UPDATE: The BenGil Post originally reported that a non-certificated employee employed by CUSD #7 in the elementary school library services will be laid off. After further discussions with Supt. Joe Tieman, that individual will not be laid off despite the eliminated position. “We haven’t laid off a single person at this point,” Tieman told The BenGil Post on Thursday. “We are just going to save $32,000 by eliminating that position. That person filling that position still has a job with the district.”

With upward of 40 teachers and non-certificated employees crowding into the room, the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education was forced to move its regular meeting Monday night from the district office to the High School/Middle School cafeteria across the street to accommodate the crowd. Once the meeting was called to order in the new venue, the board quickly took action to unanimously approve the rehiring of all tenured and non-tenured teachers for the 2016-17 school year ending weeks of speculation about whether or not teaching positions would be cut in order to achieve $700,000 in spending cuts for the coming school year.

When the teaching staff dodged the budget cutting axe, Supt. Joe Tieman warned that non-certificated staff–which includes clerical workers, custodians and other non-instructional positions–could be vulnerable to lay-offs as district officials continue to look for ways to curb deficit spending in the coming year.

In December the board set a goal of cutting $700,000 in expenditures after auditors cited the district for deficit spending over the past few years, which could result in the district being placed on the State Board of Education’s “financial warning” list. In February, Tieman and the board outlined $404,400 in budgetary cuts that did not involve cutting personnel but left another $300,000 in cuts to be found elsewhere. During Monday night’s meeting of the board, Tieman outlined another $226,100 in expenditure reductions that the board has agreed to support (including a $100,000 transfer from the Working Cash Fund to the Education Fund). Those cuts would bring total of anticipated cuts to $630,500–about $70,000 in short of the goal.

Tieman said any personnel cuts needed to reach the $700,000 goal would affect non-certificated personnel only. Teaching positions are off the table at this point because state law requires certificated personnel to be notified of any Reduction In Force (RIF) at least 45 days before the end of the school year–meaning Monday night’s meeting was the last opportunity the board had to legally RIF teaching staff. Non-certificated personnel require only a 30-day notice before being laid off, making them the only staff members vulnerable to termination at this point.

That development did not sit well with veteran school custodian John Balzraine who agreed to an early retirement with an eye toward protecting the jobs of other custodians with fewer years of service.

“There were no teachers laid off, and I’m glad of that,” Balzraine said, adding that he is now concerned about other non-certificated possibly losing their jobs. He pointed out that the district currently spends $190,000 on athletic programs that generate revenues of only about $10,000. “I love sports, but these jobs are more important than sports. These people depend on their jobs.”

Tieman responded that lay-offs among non-certificated staff are not certain, but “there is always a potential to lay off employees on the basis of state funding.” Final state aid payments–referred to as Payments 21 and 22–are expected in June before the close of the fiscal year. Some years the state has deferred Payment 22 until the start of the following fiscal year, according to Tieman, which would negatively affect CUSD 7’s budget and possibly result in lay-offs. In addition, Tieman said lay-offs could result if the state further reduces the pro-rated level of state funding. The state aid formula requires payments to schools in the amount of $6,119 per student, but in recent years the state has “pro-rated” those payments. This year, for example, the state is paying only 86 percent of the statutory funding level. Limitations on state funding have been especially critical for CUSD 7 because the district relies on state funds for about 75 percent of its annual budget. Tieman reported earlier this year that the reductions in state aid have cost the district about $3 million in lost revenue over the past five years.

Addressing Balzraine’s concerns and questions posed by resident Don Rauzi about athletic expenditures, Tieman noted that the board was cutting the number of contests played by each sport and raising admission prices to help reduce deficit spending. If state funding becomes tighter, he said, the board could revisit the issue and make more substantive adjustments to save money.

“Come July or December, we could be making significant cuts in sports as well,” he said.

While lay-offs of non-certificated personnel are not imminent, Tieman said he spoke with each member of the non-certificated staff to advise them that they could find themselves without a job “because I don’t want to sugarcoat anything.”

