Amboy School District receives top Financial Profile Score from the state

By Bonnie Morris, Editor
Posted 10/30/18

AMBOY – Amboy School District’s annual audit was approved by the board following a report presented by auditor Ryan Steines of Winkel, Parker & Foster, CPA PC. Reporting at the Oct. 23 board of education meeting, Steines said the district’s financial records for fiscal year 2018 were all in order. Steines then gave some highlights from the report.

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Amboy School District receives top Financial Profile Score from the state

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AMBOY – Amboy School District’s annual audit was approved by the board following a report presented by auditor Ryan Steines of Winkel, Parker & Foster, CPA PC. Reporting at the Oct. 23 board of education meeting, Steines said the district’s financial records for fiscal year 2018 were all in order. Steines then gave some highlights from the report.

* Financial profile summary - Issued by the State of Illinois, District 272 received the highest score possible (4 on a 1 to 4 scale). The financial profile indicates strong financial health in the areas of fund balances, expenditure to revenue, cash on hand and the amount of long-term debt.

* Property tax receipts - A total of $6,843,000 was collected during fiscal year 17 and the tax levy that year was $6,909,000. The 2017 tax levy is $7,141,561, which is being received in the current fiscal year and ends on June 30, 2019.

* The district’s total operating expense for the year ending June 30, 2018 was about $8,075,000. Divided by 653 students, the estimated operating expense per pupil is $12,355, a slight increase from $11,742 per pupil the year prior.

* Outstanding bond is $1,978,000. Steines said the district’s legal debt margin is a little over $17,562,000, so they are well within the limit.

* Tax rates have been pretty consistent over the past three years with only a slight increase.

*The ending total fund balance as of June 30 was $8,474,000.

SUPERINTENDENT & FINANCIAL REPORT

Superintendent Joshua Nichols reported on some maintenance issues. The first occured at Central School where cracks in boiler #2 were discovered. Nichols noted that the same thing happened to boiler #1 last year and said it will take about two weeks to get the parts and have the cracks repaired.

Faulty fire alarm sensors caused several false alarms at Amboy Junior High. Nichols said there were false alarms at night and also one during the school day. “We have been able to get the sensor fixed and so far, it’s going well,” he told the board. “I want to thank Mrs. Schamberger for coming in late at night to help.”

Nichols said the fire doors at the junior high are still not working, however. Both the fire alarm company and an electrician have tried to determine the cause of the problem but neither could find it. “We’re still trying to figure out what happened,” he said. 

PRINCIPALS’ REPORTS

Amboy High SchoolPrincipal Janet Crownhart congratulated Mary Thompson, who is the October Student of the Month.

Curriculum and School Improvement

* The Building Leadership Team met on Oct. 2 and 23. Building leadership discussed students of concern and last year’s SAT data. The Clippers, Set Sail! Team focused on students of concern, field trips and the community service day.

* HopeSachs,JessicaColemanandMeganBusattendedtheJostensYearbookWorkshopat Highland Community College on Sept.13.

* On Sept. 14, Ms. Rose took the anatomy students toSauk Valley Community College (SVCC).

* Mrs.ArellanoattendedthePASSmeetingatSVCConSept.21tohelpwiththe development of the Transitional MathCourses.

* Ms.MillsattendedaworkshopatSVCConSept.27tohelpwiththedevelopmentofthe Education CareerPathways and on Sept. 28, Ms. Drew went to a workshop at SVCC tohelpwiththedevelopmentofthe Agricultural CareerPathways.

* Mrs.BulferandMrs.CrownhartattendedtheStudentBehavioralThreatAssessmentatSVCCon Oct. 12.

* ParentTeacherConferenceswereheldOct.19and20.

School Activities

* Ms.Drewaccompanied11studentstotheSection2LandUse/SoilsCDE onSept.19.

* MargaretVaessen,NastasjaVaessenandAshleyAlthausattendedtheIllinoisFFAElite Conference inBloomington on Sept. 20.

* Sept. 17-22 was Homecoming week with the theme “Game On.” Activities included a Powderpuff Football game, dress-up days all week, a Skit Night and crowning of Evan Bickett and Emma Bickett as king and queen, parade and football game on Friday and the dance on Saturdaynight.

* Mrs.CrownhartattendedtheIHSAnewadministratorstraininginBloomingtononSept. 26.

* OnSept.28,ClippersSetSailarranged forstudentsto providecommunityserviceatthefirestation, TeenTurf,cityhall,KreiderhomeonHawley,MapleCrossingNursingHome,TwigsandSprigs,and CentralSchool.

