001We good? All right. We'll call the meeting of the June 2021 Granite City Community School District number 9 board meeting to order. Roll call today. Stacy here. Vinnie here. Canobyl here. Currin here. None here. McMasters here. Thank you very much. And then please stand and pledge allegiance followed by from Pastor. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I'm Pastor Jared Cororsine from Unity Baptist Church and very thankful to be part of this and part of our supportive school board. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we ask for your blessing upon the conversation that's going to happen tonight. Lord, we pray especially for wisdom and discernment, God, that the decisions that this
002group makes has such an impact on our community, on our kids. And so we pray for the welfare of our children to to grow and to be in a better place because of the work that they do here tonight. So we pray that you would guide them in truth and in harmony and Lord in respectful work together. God, we thank you for this community. We pray that you would continue to bless our school systems, all of our schools, that we would continue to thrive together, be with our children in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, pastor. We appreciate it. All right, Superintendent can any public comment? No, there is not at this time. All right. Um then approval of the minutes from the last board meeting of May 25th. A motion by Eric, second by
003Dr. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Vinnie. Hi Kenogal. Hi Curran. Hi Nun. I McMasters. Hi Stacey. Hi uh consent agenda and we have that the bill second by Zack second by Dr. McMasters. Any discussion? Roll call please. I. Currin I. None. I McMasters. Hi, Stacy. I Vinnie. Hi, Wils. Hi. Recommendations and communications. That again. Yes. Mr. President, the board. I just recommend the following and recommendations be accepted. Linda Ames, social studies teacher, Granite City High School, retiring of the 2324 school year. Randall Burgess, social studies teacher, UCS retirement in the 2526 school year. Haras, science teacher, Granite City High School, retirement in the 2324 school year. Amy Heath, science teacher, Grant City High School retirement another 2425 school year. And Cara Cooper, the fifth grade teacher, Griby resignation May 28, 2021. This these are some
004of some of the most amazing teachers we've had in the district for a long time. We will miss them greatly. Hopefully that guy was at the line. Okay. Uh I don't know. Thank you, Superintendent Can. Uh is there a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by Erica, second by Linda. Any discussion with regret regrets here? Obviously. Roll call, please. Curran. Hi. None. I McMaster. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Henogal. Hi. Hi. Uh, item eight. I'm sorry. 7B. Mr. Following be approved. Edward Connelly, parent professional, effective 81621 to 1222. So move second motion with a second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. None. I McMasters. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Canal. I. Currant. Hi. Hi. Item 8 C extracurricular resignations. Mr. President of the board, you have received information below. This administration is prepared to make recommendations or
005hold for discussion executive session. We recommend the following extracurricular resation be accepted. Bristol GCHS GCHS yearbook sponsor. So move there. Yes. Okay. Roll call, please. McMasters. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Henogal. Hi. Turin. Hi. None. I woman I item 8 D extracurricular recommendations for Kulage Junior High School. Okay, Mr. President, you can proceed information about this below. The administration is prepared to make recommendations or hold these for discussion in executive session. Second motion, second by Eric. Roll call, please. Stacy, hi. Vinnie, hi Kenobyl. Hi. Curran. Hi. None. I McMaster. Hi. Wire. Hi. And item 8E. Extracurricular recommendations for Granite City High School. You have received information about this item. Administration is prepared to make recommendations or hold for discussion in executive session. If not, high school administration is recommending the following extracurricular for the 2122
006school year. Another long list. Second, I have a quick question. My husband's on this list, so can I vote or not? Like, how does that work? You can abstain. Is that Usually they just abain state. You You can state the reason if you care to. I just didn't know if there's a conflict of interest or something. Thank you. I mean, as a wrestling wife and my vote, no. You can do that. You can do that. [Music] All right. Sorry. Thank you. Thanks for bringing it up. We have a motion in a second. All right. Roll call, please. Vinnie, Kenogal. I Curran. Hi. None. I McMasters. Hi. Stacy. I. Wilms. I. Item 8F. Certified and classified substitutes. Mr. from the board below you have information about this item. We are prepared to make the recommendation or
007hold the discussion. If not, the recommend board approved as substitute for 2021 school year certified Josh Mills and classified Randy Johnson. So moved. Second. We have a motion on a second. Roll call, please. Hi. Currin. Hi. None. I McMasters. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. One's not I item 8 policies. Yeah. So, so um we we talked about this last board meeting. So, this is in regards to residency requirements for the administration. Um and it was pointed out earlier. So, we we can discuss tonight. Happy to discuss in open session. Uh it is not on the agenda for voting on tonight, however. So, um It would be good to get some indoor thought ideas here from the from the board as far as if we bring it and set it on the agenda for next time
