We had over 50 members qualify for state. Um, and we had 226 members in total. So, I'm super excited to see how DECA grows. Fortunately, this is my last year as our vice president, but um, this has been a great experience and this is something that I'm going to continue in college. So, yeah. >> Awesome. Awesome. >> Thank you, Ryan. All right. Next up, um we have a couple of recognitions from North um for athletics. So, I'm going to introduce Dave Rose, our associate principal for athletics. >> All right. Good evening, everyone. Uh can you hear me? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um good evening. Uh we have a couple of individual athletes uh from North that uh were honored with some all state honors uh as well as one that uh received some national honors. Um so, we're going to start. Um, I'm just going to introduce uh John Sipple, uh, Coach Sipple, and he's going to say a few words about a familiar face at this point, Philip Supio.
So, the green bars are the series 2026 bond issue. And then the next slide just shows you the numbers. So, again, this was as of about a week and a half ago. So, if we were to sell today, the the numbers in that column, that light blue column for your new issue, they would be a little bit lower because the market rates are improved a little bit even since we updated this for the board packet. So, you're going to be somewhere, you know, right in that that 1.44 million annual debt service payment for the life of the bonds. Maybe even better, but that's ultimately the goal that we have for your financing plan. Okay? And then lastly, just so you can see the timeline. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with all of you tonight and get you up to speed. You will have the parameters resolution in your board packet for approval next week.
And I mean our larger, you know, 3,000 and above uh school districts. So um that's what you're going to be seeing tonight with all of these different um things with the PRESS Plus and the policy manual. So I'm trying to clarify it all if there's some confusion. Thank you. And and our board policy that we went through, it was through October 25, so that got us current through October. So they come out usually maybe twice a year and sometimes quarterly. So there's a newer one that's going to come out that we're going to have to go through and there'll be amendments in May and June as those come through. This was just at that point in time when we started this process, we were working through Octobers. So there will be some adjustments probably coming through. Thank you. It's a living document. Right.
We have Mrs. Burgett. And we have Rita Deckard for all of our K-2 three meetings for Title. And then Mr. K and myself join in. And we started the year Well, I'm not going to jump there yet. And then we have department team meetings once a month. That is our admin, special programs, Miss Barr joins us, our speech therapy department joins, our nurse joins. Miss Thurston. Thurston, yeah. Counselor, school-based social or social worker, Miss Zimbo joins us. And we all sit in there and kind of bring everything we've got at data meetings with our grade level teams and to discuss those things that are coming up frequently or we need some more talk on it with our team. So, it's been really good. But we just we review our student data. We look at NWEA. We look at Amplify. We look at our state assessments.
Scott saying, "Hey, our representative is going to be here. Do you need any help? Do you need any support with any of this?" And Mrs. Scott actually gave me the opportunity to have two study halls. So, I had an hour and a half every single day just to work on those online classes and to make sure that I wasn't failing anything. It's It's been great, honestly. I I'm so grateful. Another thing that I kind of wanted to talk about was field trips. I've gone on so many field trips in the years since I've been at Central Grove. I've learned so many whether it's just little field trips down the road from Woolery to Mary Lee to just, you know, walk around the trails and see the nature of that. Um, or to the zoo. We went to Science Central, all these things. They've like sponsored my love for learning.
What makes Sarah especially invaluable is her instincts and intuition. As teachers, we can simply share what a student needs and she knows exactly how to deliver. Whether it's providing extra support, adjusting an approach, or offering just the right words of encouragement, Sarah steps in seamlessly. She makes our lives so much easier and allows us to better meet the needs of all of our students in our classroom. In a primary classroom, the role of a classroom aid is essential. These early years are critical for building foundational skills, confidence, and loving and a love of learning. Classroom aids provide the additional support that allows for small group instruction, individualized attention, and the flexibility to meet diverse needs. They are instrumental in helping us bridge significant learning gaps and often one or more grade levels behind and in supporting the kind and kind of academic growth that can make the difference between a student being retained or moving on to success and confidence.
Any opposed? It passes. Thank you. Okay. Next we go to Dr. Hoover, district spotlight. Yeah. So, tonight it is my pleasure to recognize three outstanding individuals who represent the very best of our school district. These educators were selected through a rigorous process that starts with a nomination. A committee of educators, community leaders, and business professionals review those. And there's an interview process and observations in the field. Uh these three were chosen not only for their excellence in instruction, but for relationships they build, expectations they set, and the lasting impact they have on students, families, and colleagues. They reflect what really makes us strong. Tonight we have with us high school teacher of the year, Maren Smith, from North High School. We have Andy Freeman, principal of the year, from Central High School. And the elementary teacher of the year, Holly Carey, uh is from McCutcheonville.
