BOARD HIGHLIGHTS for September 13, 2011
Board of Education Regular Meeting

Kindergarten Report
Seventeen parents spoke to the Board of Education about their concerns with the programming changes to the Half Day and the After School Enrichment Kindergarten classes.

Chief Academic Officer Newkirk addressed the Board on the options for kindergarten programming. He stated that the district is in the 3rd year of budget cuts. Using the BEPR process, the administration decided last spring to eliminate Elementary Spanish. This caused an adjustment to the schedule of the “specials” teachers, art, music, and P.E., at the kindergarten level.

On August 23rd, the Board of Education directed the administration to provide additional information on two of the five alternatives to the current kindergarten program. Mr. Newkirk sought input from the elementary principals and the district’s kindergarten teachers.

He reviewed the alternatives to the current program, their impact on the budget, core instruction and schedule. After interviewing teachers and principals the consensus was that the current model works best for educating students. It also increases the core instruction time from 690 to 720 minutes. Kindergarten classroom teachers are trained to integrate music, art, and P. E. into the curriculum.

Mr. Newkirk stated, “The alternatives keep multiplying.” Any changes to the schedule have a ripple effect that disrupts intervention time, speech and language pull-outs, etc. and disrupts student’s routines. Any change to the length of the school day will affect transportation and possibly families’ schedules.

Board Members discussed their thoughts on the various alternatives. After hearing the recommendation of the administration and the kindergarten teachers they voted to continue the present schedule and to make a decision on the kindergarten program by November 15th to alleviate any communication problems for next year.

Budget
Assistant Superintendent Monn presented the final draft of the Fiscal Year 2011-2012 Budget, which ends on June 30, 2012. He outlined a couple of changes to the Education Fund and the Capital Projects Fund. This leaves an Operating Revenue Budget of $64,069,426.94 and Operating Expenses of $66,542,946.35, creating an Operation Deficit of ($2,473,519). He noted that the district still has a prudent fund balance of approximately $16 million, and will not have to file a report with the State Board of Education. Total revenues are $73,645,448.43 and total expenditures are $80,657,743.54. This leaves a deficit of ($7,012,295.11). Board Members approved the budget as presented.

In the Consent Agenda the Board Approved the Following:

 Personnel
Interim Promotion Article# 5:27
Thomas Ridenour

 Approval to accept the gift of golf balls to Batavia High School from Tom Nealis, a Batavia resident.

 Approval of the Application for Recognition of Schools through the Illinois Web Application Security System.

The Board of Education adjourned to Closed Session at 9:24 p.m. to hear information on Personnel and Collective Bargaining. They returned to Open Session at 10:55 p.m. and adjourned.

SUMMARY OF THE BATAVIA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT 101
BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING

Prepared by JoAnne Walker
Administrative Assistant