008for actual voting. So happy to happy to hear anybody if anybody wants to kick it off as far as Linda maybe appropriately you since you handled it policy. Thank you. Thank you. Uh it's been uh a difficult time for all of us as we look forward to this new post-pandemic opening of our our school buildings. And in that respect, we're looking to see that we get the best that we can get for the children that we know have not only had an extraordinary year uh at home trying to catch up, trying to get used to the uh situation of learning without a teacher in front of them. Uh it's our hope that when we go back to school, we will have the best and the brightest principles in those buildings with the knowledge of instructional
009leadership that is absolutely required. Now this is this is not only for the for the teachers to have someone who can be a leader that they respect in their building but they not only respect but they rely on for information for conferencing for coaching and this is what the children will benefit from in those buildings. So my feeling is that we we've got to open up our residency to having the kind of attitude that is needed at this time in in Granite City. And that is that our district is a progressive district in terms of wanting to make sure that every child has the right the right to every bit of education that we can give them, but also no matter what and where they are, they are just as important as another child. And
010that is what the value is that we need to enh. There's just a whole different need now for children at this point. We know that our our students are going to come here with social and emotional needs. We've never asked principles to handle that before. We are now. We are going to have them deeply involved in social and emotional needs of children. Without that, they cannot learn. And the teachers know it. They know what it is to have children who come to school that are unprepared to learn because of things that have happened or things that have gone on for several years in their lives. So we we need to have principles that are right on top of it uh very well informed and who know how to think out of the bo think outside
011of the box. They work with their teachers. They're not uh walking out the door or walking down the hall, but they're they're helping in the in the classroom. They walk in, they see the teacher uh teaching, and they also are looking at what they have in their building. They have to be part of that that knowledge base. They have to know, the kids have to know who they are. Every PR building principal should know every kid's name by heart that's in their building. That's how close they need to be. And we may not we haven't seen that kind of thing. We have in some of our principles certainly admire admire the work that they've done, but we can't expect to have six principles uh retiring and find that that extreme quality that I'm talking about
012in people without seeking everywhere to find them. So, I'm just saying that this is this is a time for us to make a big step in this community and it's all for kids. It's all for children. Thank you, Linda. Anybody else want to jump in there? We did. We talked about this pretty vigorously last time and uh I certainly see both sides of that. Linda, we've done it a certain way and when we get uncomfortable the way I think our community likes the idea of people that are in leadership positions coming and taking part and being part of the community, but that is very difficult to get. We're going to have a lot of administrators retiring over the next couple years. And one of the things that uh Stephanie provided us last time was just
013a rundown of all the districts surrounding us. You could drive in 50 100 mile circle here from uh the Salto to Collinsville to East Alton to Roxanna to Old Fallon to Belleville. And when we look at all these school districts other [Music] than there are several that have required the superintendent of course live in the district but other than that uh Granite City, Belleville and Oallon are the only ones that jump out out of all those schools that require all the uh administrators, all the principles, all the assistant superendent all those people to live in district. It's out of probably 40 schools here, districts. And so it's kind of not something that it's kind of an antiquated idea maybe. Uh it's not that we're not a desirable community. Uh I think we have plenty of
014nice areas in Granite City. We all live in Granite City, so we're sold on the community. Um, but if someone has a home and a family and they live one town away, but they're exactly who we needed as an administrator, it would be a shame not to get that talent. And I think that's why so many districts over the years have all gotten rid of this. So, there's just a handful of districts that even require this anymore. Its time has probably come. Uh, we may hear from the community some this week. I'm sure we probably will. It's a hot button issue. Uh, My wife would tell you, "No, you live where your paycheck is." I say, "Let's get the best people we can, and that'll have to be what we have." Uh, there'll be a
