>> seems to be okay, but but to say you can only speak once, >> who said who said that? >> That that was not the citizens petition at all. Um and my my other comment too, and I know it have before, you had some maybe senior citizens who have a little trouble moving. If you're gonna end the comments, it shouldn't be who's standing in line. It should be is if there's anyone who wants to come up again, let's make this welcoming. Let's make this people feel like it really is the people's night. Hey, you want to come and talk about this? Can everyone get in line now? I'll give a couple minutes for people to get in line. >> Um, I just think we we I hate I I I know I keep saying this, but I think we need to do better. We we need to just really want to hear from the people that live here.
So, I'm going to ask Mr. Colour to um go to the mic for our do a little school partnership presentation. All right. Thank you. Uh on behalf of Mrs. Lopa, the dittle principal, and together with the board of ed, it is our great pleasure to recognize Sarah Lefabe, a truly dedicated and valued member of the school community who has generously given her time and energy to Dittle for many years. As an an engaged parent, teacher, and committed PTA leader, she consistently goes above and beyond to support Dittle staff, students, and families. Sarah has faithfully served as PTA secretary for more than five years and is instrumental to the entire PTA board. As a teacher in the building, she helped strengthen the connection between the school day and PTA initiatives, ensuring communication, collaboration, and partnership remain strong. She spearheaded the picture this program, leads the VIP and me dance committee, runs the PTA website, oversees the sixth grade yearbook and promotion ceremony.
So, >> I mean, I think it's I think that's a fair thing to do. If we can't do it legally, we can't do it legally. But I'm not sure about that. I just know that's what I was always told. The bond council sets it. It's not the board or anything like that. And it's not even our attorney. It's >> bond council, which is outsourced by the town of >> And I don't disagree. There should be some transparency there and what they're voting for and how much it would potentially, you know, impact their bucket. >> Yep. So, >> the only the only question I have on that is literally when that ballot Yeah. like as it expands it just too much. >> That could also end up being overwhelming. >> But I I mean generally yeah I think it it makes a lot more sense to have that information maybe if nothing else than like on that the 8 and 1 half by 11 the green or yellow sheet we get a vault >> something like that even if it's not on the ballot where people are voting >> just an early awareness I feel like that's >> goes home.
>> Yep. Go ahead. >> Um and it might be more for Ken. Will there be an opportunity for a virtual for the board event meeting. >> So I I I actually have that coming up here in a future slide. So uh this one will not be recorded or streamed. Um but we will have uh some translation devices that will be providing real-time translation and we will have sound through a portable PA system. So we'll be having the pretty much the the experience of of a board meeting won't feel very different in the room. um except that we won't have it we won't have it streamed or recorded. >> But do we have enough microphones? That was a concern that brought up at the last meeting. >> Yep. We uh were able to use a lot of the ones that we had at uh Beaver a few years ago.
Um and if districts can't necessarily provide that they can sustain themselves um there's going to be a lot of scrutiny and a lot of eyeballs um looking you know to kind of make some of those changes. So, um, >> and we're in a weird spot when it comes to that because >> when they talk about regionalization a lot, they talk about districts that are that are less than 600 students because there's a lot of districts in the state of New Jersey. There are some districts that have like three students, believe it or not. >> There's some districts that have zero >> or have zero students. Um, and so we're we're weird because we're we are we have more than that obviously. >> Um, but we're still small, right? And so we're kind of in the middle. We're stuck, >> you know, um just trying to survive with what with what monies that, you know, we we get.
We used to be in the school's health insurance fund. It is a private insurance program alternative to the state employees health benefit program. We left it so we no longer collect a shift dividend. That dividend is gone. That was a one-time source of revenue. We used to balance our budget with excess surplus. The difficulty in that is excess surplus can go away. If you're constantly tightening the belt due to S2 reductions and reduced state aid, eventually you're not going to end a year with excess surplus. That year for us was the last year. We had $3.5 million the year before. Last year we had none. And last year the state said, "Hey, Eve Sham, if you take all of that tax levy incentive authority we're going to give you and you take every dollar of it, we're going to give you over $700,000 in addition to your tax levy.
MEGAN'S DONE GREAT THINGS within our uh swim program, our water polo program, all state level competitor, all state level recognition uh before school and after school uh but during school as well. Uh just is the most exemplary of exemplary students uh earning the highest level of grades in the most rigorous sequence of courses. I think her GPA is pushing 5.0 so it's in the 49s. Uh truly impressive. Uh, but the leadership with Megan is palpable. I work out in the fitness center at Samberg every day before school and sometimes the swim team is in there getting a little bit of their workout in in the fitness center as well. And just by seeing Megan sort of interact, lead uh her teammates is truly inspiring. You get a sense of what she does um in connecting with with her peers and connecting with their fellow athletes here at Sandberg.
