001You were really >> Are they still able? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. [Music] >> John >> here. >> Johnson >> here. >> Katie Johnston >> here. Diana here. Well, just a correction to the agenda. >> Yes. Yes, of course. If we wanted anything we want to change on the consent agenda, we can do that. >> Are there any changes? >> Yes. Are there any changes to the agenda? >> I'll make a motion. >> I mean, someone can someone please make a motion? John >> Dendoza. >> Hi Moto Johnson. >> Hi >> Katie Johnston. >> Hi DeWat. >> Hi Nikki. >> Hi. >> I want to clarify one thing because we stumbled there a little
002bit. So one of the things we're doing tonight is um the with the board the vote order. It's supposed to be random. calling the vote and she's just been reading them alphathetically and there's a little number there. So she's gonna go into the little >> except the chair votes last. >> So that's why that time it should be a different order next. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Did anyone turn in public comment? >> I did not get anything. This next item is the approval of the consent agenda items. I'd like to request that items 4 H be removed from the consent agenda discuss >> that would be on what I got there. >> Okay. >> That's theus >> the student handbook student and staff handbook and the contracts. Did you want them removed >> for
003to discuss? >> Yes. Tonight? >> Yes. >> So, just to clarify, does the board just want to discuss it or do we want to have separate votes on those items? >> We can have separate votes. >> So, there's no >> confusion. Okay. Clear. >> Okay. >> All right. So, on the remaining items, um, which are number um I don't have anything to present on those but if there's any if there's no discussion someone would like to make a motion to remain a personal subual requirements for new hires as indicated in Illinois statutes and RCS policy and procedures, including ratification of bills prepaid by the finance manager under polic. >> Hi John, >> that was a different order. Uh, now those three items that were removed from the consent agenda just to clarify um Hannah will
004just have to call those votes because they're not already separate setp. >> Okay. So, um the the first item to for additional discussion is approval of the memorandum of understanding. Um did you want to go ahead and start? >> I just had a few questions for clarification. Um and for better understanding um the mentoring program um that has theou and it is a stipen and a program that was established when for to have mentor teacher mentors and to mentor the new teachers. When was that established? >> And I'm going to ask Tom to answer. Uh so there had been a mentor program previously in the district several years ago that ended up kind of going away. Last year was the first year we brought it back. Uh we had teacher vacancy grant funds. So um
005I'm in charge of that grant and as uh our committee, one of the committees that met um thought we needed a mentor program. So we're using currently using funds to pay both the mentee and mentor to participate in that program in their first year. So this will be the second year in this kind of a program that they paid for it. >> Okay. One question. Um, how do you go about um getting is it like a voluntary is does everybody get the opportunity as in any of the teachers in the district get opportunity to do this or do you guys I mean not >> we send out a survey um that teachers can uh basically apply to be a mentor >> in the district. Yep. And so last year was a really wellreceived program. There's
006a a pretty well-known book out there for both the and the mentee. And so they did it was basically a book study throughout throughout the entire year >> um for both the mentors and the mentees. The mentors got additional training beyond what the mentees got. So they went to meetings together and then the mentors actually had separate meetings where they got training on how to be specific mentors. Um so as you can see in the theou there's a different stipen for returning mentors because they went through that book study last year. that there's less of a commitment for them this year because they're already trained mentors. >> Okay, that was being my next question. >> Yeah. And um Kelly Crawford did a lot with it as well as um Lindsay Rubak and Michelle Fry did
007did a lot of the presentations with the staff and it seemed to be really well received by all of your teachers just to help them get their feet underneath them. Um and that was part of the the charge of the vacancy grant is find those ways that empower your teachers and make people want to come work with you. And that seems to be a good selling for the district. One of the first questions we get asked when we go to a lot of career fairs is if we have a mentor program. So it helps us. >> Have you noticed improvement not only the teachers but you know the students that do the mentor program? >> Yeah I think so. I think we have had less turnover this year in our new staff. It seems like
008they feel more supportive in the buildings and and we have really good teachers. So it was good to get the mentors that we have to know they're quality teachers and teaching our new teachers what So >> what about effectiveness in the classroom of the students and what metrics are you using to determine if this program is effective and how long do you plan um is this something that you plan to extend each year or how many more years on the contract? >> So the mentor or the grant >> the grant is going to expire at the end of this year. >> End of this year. >> Um so we'll have discussion at the district level if that's something we feel we can take on. Um in some districts it's not a paid mentorship. It's just
009kind of a requirement of the job. So that would be something we kind of have to discuss uh and bring to if we decide to move forward with paid mentor because if we're going to make a requirement that go through negotiation >> because that's what I was wondering um I could see something like that being in uh or as a requirement in the job description or in those other duties as assigned. So that's why I was wondering, >> but it seems like a good program based on what >> and it hasn't been a requirement in the district for years. So we thought this was a good kind of first attempt to get it restarted and back in the mainream of time. >> It is a big time commitment. So when we talk about other duties
010as assigned, this really is well beyond the hours that >> it should be in the job description. Okay. Um, will there be a final report, something that measures >> um, I hadn't planned on it, but it's something I can discuss with committee. We a lot of it is we're just looking at retention, I think, would be our big metric to see if it helps retain those teachers within the district long. >> Thank you. No, we would have. >> Is there any more discussion on there any more questions? >> Yeah. And I what I liked about it is the idea to really bring it back and make it a big program came from the staff. Um and you know that was the committee work that Thomas is doing with the teachers they wanted. >> I would
011like to add special department was actually doing this mentoring program >> on our own before this. So we have been doing this for Yes. Thank you. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Kelly Crawford did a lot of work with this for our department. >> All right. So then if there is no more discussion Call of >> Ding. >> Sorry. Are we done discussing everything? >> Yes. >> Right. >> Would someone like to make a motion? >> That's it. Hold on. >> No problem. >> Okay. So, we're voting on 4, just the right. >> All right. >> Which I think is 4.8 on that. >> Um, John Brotherton. >> Hi, >> Diana Mendoza. >> Hi, >> Deborah Sweat. >> Hi, >> Moto Johnson. >> Hi, >> Katie Johnston. >> Hi, >> Nikki P.
