By Chris Fox
For The Elmhurst Independent
The Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board held a meeting on Jan. 8 at the District 205 Center, 162 S. York St. All seven board members attended the meeting.
There were no public comments.
ILMEA All-State students recognized
The board recognized the 24 York Community High School students who had earned All-State recognition from the Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA) for the 2018-19 school year. The students will perform at the ILMEA All-State Convention and Festival in Peoria later this month.
Bill Riddle, York’s performing and visual arts division chair, noted that the students who received All-State recognition will spend three days at the festival in Peoria. He described ILMEA’s All-State selection process and said the association has nine districts in the state. York is located in District 1, a highly competitive district featuring about 75 high schools.
Two employees named ‘Shining Stars’
The board also presented its Shining Star Award to two district employees. The honorees were Martha McGreal, the lead secretary at Edison Elementary School, and Jan Dolan, a technology support specialist.
Update on middle school reorganization
Mary Henderson, the district’s associate superintendent for learning and leadership development, joined Mark Cohen, the district’s assistant superintendent for innovation and growth, provided an update about the implementation of middle school reorganization in the district. The update noted that band, orchestra and choir now take place during the school day for sixth graders. Cohen noted that the retention rate for band and orchestra students entering sixth grade this year is nearly 100 percent, as nearly all of the students who were involved in band and orchestra in fifth grade have continued this year. Cohen said there are 168 band and orchestra sixth-grade students in the district during the current school year.
Additionally, world language is now an option, not a requirement, for students entering middle school. Henderson said over half of the district’s middle school students are opting not to have a world language experience. According to Henderson, about one third of the district’s sixth-graders are currently enrolled in accelerated language classes in either Spanish or French.
Referring to changes upcoming in the 2019-20 school year, Henderson and Cohen stated that band, orchestra and choir will take place during the school day in grades six, seven and eight. One more change in the next school year will be the option for seventh-graders to opt in to pre-algebra classes.
Annual audit reviewed
The Jan. 8 meeting also featured a brief review of the district’s annual audit. Klein Hall CPAs of Aurora prepared the audit for the one-year period ending June 30, 2018. Andrew Mace of Klein Hall CPAs spoke during the board meeting. He said the district’s general fund is about 40 percent of one year’s current operating expenditures. Mace said the district needs a significant fund balance to be prepared to react to what he referred to as “curveballs” thrown by the State of Illinois. One of those potential curveballs, said Mace, is related to other post employment benefits (OPEB). That term refers to benefits for certified employees in the period from the time they retire until the time they are eligible for Medicare. Mace said he was concerned the state could stop providing OPEB funding and push the responsibility back to school districts.
Update on master facility plan coming soon
Superintendent David Moyer told the board there would be several meetings in the upcoming weeks related to the district’s master facility plan update. Moyer said district staff would continue to update the board and the public throughout the design and construction process. Moyer said that Todd Schmidt, the district’s director of buildings and grounds, would meet with the district’s architects and construction team on a weekly basis.
The board will hold its next regular meeting on Jan. 22.
