001and it's now 7 P.M Tuesday August 22nd 2023 and I call this meeting of the Board of Education to order Cindy would you please call the roll Mr President yeah yeah here here Frozen here here next and because I didn't call anyone I'm going to call myself I will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance [Laughter] I pledge allegiance 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 are there any items to be added or removed from the agenda how many of the board members nope hearing none we will move on to our public comments we welcome welcome to the meeting of the Board of Education if anyone wishes to address the board this evening please
002see our recording secretary to submit a form for addressing please put your full name and address on the form in general the board will not answer questions or engage in dialogue during public comment this does not mean we do not take your I use active community community participation in the districts in Denver's and encourages people to engage in the district using appropriate channels and systems designed with your input in mind board members are not involved in the day-to-day operations the district and cannot engage in District business individually if you have specific questions or would like to further engage with the district you may submit your questions using the link on the website and the appropriate staff member will communicate with you our BPS 101 Communications manager Holly deachman will now explain any procedures for public
003comment and call up any if we have any thank you president pres Meadows we do have um it is Alan canals if you'd like to approach the podium yes so once you approach the podium you'll have three minutes to speak I'll put a timer up on the screen so you can run it to yourself process if there's anyone else here that would like to submit any comments to us please put them in writing and you can submit them to Cindy Rodriguez at my right speakers should conduct themselves with Civility and respect towards others practice yes my name is Ellen knouts and I live on 707 Houston Street all three of my children have gone through the school district going from h.c Storm to Rotolo to the high school and on a personal note this is
004the first time since we moved to Batavia 19 years ago that we didn't have a child go to school on for the first day of school here at the district the district has served our children well and prepared them for their next Journeys and 19 years has seen three superintendents and now four so welcome superintendent Kim I'm here to speak about the proposed development for the property adjacent to HC Storm almost every day students are using that land for recess gym and special activities in fact I saw gym students today utilizing the the land for the proposed development today the land that BPS I'm not sure if many people know that the land that BPS owns ends very close to the playgrounds on the south side of h.c storm I don't know the exact number
005I'm actually going to ask that at the committee of the whole meeting today but I wouldn't be surprised if it was between 10 and 20 feet and as I said that this is going to be is a topic for the discussion at the 7 PM meeting just downtown part of the packet of information that was included for this meeting downtown included a memo from the school district indicating that the school district intends to take except cash payment in lieu of land and I was hoping that the board might reconsider taking asking for land as opposed to cash because it would benefit the students to utilize the space that they've utilized for 19 plus years the other thing too about the memo is that it states that that we are confident that this development aligns well
006with our community's best interests and I am unclear if community means BPS 101 Community Batavia community and I also am not clear on what evidence was utilized and what data was utilized to make that statement that the development aligns well with our communities best interests for example this development will tear down decades-old trees that are utilized for shade right now by the students when they're at recess and gym I'm not sure if that's in the best interest of our community the the property line is feet from the playground I'm not sure if that's best in our community's best interests I'm not sure if the roadway stud that has been allotted will actually improve traffic and finally the driveways and entrances that will occur on Van nortwick Street I'm also I'm unsure if that is in
007our community's best interests thank you that was the end of our public comment thank you very much I would like to now invite our BPS Partners up Todd from Bea good evening everyone after a great District kickoff last week the teachers and staff have welcomed back our students and have spent these first few days establishing routines reviewing procedures but most importantly beginning to build relationships and Community within our classrooms and in our buildings to expand on my opening day comments of trust that is one of the most critical bonds that we are building in our classrooms now some of our kids will come in and immediately feel like that they can trust their teacher and the adults in the building but others are going to come to us more guarded and not quite ready to
008jump on the trust bus for whatever reasons that may be in their past that makes trust a harder buy-in for them it's all of our jobs to see each one of our kids for who they are individually and to meet them where they are to help them see through that not only our words but our actions as well that they can trust us to help them grow academically socially and emotionally this year there is no precursor to academic success more important than building trust and making sure our kids feel like they belong and that they are seen and heard that is goal number one for our teachers right now and that's what we're all committed to doing as our year gets started Tom Kim and I have also been working closely to ensure that our
009district committees are fully staffed and each one has a Bea member as a co-chair to not only help in planning and facilitating meetings but to ensure transparency and accountability we are also looking at our newly created District coordinating Council that Tom and I will co-chair together and beginning to think about the work and possibilities that this new collaboration structure will bring to help with collaboration communication and trust with the bean Administration both committee chairs and the DCC were created in our latest collective bargaining agreement and we are excited to use these new avenues to help build trust improve communication and ensure transparency at all levels and great thanks to the board for helping to pass that collective bargaining agreement where we have these new avenues so I wanted to say thank you for that and
010I know you guys are probably used to me going on and on a little bit longer but I'm actually wrapping up right now so I know if you can believe that and I'm going to totally shift gears a little bit um but just to wrap up I wanted to put in a little plug here and this is something that both Sue lock and I we sit on a Community Committee and I just wanted to put a plug-in for the Flag Day monument and the ceremonies are going to be coming up in about a month and I know Sue will have more information to share about this as well but on September 30th and October 1st there will be featured events that will be a once in a lifetime opportunities for our community because of the
011connection of Batavia with the creator of Flag Day Dr Bernard sagran the idea for this Memorial has now come to fruition and the dedication weekend looks to be a spectacular celebration for our community both the website which is Flag Day monument.com and the Flag Day Monument Facebook page have information about the September 30th Gala dinner event and it features singer Lee Greenwood is actually going to be here in Batavia and you know you guys know his famous song you know I'm proud to be American kind of coffee Anderson violence Rachel Miller an outstanding Gourmet menu and soon I saw the menu last night and boy it's going to be worth the price of admission and actually you get a first look sneak peek at the monument before it's even dedicated on the next day and
012as well that next day on October 1st the community celebration of the dedication is a is a day-long activity down at the river and the peg bond center so what we need now is this information to permeate throughout the community tell your family tell your friends your neighbors all about this upcoming weekend and visit the website and the Facebook page for more details about this amazing opportunity that's going to be here before we know it and it really truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity Community for Batavia to come together to celebrate this it's going to be a worldwide Monument it's going to be really spectacular so flagday monument.com is the website and the Flag Day Monument Facebook page so just check those things out and with that I am going to check out
