ACROSS THE BOARD
August 2021 Committee Meetings
Learning & Teaching Committee - August 16, 2021
Equity Audit Proposals
In response to the School Board asking the Administration to solicit proposals from organizations that conduct equity audits, Dr. Igoe introduced three companies that submitted proposals for consideration by the School Board and Administration.
The Integrated Comprehensive Systems for Equity (ICS)
Presenters: Dr. Colleen Capper, Dr. Elise Frattura, and Nasif Rogers. Both Dr. Capper and Dr. Frattura are former teachers and administrators. ICS has partnered with school districts across the country. Highlights of the presentation include:
They provide professional development for leadership teams
Focus on systems of change to increase the achievement of all students
Goal is to develop the district's internal collective capacity
Conduct focus interviews with stakeholder groups and individuals - students, staff members, parents, community members, and school board members
Identify patterns and themes and use them to create essential next steps
District Management Group
Presenters: Dr. John Kim, Kristen Cervantes, Rachel Klein, and Dr. Silindra McRay
Since 2004, the DMG Equity Office has had a mission to achieve systemic improvement in public education by combining management techniques and education best practices.
Highlights of the presentation include:
DMG has worked in 30 states and with more than 40 districts in Illinois
DMG is offering services in two parts:
Equity Opportunity Review (Understand District Context, Plan Comprehensively) and
Annual Partnership (to sustain focus, energy, and direction, and enhance efforts) to serve as advisors, with resources and provide a peer network to continuous improvement
Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center
The Center provided a video presentation outlining the work:
Provides tiered support across a broad range of industries, but mostly in education.
Resources are developed in-house and they serve as facilitators.
Continuous improvement partnership
The School Board members asked for some follow-up information from each organization that presented.
Business Services Committee - August 30, 2021
Superintendent Report - Dr. Pearson
As with many districts in the state, District 303 is experiencing a bus driver shortage, which has led to some late arrivals of students, especially at the middle school level. Our transportation department is continuing to work toward timely delivery of students and it is getting better every day. Teachers are aware that buses may be running late and are accommodating student needs.
Dr. Pearson reported that due to our School Board being proactive, we were able to sign up for SHIELD testing before other districts that are now experiencing delays in the rollout. The District has the test-to-stay program for students as well as onsite testing for our staff members who chose to participate in testing instead of getting a vaccine. We are testing bus drivers as well as substitutes and employees who work in the evening. We are also working on a time and place where staff members who are not always in the buildings can get tested.
All schools in the district are hosting open houses coming up in the next few weeks. Each school will send out information specific to their evenings.
For Discussion
COVID-19 Financial Impact Summary
Market Update - PMA Securities
Mr. Robert Lewis provided a Market Update, District Debt overview, and Non-Referendum Borrowing Capacity presentation. The purpose of the presentation was to give the School Board an overview of funding options as they move further into the Facility Master Planning process.
Bond interest rates have been trending downward, and the market environment is currently favorable for new long-term debt issues.
As the Board reviews the Master Facility Plan in the upcoming months, there are several ways to finance projects:
Utilize a portion of the district fund balance - the Board has cash reserves available to pay for capital projects
Working cash bonds - paid through the District's debt service tax levy
Debt certificates or alternate revenue bonds - paid through the District's normal annual operating budget
- Once the Board has decided on projects, a construction financing plan will be developed that may include some or all of these options
Annual PSAT Testing - CollegeBoard Contract
St. Charles School District 303 administers an SAT Suite of assessments to eighth through eleventh-grade students in the Fall. These provide students, parents, and teachers with information on how each student is progressing towards his or her high school graduation, with indicators for post-high school plans. As a district, this information is also used to help evaluate curriculum and programs.
The state will administer these assessments in the Spring. These two data points will
give students and staff the ability to use the leading academic indicators to monitor
growth across a school year.
School Maintenance Project Grant
The State of Illinois has authorized the 2021 School Maintenance Project Grant, a dollar-for-dollar state matching grant program awarding up to $50,000.00. The application is due at the beginning of October, and proposed projects include replacing unit ventilators at Anderson, Fox Ridge, and Ferson Creek. The state has allocated $47 million to this round of the grant, and it will rank applications and award grant funds based on the priority of the project(s). The Board will place this on consent at the September meeting.
BoardDocs
The School Board asked the Administration to research switching from Boardbook to BoardDocs for School Board agendas, minutes, and meeting information. The administration reported that we can begin moving items over into the new system after the contract is approved. The two systems will run simultaneously for several months to ensure compliance. The contract for BoardDoc Pro will be moved to an action item on the September meeting agenda.
Darktrace
Phishing emails and other email-based attacks have become an increasing concern in the
last several years. To further protect data and systems, D303 IT staff has evaluated several
offerings and is recommending the addition of the Darktrace Antigena Email System.
The system has been successful in identifying anomalous network traffic behavior and
mitigating threats. The Darktrace Antigena Email service is quoted at $36,750 annually and will be included on consent at the September meeting
Policy Committee - August 30, 2021
For Discussion
District 303 E-Learning Plan Proposal
Mrs. Sarah Cann, Assistant Director of Instruction, explained the E-learning plan to school board members. An E-learning plan will provide District 303 schools additional flexibility in the learning environment which will further streamline the school year without adding emergency days to the end of the year. For example, the district could use these days instead of having a snow day. The plan must be approved by the Board before submission to Kane County ROE for their approval. The Board will move this item to action on the September board meeting agenda.
District 303 was ready to bring this plan to the School Board for approval in March 2020 but had to put the plan on hold due to the pandemic.