001this one. We'll call the meeting of uh December 14th, 2021 school board meeting two quarters. Please roll call. Stacy here. Vinnie here. Kenobyl here. Curran here. None here. McMaster here. Wilms here. Forbes here. We have uh at this time we'll stand for the pledge of allegiance followed by the invitation given by principal Don Stratton. 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. Gracious heavenly father, we are reminded of words from the 91st Psalm. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. And I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God. In him will I trust. Surely
002he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noise and pestilence. Heavenly Father, we are in the midst of a pestilence at this time. I pray that your arms of love and care and compassion would wrap around our district, our families, our students, and our staff. God, I pray that you'd draw them close to you for your comfort, for your care, and for the peace that you offer us at all times. Father, I pray that you would surround this board of education tonight, for decisions that are made. Let they be let those decisions be made with your blessings. Father, I pray that you would continue to bless this district, that you would continue to keep our students safe in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. At this time,
003we'll open it up for public comment. Do we have anyone tonight? Any items for public comment? If not, we've got a whole list of things to go through. Announcements. They're very good things. Um, at this time, Mr. Don, principal currently intermediate school would like requested to address the board. Well, I took a lot of time putting this makeup on and it's covered by this mask. It'll come on off right at the end. It's really important. I would like to take this opportunity to thank some people and just share what my thoughts are of the last 28 years. Back in 1994, Dr. Steve Balin told the board, "Let's give Stratton a chance when no one on the board voted for me." And they did. So, I thank him for his guidance and encouragement. Mrs. Cindy Mills,
004during a very difficult year, her words of compassion and kindness always. Mrs. Kristen Nosage Caberna her wisdom in encouraging me to try administration superintendent can you haven't been around that long but I do remember in January of 2015 at a county institute you spoke some very profound words that hit my heart education is the plate that everything else at school is served on. It cannot be all about the numbers and the data and the test scores. Even those things are important, they are not the most important. If a student is not having fun, it's very difficult for anything else to happen. If we're not meeting their physical and emotional needs, then we have failed. Have fun and learn something seems small, but those are powerful words. Who would have thought that at the age of
00540 I could find a career that would be so fulfilling and rewarding after 20 previous years in the workforce. I hope that my career as a music teacher for 19 years and administration for nine years has left a mark on many students lives. You see, I believe that Mrs. Batson and I have created a culture at Griggsby which encourages teachers to stay According to the Illinois State report card 2019, Griggsby has a 91.8% retention rate, which is higher than the state and our own district. I believe that we have created a family where when one hurts, the entire group comes together for resolution. We've had many instances where we've seen that very thing happen. I will miss that. I think that after 48 years in the workforce, it's just time to step down. I thank
006you and appreciate the opportunity they've had to serve this district and this community for the past 28 years. Let me leave you with these words. Every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled in his own pudding and bettied with a steak of holly through their heart. Why? You'll learn soon enough, child, that Christmas is a humb. Thank you. [Applause] Well, I know we probably all like an opportunity. Uh, I've known Mr. Stratton quite a few years as ever the show and he's been more than an administrator, though. He's been a real integral part of our community, Don. and uh the shows you've been in the annual Christmas gift. You started our season off every year in the city with your portrayal group. Uh you've been such a center part
007of the community and it's people like you that make this a special kind of community it is and I've appreciated your service to the district very much. I also don't I don't even know how to explain what you've meant to this town, this district. It's more than just being a principal in the school. Your uh parents are continually saying how much they appreciate you. I might appreciate you and talk about how you care about their kids and I've watched that. I know I haven't been here very long, but I've watched and by the way, I have no idea that you were in 2015. We have the same thought. We we believe that that if you can get through a kid, you have to get to them where they're social emotional. You have to have that
008relationship. So, I really appreciate you're modeling that and your uh showing that to our kids all these years. So, I miss and I'll add to that just inspiration, inspiring others, inspiring teachers, inspiring the students uh is just so much appreciated and you're right that that certainly reflects in the retention rate that you have here. So, we appreciate everything you you've done. Um and certainly don't be a stranger because uh you know this is a close family. So, appreciate it. Always welcome. And with that, we with that a perfect example of uh we would like the board of education and myself would like to recognize and thank the Griggsby Intermediate School um students and administration, Miss Batson and Mr. Stratton for raising $1,874.76 through coins. Correct. Just change wars. Change wars. You want to explain that
009a little bit? There is no shortage of coinage at Griffy. And as I took five barrels of it, Wow. to five gallon buckets to the bank. They also agreed. There is no shortage of employees here. And it was there student council that raised this for families in need during the holidays and for school supplies. I mean, and for other things that the student council does that throughout the year. So, that's just amazing to me that those students came together. I mean, in coins, $1,874. That's just amazing. So, hats off to the students and to the administration of Greeks people. We wanted to thank you for that as well. And at this time, could we get that? This will be a great thing. Great time for this. Mr. Would you mind coming up for us one
010more time? Everybody's got to see you. Yeah. Now, you got to come this full regalia right here. Right. I have you on camera. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. You need everything, right? Yeah, we need it all. Except this is now Mrs. Scrooge after the the spirits have been there. So now he's a lot friendlier now. Right. Sure. After he's gone through his reperation. That's right. Right. Don, we have an award for you. So So just like to read that appreciation award presented to Mr. Don Stratton with deepest appreciation for his many years of dedication and service to the Granite City School District and community. Granite City School District number nine, Board of Education, dated December 14th, 2021. Thank you so much. [Applause] Right in the middle. Okay. Okay. higher retention rate. We are still hiring bus drivers.