015lot of opinions on that. That's okay. It should be a vigorous discussion. And that's why we decided last time not to vote tonight, but to discuss it a little bit. But when I look at this and I see that there are so many retiring and there's such a shortage of teachers in the state, shortage of administrators, we're going to have to fill those positions with quality people. And uh you can't ask someone who just bought a home one town away to now sell it and move here when they're exactly who we need. And so I agree, Linda, it it I wish everybody wanted to live here, but everybody does not want to live here. And we are This is America. You kind of get to live where you want to live. uh they can't live
016200 miles away. They can't get here. So I I think it's time has come to consider going forward with this and I agree with you. I think the only priority we have is getting the best people and we wouldn't put an undue burden on them to say if you don't move here we don't need you. Absolutely. And Bill to be clear here because and and really for the residents, Granite City residents that are maybe watching, but according to this the chart that was put together, Granite City, we are the only one that requires all administrative staff. Is that correct? For everyone. For everyone. That's that's everybody. We are the only one with that residency requirement of all of the school districts listed here. There are a few others that are close uh as you mentioned
017and Belleville would be the next closest one. And then there's uh then that drops down beyond that. That's about it though. They have various districts within the towns too. So not all of them. So and we're not talking about superintendent. We're talking about right there. Principles, administrator, superintendent is required living and we're thrilled that she's part of our community. Yes. Just to go off what they said as far as the the list of other schools, like they said, only Granite City requires all administration to live in the school district. Four of the I believe there's 39 on this list. Four of them require just the superintendent which whenever this uh motion is voted on that's the recommendation I believe and 29 of the 39 residents have no residency at all. Um and we we talked
018about this reasoning a little bit when we moved the meeting time is that other school districts are doing one meeting a month doing six o'clock meetings. Um and that's kind of the same thing here. And we should never make a decision just because other school districts are doing it. But I think it's worth looking at why are we the only one that has a residency requirement for all administration. Um, and it's about educating kids and like it or not, it's also about competing for good staff, good quality administrators. And like like everyone said, there's certainly good arguments on both sides of it. I mean, it it it's some these are some of the higher paid people in the city. Um, and that definitely helps our tax base. But my my whole opinion all along is
019just that the the best use of taxpayer dollars is to hire the person that's best for the job and that can move the school district forward. Um, and and that all funnels down from the top from the superintendent to the administration and then to the teachers. So, I don't think making this decision based solely off of what other districts do is the right reasoning, but if we look at why they make that decision, um, then that's probably something we should look at when we're competing at for them with uh for administrators, for principles, uh, and for teachers. I I've talked about this before. If you're a teacher that wants to move into administration, um, and you're maybe not quite ready to move to Grant City, I would be hesitant to take a teaching job in
020Granite City. if I knew, I wouldn't really have a path to move up. And we we all know how hard it is to get teachers nowadays. So, I think these are all elements and and like Bill said, it's just it's a bit of an antiquated policy. So, I think that um removing it and getting in line with other districts and hiring the person that's best for the job is the best thing for the school district. I guess my my only thought on on this really is because I'm not disagreeing. Um we have we currently according to this list have a separate list not the same list we were talking about uh have 30 teachers that have the uh administration certificate. I I don't know that all 30 of them live here or where you know
021where they live or what have you. I know some of them do. I guess all things being equal, right? If we're looking for the best candidate, but it's close, somebody who's going to live here and be part of our community, I think should be given some sort of preference. And I don't know that we can do that. Um, you know, by law. Yeah. I mean, I would say the best candidate, I mean, if it's all things are actually equal, then, you know, then that that maybe makes them a better candidate. Um, like I said, I'm not disagreeing with anything anybody says. Uh, residency is a antiated rule. Um, but, uh, if if we have teachers here who are able to fill those jobs and do it well and do it like like Linda said, you
