NORMAL – Two incumbent and one new member of Normal-based Unit 5 School Board were sworn in for four year terms to start May 1’s meeting of that governing body at district headquarters. Incumbents Meta Mickens-Baker and John Puzauskas, and newcomer Todd Ferguson took their seats following the swearing-in ceremony during which fellow Board Member Gail Ann Briggs administered the oath of office to the trio.
Following the oath, three Board members were elected by acclamation to the serve in key posts. Puzauskas was elected president; Mickens-Baker was elected vice-president; and Board Member Mike Trask was elected secretary. The proceedings were witnessed by roughly 25-30 people, including Ferguson’s wife, Denise, and two of his four children. Ferguson has three adult children, and a daughter who will start kindergarten this fall.
But while it was a time of transition, it was also a time to look back for out-going Board Member Jay Reece, who had served on the Board for two terms and had decided not to run for a third as early as last fall. Reece’s wife, Pam, and daughter, Ali, were at the meeting. Board members expressed gratitude to Reece for his service to the Board.
“Enthusiastically, I want to thank Jay for his effort,†Board Member Wendy Maulson said. “It’s very difficult to see a friend go. Thank you for your service.â€
“It’s been a pleasure to work with you,†Mickens-Baker said.
“It’s been a joy, and thank you for your service, and godspeed,†Board Member Mark Pritchett told Reece.
“You have been in a position to put us in a positive position,†Trask told Reece. Then, turning to Ferguson, Trask said, “You will have big shoes to fill.â€
“You’re constantly keeping us on task with your observations,†Board Member Gail Ann Briggs said to Reece. She added the time Reece spent on the Board was “a fun and challenging period.â€
Puzauskas noted that Reece traveled to North Carolina to observe digital conversion in an effort to improve students’ experiences in the classroom.
In his closing remarks, Reece said he “has enjoyed working with some great people. We have had our share of challenges, but we’ve always been able to meet those challenges.â€
Although he won’t be a Board member any longer, Reece said he “would still be watching†what the Board does going forward. In fact, he got a jump on that by staying for the remainder of the meeting, seated behind the media.
To his now former fellow Board members, Reece said to them, “I love these guys and it’s been a great, great time.â€
Reece’s colleagues sent him off from his final meeting as a with picture frame as a token of appreciation.
May 1’s meeting took place in order for the Board to comply with Illinois election statutes. By law, April 30 was the last day for the McLean County Clerk’s office to canvass the election returns and report the results of the April 9 election to the Board secretary. The Board was required to reorganize, seat new members, and elect officers by May 7. Because of the possibility Unit 5 may not have the election canvass until April 30, the Board needed to schedule a special meeting sometime between May 1 to May 7. Rather than hold three meetings in May, the Board made the decision to move the May 8 meeting to May 1.
Board Approves Fee Increases: Some parents who have students active in various activities will see increases in the costs in the coming school year. Parents of middle school students – grades 6, 7, and 8 — will see a jump in their fees for their children’s activities, going from $85 to $110. Junior high parents will also be paying a technology fee of $25. District officials anticipate the new technology fee will pour roughly $235,000 into district coffers, which will go primarily toward the costs associated with leasing such products as Netbooks.
Parents of high school students will see a $20 increase in fees from last year – from $120 to $140 — if their child takes six classes. Parents of high school kids taking seven classes are already paying and will continue to pay $140. There will be no additional fees associated with driver’s education, explained District Business Manager Erik Bush, to Board members. He said he and his staff researched, going back as far as eight years and could not find any fee increases.
Sports coaches will no longer be responsible for collecting team fees, either, Bush told Board members. That change “is an effort toward internal controls – keeping teachers from touching money.†He was quick to say trust of teachers was not the issue here, but rather, the district trying to get a handle on a matter of financial control.
District Staff Changes Announced: It wasn’t just Board membership and tributes to Reece that received attention at the session. Two longtime Unit 5 employees will step into new jobs effective July 1.Laura O’Donnell has been named director of secondary education for the district, replacing Tom Eder, who took early retirement. An 18-year education veteran, O’Donnell is currently principal at George L. Evans Junior High School. Prior to her arrival at EJHS, she was employed in the Olympia School District. Married and mother of three boys, O’Donnell has a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Illinois State University, and had previously worked in Unit 5 as a teacher and an assistant principal at Normal Community West High School before going to Olympia.
There will also be a new principal at Cedar Ridge Elementary School starting July 1. Karrah Jensen, currently principal at Towanda Elementary School, will take over from Mike Clark, who has been principal at Towanda since January after Geoff Schoonover exited for the job of superintendent in the Windsor Community Unit School District. Jensen has been employed in Unit 5 for 14 years, having spent nine years as a teacher at Colene Hoose and Northpoint Elementary Schools, teaching second and fourth grades. She has also served as district science curriculum chair and was director of the district’s elementary summer school program. Jensen is married and has a 7-year-old daughter in the Unit 5 school district and a 2-year-old son.
While recognizing those changes, Dr. Gary Niehaus, Unit 5’s superintendent, also announced he will be retiring in June 2015. Until then, he told the gathering, “We’ll continue to move on because we’ve got work to do.†Puzauskas used that moment to thank Niehaus for the work Niehaus had done for the district. Niehaus has been superintendent of Unit 5 since July 2007.
Public Hearings Set For May and June Meetings: During the Board’s next two meetings, public hearings will be held on a variety of subjects. During the Board’s May 22 meeting, a pair of public hearings will be held dealing with the subject of the transfer of operating funds and the transfer of operating funds.
Bush informed Board members that as part of Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget proposal delivered to State lawmakers in March, the Governor recommended funding school transportation reimbursement at a proration rate of 18 percent. That means Unit 5’s transportation funding would be cut by 82 percent. In terms of dollars, that means instead of receiving a reimbursement of $2 million, Unit 5 would only receive a reimbursement of around $50,000.
In a memo to Board members, Bush explained Unit 5 has normally received an average of $8 million from State local sources, and transportation and special education reimbursements from Springfield. He explained the district’s expenses for contracted transportation run around $7 million. To brace for the coming changes in this area, Bush recommended borrowing money from the district’s Operations and Maintenance account to put into the district’s transportation account. But before that can be done, a public hearing is required, and has been scheduled for the Board’s May 22 meeting.
Another item requiring a public hearing is the district’s desire to transfer interest monies available in two district accounts for use in the district’s education fund. The amounts the district wants to transfer are $128,361 from its debt service account to and $540,647 from its working cash fund. The public hearing on that matter will also be held at the Board’s May 22 meeting.
One of the last steps mandated by the State for the dissolution of Mackinaw Valley Special Education will take place at the Board’s June 12 meeting with a public hearing. Part of the dissolution requires, because of its size, for Unit 5 to request a waiver of the administrative cost per pupil cap. Under State law, school districts are required to limit services growth of expenses to five percent over a fiscal year. Adding Mackinaw Valley has the Unit’s special area administration cost jumping 9,169 percent from last year. It’s anticipated Mackinaw Valley Special Education’s dissolution will be completed by June. The June 12 meeting will also have a public hearing concerning the amended budget for the district for School Year 2013-14.