Star of the show right here. Um Kristen is our reading and come on up. Yes, sure. I'm the reading specialist reading literacy support teacher at Dodd and also the teacher of multilingual learners. And we want to thank you guys for giving us the opportunity to share our brief executive summary of our multilingual learner program review with you tonight. Um really just want to acknowledge the hard work of our subcommittee along with Azra and Kristen. We also had Pat Castle, who is currently serving as our district's multilingual learner consultant and Amy Russell, who is an ESL instructor at Cheshire High School and it was just such a truly collaborative experience and such a cross-section of different roles and experiences that really contributed to, you know, the work that we did throughout this process. Um you know, you're going to see how our work is really grounded in Cheshire's continued commitment to high-quality instruction and how all of our students, including our multilingual learners, are getting access to the same rigorous grade level content and learning experiences.
Furthermore, I think that to just kind of shorten up this confusion, I mean, I think we just need to amend the bill because it's very obvious that we have to pass bills to tell you exactly word by word, line by line >> [snorts] >> what exactly the department's roles and responsibilities are. So, now you're creating more work for us that we have to go back and we have to amend the bill and just keep it very, very concise that there is no renewing that anybody who's reading this says DOE has authority to create temporary positions with a term not to exceed 1 year. That seems very clear to me. But it's creating more work on our end. Now we have to go back, amend the bill to make sure that it's very clear. Um so I I I I find this to be a lengthy conversation where anybody reading this could see the intent, but you're talking to the people who supported this with the intent that it was going to not exceed 1 year.
And that's something that I saw common for a lot of people. And I'm going to kind of talk about what I think that means as we go into more. But he found that a lot. And then I talked about is this a problem? I asked him like, is that a problem that our school spirit's decreasing? He said it's not an actual bad thing because the culture is changing and the lack of school school spirit can be an identifier of what it is we can improve upon to ultimately bring these tangible things to light. And so he wants to increase school spirit. School spirit he sees as like you said wearing things out there. He wants people he he said that he wants to see a sea of patriot merch on Fridays because we always wear wear patriot merch on Fridays. implemented something called Patriot Fridays which is something we did where uh last Friday we randomly selected classes and we brought them donuts and if you had were wearing Stevenson merch you could get a donut and so cool way to try to increase school spirit um and it's something we are kind of playing with that are called pop-up events where we're not going to advertise them we're just going to come and it's going to be a surprise so you know communications may not like that but it's a little bit of a pop-up event that's fun so that's what we're doing he's trying to increase that school spirit that we talked about and he really see School Spirit as like the traditional kind of high school musical vibe, if you will, where it's like people need to like show up to football games, wear a bunch of merch, you know, go and just like scream Stephenson all out.
So um that our talent show is on June 3rd this year. So anybody's welcome to come on by and then also at the root of our resources really finding ways to provide additional assistance through tutoring. Um you can see Miss Herrera there meeting with students uh just being able to provide that additional support to students um whenever uh they need it. So this is before school and we also uh sometimes have some after school uh opportunities for students to participate in tutoring. >> And that brings us to the end.
Philip, you can come on up, too. >> Well, it's uh it's my honor again to uh uh be here uh recognizing Philip for uh winning the Gatorade cross country athlete of the year for the state of Illinois. Uh pretty amazing accomplishment and uh Philip is going to graduate uh as the most like decorated most accomplished runner that we've had in North High North High history ever. Uh which is pretty amazing. Uh and it's been uh such a journey to go on with him and it's been really a lot of fun. We've had a lot of challenges, a lot of great times, a lot of uh you know I mean so many so much experience and you know traveling across the country to go to different meets and stuff together. Uh I'm so thankful and uh I've learned so much through this and and having the pleasure of coaching you.
Uh David's going to have to go through the process to update your credit rating, um which I'm confident will be done at that AA level, which is an outstanding credit rating. And then we are slating June 1st to sell your bonds. That is a Monday, and that's by design to try to get out early in the week, uh get ahead of a lot of municipal bond supply, but the good news is as I said, there's a lot of demand. But if we get to that point and we say, you know what, we don't like what's going on the market that week, as you asked about, we can be flexible. But the plan is to get you your proceeds before the end of June. And then you could continue with your projects. There's any other questions? Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, next up we have the redo of bills.