013for tonight so thank you all very much I'd like to invite uh Laura up from Vespa good evening I am Laura varsillo and I represent Vespa which is the Batavia educational support team that includes your paraprofessionals your secretaries your maintenance custodians campus monitors and kindergarten enrichment teachers so I am the board's Treasurer so I thought starting tonight and moving forward I would like to start presenting a series of an inside look deeper into behind the scenes of Best Buy employees by sharing each individual story oh I'm sorry also if you want to look we're going to be seeing pictures of the person that I'm speaking about tonight by sharing each individual story we are highlighting their utmost value as they contribute to a positive and motivating work environment they do this selflessly and passionately every
014single day bestba are the supporting branches of our educational tree today I would like to share with you Best Buy employee Batavia High School night custodian Kyle Brown his story speaks of resilience unexpected opportunities and a journey that took him through twists and turn of life what's truly remarkable is the dedication and passion that Kyle exhibits Kyle began his journey at just 18 years old today at the age of 32 he reflects upon his journey capturing the memories through a collection of photographs as we are showing a sense of Pride emerges as he remembers being the only one to Don a blue uniform with a distinctive logo which was replaced by a maroon uniform and then more uniform uniforms after that now think about when you were in high school Kyle was a senior in
015high school pursuing a career path through the Building Trades program but suddenly that path vanished the program was gone yet with this Bleak situation he had two choices a study hall for credit or an internship Kyle chose The Road Less Traveled the path of an internship Kyle's enthusiasm for the internship led him to become the sole participant but hurdles did emerge no local company was available for the internship however the Batavia School District maintenance department stepped in they became The Guiding Light offering a chance for Kyle to embark on an incredible learning experience so I don't know if you want to see that one with the snow especially with the heat now throughout his last semester at the school Kyle shadowed Greg bowler who played a pivotal role in shaping his journey after graduation his
016journey in the professional World began he was hired at Rotolo and he spent six years there before moving on to Hoover wood for another two years his experiences were diverse challenging and fulfilling and behind this remarkable Journey lies another hidden facet Kyle's environment in involvement in Batavia esda a role where they contribute to the community's safety by controlling weather warnings including tornado sirens so when we hear those that is part of Kyle's job to do for us Kyle enjoys chasing storms throughout the nation he is a collector of Hot Wheels and vintage firearm protractors Kyle also runs his own landscaping business this story is a celebration of the diverse tasks that come with a role of finding joy in the mundane and as being an unsung hero who takes care of the district's athletic fields
017ensuring that they flourish in conclusion Kyle's story is a Testament of the potential that lies within us all it's a story of turning setbacks into Stepping Stones of making the most of the unexpected and of embracing every twist and turn that life presents it reminds us that our Journeys are unique and it's a way we navigate through them that truly defines us Kyle is a very special best spa member we are best buff we are strong United behind the scenes thank you thank you Laura next I'd like to invite up Leanne and Danielle from ESPN please give me good evening everyone my name is Danielle Mahoney and again this is the second time up here for bspn we were here in the fall and we had to follow all the amazing stories of our celebrating
018all of our amazing teachers and now we have amazing staff that we're following up with so another tough act to follow I tell you um but I am a parent here in the Batavia School District I'm also the parent chair for bspn it is the Batavia special education parent Network it's a mouthful but I am also standing here with these two amazing ladies and as well as with Carrie Roo director of special education but I will let them introduce themselves in their roles I'm Leah Rodriguez I'm a speech pathologist at the Early Childhood Center and I'm Mary Johnston I'm an IOP teacher at Grace McWane Elementary and my youngest I have two girls in the school district uh Lily this store and then penny is now a first grader at Grace McWane but she had
019the privilege of having Mary here as her teacher and this is what happens when you become a teacher one of my kids um but a little bit about our organization like I mentioned we are here back in the fall sharing a little bit about who we are and what we do as well as talking about a resource fair but ESPN we are a group of parents special education teachers School therapists administrators within the BPS 101 school district and we collaborate with the public school system with Batavia Public Schools and providing opportunities for our families and our students who have special needs and I've shared before at a different talk but um individuals with disabilities or special needs are actually the largest minority group not just in the United States but the entire world and yet
020they have a very small voice and are sometimes forgotten and as a parent with a child with needs it can be very isolating and lonely and overwhelming and so we are so happy to have this group to collaborate with amazing partners with Batavia special Batavia Public Schools and the other amazing parents we are here as a Lifeline to talk about what's going on it could be questions about teachers next steps transitioning opportunities it could be even as minute as I'm looking for a dentist that will be able to handle my child who is autistic and can't handle that type of environment who do you recommend we support individuals from Early Childhood all the way up to 22 when they graduate from the special education program at the high school so we kind of have a
021broad range of kids and families that we support but it's amazing and it's it's just very fulfilling so we have a lot of really great um events that where we have scheduled for the year with our first one scheduled for Wednesday September 20th which should be a familiar date because that happens to be the homecoming parade and I like to say we strategically decided to do this date but so you can March down the parade and then march on over to pale Joey's and join us um parents administrators uh and I invite all of you board members and parents Guardians to come hear what we're about hear what we have planned we want to hear from you and what you need and what you're looking for and what supports you're looking for we also have
022everything from informal coffee chats some more social fun ones there might be a beverage of you know caffeine or alcohol it doesn't matter maybe later in the evening but we also we tap the amazing resources we have here in the district like individuals like Brian Lindstrom the transition family support specialist sharing information like that we have a website that we invite you to go and visit for more information or to join our mailing list and that is bspn Dash batavia.org through there you can send an email to us like I said you can join our our mailing list we have a Facebook page as well so please go on there see what events we have coming up but wait till the end of the week because I'm still updating it um but we have a
023lot of great things planned for the year so our fall big kickoff is this town hall where families come and meet our special education Administration so any board members that would like to join us that would be great and then in February we have our big resource fair at the high school and that has been very well attended last year we had what up to 50 different vendors in the cafeteria we had a very large attendance by families not just from Batavia but pretty much throughout the whole Fox Valley area that came to hear what resources were for their families currently and then also through the summer so it was a very successful event in February so you'll also be hearing some things from us around that time too so yeah so thank you for
