001Excellent. Thank you very much. I would say good evening everyone. It's just all of us, but um good evening. We are really excited to take a few minutes tonight just to highlight some of the amazing things that have been taking place in District 76 this spring and particularly just since the last board meeting. Um, as you know, spring is a very busy time of year and there have been a lot of wonderful things that are culminating activities um and also just opportunities to help and support students in the transition into summer and into the year ahead. So, as we move towards the end of the school year though, it is truly one of my favorite times of year because it is it's all about the momentum, the excitement, and the pride that we feel in
002all three of our schools. And the slides tonight are just an opportunity for us to highlight what a special place to District 76 truly is. So, to get us started, one highlight I want to take time to celebrate tonight was the recognition of one of our outstanding staff members at the Lake County Teacher of the Year celebration. It's a moment like this that really does remind us of the exceptional work that's happening here and to have it recognized at a county level is absolutely exceptional. Um what makes me most proud though is not just the recognition itself of Natalia Butsick but the heart, the care, the commitment that our staff all collectively do bring to the work that they do every single day. We truly have remarkable educators and it's nice to get them recognized
003at a county level. This spring also brought a great opportunity for us to have another round of STAR testing. While assessments are just one measure of success, they do provide us valuable information related to how we can better help students and understand from a district perspective what is going well, where are there areas for continued growth for us and also to identify what strengths do exist and how do we want to continue to sustain those things heading into the next school year. Lots of staff will be working this summer looking at this star data in particular. Um Dr. Cunningham will lead them through some uh productive and meaningful ways to reflect on that data to help to prepare and propel us forward into the next school year. You know, while we have this spring data,
004it it is very valuable start the fall of where students are at. So we don't have to wait for that fall data to be able to know where our students coming in at. we can step right into where they left off and be able to support them and propel them further even into the next school year. Um the conversations though around instruction, intervention, and student growth continue to become really strong across the district through the PLC collaboration that happens. One of the most exciting spring traditions is our flyup experiences for students to transition into new buildings. And just this morning, that is uh Mrs. Colette addressing the second grade kiddos that came over to experience a visit over at the West Oak campus and be begin to help them to support being comfortable and excited
005about the next school year. Traditions matter for students and families and we um really do work hard to ensure students feel welcome, connected, and supported before they even walk through the doors for the first day of school. And boy, entering that cafeteria, even though many of them were there for Lia this year, felt very different today. um which was very exciting for students. In addition to the second grade flyup that took place this today, the fifth grade flyup took place uh last week and our PTO generously bought uh peace out fifth grade t-shirts that all of our fifth graders were able to sport and uh it was a great opportunity to have a united sense among all of those students. And while they do walk through our middle school on a regular basis, going to
006the innovation center or going to um wellness with Mrs. Wald, it just has a very different feel when you're actually stepping foot in that, getting acclimated to a nine period school day, having to do your combination on your locker, all of those things that students um when they walk to and from to go for those transitions don't necessarily click with until they're like, "Wait, this is now going to be me." So, it was a great opportunity um for students. We also last week held our incoming right after the flyup day with the students. That evening, we had our incoming sixth grade parent night. And what we do know is strong school systems work best when schools and families are true partners. And events like that evening provided an opportunity for our families to ask questions,
007build relationships, and better understand even virtually the supports that are available for them and their students come middle school. Middle school is such a major transition for students and for parents too. And our goal was to create clarity, communication, and connection through that process and even to punt along the way when the technology wasn't working. It was a perfect example that evening of teamwork at its finest in district 76. Uh Mr. Hansen, Mr. Peterson quickly made quick work of getting a new link out to families. And I'm happy to say that uh the new link happened to get the largest turnout. I don't know if this is a new strategy we need to use is the last minute parent square. Hey, new link. And all a sudden people were like, oh that's right, that's tonight.