011That's not me. You can still serve the district. Don't miss a thing. I appreciate it. What I'd like to do now, I'm looking for Mrs. Okay. Well, we I'm still gonna do it for you to be a stand. I'm still I should not be. He should be. Oh, yeah. Come on up. Uh tonight we wanted to honor uh one of the high school faculty members, Miss Amy Heath. She's also department chair for science. What? Robotics coach, National Honor Society. Help me out. Yes. mother get just there's just not much she hasn't done over her years of service. Um she is a year younger than me. She graduated a year before me for here from Grant City. I was she likes to rub that in. So what we wanted to do tonight was to present her.
012We nominated her for the Emerson uh excellence award in teaching. This year it's only awarded to about 80 teachers throughout the entire St. Louis metro area. Spoken to tens of thousands of teachers. So it's a really big deal. They usually have a big dinner. They get to present that. that they didn't have that this year with co the pestilence again. So, uh we wanted to recognize her ourselves um here at the board meeting, but she's probably busy doing robotics or whatever else she she's always busy. So, she doesn't love to get the she doesn't like to be up here to be awarded. But, uh when we put a video together, Mr. Mitchell put together a video on this and how many how many responses or how many people liked that and commented on that? A
013lot. Like like way hundreds and hundreds, right, of former students. It was that in itself to me was a tribute a better tribute probably than our plaque having all those students respond to that. Uh I just think it's pretty amazing. I even when I sent in the submitt the last line I used I asked a student from last year uh Kayie McKenzie to give me a quote uh about Mrs. Heath and that's how I ended my submitt too. I like to think that that sealed the deal right. So um I want to present this to Darren in dedication. It's the 2021 Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award winner for Miss Amy Heath in recognition of her innovative and teaching excellence to the students of the Grand Community School District number nine uh on December 14, 2021.
014I I'll make sure he'll make sure she gets and make a big deal on the announcements. Maybe she loves that, right? So, we miss that she's not here, but we're thrilled that she's here in the with our teachers and our community and our students. Thank you very much. Give her hand. [Applause] Okay. Mrs. Keith, uh, wherever you are tonight, congratulations. We We certainly appreciate everything. So, I'm just going to go back. Okay. Might as well stick here. Uh we'd also like to uh recognize um our student council and our honor society with Miss Miss Linda A is going to come up with two students. If you could do that now, please. We had a a very tragic thing that happened in our community with the uh with a death of one of the pontoon beach
015officers, Tyler Timmons. Uh it really hit hard in our community and you want to take it from here what the school did at the high school. Well, we um the girls, this is Bella Brooker. She's the student body president and this is Caitlyn Linger who is the second vice president of student count student council. Pton Hatfield couldn't be here this evening. After the incident, uh we all got together along with Mrs. Heath and Bill Peasy with the as the NHS sponsors and we knew that we had to do something. So, um, we quickly put our minds together and got everything together for a collection. NHS took care of putting the black and blue ribbons on the trees around the entire campus. And we took care of the collections during lunch hours for two days. And
016over the course of two days and a few days longer with some staff donations, the high school collected $3,000 for backstoppers. and we were completely overwhelmed by that and we got plenty of change also. So, uh um so uh yeah, you know, you just never know what the kids are going to come up with and it was overwhelming the amount of money that the kids especially after the first day, the second day that they um you know they were making they they brought money intentionally. It wasn't just change in dollars that they had in their pocket and we were very moved by that. Um and we um also purchased blue and black ribbons that we handed out when when donations were made. So uh we were we've always been moved by the generosity of the
017the student body. It's uh whenever whenever we've needed anything and we've asked them, they've came through for us. And Principal Dew also was a big component of this and making sure he was his idea to do at the high school. We continued with a district um contribution. and the whole district um contributed like $5,600 to backstoppers. I do want to give a little talk about backstoppers. They have two main points that they do. One is to pay off debt for families of fallen officers and also then to provide education for their family members throughout the time that those students may receive that. So, uh it was very important for us to make sure that we did that as well. Um officer Stacey, would you like to come up? We are fortunate enough to have a
018board member who is also a police officer in the Grand City District. Uh we'd like to also have Assistant Chief Rob Shardan come up at this time too. It he's been Officer Stacey has been a a large part of this community. He has been a SRO in the district. You have been to board meetings before. He it's just uh he has a group also that works directly and helps families of fallen officers get the funerals and everything going too. But in the pontoon beach situation uh they had a Friday Mr. Dw had on Fridays that day of the collection every student was to wear blue in honor of officer Tims and the following others. So what we did, we had our communications uh Chris Mitchell go out and took a picture of them at that
