Macon Reporter

Maroa Forsyth Community Unit School District 2 Board of Education met Oct. 28.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

1. Call to Order

A. Meeting called to order at 6:30pm.

2. Roll Call

A. Wissam Hasnain, Matt Crawford, Brad Wilkey, Lindsey Wise, Lori Willoughby, Darin Duzan present,. Brandi Binkley absent.

3. Pledge of Allegiance

Presentations

4. Presented by the Education Foundation the Maroa-Forsyth Annual Community Celebration (Celebrating the Past-Present-Future), Saturday, March 14, 2020

A. John--1st Annual Community Celebration,. The Hall of Fame inductees have been invited to be there--teams, individuals and their families. The Wall of Valor have also been invited. There will be between 50-75 roughly in attendance just from those invitees,. It will be held at the Hic Golf Club. We are still looking for people to help plan it. We have a meeting coming up on November 18th at 6:00pm. Past focus will address what the Foundation has done in the past with an aim to help re-energize it. Present focus--we will have some students there to talk about what is going on now. Future--raise money to help support future endeavors/banquet. We are planning to have silent auction items to help raise funds. We haven't started this yet but will be starting soon.

The community will be able to buy tickets after Christmas, at the beginning of January. We plan to involve the students by having the Band and Choir provide music, FFA and Horticulture class make the table decor.

5. Recognition of Visitors and Delegations

A. None present

6. Citizens Wishing to Address the Board

A. None present

Learning & Discussion

7. Middle School & Facility Planning Update

A. John--Lindsey is on the Committee representing the Board. Lori and Darin have come to meetings as well. Brice, Kris and Carrie are at the meetings. I want to give an update regarding where we are at since making this a goal coming out of our Strategic Planning meetings. In April, we had 20+ at our first meeting. In June and July we held three meetings, We invited the community to come in. At the September meeting we had about 20+ committee members and 50 community members in attendance. We did broke out into groups and looked at and analyzed different options. Then, the groups reported out their discussion to the larger group and ranked the options. Items discussed included: more details and options, financial picture, borrow money - no taxes, money which involved raising taxes. The Trustee from Forsyth and the Mayor from Maroa will be meeting with John and Kris in October. Forsyth wants to donate the land. They have offered to ext4nd the Forsyth Sales tax 15 years beyond the 10 and help with the infrastructure. Lindsey, John and Kris will be meeting with the Village of Forsyth Trustees to find out more about what they are offering means. The information in the letter is open ended. We need to come to a consensus so the referendum passes when we get to that point. We will be sending out a survey to the community. We hope by November 13th to have come to a consensus. Hope to get Board to vote at the December Board Meeting to get on the March ballot to be voted on. It would be good to have you guys come listen so you know what's being said first hand. Currently the consensus is to add on to the High School.

B. Matt--Is Maroa reaching out also?

C. Lindsey--Land/Sewer already there.

D. John--Open, transparent, data, plan, process. Trying to avoid Forsyth versus Maroa and do what's best for the students keeping the location out of it.

E. Lori--Letter is non-committal. They may do this but not they will do this. We need to understand the motive about why this is just coming up. 

F. Wissam--It does seem very vague.

G. Lindsey--Why we're having this meeting with them.

H. Lori--Does the gift really make taxes go down?

I. John--The goal is to really figure out what the consensus of the community is for the school.

J. Matt--Can you update us after tomorrow's meeting?

K. John--Yes.

8. Charter Bus Guidelines

A. John--Nothing negative has been heard about the memo; pleased there is a protocol in place. We have protocol and a plan in place for charter bus use approval.

Action

9. Approval, Consent Agenda (Any item may be removed from the consent agenda by any board member.)

a. Approval of the Open Minutes for the Board Meeting & Budget Hearing on September 23, 2019

b. Board Bills of October 2019 c. Financial Reports d. Treasurer's Report of September 2019

Motion to approve: Matt Second: Wissam Discussion: Leo has nothing to report. Brandi added a few edits to the minutes; added a few things to what she said. All yes votes.

10. Approval, Resolution to Adopt eLearning Day Program as Presented

Motion to approve: Matt

Second: Wissam All yes votes.

11. Approval, October 2019 Personnel Report as Presented

Motion to approve: Lori Second: Lindsey All yes votes.

12. Approval, Establishment of a District Threat Assessment Team & Protocol

Motion: Lori Second: Darin Discussion: It is a new law all state schools establish a team and have a protocol in place. Our attorney advised we put this on the agenda so it is memorialized. Our two social workers are reviewing the protocol requirements. Discussion led to an update regarding the SRO status (School Resource Officers). The Village is willing to do an Intergovernmental Agreement if Maroa does the hiring. They are concerned if they do this, other schools within the district will also request the same amount of money. Maroa is willing to provid $100,000. SRO Training is the same for all SRO's. They come from all over the state to get trained. There will be proper job descriptions. There's no way we wouldn't be involved in the hiring and screening process. They would also have to have the type of personality to fit in within school environment; wouldn't be hired until next summer. All yes votes.

13. Adjournment

Motion to adjourn: Matt

All in favor. 

Meeting adjourned at 7:20 pm.

https://mfschools-net.s3.amazonaws.com/media/uploads/Approved-Minutes-from-the-October-28-2019-Regular-Board-Meeting.pdf