So, >> It is actually developing the taste for that. It is our own kids it it took time. But now they are there. It it's a it's hard, no question, but if it is parents, if it is community leaders, if it is few student champions, right? And governmental agencies, legislature, everybody working together to be able to address this issue. Only then we will make a difference. I give you that that everyone wouldn't ever comply or or eat You know, we all have our issues. I will let you know though if your program is kind of trying to be funneled through the Department of Education, I would have concerns about that. But thank you, Chair. Yeah, and we are working very closely with the department on the regional kitchen, the new recipes that we have created now. Um I hope that it will make a difference.
Uh, on the 26th, we raised over $3,600 uh for the BEA scholarship. You can applaud that. That was pretty good. That was pretty good. Uh, that's a team effort and it speaks to what makes this community such a special place. its commitment to public education and our students. Uh, peace, love, and bulldogs. Good night, and good luck. >> All right, Holly, public comment. >> Yes, we have 13. >> Okay. All right. Welcome to the meeting of the board of education. If anyone wishes to address the board this evening, please see our reporting secretary to submit a form, as many of you has done. Please put your full name and address on the form. In general, the board will not answer questions or engage in dialogue during public comment. This does not mean we do not take your concerns or comments seriously. The board values active community participation in the district's endeavors and encourage you to engage with the district using appropriate channels and systems designed with your input in mind.
We continue this work with all of our staff this spring and into next school year. Goal three in the work forest, I think it's really important to note that our schools exist to serve our students and the families in our community. That work would not be possible without the dedication and effort of our staff on a daily basis. As leaders, we're committed to supporting a positive workforce by listening to staff, providing relevant professional learning, and recognizing the impact they make. We are working to regularly create opportunities for staff to share feedback through team meetings and surveys, or even just to make time in the moment to have a conversation. By gathering feedback and input, we're able to celebrate successes and also identify areas for growth. We take that feedback to our leadership team and team leaders to work together on solutions, build consensus, and then adjust our practice.
Um we're very excited. Keith's going to speak about this too. We've got our first AP course that's offered for freshman uh starting in our CT department, AP business and personal finance. We have three sections of that running next year. We're very excited about that kind of start for that class. Um our fine arts department keeps growing. Um we despite having drops in numbers, we're we're adding uh eight more sections to our our fine arts department. Five in music um two in theater, one in visual arts. Um AP music theory is running for the first time in a few years on our side of town. So we're very excited about that. Um in PE in particular, we we've got our first year of EL health, which was uh a need that we saw um because we were running a health 200 program, which was servicing two groups, but not as well as we think we could have.
And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. One question on the transportation claim that you got money from. Is the percentage that that the state is giving us on that claim less than last year? >> It it is. Um however, it is more than what I budgeted. Um I was anticipating a a 20% cut in transportation funding and we we came in um less of of that. So, it was more of like a 5 to 7% cut rather than a 20%. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Shepard. I'm guessing the the 1.5 million that are coming due at the end of the week that we're going to turn that liquid to start paying for the stuff or are we going to >> At this point, I think we're going to be able to reinvest that what we have liquid on hand, I think, is going to cover uh what we currently owe for any upcoming costs.
I have another three days." You know, like, "Okay, don't ask me who my boss is. I just said that right now. Don't tell my principal." And they're like I'm like I did you thought you huge huge favor. And they're really good. Majority of the time they're really good. But we it it's these Oh, I left it in the car. Oh my gosh, they they left the door open and it flew out. Like we've heard it all. We I mean I've been in school since '04. I have heard it all. >> [laughter] >> The dog ate it. How how early can someone get a physical and still be legit? Yes, they can get them right now. Physicals are good from So, let's say August 18th of 2026 is first day of school. I apologize, don't have it memorized yet. I'm still worried about this year. As long as that physical is dated August 19th of the 2025, we are good.