008Um but it was a great opportunity and Mr. Peterson did a wonderful job of helping those sixth grade families, incoming sixth grade families really feel uh comfortable with the fact that their child's going to be taken good care of for the ninth period day. Now in addition, spring is a wonderful opportunity for our band and choir concerts. It's that culmination of all the work that they have done throughout the entire school year. The arts are such an important part of developing the whole child. Uh beyond the music itself, students learn confidence, teamwork, perseverance, creativity, and performance skills. What you see up there is our um sunrise singers who come in and not only sing but dance and and they were able to do a performance at our spring concert, which was wonderful. Um I continue
009to be really impressed too with the talent of our students and the dedication of our music staff in particular in creating these opportunities for all students, which is great. any student interested can be a part of it. Just last week, we did have MC Teacher Night talk about a sense of community. That was a wonderful opportunity for our community to come together um partnering with our PTO to bring in some additional funds, but also just create that sense of community you could feel in the dining room with families connecting, students connecting. It was absolutely wonderful. It partnered with our kindergarten sing and I think a lot of students came dressed ready to perform, grabbed some food and then duck on over to DLS for the concert which was wonderful. Um I I do think Sparkles
010making an appearance was absolutely outstanding. I'm pretty sure Miss Colette um had her one and maybe done experience as her mascot, but I will say she did say it was on her bucket list to be a mascot. I'm not sure it remained on the bucket list after that experience, but it was a very warm evening and she took to the streets along with Miss Crutchfield um to uh solicit people to come on into the restaurant and it was a very successful PTO just met prior to this. It was a very successful night raising over 700 plus almost 800 fund $800 in funds that evening. >> That's great. >> Um it's really hard to say no to tips to somebody dressed as the apple pie box. So, um it was absolutely a wonderful event. Um >>
011no pictures of the apple. I have some I can share with you. >> You guys saw a picture. >> There were several. There were several for sure. Um as we approached the end of the school year, too. We we also prepared to honor several retirees and the end of the year celebration was a great opportunity to do that. Uh last Friday we were able to celebrate Chuck, Ela, and Patty and their collective impact on generations of children and families through their service here in the district. A school district is ultimately all about people and the lasting relationships and memories created over time. We're very grateful uh for the commitment each of these individuals have made to our community and we wish them nothing but the best in retirement. Something we are adding uh to each
012of our three schools this year is we're adding something we're calling an impact wall. all three of their names along with their years of service will be imprinted on that wall so that they know even though they're leaving at the end of the the day next Friday and turning off those classroom lights perhaps for the very last time but that their impact here will not be forgotten. So we think that that's really important and we're really looking forward to to that opportunity. May feels like it goes really fast um and it's quite full but it's also a great opportunity for us to continue to sparkle on all the way to the end of the year. We've got one more week left and we're looking forward to uh World Kindness Day this Friday. All students are
013getting a uh kindness day t-shirt which will be absolutely outstanding. I think they'll receive those tomorrow. Um they're all going to wear them on Friday. Uh we're going to gather together collectively over at the West Oak campus. This is the second annual event. Uh Dr. Clip has put a ton of work with our social workers into planning kindness activities. So they go through stations and mixed groups that the students are grouped in. So, kindergarteners are with fifth graders and seventh graders. And it's a nice little mix of students to be able to do crafts, activities. Um there's going to be some kindness books shared with events which will be absolutely outstanding. And we will end the day with a or maybe midday. I think we're doing this midday. The 76 picture, the entire 76 picture.
014So, we're going to go out into the field, keep your fingers crossed for great weather. Um Mr. Hansen has someone coming with a drone that's able to get a drone footage. We're going to make the big 76 out in the field. >> Nice. >> Um I I think we're going to be able to corral all of all 800 of us out there in the field and and be able to do that, which will be great. >> So, we're going to sparkle on to the end of the year with with a great kindness day this Friday. Um we have field day at both campuses. Uh the 26th will be here at Diamond Lake School with some fun activities that are planned. Um and then over at the Westo campus on the 28th as well, we will
015have our very for our eighth grade graduation will take place on Thursday, which I I think our eighth graders are starting to get a little nostalgic. Um I've seen a few of them with some tears thinking this is going to be the last couple weeks uh with their with their peer group for some of them. And then on Friday, we're going to do our very first ever high five Friday. Uh thank you for sharing that idea that you had seen at another school district. That is great. We were able to get Countryside Fire Department to come our final Friday of the year. They're going to bring the fire truck and ambulance pending. They're not needed in the community. Um, they're going to be in the parking lot. We have nice large uh foam hands for