024your time thank you thank you very much and then last but certainly not least I'd like to invite our student ambassadors hi I'm jury and I am a student ambassador from Batavia High School and I'm a junior hello I'm also a junior my name is Zara mod and I'm a student ambassador okay okay so first of all stools schools start off great we had like a great link crew group that helped all the freshmen get around they did a great job on the first day of school guiding all the new freshmen around school we also had like on orientation day they had Club set up new clubs so a lot of big lists on that students getting involved which is always great to see so that was a great kickoff to the school year back
025to school also means uh welcoming the young ones to a new school year and for some even their very first day and to do this elementary school around Batavia created ice cream gather up and kindergarten tours and I know the reason why I had a welcoming ring the bell first day of school and we had a lot of clubs like I mentioned before there was a key club which does a lot of volunteering hours I went to the first meeting today which was filled packed to the door interact Club also helps with volunteering amnesty also had their first meeting today with human rights which is great Mr Ray is here as well and then we also had there was also an ice cream social best buddies held which introduced students to introducing new students with
026special needs so that was a great event had an ice cream so much fun there's a picture of dirid over there we had a lot of fun there yeah um a fellow Christian Fellowship club opened up last Thursday morning uh an Eco club and black student also started this week as a member of both of those Club I can for sure say that we're excited to have new members as well as help have them help us create new future events um a lot of sports as well Football starting their big practices I'm sure the next football game is coming up soon tennis had their first meet recently and that was going good uh we also had corn boil that we had a lot of people come volleyball is having a great start I heard that
027game with uh Aurora and also cross-country started I think that's all thank you very much good chapters thank you so next is consent agenda according to our board policy we designate a portion of the agenda as a consent agenda for those items that usually do not require extensive discussion or action these items are generally routine recurring and can be grouped together for efficiency Steve would you like to share anything before we take action yeah I can share with you the consent agenda which I will I would like to tell you is probably the shortest consent agenda that I can remember in my career we can do it one breath yeah exactly here we go 4.1 is the approval of our July 25th 2023 meeting minutes uh 4.2 is the Personnel report 4.3 is our payroll
028and bills 4.4 is the Chromebook service contract renewal and 4.5 is the approval of the consent agenda one breath anyone have any questions I do okay um so going over the invoicing I'm just I have three questions um so we had the alumni golf outing so I presume like I saw that we paid Bliss Creek but I'm assuming like our sponsors paid us and then we paid them is that how that works um I'm not sure um the next thing under the um is Page 33 the recap of the Harris MasterCard I just want to know what is it's like the 1100 regular programs and then 2210 Improvement of instructional assessment like I don't what does those mean those are functions and so the state of Illinois has what they call or at least used
029to be called the program accounting manual and so they designate different categories and basically the purpose for which funds are expended and they designate the numbers that we use to report them just give me a regular program would be like regular instruction so anybody who works in K-5 for example that would be like a teacher a teacher's salary would be regular instruction and what about the Improvement assessment like what would like that would be something that would be under cni so those were examples of improvement of instruction could be things like assessment or anything that would improve the instructional program meaning like professional development or other services that would improve services for students would our um or contractual like if we consult our Consultants would they be labeled under that they could potentially be depending
030on the nature of the Consulting work that they do and all Consulting Works certainly wouldn't fall there but depending on the nature of what they provide they could be and what department it's related to anything in that particular function would be under Brad's purview and then the last one um is Page 64. it's van Venter Manufacturing Company it just says principle on short-term debt I don't what does that mean it means that but sometimes we use language that nor that you know like it doesn't it seems obscure but that would be to pay down debt and so that is the lease for the what we call the mfac or the maintenance facility that's on Main Street okay and uh it's a it's a lease to own so it's considered debt and so when we finish
031paying that off I believe it's either off the top of my head it's either next year or the year after we'll own that building okay okay that's all right thanks I had uh I guess one question too more on the process side of when we do these contracts like with the Chromebook renewal um do we solicit bids like from different and and this is more than just about the Chromebook but just in general when we're renewing contracts um uh I guess what's what's the process there do we solicit bids from different uh companies it depends on what we're procuring and in the case of Technology it's exempt from bidding requirements so we don't seek bids what we do is see quotes and so our board's policy is that we have to seek at least two
032quotes Okay and ideally three before we enter into those purchases although in some cases some technology depending on what has come before there might be circumstances there are circumstances where we would only have one but yeah we try to seek out the best price and the the reason why technology is exempt from those requirements is because it's a very difficult to spec in certain circumstances as you can imagine so for example um you you want a solution that actually meets your needs and sometimes you can't necessarily specify that so under Illinois law that is exempt from bidding requirements and it's just in certain cases it's beyond just the price though right we're not oh yeah absolutely you have criteria that you're looking at that these suppliers or companies have to meet yeah and so if
033you're not um you know when you're doing a bid it's the lowest responsible veteran so price basically is the rule as long as the as the bid is responsive to the the criteria and meets the scope and that better is somebody who is reputable and is able to deliver the product it would go to the lowest price if it's exempt from that then you can use a lot of other criteria although there are certain restrictions depending on what you're procuring and so for technology in that particular example we have a lot more flexibility but we do seek multiple quotes you'll probably see that like coming up later on in the fall and when we send stuff out to bid for next year's yeah anytime we do bids the board is required to take action and
034award the bid so we'll know who the different candidates were yeah you'll see you'll have a list of who responded to the bid and what their prices were and then we'll do what we call a scope review with the lowest bidder to make sure that their their bid and our spec are lined up that we're we're getting what we're we're asking for and that they're capable of delivering and that they're responsible better and then Craig's responsible all on my own thank you thank you any other questions good questions though thank you I'm hearing none I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented smooth motion by RJ second second second by Sue all in favor aye opposed motion passes next is reports Tom is there anything you'd like to share under reports
035uh the foia reports under Section 5.1 are presented in the agenda in the packet any questions I was just I was just wondering about the purchasing records um that seems like a very vague request to me but it was granted what what did we provide there so we this is a regular request that we received from this company which is smart PR smart procure and they want basically everything that we purchased for generally on a quarter basis and so that's what we provide them is we do an export from our system for everything that we purchased and those are public records and they're entitled to them I'm not saying that I was just surprised that caught me by surprise like everything you've ever purchased but I you know what I'm catching out the dates so