012>> Hi. >> All right. Now we have a discussion about the annual approval of handbooks and family student. >> So there's three handbooks. The family student handbook, the staff handbook, and substitute. >> Okay. Um just wanted to bring up for discussion. Uh let's start out with the staff handbook. What kind of caught my eye and made me question it was uh teachers driving students using their personal cars um in the course of the job. Uh under what circumstances would a teacher or any staff member use a personal car to transport student? >> So we do have a policy in place that was approved by board last year defining when would transport students and put their parameters on that. Um so specifically um it should be an administrator um or someone directly designated by the administrator.
013It should be two staff in the vehicle. Um they should be informing the parent prior to doing the transport and then the student has to be secured properly in the back seat no matter what. So um what it looks like. And so the change to the handbook this year was just about insurance. So making sure that uh and it was really not even about transporting students. It was about anytime an employee is driving their vehicle for their work, >> right? >> Um so it is really pretty unusual for most of our staff to ever drive. It's going to be administrators, people like social workers, parents and we encourage them to use the district vehicle whenever it's >> okay. And so the school will not assume any liability if they use their personal vehicles. >> So
014we would >> you will >> Yeah. Um it's my understanding. I'd have to I don't have an insurance policy. >> Okay. >> Um if it is part of their job um The way I understand it is that the district does indemnify them because they're doing their job. >> So that's why I think it what we're trying to make sure is that we're putting all the parameters around when they should do it. So but it is >> right. So I think what I don't have a clear answer on which is part of why we're asking for this is we have a handful of employees that well they'll turn in for mileage right because they're in two schools. So, uh, they're not on our insurance when they drive their car between those two schools. >> If they
015were transporting student in their car, I think it's different. Um, so we need to make sure that if they believe that they're required to drive their personal vehicle for work, that they're properly insured before we start compensating. >> Okay. >> Um, but yeah, I mean, I'm probably going too far in this, but yeah, I mean, if if I'm if it's if it's not if I choose to drive a student and it's not my job at all to drive a student and I get in an accident, the district may not be responsible because that wasn't you weren't you ch you weren't even supposed to be driving. It's a different issue, right? Um and we have had that come up in the past as with sports sometimes and things. and they should not be transporting students in
016those circumstances. >> And that's what I was wondering if there were instances like that. Um we have to go uh now what about 99% is transport >> and so there's training we have to go through as well as sure you do as well here at RCS. fingerprinting, all of that. We have to go through training supply, driver's license, and uh proof of insurance is all kept on file school. So, just want to make sure that the teachers are protected. Um because if they're using their car and they're not protected under RCS policy, then if they use their car nowadays, you have to carry a different type of insurance. I think it's more commercial insurance otherwise your insurance company can refuse to honor your claim. So just want to make sure the teachers are covered and
017will be covered >> and if there is a question mark then maybe need to look at the policy do not use your personal we have >> right so and I will I made a note too I can share with the whole board again the policy that was approved last year that kind of puts those guidelines on when transport >> okay and is that in the handbook it's in the handbook outlined clearly >> I don't if that policy was specifically >> just so it's not vague and it's outlined and you can't say they didn't know didn't see etiqu at least when I was working there when I was a coach um the um the program that I had to go through I actually a chauffeer license for the school insurance to cover. Um, so I mean
018it's not very real intense, but it's still something that you had to go through. There was a lot of um, you know, food handling, a lot of different things that um, I had to do there compared to some of the other districts that I worked in. So, >> and the language we're putting in is recommended by They provided the model. So the the language in the the staff handbook is model language that we were provided from the insurance. >> Okay. >> So they're aware of it. >> They they Yeah, they recommended that we add it. So >> okay. >> Oh, the student um I was just curious um I know you summarized each change what the change was going to be but it wasn't the exact language. >> No. >> Um >> it wasn't >>
019I'm sorry popped up. No internet. Okay. But it's back on. >> That could cause problems down the hall of registration. shut us down. Okay. Um there are 10 points u summary of changes to the student and family handbook. Um I was looking and I did not see the exact language. Did I miss something? Um you summarize each point like for example um RISE Academy section added a detailed section outlining the assignment expectation procedures for students placed in RISE the district alternative learning environment. >> What are those? >> It's in the student handbook but you said that you added a detailed section. Is it in the is it already in the handbook or will be added. >> Right? So the version of it should be in the version of the handbook that's in the board packet.
