Galesburg Reporter

Mercer County School District 404 Board of Education met May 17

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

The Board of Education of Mercer County School District #404, Mercer, Henderson, & Rock Island Counties, Illinois, convened at a regular meeting in the Mercer County Junior High School Music Room, on Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at 6:30 PM. 

Prior to Roll Call, President Smock opened with the pledge of allegiance.

ATTENDANCE 

Board members present upon roll call: Balmer, Lower, Monson, Nelson, Smock, and Wagner. A quorum was present.

Absent: Yates

Administrators present: Superintendent Scott Petrie, Principals Cooper, Sedam, Bush and Fleuette. Also in Attendance: Brandon Livingston, Aaron Heartt, Sam Duncan, Caleb Wagner, Corbin Sturgill, Tiki Lang, and Recording Secretary Angie Dillie.

Reporters: none

RECORD OF MOTIONS & VOTES 

	No. 01	No. 02	No. 03	No. 04	No. 05	No. 06	No. 07	No. 08	No. 09	No. 10
Balmer	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	V O I C E	AYE	AYE	AYE
Lower	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE		AYE	AYE	AYE
Monson	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE		AYE	AYE	AYE
Nelson	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE		AYE	AYE	AYE
Smock	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE		AYE	AYE	AYE
Wagner	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE	AYE		AYE	AYE	AYE
Yates	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-

	NO. 11	NO. 12	NO. 13	NO. 14	NO. 15	NO. 16
Balmer	AYE	V O I C E	AYE	AYE	AYE	V O I C E
Lower	AYE		AYE	AYE	AYE
Monson	AYE		AYE	AYE	AYE
Nelson	AYE		AYE	AYE	AYE
Smock	AYE		AYE	AYE	AYE
Wagner	AYE		AYE	AYE	AYE
Yates	-		-	-	-

CONSENT AGENDA 

1. There was a motion by Balmer, seconded by Monson, to approve the following items on the consent agenda.

1.1 Meeting Minutes

a. Regular Meeting Minutes – April 26, 2023

1.2 Bill List

1.3 Treasurer’s Report

1.4 Financial Report

1.5 BCBS Health Insurance Account Statement

1.6 Resignation of Early Learning Center Paraprofessional Abigail Augustine end of 23/24 year

1.7 Resignation of Apollo Elementary Paraprofessional Anna Augustine end of 23/24 school year

1.8 Resignation of High School Custodian Andrew Augustine

1.9 Retirement of Apollo Elementary 2nd Grade Teacher Paula McGraw end of 26-27 school year

1.10 Retirement of Apollo Elementary 1st Grade Teacher Paula Riddell end of 26-27 school year

1.11 Resignation of Junior High Custodian Estelle Turner

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

CEP – COMMUNITY 2. There was a motion by Balmer, seconded by Nelson, to enroll in the ELIGIBILITY PROVISION CEP, Community Eligibility Provision, Program for the 2023-2024 school year.

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

MILK BID FY24 3. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Lower, to accept Prairie Farms Milk Bid for FY24 as presented.

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

BREAD BID FY24 4. There was a motion by Balmer, seconded by Monson, to accept PanOGold Fresh Bread Bid for FY24 as presented.

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

FUEL BID FY24 5. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Balmer, to accept Blick & Blick Oil, Inc Fuel Bid for FY24 as presented.

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

REGISTRATION 6. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Balmer, to approve the FEES FY24 2023-2024 Registration fees as presented.

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

PRESS POLICY 7. There was a motion by Wagner, seconded by Balmer, to approve the UPDATES Quarterly PRESS Policy Updates as presented.

Majority of Ayes by Voice Vote. Motion Carried.

AUDIT FIRM FY23 8. There was a motion by Balmer, seconded by Nelson, to approve Gorenz and Associates for FY23 Audit Firm.

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

TRANSFER 9. There was a motion by Lower, seconded by Balmer, to approve the OF FUNDS transfer of funds from Capital Projects to Debt Service Fund - $75,000. Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

RESOLUTION TO SELL 10. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Lower, to approve the PROPERTY resolution to Sell Property – Lots 7 & 8 in Bock 13 in the Village of Joy as presented.

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

CLOSED SESSION 11. There was a motion by Balmer, seconded by Nelson, to go into Closed Session at 7:29PM after a short recess for Personnel and Negotiations discussion.

11.1 Personnel

The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity. 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1) 

11.2 Negotiations

Collective negotiating matters between the District and its employees or their representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees. 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(2)

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

OPEN SESSION 12. There was a motion by Balmer, seconded by Monson, to come out of Closed Session at 8:12 PM.

Majority of Ayes by Voice Vote. Motion Carried.

REHIRE OF HS 13. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Balmer, to approve the FALL COACHES rehire of High School Fall Coaches as presented.

Assistant Football Coach: Jason Kenney 

Assistant Football Coach: Fred Lucas  

Assistant Football Coach: Eric Russell  

1/2 Assistant Football Coach: Dennis Clark (In House Move) 

JV Volleyball Coach: Megan Syawassink  

Girls Golf Coach: Aaron Heartt  

Boys Golf Coach: Chris Leng  

XC Coach: Peter Nelson  

Cheer Coach: Ashley Clark  

Dance Coach: Teague Smith 

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

HIRE ELC PARAPRO 14. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Balmer, to hire Pam Kruidenier as Early Learning Center Paraprofessional.