036they they quarter it off for you yeah it's generally about four times a year then okay you see that and so that's our that's a regular request when I first read it I thought it said up to four up to April of 2023. ever it's like forever and I was like that would be a nice reason right that's why I was surprised it was granted so okay anyone else on the foia reports no anything else Tony Tony on the treasure reports no they are there you know one thing that I think is interesting that the board doesn't typically see is the investment report because we actually have Investments so and I'm very excited about that we'll talk more about that in a little bit all right and then your favorite part Tony public hearing on
037the time yes I'm next so we'll talk about that pretty much now so um we do have to hold a public hearing on the budget each year and that's what the purpose of this agenda item is this evening we'll also talk about the interfund transfers that are part of the budget so I'm going to give a brief description of what's in the budget and the mechanics of the interfund transfers and then anybody who's here this evening is will have an opportunity to address the board and ask questions and then we'll conclude the meeting and that will suffice for our obligations for the public hearing and then of you know terms of timeline we shared with the board a tentative budget in July this month we're doing the public hearing and then next month we'll do
038the adoption so there will still be some changes to this budget over the course of the next month it won't change dramatically at this point but it will change before we adopt it in its final form in September uh if you wouldn't mind Holly thank you the budget is always available at the same link each year bps101.net budget most recent budget is available and there's two files that are available in public there's the public the budget form which is what we put on that's the formal official budget document that we place on display and that we submit to the State Board into the county that's the board's official budget but we also produce what we call this budget summary which parses that budget up into a format that is hopefully a little bit more digestible
039than than just the raw numbers and the codes like you were asking earlier Raquel you know all those codes are in that budget form and that's how we figure out which line to put those numbers on is by following the kind of the rules of that program accounting manual that the state has devised overall we expect a surplus of 2.2 million dollars that's a little bit lower than the last time you saw this budget it was 2.4 million dollars last time and we expect that with that Surplus our ending fund balance will be some 60 million dollars that will bring us to a revenue to fund balance ratio of about 52 percent now recall and when I first became the the csbo the chief School business official for the board that number was well below
04025 percent and so we would have to borrow money each year so that we could make payroll and I we have come a long way since then we've been very fortunate that we've been able to improve our finances to this degree and luckily we were able to invest some of that money now or actually put that money to work for us we still need the money and and it's not just kind of sitting around we're able to invest it and and earn interest on that money we have to have we only receive payments twice a year but essentially as we're so heavily reliant on property taxes we receive a vast majority of our money each year in June in September and But after those dates there's not a whole lot of money moving into the
041district's coffers and so in years past actually for well over 30 years as best I can tell the board had to issue what are called tax anticipation warrants kind of payday loans essentially we would borrow that money have to pay interest on it so we could make payroll and pay our bills until the taxes flowed in and luckily we don't have to do that anymore it's a it's a it's a pretty big deal I think we're the only ones over here that remember that I don't think they know it's a new development yeah it wasn't even when I was started it was before that that it got let's say corrected Tony worked very hard on it we did and it's it's a it's a major accomplishment um because but historically we would actually you know
042it's kind of a waste of money to borrow money to pay interest on it to just to make payroll anyway uh overall Revenue has increased by 3.1 percent to 137 million dollars so we're approaching almost 140 million dollars uh evidence-based funding that's the the kind of the general state aid money that comes from the state of Illinois uh that's expected to remain level at 5.6 million where what we're considered to be tier four on the evidence-based funding formula so that according to the state's math we exceed the the Target or the adequacy level the targeted amount of money on a per student basis and so the new money that we're receiving from the state of Illinois is an additional five thousand dollars quite literally running to the bank with it running to the bank with
043an additional five thousand dollars so I'm going to call 5000 level I'll just call that close enough to the level even though it's just a little bit more other state reimbursements are what we call categoricals for special education and for transportation and so a few others uh are increasing by 1.3 percent to 3.2 million and so overall just you know our revenues are increasing by 3.1 percent meanwhile our expenditures are expected to increase by 5.3 percent so it's a good thing we have a surplus we have to be careful making sure that we remain like as I like to say on the Glide path so that we can keep our expenditures in check with our revenues um major pressure on expenditures this year is of course salaries and benefits and purchase Services given inflation we
044have a new teachers contract we've also had one reason why expenditures are increasing for salaries as much as they appear to be is because we have several vacancies for support staff that went unfilled in the prior year we budgeted for them we didn't fill them and so now since we didn't actually spend that money in the prior year it looks like a bigger increase also for benefits benefits did go up from the last time you saw it went up by I think probably close to a half a million dollars and so we've got some more adjustments to make on employee benefits between now and when we finalize this budget in September we've got some work to do in terms of Staffing we also have a half a million dollars in contingency in this budget in
045case there's anything that we couldn't anticipate so Tony on that continues you don't adjust that contingency that's just held for it so like when we saw the bump up since the last budget or adjusted you're not flexing that number to hold numbers you just that's right pure unforeseen yeah those are pure I don't flex that no I don't flex the number unless um if there's a higher degree of uncertainty you know I might but generally I I don't um no it's not a number I play with but it's certainly a number that we use in case something comes up unexpected you know we have a little bit of cushion when I first started in the first year that I was the business manager we didn't have any contingency because we literally couldn't afford it and
046our Surplus was a quarter of a million dollars and that's when you know you really have to make sure that the budget is working but anyway we've gotten past that so we're in a better position now uh Staffing will we will we expect to increase by 7.3 percent and this is where I believe the budget will move between now and September so the 7.3 not percent excuse me 7.3 FTE or full-time equivalence on that number could go up and it could go down between now and September we've got some work to do in terms of where things will finally land before we adopt the budget meanwhile our student enrollment is expected to decline by 2.2 percent we'll also know more here in another month what our actual student enrollment is still a little early yet
047I mean it's well weak into school and we you know students are showing up but there are some who may have you know their life circumstances may have changed and they might have registered and might not intend on coming back but they haven't let us know that yet so we'll finalize those numbers here in the next few weeks so that will bring our stat pupil to staff ratio down from 7.9 to 7.7 which is excellent that number has gone down dramatically in um in recent years is that all Steph yeah that's all staff yeah deeper in the budget you'll find the numbers first licensed staff that's a high level overview of the budget one thing I would note is that um we are investing that fund balance as aggressively as we can certainly not putting
