Reader
Browse passages, annotate evidence, and export with full provenance for citation.
The one left is just another mower on the left that we purchased uh last summer just showing folks that we are up key you know we're we're doing some things at all levels schools maintenance and transportation. We just another go bond project not great pictures of lights but we did get new lighting for our for our transportation lot safety and security light in the back lot. This also helps a lot of our bus drivers and coaches who are bringing kids home late for events. If you're a show choir parent which I am they get home very very late. I'm not sure how that all started but it's a long night and it's nice to have some light back there so we can get things parked and and get everybody home safe. So that another go bond project. Couple things that we all know about the board has voted on these things uh just recently I mentioned the go bond this is a go bond project we have pavilions we're calling this one A and the one over by baseball B new parking between tennis and softball and soccer.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
So, if we have any questions, we can ask them. And then we roll out of that meeting right into another meeting with CLA. Um and CLA, for those of you who don't know, is our they're an audit or accounting firm as well. Um I guess the competitors of RSM, you can say um but the city retained them to act as kind of our big brother and kind of help us out with some of the more uh difficult things. So, we have a meeting with them um as well once per week uh with the city um Angela, myself and Wanita to go over if we need any help with anything or we don't understand anything. Um and that's kind of what helps what has been helping push all of these audits through in such a short period of time. I we've been in perpetual audit season since I've been here, but I think we've gotten three three done in the two years.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
So, how can we better support our teachers to better support the students to access content while also increasing their language production skills? Um in addition, we continued to with our initiatives such as the teacher cohorts with our SEI consultant. We had year two and year one, um as well as our Creighton Professional Learning that was around targeted instruction. And then strengthening the home connection through our family engagement, our SEI family nights. And then on the next slide will be a more detailed representation of what we did over between January and March.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Even adults struggle to filter what's appropriate on the platform. Expecting young children to rely on digital citizenship lessons to make those decisions is not realistic. This is not just about my child. It's about a system that is allowing very young students open or loosely supervised access to a platform with content that ranges from educational to deeply inappropriate. At a minimum, I would ask why is YouTube accessible at all on devices given to early elementary students? And if it is, what safeguards are actually in place to prevent situations that happened to my daughter? I am encouraged that this issue is starting to get attention, but for families like mine, this is urgent. I urge you to take immediate steps to restrict or eliminate eliminate YouTube access on elementary school devices and to ensure consistent supervision across all platforms that use them. Thank you. Our final speaker is Megan McFirman.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Those are our live. If you know of anybody, and them our way. Keep your ears open. All right. So, I'm going to entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. I second that. All in favor, say aye. Aye. And then we'll wait for the next meeting.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
The pavilion will have restrooms we've heard a lot of complaints over the years about the distance we walk for restrooms and not everybody likes Porta Johns. Um but this is going to be amazing we are this project will we will open bids on April 26th of this month and we expect to break ground start working in May mobilizing in May and we hope to have this parking lot done before fall school starts. The pavilion may take a little bit longer there's a lot more involved in that. Also I another pavilion by the baseball cross country complex. Same design, a little bit less parking space. Pavilion and restrooms will be very nice for our baseball and cross country parents. Backpack project and again board just approved this. This one we've talked a lot more about lately since it's fresh off performing arts. I think it's close to 25,000 square feet of overall some new space and and remodeled space in those areas.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Um so, we are marching along. I I don't have an end date unfortunately, but um we we are marching along and it's uh looking looking promising so far. No, nothing's surprising so far.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Any questions before we move there? Do we have any um questions or wonderings? We added this slide because I know your feedback from the last time was to be more detailed, like specific of what we're doing and because we had done more general bullet points last time. So, that's why it's a specific just to what we've done since we had that assessment before they took the Azella assessment. I have a a question. So, with the Azella, both the test and the mimic, for the writing portion of it, is that a typed writing or is that a handwriting writing? So, it depend on the grade level and it truly did try to mimic the Azella. So, for our younger grades, it is a handwritten, um whereas 4-8, it is typed. Okay. Oh, so K-3 younger, 4-8. Because that one is a hybrid when they um take the state Azella.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
I just want to say thank you to the educators who were here speaking tonight. Um I am a resident of Batavia. I have two children in the public school system here. Thank you to the members of the board for listening. You were all very attentive to all the speakers and there are many. Um and thank you for spending your time working to improve our district. I am here to also speak about technology usage in our schools. I have had conversations with our school principal and I reached out to Brad Newkirk, the chief academic officer, about my concerns. I also reached out to Mr. Kim. There is a growing body of research about technology usage in our schools and how damaging it is for our children. It is isolating, decreases their attention span, and ultimately we need evidence that any of the technology they use is helping our children learn.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
We are meeting We are meeting on those every 2 weeks with our architect and our our CMC on that project. Of course, that also includes the back the Baron Center with all sorts of the opportunities there for co-curricular things to happen as well as gym class. And those projects we look to be possibly breaking ground August September is our latest. So, earlier than we thought. I think we've reported to the board that we thought maybe it would be late 2026 early 2027. Our last meeting they There's a possibility we can be taking some pictures in a shovel ceremony yet this fall and mobilization and things happening already. That's all I have for tonight.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