016some high fives instead of the foam finger, the full the full full hands. We've got a bubble machine. We've got music. And we're really looking forward to kicking off that final day on a real positive uh tone for for the students. So, we're going to send them off on a a nice high five and and definitely some positivity. So, um, the end of the school year though always comes really quickly and it's also a powerful reminder for us about how much learning, how much growth, and how much joy can happen just in one school year. I continue personally to feel incredibly grateful to serve this community and appreciative of the partnership from the board, staff, students, and families as we continue to work to embrace, empower, and excel each child each day up till the
017very last bell on the final day next week. So with that, that's the update on the spring events. >> Fantastic. >> They did have a nice event, NJ. Yes, that was absolutely outstanding. Fantastic. Lots of exciting things, which is nice to see. Um, okay, with that, we will move on to our business agenda. We have a lot of items for action. Thank you so much, Hum. Um, on the business agenda this evening. So we will start with the omnivous vote agenda. Items under the omnivous vote agenda are considered routine and or non-controversial and will be approved by one motion. If anyone board member, staff, administrator, or citizen wishes to have a separate vote on any item or items, that item or items will be pulled from the omnibus vote agenda and voted on separately. It
018resolved that the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the omnibus vote agenda items A through D as listed. May I have a motion to approve, please? Yes, >> that motion is approved. The next item up for action is approving personnel. It resolved the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the personnel items as depicted on the agenda. We have two resignations. May I have a motion to approve, please? Yes. >> Okay. Now we move to Mr. Rogers portion of the agenda. Um do you want to speak as to the insurance rates? >> I'll uh just say a little bit about each one of these as we go down the line. So the the biggest one of which is going to be the insurance rate discussion. So, uh, Diamond Lake has
019met a couple different times with a small insurance committee, which I I listed in the memo, several teachers that are part of the, uh, union leadership staff, uh, as well as Dr. Null and, uh, Diana Fisher from my office, and we had a representative from USI, which is our third party administrator. So, they're the ones that help, uh, solicit, negotiate our rates, uh, work with the different carriers to provide us the best possible renewal rate. We were not alone in that the industry in in general was hit very very hard this year. So I was at mybo conference it's 25 26% across the industry. So our initial uh renewal proposals were 22.89%. The highest the districts passed on in years past has really been about five and a half six%. So this has been you
020know really a big change for us. Part of that uh decision was, you know, we weren't really ready to pass along such a high renewal to our members. So, we looked at our insurance reserves and we're allowed to buy down the rate. That just means we're using some of our uh insurance reserve pool to produce a lower rate. So, because we're self-funded, we we've got a lot of flexibility in that regard. Uh and part of the cooperative we're part of, it's a small cooperative. We got six member districts that are on it. Uh every one of them had some serious renewals. You know, for instance, Emmens got a 61% renewal. There's a lot of really high ones that people did realize. So, I I'm I'm glad that we had the flexibility to buy down our
021rates, but we can't do that every year. So, we really had to decide what what's different methods that we have, different levers to pull to future proof this plan. So, besides the 12% renewal, the proposal is to do some programmatic plan changes, which I've not done since we've been here. So, it required a lot of education to our our teaching staff. I'm going to each of the staff meetings to walk them through this, but currently we have a Z PO plan. Sorry, $0 deductible PO plan and a $700 deductible. They're both both extremely extremely rich plans. So, the Z deductible plan uh is free to the employee. That's because of our collective bargaining agreement. So, what our the first proposal is to is to change that plan from a $0 PO to what's called a
022blue choice option plan. What that means is it breaks the plan up into three tiers. Tier one is the exact same plan that people are on right now. Tier two changes your zero deductible to $300 deductible and then tier three is out of pocket. So, one and three are the exact same as we have now. Two's the change. The reason that this is a proposal and that's why I'm so happy USI is our partner is it they're anticipating this reducing our rates by 7 and a half%. Significant amount and we have $3.5 million of claims each year. So we're uh that's the first change that would impact existing members. They could remain on their plan. It just morphs to this blue choice option. The good news is is when we evaluated it, it affects less
023than 3% of the providers people saw. Out of the 1214 providers, this affects 39 of them. And a lot of them what that means is if you want to be a tier one provider you have to offer the most aggressive rebates and discounts. So uh you know Jim's optometrist that they like to go you know the one person likes to go see they may not offer aggressive discounts. You may have to switch your provider or somebody else. So that's part of the education component. Uh the next two days I'm going to be going to West Oak and Diamond Lake just to go through this all. So that change alone has a pretty significant savings. The other change is going to be we're going to sunset out that option in general uh starting October 1st. So