019time and we'd like to present that also to the Pontoon Beach Police Department at this point. So this was in the atrium of the high school. We called all the students down that had on blue and it was really overwhelming. We we had a there's some up on the top too down the side. It was it was it was tough to get them all into the picture, but it was it was overwhelming and it was it was a great thing to see. And we really wanted to we talked to Chief Madrusk as well and we really wanted to to offer this to you. I know you were saying you had all these things and wanted to put things on the wall and how much it meant to you. So it's really important to me that
020the girls want to hand that to him. The best here. We'll take a photo. We'll get you guys all on there. I think that this is a a nice remembrance and and to show the support of the community, especially the students in H City School District, how much attendance. Absolutely. We we can't say enough about the support we got from the school district. Um the high school, I know you guys spearheaded uh this event and raising the money. That's fantastic. I know there was other schools in the district raising money as well. The elementary schools had their kids drawing pictures and things for it. It was it was amazing everything that you guys did, including uh the administration came and brought us food and drinks, things like that. We can't say enough how much we
021appreciate everything the school district did for us. And thank you to the school board for having this for us today. It was just really important. They play such a vital role to the community. We are one. Oh, there we go. We are one. We are one. And I wouldn't this is a time where unfortunately they all came together but that day I was over there um Darren had them all Mr. Tree had them all come down and it was just an amazing moment really to watch that. So well I would like to add to your board member Eric Stacy we couldn't have done I know that's what I we couldn't have done any of this without Eric. He was there every day after it occurred and helping us along the way you know guiding us
022and how to handle a situation like this. So thank you very much. What is the organization that you're with? uh uh Illinois concerns of police and I wasn't familiar with that and he he helped us understand the role they play in that too and it's really important in finalizing plans and all the families wouldn't have done it without their organization at all. I wanted to recognize that as well and I wouldn't have to thank the students especially it just meant a lot. Yes. So that situation is just going to app. [Applause] Yes. It uh it just it's a great reminder of how in such tragic times such good comes out of it. students. I want to thank you very much for what you've done and kind of spearheading this for for the entire school. [Music]
023Uh we do have a couple of presentations of of folks that will address us in the executive session tonight. Uh other than anybody else tonight in then moving on uh approval of the minutes from the November 9th, 2021 meeting. So move second. Motion on a second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Vinnie, I. Kenogal. I Curran. Hi. None. I McMasters. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Wire. Hi. Consent agenda. items are on the consent agenda. We can take any of those off that you would like or we can as is second. Any discussion other than to say thank you again to many many people who continue to contribute and make donations. We greatly appreciate there's a list there of of several hundred dollar contributions coming to the schools. We appreciate that. Roll call, please. Kenogal. Hi. Curran. Hi. None.
024I McMasters. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Hi. All right. Item recommendations and communication for human resources. Mr. President the board is recommended that the following retirements be accepted. David Kesler maintenance administration office effective 630. So move second. Any discussion? Roll call. Currin. Hi. None. I McMasters Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Kenobyl. Hi. Wilms. I. Item 8B. Retirements and resignations. It is very difficult sometimes to see these people are going to be leaving near future but I so Mr. President the board has recommended that the following retirements and resignations be accepted. Mary Dorian cafe at GCHS retirement effective 93rd 2025. Carrie Rapoff teacher Mitchell retirement in 2526 school year. Tom Miller second grade teacher Mville retirement in the 2526 school year. Katherine Connley, science teacher at Massie High School, retirement in the 2526 school year. David Kesler,
025maintenance administration offices, retiring effective 222. Jane Condle, the athletic trainer at GCHS, resignation effective 123121. Laura Roder, kindergarten teacher at Craper, retirement end of 2526 school year. Paul Kim, custodian in Edmond offices, retirement effective 6:30 2026. and Fred Wilson custodian administrative offices retirement 6306 second motion second any discussion we will miss them congratulations roll call please none I McMasters Stacy I Vinnie I Kenobyl I Curran I Wilms I item 8 C request for leave of absence is recommend the following needs to be approved. Terresa Meder, fifth grade teacher, Griggsby 11821 to 13121. Linda Ames, social science teacher 11 1521 to 2722. Harry Rossi, fifth grade teacher 1322 to 4222. Vicky Branding Cafe at Griggsby 11022 to 11422. to fifth grade teacherby effective 12721 to 3122 Buckingham Cafe Mitchell effective um under Miss should be 1312
026move amendment second motion second any discussion roll Please. McMasters. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Kenobyl. Hi. Curran. Hi. None. I Worms. Hi. Item 8 D. Request to extend leave of absence. Please recommend the following extensions of lease be approved. Lisa Reer resource teacher Grizzky 11121 to 2322. Mitchell 102621 to 6302. Summit. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Kenogal. Hi. Curran. Hi. None. I McMasters. WSMar. I. Item AE. Employment of certified classified substitutes for the 2122 school year. Always make me happy. Mr. President, the board has recommended the following applicants be board approved as substitutes for the 2122 school year. It is recommended the following applicants have board approval of substitutes. Certified Robert Good, Alexandre Alia, Elizabeth Smith, classified Patricia Clark, Ty Hobs, and Corey Leart. Thank you very much. So moved. Second.