>> Um any questions, board members, committee members? >> You say we're catching up. Will you be able to breathe in a year or two? Yeah, I I think it'll be much less than that. Um the idea was to get this audit done um and then roll into the the 2026 audit and that one would be started and finished on time. So we'll be on a regular audit schedule uh after this fiscal year 25 audit. Um we go through a tremendous amount of audits on top of this. Uh this year we were audited by Medicaid for our special education program. Uh we get workers comp audits. Um we get uh union uh benefit audits. I mean we're we're constantly facing one audit or another. But as far as the big financial one after this one is done, we should be in a regular cycle. I think you're muted, Sean.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Okay, thank you. Yeah. Did you have another question, Ms. Marquez? >> Um yeah, are we are we getting into like the questions questions now or we sticking to this slide? Um it's up to you unless you guys have any other information on that slide. No, but you can go ahead and ask your question. Um Which page? Okay. Um So, and and apologies for for being late on getting these submitted last week, um but I wanted to put this out there. So, as we prepare for future SEI family nights, are we tracking whether students whose families attend these sessions show higher engagement or growth in their assessments compared to their peers? Essentially, how are we measuring the return of investment in these engagement events on actual student English proficiency? I can answer that question. Um so, the purpose of the SEI family nights is really to bridge that classroom community connection.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
If you search technology in schools on Google, you'll see articles from the New York Times, Fortune, and scientific studies with concrete facts to back up what I'm asking you. Get our children off their computers during the school day. Currently, there are no time restrictions for how long children use their Chromebooks at school. The response I received from Mr. Newkirk was that it will take time to come up with time restrictions because the district will need to collaborate with staff who know the students and their needs. I don't know when the district here got their Chromebooks and went to a one-to-one ratio, but if I had to guess, I'd say maybe 2021. So, why has there not been a plan at the district level yet to in the last 5 years to limit the time students are spending on technology. My kids use it in their classroom.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Are there any questions? Yeah. Sorry about the length. I was told 10 minutes. I was like there's no way I can do this in 10 minutes. That was great. Thank you for including some before and afters too just remind us all like that's where we were and how far we've come. I'm really sorry. I had a lot more pictures but as projects got finished I kind of cross them off and my phone was getting full of I I need more memory. So, I'd go through and okay that's over and I I deleted a lot of pictures. I just wasn't prepared for my HGTV before and after moment. So, I'm sorry. That's my fault. I should have I'm going to do better in the future taking more before and afters. The afters are easy. Yeah, that's great. Thank you for the update. >> Thank you very much.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
>> Anybody else with any questions? No. >> Okay, >> I did get an update on uh the bogan system and that the upgrade was for Danbury High School. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> That was quick. >> The last item we have on here, um so um a while back in 24 they have introduced legislation that allows the districts to keep um up to but not over 2% of the prior year's budget should they have a surplus. Um and no surprise to anybody, we have had a surplus in the last few years. Um and so the way that most people are handling it is they're opening up a separate account, a separate bank account. Um I've uh already gone through the finance committee and board a while ago to open up that account. So there is currently an account at Union Savings Bank sitting um unfunded um and it is waiting for um the transfer of this 2%.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
So, although we provide strategies that families could be using at home with their kiddos, they they are meant to create a space where families can ask questions about the assessments to then um be able to best support their child in the best way they can. So, the core of the learning is going to be from the classroom. So, we provide information around the different models that we have within our district, the Azella itself, helping families analyze the data. That was our second section. They received their students' data and um looked at where they might be able to capitalize on some of the strategies that we provide families. But, the goal is really to foster that collaboration and connection. Um so, no, we we haven't been tracking them because the goal is to be able to create community. Um we wouldn't expect there to be a tremendous amount based upon that that we're really bridging.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Their teachers use it for rewards. They use it in art and music. In any given day, they could be on it for hours. Those are hours that could be spent talking to peers, collaborating, experimenting in the real world. Please come up with a plan immediately to restrict the time our children spend on computers in a day. I searched the district website to figure out which of the EdTech companies they that we have contracts with. I'm not sure which of these are current because the contracts do not have an end date. Many of the following are ones that I've heard my own children mentioned, so I'll list them off for you. IXL Blooket Math Playground, Math Facts Pro We will write, NewsELA Buzzmath, Pocket Lab Checkology GeoGebra BrainPop, PebbleGo Reading A-Z, ABCya, ReadWorks.org, Osmo, Educo Play, Handwriting and Keyboarding Without Tears, Type to Learn, Math Fact Lab, MobiMax, Eureka Math, Biblionasium, Bottle Learning, Lexia, GoNoodle, DreamBox, Khan Academy, Coolmath.com and more.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Exciting stuff. Are we going to post that presentation on the website? I don't know if this presentation's on there but >> Not yet. >> So, it will be. It will be with all the projects and everything. >> Just so everybody Where we keep the spreadsheet we'll put it in the same exact spot. Good stuff. I will add that I was talking to Mr. Hord before the meeting asking him how the turf was going and he has just taken a family around from out of our district showing them the school and that was one of the their comments was wow this turf's amazing. So, it's one of the goals of all of these updates, right? Is to bring folks to DeKalb. So, I love to hear stories like that and I hope to hear more as all the other projects wrap up. Thanks Matt. Great job, Matt.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
In order for that to happen, the uh board has to um make a motion and approve uh me actually moving those funds from the the account that they're sitting in now uh to this 2% account. So in uh in an effort to get this in front of the board as a whole, we put this on the agenda uh for a motion for the committee to to uh move it forward to the full board. >> Perfect. Thank and this will take care of which to which years are we talking about? >> Um it would be so start in 24 but it's of the previous year's budget. So it would be three years um >> Three years worth. Yes. And those are the numbers that we saw in the budget presentation. >> Okay.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Thank you. Um I'm going to go ahead and ask my question and I want to thank the team for um still taking the time to research these questions even though they were past the the timeline that we had set for ourselves, but I love some of the growth that we have and a lot of the conversations we've been having is about bright spots, right? And what we are doing to replicate those bright spots when we are having good outcomes. So, my question is in the students that we are, let's say, in the the one of the bands that are showing growth, what specific stuff are we seeing there that's being implemented in other classrooms or other areas? Have we been at that collaborative state yet where we're seeing certain things working maybe in one school or one cohort and how are we duplicating those efforts across other systems?
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above