August 21, 2017 at 7:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Doug Molczyk is excused.

Candy Becher read the Mission Statement.

No one spoke to the board.

There were no recognitions.

Dr. Loeffelholz said this motion will allow the group raising money for baseball fields to start writing grants. He said grants cannot be written until there is proof that the group has the land. Dr. Loeffelholz said nothing specific is mention in the policy in case the project doesn’t become a reality. He said the board has final approval of what will go on the land.

The CPS Foundation has awarded $23,055 in scholarships. The Band Boosters have bought a sousaphone for $1,500 and $54,409.23 was used to purchase STEM equipment. Dr. Loeffelholz said with this latest purchase, most of the STEM purchases have been made. The foundation and umbrella groups have disbursed $1,324,662.99 for the year.

Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Amy Romshek asked the board to approve four new courses added to the STEM curriculum at the high school. She said the engineering class will be an advance course that comes after introduction to engineering. Romshek said CHS has a partnership with Central Community College to offer an Advanced Manufacturing Course that would be dual credit, 11 units long , and last for an entire year. This class will be taught by CPS staff with assistance from CCC. Theresa Seipel said she appreciates all the work that went into it adding these new courses.

Romshek updated the board on the academic strategic plan. The updated presented the plans for the ASOT (Art and Science of Teaching) Instructional Model, learning goals and proficiency scales and Grading for Learning. She said the idea is to show the board that there is a plan in place and this will be shared with staff in the upcoming days.

This policy protects children who are homeless and reside in the district. Executive Director of Student Services and Special Education Jason Harris said a homeless family could be someone separated from their home and living with another family. If the family is living with someone who doesn’t live in the CPS district, the district must provide transportation for the student to get to school. Harris said if a family says they are homeless, they are not required to show proof of residency. He said there are a lot of families that live with other families, and this does not mean they are homeless. He said they could just be living with the family and it is not because of a situation. Harris said in these types of situations the registrar and himself make the determination if the family is truly homeless.

Harris said this policy has guidelines for service dogs and how the district should handle them. He said if the dog is needed for emotional or well being support, it will not be allowed unless the student is under the care of a psychiatrist. He said the dog can't be used to deter crime or to keep people away from the student. Harris said the district can ask to see the vaccination records and training certificate for the dog. If the animal is a threat to others or out of control, the request can also be denied. One board member asked what happens if other students are allergic to dogs. Harris said then a determination will have to be made if the dog would be a threat. He said if the animal is benefiting the whole classroom it is different than being for just one student.

Harris said if federal funds are used, the district cannot contract with company for more than $25,000 until the business is checked online to make sure it is a reputable business. He said this policy is to make sure the company is legitimate.

• Harris said on-line therapy in the non-public buildings begins tomorrow. He said he held two parent meetings at Scotus and only four parents showed up. Harris said all the parents received a letter inviting them to the meeting if their child receives therapy. He said it seems to be well accepted. Emerson will also be doing online therapy. There will be 62 nonpublic students using the online therapy and 26 from Emerson. Harris said Emerson had to go with the online, so a speech and language pathologist would be free to do the evaluations. He said the company would charge $425 per evaluation, so he felt it would be better to do it with existing staff. Harris said he does plan to do a survey regarding the program after nine weeks to see what parents and students think as well as do another at the end of the year. He said he will need to decide what will be done next year. Harris said ideally he would like to hire a person, but this position can be difficult to fill. He said he still has to provide this service even if parents don’t like the online option.

Dr. Loeffelholz informed the board that all staff report this Friday for the all school convocation. August 29th is the CMS open house for all staff. CMS staff and their families can go through at 6 p.m. and all staff from 7-8 p.m. The ribbon cutting ceremony will be at 5 p.m. on August 30 with the community open house from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Administrators will be going through High Reliability Schools training beginning in September.  Dr. Loeffelholz said several-paraeducators were moved to the middle schools. He said he looked at the ratio of para educators to students and some schools were skewed. Dr. Loeffelholz said this will give the district a baseline year to figure out if this is where people need to be. Dr. Loeffelholz said he took seven para educators from across the district. Dr. Loeffelholz said he is already fielding questions concerning the school calendar for next year. 

Mike Goos said he likes having the committee as a whole meeting because the board is more transparent. He said Leonard Kwapnioski and his crew have done a wonderful job in getting things done at the middle school. He said he also liked what the fire marshall said about CPS keeping the buildings in good condition. Tim Pospisil also said Kwapnioski and his crew were doing a good job. He said this is a way to get the facilities updated and be in a good place. Doug Willoughby said he is grateful that no CPS students were injured over the summer. Candy Becher said when she was teaching, she thought of the new year as starting with a clean slate. She wished all principals and staff a great new year. Theresa Seipel said she is excited that the kids and teachers will be back soon. She said she is concerned about the budget because of the valuations not going up much and the district losing state aid. She said the board will do their best to make it work.

The board did not go into executive session.

The board adjourned at 8:13 p.m.