So a lot of good reasons not to do that, but that was the first one that popped into my head cuz we're always thinking about what what could we get. I mean, what is going to happen to Chat- um Darcy? Yeah, Darcy. Yeah, so the town is still evaluating that and the Chatham property. So, I think they've hired uh or retained, I should say, uh uh To- Toby Brunberg um to evaluate those properties. He's a realtor in town and uh he's made suggestions in terms of what the value of those properties are. And uh it's ultimately up to the council to make the determination when we hand the keys over on Jan- January 1st, like what do they want to do with those buildings cuz at that point they're theirs. And they've asked us, you know, what there's nothing you're not going to need those buildings in like 2 weeks, right?
Are there any questions? No questions. I just like the mindfulness that you had about to the policy because we've been trying to get everything to come together so when I saw that I thought that was great. Thank you. I also appreciate I appreciate that and I also appreciated what you were replacing it with so it was easier for for me to see anyway like what did you just say before? Yeah, this itself is a great document. Thank you. Okay. Next up we have strategic plan end of year report with me and Dr. Hardy. Thank you and and respective time. We we do like to produce a video around here but especially for our mid-year and end of year reports strategic plan. It is a five-year plan. The first two years have been quite a bit of work and and research and you know looking inward at what we've been doing.
Um we uh talked a little bit about some cell phone data. Um we um added a little bit of information about our academic integrity uh kind of changes that we made this year. Um and then Gina presents every year about the consolidated district plan. And as I'm listening to everyone talk [clears throat] tonight, it it's fascinating and I've always said this that it the parent teacher advisory um team or committee is usually relatively small, but they certainly hit on every topic that we've talked about tonight and I'm always impressed. So, I'll share those based on the feedback um, that I received. So, the PATH program, um, they just love the fact that the district has a program that works on, uh, working with students, um, you know, in their behaviors. And and they really liked, um, hearing about how parents are involved in that process.
Does that make sense? Yes. So, when we have a teacher that leaves, we look at our enrollment in that grade level or that department, how many course course enrollments we have. And so, we're not we're not riffing. So, I think when you see that in the news, you see like a school corporation they riffed 15 teachers and now they're bringing eight back, right? That's not what we're doing. We just when someone resigns and retires, we say, "Do we need to fill that position or do we need not need to fill that position?" And that determines if we post it or not. And so, that's how I would maybe answer what you're asking. But, we also have, we know, our staff who have been through the T2T program. So, we have some classified staff that we're able to encourage to apply for those roles and interview for them.
laid out on the plan. That's what I was asking is I mean a purple square on a plan is not adequate to explain all of what you're saying you're going to be doing. And I would want to see something that was diagrammatically at least showing the the treatment plan, the flow of the water and how it would work. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I just I had one follow-up question. So, since your soil management plan revolves around testing during construction, can you just touch touch upon the frequency of the testing and the turnaround time for the data. So, it sounds like you're going to be making some on-the-spot decisions on what to do with excavated soils. And if you can kind of just make a comment on that. I can't, but George can. Yeah. I I can do that, George. Oh. Yeah, if you don't mind. Sure.
Like if And you know, the reality is that they're in such a a place physically that you know, they're just not a great option even if we did need something. But I mean, what was it? Office of Civil Rights. >> Yeah, OCR, yeah. 15 years ago that Chatham had to go. Yeah. And cuz I was I think I I think I was still on the council when that happened. And my reaction was uh huh and Yeah. It's not easy. >> made clear that it's like no Not exactly. This is this is a to-do list that we expect to happen and 15 years later >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It didn't have to have to happen overnight. It does It took us a while but you know, here we are. I I wouldn't recommend going back to those places. Um but I again, we don't foresee the need.
Next year we we begin the doing more so than ever. So with that I'm going to go ahead and have Mr. Denenberg roll the the video for each of the goal areas and we'll take questions at the end if you have any. We are proud of the progress we have made toward goal area one. These efforts reflect [music] our commitment to providing high-quality instruction, engaging learning experiences, [music] and strong foundations for all students. For one, we [music] continue to make steady progress in preparing for the transition to full-day kindergarten. Our team has been meeting regularly with kindergarten [music] teachers to thoughtfully plan for this important shift in programming. Our focus has [music] been on instructional practices, aligning schedules, and classroom structures to meet the developmental needs of our youngest learners. >> [music] >> In addition, we have selected and ordered developmentally appropriate materials designed to support structured [music] play, which is a critical component of early childhood education.