027Any discussion? I'll say I've employed one of the certified staff and recommended here. And then I taught the other ones. We're getting some great stuff. Roll call, please. Vinnie, hi. Kenogal. Hi. Currin. Hi. None. I McMasters. Stacy I Wilms I item 8F employment of Grisby intermediate school principal for the 2122 school year. Mr. President the board is my honor that recommending the following applicant Miss Jody Batson be board approved for the position of Griggsby principal for the 2122 school year. So move second. Any discussion? Roll call. Canobyl I. Curran I. None. I Masters I. Stacy I Vinnie hi Wzark I item 8G is employment of labor for the 2122 school year Mr. Mr. President, the board is recommending the following applicant. Ty Hobs be board approved for the labor labor because it's for the labor
028position for the 2122 school year. So move second motion and a second. Any discussion? Roll call. Curran. None. I McMasters. Hi. Stacy. I. Vinnie. Hi, Kenobyl. Hi, Wilsy. I item 8H, employment of Griggsby, uh, fifth grade teacher for the 21-22 school year. ED teacher, I'm sorry, for the 212. Uh, due to the high enrollment numbers in the ED program at Grizzky, the following candidate is recommended uh for employment, Mr. Ed Connelly. So move. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. None. I, McMasters. Hi, Stacy. I, Vinnie. Hi Kenobyl. Hi Curran. Hi Lunzar. I item eight I granite city high school extracurricular resignations for the 2122 school year. Administration is recommending the following extracurricular resations be accepted. Linda Ames job shadow coordinator job shadow coordinator and job shadow coordinator. Who are you giving it to? Stacy I gave
029time on the last one. Roll call, please. McMasters. Hi. Stacy. I. Vinnie. Hi. Kenobyl. I. Curran. I. None. I. Wilms. I. Item 8J. Granite City High School 6-hour extracurriculars for the 2122 school year. Permission is requested to approve the following six-hour assignment for the spring semester at Lake School, which will now be able to offer a work co-op class to high school students who are able to work. Add additional Compensation will be paid through the payoff grant. We are recommending Miss Christy M for this position. So move second. Any discussion? Roll call please. Stacy I. Vinnie. Hi. Kenobyl. Hi. Curran. Hi. None. I. McMasters. Hi Wilsar. I. Items 8k elementary extracurriculars for the 2122 school year. It is recommended the following applicants be board approved for the elementary extracurriculars for the 2122 school year. There
030are a lot right in front of you. There are about third quarter lunch too. Thank you. So move second. Any discussion? I will tell you that there are more of them because we added that for having more social distancing and having different places for lunches. So from my Excuse me. Roll call, please. Vinnie. Hi. Canal. Hi. Currin. Hi, nun. I McMasters. Hi, Stacy. I WA. I That takes us to old business. Uh, item 9A, Juno Associates temporary construction easement to construct sidewalk at Juno Associates is requesting a temporary construction easement to replace the cool sidewalk from road to the entrance of the parking lot. This will all be completed at the city's expense. The city will restore the property after construction. We did meet about this and it makes sense. They're going to towards ADA
031compliance which all part of that. So approval is recommended. So move second motion on a second. I will add to that. So I appreciate Juno Associates bringing this up because this was a sidewalk that kind of just ended and didn't really have an ending spot into the parking lot. So this is a good additional and it's good and I'm again very thankful that the city is is redoing that sidewalk. They've been great partners in working with us too. I I want to say the collaborations. Roll call, please. Kenobyl. Hi. Curran. Hi. None. I McMasters. Hi. Stacy. I. Vinnie. Hi. Wilms. Hi. Uh item 9B Amarron Illinois easement um for the Granite City Pipeline Replacement Project on Lake School property. Sure. Uh you have received info about the Amaru uh requested easement near the lake school
03223rd. After discussion with Amron representatives, Mr. Skoolie, myself, we're going to recommend approval. Do you want to say anything, Mr. Schoolie, or is that Yeah, we we did go back to Amron and heard the board's direction to get some additional changes made. Those were Amaran agreed to those. is one thing. If there are any trees taken down, they are going to provide they provided an extra $1,000 of compensation so that we could buy saplings to replant. They did move uh the uh gas line away from the building further as well. So, it's it's they did what we wanted to do and the total easement price is 41,000. The total easement is about less than a third of an acre. So, so we had to move because you don't know at all and know what you're
033going to need. So, they were really good to work with and offer a decent price for that. Yeah. And and u they're going to start the project in in uh in in the summer months when those students are present, but they will give school district notices when they will be on school district property. So, everything's taken care of. That's good. They got what they needed and and I appreciate you all going back to them to improve that project that they had proposed to start with. So, thank you. Appreciate that. We will need a motion and a second. So move second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Curran. Hi. None. I McMasters. Stacy. I. Vinnie. Hi. Canobyl. Izzy. I. Item 9C is consideration of tax levy resolution and truth and taxation hearing. So we will need
034to temporarily I'll need a motion and a second to temporarily adjourn the board of education meeting. So moved. Second roll call, please. None. I McMasters. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Henobyl. Hi. Curran. Hi. Wilms. Hi. And so now I'd like to open the public hearing. Uh, Zach, are you going to [Music] You got to bring it closer. Mr. Mitchell set it up here. You want to set that up? So, sure. Yep. [Music] So this is the 2021 2022 tax levy presentation. Um in this we will provide some historical info. We will go over the 2021 tax levy and comparison to 2020. and we will cover the debt schedule and then some um just examples of how your property taxes are calculated and what the new levy uh could do to your levy. I got it.
