April 11, 2022 at 5:30 PM - Regular Meeting

Discussion:  Doug Molczyk read the Mission Statement.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz recommended that the board approve the hiring of Teresa Hausmann, he shared information on her education, and experience. Dr. Loeffelholz said there were eight applicants, three were interviewed.  He said his philosophy has always been if there are two applicants with equal ability, it would be appropriate to hire the one from within.  He said the process was a good experience, and he met some great people. Discussion regarding the hire of a secondary and elementary coordinator is still the plan. Doug Molcayk, Board President said he feels Mrs. Hausmann is a good choice.

Discussion: 

Two CHS Band Trip applications were submitted, one is for the Outback Bowl.  Dr. Loeffelholz said they try to take a trip so that every student gets the opportunity during their four years at CHS. This approval allows them to start fundraising.

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz said that the Board of Education has supported the Athletic Hall of Fame and has discussed that a request would be brought forward to do the same for the Academic Hall of Fame. This will recognize students who excel in academics, ACT, World Herald All-State and other categories to be determined.  This will also include a Discoverers of Distinction section. The hope is to have it up by alumni tour season.  

Discussion: 

Chip Kay, Director of Business and Human Resources said financial report M2 is where we need to be, the balances will help a lot with the shortfall for next school year. There will be some adjustments to spending windows in the near future. There will be one lease payment and three bond payments in May.  Mr. Kay said the state aid decrease makes CPS a victim of the current formula, no district should lose 20% of state aid in a year. He said we didn’t lose that many students, we will be able to off-set.  He also discussed that we will need to wait and see what property valuations do.  

Mr. Kay said he has not claimed any ESSERS 2 & 3 Fund reimbursements yet, he will claim the reimbursements in August, so those funds are part of next school year's budget.

Mr. Kay noted some payments from the general fund for work being done on the Kramer project, there is a payment to Edgewater Insurance, this is for employees to be bonded. Any purchases from Amazon or Walmart are for supplies. Mr. Kay told the board if they see any entries that need more explanation, please ask for a more detailed breakdown, always open for questions. 

Discussion:  The financial report M5 shows payment to Associated Staffing. We have used this company to assist in hiring staff.  Mr. Kay said it has been good in comparison with funding as with us hiring staff. He said we are not losing any money working with this company. There are typically 6-10 openings, he said it has gotten people interested in working for the district. We don’t pay NPERS or benefits, if they stay they become employees of CPS after 90 days.

Discussion: 

Mr. Kay shared information regarding certified hires in the district. He said Michael Ziola had been working in Waverly. When looking at data, what keeps employees here is often that they have family in the area. Mr. Kay said the teaching profession is very mobile right now. Positive discussion regarding hiring and the great job administrators have done in getting people hired. 

Discussion:  Mr Kay said the classified list is short.

Discussion: 

Listed on the report is the ASD Conference, 10 people are selected, the conference is to learn to work with autistic students.

 

Discussion:  Dr. Troy Loeffelholz shared the Foundation Report, total contributions for this month, $27,175.29, total since January 1, 2022 to date is $91.025.29.  The CPS Foundation is the fiscal agent of the After-school Program. 

Discussion: 

The last time this policy was on the agenda, there was no action recorded, so a vote was taken to approve Policy 1006.50 Facility Rental Policy. 

Discussion: 

Mr. Kay said Policy 402.20 needed to be updated. The 2012 amounts for meals are unreasonable, there was no per diem rate for lodging. All changes are in red. He also split professional travel from travel en route.  Mileage is a state rate, in the case of personal vehicle use. If there is a school vehicle available the rate is at a lesser reimbursement. 

Discussion: 

Mr. Kay said there were some clerical corrections. Dr. Loeffelholz is the final approval on certified transfers, this allows the Superintendent to say a transfer can be made if a suitable replacement is found. Mr. Kay mentioned that It is not automatic, we can place people on assignments as needed. 

Discussion:  Mr. Kay said Policy 408.02 has stated that an employee can submit a resignation without a deadline. He would like to see the letter of intent signing deadline and resignation submission deadline on the same date to make the system easier to anticipate.

Discussion: 

Mr. Kay is requesting a change to bring section G up to date with state statute. This is stating a recognition dinner for board or staff shall not exceed $50.00.