048the principle at risk you know we invest in CDs and treasuries things that we're most assured to get our money back there they're all they're all insured those Investments and that will generate we expect about 2.2 million dollars this year and that's just a pure coincidence and so things have changed in terms of what we expect in terms of revenues and expenditures but we've landed on this number of 2.2 million it's pure coincidence but that's the Surplus that's also what we happen to be investing These funds upon in terms of what we expect in terms of interest and if we weren't able to invest those funds we would not have a balanced budget and there's a good chance we'd be talking about program Cuts laying off staff and the like so while we're doing well
049financially it's kind of on a Razor's Edge we have to be prudent in how we manage our finances because investing those funds in the long term are not likely to continue I mean there's probably another year or two or we'll be able to invest those funds and make some some returns on them that are reasonable but you know that I don't know that that will anticipate that we'll continue in the long term money has to keep yeah we keep rolling it over but you know as the market changes those those the investment rates will change as well too so Tony and the population student population um can you comment on are we seeing the are we seeing increases at the lower grade levels like kindergarten first grade are we seeing increases no we're seeing we're
050seeing about the number of students show up as we expect in our enrollment forecast and that number is going down relative to classes that are graduating because the birth rate is just that much different um in the intervening year since so for example um we graduated 500 plus students this year right you know the year before yeah the history of Batavia yeah yeah I think that was like five I don't remember off the top my head was like 550 or something where's Joanne there's one she's hiding okay yeah so uh but the incoming kindergartners are about three 350 plus a little bit more than that so the reason isn't because people are leaving town um the reason is because the birth rate has declined that much or over a 12-year period I also have a
051question though uh do you think when we have to go to full-time kindergarten like I know we have only like there's only one school that offers that right now but we have to go to full-time was it next year and a couple do you think that do you think that will increase no because we offer a full day experience for any parent that wants it it's not with one kindergarten teacher but most of our kindergarten students are at our buildings all day long I think there's a total of maybe 12 families that choose the half day only option across all buildings in the district across all buildings yeah and Brad that's about 97 98 right of our kindergarten enrollment we're here all day with us uh and then Holly if you go back to the
052interfund transfers on the previous page so to make this budget work we're transferring money for various reasons yes and so one of one of our obligations uh in according to that the kind of the rules that I that program accounting manual that I was talking about earlier is that we have to pay all long-term debt out of our debt service fund and that Debt Service fund only gets Revenue based off of the bonds that were you know the community members pay taxes on so other debt like um Capital leases in this case the fifty six thousand dollars we lease our activity buses we have to move that money from the education fund Into The Debt Service fund to pay the bills for the cat for those leases but there isn't natural Revenue in that fund
053to pay those bills so we have to make a transfer um we're moving 1.8 million dollars from the education fund to capital projects to pay for capital projects the key the big projects that we're paying for this year are the improvements to Alice Gustafson School and JB Nelson school or their their secure vestibules and and also for the middle school for its kitchen renovations and it's taken us a couple years worth of saving essentially to be able to afford those projects because that doesn't fit natural the size of the car the cost doesn't fit naturally into our budget also we're transferring 144 000 from the O M fund operation and that by the way Raquel matches the amount of money that you were looking at for that payment that's that band of entertainment that's for
054that that's also a lease so that's long-term debt that we're paying for the same reasons why we're paying the activity buses and then the balance is uh you know three million dollars from o m to capital projects again for those projects so we kind of use the the capital projects fund as kind of like a piggy bank this is a lot of the capital projects that we need to undertake just far exceed our capacity to undertake in a given fiscal year so we we put money into that fund and then we spend money out of that fund as we can afford to take on those projects the other issue is is that sometimes we don't know exactly when we're going to have to pay those bills because most of those projects take place during the
055summer some of the bills show up in June before the fiscal year ends a lot of the bills show up after June and so it's really tricky in terms of timing to be able to know exactly when the bill is going to hit and in the old days especially when we only had a margin of 250 000 in our budget that bill hit a wrong time you know either you had a green number or a red number and it was really hard to tell which and so that's why one of the other reasons why we use the the capital projects fund for for that purpose and I'd be happy to answer any other questions that you might have any questions I have one sure I know it's not on here because I think we get
056reimbursed but the Esser fund um when does it we have to be I know it's in phases so is one phase coming like I think what phase two is coming to the end phase three is is is Con getting is within a year of the end it's nice or fund is certainly Esser I don't remember what it stands for we use the acronyms around here so much that you forget what they mean yeah um but it was Federal pandemic relief money and there were three phases the first phase was the immediate phase where we were dealing with lockdown and we were buying cleaning supplies and those sorts of things we spent that money in 2020 and we spent it very quickly because it wasn't very much then the second phase came and the memory served
057it was about 1.2 or 1.4 million or something on that magnitude and we spent that on capital projects particularly for HVAC yes at we had projects sorry high school and middle school yeah Came From Heaven it helped us and so then we could spend other money on other Capital Improvements but the reason why that worked well is those HVAC upgrades also helped with ventilation and moving air inside the buildings for that would reduce some of the the covet load and then the third phase came and that was um in excess of two million dollars and we're still in the process of spending that 15 of that has to had to go toward basically alleviating learning loss and Brad can tell you more about it and that's basically what we have left to spend is dealing
058with that some of our plans have changed over the years we have to finish spending all that money by September of 24. so we've got one more here but it's a kind of a money in Money out thing it's not like they just give us the cash we hold on to it we have to show them I was just I was just curious like so okay so we still have a year I didn't know if uh anything with our budget was something that we could put from the theater fund like if there was something like you just said the HVAC so I didn't know if there's anything else we are philosophy on the on the Esther funds has been we tried to alleviate alleviate the capital needs that we've been kind of putting off historically
059you know to get through the Great Recession stopped investing in capital projects because we we literally couldn't afford to do it and so we built that back over time and our money for those capital projects have gone a little further because we've had this after money so this I have one comment just so for me to summarize it and I want to thank Dr inglesik has that he spent all the time walking me through this document but my big takeaways for the community on this budget is one we're living within our means we're paying our bills we want to thank the local taxpayers because that's where the bulk of our Revenue comes from the bulk of our investment our budget is going into our people so we are investing in our people and while we