035I got it. Um just an outline tax will cover the tax levy terms. We'll go over some historical charts of district data pertaining to the tax levy. Uh go over the 2021 tax levy collected in 2022. Uh have a 2020 2021 comparison of the rates. I will cover the debt schedule and then estimated 2021 tax rate paid in 2022. Uh terms uh when I say levy that is what we are asking for. Um the extension um is what we get. The tax rate is how your property taxes are calculated. EAV equalized assessed valuation is the total of all property value or for the individual is the total value of your house. uh limiting rates. Those are rates that cannot cannot exceed a certain amount. Um this is a history of our equalized assessed evaluation. You
036can see in 2021 and 2020 that it has gone up. We are projecting that it goes up about 13% in 2021. Um with some warehouses and some tiffs, we want to go out there. We want to try to capture as much of that new money that comes on to lower your tax rate. This is the GCSD9 total levy/extension history. You can see here the path. You can see the the dark blue line is what we have asked for. The blue line is what we have gotten. Um last year what we asked for we basically got. So we were we were getting pretty close. So we wanted to go out and make sure that we could lower the rate as much as we could for everyone and capture all those dollars. Um this is the GCSD9
037tax rate history. You can see that we started out at about 426 in 2010. As the EAV decreased um it ran up and then it has been steadily coming down. Um, if we get the 13% increase in EAV, total EAV, which includes new housing and um, warehouses and tiffs coming off, we will be down to about a 428 rate. Historical new property, this is just historical new property. As you can see, in 2021, we jumped up quite large in new property. Some of that has to do with warehouses that have gone in and some other commercial things along with some new housing. So this is the 2020 2021 levy comparison. In 2020, this is what we asked for. Um in 2021, we are doing this. We added additional 2.3 million possibly in the ED fund.
038uh 30,000 in the special ed fund, 40,000 in tech lease, 400,000 in O and M, 16,000 in debt service, $100,000 in transportation. We're looking for a $75,000 reduction in IMRF. Uh we are looking at a $100,000 ad to social security, $40,000 to working class cash, a $100,000 reduction in tort, and $40,000 additional in healthife safety. Uh remember that is just what we are asking for. That is not necessarily what we're getting. We're just going out to try to capture. Um, no matter what the limiting rates over here will apply except for debt service and IMRF, social security and tort those have no limiting rates but those rates are pretty flat with our changes. Go ahead and go to the next one there. 2021 rate scenarios based upon EAV there is the at 580 million which
039is about 5 million more than we have this year the rate would be about 432 at 648 million the rate may fall to 422 uh the current rate is 428 so we are we should be I expect everybody's rate to go down um as EAV shall climb. So we'll probably be maybe a little bit above I would guess the 426ish rate. Go ahead. Current debt services schedule for fund 30 we have three years of bonded indebtedness left. Um that is that 30 that rate is based upon 500 499 million of EAV. So that is a little bit lower. It's about 34 cents at this point, 33 cents depending on where EAV comes back at. How do I calculate my taxes? You take the fair market value of your house. So, let's say you have a
040$75,000 house. Property is typically assessed at 1/3 minus exemptions. Uh, so you would take 75,000 times a third. You'd have $25,000 of assessed valuation. multiply assessed value by the school tax rate as a percentage. Now remember, so that's 25,000 times the current one is42829 would mean your school taxes were about $1,070. So that that would be the tax rate for the current school year or the 2020 levy. the 2020 rate on that's just a example of the current rate 2021 rate based upon 580 million it would be about a $12 increase in taxes however I don't anticipate that rate I we will be above that rate I cannot picture being below it and then 2021 rate with 648 million you can see that if your property value does not change you will actually save about
041$24 a year on your taxes. We are expecting no real change to the tax rate or your property taxes this year. Um, and then what if my house value goes up? You can see the 2020 rate based upon let's say your house goes up to $80,000 instead of 75. You take that and multiply through. These are the two different things. These are just examples and that is based upon a 6.6% increase in your home value. Um you can see that your taxes would go up but that is not based upon necessarily our rate. That is based upon your assessed valuation going up as your house would be worth more. Go ahead and go to the next one. Here is the comparable tax rates for Madison County in 2020. Last year or in 2019 we were
042third. This year we are now the second lowest rate in Madison County. Um you can see the going down the number one is still Roxanna. Uh then there's Granite, Collinsville, Edwardsville, Highland, Venice, Alton, Bethalto, Triad, St. Jacob, Hartford, East Alton, and then Madison. Um in this example, please remember that there are many things that can can determine your property taxes are figured there. These examples represent the most basic calculations just of the school district tax rate. Not where not any cities or counties or anything like that. So remember when you see this presentation, it is simply just the school district's rate, not your total tax bill. That would be all. So, at this time, do we have any comments? Any questions for that? All about taxes, right? It's a fascinating subject. Yes, it is. Yes.
043And you did a you I'll I'll say you did a phenomenal job there, Zach, because it really trying to understand all that for the layman that doesn't necessarily understand their taxes. It's you did a very good job there. Um you have one point of three years left on the bonded indebtedness district. Just a general question, how are we in comparison to other school districts that you're aware of in terms of debt? So I would put us probably in one of the Yeah. We'd be in the top probably 10% of lowest amount of debt of any school district in the state. In the state. Yeah. Um it is. Yes. We're we're between five and six. We're five. We just paid that. So we're probably at $5 million in total debt left. We have Yeah. 5.6 5.8.