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

HIRE APOLLO 15. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Balmer, to hire Jessica TITLE I PARAPRO Thomas as Apollo Elementary Title I paraprofessional for the 2023-2024 school year.

Roll Call: 6 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

ADJOURN 16. There was a motion by Monson, seconded by Balmer, to adjourn the meeting at 8:23 PM.

Majority of Ayes by Voice Vote. Motion Carried.

OTHER REPORTS AND DISCUSSIONS: 

ADDITIONS/ DELETIONS 1. Deletion: 8.8 Transportation Resolution

PUBLIC COMMENT 2. Sam Duncan, Math Interventionist at New Boston Elementary, demonstrated some of the robots she has been using with the STEM curriculum. Farmers Merchant Bank, Joy generously donated to the purchase of many of these robots. She uses Bee Bots for K-1, Sphere Bots for 2-3, Dash Bots for 4-5. Each board member was able to try out an ozobot by following lines on a worksheet provided.

Mr. Petrie announced that the district has been awarded a $56,000 grant from the Looser Flake Foundation to jump start the STEM K-12 Initiative.

CORRESPONDENCE 3. Thank you cards were received for memorials sent to the families of Randy Frieden and Robert Anderson.

BOARD COMMENTS 4. Julie Wagner provided the board with a list of MCSEEF Grant Award recipients, 2017-present. Grant applications will be sent out to teachers later this week for the 23-24 school year. Applications are due in September and will be awarded in October. She encouraged the board to visit the MCSEEF page on the district website and consider donating to the foundation.

COMMITTEE REPORTS 5. It was stated, that the finance committee recommends adopting the fund transfer of $75,000 from Capital Projects to Debt Service.  

Bill Smock clarified the $8-$10-million-dollar range on the Building and Grounds minutes is in regards to the estimated amount of money left from bonds.

BREAD MILK FUEL 6. Three bids were received for fuel, Gold Star FS, Halcomb Oil, and Blick BIDS FY24 & Blick Oil. Gold Star FS did not complete the required paperwork we sent. Prairie Farms was the only bid received for milk. Pan O Gold was the only bid received for bread. Blick and Blick Oil, Inc, Prairie Farms, and Pan O Gold were the low bidders for the 23-24 school year.

REGISTRATION AND 7. Mr. Petrie discussed the CEP Program that was an information item last MEAL FEES FY24 month. The districts overall poverty level has met the 40% threshold to qualify. All students enrolled at Mercer County School District will receive one breakfast and one lunch meal per day at no charge for the 23-24 school year. Registration Fees were discussed at the Finance Committee on Monday, May 15th. It was agreed to eliminate the Agriculture Class fee and the JH Band fee. All other fees will remain the same as the current year.

TRANSFER OF FUNDS 8. Mr. Petrie explained the transfer of sales tax dollars is necessary to make our debt service payment due to the abatement of a portion of the property tax levy earlier this year. The abatement reduced our tax rate by $.12.

RESOLUTION TO SELL 9. Mr. Petrie discussed the property south of the Early Learning Center in PROPERTY Joy, also known as, lots 7 & 8 in Block 13 in the Original Town, now Village of Joy, situated in the County of Mercer and State of Illinois. The title copy requires a resolution to sell. Sealed bids will be accepted and a decision will be made on this parcel in June. A small shed sits on this property that the district no longer utilizes.

FOIA REQUESTS 10. A FOIA request was received from Blick and Blick Oil, Inc.

BUDGET AMENDMENT 11. Mr. Petrie went over the Budget Amendments scheduled for next month pointing out the biggest changes from the start of the fiscal year being the additional architectural and construction costs, as well as additional personnel costs related to several long term subs. The Budget Hearing is scheduled for the June 21st, 2023 meeting. The amended budget is on display at the district office and on the website.

FFA CHAPTER 22-23 12. Mercer County FFA students, Caleb Wagner, Corbin Sturgil, and Tiki FINAL REPORT Lang, summarized the final report that was provided in the board packet. Some things mentioned:

The FFA Organization has 219 members, Scholarship winners were announced, State FFA Degrees will be received by Megan Gray and KyleYates, American FFA Degrees will be awarded to Rebecca Larson, Carson Holmes, and Robert Holschlag at the National FFA Convention in October 2023.

Mr. Livingston added that a large majority of the student population at MCHS participate in Ag classes. The FFA Alumni have raised over $12,000 that will send students to the state convention at no cost.

COMMUNITY SURVEY 13. Mr. Petrie provided the board with information gathered from the DATA Community Survey. We received 112 responses from the publicly available survey, including many written responses. This information will be used to develop goals for next year.

ADMINISTRATIVE 14. In addition to their written reports, the following was mentioned: REPORTS Mr. Fleuette mentioned the Apollo students will participate in Field Day on Thursday, May 18th.

Mr. Bush mentioned the MAP data that he included in the board packet. The Tier III numbers are dropping, but the benchmark and above students are seeing a decline. The staff is looking at ways to reach the high end learners.

Mr. Sedam mentioned the sendoff for the state track qualifiers on Friday morning at 7am.

https://www.mercerschools.org/_files/ugd/6b636f_d5f0449fcd7c4f7c9994a6cd9281e63f.pdf