Iwinsky presented uh at the 2026 Illinois music education conference. His presentation was on conducting change evolving as a music educator. It is a privilege and an honor to be able to present at the Illinois 2026 music education conference. And as always, Mr. Iwinsky has represented Andrew High School as well as District 230 proudly. So without further ado, I'm going to introduce him so that he could share a little bit about ILMEA and our the accomplishments of our T-Bolts. They're welcome. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Offman. Yeah, very briefly, I had I was very uh honored to have the opportunity to speak and present at the conference. It was my first time doing anything like that. Um so I was very nervous. Um but it it was uh I was humbled to have a packed room. Um and it was uh on reflective practices, something that we talk about a lot here in D230.
Um, good afternoon members of four. I'm speaking tonight not just as an employee, but as someone who cares deeply about the children and staff of this district. Recently, I along with two other staff members experienced significant professional disruption due to communication that lacked clarity and professionalism. I'm not here to relive the situation. I'm here because of the impact. When communication breaks down at the leadership level, it does not just affect adults. It affects classrooms. It affects continuity and ultimately it affects students. I would strongly encourage the board to closely review staff surveys regarding workplace climate and leadership communication. If there are patterns there, they deserve serious attention. I also believe it would be wise to review and if necessary strengthen policies that promote healthy, respectful, transparent communication practices before significant operational changes are made. I ask that student safety and stability be thoroughly evaluated, i.e.
Uh, I I've already presented on the housing needs assessment and the development constraints, um, including at the at the public forum, which I think many of you attended, so I'm not going to go into any depth on those tonight, but of course, if you have questions for us, happy to answer those. All right. So, where did these ideas come from? We had the benefit of just working on the comprehensive plan. So a lot of the ideas are directly taken from the comprehensive plan. We really wanted to make sure there was very strong alignment with the comprehensive plan. We also held a public forum um both in person and online. We did a an asynchronous online version of the public forum. uh we did interviews as well as um preparing the housing needs assessment trying to understand with updated data from from what we did in the comprehensive plan housing needs we did look at previous local plans and then one of those of course was the comprehensive plan all right so now I'm just going to dive right into those five-year goals and I believe you all got a copy of the the draft plan in your packet could someone just say verbally because I can't see you is that true I think I think they were emailed out to everyone.
>> Evan Palmer from Bowman. >> Well, and that was I was going to preface that as well. So, at the bottom of the sheet does say Bowman, but it is with a heavy heart that I do announce that we did merge as a one-1. So, in the future, we will be going under the name PKFO Connor Davies. So if you see that come in as when you put out for your RFP RFQ, it would still be me. I would be the the partner in charge of the engagement. So when we do um put out for our auditor for next year, you know, that the name would be changing. So it wouldn't be Bowman Company. It would still be it would still be my name on the submission. So >> this was one of the last audits I did get to issue. So it was kind of a a special place in my heart.
Thank you. Sure you really rather be somewhere else, but thank you. You've always been here. Just making sure that we're always on TV on time. Thank you. Okay. Can the board come up so we can get a picture? Thank you. Just bear with us, folks. Thank you for bearing with us, ladies and gentlemen. Uh It's not every day that we do something like this, so I just wanted to um thank you for your time and patience. As we move on with the award ceremony, we are going to go to um recognitions of recognition and awards of first county all teams. Mr. Rexach, Commissioner Rexach. Mr. Rexach, before you begin, some of our coaches and athletes are also coaching tonight, so they may not be here, but for those who we're going to call, all their names, and for those who are here, please come up.
And um just kind of outlined what I do every year, every day, every week about um thinking about how interactions will go or what our students need at this present moment and how we can make the next year better. So as opposed to kind of doing the same thing every year, how do we evolve and continue to grow in our practice? That was my kind of uh thought process and it came from a question that I was asked about why is our program successful over time and I didn't know the answer to that. So I asked a student that just recently graduated and she said, "Let me get back to you on that." And then she wrote me a very long email um saying, "I think it's because of this. I think it's because of how you reflect and think about uh working through failures and things along those lines." And and she was very thoughtful about it.
proper medical certification in accordance with job descriptions. When decisions are made without careful communication and planning, students are the aren't the only ones who experience the are the only ones who experience the consequences. I say this not out of anger but out of concern and out of advocacy because the standard of professionalism we model for our staff is the same standard we ultimately set for our students to prepare them for when they will enter society. Remember that your teachers, counselors, and paraprofessionals are the ones who work closest with the youth of Jennings County. They are kind and decent people. Stop treating them as replaceable when they are valuable and loved by their students. Protect them and furthermore, protect our kids. As I reflect on my professional future, I believe it is important that I use my voice to advocate for healthy communication and student centered decisionmaking.