044Our last payment. Most of them are around two million. So we got two two more million dollar payments and one 1.6 million. We're in the school Edwardsville school districts have a little over 160 million, right? Wow. In debt. So and they're starting to have to service that debt as well. And to keep the tax rate low, but also I know appreciated by the tax. So we do our best. And and just so the board is aware, this is property tax uh board review time. And what Zach was referring to to the warehouse district down at Pontoon Beach in that area that's been in the news unfortunately for the last three or four days. those all the warehouses are objecting to their property taxes because the Shoto Township assessor who assesses that property increased uh their
045their square footage price from 23 do from $23 a square foot on one warehouse to $45. All of those warehouses now assisted $45 a square foot. uh we will be getting a bill for eight different appraisals that I had done on those various warehouses, but within those appraisals, there's comparisons to all the other warehouses out there to try to maintain that current EAV at the $45 a square foot. And the hearing so far, um the board of review has been very receptive and they've uh affirmed the assessor's uh calculation at $45 a square foot. Some of our appraisals are coming in at $50 to $69 a square foot based upon the age, seated, ceiling, height, and mirror and a lot of different factors. But it's important that we keep those all at the same price
046because the fact that they are paying more, it means that the residents, people that own property, houses, that that means that we pay a little bit less. So, it's worth the appraisal fee to do this. What is the appraisal fee? It's worth the appraisal fee. is absolutely worth the appraisal and and a lot of the appraisals because Edwardsville, the city of Edersville and the Edville school district annexed down into that area. So, we have an agreement and the board approved it that we are sharing cost of those appraisals 1/3 with the city of Veteransville Headville School District and the Granite School District. So, it's very it's it's money well spent to try to keep the EAV out there in that warehouse district where it is right now. So, we make the the levy now in
047anticipation of what we think the EAV will be. Uh, we're guessing, right? But I have to put my levy together based upon a guess of what I think EAV could or could not do. It's interesting that they do it in that order. You think you'd be able to wait until Yeah. Yeah. But we we want to go out there and and shoot high so we can capture that additional EAV. It brings down the rates in the limit in the unlimited funds to where it lowers the overall rate. The locked in rates we try to hit anyway because if we don't hit that rate or our max EAV, that's what the Illinois State Board of Education is using. So technically, we would be leaving money on the table because they're expecting us to go get all
048of that EAV when they figure out our local resources with the EBF funding. So we as that goes up, our EVF funding goes down. So we want to make sure that we don't completely lose out on revenue because it could create a it could create a spot where EBF isn't as much and we left money on the table that should have made up for the EVF. Evidence, huh? They might not know what EBF is. Oh, evidence-based funding. Yes, that's the Yes, that is question. That is the new formula by which the state determines how much each school district gets. Anyone other questions? All right, Zach. Thank you again. At this time, I'd like to close the public hearing and I will need a motion to reconvene the regular board meeting. Second. Who's the first one?
049Linda and then Tal and roll call, please. McMasters. Hi Stacy. Hi Vinnie. Hi Kenobyl. Hi Curran. Hi Nun. I Wsmire. Hi. And we will need a motion to approve the 2021 school district tax levy resolution. So second give it to give it to Linda with no thought process. Roll call please. Stacy, I Vinnie, hi Kenogal. I Curt, hi. None. I McMasters. Hi, Wilms. Hi. And I believe unless I missed something that takes us to item number 10. Is that right? Okay. [Applause] Uh item number 10, new business. uh and a Chromebook purchase right uh Mr. President of the board. Uh there's a recommendation to approve Chromebook purchases with the SR2 grant funding for the 2223 school year. This is how we are maintaining sustainability with our Chromebooks and through the grant funds which are set
050for that. We are requesting 1500 Chromebooks for the first, fifth, and nth grade students with funding for the 222 school year. Devices are necessary to keep us on a four replacement cycle and continue with the one to one devices for students. Due to availability and supply chain delays, we requesting to work the devices as soon as possible. The the supply chain delays are incredible. Zach, when are we out? Six months easy. I hope he gets them by summer. Yeah. I mean, I think that's what we're hoping. There's also some lead time in preparing 1500 staff. So, but that's what I'll be asking. We are recommending to use Trafera due to the specific warranty and setup that they provide. They allow us to become a self-maintainer and bulk ship to us warranty parts of our onsite
051repairs which helps us as well. This process creates faster repair times for student devices. They also unbox and enroll devices in Google before shipping which is a really big deal saving many hours on setup and deployment. The selected vendor Trfera is listed below with those and approval is recommended. So move second. Motion a second. Any discussion? Roll call please. Vinnie, hi Kenobyl. Hi Curran. Hi Nun. I McMasters. Hi Stacy. Hi Wilms. Hi. Item 10B hotspot renewal. I don't think I need to do this. It's just authorization requested to renew hotspot for the digital relief grant fund. We renew our digital relief grant again. So that's what these are using this for. These funds are to be utilized to help the districts close the divide digital divide with the focus on student onetoone device environments. The
052original purchase of the hotspots with the same funding in 2020 and was a 24-month agreement. These funds will continue that agreement for another 36 months with T-Mobile. These devices will continue to be used for students who do not have access to the internet outside the district. The monthly cost for devices 1517 $15.17 for 36 months 562 devices. These are greatly needed. It allowed us to reach all of our students uh during remote learning. Um we also I mean it was was the reason you were I think successful in that. So I'm glad that they were doing this and allowed us to be the first. So So when you say outside the district, we actually mean outside district buildings outside the district. Good point. Thank you for the clarification on that one. But it's really is
