President Tamara Peterson called the regular meeting of the Board of Education of Bloomingdale Elementary District 13 to order on Monday, September 22, 2008 in the district office at 7:33 p.m.

Roll Call
Present: Mrs. Patricia Bach, Mrs. Diane Birkley, Mrs. Fina Klco, Mrs. Linda Wojcicki, Ms. Tamara Peterson (Dr. Donald Litchfield entered the meeting at 7:34 p.m.)

Absent: Mr. Terence McKeown

Others Present: Dr. Kim Perkins, Dr. Linda Schielke, Mr. Mark Stamatakos, Mrs. Meena Patel, Mrs. Kathy Ogden

Consent Agenda
A motion was made by Mrs. Birkley and seconded by Mrs. Bach to approve the items shown in the Consent Agenda to include the Regular Minutes from 8-25-08 and the Special Meeting held 9-8-08; the Approval of Bills in the Education Fund for $355,864,86, the Operations and Maintenance Fund for $180,453.13, the Debt Service Fund for $2,967.00, and Payroll (9-10-08) for $356,081.89 as shown in F.D. 9/22/08-1; the Fund Balance Report as shown in F.D. 9/22/08-2; the Balance Sheet as shown in F.D. 9/22/08-3; the Revenue Report as shown in F.D. 9/22/08-4; the Expenditure Report as shown in F.D. 9/22/08-5; the Activity Report as shown in F.D. 9/22/08-6; the Resignations of Caroline Bober, a paraprofessional at DuJardin effective 8-20-08, Laura Fornal, a paraprofessional at Erickson effective 8-20-08, Carolyn Granata, a paraprofessional at Westfield effective 8-22-08, Mary Head, a 3rd grade teacher at DuJardin effective 9-2-08, Dominique Infusino, a paraprofessional at DuJardin effective 8-25-08, Joe Palade, a paraprofessional at Erickson effective 8-15-08, Kathleen Roth a paraprofessional at Westfield effective 8-20-08, Vicki Sprovieri, a paraprofessional at Westfield effective 8-22-08, Ashley Wilgus, a paraprofessional at Westfield effective 8-28-08; Change of Position for Jennifer Doyle, a part-time early childhood and special education kindergarten paraprofessional to full-time early child paraprofessional effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $10.71 per hour; Dina Tenerelli, a paraprofessional at Erickson to 3rd grade teacher at DuJardin effective 9-8-08 for a salary of $37,645; the Employment of Karen Barranco, a special education paraprofessional at DuJardin effective 8-27-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Stefanie Doherty, a paraprofessional at Westfield effective 8-28-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Jan Eigenfeld, a paraprofessional at DuJardin effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Erin Faulstich, an early childhood paraprofessional at DuJardin effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Sara Fox, a special education paraprofessional at Westfield effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Gareth Davies, a part-time custodian for the district effective 9-2-08 for a salary of $10.00 per hour, Katie Hauser, a paraprofessional at Erickson effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Nabila Jahangir, a special education paraprofessional at Erickson effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Janis Johnson, a paraprofessional at Erickson effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Michelle LaFontaine, a part-time health assistant for the district effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $19.30 per hour, Jennifer Morrow, a paraprofessional at Erickson effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Angela Reid, a special education paraprofessional at Westfield effective 8-26-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Taylor Rogers, a special education paraprofessional at Erickson effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Linda Rosenzweig, a paraprofessional at Erickson effective 9-9-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Alice Ryan, a paraprofessional at DuJardin effective 8-27-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Katie Sard, a special education paraprofessional at Westfield effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Patricia Siegel, a part-time paraprofessional at DuJardin effective 8-25-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour, Judy Wager, a special education paraprofessional at Westfield effective 9-2-08 for a salary of $11.05 per hour; a Salary Adjustment for Debbie English, a health assistant from $19.33 to $20.15 per hour, Extra Duty Assignments for 2008-2009.

An inquiry was made by Dr. Litchfield regarding Erickson safety patrol. Dr. Perkins will follow up with Erickson administrators on this issue.