022know, who are going to be engaged in their building and by living here are engaged in their community, then, you know, that's probably who we want. I that's probably the perfect candidate, right? Um so yeah, to be clear there, we we do need to hire the best candidate available, right? Regardless of where they live, regardless of and I absolutely agree. Um having so I have lots of things to say. I love everything so I'll try to keep it brief. Um first of all, having been a teacher in the district and I don't think I'm betraying any confidences here. Um if you look at this list of people, there are a handful that perhaps might be interested in um administration. However, many of them have had their type 75s for quite a long time and have
023not gone for a position. And that's part it's not the reality now, but it's still over from whenever people were trying to move um to increase their salary on the pay scale. You get the master's degree and the old saying was get your type 75, then you have some options later. it's the easier masters. I don't think that was the easier route to go. I had my masters before I got the type 75. Um so we're for me it really comes down to as many of you have said attracting the best of the best. The previous several positions we have tried to hire or we have hired. Um no disrespect to those that we have hired and we're thrilled to have them. But our application pools are not our applicant pools are not always the
024deepest that we could be. And anybody that's in a business or in hiring knows you get your highest quality hires by having your best, broadest, and deepest pools. So if you consider the number of retirements coming up and compare that with our current policy and the current people who hold those type 75s, we have very shallow pools. And that's a problem because that doesn't give us the ability to thoroughly vigorously vet people and find not only who is the most qualified but who is the best fit because there's a lot to be said about a fit. Anybody working in an organization there's a lot to be said about qualifications but also fit. And I'm a proud resident of Granite City just like everyone else is. I have traveled abroad, got my degrees away, and returned
025to Granite City because I love Granite City. And again, I I talk about myself a lot, but it's because there are many people just like me. I am an administrator at a school in St. Louis. I do not live in St. Louis because I love Granite City and I've chosen to live here. My family is established here. We own a home here. I don't want to make my husband uproot himself. I don't want to make my child uproot himself. and I don't want to uproot myself. However, that does not mean that I am not 100% engaged in the communities that I serve. I get text messages 247. Honestly, I have a problem with boundaries if we're real from people. I go to their soccer games. I go to their family parties pre-COVID, hopefully postcoid. And
026so I understand the desire and the need to have administrators who understand our community and who are invested in our community, but where you lay your head at night does not automatically equate to investment in the community. And you can be very much engaged and I would argue once someone gets to know our community and they're in a position, I think it could be a drop to work here and then move here. I want people to come to Granite City because they want to come to Granite City, not because they're forced to. And I'm not a realtor, but I would argue one of the biggest draws of a community is high quality schools for a family and the level of education that you provide. And our job is revitalizing Granite City. And also our main
027job is to do the best that we can ethically, morally, and fiscally for our community. and that is to attract the top candidates that we can and to find the very best for our children. I'll stop. Well said. Thank you. Um I fully understand both sides of this and I totally get it. I've thought quite hard about it and but I guess to argue the opposing viewpoint for just a moment. Um you know I I understand highest paid staff and all of that. I'm actually not in favor of keeping a residency policy for like our administrative support staff, the ones who you know, everyone thinks administrators and oh, they got all the six figure salaries and this and there's a lot who don't. And I realize that if you're going to entice people, a salary
028helps, but not everybody not everyone who's considered an administrator makes that kind of a salary. So, I don't I'm not in favor of keeping it for those folks. But I do get, you know, that I still agree that this is a good community, and I don't think anyone here thinks it's not, but I I believe we have great neighborhoods in which to move. Um, I if I'm looking at it community-minded, and I know that's not how I'm supposed to look at it, um, as a schoolboard member, but if I if I go community-minded, um, I do have a fear that if we allow all of our administrators to live wherever, um, it may end up where somewhere south of 40% of them are still here within a few years. uh which will hurt our tax
029base, which will hurt our community, which feeds into all of that with those are the higher paying salaries. So, you know, we're all worried about attracting new business and restaurants and retail and this and that and those it's further reason for them to not come here. Um, so if I move on from the community-minded aspect and I look at it from a school-minded aspect, I I see where our pools are shallow. Um, our applicant pools, but I don't know that that is what has hurt our kids yet. And I say yet because, you know, I mean, all things considered, we could get there. Um, personally, I do believe that a lot of the the test scores, which everybody talks about and realtors look, people looking for houses, they do look at that. Um, and I