Any questions? Can I have a roll call, please? Dogan? Yes. Gorman? Yes. Hurst? Yes. Mervica? Yes. Pappas? [clears throat] Yes. Ward? Yes. Wasson? Yes. Motion passes. The next is our approval of textbook adoption. Um we are going to Before I ask for motion and second, the adoption is for a heritage Spanish It's a book for heritage Spanish for native speakers, Spanish one, AP psychology, and AP American Government. So, with that, can I have a motion and a second to discuss and approve the textbook adoption? So moved. Second.
We look at classroom assessments. And we start thinking about interventions. So, we're just using data to think about what we're going to do in the classroom. Go to the next one. So, this to me was like the most surprising thing that's came out of our data meetings this year. And teacher efficacy is one of the greatest impacts on student learning. So, John Hattie's a researcher. And if you can read that quote on the left, it's really good. But it talks about teacher efficacy as the greatest predictor of student achievement. So, when your teachers are working together and they're seeing the impact of the instruction, that's bigger than home environment, parental involvement, which I would think is one of the biggest things. So, when our teachers are working together and we have a common goal, that's huge. Um and that's what these data meetings are helping us do.
I truly just love to learn. I'm going to Indiana University Bloomington this fall for biology on a pre-medical track because I want to become a pediatric doctor. Um and that's truly like through the teachers and the staff here at Noble. I wanted to be like them, but I wanted to further that and make my love for science. Um >> [snorts] >> and yeah, I I go on field trips in high school. So, I went actually to Indiana University on a college field trip and that was what made me decide I wanted to go there. I fell in love with it and I wouldn't have had that opportunity if it wasn't for Noble. Um I It wasn't even a Noble field trip. I was doing it on my own through the school. Honestly, I went because I wanted to get out of school for the day and I thought I really didn't expect it.
They help create an environment where every child feels seen, supported, and capable of success. Simply put, classrooms would not function as effectively without them. Sarah Perkins exemplifies everything a classroom aid should be. We are incredibly fortunate to have her as part of our team and our students and we as teachers are better because of her. Actually, don't run away. I'm going to make you guys do the picture with Oh, wow. I hope that's okay. You got to get another picture. You got to get another picture with us, all right? 1 2 Great job. All right, well, thank you very much for joining us. It is a school night and it's nice out, so uh you're certainly welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting, but if you want to head on out, this is now a good time. Uh students, keep getting to bed early, keep getting good breakfasts, and keep doing well on iLearns.
She cannot be with us tonight because she is traveling with the cheerleaders who are competing in a national competition. Hopefully you have been able to see the video and um watch them talking and a little bit about their celebrations and some student interviews that go along with that. Um for both of you, on behalf of the district, thank you so much, not only for being here, but just for what you do every day. It is awesome that you are winners this year. At this time I'm going to let them say a few words. Sure. All right. Um thanks for having us out. I appreciate it. I was truly honored to receive this award after 20 years in education. The recognition means a lot for what it reflects in terms of the relationships and growth and passion that I feel every day as an educator. And teaching to me is more than just a job.
In addition to that shared belief that multilingualism is indeed an asset. This work and what you're going to hear tonight was really shaped by the voices of our students, of our families, of our staff. We gathered feedback through student focus groups that included current and former multilingual learners and had some district-wide surveys from staff and families. So, you know, what you're going to see and what you're going to hear, this is not just our perspective, but it's coming from the experiences of those who we serve. So, you know, I'm going to pass it off to Azra and we're going to, you know, just take a brief look at where we are, some of the key components of our work and some of our focus areas moving forward. So, everything that we do in curriculum is grounded in our definition of high-quality instruction. This rings true for our multilingual learners as well.
So, I just wanted to make that comment. It seems that we're having to go back to legislation and amend bills so that we can tell them exactly how to do their job, the time that they have to do their job, when it ends, when it starts, check off all the boxes. So, more work for us. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Um you know, we try to leave flexibility in these laws so that you guys can operate, but when you come down to this kind of situation, now you force us to be very prescriptive and not give you any room to wiggle. And so you are exactly going against what it is that the department or the legislative entity that gives you your budget that you're going against what it is we're telling you the intent is which is troubling. Any other questions? Any other questions?