North Egypt News

John A. Logan College Board of Trustees met July 25.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Minutes of the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of Community College District No. 530, Counties of Williamson, Jackson, Franklin, Perry, and Randolph, State of Illinois, held at Carterville, Illinois, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, commencing at 6:00 p.m. The meeting was open to the public and available on the College's YouTube channel.

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bill Kilquist.

The Chairman directed the recording secretary to call the roll.

Rebecca Borgsmiller -- present

Brent Clark -- not present

Bill Kilquist -- present

Mandy Little -- present

Glenn Poshard -- present

Jake Rendleman -- present

Aaron R. Smith -- present

Magnus Noble -- present

Also present were President Kirk Overstreet, Legal Counsel Don Prosser, Provost Stephanie Chaney Hartford, Vice President Stacy Buckingham, Recording Secretary Susan May, and other College personnel.

Chairman Kilquist led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance.

OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS

Chairman Kilquist announced that the meetings of the Board of Trustees are now posted live on the College's YouTube channel. Individuals wanting to address the Board would need to attend the meeting in person. There were no public comments.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES REPORTS

A. Chairman's Report – No report.

B. Athletics Advisory Committee

Athletic Director Greg Starrick stated that student-athletes would be introduced at the August 12 Athletic Fundraiser at Kokopelli Golf Club. Tickets are now available in the Athletic Office.

C. Building, Grounds, and Safety Committee

Trustee Jake Rendleman reported that the Board Building and Safety Committee met this month to discuss projects for the Resource Allocation and Management Plan (RAMP) submission to the ICCB. It was determined that projects would be submitted in the following order: 1) Lower G-Wing Chemistry Lab; 2) Student Life and Library renovation; and 3) Parking lot surfaces, roadways, and lighting. Design work on the West Lobby Expansion is progressing as scheduled by the Capital Development Board. The 50 percent design submittal for this project is due in September 2023, and construction could begin in September 2024. On June 6, the College submitted the 100 percent design for the C & E Wing Renovation, and construction should start during the holiday break. Floor plans for the new CTE construction are approximately 50 percent complete.

D. Board Policy Committee – No report.

E. Budget and Finance Committee – No report.

F. Decennial Committee – No report.

G. Integrated Technology Committee – No report.

H. Illinois Community College Trustees Association (ICCTA) – No report.

I. John A. Logan College Foundation

Trustee Jake Rendleman reported that the Foundation received a $5,000 donation from Pamela Yarbrough, bringing her scholarship endowment total to $40,000. Deaconess Illinois Crossroads Community Hospital has selected a JALC nursing student to receive a $16,000 scholarship this fall.

G. Student Trustee

Student Trustee Magnus Noble will represent John A. Logan College at the Illinois Community College Board Student Advisory Committee meeting in Springfield. Mr. Noble has been meeting with several administrators, faculty, and departments on student engagement. He will draft a letter to the JALC Foundation requesting the establishment of a book fund to provide student assistance with the cost of textbooks.

ASSOCIATION REPORTS

A. Faculty Association Report

Association President Jane Bryant reported that the faculty are looking forward to working with the administrators in their new roles with mutual goals for student success and the enrichment of lives. A few faculty are working with the administrators on a new evaluation tool to help meet those goals. She thanked Dr. Hartford for allowing faculty to have a seat at the table to develop this new evaluation tool.

Dr. Bryant met with Student Trustee Magnus Noble to discuss the student voice survey results. She was particularly concerned about the student's concern overthe cost of books, and to make this more affordable for students, she has adopted open education resources for her Political Science course, which is zero cost to the student. She and Mr. Noble also discussed the need for standardization on formatting, the release dates for information, and external resources and links on the College's D2L site. Dr. Bryant will discuss this during the faculty union meeting at Convocation Days to see if this could be improved for students.