030was told recently that with certain uh business leaders, like that was their biggest concern. We've got to get our test scores up. But I I see where um some of those those test scores uh I don't know where I'm losing my train of thought here going on and on but um they just I don't see where that is the pro that is the fault of our administrators. I I think it's more parental in nature. Um and Certainly, there's the argument that good administrators could help figure out a way to fix that issue. Um, but I I still think we're that solid community and I think that we can still attract some good candidates. Um, though fewer admittedly, and that's just my opinion of it. I mean, I I will, you know, I'm not going to
031argue this forever and ever and ever. That's just how I feel about it. So, Helen, I think you make a valid point because having engaged on social media with several people along with all of you. Yeah. That that is a concern and a big part of the mayor's plan to fortify the city. You know, I don't want to say fortify, we're not like going to war or anything, but revitalize the city. You would be the first one to go to war. Let's be real. Um uh but you know regarding the property your tax base you know income tax base my question is this policy has been in place for decades now and we haven't seen it work to our benefit. So, um I it's a gamble that I'm willing to take because I do believe
032there are other ways to revitalize the town. And number one, those test scores you mentioned, the number one, if you look at any research out there, the best way to boost test scores to strengthen learning and achievement is to have the strongest, most innovative, most qualified leadership possible. and to have people equipped to deal with those factors outside of school. Parents, for example, trauma informed education is such an important thing right now. Executive skills, um we don't even know the fallout we're going to have from CO yet. And so in order to take all of those and and to ensure the best future for our schools and to improve our schools the best that we can, that's why I really strongly believe that we need to find the best of the best. And and I
033know I'm just going to throw this out there because I know that none of us are saying this, right? But as I as I sit here and listen, I think people could think that uh maybe we don't have confidence in the administrators we have not and I think we have some terrific principles and administrators and stuff like that. I think this discussion is towards the future uh not not as a uh a shot to our current administrators. Yeah. Just just to add to Eric's point, um after this policy, I would be willing to bet that there will still be people who either take the job and move to Granite City or are already in Granite City and still get a job in administration here. This is simply going to open up the applicant pool so
034we have a broader uh range of candidates. And like Eric said, the ones we have now are doing a fine job, but it it helps any organization to have as many candidates for a job as you can and then you pick the most qualified person based on that. And and I'll say that you you know you're right the talent pool is extremely important right um from experience you have people who apply right that aren't necessarily the people while they're qualified aren't the people that you want right and you want the best qualified applicants to to come onto your team right I mean and that's uh that's I think what we're all saying. So, and I think you know as knowing that we have some great interview uh teams committees uh at some point in time
035when they've gone through the four applicants that have applied for an administrative position and really not found anyone that suits the the scale of professionalism that has been set because we do want to set the bar high for for our administrators who come into our school. We need the bar high. What do we do then? Do we say do we put in someone who just really doesn't fit but he's the best or she's the best of the four? You know, where do we lower that? We have to think about our future and the and what we're what we're saying to uh our teachers. Uh they they have to have good administrators for themselves in their buildings and we want to be able to see that kind of person show up for interviews. Talking about applicant
036pools just a little bit more. So, you mentioned poor and superintendent can put you on the spot in a second. Um, did a little research because I think especially if you're outside of the field of education or any kind of hiring, you might be like, well, how many is a good applicant pool? You know, and based on research that I've done, 25 to 50 applicants, if you're being very bare bones about it, would qualify as a decent pool. Is that anywhere near some of the applicants that we've had in the map recently? And uh Jim Parker, you might answer to this too quickly. Back in the day when there wasn't a teacher shortage, it would be common, correct, for to have 50 75 applicants for a teaching position. Correct. Absolutely. What about an administrator position?