024any new hires are going to have the option of a $700 plan and there's going to be a high deductible health savings plan that they're going to be able to select. So we're futurep proof this and get ahead of it because yeah, this kind of eye opening in terms of our renewal cycle that we saw. So, what uh the committee's recommendation is is to approve the rates as presented and that's outlined on kind of page three of the memo what the rates are going to morph to. And I also kind of have a cheat sheet that just talks about the out-of- pocket costs are for staff members. So, uh the last component of that was dental, which were locked in a two-year agreement. So, that has no change this year. So, any questions about that
025uh long memo or any of those attachments that I provided there? >> Thank you. Then we will um take action on this item. Be it resolved that the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the 2026 2027 insurance rates as presented. May I have a motion to approve, please? Yes. >> Okay, that is approved. The next step is the appointment of the treasurer. You don't need >> that's Yeah, same thing from the last meeting you saw for review. >> Yes. And this is something that we do annually. Um whereas the school code instructs the trustees of schools to appoint a treasurer who shall be the custodian of school funds and responsible for all receipts, dispersements and investments of the school funds and pays orders issued by the school board. And whereas Mr. Eric
026Rogers will assume the position of director of finance and operation on July 1st, 2026 and possesses the qualifications set forth in section 5-1B of the school code. Therefore, be it resolved the Diamond Lake School District Board of Education appoints Mr. to serve as treasurer for Diamond Lake School District 76 for a one-year period beginning on July 1st, 2026 for the annual compensation of $3,000. May I have a motion to approve, please? >> Yes. >> Okay, that is approved. Um, now moving on to the inner fund transfer. >> Yes. So, what we're going to be requesting tonight is to approve to set a public hearing for an interfund transfer. This is not something we do every year, but it's something we do when we evaluate uh our different funds and what our future projects and initiatives
027are. So, when we're looking at uh our capital projects fund has about $4 million in it, we got some other funds with different various uh amounts that we could utilize for facility work, but we when we were looking at our our different funds, the education fund was a good opportunity to make a transfer to fund some of these future facility work. So, we've outlined some of those projects in the summer memos. There's some in our our five-year facility plan, which does need uh some updating and refurbishing this year. uh this is going to be a portion to use towards those funds and our really our imperative facility projects that we're looking for. So, so outline the memo, we're trending towards a surplus this year. This would uh you know, this would bring us into what
028I kind of refer to as more of a planned deficit this year by having a a targeted reduction in those funds. So, at the public hearing, I'll present a little bit more information and ask the board adopt a resolution. The only nuance is because of uh the accounting uh requirements we have to do a transfer from the education fund to the operations and maintenance then the operations and maintenance the capital projects. So you'll see kind of two different approvals for the same purpose on the next agenda. Any questions on that one? >> Thank you. >> Okay. It resolved the Diamond Lake School District 76 board of education approves to set a public hearing date for a half million interfund transfer from the education fund to the operations and maintenance fund on June 2, 2026 and
029publish notice in newspaper of general circulation. May I have a motion to approve, please? >> Yes. >> Okay, moving on to the concrete project. very exciting concrete projects. So, this is a continuation of the project we did uh last summer where we replace a section of the sidewalk. Uh when we were taking a look at it, we realized we have to do the rest of this this project and it's just a beat up old sidewalk. So, we received four bids. The apparent low bidder was uh uh sounds like the shadyiest company ever. Like a guy with a shovel and a jackhammer going to come out. They're very legit company, Dale Incorporated. uh they're the apparent low bidder at 47,765. So, we're going to recommend uh we they've been vetted and you'll have my memo and
030there's also a memo that our constru our architect partners wrote up uh in regards to the bid. So, that's it. Any questions on that one? >> I just have a real quick question. That going to impact um the summer school at all? >> That is a fantastic question. We have not had an initial planning meeting with them, but that was part of our bid walkthroughs is this project cannot start until July 3rd, I believe, 2nd, whenever summer school is over. Uh, we didn't want to reroute anything. So, when we meet planning wise, we think this is only going to take a couple days for them to complete. >> Okay. Um, you resolve the Diamond Lake 7 Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the Diamond Lake school concrete project as presented. May I