Discussion: 

Mr. Kay said Policy 206.04 permits the board members to get reimbursement for necessary expenses when on a trip or during district business. It also states that reimbursement may be possible in exceptional circumstances when documentation is not available. Mr. Kay said it is accepted with the approval of our auditor. 

Discussion:  Mr. Kay said the all items listed are outdated or unusable.

Discussion: 

Mr. Kay presented the proposal to add a LMHP/Social Worker. Sara Papa, CPS Social Worker, had presented data on serving our students.  Mr. Kay recently had a meeting to go over data in depth.  She said CPS does not have staff to serve middle and high school students. She said she is currently on a 230-day contract, and would be willing to decrease her contract to 206 days to allow for this additional social worker. Ms. Papa is very passionate about serving our students. Mr. Kay said we can not fund this hire with general funds, ESSER funds would be used for the next two years. The cost of the position would be $50,000.00-$60,000.00. This position is a classified position not certified.  He said there would need to be a determination in the future with the data collected to include this staff in the budget in 2023-24.

Discussion: 

Leonard Kwapnioski, Director of Building/Sites and Technology thanked everyone for coming to tour the Kramer Education Center.  He updated on the progress and what is to come He said on April 25th they will release the next bid package, it will be due May 5th.  He will ask for approval at the next meeting. He also spoke about the first phase of the elementary HVAC work. Four elementary buildings are to get air conditioning in the gyms, two are a higher priority because they are used as a cafeteria. He will conduct a meeting with the board on Thursday, April 14, in which he will need at least four board members to meet at noon to vote on bids. 

Mr. Kwapnioski shared that the city is requiring a full set of drawings for the CASSETTE House.  He is working with the hospital as they are requesting to use our pond for drainage.

Discussion: 

Amy Romshek, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, spoke on the approval for the high school novels.  More novels needed to be purchased so more than one teacher can be teaching the same content at the same time. These are not new novels, just more copies of the ones CHS has been using. 

Discussion: 

Dr. Romshek said she is asking for approval for the middle school STEM Scopes subscription renewals. She said three years ago this subscription was approved, and the teachers only wanted a 3-year subscription. The teachers have put in a lot of time and effort and want to use the same resource. 

Discussion: 

Dr. Romshek talked about the Health Sciences Pathway and the course Health Sciences 2, which will be taught next year.  She said the proficiency scales are written, and they will not need new texts. The teachers are working on the scales and goals for the CNA class that will be offered.  Once this work is complete, It will complete the pathway.

Discussion: 

Dr. Romshek said she has been working with Ryan Schroeder to rewrite the Animal Behaviors Course, it is a high school science elective. They searched for a new text for high school students, this is typically a college course.  A decision was made to continue to use the same text and find online information to use. 

Discussion: 

Dr. Romshek shared some information on a McGraw Hill payment that was asked about earlier in the meeting. The payment was made for the Wonders Reading for St. Bonaventure Elementary. The funding comes from NDE for the purchase of resources for parochial schools in our district, we order and distribute these books.

Discussion: 

Jason Harris, Director of Student Services and Special Education, said the NDE audit on the CPS ESSA programs will be on April 27, 2022.  He is gathering all the data to get to them for the review.

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz shared information regarding the RSP and Associates contract to provide data for enrollment projections, he said that information will be back by the end of May or first of June.  At that time, he will dig into that and set up some community meetings. He said the calendar has changed because the snow day didn’t happen.  Last day of school for students will be May 19th, the last day for teachers is the 20th. Dr. Loeffelholz said CPS still meets Rule 10 even with having the Fridays off.  Staff appreciation day is May 3rd, we would like the board go out to the buildings to deliver gifts and see staff.  He said he has a meeting on Wednesday at 4:00 with the City and other partners regarding fields and parks.  Next week he will be looking and interviewing candidates for the secondary and elementary coordinator positions. 

Discussion: 

The Board said that the National Conference was a very positive and educational experience. They also said it was great to spend time building relationships. The tour at Kramer was great, they really loved seeing the progress and the interior design of the building. They all said congratulations to the STEM Program and Skills USA Competition, Candy Becher, board member, said she heard the kids talking and were very excited about going to the Skills USA competition. They discussed the state funding and asked what they could do, maybe something needs to be sent out to parents. 

Student recognitions will take place at the May 16 meeting. 

Discussion:  Meeting was adjourned at 6:50.