053uh really nice to be able to provide those for students who didn't have them. So approval is recommended. Sun second. Any discussion? Roll call. Kenogal. I Curran. Hi. None. I McMasters. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Winsmar. Hi. Item 8C. Grizzby roof bid. The Mr. President the board the tabulation of the Grizzby roof bid is below. Uh we have baby roofing 2,4534. Lakes side at 2,569783. We are recommending baby roofing for this portion. Bas's recommendation is low specifications. Approval is recommended. So move Stacy motion in a second. Any discussion to get that ref. Roll call, please. Currin, hi. None. I McMasters. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Canal. Hi. WAR. Hi. Item 8 D uh limitation of administrative costs. Mr. President, the board administration is requesting the approval to pass a resolution to exceed the 5% increase
054to administrative costs. This was due to the addition of the CO recovery coordinator that is grant funded completely. So action items are to hold a public hearing to do that. Yeah. So actually we got to go back do another public here tonight. So two public hearings tonight. So thank you all for your patience on that. Uh, I will need to a a motion to temporarily adjourn the board of education meeting. Roll call, please. None. I, McMasters, hi. Stacy, hi. Vinnie, hi. Kenoval, hi. Currin, hi. Wilms, hi. And we'll now open the public hearing. Stephanie, do you want to take this or um would just recommending to approve the resolution of the limitation administrative costs. want to read the resolution or just say that it's in in a nutshell. Anytime that the administrative costs are 5%
055over the previous year, you're required by bill school code. Yeah, there you go. To have a public hearing and explain those costs and and Stephanie just explained the cost, right? It's the code renewal renovation coordinating position which is 100% grant funded, but even still, it's part of our administration. And just a quick tidbit, I had to call the state on this because we had to be in the bottom quartile percent to do this. And when I asked where we were because I did not know, it's not readily published anywhere. We've never had to worry about it. But out of 385 school districts, our administrative costs came in at 323 out of 385. So one being the most costs and 385 being the lowest administrative cost. We were 323. It did. I know. Good news tonight.
056Oh, Zack. I know. He's just I'm full of it today. You're above your class. So, we come back. Come back. Any other comments or discussion on this questions? It's a little confusing, but it it all has to do with the administrative cost in the 5%. So, just out of curiosity, when you see the 5%, what percent are we at now then if we get through this? Um, I think we're just just means over last year we went over 5%. I think it was probably I'm sorry I didn't. It's not something crazy like 20%. No, no, no, no. Like seven or eight. That's what I'm trying to make. Like it's not like crazy. Our administrative costs are relatively low. So a percentage increase on his salary would be pretty good. Yep. So it wasn't that bad.
057There also was raises this year and there was about a 5% increase in health insurance. So we were going to be pretty close to this based upon just standard business. Great. And if inflation stays at 6%, we're probably going to eventually hit this with health insurance at some point. Exactly. This is the first time we've actually had to do this. Yes, this is the first time we've had to do this. I really just want to really for the viewers at home to understand like we're not in a financial crisis. We're not being crazy with our spending. No, it the position we added that pushed us over was all grant funed. Yeah. Thank you. Very good. Any other comments or questions? Okay. If not, I'll close this public hearing and I'll need a motion to reconvene
058the regular board meeting. So moved. Second. That was right at the same time. Who's the second? They almost didn't want to. Roll call, please. Z. McMasters. I. Stacy. I. Vinnie. Hi. Kenogal. Hi. Curran. Hi. None. I Wilsmire I and I will need a motion to approve the 2122 school limitation of administrative costs resolution. Second. Roll call, please. Stacy I. Vinnie I. Kenobyl I. Currin I. Nun I. McMasters. Williamsmar. I. Very good. Item 10E. IMRF omitted service credit. Mr. President, the board the administration is requesting the approval to Prior IMRF limited service credit for John village, Sue Dicky Charles, Brett Cuts, Kenny Brick, Kevin Hayes, Ricky Delhazo, and Mrs. I had to call Zack. Let me tell you, so he's going to explain. I I could do it, but he would do it much better. when
059these people subbed for us, we put them in a pretty full-time position that exceeded the amount of hours that we should have been paying IMRF on. So, what we did was we went back as we got audited by IMRF, we've been cleaning these people up and adding their service credit to them. It also means they can retire sooner, which lowers our cost, so our administrative costs can go down. But, uh, all these people are here. They sub for us in a full-time capacity. They should have been uh given IMRF. They just weren't. IMRF is Illinois municipal Illinois municipal retirement fund. Absolutely. And I do know they get to be sticklers about how many hours you can work without being in IMRF. So yes. And we walk a fine like we have subs that may work
060one day a week, but then there might be times where they work 10 days or 5 days a week or 10 days every two weeks and they start hitting these hours and you got to turn them on and off. It has been a full-time job for somebody just to kind of keep track. And we asked, can we just flag everybody because we're using sub if you're a sub for us and you want to work every day, you can work every day at this point. So, but they're like, "No, you got to track this." So, and again, this this is not the first time this has happened. Z on board we had to do for the OTPTs. Yeah, we've had to do this a couple times. Yeah. So, it's and whenever they do an audit, uh
061they they normally turn something up to we have to amend the way we're doing things. Move to approve. Have a motion by Erica. Second, second by Eric. Any discussion? Additional roll call please. Vinnie Hi. Kenobyl. Hi. Curran. Hi. None. I McMasters. Stacy. Hi. Williams. Hi. And item 10F IMRF in L of health benefits also. Um do you want to explain this? This is we if you decline if you your spouse declines family insurance, we instead of paying for the full family insurance, we give you $1,200 instead of uh paying for family insurance as an incentive for the spouse to stay on their own health insurance and save us the cost of family insurance. At which point you do that, you get $1,200. This is we've been audited three times by MRF since I've been here