But truly, I just want to say thank you for leading the way in this state. >> Thank you. Wow. >> And again, I I do want to thank those nine teachers. It's one thing to have your colleagues and and people that you've worked with throughout um your career here to come in and look at your practice. Thank you to our principles and administrators um for the training and uh being open to this. Um but it's another thing to ask for complete strangers across the state and open your uh classroom to them. So again to those nine um spotlight classroom teachers, we thank you again. Um again, we are strengthening and if you don't know this gentleman right here, take a look. Uh and so uh as we as we've stated in the past um with the prekk pilot program um we we are a one of a few um districts that have been involved in that.
Okay, item C6, SBOA audit results. Yes, so the State Board of Accounts concluded our audit and we had our exit interview last Monday. Scott attended as a board member. Um we actually had pretty favorable results. There was a couple of audit findings on some minor issues with um oh reporting through the special ed co-op.
Uh we have our book fair, which is always a great thing. I know the primary's book fair is coming up. Game time when Miss Amber does some games, they love them. They get wild out there. Recess, we have loved our new swing sets this year. The kids usually fight over them. Uh so, we have to have a lot of lines and a lot of patience. Um and then she added to some more things we've been doing. We have loved having second grade in our school, Mrs. Gamble and Mr. Stump. They are wonderful additions and we love having them at the elementary. And this is just the last one. We have been doing great this year. I There really is no stopping point of what we've been doing together this year and pushing through all the challenges we've had. We've had a really good year this season.
Um, we have four out of six students. So, six students six third graders didn't pass and four out of those six, they have scores in the 300s in the high 300s, which means they are so close. So, with remediation in the spring, we're hopeful that we'll they'll help they'll pass in that summer window, which could be in as early as May or after summer school remediation. So, very excited to get those kids there. Um, and then as I said, second graders [clears throat] they can be in three bands. The lowest band is at risk and it's a pretty substantial um, score range for that for that red category. So, how that works it it kind of makes me a little bit grumpy how the state has it structured, but at risk is very big, on track is very little and then passing is very big.
Um you know we we give them some personal finance uh instructions. Um, but really their junior year is focused on what makes a great manufacturing team member within the four walls of Amcore. Then their senior year they come back and they have an opportunity to work on the plant floor and earn a wage. And so, uh, the kids are very excited about that. You know, they they get on on the floor and they, you know, they go through a number of rotations in quality and manufacturing um, and a number of different areas of the business, all to give them exposure and real life work experience, uh, day in and day out. And I would tell you, you know, at the end of the program, the experience that they've got and the leadership skills that they've earned, it it takes some of our new hires uh years to learn some of these things that they get in this 2-year period with our crew.
Um, a lot of educators don't feel that that is appropriate for all seventh graders and so to try to push that on the whole group. Um, it just didn't sit well with a lot of us. So, we gave feedback to that. So, they changed that to in seventh grade they can earn a success indicator by completing a graduation plan. This is typically done in eighth grade before high school, but we're going to push it down to seventh grade, do some career and college exploration in seventh grade, and have them start working on that plan um for high school. And then in eighth grade, that's where their high school credit will be a success indicator. We may have some outlining students who take the high school credit in seventh grade. We've had some students in math who maybe took algebra in seventh grade. that will go on to their eighth grade calculation.
So, we don't wait until the summer. So, we've already started today but making sure that we're working with students who unfortunately didn't pass. We had successful Round 1, to be honest with you, but we want to make sure that we're working with our students. So, even ahead of summer school, we're making sure that we meet their grades. I just I know that it is so imperative that parents understand um that their children attend. So, that's more of just reiterating for anybody that may be listening or does look at our notes to make sure that they understand the critical nature of attending. Cuz I'm sure, as we know, research shows that if they do attend, that they have a much better likelihood of passing. So, it's very important. Um and then Ms. LePlant, CCDF um for um summer school or for summer programming, aftercare, we do accept that.
