Thursday, March 12, 2015
Consolidated Election on April 7, 2015
As a reminder, the next Consolidated Election is coming up on April 7, 2015 (less than four weeks away).
Friday, March 6, 2015
Special Meeting of Minooka 201 School Board
The Minooka CCSD 201 school board will be holding a special meeting on Thursday, March 12, 2015. The meeting agenda is available here. The main agenda item for the meeting will be a discussion of full day kindergarten. The meeting will be held at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary
Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. As always, members of the public are welcome to attend. The board information packet for the meeting is located here.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Update Regarding Lunch, Recess and Snack Policies
At the most recent Minooka CCSD 201 school board meeting on February 25th, the proposed policy regarding lunch/recess time for grades 1 through 4 and the proposed policy for a second recess
for grades 1 through 4 were brought up for a first reading. In
addition, the proposed policy for snacks in the classroom and snacks
provided by the PTO was brought up for a second reading. (For some
background regarding these proposed policies, see previous post.)
After some discussion, the proposed policy regarding lunch/recess time for grades 1 through 4 passed on its first reading (Martin, Crouch, Allen, and Skwarczynski voted "yes," while Clucas and Satorius voted "no"). The proposed policy for a second recess for grades 1 through 4 passed on its first reading (Martin, Crouch, Allen, and Skwarczynski voted "yes," while Clucas and Satorius voted "no"). The proposed policy for snacks in the classroom and snacks provided by the PTO passed on its second reading (Martin, Crouch, Allen, Skwarczynski, and Clucas voted "yes," while Satorius voted "no").
After some discussion, the proposed policy regarding lunch/recess time for grades 1 through 4 passed on its first reading (Martin, Crouch, Allen, and Skwarczynski voted "yes," while Clucas and Satorius voted "no"). The proposed policy for a second recess for grades 1 through 4 passed on its first reading (Martin, Crouch, Allen, and Skwarczynski voted "yes," while Clucas and Satorius voted "no"). The proposed policy for snacks in the classroom and snacks provided by the PTO passed on its second reading (Martin, Crouch, Allen, Skwarczynski, and Clucas voted "yes," while Satorius voted "no").
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting
The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is
Wednesday, February 25, 2015. The Committee of the Whole Meeting starts
at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary
Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. The Committee of the
Whole Meeting will be followed by the regular Board Meeting at 7 p.m. Each of the meetings is
open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to
attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here. You may notice that the lunch/recess policy, snack policy, and second recess policy are on the agenda (for background information see previous post).
Information for the Committee of the Whole Meeting can be found here. Information for the regular Board Meeting can be found here.
Information for the Committee of the Whole Meeting can be found here. Information for the regular Board Meeting can be found here.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Update Regarding Lunch, Recess and Snack Policies
The Minooka 201 Policy Committee held a meeting on February 5, 2015 to discuss the proposed board policies regarding lunch/recess time for grades 1 through 4, second recess for grades 1 through 4, and snacks. (For some
background regarding these proposed policies, see previous posts here, here, and here.)
The Policy Committee meeting was very well attended. Approximately 30 to 40 people (administrators, staff, parents, and community members) showed up on a brisk winter evening to discuss the proposed policies. After two hours of discussion, a general consensus was reached to modify each of the proposed policies in various ways.
The resulting versions of the proposed policies can be found here, here, and here. Comparisons of current versions to the previous versions can be found here, here, and here.
I have requested that each of these proposed policies be placed on the agenda for the next regular board meeting on February 25th. The lunch/recess policy and the second recess policy will each be on the first reading (since the previous version which had combined the two was voted down). The snack policy will be on its second reading (since the second reading was tabled).
The Policy Committee meeting was very well attended. Approximately 30 to 40 people (administrators, staff, parents, and community members) showed up on a brisk winter evening to discuss the proposed policies. After two hours of discussion, a general consensus was reached to modify each of the proposed policies in various ways.
The resulting versions of the proposed policies can be found here, here, and here. Comparisons of current versions to the previous versions can be found here, here, and here.
I have requested that each of these proposed policies be placed on the agenda for the next regular board meeting on February 25th. The lunch/recess policy and the second recess policy will each be on the first reading (since the previous version which had combined the two was voted down). The snack policy will be on its second reading (since the second reading was tabled).
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Policy Committee Meeting Rescheduled
The Policy Committee meeting to discuss the proposed policies regarding lunch/recess time, snacks, and second recess will be held on Thursday, February 5,
2015 starting at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the
Minooka Primary
Center (305 Church Street, Minooka). Some background regarding the proposed policies can be found here, here, and here.
The agenda for the Policy Committee meeting can be found here. The current versions of the proposed policies can be found here, here and here. The Policy Committee meeting is open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. The bulk of the meeting will be spent listening to input from staff and the public regarding the proposed policies.
The agenda for the Policy Committee meeting can be found here. The current versions of the proposed policies can be found here, here and here. The Policy Committee meeting is open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. The bulk of the meeting will be spent listening to input from staff and the public regarding the proposed policies.
Funding Golden Parachutes with Taxpayer Money
The Board of Trustees of the College of DuPage is currently receiving extensive publicity in the Chicago area for its recent approval of a "golden parachute" severance package for the outgoing President of the College of DuPage (see here, here, here, and here). The severance package amounts to a payout for the President of more than $750,000.00. The Board of Trustees has already been sued for the manner in which this severance package was approved (the lawsuit alleges numerous violations of the Open Meetings Act). As a result, the Board of Trustees is holding another meeting to re-vote on the severance package.