Um, so, again, all the things that I'm going to talk about are are our staff and our teachers implementing all this. So, um, with attendance, there was definitely a focus, uh, that they appreciated as, um, as parents looking at, "If you see that first period is a struggle with your data, then we should focus on that." So, they were appreciative when they were when we were looking at that and that's what they shared. Uh, the cell phone, they really liked the changes that we made, uh, you know, for this year. Um, so, they were excited about that. The academic integrity really shifted with a the feedback shifted to a focus on, which which I think is a really strong thing that I'll share with Kelly and the AI committee, but the overwhelming feedback was we need to prepare students for the future, the workforce, um, and we need to teach appropriately AI, but we need to teach it like we it's going to be there and we need to have that for our students.
Does that answer your question? I'll just add to that. Really, our our memories are short. Um and I say ours, not the not the board's. If you go back just 6, 7, 8 years ago, we were in a very similar position. This is What we're doing now is really no different than the normal annual staffing process. It's just that we're saying no a lot more often now than what we have been for the last 4 years when we had federal SR dollars, increasing revenues in all the other funds, and a new referendum in place that we could essentially say, "Well, yeah, we can refill that position. We can afford to do that. Let's go ahead and move forward." 2017, '18, '19, and we were in a very similar position where we were saying, "You know what? We have to say no a lot more often." Meaning, just those students are Not that we're removing an opportunity from students.
Um so, as part of the the soil pre-precharacterization process is what we were we're talking about before. Um our intent is really not to address it on the fly. Uh so, what we would like to do is to as you see the on the the plan that you have, the cut and fill image that shows all the areas in red, those are the areas where we that's going to that represents that 6,000 yd of material coming out. What we do is we take that area, we grid that area off into different cells. Each cell represents a certain volume of soil. Within that grid is um a certain number of tests that will represent the 6,000 yd. Typically, the disposal facilities like to see at least one test per every 500 cubic yards. Um so, we get that plan in place, we we all those test test results back.
We spent a lot of time looking at it. Could they improve a 10-story high-rise tomorrow and yeah, I mean I guess theoretically. But We need more houses. Yeah, we need more residential. Okay. All right. Yeah. Thank you guys for the feedback and the guidance on this. We appreciate it. Thank you. You're welcome. That's all right. So, that is just saying thank you for the guidance and feedback on these. And uh we'll talk about it with the full board on Thursday. Okay. We just need a motion. >> Need a motion. Do we need a motion? Motion. >> Motion. For to adjourn? To adjourn. Uh yeah, motion to adjourn. Second it. All in favor. Same dog and pony show already. Yeah. Bye guys. Adios.
This ensures our classrooms [music] will be well-equipped to foster both academic growth and social-emotional development. Another major focus >> [music] >> in goal area one has been building teachers' knowledge and understanding of research-based [music] literacy instruction to improve reading outcomes for all learners. >> [music] >> We've centered this work on providing professional learning around key instructional shifts, ensuring [music] that our approaches are both evidence-based and student-centered. At the same time, we've engaged [music] in an extensive process to research and to pilot high-quality instructional resources for both elementary and middle school English language arts. As a result of this work, we are excited [music] to share that we have selected two new research-based resources that will be implemented next year. We are truly [music] excited about the impact these materials will have on teaching and learning across District 62. [music] This year, District 62 made meaningful progress toward goal two, cultivating a learning environment where every [music] student feels safe, supported, and positioned to thrive.
Um, and then the consolidated district plan, you know, um, is a collective of literally all the interventions and programming that the district offers, um, and you guys have obviously seen Gina's short list of it, uh, and the parents were overwhelmingly positive about District 99 and the interventions that we provide and all the programming. And they referenced like, "Do we do a lot of networking to learn from other districts?" Um, and I can say like from my perspective, we do. Um, just in my perspective alone, I meet with all our partner districts, the administrators that are the student service, uh, administrators and we talk about, you know, what's happening in in the elementary schools and we talk about what's happening in District 99. And I know that Gina and others all are connected throughout the community. But I appreciated the comment to to really take a focus on what are other schools doing.