>> Say that's >> She's trying to give you a try this. >> Thank you for all that information. Any questions? Any other questions, Alex? Or Lyn? >> No, I don't have any questions.
Um and and that's really, you know, I'm kind of going back, but when we had a work session with our staffs together on a waiver day, that was really the point, one of the main points of that session was to realize that not everyone can get what they want out of a schedule because when you take from one spot, you're you're giving to another and vice versa. And so that was one of the key points that we wanted to come to everyone to leave with like, oh wow, yeah, everything impacts something else. And um it's a it's a huge puzzle to put together to build a schedule for um schools of 13 and 1100 students. So when we say some class sizes I'm just trying to go back to the reference you're saying that you know with more periods with more electives with more choices naturally classiz and we're making those uh projections and we won't really know exactly until we've run that schedule through Skyward actually seeing you know how all the schedules uh end up right but um projecting those numbers we've got uh we're looking at classizes much lower and we're looking at some class sizes that don't look much different.
And since I've lived here, I don't think I it's very rare, like totally rare, if someone says something that maybe they probably shouldn't say or need to say. In general, people get up, they're very organized in their thoughts. And I was organized. I had written everything down. And I don't know, I I I just don't think there's a a place for it. Oh, and of course, I just reminded myself um listening. So, maybe the beginning of the 90s or so, I saw a course at Birmingham State and it was called listening and I the forgotten skill. So, I went to it because I said, "Well, you know, I don't know, I I know about hearing, but not necessarily listening." And it was probably one of the best classes I've ever taken. And uh this is an awesome book uh by Matteline Burley Allen and we it was like a bunch of arborists, me and a couple other people, and we she did all these activities.
In addition, she serves as chair for the end of the year party and is currently leading the launch or actually we just had our new bingo event at Dittle which she chaired. Whether attending every PTA meeting, planning and chaperoning beloved events such as the spring dance and trunk or treat, volunteering at the ice cream social and book fairs, or stepping forward whenever extra help is needed, Sarah brings enthusiasm, organization, and heart to everything that she does. her unwavering commitment, generosity, and school spirit have made a lasting impact and meaningful a lasting and meaningful impact on our community. We are deep deeply grateful for her leadership and proud to recognize and celebrate her this evening. On a personal note, I've had the privilege of working alongside Sarah on the PTA board at Dittle for the last six years, and I can firsthand second the sentiment of her deserving this award, both inside the classroom and as a parent volunteer.
>> Yeah. >> Clearly happened this past referendum is that there wasn't enough sufficient information. There was a lot of information just not digestible in a very short amount of time and then they had to go to the polls and actually make a decision. So those are just some things that came out. >> Yeah. Okay. Going a little bit more. Go. >> Um Norton power equipment $100,000. >> Yes. >> What is the power equipment? >> So I have let me see. >> And just sort of talking about buying their own mowers and stuff, right? >> Yeah. It's mowers, snowb blowers, walkbehind blowers, battery powered backpack blower. I can get you more information on those. >> I feel like this is part of NextGen building community already. So, >> yeah. And these are we had this discussion. Yes. >> Yes. So, I would say these are placeholders if it's not approved at NextGen.
We bought some supplemental microphones uh because we didn't have enough at the time. So I think we bought Kenny, what was it? eight more that we bought that were wireless. So, we can take that whole unit and and it's portable um and set it up in a different space. Uh and then we have a small portable PA system with speakers that we're going to plug into. And then I I I found a few more and bought a few more uh mics just to have kind of around the room, whether it's, you know, one at the staff tables uh or or to, you know, just to cover the rest of the board members. So, um everybody will have a mic in front of them and it'll be wired through the the PA system. Yeah, Wanita. >> Um, I think this is either a question for Louisa or for Carara.
So, um >> yeah, it's a topic of conversation for sure among the >> it's been everywhere. It's not just been in the BAS. I mean, I know that Adam's association has had um a lot of conversations and they're trying to, you know, pull together information to be able to go up to the state um levels and kind of say, hey, like this is not working and this is why it's not working. um you know, kind of get those people at those levels that are making those decisions without really understanding the um dynamics of each district to kind of maybe take some things into consideration that we're seeing. Um yeah, it's it's a frustrating time and like I said, everybody in my county VA meeting yesterday was just like they were like, "This is the worst it's been in a very long time." Um and they're not they're not wrong.