060are living within our means it is nice to know that we have a little wiggle room so if something unanticipated does happen we're not going to have to immediately borrow money so uh anything else you want to add on a big picture level it's the gist of it and there's a lot there to digest and if anybody has any questions or thoughts or things that come up after the fact I actually enjoy talking about this and so I'm happy to sit down with you and walk you through it whether it's a board member or a Community member anybody uh you know we want to make I gotta go Tony you want to be gone yeah he means it I enjoy it things [Laughter] all right my only question on it just to kind of be
061clear about the capital projects plans those are anticipated transfers they're not for some unforeseen conditions or anything else you can kind of quote unquote Park the money in the education fund or in the O M fund to be able to move over to capital projects at some point for expenditures is that correct this is what we can afford to move and so one thing I should add is that historically all of our transfers to capital projects have been from o m right this is the first time that we're drawing some of that money from the education fund and the reason being is because we don't have any more cash left in the O M fund to get to the level that we need to get to for to to get all the money that we
062need into the capital project pretty significant and require and necessary projects yeah well you know yeah and so like what we we've been we've increased what we're putting toward this because of the magnitude of some of the work that we have to undertake for example like AGS and jbn yeah and there just isn't enough cash in the you know on the o m fund to fund all of it this year okay a little I have a question but it's not a little bit but we have an update on the capital project was that everything get completed like I know last one we had pictures but we don't have any pictures yeah we were talking about doing an update about that and um what we'd like to do is we'd like you to see it because
063it's it's pretty cool um and so we're trying to figure out how we can make that happen uh there's odds and ends of course uh that need to be taken care of as typical punch list items and like flashing around some of the in the awnings outside the door is it looks a little funny when you look at it right now but it'll be taken care of here in the next week or two but nothing that would preclude us from using the building the other example would be like the signs that are in place the monument signs don't actually have the name of the school on them yet but they will that's great so these are the kinds of things that are happening now but nothing that precludes us from using the space but um
064it's really nice to have I mean it's just it feels better and it makes more sense it's nice to have spaces that just fit kind of our needs are going to have modern needs for schools it's kind of it's kind of one of those things like if you don't know how bad it is until you you see how it really could work well and so it's it's very it's very refreshing we're very pleased with how things turned out we've got some more work to do though are we talking about doing board that we'll figure out something but it's years ago repent especially after major construction or something like that would take the activity bus and we'd all go see the high school and what they've done over there and then go to the middle school
065and go to AGS and just travel around all the schools and it was very difficult burdensome to some of the principles I think sometimes and but it was really informative for us to see like when they had major construction and get to see all at once you know so hopefully something like that can be worked out Mark Anderson was an excellent driver as well yes sir it's always better do we have to go on that bus yes you have to does it have air conditioning it does it does yes what'd you say it was difficult getting everywhere well it is like during the day and then you have to deal with our day on the bus there's always one part of the thing would be that that's under official business of the board so we
066would so they know where the board will be at roughly approximate times so that if public wanted to participate they have a right to do that so I think the last one was the one right before I became appointed to the board and I wasn't appointed yet they're like oh we're doing this do you want to come along as a member of the public so I did but I don't think I got to write on the activity bus so I'm a little bummed that I'm not sure I knew there was one but even we like had lunch at the high school we were hitting the projects that that you could trip okay so is there anybody from the public that would wish to address the board hearing none and there'd be at least one it's
067one it's like silence for not carrying take it for you did a good job Tony will do all right thank you any thing we need to do as far as that meeting or the closing or doing nothing right okay historically we've done you know like the where the board opens the meeting and the board closes yeah yeah as long as we give folks an opportunity to address the board we're okay opportunity had all right um staff and board comments Administration comments is there anything you'd like to share for the administration sure um so tonight Mark's actually at the conclusion of our board meeting tonight we'll mark my 53rd day on the job and it's one to provide the board a few updates um beginning with you know when I started on July 1st there were
068some large overall objectives I wanted to make sure the first uh several months were something I was going to see through as your new superintendent so after 53 days I was reviewing this and and it looks like that road map of goals is being completed or on the path to towards completion one of them being initially us as a board and superintendent team we were able to get together and do some of our mandatory training requirements but also be able to establish some ideas as to how we'd like to work together as a team and as teammates to support each other which I also want to say thank you to everybody who continues to want to reach out and talk and ask questions I continue to encourage that um want to make sure you as
069a board are always informed of everything that we're doing in this district for our students uh secondly one of the big ideas and Todd we're like becoming this great Partnership of speakers here who did this to me on Monday last week but as Todd has alluded to already about a little bit about trust um one of the things that we also talked about during my course of my hiring and now as I've been through the district for almost two months is the idea of making sure that we as a district continue to build on the trust we have with our community and our stakeholders both inside the district and outside of our district and so through this time it's been great I've been able to meet with groups of students Bea leadership and Bea members
070Vespa leadership investment members our entire Administration which we also had time to work together at a retreat during July and get ready to launch the the school year in August officials from the city and the mayor's office police leader our police chief our fire chief the Chamber of Commerce leadership our library leaders Park District leaders beefy chief Japan United Way the Batavia Ministerial Association and the Batavia Women's Club I am probably leaving some other groups out there the stakeholders that we've met and connected with and we're we're starting to round out the rest that we need to make sure we're connected to but it goes back to some of the questions I've been asked when people say how's your transition and one of the things like you you have probably heard me say is it's
071been an amazing early Journey there's so much support for this school district it is so clear from inside our organization and outside of our organization people love and care about our district and our students and so for me again one of those things as we continue to progress I am just really thrilled and excited about Holly's Been instrumental in helping me make sure that I'm getting connected to the right people and arranging that along with Cindy so I want to give them Kudos and and gratitude for that and also this has been an opportunity for me to continue to learn and understand our why as a district why we are here as Educators what we value and care about when we do our teaching and learning with our students and so that's that's something that
