North Egypt News

Bluford Unit School District 318 Board of Education met May 17.

Here is the agenda provided by the board:

1. Call to Order

2. Roll Call

3. Opportunity for Public Comment: (This is the time when visitors may request to address the Board of Education on any item germane to the role and function of the Board of Education. When the Board President so directs, persons should stand, give their name and begin their statements. Persons must refrain from making any personal comments regarding any individual. The Board President reserves the right to limit presentations to five minutes.)

4. Correspondence/Scheduled Visitors

5. Additions/Deletions to the Agenda

6. Approval of Agenda

7. Consent Agenda* (The Consent Agenda includes matters of usual business of the Board that may be approved through one motion, second, and roll call vote, unless it is determined that one or more items be removed from the Consent Agenda for additional discussion or because one or more negative votes may be anticipated.)

7.1 Approval of Minutes*

7.1.1 April 21, 2022 Regular Monthly Meeting Minutes

7.2 Financial Reports May 2022

7.2.1 District Fund Balance Report*

Cash Balance (April 30, 2022) $5,843.097.47

Activity Accounts (April 30, 2022) $94,336.38

Payroll for May 2022 $185,475.70

7.2.2 Approval of May 2022 Bills*

8. Administrative & Building Reports

8.1 Mrs. Henson, Mr. Dunaway, & Dr. Gordon

9. Executive Session

(The purpose of the Executive Session is to consider evaluation, resignation, compensation, disciplinary action, or dismissal of employees, and other personnel matters of employees of the District, collective bargaining, and possible litigation of the school district. **)

9.1 Personnel Matters**

9.2 Employee Compensation**

9.3 Pending Litigation**

10. Action Items/Possible Action Items

10.1 Consider Approval of the May Personnel Report

10.2 Consider Approval to Advertise for Fuel and Milk for FY23

10.3 Set Time, Date, and Location for Public Hearing for Amended Budget (6/21/2022 @ 6:00 p.m.)

10.4 Consider Approval of Property Tax Abatement Resolution

10.5 Consider Approval of Junior High Athletic Co-operative with Farrington 10.6 Consider Appointment of Board Committee Members

10.7 Consider Approval of MOU for Retirement Incentive

10.8 Consider Approval of MOU for COVID Leave Days

10.9 Consider Approval FY23 Board Meeting Schedule

11. Adjournment

* Consent Agenda

** Executive Session

By Order of: Mr. Steve Tate, President

Board of Education, Bluford Unit School District #318

Personnel Report May 2022

Resignations:

- Sierra Forristall Junior High Softball Head Coach

Recommendations for Employment:

- Ashley Raney Junior High Cheerleading

Remaining Open Positions:

- Junior High Special Education, High School Physical Education/Health, High School Computer Technology, High School Family & Consumer Science

Reminder:

The June Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 21, at 6:00 p.m.

Administrative and Building Reports

Maintenance Report:

We had a roof leak over Mrs. Jones’s room. I fixed some loose curbing around the HVAC. Dr. Gordon is having me inspect the roof and repair issues this summer.

The kitchen condenser fan motor went bad. I ordered and replaced it with a new one.

The science room fan motor has a bearing going bad. We currently have a new one and will be replaced soon.

The 4th Grade A/C wiring was being shorted out. I found a bad connection in a junction box and repaired the connection.

Principal’s Report:

The JH trip to DC went well. Kameron Sneed received the “Citizenship Award.” Prom was a hit. Attendance was good throughout the evening.

The GS dance that the Booster Club held was successful with approximately 270 students in attendance.

The GS Carnival was very successful. There was great attendance and was referred to as “a blast.”

All seniors set to graduate this year. There are 28 on the class list but one is a homeschool student who has been attending some classes each year and the other is in a program at MVTHS.

∙ 8 attending 4 year college

∙ 7 attending 2 year college

∙ 1 attending vocational/tech school

∙ 1 entering reserves

∙ 9 entering the workforce

All eighth grade students (32 of them) set to be promoted to high school.

∙ 1 will attend MVTHS next year

∙ 4 coming in from Farrington (3) and OBR (1). The freshman class is projected to be 35 for next year.

Graduation practice was held on 5/13. The seniors last day if not taking finals was 5/13. Eighth grade last day is 5/19, with the class trip on 5/20.

∙ GS Graduation 5/21 @ 10 am

∙ HS Graduation 5/21 @ 11:30 am

State testing IAR/ISA/SAT/DLM complete.

K-8 all have taken end of the year trips or have one scheduled.

Pre-K’s last day is 5/20 with a morning and afternoon PK graduation.

The end of year celebration/Play Day for K-7 is Monday, May 23, with a kickball tournament, games, and snow cones.

FFA helping with Run for the Wall on 5/24.

Grades 9-11 finals 5/24 & 5/25. The last day of student attendance is 5/25. 61 students K-5 signed up for the summer program.

Superintendent’s Report:

Advertisement for Bids- The district annually advertises for bids for milk and fuel. The plan will be to have bids back for the July meeting.

Amended Budget Hearing- The district amends the budget each year to have an accurate financial account for the year. A preliminary budget must be on display for 30 days prior to a public hearing. The public hearing is recommended to be set in conjunction with the June Board meeting on June 21, at 6:00 p.m.

Property Tax Abatement- An action item is included to lower property taxes for district residents. The recommendation is to have the final tax rate be consistent with what the district published two years ago as part of the Property Tax Relief Grant.

Sports Co-operative with Farrington- A governing agreement has been drafted which makes Bluford the host school for each sport and allows Farrington students to participate in athletics hosted at Bluford Grade School.

Board Committees- I recommend that Crystal Marlow be appointed to the Personnel Committee and Katelyn Lewis be appointed to the Curriculum Committee.

MOU for Retirement Incentive- This MOU is to clear up a discrepancy of interpretation to allow Michelle Marlow to qualify to the retirement incentive that is in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.

MOU for COVID Leave Days- This MOU extends administrative leave days in lieu of sick days for all employees regardless of vaccination status.

2022-2023 Board Meeting Schedule- I have included a draft copy of next year’s meeting schedule. If something needs to be adjusted, that can be done through the motion.

ROE Community Partnership Grant- I mentioned this grant last month. I recently learned that we will receive $36,900 to use on special programs, like our summer program.

Egyptian Trust Insurance Renewal Rates- I received word that our rate increase for next year will be 5.5%. We have received 0% increases each of the last two years. Blue Cross and Blue Shield is expected their costs to increase 6.5% next year, so our increase is a full percentage point below the market. This is a result of our involvement in the Trust. Overall, there are 110

school districts that are members and the average increase is 13.7%. So, compared to some other school districts, we are doing very well.

Pre-School- I received word that Pre-K registrations for next year are currently low (22 out of 40 spots). The director indicated that if the numbers do not increase it is possible that they would only operate one half day program here.

https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/701/Bluford_Unit_School_District_318/2090944/May_2022_BOE_Agenda.pdf