Um, congratulations to all the swim and dive boys and good luck at state. >> They are cleaning up. [laughter] >> Swimming up, I should say. >> Uh, oh, OS students were the champions of the autom automotive skills competition hosted by the Wabanzi Community College automotive technology program. The team scored a total of 329.5 points out of a possible 450 points in timed stations that tested their automative skills. Congratulations. >> Wow. >> Uh at the recent Southwest Prairie Conference journalism competition, Asiggo High School took fourth place and Asiggo East High School won. OE has been the conference champions every year since the program started, making this their sec making this their seventh consecutive title. Best of luck at sectionals and congratulations to both teams. >> Brian Cronin, head athletic trainer and athletic training and driver education teacher at OS, won two awards from the Illinois Athletic Trainers Association.
Um, and to see them in an after-school activity with our general education students is really something special. Um, so it's uh my favorite part of Fridays is to see them in the in the office collecting all the recycling with the general education students. So it's really special. And then the spelling bee that's run by Lisa Sparks and um Alisa Lamb. And so they organize it and then host the spelling bee and then they um help our students off to the regional tournament. So thanks to them. And then stage crew, is that you Blanca? Jackie Ardopoulos runs stage crew. She is not here. Today's Violet's birthday, so happy birthday to Violet. Um, so stage crew is really all about everything on the stage with the musical and it's awesome to see these kids super excited about doing this. Um, and they work really hard after school and amazing on the stage when you see the changes that happen in between scenes.
um because especially as mid July to late July hits, we start seeing a lot of movement, a lot of students enrolling either in our district or enrolling in other districts and leaving our district. So, we'll see a lot of that at that point.
Uh, this is we're just doing a 360 fly around. on the entire exterior. But this is just another view just from the south or from the north looking south. And uh just a better view of this retaining wall and the parking lots on this side. And that's Garmong's trailer where where the magic happens with Jim. Um and then this is the school side. Uh this is the threetory school uh side. Um uh just wrapping up the exterior skin. The air and vapor barrier uh is the gray stuff. And then we got the black um with the flashing going around. This part up here is just where the rooftop units will be going. Um we've got those in a couple other spots. Uh we'll break this down into the different areas. Um so this is look more of a a close-up shot of the event center.
And in fact, even with billions of dollars surplus we have as a state, they're reducing that. So, um, this does not bring us back to even breaking even. But, well, while we're on topic, can you give us and anyone that might be interested a refresher on who we're required to offer preschool to? >> So, we have to we're required to offer it to any student who has an IEP and is required to provide services for them. What we've committed ourselves to you, the board has committed yourselves to over the last six years is to providing that typical peer um opportunity so that students aren't only the students who have five or have IEPs, but that we can have typical peers in there with them. And that's that's what we're trying to accomplish with this. So, and I think we're all gathering the same information that you don't want to price anybody out of this system because of what you're trying to accomplish by having a group of peers to learn together, but at the same time, we're only required to offer it to the students with this.
Do you have a two-way radio in the cafeteria? So, if your food service staff need some assistance, they can make a call and and and and get do that. Do people know what to do in certain types of drills and everything? So, it's we try to get as many perspectives as possible. And oftentimes the kids give you the best perspective. students. While adults think we need to be doing searches and weapons detection and all this, the kids may say, "Well, the bathroom, if you supervised the bathroom in the back hallway a little bit more, it would just" and kids weren't vaping somewhere that I'd feel a little bit safer. So, sometimes it's sometimes it's a little less complicated than sometimes we as adults tend to look at it. I want to open it up to any other board members that had a comment and then and then a question and I actually typed it out but I won't just read it.
And then I did a survey at the end as well. and all of it was overwhelmingly positive and everyone felt comfortable moving forward with the >> What about training? >> So, what's that look like going forward? >> As soon as we have the approval, um I've already have a date um that we talked with the team about doing right after at the end of school doing a half day training. They've already kind of done training with our Amplify representatives when they've come and done um some work with them on the digital platform. But we have a half day plan for that and then they'll also get some additional time in the summer to do curriculum planning. Um and then we have options for next year too to have some like midyear training uh once they really dig into it. >> How the teachers feel about that >> about the training?