Roll Call Vote

Ayes: Birkley, Bach, Klco, Litchfield, Wojcicki, Peterson
Nays: None
Motion Carried: 6 – 0

Superintendent’s Report
The Board reviewed action plans for the following goals: 1) At least 90% of district students will meet state standards/proficiency on the March 2009 ISAT reading test and May 2009 M.A.P. reading test. 2) Key customer satisfaction
indicators on parent, community, staff, and student surveys, which are below the 90% satisfaction level, will increase by 10% on the next survey.

Dr. Perkins reported on grade level enrollment taken from sixth-day enrollment figures, and shared his projections for the years 2009-2014. The district has seen a 20% drop in enrollment over the past ten years. Dr. Perkins anticipates this slide will continue for the next three years and then level off. Class sizes are good. In response to an inquiry from Ms. Peterson, Dr. Perkins assured the Board that extra support is available at the third grade level at Erickson.

With the aid of various charts, Dr. Perkins reviewed student achievement scores in literacy and math. These charts compared data from the 2005-2006 through 2007-2008 school years for our students who took the ISAT, M.A.P., OLSAT, and Explore tests, as well as that of our benchmark district. The district is extremely pleased with the improvement in scores overall. Average ISAT scores alone show an increase from 77% to 92% in “meets and exceeds” over the last five years. Only 13 of 35 DuPage County districts had scores in the 90’s last year. Dr. Perkins attributes this improvement to a number of reasons:

• Ongoing communication with administrators and staff focusing on learning
• Shifting the focus from teaching to learning
• Stressing that children can achieve more
• Reconfiguration of the assistant superintendent’s position (focus is now singularly on student learning)
• Work in school improvement (planning, teams, interventions, etc.)
• Increase in staff development initiatives
• Becoming a more data-based district
• Literacy coaching model
• Teacher mentoring program aligned with Illinois Teaching Standards
• Hard work by staff and students

Dr. Perkins posed the question to the Board, “How good do we want to be?” He raised the possibility of outsourcing some of our needs, such as a consulting service for data warehousing. Dr. Perkins stated that he is working with Superintendent John Butts from Lake Park High School to track how District 13 students are doing, i.e., percent of students in AP classes and percent of student involvement in extra curricular activities.

Dr. Schielke gave her “On the Horizon” report. She listed a number of upcoming staff development events, which included: an overview of Response to Intervention (RtI) held on September 19, an “after hours” workshop for new teachers to be held on September 23, and October 1 early dismissal day and October 10 will be devoted to curriculum mapping. Due to an increase in students participating in the free lunch/milk program, the district is eligible to receive Title I dollars. This amounts to $37,252.

The Board heard comments from district parent Meena Patel and Westfield’s teacher, Mark Stamatakos. Mrs. Patel stated that her family had planned to move out of the district, but is pleased with the direction the district is now taking. Mr. Stamatakos expressed concern about the timing of spring testing for eighth grade students, and asked if some type of incentive program could be initiated.

Board Reports and Requests

• B.I.G. - No Report
• CCTS! - Mrs. Wojcicki reported that the CHARACTER COUNTS! dedication ceremony will be held on October 21 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Old Town Park.
• Education Foundation - The Education Foundation held a charity clothing drive on Saturday, September 20 in Caputo’s parking lot. The annual Beer and Wine Tasting fundraiser is scheduled for Thursday, October 2 at the Bloomingdale Golf Club. Tickets may be purchase for $50 each.
• LEND – No report
• NDSEC - Dr. Litchfield reported that the NDSEC Board passed its 2008-2009 budget.

Board "Salutes"
The following people received a “salute” from one or more board members and/or the superintendent/assistant superintendent for their contributions to the Bloomingdale School District community:

• DuJardin teachers Karen Petelle and Leah Mirante for having their idea, “Snap When You Hear It” included in the 4th edition of Prentice Hall’s Teaching Vocabulary in All Classrooms.
• Lake Park student Kyle Kelly and Natsuki Piazza, NDSEC psychologist, for their help with translating and tutoring support for ELL students at Erickson.
• Westfield parent Lou Guido for building a free-standing stage doorway for the drama classroom.
• Leah Mirante for her supportive email regarding Pam Gruzynski’s work in the classrooms.
• Board Member Diane Birkley for achieving an award in the IASB Master Board Member program.