We haven't been at the point where we're saying, "No, we're going to cut this program or this you know, this course for students." Just those students are going to be spread among fewer sections. And so, class sizes might go up. Or we're going to re- redistribute and move a person that was going to be a 6th grade teacher and they're going to move down to be a 3rd grade teacher because the numbers at that at that section are different. But, this is unfortunately something that's unfamiliar to us to me since about 5 years ago. But, it's it's a place where we've been before. And it's painful, but we do very much look at how do we keep programs in place that we're not removing an opportunity from students. But, knowing that it just spreads everyone a little bit more thin. Thank you, Mr. Brenneman. Thank you, Dr.
We summarize that. Um and then we submit the that plan as well as the proposed disposal facilities. Um and then we get disposal facility approvals for each one of those cells. And so before we start our work, we know exactly where that soil is going. So when we're digging on site, the intent is not to dig it and put it in a stock pile. The intent is to dig it out and put it on a truck and export it off the site. Okay, thank you for that. Any other questions from the commission? Yeah, I have a couple of questions for Mr. Lucas. Um let's find a path forward here. I guess maybe we can um um circle the wagons here for this evening. Um and come back for a subsequent hearing with more specific questions now that we have some of the general discussion out of the way.
Through the collaborative efforts of our schools and the educational services team, we strengthened systems to be more responsive, inclusive, and aligned [music] to the diverse needs of all learners. Our multilingual action team refined bilingual evaluation practices so we can better distinguish between language acquisition [music] and learning needs, ensuring students receive the right support from the start. We also launched a multi-year professional learning plan and refined our multilingual continuum of services [music] so supports can grow and evolve alongside our students. In student services, we are continuing to [music] strengthen service delivery across the district by focusing on expanding access to specialized services and increasing inclusive opportunities. This winter, schools engaged in a student-centered [music] scheduling process where teams developed plans for next school year that prioritize student needs while also creating more time for teacher collaboration. We also deepened our focus on inclusive and supportive learning environments.
And I think that's really important to see that. So, I don't know if you guys have anything to add from the actual meeting itself. I think it was it was a very well attended meeting and you really hit on all the main points. My main thing was telling the parents that did come to the meeting to go home, talk to your neighbors, talk to your colleagues who have children in the school, and bring one or two people, other parents, with you to the meeting next year. Cuz it's such a phenomenal, well-run meeting and so much is gained out of it. It'd just be great if we had more parents participate. One of the takeaways that I had was that parents are really satisfied with the new cell phone plan. At least the parents that were at this meeting, they were happy with the fact that their student can still have their cell phone, maybe in their backpack or turned off somewhere, but they can be reached in case of emergency.
Boswell, and Dr. Phillips. Uh the last cabinet policy, um Dr. Sorry, Mr. Edwards is out of town and could not be here today, but the board is required by um the July 1st to adopt a policy wireless device policy that um does one of two things. Either bans wireless devices from schools completely or a policy that says the devices must be stored away, powered off, and inaccessible. We have had for the better part of 2 years, maybe even longer than that, a committee that started when the legislators passed a bill first banning cell phone use in our schools. And I know I see two members of the committee, Dr. Parsons in the back there, and Mega Hearn over here from Columbus North. If there are anyone else, please forgive me, but they would have worked very very hard on making a recommendation to the board that they have worked through all of the details and kind of projected how things are going to be from an implementation standpoint.
And in the meantime, I was wondering if uh Mr. Engler suggested uh that we that we maybe could do a site walk. And I think that that would be helpful. And uh and if uh during that site walk, if you're not going to do a full characterization, if we found areas of concern to us, maybe you could do a partial characterization of some of these areas that might make us feel a little more comfortable with what is um under the floor and particularly um I guess that would be building 30 and building 40 or [snorts] 40 and 50, or whatever the last two buildings are. And then we we could resume in uh a couple of weeks and have more specific questions. I have I've read all the stuff that you've sent and and you're right, you have sent a lot of stuff, and I've read it all several times.