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DeKalb County, Illinois |
Minutes of the
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PRINTABLE DOCUMENT
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DRAFT
November 5, 2012
The Health & Human Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, November 5, 2012, @ 6:30p.m. In the Administration Building’s Conference Room East. Chairman Stoddard called the meeting to order. Members present were Ms. Allen, Ms. DeFauw, Mr. Emerson, Mr. Metzger, Sr., and Mr. Tysone. Others present were Ms. Donna Moulton, Ms. Vicki Broos, and Mr. Derek Avery.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES It was moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Mr. DeFauw, and carried to approve the minutes from September 2012.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA It was moved by Ms. DeFauw, seconded by Mr. Emerson, and carried unanimously to approve the agenda.
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION UPDATE – MS. VICKI BROOS, DIRECTOR Ms. Broos said that they are a three-county office, including Boone, Ogle and DeKalb Counties. They are now looking at hiring a consumer educator. Ms. Peggy Doty still oversees the Energy and Environmental Stewardship at Russell Woods and at the schools. Ms. Doty oversees Ms. Connie Handel, who works at the Natural Resources building at Russell Woods. The community can find all of this information on their website @: web.extension.illinois.edu/bdo/. Ms. Broos pointed out to the committee that the monies that they receive from the County (Forest Preserve Department and the Public Health Department) is included in the $126,000.00 (see sheet attached to these minutes). The committee thanked Ms. Broos for a very informative update. REGIONAL SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS ANNUAL REPORT – MR. DEREK AVERY. Mr. Avery said that either the Regional Superintendent or the Assistant acts as secretary and non-voting member on some cooperative boards or committees and maintains the official records and minutes of those meetings. Some of those programs are mentioned in his report. The Regional Office of Education assists teachers seeking an Illinois Teaching Certificate, and it keeps on file. During the 2011-2012 school year this office issued 211 new and 18 duplicate certificates, and registered or renewed 1,636 teachers’ certificate. Many of these were for substitute or in-active teachers. The Kishwaukee Intermediate Delivery System (KIDS) is the professional staff development arm of the Regional Offices of Education for DeKalb, McHenry, and Boone/Winnebago counties. ROE’s have 5 mandated areas of professional development. They are technology, school improvement, administrator academies, gifted education, and fundamental learning areas. During the 2011-2012 school year, KIDS offered 52 different professional development opportunities, in which 233 DeKalb County teachers and administrators participated. They are looking to fill three openings on their board this next year, Mr. Avery said. Mr. Avery then spoke about the Truancy Supervision Program. It is called the Truants’ Alternative Optional Education Program. The DeKalb County Truancy Intervention Program (DCTIP) was funded through a grant from the Illinois State Board of Education and was administered through the Regional Office of Education, with the Assistant Regional Superintendent serving as DCTIP Director. Truancy outreach workers Christine Underwood, Cathey Stoddard, Denise Curran and Mary Curran, worked with truant students and their families to improve attendance by providing early intervention services, acting as liaisons between home and school, referring children and families to various DeKalb County service agencies, and coordinating a credit-recovery program. During the 2011-2012 school year, DCTIP provided services to 265 truants, 62 chronic truants and 288 potential dropouts in DeKalb County. Ms. Allen asked Mr. Avery if the truant numbers are going up? Mr. Avery said that the State Legislators changed the law on truancy and chronic truancy. It used to be the 10% rule of 180 days (18 days absence qualified as a “chronic” truant) and starting in August 2012, it is now 5% of 180 days (9days). He feels that they will probably see those numbers double now due to the change in the rules. His office is working hard with the schools in the County and they try to help the truants as soon as possible. Ms. Allen asked if the parents were cooperating. Mr. Avery said that they see an improvement in most of the kids that they see. The kids that could potentially go into the juvenile court system are the 62 chronic truants that he mentions in his report. Of those 62 kids he estimates half of those went to court. This is a parents issue. There has been talk about a truancy ordinance where the parents could be ticketed and the parents would need to pay a fine. Mr. Metzger, Sr., asked Mr. Avery that if his truant numbers double will his office be able to handle it? Mr. Avery said it will be a challenging time with that issue. Mr. Avery said that he had not only talked to the State’s Attorney’s Office about this problem, but also the Court Services Department. They are trying to see if they can add another step in the program before it actually goes into the court system. They are looking at other places around the country that are having tremendous success in their truancy programs. The committee thanked Mr. Avery for his informative report.
ADJOURNMENT
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