031have a motion to approve, please? >> Yes. >> That is approved. Moving on to the sewer project. the most highly anticipated project, >> the the Diamond Lake uh Nicole Sullivan memorial sewer project. Finally, we found a partner to get this done. So, I will tell you, we've Chris Tibido's received quotes from anybody. We've had everything locked and ready to go. No one wants to do this. So, we got our architect involved that had some teeth behind uh some of these bid requirements. So, uh Ernie Peterson was one of the companies that has quoted us in the past. They were an awesome partner. uh they provided the lowest responsible bidder. They're very familiar with the project itself and so they came with a low bid of $73,914. Uh this will also work around summer school. We
032don't anticipate them starting but summer school is uh it's shifted away from the southtown area. They're going to have it blocked off, sealed off so they can solicit do the work. U they can isolate the main on that area as well. So this will not have any impact to the building itself. So, we'll be recommending bringing that project forward. And if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them. >> We're just all very excited that it's actually going to happen. >> I I look forward to hopefully not talking about this again. >> I I really hope Mrs. Sullivan writes you another poem when it's all said and done. >> When it's all said and done, that that is going to be We'll have to hang that like put that in the floor somewhere
033so somebody finds that. >> Yes, >> exactly. Okay. >> A little time capsule this year. resolve that the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the Diamond Lake school sewer project as presented. We have a motion to approve. >> Second. >> Yes. >> And now for a less smelly project, >> the playground. >> Yes. Um, so this project came out from a different uh from a combination of kind of factors. One being when we're out evaluating our safety and security around the building, this playground has kind of stood out as being adjacent to the parking lot and there are some supervision elements that have made it difficult to to spread everyone's attention to two different playing fields. So, we've been bringing this up to the principal the last couple years as we've we're
034looking to give the students a more robust experience outside rather than just an asphalt parking lot. So, this is going to be kind of a two-part process. One, relocating the playground to the southwest corner of the building. This is going to take up a section of the asphalt, but it's going to be tucked away in the corner. It's going to give them a nice play service that's easily supervisable. I'm using that. I don't think that's a real word. Um, and also we're going to able to add in a little bit to the playground itself just to give it a small refresh. Uh, in conjunction with that, we're going to be looking to add in uh replace some of the basketball hoops we have, get some adjustable rims so they're height appropriate. We'll add in some
035soccer goals, do some residing, put in some more benches with possibly like a gazebo. So, it's really an overall beautifification to give the students some more experience, but this will also uh, you know, help improve the safety element behind the building. So, uh, we've worked with this partner, uh, on all of our playground services. This is a subcontractor to do the actual relocation work. >> Anyone have any questions? >> Okay. Then, be it resolved that the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the West Oak intermediate playground project as presented. Have a motion to approve, please. Yes. also approved. >> And then the last item on the business agenda is just up for review and that is the resol resolution to designate interest earnings for fiscal year 2025 2026. >> This is an
036annual process we do that allows uh gives me the authority to move around our interest earnings which I think I detailed the memo is just under 700,000 as of April, 642,000 as April. It'll be about 7:15 when all said and done. And what I do is uh right around once property tax receipts come in, I'll see what each fund is and I may re allocate that as needed. So I'll let uh Dr. Null know and we can provide that in terms of an update on where these funds are moved to. Just more of a cleanup procedure than anything. >> Great. Anyone have any questions here? >> Okay, that wraps up our business agenda for the evening. Um the next item up on the agenda is foyer requests. We had three. All were fulfilled. Um notices
037and communications. We have the April 2026 Diamond Edge. And then the moment of the month for April, which was um adorable from Delino, which was nice to see. Um it was very cute. And then um moving on to public comments and petitions on agenda items. Do we have any public comments on non-aggenda items this evening? Okay, we do not. So, moving on to others. Um, a reminder that triple eye registration opens June 1st. So, if you are interested in going, I do not know the dates off the end, but I'm sure that we will all get an email to our board email about it. Um, but you can let Hyram know and he will start the registration process for that. Um, and then the other thing is the June 16th board of education meeting. We
038are looking to cancel that just because I think that we can finish um all of our business at the June 2nd meeting. Does anyone have any objections to that? >> Fantastic. So, just to give you guys all a heads up, that meeting then will be cancelled and our next meeting will be in July. Um does anyone have anything else for others? Okay. Then we will adjourn to executive session for the appointments, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees of the district or legal counsel for the district, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee or against legal counsel for the district to determine its validity. Can I have a motion to adjourn to executive session, please? Yes. >> Thanks everybody.