Western Springs School District 101

Board President Mrs. Caitlin Sendaydiego, welcomed everyone to the Board’s March meeting. She noted we had one public comment attendee this evening.

Board President’s Report

Mrs. Sendaydiego welcomed and congratulated the students to be recognized and celebrated this evening, including our standout and award-winners from our Band and Orchestra programs as well as our Math Olympiad teams. She noted they would be recognized in just a handful of minutes. 

Finally, President Sendaydiego shared that she was pleased to announce the Board’s plan to approve the new five-year teacher’s contract that had been negotiated with the Western Springs Education Association. She thanked the WSEA leadership who was in attendance this evening, noted the Board’s pleasure with and excitement for this new five-year agreement, and additionally shared that Association membership had recently ratified it with a strong 97% support approval. She shared that the Board would formally vote on the new Agreement later in the meeting during Action Items.

Superintendent’s Report

Entering Kindergarten Cohort Numbers

Dr. Barnhart shared with the Board that our entering cohort numbers for next year’s kindergarten class decreased slightly from last month. He noted that if school were to start tomorrow, this group’s numbers would be: Field Park - 42 students (down two students from March), Forest Hills - 31 students (no change), and  Laidlaw - 45 students (down three from last month), for a total incoming cohort of 118 students. He went on to say that these figures often change between now and June, but then they generally level out from June until the start of school. He also shared that the Board will continue to get regular updates at our upcoming monthly meetings. 

Band and Orchestra Students

Dr. Barnhart introduced D101 Band Director Dawn Fiebrandt and Orchestra Director Hannah Andrews who introduced our student instrumentalists who placed at the recent IEMA competition plus who have performed exceptionally well across the year. Each student received a warm applause as they stood in front of a packed house in the McClure Library.

Math Students

Dr. Barnhart introduced D101 math specialists and coaches Heidi Hanner and Lori Lubera, as well as McClure Principal Laura Broadnax who took turns introducing members of our math teams who placed first, second or third (either individually or as a team) at multiple local math competitions. Each student received a warm applause as they stood in front of a packed house in the McClure Library.

Action Items Approved by the Board

The Board approved the new collective bargaining agreement with the Western Springs Education Association, effective 2024-25 through 2028-29 school years.  

The Board approved the hiring of several certified staff, effective for the start of the 2024-25 school year. They are:  Katie Leslie (McClure Math), Lisa Graber (SpEd Resource at McClure), and Jack Zator (SpEd Resource at McClure).

The Board approved the non-certified hiring of Tracey Stilley as a .2 FTE nurse for 2024-25.

The Board approved the release of Closed Session minutes from September 2023 through February 2024). 

The Board approved the elimination of Closed Session recordings from May 2022 through October 2022. 

The Board approved the leave of absence of Molly Washburn for the start of the 2024-25 school year. 

The Board accepted the retirement of McClure Head Custodian Jim Wolf, effective May 24. They thanked Jim for his twelve years of dedicated service to the students and staff of McClure!

The Board approved a transportation contract for the 2024-25 school year with First Student, with a premium renewal of six percent.

The Board approved a three-year lease with Apple for new iPads for our primary grade level classrooms. The iPads will be in students’ hands for the start of the new school year.

Additional Items Discussed by the Board of Education

The Board discussed the following issues:

• The Board briefly discussed a parcel of land that may be coming up for sale that could be of long-term use for the District. Drs. Barnhart and Coffey informed the Board that they believe more detailed information should be available prior to our May Board of Education meeting. 

• The Board briefly discussed an on-going issue with the Western Springs Park District pertaining to the user fees.

• Dr. Coffey and the Board discussed a proposal that the District administration has pursued to provide us with a third-party assessment of our current strategic management systems and their effectiveness. It was agreed that the timing of such an external quality audit made sense, especially given the impending leadership change that will take place this summer. Dr. Coffey noted that the external audit will be comprised of two very efficient measures and procedures, with the initial segment being a survey of key D101 stakeholders. The second phase will entail a deeper dive set of interviews with those stakeholders. Both of these can/will be accomplished prior to the end of the current school year. 

• Drs. Barnhart and Coffey provided the Board with an update on the proposed Paid Leave Ordinance awaiting a vote from the Cook County Commissioners. The short of this update is that the bill, once thought sure to be amended to exempt public school districts and park district personnel, now is very much in question regarding that amendment. If passed, this Ordinance would create 1,200 new paid days mandated of D101 if each of the PTO days are accessed, creating an unforeseen, and non-budgeted annual deficit of $300,000 for D101. We have opposed this Ordinance formally with the Cook County Commissioners, as the requirements would supercede agreements we already have in place with our staff. The Commissioners are likely to vote on the proposal in January 2025.

Past Board Briefs