Special Recognition and Presentations

- The Board of Education presented a Resolution of Honor  in recognition of former Waukegan High School special education teacher and administrator, Willie Duncan.

Action Items

-  The Board of Education voted to approve the Operations Department’s reclassification and reorganization of select maintenance positions to improve efficiency and work distribution.

-  The Board of Education voted to approve 2019-2020 School Improvement Plans for Carman-Buckner, Clearview, Cooke, Clark, Glen Flora, Greenwood, Glenwood, Hyde Park, Little Fort, Lyon, McCall, North, Oakdale, Washington, Whittier, Abbott, Benny, Juarez, Jefferson, Webster, and Waukegan High School.

- The Board of Education voted to approve the purchase of “My World Interactive” to be used as Social Studies curriculum for grades 6-8 in amount of $318,293.

- The Board of Education voted to renew the district’s commercial liability insurance contract with the Suburban School Cooperative Insurance Program (SSCIP) for the 2020 calendar year, at a cost of $655,548. Currently the Board of Education has its general liability, excess general liability, property, excess property, school board liability and boiler and machinery insurance through the Suburban Cooperative Insurance Program (SSCIP).  This pool is comprised of a group of suburban school entities which can purchase larger amounts of insurance at a lower price with lower deductibles. Waukegan Public School District #60 has been in SSCIP for sixteen years.

- The Board of Education voted to approve the purchase of 1,500 Lexia Core 5 Reading Program licenses, a reading instruction tool utilized by Diverse Learner classes, for the amount of $32,062. Lexia Core 5 Reading is a targeted, research-proven program that provides explicit, systematic, personalized learning in the six areas of reading instruction, it targets skill gaps as they emerge, and provides teachers with the data and student-specific resources they need for individual or small-group instruction. This program is standards-based and targets the following areas; phonological awareness, phonics, structural analysis, automaticity/fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Lexia engages and motivates students in a game-like environment, while providing progress-monitoring student data without a test.

- The Board of Education voted to approve the appointments of Ms. Ennedy Rivera and Ms. June Maguire to the Ethics Commission for terms through November, 2021.

- The Board of Education voted to release Closed Session minutes subject to prior legal review and the stipulations. Closed session minutes proposed for release are from meetings held on the following dates in 2018:  August 7; September 11; October 9 and 29; November 13 and 27; and December 11, 2018. Due to pending litigation, there is a continuing need to withhold closed session minutes of June 29, 2018, August 14 and 28, 2018; September 25, 2018; October 23, 2018.

Personnel Items

- The Board of Education voted to approve the appointments, resignations and retirements of 13 employees. 

- The Board of Education voted to approve the attendance of Roberto Ochoa and Tanja Lloyd-Blaustein to attend School Dude University training from May 3 to May 6, 2020 at an estimated cost of $5,270.

- The Board of Education voted to approve employment contracts with Chief Operations Officer, Mr. LeBaron Moten and Deputy Superintendent, Mr. Eduardo Cesario. In an effort to promote stability and continuity in leadership, the Board has suggested and the Superintendent recommends that Employment Agreements be used selectively for the Deputies, her most senior District administrators.  The two proposed contracts will extend until June 30, 2024. Economic aspects of the contracts conform to existing salary and benefits, but a tuition reimbursement provision was added to both contracts allowing up to $5,000 per individual per year.

- The Board of Education voted to approve the proposed amendment to the Deputy General Counsel’s Employment Agreement. The proposed Amendment confirms the satisfactory or better performance of Ms. Kathryn Vander Broek based upon her annual review, extends her employment to June 30, 2024 and appoints her as the successor General Counsel, to be effective not later than April 1, 2020, on terms and conditions to be negotiated and approved by separate agreement and action of the Board of Education not later than February 11, 2020.

- The Board of Education voted to approve the proposed amendment to the General Counsel's Employment Agreement. The proposed Amendment extends the current General Counsel's Agreement to May 1, 2020, and makes no other changes to the Agreement.

Financial Items

- The Board of Education hosted a brief public hearing on its Property Tax Levy. Following the hearing, the Board voted to adopt the proposed property tax levy for tax year 2019; excluding bond issues, totaling $55,038,041. The amount levied is higher than what in reality is anticipated to be realized. The Board of Education approved the Office of Business and Financial Services to apply for the Tax Relief Grant on October 15, 2019 through ISBE in an amount not to exceed $6,578,748.  The grant has been applied for and our District anticipates information regarding grant awards around the end of January.    

Information Items

- The Board of Education reviewed the revisions to Policy 3017 - Multi-Disciplinary Threat Assessment Teams.