The additional cuts Tieman outlined Monday night are broken down into three phases, with previously announced cuts identified as Phase I.

Phase II cuts total $73,100, and includes $35,000 in projected new revenue generated by partially privatizing the district’s pre-kindergarten program for families that can afford to pay to enroll their children. The pre-kindergarten program will continue to offer four sections of about 20 students per section. Phase II also anticipates saving $3,050 by eliminating two contests, one home game and one away game, for each sport the district offers, and generating $3,050 by increasing admission fees for home contests. Tieman said Phase II also includes a savings of $32,000 from eliminating one non-certificated position from elementary school library services. Tieman said he was not at liberty to name the staff member who is employed in that position, pending formal notification of that employee.

Later in the meeting, the board took formal action to unanimously approve cutting two contests from each of the sports programs offered by the school district. Also unanimously approved was a measure to raise the cost of family passes for home sporting events from $60 to $75 per year, raise the cost of senior citizen passes from $15 to $20.

“That’s still a great price to attend all those events,” Tieman said.

Board members also unanimously approved raising regular admission prices for home games from $2 to $3 for students, and $3 to $4 for adults. Tieman said the new prices are in line with admission prices charged by other school districts in the area.

Phase III expenditure reductions are expected to total $53,000 by cutting another $25,000 in expenditures for supplies and contractual services and reallocating Title I grant funds for a savings of $28,000. The reallocation involves using paraprofessionals for Title I programs in lieu of certificated personnel. That adjustment will allow the district to pay retirement benefits for those employees into the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund rather than the Teachers Retirement System, reducing the district’s obligation from about 38 percent of the employee’s salary to about 10 percent.

The option for transferring $100,000 from Working Cash to the Education Fund is a last resort, according to Tieman.

“We won’t do that unless we absolutely have to,” he said, noting that the Working Cash Fund currently has a balance of about $400,000, but would not be able to survive repeated hits from year to year since the district levies only about $30,000 per year for the fund.

Reading from a prepared statement at the conclusion of his presentation, Tieman said reducing the deficit by a total of $700,000 remains a goal of the board and the administrative team.

“The Deficit Reduction Plan to date is a result of a direction by the board to me in late summer to reduce the deficit without RIFing certificated teachers if possible,” Tieman said. “Through a variety of meetings and too many plans to count, the district has arrived at the plan presented tonight. The commitment of this Board of Education and the Administrative Team was to make student programming a priority and to insure our facilities were maintained in an efficient manner.” He extended his thanks to the board and to the three building principals for their work and support in developing the plan.

He also thanked area voters, and teachers and community members, who supported passage of the School Facilities Sales Tax during the Mar. 15 primary election. Passage of the measure, he said, enabled the board to commit to using $100,000 from Working Cash to help reach the deficit reduction goal. “That would not have happened without that tax,” he said. The tax is expected to generate about $370,000 annually in revenue earmarked for capital expenditures. While that money can be spent only on facilities, the additional revenue frees up some funds to be shifted for other purposes.

Michelle Smith, president of Macoupin County Federation of Teachers Local 528, also thanked the board for maintaining communications with the union and working with union representatives while crafting the deficit reduction plan.

DISTRICT SECRETARY’S RETIREMENT ACCEPTED

Also in the area of personnel, the board accepted “with regret” the retirement of veteran district secretary Kathy McDaniel, effective Sept. 1. When she retires, McDaniel will have served as district secretary for 33 years under 11 different superintendents.

Later in the meeting, Tieman praised McDaniel and her decision to retire early.

“Her preference was to retire a year from now,” Tieman said. “She told me, ‘I don’t want to retire now but I will to save someone else’s job.” The first round of cuts announced in February included at least one clerical position, and McDaniel agreed to retire early to protect the jobs of clerical workers with fewer years of service. Her vacated position will not be filled and her salary is part of the $404,000 in cost reductions announced earlier this year.