Monthly meetings are held with President Overstreet, Provost Hartford, Dr. Bryant, and Brennan Stover, and this month they worked to develop guidelines for a Teaching Engagement Model (TEM) included in the new faculty contract. She is hopeful this will be implemented in some form by Spring 2024. During that meeting, she expressed on behalf of the faculty the desire to be included substantively in strategic planning. A campus-wide event was held on July 6, with very few faculty in attendance since there was little notice and most faculty are not committed to attending College events in mid-summer. We plan to work together with the administration to prepare better for these types of events during the semester when faculty can be more involved or when the date of such an event is scheduled far enough in advance that faculty can plan to attend. We look forward to receiving the requested cost details associated with the instructional division reorganization and the complete Employee Satisfaction survey results, promised for Convocation Days.

B. Adjunct Faculty Association – No report.

C. Logan Operational Staff Association Report – No report.

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP REPORTS

2021 Property Tax Levy

Vice-President Stacy Buckingham reported that the College received $15,811,475 or 99.9 percent of the 2021 property tax levy from all five counties and only had to write off $16,000 as uncollected. The College budgeted for one percent of uncollected taxes and exceeded our budgeted taxes for operating funds at 100.9 percent.

FY 2023 Financial Update

The College received 100% of base operating, equalization funding, and CTE Vocational grant funding from the State. We have also received $17,000 for the performance-based allocation. The only remaining receivable is for the Veteran's Grant, which is expected to be around $90,000. ICCB is still processing those particular awards, and we expect to receive those funds in a few weeks.

As of June, we received $2.1 million in Corporate Personal Property Replacement tax, exceeding the budget by $1.3 million. We also exceeded our interest projection by $750,000 due to multiple increases in the federal funds rate. With the additional revenue and projected underspend in several expenditure categories, we are projecting a $200,000 deficit for FY 2023 in the Operations and Maintenance fund. We hope to finish the Education fund with nearly the same amount in surplus to finish the year relatively flat.

FY 2024 Financial Update

Vice-President Buckingham reported that the College received State allocation amounts from the ICCB for Base Operating, Equalization, and Small College grants totaling $9.7 million. The specific amounts are $138,314 higher than the FY 2023 allocations, representing a 1.45 percent increase for John A. Logan College during a year when the system as a whole saw a seven percent increase. The budgeted amount anticipated an overall increase of $190,000, so we are $51k short of the budget. CTE Vocational Grant allocations have not yet been released.

At this point, the Illinois Community College Board is asking all Colleges to review their prior credit hour submissions back to Fall 2020 to identify any dual credit hours submitted for freshmen and sophomores. This group of dual credit students became ineligible for reimbursement in November 2020. As Colleges possibly adjust their prior credit hour claims, this will cause State allocations to be recalculated, so the State allocations are not considered final.

eCampus Bookstore

The new online College Bookstore site went live yesterday, and we are working with eCampus on communication with the students. Ms. Buckingham thanked Shannon Newman, the entire IT team, and the faculty who assisted greatly these past two weeks with textbook adoptions. I believe the adoption tool will be easy to navigate now that the current history and catalog search features have been turned on. Still, more importantly, I believe students will see an improvement in the pricing for course materials.

Enrollment

Provost Stephanie Chaney Hartford reported that the current headcount for fall, compared to last year, is 2,185 students (down 45 students), but the College is up in credit hours with 23,207 (up by 358). Continued registration efforts include the Saturday Signup event on August 12, where all student services will be available from 9 a.m. to noon. Late registration will run from August 14 – August 22. Great efforts have gone into class scheduling, offering more starting and stopping points to enter a course throughout the semester. For the longest time, semesters were comprised of 16-week classes, but students are now trending toward shorter increment classes. Emphasis has also been placed on student retention, which is critical to our funding. Career and Technical education two-year degrees have been broken up into smaller incrementsso students can gain viable work skill setsfor employment and build paths for students to return to continue their education.