020>> Okay. >> So so when I was summarizing and I doubt I summarized I doubt I listed every single thing line item that was changed. I was trying to capture the main points >> the um >> the but yeah those are already put into the handbook. So there's a >> group of administrators that changes and you need updates >> and where is the nondiscrimination clause and the only reason I was um kind of focused on that is because of some incidents last year where there was discriminatory activity um being reported and I did not feel that it was addressed um or slept under the rug um parents that I aided in the community. Um there were racial slurs, um teachers allowing um racial conduct to happen in the classroom. I was not pleased to hear
021that >> and um some of the students are still traumatized by it and we need to set the tone and make sure that the policy is enforced and it's something I plan to look at and monitor. um especially this year and hope that there are some more positive changes toward that and that's why I keep bringing up the social equity working group our non-discrimination um those statements and but um >> no she came in and had set down a a shirt >> I got out of this with a t-shirt >> okay but to um but it's serious that we need to focus on that >> because there should be our school system should be an inclusive environment, an accepting environment, and it hasn't uh been that way. And even over the summer, we're hearing parents
022talk about um the racism in the schools. Uh and it's not just RCS, it's all over, okay? Our community and all of our schools here in this community from the high school to the private. And it's something that needs to be addressed. being that lot of lot of different type of racism that's going on for one reason or So that is I think you're right. keep us being told to us >> just in case. >> Sweatshirts. But I don't know what sizees. >> I'm sorry. is not smirking at anything. >> I didn't even hear it come behind me. >> Yes. >> What about the staff? >> Um, we've discussed that. >> Yeah. Just want to make sure that the the teachers are protected, the district is protected, >> and hopefully there has not been any
023there haven't been any accidents. You need to know right away. >> Yes. >> So, is there a motion to approve the approval the annual approval of handbooks? Approve the annual handbook for students. Okay, John. >> Hi Diana Mendoza. >> Hi Deborah. >> Hi Mo Johnson. >> Hi Katie Johnston. Hi Now for the discussion of the approval of contacts just of the fact that I do understand the need but like I said I wanted uh to bring it to discussion not just for our sake but also for the public who may be watching in the minutes. Um, apparently these contracts are to outsource some of the services, am I correct, Dr. Woods? Um, that are needed within the district. Uh, one is for um evaluation, I think, of IEPs, etc. >> Um, and then one is
024for speech um services >> and That is due to the lack of being able to hire into the district. Correct. >> Yes. >> So because of that with these, I don't see any problem with them. They are costly >> um for the district um however I'm wondering especially what is it CS? What's that? Center for special ed services. Um will they provide any feedback followup on compliance? >> Um as far as compliance with IEPs, >> correct? >> No. So that would be the role of the school psychologist. So what this contract is, we have three full-time school psychologists. Their role is um participating in the IEP meeting, completing the actual assessments that only a school psychologist can do um and then determine eligibility. But beyond that, even our in-house school sites, that's not a role
025that they would fill in terms of compliance. That's more, you know, my my department. Um, so what this contract is, we're simply hiring someone to come in and do the testing so that the two that we do have are not overloaded given the third position that's open that hasn't been filled. >> So, it's that third position >> and this this is not a fulltime um replacement basically. So we um took a look at the number of anticipated evaluations that we'll have this school year because of the three-year window that they have to be reevaluated >> um and just kind of made an estimate of how many we would need to bring someone else in to assist with based on our average numbers every year. So this is just to give you a general ballpark. This
026is going to cost about a third less than a third of what we would be paying salary and benefits for a full-time psychologist. So, um, our two school psychologists that are still with us are taking on some extra responsibility. >> They are. I'm sure. Y. >> Okay. Now, um, because of this, are they being um, compensated for taking on additional responsibility? um not outside of their contract because there is no um there's nothing in their job description that has a limit of you know you're required to only complete 30 evaluations right um I have done some comparisons with local districts just to determine you know what is the average number of evaluations that a school psychologist would complete um just to make sure we're still you know in the reasonable range for that. So >>
027sounds great. on top of things. Now the um is it the speech? >> Yes. >> That um what is that fail or something like that? >> Um how are their services? Uh it's if I'm not mistaken was it 95 up to 45 hours a week? Um how often do Is this the first year doing this? Do you expect anticipate the full 45 hours or will it be less than that? >> Um, >> on a more consistent basis, >> it's going to be 35 hours. >> Yeah. So, this one's a little bit different because um, you know, I mentioned that the school psychologist is just based on the number of assessments. That's not based on hours necessarily. It's a flat fee for assessments. Um, the speech contract is more like hiring fulltime person um at that
028hourly rate. So to answer your other questions, no. Since I started here in 2017, we've had a contractual speech provider every year, I think, except for last year. >> Um and again, this is common practice in in the world of special education right now with with our shortages. So, um yeah, this would be contracting someone who is going to be full-time and so those hours would be consistent every week and they would be filling the role of a full-time school SLP. >> And you said that's 35 hours. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Okay. And then any thing over that will be at the overtime rate. >> No. Um what's written into the contract is that you can go up to 45 without getting into overtime. And we would Yeah, we would not get to that point.