037Even maybe 10. The administrative pool was greater than also. I just wanted to verify. Yeah. And I know of a district not far from here that had 100 applicants for an assistant principal position just happened this year hiring for next year. If we're having four Yeah. You know how we going to compete with that? How many applicants do we get for teaching positions now? Jim, what are we at for some very What are you looking at average? But residency is not a teacher. There is a teacher shortage and we know that that's what's affecting it. So Jim, what is an average you say for a teaching position? We just posted one. What do we get for that? I'd say for your more general positions like elementary ed, we may get 10 to 15. When you
038start getting specialized like special ed or high school math or middle school science, we could be down between three and one or zero. Yep. Exactly. And ideally, I would like us to attract teachers, bring them here, train them up in Granite City, encourage them to be those administrators, and then they are. But we if you already have a right off the bat. And teachers do look at that even if they're not administrators yet. look at how can I grow in my field and especially in education when you have I mean you don't have tenure anymore but you basically have tenure still you know like you have steps and salaries you want to be entering into a district where you can see yourself staying for a long time and growing because the second you leave a
039district you're going to take a hit financially unless you're blessed to get into another district that's going to give you some steps or something and we even do that up to 10 we for credit for experience. So great discussion, excellent discussion and and I I think we could sit here all night long and probably talk about the pros and cons. Tom and I appreciate you taking the other side. Get those both of you points out. Absolutely. And Eric, thanks for pointing out this is not about uh any administrators today in any way, shape, or form. So we've um this is definitely something uh that needs to be fully vetted and and discussed for a district. It's something that's been in the works. uh the discussion anyway for a while even the the former board uh
040had some discussions as they were leaving and and then you all coming in here. So we purposely did not have this for a vote tonight. Uh this was intended as a as a full discussion and uh so we we can take it up later on at the end of the uh meeting tonight as far as setting the agenda for next time as far as having a resolution um and that policy to to bring forward for the vote for the next meeting here in June. So anybody else with a burning thought desire otherwise about this that they just have to really want to get out there? I would just like to give ourselves a pat on the back for being vulnerable and to have these conversations out in the open like this. Um, one of the
041biggest things that our citizens have been asking for is transparency and um I just really appreciate the respectful and very intentional dialogue that we've set tonight and um the meetings are now open to the public and if you have public comment there's various ways you can come and speak at a meeting or you can send an email to the board or superintendent. Yep. Exactly. Um, I did have this on the agenda as an action item. I don't know if we did. No. Okay. So, I don't know if we need to move to table it or was it just for discussion? So, it's actually not the table. Rob, correct me if I'm wrong. You can't go wrong by tableabling something, but that presumes it was on the agenda for action. Discussion. I I my read was
042it was a discussion. I thought that's what to Tom told us as we last which that's exactly what I took away from the last meeting was discussions. I I know we we kind of all were coalesing around the thought. Uh but but there was also the discussion about we wanted to make sure that that we all had time to think about it, the public had time to think about it and to respond after hearing us discuss. Yes, absolutely. We'll take it up here at the end unless there's there's thoughts otherwise, but I think I'm hearing general consensus anyway to bring this up for next board meeting. Very good. Thank you all for your input on that. I appreciate that. Um, no old business, new business. Uh, we have the breakfast after the bell uh hearing.
043So at this time I would make uh ask for a motion to suspend the meeting so that we can have the hearing for the uh breakfast of the bill. So move second and roll call please. McMasters. Hi, Stacy. Hi, Vinnie. Hi, Kenobyl. I Curran. Hi, Nun. I Wsmar. Hi. So, uh, we'd like to open the hearing. Uh, and at this point, um, I think I might just read it. Yeah. So, having notified the public through the posting a notice on the school district website for sending notification to the Illinois State School Board of Education 14 days prior to the public hearing along with providing the board of education and cost analysis showing financial hardship. The board of education is now ready to proceed. So, um really it's you want to have somebody talk about it.