Convocation Days

Provost Hartford reported that Convocation Days will be held two days preceding the start of classes and will include an opening session for all faculty and staff to hear updates from President Overstreet, Ms. Buckingham, and myself. Faculty will be updated on the new assessment model to develop program outcomes and course mapping. This information will be built into the new Anthology Outcomes Software system, which will put us on track regarding assessment and what is reported to the Higher Learning Committee.

Welcome Week for Students

On Tuesday, August 15, the College will host a faculty/student panel followed by a faculty/staff mixer with students in the Waterfall Courtyard. Navigation stations will be placed throughout campus to help guide students. A Welcome Picnic for the students will be held on Wednesday, pizza and ice cream on Thursday, and employees will provide golf cart rides for students throughout the week.

EMS/EMT Mobile Training Lab

John A. Logan College has created a mobile training lab using an ambulance donated by the Jackson County Ambulance Service. Students in the welding, automotive, and electronic programs worked together to dismantle the non-usable portion of the ambulance and establish it on a trailer. Delta Regional Authority Grant funds were used to fund work completed by Black Diamond RV to customize the mobile training lab. JALC has partnered with Southeastern Illinois College to utilize this mobile lab to teach the lab component of EMT classes on their campus. This mobile lab will provide an excellent opportunity to showcase the EMS/EMT program at John A. Logan College.

President's Report

The College held an in-service on July 6 for all employees, including grounds and campus safety. President Overstreet presented the theme and strategies for FY 2024 developed at the President's Cabinet retreat that will focus on alignment and the Main Thing. It was a successful event that was more inclusive than we have been able to do in a while. Employees participated in an exercise on alignment and reported on their tactics and thoughts in relation to the Main Thing – Enriching Lives. President Overstreet noted that he would work to move the timeline of this type of event within the spring semester when more faculty are on campus.

President Overstreet encouraged the Board to attend the Convocation opening address on August 14. Results of the Employee Satisfaction Survey will be presented at Convocation, and the raw data will also be posted on the Institutional Effectiveness and Research Intranet page. President Overstreet has been meeting with the different departments to have those small conversations to get to know everyone and hear about key issues on campus.

On August 1, Dr. Susan LaPanne, Vice-President for Business Services and CFO, and Stephanie Harner, Assistant Vice-President for Human Resources, will join the College in their new roles. Plans for Hunting and Fishing Days and Autumnfest are going well and will be held on the College's campus this year.

Trustee Glenn Poshard commended President Overstreet for laying a pathway for the academic plans, goals, and objectives for John A. Logan College. He was pleased with his efforts to reach out internally and encouraged him to reach out externally to the broader district as well.

PRESIDENT'S CABINET REPORTS

EMS Mobile Training Lab

Cabinet member Scott Wernsman thanked Ken Shafer, Executive Director at Jackson County, for partnering with the College to create the EMS Mobile Training Lab. He added that we are working with another grant to purchase electronic equipment to simulate a real-world situation of driving to a hospital. This mobile lab will provide students with the opportunity to experience real-world simulations.

PRESENTATIONS

A. Strategic Enrollment Management Plan

A ten-person task force chaired by Dr. Rachel Sveda Webb and co-chair Christy Stewart worked for over a year to develop a strategic enrollment plan that was focused, measurable, and actionable. The primary goal established within this plan is to achieve a four percent increase in credit hours and headcount by Fall 2025, using Fall 2022 enrollment numbers as the benchmark data. Four smaller goals to help achieve the four percent growth include focusing on underrepresented minorities and non-traditional students, increased course retention, student persistence, program completion, and graduation rates. Trustee Rendleman asked about the approach to retention, and it was noted that the College has an Early Alert system to alert the student's advisor and for attendance reporting. There is also a retention module within J1 Communication which will be implemented. The timeline for this plan includes an annual report, aligning with the Strategic Long-Range Plan, that will also help with accountability. Trustee Poshard commented that we have a responsibility to the students, and this type of document and the Strategic Plan are some of the most accountable instruments in higher education. President Overstreet thanked Dr. Sveda Webb and the SEM Task Force for the ground breaking work.

