy 2:230. At each regular and special open meeting, members of the public and District employees may comment to or ask questions of the School Board, subject to reasonable constraints. The individuals appearing before the Board are expected to follow these guidelines:

1. Address the Board only at the appropriate time as indicated on the agenda and when recognized by the Board President.
2. Identify oneself and be brief. Ordinarily, comments shall be limited to 5 minutes. In unusual circumstances, and when an individual has made a request in advance to speak for a longer period of time, the individual may be allowed to speak for more than 5 minutes.
3. Observe the Board President's decision to shorten public comment to conserve time and give the maximum number of individuals an opportunity to speak.
4. Observe the Board President's decision to determine procedural matters regarding public participation not otherwise covered in Board policy.
5. Conduct oneself with respect and civility toward others and otherwise abide by Board Policy, 8:30, Visitors to and Conduct on School Property.

Members of the public may speak during this portion of the meeting. Comments are limited to five minutes. Board members will not respond to public comments or questions during "Public Comments". Should total Public Comments approach or exceed a cumulative time of 30 minutes, the Board may suspend additional Public Comments until immediately prior to the Board and Superintendent Comments portion of the agenda.

Description: 

Board Policy 2:220 The President shall designate a portion of the agenda as a consent agenda for those items that usually do not require extensive discussion before Board action. Upon the request of any Board member, an item will be withdrawn from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda for independent consideration. 

There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Board Member so requests, in which event the item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered as the first item after approval of the Consent Agenda.

Description:  Regular personnel items.

Description:  Country Financial, care of Dawn Babb, donated $1500 to RCS schools. $250 went to each school plus $250 for the PreK Program.

Description:  The MOU clarifies language in the contract so that employees covered by the RCSEA CBA are required to submit extra duty pay in a timely manner.

Description:  Increase the teaching assistant sub rate from  $100/day to a dollar amount commensurate with placement on the TA salary schedule in the RCESPA with a guaranteed daily minimum of $105/day ($15/hour). 

Description:  The District is in the process of determining our Tax Levy. At the December Board Meeting, the Board will need to hold a Truth in Taxation Hearing prior to voting on the Tax Levy.

The Tax Levy is the legal mechanism for the District to request that taxes are collected. It is typical that the Tax Levy exceeds the Extension (the amount collected by the county) in order to account for possible errors, miscalculations, or last minute changes.

This year, the county estimates a property value increase in RCS of 7.1% with an additional $128,000 in new property. The District is limited in the amount of increase they can receive by the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL, also known as Tax Caps). For the first time since the law went into effect in Champaign County, the Consumer Price Index will exceed the maximum extension limit of 5%. This will protect local property tax payers from a large rate increase. In a non-PTELL District, there could be a significantly higher property tax increase. 

The Tentative Tax Levy is to ask for a net 6.09% increase ($372,716). The likely Extension is estimated as a 5.1% increase ($312,039). The estimated total tax rate for RCS will decrease from 4.6560% to 4.5689%.

The numbers provided here are estimates and subject to change prior to Board action at the December meeting.

Description:  Kitchen equipment bids were due on Tuesday, October 18, 2022. The District received one bid from KEC Design of Champaign. The base bid is $83,192 with an additional pricing sheet for installation materials, installation, and disposal of existing equipment in the amount of $6,594. There is additional electrical work that will need to be done that is not part of this bid process. The Board is asked to approve the bid and additional installation quote from KEC Design in the amount of $89,786.

Description:  The District's Insurance Committee ) administrators and members of both bargaining units) is recommending a roughly $3,850 monthly expenditure for a "buy down" option in our employee health insurance program. For a relatively small cost, we are reducing the deductible and out-of-pocket maximum giving our employees a much better benefit. The district pays 91% of single employee coverage. Currently, the District pays $501/month/covered employee, and it will increase to $517.79/month/covered employee. This continues the Board's commitment to offer competitive compensation and benefits for our employees. See the attached document for pricing information.