044Zach, do you want to uh elaborate at all? Z is just holding the statute requirement. So we just say to hold we're holding the hearing after the bell program to adopt the public resolution which they have listed in their information. You have to exit the hearing and then vote on the resolution. Any comments on this? And Zach, do you want to talk about just a second for especially for our new board members about what this is and what it does? Yeah, this is basically this is basically just to provide breakfast after the bell, which would kind of treat it in my mind kind of like the lunch scenario. So, you'd lose some classroom time. Right now, we have we feed everybody. Uh, as kids get there in the morning, they go into the cafeteria, they
045eat their breakfast before they go to class, before the bell rings, the buses get there early. Um, if there is a kid that shows up late and they are hungry, I promise you our people feed them, um, nobody is going to go hungry on this. Um, this is just a formality um, to opt us out of this. Yep. Because if we did it, it would require us to provide that and really disrupt class time and everything else. It's incredible. You cutting instructional time big time with this. Yes. I I've witnessed it in other districts and it can take up to 15 to 20 minutes. It's usually the same time every day and we already have food for them. So to put it like you know in a layman's p perspective if I'm getting this right.
046So like say your school starts at 8 but you would have a scheduled breakfast time after 8:00 where it's like a lunch time. So it's not like come get you. In fact then they stop the whole class. They have to go out in the hall and someone has to man those too. on top. Cafeteria workers bring the food over. They do it in the hallway or something. And that all comes as great cost to this the district. No, it isn't. There's no cost to the district, right, Zach? For breakfast, no. If we were to be collective bargaining issues across Yeah, that would be the huge part. You're going to have to call in people to do things and change in their work environment. There's a lot of issues, but for me, it's the loss of
047instructional time. We already provide food for them. And this is something that's already been happening every year. You just have to do this every year. I'm just I just want to get these things out for anybody watching so they know we're not trying to take breakfast away. We just same agenda items next year at this time. Yeah. And I've only seen maybe two districts in all over multiple multiple counties that tried to do it and they're trying to get out of it. So, very good. Any other comments? I would entertain a motion to uh resume our meeting or exit the exit the meeting. So, move second. motion and a second by Talon. All those in favor? I make it easier on you today. Thank you. And then I would entertain a motion uh for authorizing
048a resolution for opting out of the breakfast after the bill due to financial hardship. So second motion by Eric, second by Linda. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Denny I. Kenobyl. I. Curin. I. None. I McMasters I Stacy I I and item 10 C tuck pointing bid for Granite City High School. Okay. Um Mr. President, the board Eric, are you there to talk about the tuck pointing bid? Mr. Smith. Eric Smith. Okay. Well, everything you have Mary in their content, they do have the pictures and everything for Tuck Point. Correct. We already did the other meeting. The other meeting pictures, right? So now they're just looking to get approval. Can someone try to find Oh, there he is. Okay. I wonder because we talked today. Do you want to fill them in on the tuck pointing
049bid and what you talked about with the different locations at the high school? Yes, we have seven different areas of the high school. On the west side of the building are the main entrance. Uh, and these are entire walls that we're looking at. We've had some patchwork in the past, but we are looking to replace all the mortar and uh do the tuck pointing from for the whole entire wall. And in that bid, we had seven different um uh walls bid and we had a fixed budget for this. And in that bid, we're able to almost get all of that done uh besides two areas uh and still stay within our budget for the year. Great. And and Eric, the west side of the building is probably the worst. Is that correct? Yes. that catches
050that catches the majority of the weather and it has um some of the older parts of the building um towards Grand Avenue, the auto shop. Uh the band wall right now is actually leaking inside of the band room. Uh that's a very bad area. We have different windows where the plaster is bubbled from leaking and those areas are all in this uh bin. Great. So, as far as what we're doing tonight, um it says like, you know, when when the bid comes back that we deem acceptable, we'd like to start the project. Is there are you saying that there's already like a a set number for that that's in the budget and that's what will be deemed as acceptable and then you just have authorization to go forward from that point? I am sorry if
