November 18, 2025 at 7:00 PM - Board of Education Meeting

Description: 
Our Mission, Beliefs, and Values

Board Agreements and Protocols

Vision 2025 Strategic Plan

 IASB Code of Conduct 

Description:  This is an opportunity to welcome guests, make announcements, and share Board correspondence.

The Board received a FOIA request from Justin Wenig.

Description:  This week we celebrate American Education Week with our teachers and staff, and also recognize each of you for School Board Members Day. There are no words to describe how much we appreciate our awesome Board and staff this week and throughout the year. Thank you all!

Since the last meeting, we have recognized Christine Marcinkewicz and Katie Doyle in honor of Principal Appreciation Day, Sara Zimmerman in honor School Psychology Awareness Week, and Sarah Leganski in honor of World Occupational Therapist Day. Additionally, teachers Mary Carlo and Jenny Kirkpatrick were both recognized by colleagues for their exceptional teaching.

At this meeting, we will be welcoming our boys cross country team top athletes and their parents, along with coaches Scott Kondraschow and Sarah Leganski! This includes State Qualifier Decker Kuntz, Sectional Athletes Decker Kuntz, Connor Jackson, Charlie Robinson, Rian Green, Rayan Patel, Arjun Patel, Arman Kahn, and Veyden Patel, and Conference Top 7 athletes Decker Kuntz, Connor Jackson, Raiy Patel, Shay Patel, Charlie Robinson, Rian Green, and Rayan Patel.

Description:  This is the first opportunity for any guests to comment, per Board Policy 2:230.

Description:  The consent agenda allows for approval of routine action items together in one motion when discussion is typically unnecessary. Upon the request of any Board member, a consent agenda item can be withdrawn and placed on the regular agenda for independent consideration. Questions in advance of the meeting are appreciated in the event any background information needs to be obtained.

Description:  Christa Romaniszak submitted a notice for leave of absence for the upcoming birth of her child. She will be on leave from December 1 through March 11. We provide planned leaves of absence as an informational item for the Board.

Description:  Following are the financial reports for this past month. We have combined the Cass and Concord activity fund reports into two pages under one link.
 

Description:  This is a heavier month due to planned bond principal and interest payments totaling $968,200.75. Please reach out with any other questions on the bills.
 

Description:  The Illinois Report Cards have been released and we plan to review some key information during the meeting. Following are the links to the individual report cards for District 63 in general, as well as Cass Junior High School and Concord Elementary School for your information. At the meeting, we will review our 2025 School Report Card Highlights presentation.

Description:  This year’s Tentative 2025 Tax Levy Proposal is based on an increase of 3.32 percent excluding bond payments, which should ensure that we capture our CPI increase of 2.9 percent. As always, we also built in a small cushion for any new construction. My estimate for the final extension with our planned debt service included is closer to 2.78 percent. Assuming the Board is good moving forward, the 2025 levy that will be presented for final approval in December is far under the 105 percent of last year’s extension, so there is no need for a truth in taxation hearing.

Each year, I also provide an explanation of our levy, as well as how property taxes work, through the Questions and Answers About Local Property Taxes. The information as it pertains to our district is found on pages 12 - 15. This will also be posted on our district website and shared with anyone interested.

Description:  This is still in draft form at the time of writing, but we will update the link with the final 2025 Audit and Annual Financial Report once provided by the auditor. It will also be posted on our website and will be provided to anyone with questions. The good news is the audit confirmed our ending FY25 fund balances, and we had no findings or concerns expressed by the auditor.

Description:  The 2025 Resolutions Committee Report is provided for discussion regarding concerns with the committee recommendations prior to Urszula voting at the Delegate Assembly. If not, she should be all set and have the green light to vote accordingly. As we have discussed, it is a pretty minimal report this year that is mostly focused on recommended constitutional changes.

Description:  While I continue to work with the architects behind the scenes, some of this planning had to be pushed aside a bit with the time required to run our own search. I will share a few updates on the planning and next steps, as well as finalize the application for another $50,000 Matching Maintenance Grant. If approved, this would be another offset of our Phase III costs, and we have been on a role just focusing on what projects are likely to get funded.

Description:  Congratulations on a great search process! The Board had had a superior slate of candidates, it was a top tier search process, and you all did an excellent job bringing it home. As a colleague, I believe that Dr. Travis McGuire will do an outstanding job and will be the right leader at the right time for Cass School District 63. Following are some things we need to touch upon during this closed session.

New Superintendent Contract - At the time of this writing, the three-year contract is in the hands of the attorneys. We expect a fairly quick turnaround and this link will be updated to the final contract once available. This on schedule to be approved at the December 16 meeting, and Lana and I can answer any questions.

Potential Transition Contract - While not an immediate priority, I shared with Lana and Steve the potential consideration of a transition contract for Travis. I anticipate the next six months will be very positive, but it is also extremely time consuming. While I can manage this as an embedded part of my job, I would recommend that the Board consider for Travis a 10-day transition contract to formalize the time he will spend over the coming six months, including time away from his current position. While Travis didn’t ask for it and I didn’t either, this is something the Board did for me when I came on board, and it was beyond appreciated considering the amount of time spent. It does not have to be anything complicated and we will seek language from counsel, so for now we are just looking for consensus to move forward with planning. Approval would come at a later date.

Announcement Timeline - While formal approval is not scheduled until December 16, the Board has made its selection and I would recommend that we consider announcing Dr. Travis McGuire as superintendent the week prior. Technically, his contract has to be posted in advance on the web prior to approval anyway, and I think it would be very positive to announce this to our staff (he is going to be their new boss, after all) and our parents and school community.

I am thinking something like December, with a special message with his press release and bio. Between now and then, his contract would be finalized, all legal background checks completed, and it lessens the risk of word somehow getting out, especially once Travis informs the necessary people in District 99. Not a huge deal, but I thought it made sense and would be positively received. Travis is already good with this as well, if it is what the Board wishes to do.

Staffing and Succession Plan - I’ve previously shared some of my vision for transitioning future role changes, including the replacement of Cathy Fisher and Deb Dolehide. Even though she was likely to go out with me, I have verbal agreement with Cathy to stay one more year. Every candidate I spoke with was very happy to hear this, as it is critical with the changes we are implementing with student services and MTSS. This third and final year will allow Travis to determine the specifics of the role for the next student services director, which I believe needs to be a full time beginning in 2027-28. There are many other things several of us do that are not going to be sustainable for new people, and this position can absorb some of that.

Deb’s position is a little more straightforward in terms of hiring a full-time person to replace a full-time person. What needs to be determined is (1) specific qualifications for the role; (2) what specific tasks will be assigned to this individual; and (3) how much overlap is needed to ensure a smooth transition. Obviously, this will be the next superintendent’s call but there are aspects to this change that are important for the Board to be mindful of and I will share more on this at the meeting.

The bottom line is you have three very experienced people who are about to be less experienced, so we want to have a central staffing framework in place to support Travis as you look forward. Part of this is keeping in mind that some of the people hired will likely go beyond his tenure as superintendent. Travis will rely on me with where we are now and the framework for future plans. Knowing the Board is also supportive will give him the confidence to make adjustments and formulate his own recommendations one year from now when role development and recruitment will commence. That will come quickly!
 

Description:  This is the second opportunity for any guests in the audience to share public comments, per Board Policy 2:230.

Description:  This is the opportunity for Board members to share any comments, as well as to announce the next meeting date, time, and location.