“She has taken care of me and she’s taken care of my kids,” Tieman said. “She’s been a better friend as much as she has been an employee.”

Tieman also took time to recognize Balzraine, who also chose to retire earlier than expected to protect the jobs of junior custodians.

PERSONNEL

Rehiring certificated teaching staff came early in the meeting and involved two separate actions.

On a motion by Peyton Bernot, seconded by Dave Griffel, the board first voted unanimously to re-employ all tenured teachers for 2016-17. The list of tenured teachers subject to the motion include 22 at the high school level, 10 in the middle school and 36 elementary teachers.

A follow-up motion to rehire non-tenured teachers also was approved by a unanimous vote. Those teachers include three third-year teachers at the elementary level, one fourth-year middle school teacher, and two third-year and one second-year teachers at the high school level.

In other personnel action, the board voted unanimously to rehire and offer tenure to fifth-year special education teacher Rachelle Prough. With Weye Schmidt abstaining from the vote, the board also agreed to rehire and offer tenure to fifth-year elementary teacher Nancy Schmidt.

Board members unanimously voted to hire Jennifer Brown to teach driver’s education and consumer education during the school district’s summer school program this year. Penny Feeley and Janice Hammann were hired as food service employees for the summer program.

On a motion by Billy Carter, seconded by Bernot, the board voted unanimously to appoint Taylor Monke of Gillespie as a volunteer high school softball coach for the 2016-17 school year, pending certification and a background check.

FOOTBALL FIELD/GIRLS SOCCER

Tieman reported to the board that members of the girls soccer team originally had planned to address the board but apparently backed-out after seeing the number of teachers and staff members attending Monday night’s meeting. Team members wanted to voice their concerns about being unable to play home games on the Gillespie High School football field this season because of rehabilitation work planned for the field.

Because of the renovation work, the team will play this season’s home games at the Little Dog soccer fields, Tieman said. Those fields have been subject to flooding and less than optimal playing conditions in the past, which is why the team had been playing on the high school football field.

“I assured them the work will be completed and they will be back playing on the football field in spring of 2017,” Tieman reported.

MUSIC STUDENTS TRIP

Vocational Agriculture teacher Rick Spencer, who accompanied music students on a trip to Florida last week, reported to the board that the students were well behaved and respectful throughout the trip. Spencer, who traveled with the group as a parent of one of the students, praised chorus teacher Angela Brink and band instructor Zach Simon for their work in organizing the coordinating the trip, which included workshops and performance opportunities at Disney World.

“I wanted the school board and staff to know we had a great trip,” he said.

He also praised Cavallo Bus Lines for its handling of a break-down on the return trip that delayed students’ arrival back in Gillespie.

“Their guys (Cavallo’s) were great,” he said. He described the incident as an unavoidable inconvenience that Cavallo quickly handled, and noted that students did not become disgruntled during the delay.

“I’ve traveled on Cavallo buses for conventions and things for 30 years and never had a breakdown,” Spencer said. “This was just one of those things that happens.”

Tieman also commented that as superintendent he always worries about students when they are on a road trip of any kind and having people like Brink and Simons in charge helped put his mind “at ease” while the students were gone.

OTHER ACTION

In other action, the board:

• Renewed membership in the Illinois High School Association for 2016-17. IHSA governs high school sports programs statewide. The membership is free of charge to participating school districts.
• Approved language and design for a plaque to be installed at BenGil Elementary School commemorating the building’s construction.
• Authorized this year’s Senior Class Trip–a day trip to Meramec Caverns State Park near Stanton, Mo., on April 4.
• Placed on first reading a number of draft policies regarding graduation requirements, student conduct, expulsion procedures and the district’s programs for gifted students.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

There are plenty of ways to keep up on BenGil news:

Sign up for our weekly email newsletter

Follow us on Twitter for the fastest breaking news updates and score updates

Like us on Facebook for a slightly different take

Comments

comments