REGULAR BOARD MEETING MINUTES

March 25, 2020

8:30 A.M. Zoom Meeting

(due to current “shelter in place” required by the State of Illinois)

CALL REGULAR BOARD MEETING TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL at 8:39

President Scott Doerr called the regular board meeting to order and roll was taken with two board members present. Board members present were Jason Bauer and Scott Doerr. Also present were NPT  Director, Kelly Suey, NPT Program Coordinator/Transition Specialist, Sabrina Jones, NPT Business Manager, Shelly Rexroad, Taylorville Curriculum Director, Anita Brown, and Taylorville Director of Finance, Wendy Dulakis.

RECOGNITION OF VISITORS, PUBLIC COMMENT, AND CORRESPONDENCE. 

No business to report.

MOVE TO APPROVE THE FEBRUARY 26 CONSENT AGENDA.

Motion by Bauer, seconded by Doerr to approve the March 25, 2020 Consent agenda as presented.

Dr. Doerr-YEA, Mr. Bauer- YEA, Dr. Dougherty- Not in Attendance. Motion Passed.

The consent agenda included the monthly minutes and Bills.

NEW BUSINESS

DISCUSS AND ACT ON EXTENDED SCHOOL YEAR SERVICES

The current plan is for ESY to be held in Nokomis for two weeks in June and two weeks in August. The sessions will be half day programs. There was discussion regarding posting positions for employment. The board agreed that NPT can create the postings for the open positions and we will discuss salary and who will hire at the April board meeting.

DISCUSS STATUS ON ISBE VISIT

Due to the current mandates by Illinois Governor, the onsite visits with ISBE have been postponed and potentially cancelled. However, our ISBE representative is still reviewing files that were provided to her and conducting phone interviews with employees. ISBE stated that the current situation and inability to complete onsite visits will not have a negative impact on the status of NPT’s approval.

APPROVE BUSINESS MANAGER JOB POSTING

The board reviewed the proposed Business Manager job posting. There was discussion regarding the horus of this position. The team agreed that it would be a full time position. There were no further questions regarding the job posting as presented. The board will move into closed session at a meeting in the future to discuss salary for this employee. We were unable to do this today, due to meeting circumstances.

Mr. Bauer motioned to approve the business manager position posting. It was seconded by Dr. Doerr.

Dr. Doerr-Yea, Mr. Bauer-Yea, Dr. Dougherty-not in attendance. Motion passed.

OPEN DISCUSSION

The team discussed districts current e-learning or distance learning plans. Each district updated the board with their plans. Kelly Suey also updated the board regarding NPT plans for continuing education and therapies.

REPORTS

Directors Report

Kelly Suey provided the board with personnel updates. Ashley Yockey accepted the psychologist position for the 20/21 school year. Liz Patrick accepted the psychologist intern position, Shelby Babbs accepted the social work position. We will also have two speech interns next year! Madisyn Champley (Fall 2020) and Andrea Curtin (Spring 2021). Kelly reminded superintendents that the child count certification must be completed by tomorrow, March 26. Instructions on how to do that was included in the board packet and emailed to the superintendents. If certification is not completed, IDEA Part B grant funds will be suspended until the certification is complete. Mr. Bauer and Dr. Doerr stated they had completed this certification process. Kelly updated the board that the debit card had been hacked into. It has since been shut off, funds have been refunded and a new card has been ordered. Harrisburg is having a claims training in May. Kelly, Wendy  and Megan plan to attend this free training in Springfield. Kelly reached out to the ROE regarding an NPT website. She agreed that at this time, until she gets further information, that a “tab or link” could be added to the Taylorville website to upload required documents, such as the budget, board minutes, etc. Special Education Guidance has not changed much. We are currently in compliance, having all IEP meetings as scheduled. The 60 school day timeline is currently on hold during “Act of God” days, however when we turn into e-learning days, attendance will count. We are anxiously awaiting direction from the state and federal government regarding how this testing will be completed during mandated school closures. Kelly will continue to provide updates to Superintendents and districts as it is received. We still have a social work position posted for the 2020/2021 school year. The board did not have any additional questions for Kelly.

Program Coordinator/Transition Specialist Report

Sabrina Jones reported that 17 of the 20 STEP outcomes have been met. Sabrina included payments received from the STEP program since August. She followed up regarding a question brought up at the February board meeting regarding the November Payment. When Sabrina reached out to DRS, she stated that in the end, all payments will be paid and made-up for. We currently have received all of the payments generated from the STEP program. Prior to mandatory school closures, Sabrina was working with seniors and their parents regarding FASFA completion and the DRS checklists. Taylorville was chosen to complete Indicator 14 of the State Performance Plan. Sabrina has a list of all of the seniors last year who graduated and will work on completing the required documents in the time frame provided (the window opens up April 1). Once the information is collected, it has to be inputted in istar. Sabrina will work with the team regarding who will be responsible for inputting that information.  Taylorville school district should be receiving a letter in the mail regarding this process. Sabrina has provided Dr. Dougherty with a letter she would like to send out to the students who she will be collecting data from. Once Sabrina gets approval from Dr. Dougherty, she will begin sending out letters.  Sabrina has reviewed 285 IEP’s so far this school year. Teachers are continually working hard to stay in compliance with IEP writing. The board did not have any additional questions for Sabrina.

BUSINESS MANAGER REPORT

Shelly Rexroad updated the board on the budget. Everything has decreased due to the FACeS assessments and TheraKids change. FACeS billing should be coming directly from the Taylorville School District and TheraKids is directly billing each district for services. Expenditures are currently at 55% and revenue is at 78%. Expenditures were reduced. HOwever, we did increase specific line items for postage, improvement of instruction and Transition Specialist supplies. Shelly will be providing the districts with individual budgets so they can reflect those accordingly in their schools amended budgets. The board did not have any additional questions for Shelly.

CLOSED SESSION

The board did not move into closed session due to the current mandates from the Governor of Illinois regarding virtual board meetings.

MOVE TO ADJOURN AT 9:13.

Motion by Mr. Bauer, and seconded by  Dr.Doerr. Motion passed by voice vote, with Dr. Dougherty not being in attendance.

______________________________________                      ______________________________________

                  Dr. Scott Doerr, President                                                    Dr. Chris Dougherty, Secretary