May 13, 2024 at 5:30 PM - Committee As A Whole

Discussion: 

Bob Hausmann, Principal at North Park Elementary shared statistics and activities at North Park. Mr. Hausmann talked about the four new staff this year. These were all classified positions, which included three paraprofessionals and a nurse. He also shared information about continuous school improvement, reviewed data and setting goals for targeted issues to improve. Mr. Hausmann said that North Park received a good rating from AQuESTT. The data showed that some target areas that needed to be addressed were EL, economically disadvantaged, hispanic families and special education. The AQuESTT report does not come out until June, however, preliminary data show good progress. Mr. Hausmann shared all testing data. Discussion on chronic absenteeism with emphasis on the goals set and the improvement that has been made this school year. Mr. Hausmann said that they worked really hard at getting information out to parents about the importance of attendance. The UpBeat Engagement Survey Results were presented. Staff continue to work with the trust accelerators to improve communication. Mr. Hausmann said they plan a social function for staff each month. This time is used to spend time outside the school building and building relationships. North Park has monthly assemblies to reward students, and they have a partnership with CCC athletics and invite them to the assemblies to offer the students different experiences. North Park has a great PTO and they plan monthly events for students. 

Discussion: 

Dr. Kay, Director of Finance and Human Resources proposed the new Classified Salary Schedule. He said steps 10 and 20 were added. The total cost is 3.5%, the cost of living adjustment is 3.2%. This fits into the budget based on the tax authority for next year. 

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz, Superintendent, said he met with the media specialists. The regulation was reviewed. The policy is more transparent about how to file a complaint. The wording was changed from citizen to any resident of CPS. The regulation states the superintendent will form a committee to review and make a decision. Information is included about where the form is located, etc. 

Discussion:  The supply list did not have much change from last year.  The online company keeps it very comparable to families shopping for supplies on their own.

Discussion: 

Ben Loeffelholz, CHS SkillsUSA sponsor, said 13 students attended the state competition. Two students qualified for the national competition.  He is requesting $250.00 each for the 2 students and the 2 sponsors registration for the national competition for a total of $1000.00. 

Discussion: 

Dr. Kay shared an update on all the financial reports. He stated that the general fund is getting caught up. The money used from the depreciation fund will be returned. The bond payment went out but is not reflected yet in the report. He said we have 30% of our revenue left to receive from property tax. He is waiting for the remaining payments from ESSERS, that will pay for the CASSETTE House Project. The M4 report is showing payroll as the big item paid, Initiative One was paid for working with our NexGen Program.

Discussion: 

Dr. Kay said the list is very up to date.

Discussion: 

Noted by Dr. Kay was there are a lot of resignations in listed on the classified memo.

Discussion: 

Dave Hiebner, CHS Principal said this list is all who have the potential to graduate, there will be some that will come back for summer school.

Discussion: 

Dr. Kay said this is a list of where everyone went in the last month.

Discussion:  Dr. Kay updated on the estimated valuation-real property growth. He said we are seeing new growth in valuation. The levy next year will be $.92 instead of the $1.05.

Discussion: 

Leonard Kwapnioski, Director of Buildings/Sites and Technology said this contract shows a small increase. Recently CMS hired another custodian which dropped the fee to ServiceMaster. Mr. Kwapnioski said this a  good service for us. 

Discussion: 

Mr. Kwapnioski shared information on the CMS boiler project. The estimated cost is $400,000.00. He received three estimates after they toured the building. Two companies submitted bids. The project will include two 8 chamber boilers for $390,000.00.

Discussion:  Mr. Kwapnioski’s update was information on the CASSETTE House Project. He said the goal is for the project to be finished the second week of July. At this time, they are waiting on cabinets, hoping to have them in the next four weeks. The space is going to be such a great change for them.

Discussion: 

Mr. Harris provided information on the Presence Learning Contract for online speech. Currently, we provide SLPs to us, serve non-publics, some at Lost Creek and CMS.  If a couple of the positions aren’t filled, we may need to ask for more service. They are doing a great job. Its been great this year because we have paras to set up sessions. 

Discussion: 

Mr. Harris said the ESU 7 Contract provides vision services along with additional school psychologist time and provides support in all of our buildings. Projections for learning academy are included. Bridges is the new program for autistic students. 

Discussion:  Mr. Harris shared information on Soliant Health. This company will help to find staff for CPS. They recruit. This is the first company to send a possible candidate. These will be contracted providers. The rates have been approved by NDE.

Discussion: 

Mr. Harris said he met with Special Education teachers in March and April. They rated each student on a 1-4 scale. The rating determines a weight for each student to determine caseload sizes for each teacher. Mr. Harris recommends adding 16.4 staff. After doing some research with other Special Education people across the state, to decide what is a normal caseload, and then compensate staff who are over that number. Mr. Harris said this is Phase 1. This plan would be very beneficial for regular education teachers, it also shows good faith in efforts to help Special Education teachers with manageable caseloads. He said they are working very hard to get positions filled. 

Discussion: 

Jason Harris, Director of Student Services and Special Education, proposed a 4-day calendar week for preschool. Teachers would have an allotted time for planning. At this time, teachers do not get a plan period at all. Staff indicated that there were a lot of behaviors this year and not time to actually plan on how to help those students.

This schedule would be beneficial for teachers to be offered time for collaboration. Paraprofessionals would still get the same number of hours. Hours would need to be changed, Wednesdays would be a non-student day and could be used as a reset day for everything. Morning class would be 7:45am to 11:15am, afternoon class would be 12:00pm to 3:30pm. Mr. Harris has done research, many other districts are using a 4-day preschool calendar.

Discussion: 

This contract provides therapy based on student IEP goals. 

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz reminded the Board about the End of Year Celebration next Monday, May 20. Graduation is this Sunday. He also noted that Wednesday is the last day of school for most seniors. Congrats to the soccer teams. He also mentioned a draft of a strategic plan was coming soon.

Discussion:  Board Sharing will be next week.