For those in Minooka 201 who are understandably surprised, incredulous or even outraged by the actions of the Board of Trustees of the College of DuPage, I would remind you that your very own school board voted a hefty raise and severance package for Minooka 201 Superintendent Al Gegenheimer in his last contract (click here for a copy of the contract).
As I detailed in a previous post, the superintendent was given a 30% raise through the four-year term of the contract. In addition, Superintendent Gegenheimer's contract provides for three annual post-retirement payments equal to 20% of his final annual salary. Assuming a salary of $172,036 for the last year of the contract, the three annual payments would be $34,407 each. That is, the taxpayers of Minooka CCSD 201 will be paying the then former superintendent $34,407 each year for three years at the same time he is collecting a pension of up to 75% of the average of his highest four years of salary from the Teachers' Retirement System (approximately $118,480 based on these assumptions).
This "golden parachute" contract also requires Minooka 201 to provide the superintendent with health insurance (hospitalization/major medical) during his retirement until such time as he qualifies for Medicare (typically at 65) or becomes employed by another employer offering health insurance coverage. This means that if the current superintendent retires at the end of this agreement, the school district would be obligated to provide him health insurance for approximately five years.
Superintendent Gegenheimer's contract was also approved in a similar manner to that of the College of DuPage President. Information on the terms of the contract was never disclosed to the public or the entire school board prior to the meeting. Rather, the contract was presented to the school board for the first time at some time after 10 p.m. on the night of the meeting, after having been negotiated in private by Superintendent Gegenheimer and board members Jim Satorius and Al Skwaczyinski. To my knowledge, Mr. Satorius and Mr. Skwarczynski were never given such negotiating authority by the board. The school board then voted (by this time very late in the evening) to approve the contract by a 5-2 vote. Those voting "yes" were Jim Satorius, Al Skwarczynski, Kevin Hannon, Jeff Budde (no longer on the board), and Dave Carlson (no longer on the board). Those voting "no" were Kathe Brozman (no longer on the board) and Doug Martin.
If you look around Illinois, I am sure you can find many similar stories of public school boards funding handsome severance packages for their superintendents. Mind you that these are all in addition to the pension and retiree medical benefits that are also funded by the taxpayers of the State of Illinois, including the local taxpayers.
For the public servants who ask for and receive these "golden parachutes", you have to wonder how much is enough. And for these public bodies, you also have to wonder why they feel the need to throw ever greater amounts of taxpayer money at these people. Perhaps it would be beneficial for those that serve on public bodies and were elected by the taxpayers to remember that every dollar that they throw away on these "golden parachutes" first had to be earned by the hard work of a taxpayer. Every one of these dollars also takes away from monies that could be more wisely spent on classroom teachers and better services directly benefiting our students.
For those in Minooka 201 who are understandably surprised, incredulous or even outraged by the actions of the Board of Trustees of the College of DuPage, I would remind you that your very own school board voted a hefty raise and severance package for Minooka 201 Superintendent Al Gegenheimer in his last contract (click here for a copy of the contract).
As I detailed in a previous post, the superintendent was given a 30% raise through the four-year term of the contract. In addition, Superintendent Gegenheimer's contract provides for three annual post-retirement payments equal to 20% of his final annual salary. Assuming a salary of $172,036 for the last year of the contract, the three annual payments would be $34,407 each. That is, the taxpayers of Minooka CCSD 201 will be paying the then former superintendent $34,407 each year for three years at the same time he is collecting a pension of up to 75% of the average of his highest four years of salary from the Teachers' Retirement System (approximately $118,480 based on these assumptions).
This "golden parachute" contract also requires Minooka 201 to provide the superintendent with health insurance (hospitalization/major medical) during his retirement until such time as he qualifies for Medicare (typically at 65) or becomes employed by another employer offering health insurance coverage. This means that if the current superintendent retires at the end of this agreement, the school district would be obligated to provide him health insurance for approximately five years.
Superintendent Gegenheimer's contract was also approved in a similar manner to that of the College of DuPage President. Information on the terms of the contract was never disclosed to the public or the entire school board prior to the meeting. Rather, the contract was presented to the school board for the first time at some time after 10 p.m. on the night of the meeting, after having been negotiated in private by Superintendent Gegenheimer and board members Jim Satorius and Al Skwaczyinski. To my knowledge, Mr. Satorius and Mr. Skwarczynski were never given such negotiating authority by the board. The school board then voted (by this time very late in the evening) to approve the contract by a 5-2 vote. Those voting "yes" were Jim Satorius, Al Skwarczynski, Kevin Hannon, Jeff Budde (no longer on the board), and Dave Carlson (no longer on the board). Those voting "no" were Kathe Brozman (no longer on the board) and Doug Martin.
If you look around Illinois, I am sure you can find many similar stories of public school boards funding handsome severance packages for their superintendents. Mind you that these are all in addition to the pension and retiree medical benefits that are also funded by the taxpayers of the State of Illinois, including the local taxpayers.
For the public servants who ask for and receive these "golden parachutes", you have to wonder how much is enough. And for these public bodies, you also have to wonder why they feel the need to throw ever greater amounts of taxpayer money at these people. Perhaps it would be beneficial for those that serve on public bodies and were elected by the taxpayers to remember that every dollar that they throw away on these "golden parachutes" first had to be earned by the hard work of a taxpayer. Every one of these dollars also takes away from monies that could be more wisely spent on classroom teachers and better services directly benefiting our students.
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