Description:  The current contract with First Student did not include costs for summer school and monitors. The Board is asked to authorize the superintendent to enter into an amended agreement with First Student.

Previous (2020-2021)
Monitor $93.29
Summer School $465.77

2021-2022
Monitor $98.97
Summer School $494.13

2022-2023
Monitor $101.94
Summer School $508.95

Description:  10-20-2022 from Advanced Digital. Seeking a copy of our current copier contract. 

Description:  The Board is provided a monthly report detailing student in-school suspension, out-of-school suspensions, and placements in CARE. Due to the student record data contained in this report, this report remains confidential. 

Description:  The District was awarded the federal School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP) Grant in the amount of $304,905. Our intended use of the SVPP Grant funds will be to improve school campus security through systems such as panic buttons, new cameras, door alarms, key fob system, hardware for new doors, and various security-related software.

More specifically, the following was written as part of the grant submission: Panic buttons: these will be added as an additional level of communication when the school needs an immediate response from the police for an active shooter. Two- way radio: will be provided for key personnel throughout each building to ensure direct communication during an emergency and drills. They will be used to communicate directly to RPD and for internal communication between various sections of the buildings. Lighting- doesn't impact the safety plan directly but is integral in prevention. Two-way locks- most significant piece that will be written into the comprehensive plan and staff training will be provided to ensure all staff know how to use the locks and they know when to lock down. Door alarms: these will be written into the plan and staff will be trained to understand the process for when a door alarm is triggered and the expectations around ensuring doors are secure at all times.

Description:  The information in this report has been posted to our website as per statute.

Description:  The information in this report has been posted to our website as per statute.

Description:  The information in this report has been posted to our website as per statute.

Description:  Bushue, the District's risk management consultant, is proceeding with organizing a Request for Proposal related to our Property/Casualty/Work Comp Review. This was last put out for RFP in 2018.

Description:  Should the total initial Public Comments during the meeting approach or exceed a cumulative time of 30 minutes, the Board may suspend additional Public Comments until this time. Comments are limited to five minutes. Board members will not respond to public comments during "Public Comments".

Description:  From Scott Woods:

• I anticipate that next month's agenda will include the Fiscal Year 22 Audit. This is one month later than last year.
• At the end of the month, ISBE will be releasing the annual school report card data. We have had access to that data already, and building principals have been looking at the data and applying it to their school improvement planning. At this time, I can share that some of what we are seeing is very positive, but we still have a lot of work to do.
• I am informing the Board that I am currently working with First Student, our transportation provider, to explore options for next school year. I have asked them to begin looking at different scenarios that would likely result in staggered elementary start times and possibly increased access to transportation for students. This would come at a cost to the District, but that would be a Board decision.
• I am currently working on a New Board Member Orientation document and program. This is something I learned about while attending the IASA conference in Springfield. The purpose of this orientation would be to provide a public overview of what is involved in being a Board member. The target audience would be people considering running for the Board. I would like to do this in November, and will ask for up to two current Board members to attend.
• November 11 at 6:00 is the Rantoul Area Chamber of Commerce's annual banquet. The District will be purchasing a table. Members of the Board wanting to attend on behalf of the District, please inform Hanna by October 28.
• Board Members, please make sure to check emails regarding the Triple I conference in November. Hanna will send out emails as we get closer with details about the conference and information about your reimbursable expenses. 
• Hanna and I are currently working on the "holiday gift" for our staff from the Board. We anticipate spending approximately $10-13 per employee. The "gift" will be a type of office/school supply.
• The District is moving forward now on a landscaping project in front of JW Eater. It will address the areas adjacent to the building from where CO meets JW Eater to the east side of the annex gym. This will be at a price of $17,668. We have sought out multiple quotes and will move forward with Deem Landscaping out of Thomasboro. A project of this type may require a bid at the $50,000 threshold.