* AmboyhostedtheColumbusDayinviteatShadyOaksgolfcourse onOct.8.The event included 45 teams and 600finishers. The Amboy fresh/soph boys team placed 2nd.

* Sophomores and juniors took the PSAT 10 on Oct.10.

* Mrs. Cleary took 20 students to the Figge Art Museum, Davenport,Iowa.

* Clayton Kemp attended the state golf meet on Oct. 12-13.

Building Activities

* A fire drill was held on Sept.17.

* Crownhart thanked KirstenDonnaforremovingtheoldpicturepaintedintheteachers’lounge.

Principal Andrew Full, Amboy Junior High

Curriculum and School Improvement

* Full attended the IESA Athletic Director’s Workshop on Sept. 7in Bloomington.

* On Oct. 15 and16, Full and a team from AJHS attended CPI (Crisis Prevention Institute) training provided by OCEC (Ogle County Educational Cooperative) in Byron.

* Teachers were given time on Sept. 24 to work on curriculum, mandated trainings, andcollaboration.

* Full attended the principals’ meeting presented by the Regional Office of Education (ROE) at SVCC.

* The Sept. 25 faculty meeting included discussions on SLOs, evaluations, confidentiality, minimum grade for self-paced students, TeacherEase questions, fire drill, gum chewing, and bringing book bags to class and on Oct. 10, they discussed Grandparents’ Day, Honors Night, entering grades, SLO’s/evaluations, mandated trainings, and uploadinggrades.

PBIS

* October’s character trait wascourage.

* The 1stQuarter Celebration was held outdoors on the footballfield Oct. 17. Students were able to participate in various activities and students who did not receive any discipline during the first quarter were given a drink and popcorn.

School Activities

* Basketball is underway with coaches Chris Payne, 7th grade and Jeff Christoffersen, 8th grade.

* Cheerleading has started with Mrs. Foster as sponsor.

* AJHS PTC met Sept.19.

* At the home volleyball game on Sept. 27, the first winners for student attendance at events and the “Super Fan” of the game were announced. The winners received a T-shirt.

* A fire drill and tornado drill were held on Sept.18.

* Full congratulated the junior high’s first faculty/staff recognition winners, Stacey Dinges and AdamSurufka. They were chosen by vote of faculty, staff and students.

* Pep band has starting performing at home games.

Principal Joyce Schamberger, Central Elementary & Pre-K

School Improvement

* Parent Teacher Conferences were held Oct. 18 and 19.

* Lindsay Spinelli, district school nurse, and Schamberger attended the annual Crisis Plan Committee meeting with Nichols. All staff was reminded to be vigilant about keeping all doorsshut and locked. Plans for district wide Law Enforcement Drill weremade.

* Kindergarten teachers uploaded the KIDS assessment on Oct.16.

* Schamberger thanked Amie Wiseman for helping to update report cards with the current standards for grades K-4.

PBIS

* Central School held their first quarter celebration playing “Minute to Win-It” games in the classrooms on Oct. 18. Afterward, fall classroom parties were held.

* Student of the Month certificates were presented during an all school assembly on Oct. 15.

School Activities

* The 4thgrade won Best Attendance (98.6 percent) for the months of August and September. They received a snack from the kitchen paid for by Central PTC.

* All students visited the Amboy Fire Department and the Smokehouse on Oct.5.

* Preschool students had their fall field trip to Anderson’s PumpkinPatch on Oct. 15. Kindergarteners went to Tanner’s Orchard on Oct. 24.

* Schamberger said Central School held a very successful Book Fair in October and thanked everyone who supported this event.

* Picture retakes were Oct.16.

OTHER BUSINESS

* The board approved participation in the Lee Ogle Enterprise Zone Resolution.

PERSONNEL

Following closed session, the board approved Sarah Land as a full-time rotation and science teacher at AJHS (effective Oct. 15), Chris Payne as 7th grade boys basketball coach, Kelly Foster as AJHS cheerleading sponsor, Adam Surufka as the fresh/soph baseball coach and Amy Schwamberger as AJHS accompanist.

The board approved three bus aides, Bettina Garcia (effective Sept. 28), Marge Becker (effective Aug. 29) and Lora Berogan (effective Oct. 24) and accepted the retirement resignation of Betty Thompson as bus aide as of Sept. 27.

The next regular meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13 at Amboy High School.