062and this started in 2015 and this is the first time they've asked for this. This just allows us to do that. It's a little cleanup item from them second. Yeah, I guess just question. Is this the first time that they've asked? Yes. Which surprised me and Sher because I was like we've done this so we were confused. Okay, very good. Any additional questions or discussion? Roll call, please. Kenogal, I. Currin, I. None. I McMasters. Stacy. I. Vinnie. Hi. Wsmmer. I. Item number 11, reports of other communication. Item A for you. We have received one request under the Freedom Information Act during the period of November 2nd, 21 through December 7th, 21. The first request was received on November 19th from Karen Garcia. acquisition special. She requested the following information. All employee staff contact information. First
063name, last name, position, department, district phone number, business cell phone number if provided by the district, email address from the district, office address. This request was handled by administration and that is therefore report only. We don't need to take any action on that one. And so, thank you for handling that. We appreciate that. Item uh 11B, Granite City High School November 21 activity fund statement. Uh bank reconciliation statement and memorial fund statement as well as the October activity account statement are there in this packet. Item 8F uh the November treasures report uh also is there. Any questions on any of those? All there just for reports and no action that Item 11G, Supervisor Facility Maintenance Management, Eric Smith. Yep. Are you there, Mr. Smith? I'm here. You hear me? Yes. We attach I'll tell them
064real quick. Okay. You can see by what I have here. Um, what we're what we're spending a lot of money in this next year is going to be crazy. We thought about trying to do the roof and half section. Ended up. We're going to probably do the whole thing, which we are going to do the whole thing just for supplies and cost. We don't know what next year is going to hold in the following year, but if it if we're able to do a roof, you can look at 2324. We're moving on to ProArt, replace that roof. Uh we're doing sidewalk repairs um in all the schools eventually. uh depending once the roofs are completed, the exterior tuck pointing is completed, then we'll fall in and we'll start doing uh sidewalk repair and site repair.
065Um if you go to 2425 where uh you can see uh fire fire alarm repairs are every year, but here we're going to be at Frasier. Those need to be updated every 10 years. So, with this plan, every year has a fire alarm in there, so we can update those and then it will just continue. Uh, we're looking at HBAC upgrades depending on funding on how we can do those at different schools. Um, if 25 26, that's when we're looking at starting some roof replacement at the high school. uh depending on probably the shingle roofs, what shapes they're in. Uh that's toward the end of our actual painters careers. Some of them are going to retire and they're wanting to uh start painting lockers. So those are going to be the summers that we'll go
066into and start painting, repainting lockers, maybe get some more neutral colors instead of the brighter colors. Uh that's up for debate. Um and 26 and 27 we're looking at uh most of the exterior doors by that time will be all completed we should have completed before where here I have it that we're going to replace it at 26 27 before that time I look to have that done and this is always subject subject to change depending on supplies what problems we're having this is just kind of a a barebones uh ideas so we know kind of what what direction we're going to go and if anyone has any questions I'm always available. Yeah, Eric, I I appreciate it. Um I think what's missing in our packet was the later years. We got the the critical
067ones which are the early years and I know Zach needs that for budgeting and I know you all are working together to make sure we've got the money to to handle all these. But I I just want to say fantastic job in laying this out over a five-year plan for improving all of our schools, keeping them up, making sure they're safe and and uh just the HBAC that the heating, ventilation, air conditioning system, the sidewalks, everything associated with it. There's just a lot that goes into when you own own a lot of old buildings and as you know, so we we appreciate it is a lot and uh we had to put all Yeah, had to put that together. some of the air quality uh improvements HC are falling under our grant funding as well.
068So, we're able to to do that air quality. So, I'm just really happy you put together. I apologize we don't have 25 26 267. We'll get those to you. Appreciate that. We really appreciate it. Great job, Eric. Great job. All right. Perfect. Thanks for uh thanks for that. Um, and would you like to Yes. Okay. So, I suppose I would be remissed tonight if I did not mention that um Mr. David Kesler and his wife Linda are here tonight. Now, keep in mind I don't usually see him in such a nice jacket. So, he's usually he's the he's here doing work all the time, but I wanted to make sure that we uh recognize him tonight for all his years of service. And his wife, Linda, also retired from the district. So, we just wanted
069to thank you and make sure you recognize you tonight as well. Sorry, we didn't get that. It's been a fast 35 years. Well, yeah, he's tonight. He also helped out the library immensely for that year and a half that we were at needing house. He gave me his phone number and I think I only used it once or twice to bother you. But um he was on it with any request that we had. He made sure we had taken care of and that was that was how we met really was back then. Yeah. We hope he enjoys his time and if you have a chance, go by his house. He has great Christmas decorations. We we appreciate all your years of service, both of you, and and thank you so much. And hopefully it's a
070a great retirement and enjoy it. And and as Bill said earlier, we got room for bus drivers. So, yeah, just saying to walk much, you sit down, you know, enjoy the ride. That's a tougher job than people think. I know. relaxing. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you again. We appreciate you. Um at this time, I will entertain a motion to enter into executive session for um the agenda tonight is to talk about student disciplinary matters. There are a whole bunch of exemptions noted under five on the open meetings act and tonight we will be talking about 2C9 student disciplinary matters. So move. Second. Roll call, please. Curran. Hi. None. I McMasters. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Kenogal. Hi. Wire. Hi. 709. The 709