029>> Okay. like to make a motion to I'd make like to make a motion to approve the contracts. >> John Mendoza. >> Hi Johnson. >> Hi John. >> Hi. >> Now we're at five. >> Yes. Everyone's excited for a presentation. >> Yes. >> All right. And Tom and Alison, I'm sure you're down at registration. or would you like to stay here >> while we during the last voting they did bring in sweatshirts but I feel like the temperatures changed while >> Did you adjust the thermostat? >> Okay, somebody did something. It turns off at six, doesn't it? >> That's what it is. >> Yeah. Okay. Um so I with some discussion with board president and vice president over a month ago I thought it would be a good idea to uh a real quick presentation
030together about budget. So what I want to start with is really everything that you need to see for the most part that you like to see probably maybe too much information is already in your board packet. And I think what I'm going to try to do here is help you be able to look at what's in your board packet maybe a little better um to understand what you're seeing. Also how to look at the budget document and maybe make a little I say all of that that I've now been a school administrator for over 20 years and school finance and budgeting is probably the most complicated thing that we do. Um and uh even the people who are accountants it's school finance is different than the regular world of accounting. Um that's why you know
031we're down to very few people left that will even audit school districts. Um He's made a good business of that, Mr. Rusty. So, um, let's get into it. So, to start off, I'm going to confuse you all by saying, "Do you know what this means?" The answer is I might know what it, but this is like the secret code to understanding uh, district budgeting and district finances. And if you've worked in other systems, it's just the county codes. That's all it is. But everybody has their own system. What I can tell you is all school districts have a system that's very similar to this in Illinois because we're required to follow a uniform accounting system. So Diana knows because she used to have to put in all purchase orders for building. >> Um Hannah knows
032>> because she gets to do a lot of this too. >> All right. So we're going to teach you what this means. Take a step back. There's two things we're looking at in a school district. And this part is like your home. your home budget. We have revenues, what our income is, and we have expenditures, which will be on the next slide. What I want to point out though is um RCS is very different than the average in the state. The average in the state, a school district is getting almost twothird of their funding from local property tax dollars. That is not the case for Ranch below 30%. So, we what you'll see different for us is we get a lot of state funding and a lot of federal funding and I've talked about this
033in the past. The main reason for that is the property value per pupil in Randol is relatively low. So we do have a high tax rate but the value of the property being taxed is relatively low. Um, fortunately, uh, several years ago, the state put in the system of evidence-based funding, which allowed this the state to start to shift how it was spending dollars more equitably. Meaning districts that served uh lower income students. Um, and then they use a whole lot of other variables in there, not just income. Uh, are getting higher amounts of new money as the state does their allocation. And that's called evidence based fun. Then the next part is expenditures. Okay. Um so on expenditures I would say we're not that different from the state, right? The largest amount that a
034school you hope is spending is on education. Okay. Uh for us it's education, operations, um transportation, and then debt service. So our top four are the same as the state state average top four. Uh, and debt service is paying off bonds and all of our bonds are paid off with 1% sales tax for our district. Um, okay. So, school districts, um, we have nine different funds. So, all of our expenses are tied to nine different types of funds. As I said already, the two largest is fund 10, education, and fund 20, operations. So whenever we're budgeting and even when we collect uh property tax dollars, so the property tax dollars come into each one of these funds is a different tax levy. So if we levy a percent for education, that money must go into
035the education fund. Um and so there are nine funds total. We do not levy in the fire prevention and safety fund. I honestly don't know why we don't other than it's not needed anymore. Maybe somebody else knows but I don't know why it's it uh it's not a thing that's >> no it is but we don't let these separately for that we would do all of that through operations. >> Um so there was probably a reason at some point in state history where we had to have more money just for fire protection. So you'll never see a fund 90 account for us. That's all I was getting at. You'll see fund 10. If you think back to that first slide, there's a whole bunch of tens at the beginning, right? >> Because I was showing
036you education accounts, which are our most common ones. Now every So the first thing is we have funds and then we have functions. All right? There's test on this there's no place I promise um but basically there are six functions of spending so instruction I'm not going to read but when you look in the budget document what you will see is it's going to be very broad and that's why I wanted to highlight so we spent 16 or we budgeted this was FY25's budget I think where I took the screenshots we budgeted $16 million construction initially. That's all that means. There's no breakdown here of how we're spending that. Not yet. Okay. So, we're spending $60 million in education for what? Um, and I think a lot of people think that's what the budget is
037going to say. It's like, oh, you're spending this much to pay the superintendent and it's going to be listed in the district's budget. No, it's going to be listed within I actually function. How do I picked the worst? All right. Um, so then it's objects. You have functions first, then objects. So salaries, we budgeted 20 million, $20.6 million for salary, almost $3 million for benefits. So that makes sense. The largest expenditures we have are salary benefits. That's most most public service organiz groups. most governments. Um, and so we budgeted that. It doesn't mean that on the last slide we we didn't budget 16 million for instruction and then an additional 20 million for salaries. Right? You can't see what I'm pointing at. Um, of the right so they're they're overlapping each other. So there's one
