Superintendent Dr. Brian Wegley's December 12, 2019 Board Brief

Superintendent Dr. Brian Wegley's December 12, 2019 Board Brief

 

Our meeting included a moment of silence, reflecting on the sad news regarding Matthew and Berend Hollander and their family. They are among those tragically lost during the recent New Zealand volcano eruption. 

Matthew attended Wescott from 2011 until 2015 (Kindergarten through third grade), and Berend attended Wescott and Maple from 2008 until 2015 (Kindergarten through sixth grade). Their mom, Barbara, was from the north shore of Chicago. Their dad, Martin, was from New Zealand. When they left Northbrook, they relocated to Sydney, Australia.

Our staff who knew the Hollander family described them as lovely people and were sad to see them leave our district. Both energetic students were beloved by their teachers. Their parents were involved as classroom parents and known as caring people.

I know that you will join our Board of Education as we keep all of those impacted by this tragic event in our thoughts. It is a small world and every day is a gift!

Our meeting also included the following relevant items:

Special Recognitions

We celebrated our Character Counts! Contest Winners, including Sophie Feng-Willowbrook, Atticus Kim-Wescott, Zachary Karchmar-Wescott, Adriana Given-Willowbrook, Claire Booker-Willowbrook, Julie Booker-Willowbrook, Naomi Chiang-Willowbrook, Marisa Chi-Maple, and Josiah Cho-Maple.

We also honored our Maple School 2019-20 Student Council Board members, including Ethan Pollack, Ethan Chiang, Hanning Zhu, Olivia Thursby, Victoria Capital, David Kang, and Max Wadhwa.

Thank you to Mrs. Becky Fliegel, Mrs. Erin Sommer, and Mrs. Sonia Rizki, who shared a $52,100 Maple PTO Playground donation and to Dr. Carter, who presented a $7,500 donation from last year’s Lew Blond Run to also support this effort. These gifts will help us get Maple’s all-ability middle school playground in place by next fall!

2019 Tax Levy Approved

After a hearing was held, the Board approved an estimated tax levy as part of the annual levy process. The estimated 2019 levy was approved at $25,081,500 for capped funds. As a general reminder, districts under the tax cap can raise their property tax collection by the inflationary factor of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus any new growth/construction not previous on the local tax rolls. The annual levy (what is requested) is routinely set artificially high at 10%. Even though the CPI factor of 1.9% is known, the new growth/construction in a district is not known. Once new growth/construction is determined in the spring, the actual 2019 extension (what is received) will be finalized and will likely be between 2.5 and 3.3% (1.9% for CPI plus between a 0.6 to 1.4% to capture new construction) higher than the 2018 extension. 

I thanked Mr. Falk for his work on the levy and emphasized that property taxes generate over 90%. With our State funding essentially frozen over the past decade, this slight increase in property tax is our primary vehicle for keeping up with inflation while maintaining our quality programming.

First Reading of New & Revised Board Policies

District 30 revises Board Policies twice a year. Revisions and additions occur due to new legislation and the need to ensure that our policies support and align with our practices. We completed the first reading of the following Board Policies that are being revised: 

230: Vacancies on the School Board - Filling Vacancies; 240 BOARD MEMBER CONFLICT OF INTEREST; 243 SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS - Ethics and Gift Ban; 245 BOARD OFFICERS - Qualifications, Term, and Duties of Board Officers; 245.01 BOARD OFFICERS - Duties of The President; 245.02 BOARD OFFICERS - Duties of The Vice-President; 245.03 BOARD OFFICERS - Duties of The Secretary; 270.10 SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS - School Board Meeting Procedure; 410 Payment Procedures; New Policy: 410.02 Identity Protection; 410.08 Rental of Facility; 420.03 Accounting and Audits; 500.06 GENERAL PERSONNEL - Abused and Neglected Child Reporting; New Policy: 500.07 GENERAL PERSONNEL - Drug and Alcohol-Free Workplace; E-Cigarette, Tobacco, and Cannabis Prohibition; 500.08 GENERAL PERSONNEL - Equal Employment Opportunity and Minority Recruitment; 500.10 GENERAL PERSONNEL - Workplace Harassment Prohibited; 500.65 GENERAL PERSONNEL - Employee Ethics; Conduct; and Conflict of Interest; 520.03 PROFESSIONAL PERSONNEL - Staff Development; New Policy: 615 Home and Hospital Instruction; 720.14 STUDENT WELFARE - Administering Medicines to Students; 720.23 STUDENT WELFARE - Harassment of Students Prohibited; 720.24: STUDENT WELFARE - Prevention of and Response to Bullying; 720.29: STUDENT WELFARE - Suicide and Depression Awareness and Prevention; New Policy: 820 Community Use of School Facilities.

IASB-IASA-IASBO Joint Annual Conference

The Board and I reflected on this valuable conference attended by our Board of Education. This year’s conference included a Keynote by Matt Mayberry on the power of goal setting. He encouraged participants to define at least two leadership goals and one health goal, followed by the 25 to 50 required steps to achieve those goals. He also reminded us of the “R-Factor” - the fact that Event + Response yields Outcome. Events are often out of our control, especially challenging ones. How we respond is entirely within our control. Successful people control the “R-Factor.” Board members reviewed several sessions they attended and thanked Mrs. Artz for voting on proposed IASB resolutions.

Board Reports

Mrs. Blonder reported that the most recent Character Counts meeting included celebrating a District 31 representative joining the committee and that the Village of Glenview’s website contains resources to support the upcoming census that will be shared by local district communication directors. Mrs. Artz presented an update on NSSED’s last meeting that included a summary of efforts to update their billing model and an inspiring program evolving at Wagner Farm. 

As we head into the last week of school in District 30 in 2019, I wish everyone a fantastic Holiday Season and a Happy New Year! I look forward to seeing everyone at next week’s District 30 Winter Sing at Maple!

Our next Board Meeting will be on January 9, 2020. All are welcome!

Have a great weekend!