Other
The Board regretfully accepted the resignation of fellow member Patricia Bach. Mrs. Bach is stepping down from her post after serving 11 years with the district. A notice will be placed on the district’s website, as well as local newspapers. Mrs. Bach will be missed.

Freedom of Information Act Request
Two requests were received under the Freedom of Information Act. Collin Hitt of the Illinois Policy Institute requested information pertaining to outside private contracting for the following services: private education management organizations, tutoring services, online instruction, speech therapy, physical therapy, alternative education, and staffing substitute teachers. The second request came from the Laborers’ District Council requesting information pertaining to seal coating contracts.

Resolution for Serious Transportation Safety Hazards R#2 (F.D. 9/22/08-7)
A motion was made by Dr. Litchfield and seconded by Mrs. Wojcicki to approve the Resolution for Certification of Previous Serious Safety Hazard Findings, and
authorize the President and Secretary to sign said resolution. Voice Vote: all ayes

Resolution in Support of CHARACTER COUNTS! R#3 (F.D. 9/22/08-8)
A motion was made by Mrs. Wojcicki and seconded by Mrs. Bach to approve the Resolution in Support of CHARACTER COUNTS!, and authorize each member to sign said resolution. Voice Vote: all ayes

Resolution in Support of School Principals R#4 (F.D. 9/22/08-9)
A motion was made by Dr. Litchfield and seconded by Mrs. Wojcicki to adopt the Resolution in Support of Principals and authorize all members to sign said resolution. Voice Vote: all ayes

Annual Application for Recognition of Schools (F.D. 9/22/08-10)
A motion was made by Mrs. Bach and seconded by Mrs. Birkley to approve the Annual Applications for Recognition of Schools and authorize the appropriate individuals to sign said applications. Voice Vote: all ayes

Amendment to DuPage-West Cook Special Education Cooperative By-Laws (F.D. 9/22/08-11)
A motion was made by Dr. Litchfield and seconded by Mrs. Bach to approve the Amendments to the Articles of Agreement for the DuPage/West Cook Low Incidence Service Agreement, and authorize the President and Secretary to sign the amendment resolution. Voice Vote: all ayes

2008 State School Report Cards
The Board reviewed the 2008 state school report cards. There was some discussion on the disparity in academic performance between the elementaries and possible reasons for the differences. In order to give more support to DuJardin for their school improvement efforts, the Board approved two additional hours of paraprofessional help per day to assist in working with students identified as being “on the bubble”, as well as working on interventions for each grade level. The additional time would amount to $3400. The report cards will be made available to the public. Dr. Litchfield suggested a more detailed explanation to the community on the district finance section.

Annual Schools’ Tour
The Board was pleased with the facilities tour taken on September 8. “Good curb appeal”, said President Peterson.

School Calendar
As a follow-up to a previous topic suggestion from Mrs. Klco on the school calendar, Dr. Perkins supplied information on this year’s first day of classes for the other DuPage County districts, as well as recommendations for start dates for the 2009-2010 school year from Dr. Darlene Ruscitti of the Regional Office of Education. It was suggested that we move the start date for District 13 students up one week in order to lessen the gap between the high school and us. Dr. Perkins will check with neighboring districts to see what their proposed start dates will be. He will also discuss options with administrators and the teachers’ union.

Quarterly Investment Report
The Board reviewed the 2nd quarter investment report from PFM Asset Management, LLC.

Topics for Future Agendas
Mrs. Klco suggested a future agenda include a discussion of full-day kindergarten.

For Information
Informational items included:

• NDSEC Profile dated 9/2/08
• 2008 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Information
• 2006-2007 Illinois Special Education Profile
• First Quarter Activities
• Teacher Presentation at Illinois Reading Council
• IASB Master School Board Member Recognition for Diane Birkley
• ISBE Annual Inspection Report Form for 2007-08 School Year
• Letter re: Teacher Resignation
• Thank-you letter to Senator Pankau
• Thank-you letter from NDSEC to Greg Leyden & Mark Dwyer

Adjournment
A motion was made by Mrs. Bach and seconded by Mrs. Klco to adjourn the meeting. Voice Vote: all ayes

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m.

Tamara J. Peterson, President
Linda Wojcicki, Secretary