038function 10,000 education fund and then there's function 100 salaries. So um Not all salaries are in coming out of education fund. So on operations and maintenance salaries they're not coming through education fun. Um so those are the big things and when I get to show you the secret code at the end you'll be able to read the matrix. Okay. So this is all going to make sense in the end. Then at the end of the accounts um you're going to see um sources. So the source codes are most of our account numbers have a source code that's six six zeros here down on the bottom because most of our spending is not tied to a grant. So the state evidence-based funding spending is not tied to a grant. We have uh a lot of flexibility
039with that funding. Um any property tax money that's not grant funding. So those are just coded as six zeros. Anything that's a grant or a special project um would be coded with a unique grant code. All right? And so I'll point out these two here. So our largest grant that we get is title one and it's 4,300. But underneath title one, there's other sub grants that we get. So those are all going to start off with that 43. So the other one that other big one we get is school improvement and that's assigned 31 and I actually think those codes come from the state level. I don't even know that that's something to be determined. Um so you put all of then I somewhere I say that oh yeah there's more. All right there's the
040fiscal year and the account number and then the specific location. The specific location didn't always used to be in there, but the state now requires that we do a um yes, there's an expenditure breakdown by location and there's a nice name for it. Chris Johnson was working on it today. Um and uh then that ends up being reported in our school report card when they pull things like spending per pupil at a specific location. >> All right. So each school has a you still each school has a different code. >> All right. So now does this make sense to you now? Of course it does. >> Well, I'm gonna break it down a little there. This is helpful. So I took one this is one account line and this is so like people like Chris
041Johnson um she can look at this and know exactly what it is. >> She reads it like >> right >> I can ask her I need to buy this what account would it come out of and she can she knows what function what object and then she's going to want to know what's the source we're going to use for it is it going to be a grant and then we will tie it back to the school. Um, so you go through it and the first is the the fund. So that's going to be most commonly it's the ED fund. It could be O and M. It could be um capital outlay and then the next one you're going to see most commonly is E for expenditure. The only other type would be R for revenue.
042Um so when you when you look at the like the print out of the budget details you could download from Skyward there' be a section of revenue accounts and a section of expenditure accounts. Then what location the spending is tied to and then we get into those function object. So you have I have a list of the functions and object codes that I keep to help me understand it. And then if it's tied to a grant, we have to identify the fiscal year and then the funding source. So I can look at this one and know that it is for JWA to junior high 27 and that it is for instructional supplies. So it's 400 4,000. It's instructional supplies. It's for educational education based instructional supplies. So it's not cleaning materials for these. All right.
043And I know that she's paying for it out of a 25 26 school year grant and what that 4 through31 is the school improvement grant. So this is complicated I feel but hopefully it's starting to get a little more quick. Um and each one of these functions and objects those do get tied back into that budget document but not at a very detailed level. Um, so what you see on the budget form and I'm just going to talk about I say revenues. >> Yeah. Okay. So what you're going to see on the is revenues. >> So what I'm going to point out is the source for this funds for the junior high is a school improvement planning grant which is part of title one. So, we anticipated last year in the budget that we were
044going to get a total of $1.7 million for title one. So, that's this is what you see on the letter. Um, you don't even see the split out of if it's uh regular title one, which is for lowincome households, or if it's school improvement grant funds. It's not even broken down on budget format. Um so for expenditures it's different. Um it will it is broken down on the expenditure side by the fund function. So there's a whole section on there that gives you a breakdown of what's happening in the education fund for example and then what is happening that is um supplies or instruction um and then the object would be supplies and materials. In total, as a district, we allocated $63,000 for supplies and materials last year, but that doesn't matter what source of
045revenue was coming from. That's just what we were projecting we would spend on supplies and materials. Um, so that's what you would see in the budget form. Um, so how do the numbers get into the budget form? So what happens in the background is that looks like this. And you get this. This is your monthly budget report from June. So yeah, it was from a month or so. So you're getting the monthly budget report, which is a listing of all of those accounts in the background and how much was allocated. So that's the original budget. How much was spent during that month? How much was spent during that fiscal year? And then how much is still remaining in that account. Um this report itself is extremely large. I don't know if any of you have
046printed it, but it's very long. Um and obviously not all accounts are used. So I'm going to highlight. So I did pull the page that's the 43 4331 JW from last year. And so what happens in the background is we have to build it. By we I don't mean Chris Johnson. Um so she has to go in and build it. Typically we do not do zerobased budgeting. We roll over year and we're looking at about how much did you spend last year out of this and where we need to make adjustments. So she's not manually entering brand new data for every single thing. Um and then What we do essentially uploads from Skyward directly into that budget form and then I'll just say magic happens in the background and it puts everything in the right
047places based on those based on the account numbers that are um so this is really if you want to see how things are being spent that's so I took a specific one right from that school improvement grant account. So we we just we can call it whatever we want internally. This is just called SIP online subscription. So I know that so at the beginning of the year Heather allocate Heather's principal. She chose to allocate $3500 of her budget for that. Okay. And then I know she well she didn't spend any money in June and she but over the year she spent that. Okay. So that's all you're getting on your monthly report where we can drill down more um is take that same I don't know why I have the slide. So we're going to