051you're addressing me. I can barely hear anything on my He wanted to know what's what the next action if it's in the budget. And Zach, you might be able to answer this as well. Yeah, because I I mean I was just asking the other Zack. Oh, sorry. I'm sure he might be able to answer. Yeah, both Zach can answer and Zach can ask. So, I should say that Mr. Sur right when uh it says like, you know, when the bid comes back that we deem acceptable, we like start the project as soon as possible. So, as far as what we're doing, um, like that acceptable line, is that just it's already in the budget and that would be what is acceptable? Anything that falls within our already budgeted range? Yeah. What we, what we had,
052we uh, Zach and I got together and uh, Stephanie was involved. We had a dollar amount that we wanted to spend, not knowing what bids were going to come back, who was going to bid on that. Uh we I was unsure whenever I presented this to you guys how expensive this bid was going to be. It may have been way out of our range, but if it was in our range, I wanted to start this process of tugpointing as soon as possible with as late as we're getting started in the start of school. The contractor, uh James Stat was the one who was the only contractor actually bid on it. Um, we sent it to other contractors who have worked for us uh throughout the years. All of them are tied up with work. Uh,
053but he has ensured me if he can get started on this, he can get most of the grinding, the loud stuff completed. So, if it would run into the school time or the start of school, it would be quiet. It he would not have u uh the grinding going on. So, it would be a lot quieter and better for uh the students in the building. And and Zach, what's the total dollar amount that was budgeted, please? Uh we budgeted $100,000 for this. We were hoping to bump it up a little bit more, but the coolage to drive it situation probably reduce that number a little as we've had to shift some funds there. Um, I fully anticipated this in the 2122 budget. So, he's operating well within his means and I believe that bid's a
054little over. I told him we have some contingency in his to handle that. Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you. Good. Can I ask a question? Eric, you mentioned the bubbling of the drywall. Now, this is not has anything to do with uh uh the contractor. This is something that's going to be inside. They won't be involved in that, will they? We have our own guys that do that. Yes. Uh they will not be involved in any interior repair. This is exterior tuck pointing only. What has happened is water has seeped through the brick, seep through the block, and it's actually bubbling the paint. Uh in the band room, if you're ever in the band room, you can see uh where where one whole wall is just bubbled up. Uh, and the pain is is uh
055letting loose from the block and that's what we're trying to stop. Let's see. Eric, do we actually have the bid yet? No. Yes, we do. I just received that bid. Okay. And then and as Zach asked, is it acceptable? Yes. Uh, out of the out of the seven areas, we can do five of those areas in our budget. Um, I had seven areas because I was again unsure of the extent of the bid and the extent of the tough point that was going to be necessary. So, we're we I I kind of had more areas in there than what we really needed, but we have a good start next year where to start. Okay. Thank you, Eric. I appreciate you getting creative. Get get this done and working with Zach in order to make sure
056that this happens. that the uh the tuck pointing is something that typically is never on anybody's radar for old buildings and so you looking at it I I certainly appreciate it. So and thanks for being here tonight. Uh with that uh I would entertain a motion to accept the bid and move forward with the touch point. Second motion and a second. Any discussion? So we're accepting the bid as is or accepting whatever bid that they find to be acceptable like what conclusion they draw for the five days. Okay. For the five because it just said when the bid comes back that we deem acceptable. Just want to make sure like it's acceptable. Okay. We have roll call please. Kenobyl I. Curran. Hi. None. I that is me. McMasters. I Stacy I Vinnie I I uh
057no reports or other communications. Is that correct? That's right. And that takes us to executive session. And tonight we have one item in executive uh executive session. Um and there are different exceptions noted under 5CS120-2 open meetings. And the one tonight is negotiations under 2C2. And I would entertain a motion to go into executive session. So move. Second. All those in favor? I I I. Very good. We are in executive session. The time is 5:51.