072is not done yet that is a continuing process throughout the course of this year but it's one that's definitely been on its I'm going to use Tony's work Glide path um so as alluded to start we started the school school year last week we welcomed staff Monday and then brought students in on Wednesday it was a super exciting time I was kind of getting sick of sitting in the office and and just looking at our colleagues and I think we wanted to see that energy and feel right about why we're here and that definitely uh hit the soul on Wednesday seeing all of our kids seeing some criers separating from moms and dads and I think some of the parents were also crying in their cars uh when I was walking to the next building
073truck getting my car to get to the next building I did notice someone crying and I checked on her and she was like laughing because like caught her crying uh that was sweet um but it's just been a phenomenal opportunity to see how we open schools the collaboration that's been going on and so again coming back to the idea of trust and as Todd's alluded to we have uh great work ahead of us and I'm looking forward to that opportunity a special thanks as we went through opening the schools to our building and operations teams and our technology department as well they were instrumental as you can all imagine leading into the week everything just gets ramped up even more it's already busy but it gets even more ramped up you know our o m
074teams are trying to prepare the building openings while you know some of the delays that might have happened over the summer were out of their hands because of Supply short you know late delivery on supplies or certain things that the construction groups couldn't get to until they received the right stuff our teams responded very quickly and and proactively in assisting everybody to get their rooms ready get the buildings ready and open they look phenomenal from a technology standpoint just to give you an idea just on opening week alone our Tech Team handled over 460 tickets opened and closed on one week on that team while they were also still hustling to finish pulling all the wires in our buildings and setting up Chromebooks and opening up email accounts we had over 71 new staff accounts
075opened up since July and you know so there's a lot of data that I've talked to Dave about and I just found it to be really impressive and knowing what Mark's been doing and and hearing our updates about the district just really impressive last thing uh the corn boil was an amazing opportunity to see our community in action coming together at the high school but representing not just current parents but I mean there were community members there I thought that was an amazing event got a chance to hang out with some of you and that was awesome and just looking forward to a great year one Speaking of the great year final comment is board we'll need to we'll be talking a little bit about our April regular board meeting there was a late summer
076legislative change that will require us to move our regular board meeting up and have it conducted prior to April 15th and that is a statutory regulation due to the timing of when we handle our sb7 reduction of force board meeting every year the annual meeting that happens so we can we don't need to make that decision tonight but I'm just throwing that out there so you're aware so two proposals I'll throw out there could be one of the two first Tuesdays before April 15th other than that it's been awesome thank you for all for your support and that's all I got all right any board comments anyone like to start at that end uh you look like you're chopping at the bit Erin so no I'm gonna wait my turn Sue Kelly um I just
077I'm just gonna talk about flag day but Todd did such an awesome job I've been working on that with that committee for over seven years now to help build that Monument so I would encourage anyone who's around on October 1st to join us downtown to celebrate the opening of The Monument um Flag Day Monument I don't know that flagday monument.com is the website and I believe later on this week they will be having a cool down tab where you can donate 17.77 which is the year that the Flag Day was originated and they're trying to get people to donate in the name of the school that you went to or you're affiliated with so if my kids went to AGS I could donate 17.79 77 cents to Aid in the name of AGS kid's good
078Hoover what wherever so I would encourage you maybe to do that and it will go towards purchasing a brick in the name of AGS and if you'd like to purchase a family brick with your name on it and I got to see mine last night it was very exciting purchased it seven years ago finally got to see it so might enjoy that also I was very excited last week on the first day of school I got to go to Batavia High School first thing in the morning so I saw seniors freshmen you can always tell the difference then I went over to storm met some students and parents over there then I joined Tom over at Louise White it's not my school that I'm a liaison to but I have a close connection I think
079I've gone over there so many years to see Dr skomer and all the kids ring the bell it is a wonderful tradition and it was Dr scomer's last first year so I wanted to be there for him when he did that and it was just a wonderful experience and so I just I just had a great time so hope everybody has a great year and thank you Tony doing a great job because I do remember those years and we had to borrow all that money enjoy the fact that you don't have to be on the board when we're borrowing all that money so thank you Craig everything to add to you I'm sorry I'm so sorry I think we overlooked many updates yeah I'll get that I'll add that right after we get down with
080Poconos well I would have updated if I had anything are we updating during this time I'll go back around for a couple of years I don't have anything to add on top of you guys that's amazing congratulations to getting started this year and it sounds like it's been a really energetic and positive start I hope I heard a lot about opening day I was able to go but the staff like that I heard from were just like oh we're just so excited and I mean it's really cool to hear I think staff Community just everyone all together just excited for what we have in store for this year and um just to pick you up back off your gratitude for everyone who got us through the first week and all the hard work that's Lane
081had so just looking forward to the year and working together but yeah thanks thank you uh I want to thank first of all everyone who attended the meeting tonight um or who emailed or just reaches out to us when we're out in the community again I say it every meeting but it's very important it's vital to the work we do so I appreciate that um I do want to welcome all our new teachers I was at the kickoff on staff and I think we had 38 new teachers which is a big number for us so we're excited about that we're excited to see a lot of familiar faces and of course I want to welcome all the students back to instruction I always kind of amazingly the energy the anxiety maybe on that first day
082and then after about three or four days everybody gets in a Groove and we're off rolling so that's exciting I do want to recognize two people I won't mention well we'll mention one um at that kickoff for the staff there was two students that spoke one from representing Rotolo one from the high school one was Zara who's one of our student ambassadors and I just had to say that you know our kids are just so impressive I mean I'm 50 and I would have been nervous giving that presentation and they did a knocked it out of the park so you know I'm just constantly amazed at what our kids do I also want to say that you know I attended a lot of events as a kickoff and what's really exciting is that students are
083the focus of everything we're doing and I'm just really excited about what we're going to be able to accomplish this year and then I'm going to be a little bit of a broken record but again getting to opening day and having it go smoothly is a lot of work and so I want to thank Holly for getting the word out and I also want to thank three people specifically director of operations Mark Anderson facility manager Rob Schmidt and director of Information Services David Thirlby they were grinding I mean I saw Mark Anderson making sure the buses were running on time that first or second day so outstanding work on their part and then finally I just want to compliment the superintendent Kim I mean you listed off about 20 organizations you met with I mean
084I swear to God I've bumped into probably four times last week I think one time I got coffee or and you made it for me you were there you're so present in the community so but that's what we need to do I mean as we said earlier trust is based off relationships and you're doing that work and I I know that you have kids that are also starting school and so you're putting in the hours I know that's time away from your family yeah and it's appreciated and recognized so thank you for that um I just want to say to welcome back to all the kids administrators uh teachers support staff um yeah and just thanks to everyone who made that first day goes smoothly as possible in the whole first week and it's my