Again, that's part because they're partially they're they're low enough that they're partially within the uh estimated seasonal high groundwater table. Um GCG asked that we provide additional notations on the drawings to ensure water tightness of those. So, we installed some uh additional notes based on our personal experience with these installations and from manufacturers recommendations to um again I think I mentioned at the last hearing these sheets of impermeable liner are huge. Um you know they probably cover the whole floor of this building. Um so it's unlikely that a single sheet won't cover the bottom of the surface basin or fully wrap the subsurface basin. But if it does uh we in we included notes that um the two sections have to be overlapped and a water se uh watertight sealant or tape be uh a two-sided tape be installed between the overlap or a singlesided sealant tape be installed on either seam to ensure water tightness.
It shows the breakdown of teachers, adjustment counselor, principal, admin assistants, IAS, building base, subscial staff. So, you're going to see that for all of our schools flowing forward and what it takes to run here. So, this is just the line item chart. If you go to the next one, you'll see positions allocated by role. Um, doing at AAL, you have one principal, one admin assistant, one custodian, six preschool teachers, one special education preschool teacher, 6 adjustment counselor. That means we have somebody who goes there. Call that, you know, three days a week. preschool IAS nine regular education IAS four and a building base sub one so your total positions of at the bottom it's a little cut off there of 24.6 six for that. If you can see the total FTEES for that building so that we run through that for every school. I have no problem, you know, running through it.
Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Real quick. So, I'm reading your testimony. So, you said 13 positions are gone from food snap or the Ed Ed snap. Is that what it is? Snap Ed. So, based on that I I would assume you're that's that's how the genesis of the 12, right? That you're asking for. Um it is actually quite a bit repackaged. It includes our forest youth development program because now we want to take that program to inside the school. Okay. So, yeah. But but what if you get some of the Snap Ed but money's back? We put the 12 and onto the general fund and then the money starts flowing again. Is there any overlap? So, only overlap would be our four community nutrition associate jobs. Only four of those. The approach that we are taking here Snap Ed at the federal level is no more.
Board members are not involved in the day-to-day operations of the district and cannot engage in district business individually. If you have specific questions or would like further engagement with the district, you may submit your questions using the link on the website and the appropriate staff member will communicate with you. Thank you for coming tonight. And Holly, would you please call up our first >> Yes. Thank you, President Meadows. Speakers will be called up in order of form submission. The first form received the first person invited to speak. When your name is called, please come to the podium so that you can be heard.
This year, we introduced bite-size professional learning during building meetings, where staff members or administrators share brief, practical strategies that can be implemented in classrooms the next day. Topics so far have included strategies to strengthen mathematical reasoning and ideas to support vocabulary development and oracy. This spring we'll continue this by incorporating tier one behavior strategies, co-teaching structures, and best practices for creating inclusive environments. Uh at Forest, the staff members are highly involved in our school. They serve as club facilitators, healthy focus guides, uh tutors, family event coordinators, and even leaders of staff-led committees and celebrations. All of this strengthens our school community while often creating new opportunities for our students as well. We also intentionally recognize staff each week through our weekly newsletter about the flyer with shout-outs and monthly awards at our building meetings. For family and community connections, we maintain regular communication through our weekly newsletter for our school news.
It was servicing students with IEPs and EL students. And what we've done is separated it so that the students with IEPs will go into co-taught health 300 classes. And now our EL students will be serviced more directly within an EL health class. We're going to run two sections of that next year, and we think we're going to do a great job with it. Um our science department continues to see the PLTW courses, the Project Lead the Way courses are still drawing students in. We we did not see a reduction in those at all, even with the drop in the number of students. Kids are loving them, and the teachers are doing a great job bringing kids in. Our AP psychology, which this year went to a full-year psychology course, went up from four to six sections next year. Um and we're incredibly excited about that.
Um, so I'm going to try to continue to invest these funds uh for as long as possible until we absolutely need them. >> Awesome. Awesome. Just one quick clarification too on that slide. Second second CD down has a purchase date and a maturity date that are the same. I'm guessing that's a typo. The east CD third coast at 3.57%. >> Yes. Gotcha. >> It is. We will uh we will make sure that's correct in our next month. Thank you. >> Okay. I'd just like to note that board member Hartman has joined at 6:24 p.m. If there's no further question for Mr. Shepard, may I have a motion to approve the treasures report as presented? >> So moved. >> Okay.