048come back. I just wanted to show this is what you see in your packet. Okay. And and you can see here that um this line item, for instance, is over budget. There's a few lines down. If it shows a negative, it's over budget. So, I would prefer you not try to get me at a board meeting and say, why is that one line over budget today? I wouldn't know. I would have to look it up and um find out. But it doesn't mean the overall budget's over budget. That makes sense. So, what I want to emphasize is whatever we're putting into the budget. So, put in that $3,500. That's just a general broad placeholder. There's nowhere that she is expected to list out the specific items that she's going to purchase with that $3500. Sometimes
049she knows like I've got to buy this specific thing. Sometimes she knows she it's something's going to come up and she knows she's going to have to to renew something, right? But we don't she doesn't know exactly usually what $3500, but you do get a monthly board report that shows so if Heather had spent out of that account that month, it would show up on that that check register report. The check register report does not show the specific account number. Um, I don't know if that would be helpful or if anyone really care, but what we're really generating for that one for the board is literally every check that was cut. So, that's the report you're getting. Um, so we have to look in Skyward into the specific account to see what Heather spent during
050the year. And there's no way I can give you access to that. It taken me a while to figure out just how to find it on my own. I usually call Chris or ask me in the business office and say, "What did Heather spend that money on?" So, but I pulled it up for you guys. Um, so, and I know it's small, but really she made two purchases. So, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say she knew actually at the beginning of the year that she had to make those two purchases because she was only off by $90, right? Um, and you also look one of these, this high five, I would have to ask her what it is. It's a renewal. Um, and she did it on July 10th. So, she knew
051right away that she was going to need to spend that money. So, she had this program that she was going to use in the school. Uh, junior library build is a library based purchase and they made that video. So that's the level of detail that we are able to see. So some of our accounts get very very extensive as you can imagine. Yeah. So, so can so um the administrator is building can they change that monthly or is that is that actually change every month on what they're going to you know that their budget what they're thinking that they may >> no so they have to try to just like >> they have to try to they have to try to figure out at the beginning of the year >> so we do do amendments
052>> during So within a grant, so within that school improvement grant, for example, we've done two amendments during the year. And so um one of the things that happened in that school improvement grant is we got a significant increase in funding March that we the state had extra funds basically so much money that we're struggling to spend it because the main thing we spend money on is hiring people. and and those grants are very much restricted, but Heather would have then gone into the school improvement grant and made amendments how she's going to spend that money and but we have to get approval on that from within those grants and we have to do a board budget amendment um anytime the amount of money in one of those funds. So number 10 is the bed
053fund if we're going to shift that amount by a certain percentage or when we did this at the If we're going to move money from one fund to another, that requires um but amending the budget itself has to happen when the numbers change by a certain amount. Um but not if Heather moves money from school grant from online subscriptions to hard copy books. That's two different accounts which makes grant counting. So, um the So, I want to I show Robin this, excuse me, for president. Um this and she say, "Oh, yeah. That's what I was like, this is what she was kind of asking me about." So, this is one grant. This is probably the simplest one I've dealt with this year. This is uh a title one grant, a school improvement grant. Um This
054is the one I was showing you those expenditures from Heather from the junior high. So North View and the junior high are the only two schools that were involved in that grant district. So I just took a screenshot. This is what we have to enter into is system for the grant report. So and I've just done the upload for FY26 on this grant. We have to spell out in detail. So 200 this was This was title one. I'm sorry. So, title one's our largest grant. So, we spent last year, we knew at the beginning of the year we're going to spend 200 a very specific number, $288,000 on reading interventions and that's paid out of this. Then we have to spell out, it's a couple lines down, 1,200, how much we're going to have to
055pay in benefits for those people. So, of our um I want to say it was million on that title grant. Um, you know, we're over 325,000 of it salary and benefits for five. Okay. And then we can't move forward with this spending unless we've got like this gets uploaded to is there's multiple grant reviewers that have to look at it and approve it before we can start spending. And then we do have to do quarterly expenditure reports to the state on all the grants as well as um periodic reporting which is a narrative of how we spend. So behind the scenes there is a lot of detail that goes into it. But this kind of takes me back to the Pleasant Acres parking lot project right that we approved at the last board meeting. Um
056there's nowhere that looks like this. There's nowhere in the district budget that ever really spells out we're going to spend $50,000 on a parking lot. There would have been a line item in the budget for maintenance for that school. That's what you would see and not even on the budget. That's what you would see on that this document that looks more like this. Um >> it would have been Um so um yeah and most of our spending is tied to staffing and I we I call those most people call this those are some of our fixed costs like there's things that are flat. We just we don't have really a lot of discretionary money it's not already assigned to something. Um schools and departments are allocated funds directly. Um so right if we take off