Hearing none, let's vote on this motion. While we're voting, Dr. Duggets, do you guys provide transportation at the high school or is that on the students behav? >> We do provide transportation, but a lot of students do drive as well. So, it's similar to the normal school year where we get a little bit of both. >> Cool. Thank you. That motion passes 6. Moving on to C6 2026 summer band. >> Mr. Peters, >> Dr. Dots, if you'd like to go ahead and share um about summer ban for 2026. >> I would. Uh the the quick and easy description is no change. We are standard and status quo from several years prior to this. Um, as you may know, our band is a very intense uh program and they really have to capitalize on the summer time frame because like a lot of activities and sports, they start right away.
That's the the cumulative value of the real estate in our township. Um and it's always good to see that increasing. Uh not every uh location in the state, school district in the state has that and we have a great strong uh total assessed valuation over 7 billion dollars in total assessed valuation. Um it increased uh by 6.8% 8% this year. And then there's a second uh AV rate and that is for our referendum as that's exempt from our property tax caps. That that number is a little higher and um is just over 8 billion um at this time and increased by 7.7% this year. Those are great things that that helps to keep our tax rate down. Um, again, back here on this first slide, you can see the actual budget from 2025, the advertised budget that was approved by the board back in the fall, uh, for 26.
So we're we're looking forward to it'll be a great time and that's all I have tonight. >> Thank you very much. Next up is governing board updates. We'll start with board member Destich and we'll work from right to left. >> I have nothing but I would like to congratulate Preston McDonald and the Valley Vista High School choir. They were incredible. Thank you. >> No update. >> On uh February 9th, I attended the Surprise Elementary School with uh teachers, staff, parents, students, and the administration. We received a lot of positive feedback about the school and I want to thank principal Joanne Wick and assistant principal Jessica Torres for great a great visit. On February 12th, I went on the Daart district community bus tour to visit three Daart schools, Sunset Hills Elementary, Mountain View School, and Shadow Ridge High School. I want to thank Principal Andrew uh Gresel Greel from Sunset Hills Elementary School for welcoming all of us.
I coordinate with the Young Hearts for Life office on the formalities. I manage the procedures leading up to the day. Many of our volunteers have done this throughout the years. They come back because they see say they feel appreciated that their district makes them feel appreciated. As you can tell, I am a team player. I'm also on our orange frog committee. Fun fact, both of my daughters work at the school. As a matter of fact, one of them just took the girls bowling team to state. First year as head coach, she stepped up to be the head coach. Otherwise, Downer's Grove South would not have been represented. They would not have had a bowling team. This is how we are. We will step up and help out. So, as you can see, we all play an active role in the district and making this district what it is.
Congratulations to Brian for earning the IATA impact athletic trainer award and IATA Educator Award. Impressive. [cheering] And last but not least, Christopher Djinsen, senior at OEHS, has displayed excellent German language proficiency through his time in high school. Recently, he achieved high recognition in German through a globally recognized credential, a first for the school. Congrats, Christopher. >> That's it. That concludes my >> Great. >> I appreciate that. Um, I do want to say that, yeah, I encourage everybody to reach out to the principal and I'm I'm surprised at how often you're on the phone to be honest. Um, and uh, engaging with our community members. Um, so um, appreciate that as well. Thank you. >> And there are no public comments today. So 7.1 opportunity for the public to address the board of education unless there's somebody out there um that intends to No. Okay. We will move on to 8.1 student board member report.
It's all because of these kids. So amazing to them. Tech crew is you Ashley, right? Ashley Zokos. Yes. So, this one is me. Um, I do help out uh with tech crew. Uh, tech crew, we actually have our biggest group we've had yet and it's really exciting because we they actually help like run the equipment. Um, which as you can imagine um is a task in itself to teach these kids like how to like use it properly and train all them and show them all the different ways to do them. And sometimes I feel like they teach me as much as I teach them. Especially with some of the things we're working with cuz um when we had like our new um soundboard last year, I remember things where I was like, "Well, I think you know how to do this." And they're like, "Wait, Miss Bzie, this is how you actually do that." I was like, "Wait, how did you do that?
