By Chris Fox
The Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board held a regular meeting on Jan. 16 at the District 205 Center, 162 S. York St. All seven board members attended the meeting, which was the board’s first regular meeting of 2024.
Spotlights and recognition
The meeting’s spotlights and recognitions segment noted the achievement of York High School girls water polo coach Mark Giuliani, who was named the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) Girls Water Polo 2023 Illinois Coach of the Year. Giuliani was unable to attend the board meeting.
Patrick Baker, the district’s director of arts, physical education and health, spoke during the spotlights and recognitions segment to congratulate the district’s middle school students who were selected for the Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA) District 1 Junior Festivals. Baker stated that the selected students prepared for and completed rigorous auditions to be chosen to participate in an ensemble at the festivals.
York Principal Jessica Hurt spoke briefly during the spotlights and recognitions segment to highlight some of the recent events at the school. Hurt mentioned that all of the school’s juniors sat for the Preliminary SAT (PSAT) exam in October. Hurt stated there are a lot of academic and extracurricular opportunities for York students. She also noted that she was excited to attend the IHSA girls cross-country state meet, which took place in Peoria in November. Hurt watched the Dukes win the IHSA Class 3A state championship at the meet.
Public forum
Two people spoke during the meeting’s public-participation segment. One of the speakers spoke of the significance of learning a foreign language at an early age. Another speaker said that research showed that results from standardized tests like the ACT and SAT are more reliable than assessing students’ grades in high school. He said that the district needs to work on raising the numbers of its students who are proficient in English and math.
Summer programming
The board meeting included a short presentation from Baker about the district’s 2024 summer programming. Baker said the district offers a variety of academic, athletic and arts programs to its students each summer. He said there were about 3,700 enrollments in the district’s 2023 summer programs. Registration for this year’s summer programs will be open by the end of February. That’s four weeks earlier than registration opened last summer.
Construction update
The meeting also featured a presentation about upcoming constructions and renovations at Madison Early Childhood Center, which has an enrollment of approximately 315 students. The project to upgrade the center is one of the district’s remaining projects related to the 2018 referendum, in which voters approved the borrowing of $168.5 million to pay for improving the district’s facilities.
Todd Schmidt, the district’s director of facilities, stated that the center was originally an elementary school, then an administrative building, before being utilized as an early childhood center. He said the upcoming construction project will include security upgrades, new windows, new cameras, a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system and the scattering of restroom facilities throughout the building. Construction is scheduled to begin in July. The building won’t be open to students during the 2024-25 school year.
Madison Early Childhood Center students will use classrooms at Field Elementary School and Edison Elementary School during the 2024-25 school year.
Comprehensive financial presentation
The meeting included a short presentation about the district’s annual comprehensive financial report for its 2023 fiscal year. Scott Duenser from the district’s accounting firm—Wipfli—spoke during the presentation and referred to a 120-page report about the district’s finances. Duenser stated that inflation is a big issue for school districts, and that districts have to be vigilant in watching their finances. He also said that districts do not want to have continually dropping fund balances. The board members did not ask Duenser any questions during the meeting.
The meeting also featured a presentation about options for abatement that would reduce property taxes for debt service. Elizabeth Hennessy, a managing director for Raymond James, spoke during the meeting. Hennessy, who advises the district, provided a couple of options for the district to consider regarding abatement to reduce the district’s debt service extension.
Hennessy referred to 2023 reassessment growth of 5.93 percent, which would mean that a home that had a market value of $500,000 would now have a market value of $529,650. The district has frequently used the $500,000 figure as a benchmark, but Hennessy said she was now using the updated figure of $529,650 in referring to impacts on district homeowners.
The district’s deadline for a debt service abatement resolution for the 2023 tax levy is Feb. 29, 2024, Hennessy said. She noted that debt service payments include all outstanding bonds. She said that in the 2020 tax levy, the board approved what she described as a rather large abatement of nearly $3.2 million to district taxpayers. In 2021, there was no abatement, while in 2022, there was an abatement of about $970,000 for debt service.
Hennessy said that if the district provided no abatement for debt service in the 2023 levy, the district’s 2023 debt service payments would be about $16 million. If the district provided an abatement of about $630,000, the debt service payments would be about $15.4 million. She said that with that abatement, the owner of a district home valued at $529,650 would see a reduction of about $39 in their district portion of taxes, from about $7,514 to about $7,475.
New website host approved
Board members voted unanimously during the meeting to approve, pending legal review, a contract with Apptegy to serve as the new host company for the district’s website. The contract with Apptegy includes a three-year commitment with an option to renew for an additional two years. The remainder of the current school year will include the migration of content, building the website and staff review. The district’s goal is to fully launch its updated website in time for the start of the 2024-25 school year. The district’s annual contract fees for its current website have been about $40,000 in each of the last four years. The district could reportedly save about $18,000 per year in its deal with Apptegy.
Middle school schedule approved
The board also voted unanimously to approve its 2024-25 middle school schedule, which includes 55 minutes daily for English Language Arts, along with 55 minutes daily for math, 55 minutes daily for science and 55 minutes daily for social studies. The biggest shifts for the new schedule are that science and social studies instruction will occur daily during the upcoming school year. The new schedule will continue to include 40 minutes daily for electives. The district offers nine elective options to its middle school students, including band, orchestra, choir and Spanish.
District 205 Superintendent Keisha Campbell stated that while there is no perfect schedule, the district is doing its best to create and develop a schedule that closely aligns to the values of the community.
The board will hold its next regular meeting on Feb. 20.