That's great, but we then had to apply $710,000 towards recurring expenses, and that was a one-time source of revenue. That is gone." And then we we face challenges uh with our miscellaneous revenue category. We have a loss of rental dollars this year. It is uncertain from year to year and we don't know how much we can generate year-to-year in our club and activities revenue. We're down in that category as well. So these are revenue constraints. They're structural. They're ongoing and most of them are outside of local control. Just to highlight the state aid predicament for us. Again, I said $ 38 million in cumitive uh total state aid loss. You can see that number on the left. That was throughout the seven-year implementation of S2, which was implemented fiscal year 2019. For us, until the state resets us back to our funding levels pre2, we will absorb $7 million in losses every single year.
I think she's uh if you've been to a swim meet, they kind of do a cheer ahead of time and there's like a eagleish type noise. I won't do that. That comes from uh from the team right before for a meet and I I think Megan's kind of done that. But com combining hard work, dedication, and a little bit of fun and connectivity uh is something that she does and uh that's why she's earned her status on IHSA all state academic team. So once again, round of applause for Megan also a new athletic award that came to our state this year. It's my pleasure to um to introduce tonight a new senior recognition award. This is from the Illinois Athletic Directors Association. It's called the IADA Academic Allstate Recognition. This is just for a select group of seniors statewide who exemplify both excellence in the classroom as well as in athletic competitions.
Any questions, Brett? >> So, no other questions. I entertain a motion to adjourn. Before we adjourn though, I guess good luck to the boys this weekend. >> Yes. Yes. >> Some mistakes. It's >> exciting. >> I couldn't wear green. >> Do what? >> They couldn't wear green. >> So, was that >> there's some community upset people upset about that? Yes. So, >> I mean, I heard there was a >> one of the things with it was the it kind of got it got got rolling over the weekend before we had had a chance to sit down and discuss it and a little bit of feedback once we get to definitely semi-state and state for our entire fan base to not have green. That's not our school color. You know what I mean? It would it would be a different feel and stuff. And so part of it was we didn't want to have community fan members who were like, "Do I wear green?
Um, but when we look at a core classroom, um, we do have, you know, additional opportunities for those honors classes that, you know, especially honors math that we're needing to look at a little differently next year. And then, um, we're seeing a lot of bright spots. >> You think this will help the class sizes in those core classes? >> For sure. Well, you're talking when you look at the core teachers at middle school central alone, you're talking in the mid30s adding another section 30 some sections to all the core classes across the >> so at least within the course we should see measurable reduction >> and then are you also saying there kids not able to take advanced classes because of >> yeah so there's a a new law requiring us to um automatically enroll uh students who score above proficient in math on iLearn and make a C in their class and so there's some nuances to that but we want to make sure that that our schedule provides those opportunities as well and so that we have the appropriate so the current structure is all those kids opted in and wanted to stay in we don't have the structure to be able to take all of those kids And but but having that opened up instead of being just there two teams at each but it's kind of a little bit different but but it creates that opportunity because we have to allow them to >> opt in for that if they meet the criteria that Davin was talking about.
She was absolutely fabulous. And it was clear that we weren't listening even in the listening class. But I really learned, you know, h there's a diff listening is actually an acquired skill and I think it's one that's definitely in short supply in the town because when we go to say something and we're shut down, I was told at one point, as I recall, that there I they were disagreeing with what I'm saying. But I I get my couple of minutes and then there's a disagreement with me instead of just listening to me. >> So did have you seen you've seen some of the Hopkins town meetings and I noticed on their citizens comment their policy again process and policy is they don't comment live. They come back the next meeting and give a response. Now, I'm not quite sure how that all works with like open meeting law.
Not only is she the epitome of the incredible teachers that Cheshure is lucky to have across the district and what makes our district so great, but she's also one of the most involved parents that I've ever met. um Dittle School and the PTA as a whole are far better off because of her. So Sarah, it's been a great pleasure working alongside of you and you are so deserving of this award. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Congratulations again, Sarah. Our next item of business would be audience participation. If there are any audience members who would like to speak, please go to the mic, state your name and address. I also want to note too that this um speaking information will be made available. Thank you, Miss Fitzgerald. Um on our website so that the public is well aware of why we have the audience section, how much time is allotted for speakers.