085hope that we just have a great healthy and happy and productive school year Rob um as everyone else welcome back to the teachers students and parents as well wish everyone a very successful school year I had the opportunity to go to AGS on Wednesday for their opening day and I'm going to use the word I think I've heard a couple times already but it was very energizing to be there on that first day seeing the kids and being a few years removed from having kids in elementary school setting it's just something so pure about seeing those kids arrive at School especially those that are there for the first time and getting ready for instruction I shout out to principal Kristen Stevens at AGS just did an awesome job handling that day and some of the
086issues that came up even prior to Wednesday I went the Friday before and she gave me a tour of the school and showed me all the improvements you know Tony was mentioning some of them at AGS and it's just amazing and I'll continue to beat the drum that we need to have those improvements at all our schools it can't just be at AGS and JD Nelson we need to continue trying to come up with a plan to work towards making our schools more secure more safe and a Better Learning environment for for the students RJ um I was I was at you know my daughter is in sixth grade so I was very jealous of my daughter when we went to the move-in day at uh at Rotolo and I saw Tom that I think
087I met your kids right there did I meet your children no no I was just I was helping others what am I thinking I was oh maybe you were talking to someone else's kids um I swear about your children somewhere no um but it was it was amazing you know we all talk about it we know how great the school system is but I don't know if my wife and I were more nervous than my daughter possibly and when we couldn't get her Locker Unlocked it was just it was crazy and there's three or four other kids are all like I'll help you I'll help you and it did turn out it was just the wrong combination but there was so many people that were willing to help just with such a such a simple
088task but my daughter told me that the first day of school she was helping other kids open up their lockers and she gets you know so she was enjoying it and we we went through that first day of her leaving on the bus and my wife and I were hiding behind a bush down there about a block away she saw us she was fine with it but it's it's so you know it's so emotional and makes you so nervous and I think you all I know you're all involved in just every little thing that makes it that much better so um it was really a proud day for me to be part of the district so thank you all to everyone that's involved with making it happen thank you for putting all the effort you've
089been putting in lately as well that's it saved my comment to the end but let's do the committee updates and since you can't just say one thing yeah I want to thank everybody for thinking but I want to make it really clear I have amazing teammates that allow me to do that everything that the people in this building at mfac are doing is what allows me to get out there and do that so I want to say thank you to my teammates that are here in this room and then the teammates that are not here tonight but the principals the Russell Administration it doesn't happen without them no and since RJ pointed out you get to start committee update so I hope you have one I have no committee I want to hear some though
090Rob do you have one I do not have one but I have a question so um I have not heard about any of my committee's meetings is is that they go a little something communicated through an email yeah you get an invite soon okay it'll happen and before I jump does anybody have a committee update um I don't I I wasn't part of it but plaque did me um I wasn't able to go they had to read Retreat um and August 3rd so I'm just going off of their agenda but it sounds like they really kind of head on from their April meeting um which focused on like how do we measure the impact on student learning and discussions around that again I can't really speak to it because I wasn't there but um I
091mean it based on this and they talked about kind of went over their reflection and review from September of 2022 the um uh my gosh you know when the teacher uh the uh Institute thank you thank you Institute day so they kind of reflected on um what was the feedback and again I can't speak to what the content of it of it is but that's what I got okay so I I will be there in September so I'll have a better update okay I I did have a question Danielle so the equity meeting the Equity Group didn't have a chance to meet yet I need not to my knowledge and I plan on reaching out that's the only reason I even brought up the committee updates I was hoping there's gonna be something that could
092actually I'll let you know as soon as and there will be there will be committee invitations and updates as as you've heard Todd and I have some of those major committees that we're working on together making sure we have the right people there and get their representation okay Sue do you have anything no no I did not I do not have a committee update the people that I work with on the capitol projects committee were very very busy making sure that schools opened and kids showed up and everything else so I I fully understand why we did not my only comments are this is the first year of many many years where I did not have a kid going to Batavia school district and so I appreciate Tom and Holly helping me record a little
093bit of a message for the teachers I hoped it looked slightly better than I thought I left it so um and that um I I'm kind of beginning to realize this particularly with my youngest one how well we do to kind of prepare them for school and then as a reminder to parents that sometimes when your children leave they're better than you thought they were and to tell the teachers that and the staff and everybody that supports them that they did a great job Riley um is doing an amazing social emotional learning experience to manage my wife's and mine's emotional Behavior so he's doing a fantastic camp counselor report every couple hours as he goes to classes so I appreciate the teachers and everybody else for helping them understand that that is very helpful so
094um and with that just finally I know the immense amount of work because in my profession I have been working um kind of non-stop with schools that are beginning to open and the custodians and the building foreman and people like Mark and superintendents and teachers and all the effort that goes in that I've done I see it firsthand and the tension and the um and The Angst about that and then somehow miracles happen and the first day is amazing so I hope it was for everybody else and look forward to a great year thank you all right so today we will be adjourning to a closed session um for the following reasons you can buckle up I got a lot to read um the the closed session is for the appointment employment compensation discipline performance
095or dismissal of specific employees specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a parked recreational educational setting or specific volunteers of a public body or legal counsel for the public body including hearing testimony on a complaint Lodge against an employee a specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park recreational or educational setting or a volunteer or public body or against legal counsel for public body to determine the validity that's the first period by the way however a meeting to consider the increase of compensation of a specific employee in a public body is subject to the local government wage increase transparency act it may not be closed and shall be open to the public and posted and held in accordance with this act five ilcs 120 2c1 and for security procedures School building
096safety security and the use of personnel and equipment to respond to an actual a threatened or a reasonably potential danger to the safety in employees student staff and the public body pursuant to 5iilcs 122c8 so um do I hear a motion to go and oh did I get that oh yeah yeah here a motion to move into close session so move motioned by Sue second by Raquel all in favor aye uh post so moved we will be going into closed session I don't believe we've got any actions after this meeting so you can stay around if you want but you won't be watching anything entertaining when we get back thank you everybody