Right. >> Unfortunately, the select board did not we did it did not get forwarded until tonight. So for the select board members, this is new. I mean, not completely new, but >> Okay. Okay. That's good. That's good to know. >> All right. So, um, so the first goal, and although I I like to say these are not really in any order, we do like to try to think a little bit about the order, and I know that maintaining safe harbor is extremely important. So, we did put that as the first goal. um sustain the subsidized housing inventory above the 10% um benchmark. And that's something that we heard in all of the engagement that we want to keep ourselves above the 10% so that we have the local control that we that we want to determine what projects we uh we support in the future.
And you know, last time I saw this on on the sheet for it's been a little while. Um but tonight we are here to go over the fiscal year 2025 audit. Um the purpose of my being here tonight is you know we we doing the acceptance of the audit uh specifically reviewing the section of the audit entitled you know finance recommendations. Um our section of finance recommendations has been pretty consistent. We have one and it has to do with our um calculation of excess uh food service net cash resources. Um I am happy to to say that after this year's audits were filed and you know a number of schools have this which really what it represents is that our food service is making a little bit of money not a ton but it it exceeds the amount that they want to say that it is our three months expenditures.
Thank you. Good evening. Um we'll start out with girls cross country. Coach Is cross country here? No, okay. Um thank you. There's a personal connection because I was actually a a teammate with Alexis, so I'm going to call up first Alexis Smith. >> [applause] >> Yes, you're working, so I'm going to go with you today. Thank you. And then also uh from girls cross country, Samantha Rodriguez. >> [applause] [applause] >> So, next we have uh football. Coach Sink you is not here, correct? I think so. So, we have uh Aiden Romero. Is Aiden Romero here? No. We will get That's Aiden. Girls volleyball. Steven Alvarado. Is Michaela Francisco here? Okay. Girls soccer. Coach Amanda Griskenas. Elsa Schimpf. No. Boys soccer. Is Coach Lambert here? We have Michaela Datsik. Next is indoor track girls. Coach Colleen West. We have Jane Diaz, Michaela Francisco, Mallory Nickel, and Alexis Smith.
So I said, "That's got to be it." So, I kind of went home and went down a rabbit hole myself and then there we went. So, it was a really fun opportunity to do that. I was there with these great kids. Um, we had uh six All-State students this year. Um, Dash is over here. Dash Wilson played the obo in the All-State Orchestra. Ashton uh was in the All-State Orchestra with him as well on the trombone. Uh, Sophia Ciscato uh is over here. She was on the flute in the All-State Honors Orchestra, second chair in the whole state. Amazing flute player. Um, Anna Bellino uh was in the honors band. um played under the former marine band director. It's an amazing opportunity for her. Um Lucas Cordova was in the honors jazz ensemble and that was an amazing concert. He was just smoking on trumpet.
Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Helen, for coming tonight and sharing your thoughts with the school board. Um, the board does not respond to public comments, right? Um, your time is up. Just in time. >> Yeah. Wonderful. Um we don't re um respond to the public comments, but we do take your matters under adisement. Um so just want you to know that we um you know, again, it's part of our policy is to listen to you and um to thank you for coming. >> I have a copy of my statement. >> I have if you want to leave it with Deb right there at the end. >> I made 10 copies. There's one for each of you. >> Thank you. >> And it is the copy. It is the statement that I sent to HR. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Jen, I'm so sorry. May I just record this to my cloud as well really quickly? Julie was speaking. Sorry. >> Recording in progress. >> Thank you. Okay, perfect. Um, okay. So, maintaining safe harbor is the first goal in the in the in the draft plan and uh just forward. There we go. Also, you know, there are certain things um that we pulled out of the comprehensive plan. There are also things that the state is looking for us in terms of the guidelines for how to write these and luckily they matched. Um and one of them is unlock diverse housing choices. Uh proactively expand the range of housing types, sizes, and price points to meet the need needs of changing aging population. Um and so that may not be exactly how we worded things in the comprehensive plan, but it's in line with the type of goal that the state is is looking for.