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

A. Revised 2023-2024 Academic Calendar

The 2023-2024 Academic Calendar was adjusted due to a change to faculty professional development within the new Faculty Association contract.

B. FY 2024 Strategies

The FY 2024 strategies developed to align with the Long-Range Strategic Plan and Institutional Goals were presented to the Board of Trustees.

C. SonicWall Firewalls

Two physical SonicWall firewall devices were purchased for $47,693.73. This purchase was included in the FY 2024 budget and exempt from bidding in accordance with Illinois Public Community College Act, 110 805/3-27 and Board Policy 7154, Purchasing.

D. Darktrace Off-Network Support

Additional licensing was purchased for Darktrace DETECT/RESPOND Endpoint for $36,300. This purchase was included in the FY 2024 budget and exempt from bidding in accordance with Illinois Public Community College Act, 110 805/3-27 and Board Policy 7154, Purchasing.

E. Personnel Informational Items

President Overstreet accepted the resignation of R. J. Sussman, Manager of IT Policy, Resources, and Communications, effective July 31, 2023, and Emily Spann, Manager of Workforce Education, effective July 17, 2023.

CONSENT AGENDA

Chairman Kilquist asked if there were any Consent Agenda items the Board would like to pull for further discussion or a separate vote. Hearing none, Consent Agenda items A – H were presented for approval.

A. FY 2024 Resource Allocation and Management Plan (RAMP) Submission

FY 2024 RAMP capital projects applications for submission to ICCB and the IBHE in the following order of priority: 1) G-Wing First Floor Renovations and Moisture Issue Mitigation, 2) Student Life in Building C and Library Remodel; and 3) Parking Lots A, C, and Adjacent Roadways Resurfacing.

B. Insurance Package and Workers' Compensation

Authorization for the administration to enter into renewal agreements for an insurance package with carriers recommended by The Tedrick Group for a total estimated premium range of $460,000 to $520,000, subject to final agreements with individual carriers.

C. Semi-Annual Review of Closed Session Minutes

College legal counsel recommended that none of the closed session minutes reviewed through November 22, 2022, be made available for public inspection at this time.

D. Personnel Action Items (Appendix A)

The employment and ratification of personnel as recommended by President Kirk Overstreet. E. Expenditure Report

The Expenditure Report for the period ending June 30, 2023.

F. Treasurer's & Financial Report

The Treasurer's and Financial Report for the eleven months ended May 31, 2023.

G. Minutes of Public Hearing

Minutes of the public hearing on the tentative budget for FY 2024 held on June 27, 2023.

H. Minutes of Regular Meeting

Minutes of the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees held on June 27, 2023.

Magnus Noble and Mandy Little moved and seconded that the Board of Trustees approve Agenda Items A – H as presented.

Upon roll call, all members present voted Yes. Motion carried.

(Resolution #16-4321)

NEW BUSINESS

A. Employment of Dean of Career Technical Education and Workforce Training

President Overstreet recommended the employment of Mr. Scott Wernsman as Dean of Career Technical Education and Workforce Training, effective July 17, 2023.

Jake Rendleman and Mandy Little moved and seconded that the employment of Mr. Scott Wernsman as Dean of Career Technical Education and Workforce Training be ratified by the Board of Trustees as recommended.

Upon roll call, all members present voted yes. Motion carried.

(Resolution #16-4322)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Trustee Jake Rendlemann congratulated Trustee Glenn Poshard's release of his new biography, Son of Southern Illinois.

ADJOURNMENT

Jake Rendleman and Magnus Noble moved and seconded that the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees be adjourned.

Upon roll call, all members present voted yes. Motion carried.

(Resolution #16-4323)

The meeting was duly adjourned at 7:45 p.m.

https://www.jalc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/8.J-MIN-07-25-23.pdf