057salary and benefits off the top then you know maybe we have 15% of our money left to start to allocate out for specific purposes. Um I mentioned already that we don't do a zerobased budget. We do base it on spending the prior year. So each school gets a certain amount of money. Um and then departments and when I say departments the big ones are going to be student services which is special education um and fac are the departments that get um so I made up a school here how it works. So East View Broadare, that's the school East Broader, that's what it was called. Uh spent $9,000 on materials last year, so we'll call it that school. Um but last year they had a new math curriculum and we needed to buy a lot of
058new materials for the new math curricul. This year, the school is going to have fewer students because we reorganized um and there's no new curriculum. So, what should the principal do for her materials and supplies? So, they that's where they're going to have discretion. So, she may decide and I say she does all of our elementary. Um she might say, "I'm not going to put $9,000 in materials and supplies this year because I want to buy new furniture for a classroom. instead. Okay. Um, but really that's it does get down to that basic process for they want addition >> in the beginning, you know, like yes, you can increase it. I'm assuming >> No, go on. >> I'm just seeing what I have left. >> Okay. No, it's all good. you know, if you're assuming
059like 50 for one school, but they need 60 for the things they come up with. I just didn't know how they request that. >> Well, they do all the time. I've never met a principal, including myself at the time, that didn't want more money. Um, but uh what I have usually the only kind of extra requests are going to come up because they were unexpected. Um, so right now I I'll give an example. Miss Miss uh Womber, she really they did they finished the project for the camp at the entrance of Rock and she wants to put some benches out, but we don't have currently have a funding source to do benches. So um but she keeps asking for money to put benches in and we but we're like no, we're going to wait, you
060know, let's wait till next year. you decide maybe where you want them and now that you've lived with it, not sure where to hang the picture. Um, and so she may get an additional allocation because we want to finish our project, but really a lot of that's going to go through facilities. Um, most of our allocation is based on per pupil. So for instance, in title one, I think This year school got $460 I think it is I might be off per so that ends up being a lot of money that's times 500 um but at rise academy that's times 25 so but it's proportional um and so most of it most of it is allocated for for people about we do have some other assumptions in there Whether you have 300 students at you
061have 300 students in a building or you have 200 students in the building, there's still a certain amount of money to maintain. >> I just wasn't sure if there was like a formal process as you do your budget process. >> The biggest ask we get from principles is for staff. So there is a process for that to ask for new staff. It's a form >> fill out. >> So anyway, I know that was probably too long, but um I'm you know, every year I do budgeting, I learn more on school budgets, but there is a method behind it. I don't want you to think we're just um you know, throwing stuff at the wall. >> Like that webinar watched on the 17th. >> That's so boring. budgets. >> Um, the hardest thing, and this is
062kind of in my next slide, the hardest thing in being a school district in Illinois is we don't know what we're getting at the start of the year. So, we have to have the budget approved before September 30th, ISB hasn't announced what we're getting yet in evidence-based funding, which is our single largest source. We think we're getting, but we don't know. Um, And I've I've been keeping you informed about some of the federal government concerns. So those grant funds have school starts in three weeks. We don't have spending plan because we don't but fortunately most of our spending is people right. So we know that's one way. Anyway, that was a lot. How long was that? I told Mr. Roundry next month he gets 10 minutes and I just took 25. So >> that was
063it for budget. Any discussion on that? Any questions? Any discussion or questions about >> the board president could cut the acting pro >> No, no, we just information items. Um, and I usually just kind of run through those real quick. Next is the information items which are the foyer request. >> Yeah, we had no media this month which I guess is good or bad. Um the tenative budget will be posted before the next meeting. >> Uh I did put in the summer school and retention report. Um I had some questions on that. Um the one thing, the main thing is we we didn't really operate a summer school program for elementary this year because of all the changes that were happening. Um but we did run our regular program for the junior high. Um one
064thing I want to clarify is based on the questions I had, we do not do social promotion, which is what it's called. Um, if a student does not meet uh the requirements and does not successfully go through the junior high summer school, they will not go on to the next grade level. The exception is um if uh and this was Mr. Henderson had this in his report, there's four students that um they did go to summer school, but they're also going to end up going to Rise Academy next year as an alternative to retention. Um what that means uh is we could justify retaining those kids but they're going to go to Rise and he does some things where through some online systems where they're able to do additional uh coursework and so we don't
065retain those kids. But if it's an eighth grader for instance and they don't pass and they don't go to summer school they will get retained. And I explained the exception would be I don't really need this to get out on the news, but once a student is 15, they are a high school student and they are rental high schools. So, Ranch High School may in that case uh want to enroll that student, especially if it's a specialized student um so they can get them into their program and try to get them on track towards graduation. But Ranchel High School will not enroll one of our students unless we which means they have to pass the school year or successfully gone through um the board policy changes. So in there I do want to go back
066I always put my superintendent evaluation tool in at this point because it's customary that employees are informed of that they're being evaluated before the school year starts. So um board policy changes. Um I don't have my notes in front. So one was the changes we talked about last month with contracts uh over $50,000 or under $50,000 amount. Um and so our attorney helped put that together. Um and I really think he may have changed one sentence in there just to it should reflect what the board discussed last month. The other one came up is I was looking at our credit card policy. Um, and uh, the credit card policy as it's written is not what we currently do. Um, so I looked into press and there's some alternate language that is in press that reflects