It's a department of agriculture rule. Uh they they require that we we uh comment on it in terms of compliance for the school district. I think they're coming around a little bit on the fact that it's a little I won't say silly, but it's a little overkill to be putting it in as a finding as opposed to maybe just making comment or recommendation and then we'd be able to take it out so we can go to no findings. So that is pretty close to being uh set for next year. So next year I'm hoping that this one should be out. We'll be able to go back to none. Uh, a lot of this ended up generating from the the years when COVID was upping our reimbursement rates. We were getting extra grants. Um, you know, there was there was just a lot of revenues that we were generating, which isn't a bad thing.
>> [applause] >> Okay, so indoor track, we have uh Coach Colleen West. Uh Vladimir Klusik and Joel uh Vera. Or is that Are they here? They must be all busy tonight. Some of them are working, so let's give them a round of applause. >> [applause] >> And then finally, girls bowling. Uh Coach Alexander Beribrick. No. And the athlete is Sarah Zwibel. All right. Congratulations. >> [applause] [applause] >> Now, we're going to go over the recognition and awards for student of the month. I have the honor of awarding to the ninth grade December student of the month, Mustafa Ahmed. Is Mustafa here? >> [applause] >> Mustafa Ahmed is an honorable and dedicated freshman with a glowing passion in ELA, inspired by his eighth grade teacher, Mrs. Schwartz, who has helped him improve his uh writing significantly. Mustafa is deeply motivated by his parents and strives every day to make them proud.
It was super cool. Um and then uh Skelp was also in the honors band. He's on obo was in the honors band with Anna. And then Ashton and Sancelp also had a couple of their compositions um I'm sorry, Ashton and Dash, I'm sorry, had some of their compositions uh submitted. Um and they were honored as well at ILMA for some of their compositions that they wrote. Um which was really cool. So we had an awesome year at ILMA in Poria. Um it was very cold, but we had a good time and uh and they're just some amazing musicians. So uh let's give it up for those great students. Sure. >> So, yeah, absolutely. Uh, the question about what ILMA is, to anybody that's not sure, ILMA is the state organization for music education and every year they audition in October for the honor ensembles. There are nine districts in the state of Illinois.
>> Is anyone else present who would like to speak with any item on the agenda or not on the agenda? Okay. Hearing none, um we'll go down to old business. Yes. Okay. Um so old business, we have some policies to approve. >> Yes. Asking for approval of this group of polic Entertain a motion to approve policies. Motion by Mary Lynn. Do I have a second? >> Second by Travis.
Um goal three, secure affordability and stability, increasing the production and preservation. And this is really focused around more deeply affordable housing. So many of you may know that when you have a a a 40B comprehensive permit, the requirement is that they the development produces units that are affordable to um what what we call lower moderate income or 80% of the area median income. That's kind of the the top of the of the of the affordable um income ranges. But what we've actually found, and some of you who heard our earlier presentations may remember, is that it's really those more deeply affordable units that are much more needed at that local level in in Ashland. And um especially for households at 30% of the area median income and and under who could face risk of housing instability, cost burdens, and a lot of those are likely seniors.
Um, but you know, our ability to then spend and offset them just for food service. We kind of ended up with some some extra funding. Now, it's been dwindling down. So, this number's actually been going down. So, we are getting back to where we were a few years ago. But, um, that is the actual finding. So tonight for the the acceptance of the audit that is what we are required to review. Um before that uh I did pass out a single sheet everybody I think has it um on the front side there is a pie chart here that just kind of breaks down what our fund balance was as of June 30th 2025. Uh that that amount is 1,647,000. That is down compared to last year. Um you know last year we were at 2,531,000. Um, so we had a had a decrease of about 884,000.
He approaches school with maturity and a quiet determination. While he is still exploring his interests, he plans to attend college and is committed to building a successful future by himself. Congratulations, Mustafa. Mark Canales. >> [applause] >> Thank you, President Bassford. Good evening, everybody. December student of the month for 10th grade, Hania Alora. Hania Alora is an exceptional sophomore with a deep appreciation for the complexity of mathematics. She has been greatly influenced by Mr. Henry, who has encouraged her to be her best and push herself academically. Hania is an active member of Pre-Med Club, HOSA, Allied Health Academy, CSA, Interact Club, and NSHS. Inspired by her hardworking cousin, she maintains focus and motivation even during her challenging moments. She plans to pursue a career as a nurse practitioner or advanced practice nurse and is well on her way to achieving that goal. Congratulations, Hania. Are you here?