And if the board has any questions, I'm happy to answer those. Dr. Thomas, I just had a question about the um Kerry Junior High. It's um saying the presentation is saying the total student number would be estimate 9002 and that seemed really high. Uh the last enrollment update I believe was like 785 or something around that number. Are we like ant are we anticipating more enrollment or >> I believe they're currently I don't have the numbers for this current year with me right now but I believe they're in the 800s right now and um the with the group going out being smaller than the group coming in that's where we see the enrollment go up. >> Okay. >> We can double check though. No, it's I'm just wondering because that would be a huge increase as well, but there are also three additional programs in addition to the gened.
That's the nice looking brick that's got the archways in it. and glass is going in. Uh the gray area is where metal panels will be going. This is the interior of the event center. Um this is all brick here. Um and it looks really nice. Um continuing with the archways in there, but this part is the furthest along it. Um well this part right here is where I'm pointing is the um divider track for the divider wall that will go in. But they've got all their duck work, mechanical overhead, uh plumbing all all within the walls. Uh drywalls going in and finishing. So finishes are getting started over in the event center. Uh this is the what we call the mural curtain wall up at the top. Um that is where the uh big mural is going to go that we saw in the very first picture.
>> Correct. I mean that's you know you hear hear about the raises and you know um and you ask the question directly are we a zero some games no we're not even at that point yet it is important to understand >> as we continue to look at the fiscal impact of things that are coming out of the state house we're going to have to continue to align ourselves as a district with the overall plan where they put their value as which means there could be additional changes coming. One last followup because I'm not sure I heard it or if I missed it. What was the determining factor on going from three days to four days? So we have this extra time. Thank you. >> Other questions or comments? >> Would that Mr. Jean Fman would that increase the staff cost there? >> No, they're already there.
But thank you for being here Dr. Trump. Really appreciate it. But you know I know all the members of the board are really concerned about safety and security and really about datadriven decisions that generally enhance that safety and security within our school system. uh you know I really am interested in understanding how proposed measure measures including metal detectors including metal detectors fit within a layered security model what measurable impact that will have on actually reducing uh risk within our organization. So kind of with that in mind, if you were advising a district our size with limited resources, what three safety investments statistically provide the greatest risk reduction and where would metal detectors rank on that list? >> Let's start with the the last part and work back. And the data is going to depend on each district and in each school. So, one of the things if if we had a template to fit all, uh, we would, you know, we wouldn't be here.
Yeah, >> I think the experience that we have with the representatives that have come's been very thorough um given lots of examples and we had a parking lot for questions to for him to address our concerns. He's an educator puts pushes into some good hands-on knowledge on how it implements. Um, also been very straightforward about our questions that dig deeper into, you know, how certain things blend, what grammar, language writing. Um, and so he provides the, you know, the support, what's what's embedded in the program, but then also, you know, just application. >> You take us to the top, >> I think. So, I would say here's what I would from just having let's see this is I think year three is year three that we're looking to seek. So I'm seeing kids that are stronger in those areas than they were a couple years ago.
They do summer band camp and also partner with the middle schools to create a cohesive 6 through 12 program. Um and so again, similar and actually the exact same as previous years, there's a request of four stipens for this each at $2,000. Um although there are um names attached to it on the proposal. Those are simply to indicate who have filled those positions before. Um the staff will be set similar to other summer school positions um after spring break pending background checks and all of those things. Um to be transparent, um we would expect that our two high school band directors are a part of that. It would only make sense. So we would expect Mr. Pedock and Mr. Walters to be two of those four um as they oversee the entire program. The other two positions, I guess you could call them free agents where they will help work through that process with my uh guidance and also approval at the end of the day for board approval.
Um, and then to the far right, you'll see where the actual budget came in, uh, across our education fund, debt service, uh, retirement, uh, pension bond funds, our referendum, and our operations fund. So, this first slide has to do again with the, uh, authority to spend. That is our budget. The next slide goes to the uh rate, the actual tax rate. You can see last year's rate um over on the far left at a $11259. And then if you go to the far right, this year's rate actually decreased a little bit. We're down to $1877. That is driven primarily by that increase in AV. And then on the last slide, we will look at the levy. Um you will see that there is no levy for the education fund that's driven by ADM as you know u but there is a levy uh that's the actual money we expect to receive from the state across those funds and we did see an increase uh a slight increase this year in levy and that amount was flip the page um 2,639,455 is an increased levy from 25 to 26.