067what we actually do. So what we actually do is you can spend your credit card limit without getting superintendent approval. So that's Everyone has a limit. Um the way it's written right now, it says that anytime they want to go over $1,000, I think they have to get my approval. That's not actually how we've been operating. So my recommendation is to change the policy that actually reflects the practice. Um which is that one when the board authorizes that limit that that's what guides how much something and still nothing changes the accounting practices behind the scenes on that at all. Any questions? >> Do you know personally personal credit cards? We can work notifications on spending. Are there any notifications to the district for those who do have procurement cards, credit cards closer? So get a
068heads up. We don't reach our limit very often. Anna, when do we reach the limit on my part? There's one time of the year. >> There's one time of the year when we do the >> Chicago. We have to do the deposits and all of that. And the stuff we get, we don't >> It depends on how much is already. >> So, if we hit my limit, what do we do? >> We use credit card. So, >> we use Chris's card or Alison's card or Yeah. >> But it all goes through the same accounting system. No, we don't get an alert when we're supposed to. >> Yes. >> So, yeah, they're very good about that. >> All of our credit cards are bankrupt. >> And they're very good. >> They're very easy. >> They won't
069let you. >> Oh, they won't let you >> like like go like Uhhuh. What do you want to buy? Uhuh. I used my limit all the time. >> That's why I was wondering >> the last item on here I did share that there I think I shared this at the last board meeting but I identify which exhibits and administrative procedures we were going to go ahead and make public. Um and again that was after some discussion with our attorney that those are things that really just for transparency and access for families and staff to those there's no reason not Um but what I want to clarify is exhibits and administrative procedures that are published um they are not board approved. Um and they only serve as guidance. That's an important distinction. So um that's what
070the other information items I want to share is next month I'm gonna have Mr. and his staff Jamie Roundry do a presentation on what's going on with curriculum from the instructional advisory committee and then I'm going to do a report on last school year's discipline and have uh Mr. Henderson talk about what the discipline committee is working on for this next minutes >> my presentation. >> Yes. >> He's mostly going to be there to answer questions. Okay. >> Right. So I'm gonna be the one I'll put the data together and I'll I'll probably share that presentation in advance just so I'm not reading every slide. Um and then He's actually starting some things with our admin team. >> And did you or will you send us your PowerPoint on the budget? >> Oh, I can
071do that, >> please. Thank you. >> That's all I have. >> Are there any more discussion? >> Um I was just um going to ask web page. I see that you what it was launched and what was it? April. >> April one. Okay. Um >> huh. >> I don't know the date. >> I don't know exactly either, but I was in and around. I think it was the district improvement plan. I think it was targeted for March, but I think it was after that that the new page was launched. And I want to comment and I think, correct me if I'm wrong, down at the very bottom, you have to scroll to the very bottom of the homepage, but there is an area where you could submit comments or questions. And does that go to
072the board or to you or both? >> No, I don't know that we've had. >> Do you want me to send one just to test? >> Might as well. It might be the So, I don't think it's at the bottom. We have a contact us point. >> Yeah. Contact us. >> Yeah. That goes to an info at RCS email. >> Yes. And that's the form. >> And it goes to an info. And who gets that? Me, Hannah, there's a few of us that get it because we get a lot of emails through that that there's a whole group of us that get them and we determine where it needs to go. >> Okay. >> But it does not go to the book. Okay. But that is available for community members. You encourage parents to use
073the um >> the other app. >> Yeah. I mean parents email all the time. So that's >> do that. But uh the community or anybody >> I think what we were aiming at doing with this is it should also allow someone to make an anonymous comment that would come through as an email um or just feedback in general. It goes to a like a mailbox that a bunch of us receive. >> Okay. >> Right now we're inundated with emails about registration. >> Okay. >> Good point. Yeah. If they I believe if they do this and they select northview it's going to go there's a info rcs127.org but there's also a is it was probably NV info would go to north >> so those are set up for each of the schools right so right if
074someone selects the school it'll go to just that so I won't get one that's directed to north >> and that go to straight It should go to it probably >> but those email I don't know where we post those emails >> yeah it's down here >> where you would normally find Um, anything else? Um just to mention uh and if you want to explain that again since we're in a meeting setting um I saw on the news an article about transportation and the app that parents can download uh for real time u for the buses uh to pick up their child etc. I thought that was very great. I like seeing that and I did share it to different pages on Facebook to try to get the word out a little bit more. >> Yeah,
075parents have definitely been accessing >> they have >> the first day we had it up. There was no route information. >> Okay. >> So, we found out who accessed it first, >> but there's router information. It's real helpful for someone that knows how to do it >> because I don't get I keep going back, but my daughter >> kids can use it when it's really neat. >> It's live. New school year, successful school year. >> We will registration. >> We will. Yes, we will. >> Registrations happening right now. >> I stay here one more hour. I don't have to go down. >> Are there any boards? Oh, sorry. I'd like to express my appreciation to this information. I do appreciate the questions but you know I just hope that we have not lost our main
076concern that is what we have is best for our district that we that is that should be our number one goal what's best for the district that not excluding We do that too. Most important we make it better for our students and anyone that can make Motion to make the motion that we adjourn. I'll second >> all these sweatshirts. Is it off?