St. Charles City School District R-6

This document represents the 2022-23 Annual Budget for the City of St. Charles School District, serving as a comprehensive financial plan and guide for the fiscal year. It is informed by the District's mission to 'REACH, TEACH, and EMPOWER all students' and its vision for academic excellence, integrating the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) as its strategic framework. The plan is structured around five overarching goals: enhancing student performance, recruiting and retaining highly qualified staff, maintaining appropriate facilities and instructional resources, promoting parent and community involvement, and ensuring effective governance.

This document details The City of Saint Charles School District's Professional Development Plan for 2023-2024. It aligns with the district's Comprehensive School Improvement Plan, defining professional development as a continuous process for refining skills and expanding knowledge to support student growth and achievement. The plan focuses on five goals: fostering professional learning communities, increasing student learning through high-quality, research-based practices, making data-driven instructional and program decisions, providing effective new teacher induction, and supporting the overarching district goals outlined in the CSIP.

This District Parent Involvement Plan, developed in collaboration with district parents, aims to cultivate and support active parent participation to ensure effective teaching and learning for all students. The plan outlines strategies such as educating parents on their children's developmental needs, fostering partnerships with community groups, disseminating information on parenting skills, communicating engagement opportunities, and providing access to educational resources. It also emphasizes providing opportunities for parent input, offering professional development for staff on parent engagement, and ensuring instructional materials are accessible in comprehensible language.

The board meeting started with the superintendent's comments, celebrating the approval of Prop SCSD with 71.89% of the vote. The meeting included the swearing in of new board members, Daniel Huitt and Tammy McGrillis. Key discussion points included policy changes, the certification of election results, a board organizational meeting, consent agenda items, curriculum instruction resources, the designation of an MSBA delegate and alternate, bid proposals for new bond projects, a CIP plan, a preliminary tax rate, a meet and confer agreement, a community education program review, financial planning, and the investment of surplus funds. A significant portion of the discussion focused on the use of AI in the school district, including concerns about data security and academic honesty. The board also discussed and approved changes to the policy regarding informal no-bid contract spending.

The board meeting began with a welcome and recognition of Lincoln Elementary School's achievements, including the DESI 2020 Gold Star School Award and the National Blue Ribbon School Award. The superintendent expressed gratitude to the staff and highlighted the school's success. Other discussion points included a COVID-19 dashboard on the district website, the formation of a social justice and equity team, preparations for a bond issue, and recognition of staff members who completed a three-year STEM leadership academy program. The meeting also addressed the second semester learning format, a snow day plan, and a memorandum of understanding with West Choice, which was ultimately tabled for further discussion.