001Okay, we now open the floor to public comments on agenda items. Do we have any public comments this evening? Okay, I'm guessing you're all here for the uh the recognition and our learning spotlight, so I will turn it over to the board recognition. Thank you. Good evening. We are excited to be recognizing both staff and students tonight. To join me in recognizing our first Diamond Award winner is Mr. Peterson. If I can invite him up to do the recognition. All right. Thank you, Dr. Nolan. Thank you, uh D76 Education. Uh it is my distinct honor to to present our our Diamond Award to Nicole Lynch, uh an exceptional multilingual teacher who embodies the heart and soul of our educational community. Uh Nicole's dedication to her craft is matched only by her profound care for what
002care she demonstrates for every student who enters her classroom. She's a fierce advocate for all students learning the English language, ensuring they have the tools and support necessary to thrive academically and personally. Uh beyond the classroom, Nicole goes to extraordinary lengths to foster a strong uh home-school connection. She will She will put during parent-teacher conferences, she will personally call every parent in order for them to uh to come and meet with her for for parent-teacher conferences. So, she's always slammed uh during conferences, and she's always the one I'm waiting on when I clear the building, and it's like, you know, conferences ended 8:00, she's there till like 8:15. Uh it's just uh it's like, Nicole, can we wrap this up a little bit?" But um but she's just she's just that type of person. Just
003really welcomes in uh you know, just a a families uh of our of our community and of our of our district that maybe aren't as as represented as as many others, but um really just makes them feel at home and they by doing that she just fosters a just a profound profoundly strong relationships with them that's really just unmatched. Um Nicole's commitment to her students extends far beyond uh traditional instruction as evidenced by her tireless work ethic and her desire to build authentic relationships. This year alone uh she and she remarkably administered 500 access exams. Uh 125 kids times four, we're at about 500. A testament to her technical expertise and her organizational resolve. Uh however, it is her spirit of engagement that truly sets her apart. Uh whether she is advocating for students' needs
004or or joining me on as we play a little intramural basketball uh to connect with kids uh in their own element. Uh Nicole consistently goes to the ex- the extra mile. We're incredibly fortunate to have her in our district. Our our our students and our families are are incredibly fortunate to have her as their teacher. Uh this award is well-deserved recognition of her passion, her advocacy, and her unwavering kindness towards others. So, uh it is my it is my pleasure to you know, to to recognize Nicole for our district's Diamond Award. All right, good. All right. Thank you. All right. I wrote up a few words just because extemporaneous speaking is not my forte. I disagree with that. No, you're just too kind, as always. Okay. Uh Nelson Mandela once said, "There can be no
005keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." Throughout my career as an educator, I have had the privilege of collaborating with our District 76 Board of Education, our talented District Leadership Team, a dedicated principal, esteemed colleagues, and trusted families who truly embody the this belief in the inherent value and dignity of every child. Being part of a community so deeply dedicated to the development and well-being of its children has shaped me into the teacher that I am today. This evening, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those affiliated with District 76 for the countless opportunities to work with your children and for your continued guidance. Through your support, leadership, and trust, we have partnered in one of the most vital and meaningful endeavors, educating and
006empowering our children. To the Board of Education and District Leadership Team, I commend you for the profound impact you have made on our school community through your vision to embrace, empower, and excel each child each day. Your commitment to this mission is evident in the energy, resources, and passion that you dedicate to its fruition. You lead by example, consistently modeling the values you hope to see in our classrooms. Whether it's taking a genuine interest in our lives beyond school, giving teachers a voice in decision-making, fostering collaboration, or providing meaningful professional development opportunities. Your actions empower our teachers to be our best. Because of you, what is cultivated at the district level is reflected within each classroom as we model the same care, respect, and commitment for our students. With leaders like you, the work we
007strive to do in our classrooms, promoting respect, growth, empowerment, and connection is emulated and validated. Your dedication to equity is unwavering. Whether it be assembling bikes for needy families, organizing food drives, or creating gift baskets for our community partners, under Dr. Reynolds' direction, we foster connection beyond the classroom and to the greater community, whereby growth, empowerment, and connection is further developed. As a teacher of multilingual learners, I am especially thankful for your commitment to diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion. Our dual language programs, targeted supports, community outreach efforts, and cultural celebrations all reflect this value and affirm the identities of our diverse student body. In closing, I am grateful for the privilege and responsibility of working with your children. And for the share and for your shared belief in the beauty, complexity, and potential of each child
008each day. I'm honored to have been chosen for the Illinois Teachers Who Excel Recognition, and these years have been an incredible journey, and I am better off because of you. We often speak of the sparkle of Diamond Lake, but I prefer to think of rarity of our diamonds. This is truly a special place. One that is inspiring, uncommon, and unlike any other. Thank you. And just to acknowledge when there is intramurals, who knew she had the hoops that she does. I mean, the students are blown away. The students are actually blown away. Um for our next recognition, we're going to recognize um some students. I'd like to again invite Mr. Peterson, Ms. Collette, and then our two wrestling coaches, Mr. Campbell and Ms. Black Ms. Black to come on up. Yep. To do our student
009recognition. Okay. Um hi, I am Aris Campbell. I am the intermediate PE teacher and the head wrestling coach. Um tonight, we as coaches are proud to recognize three outstanding middle school wrestlers whose performance at the conference tournament reflect not only their success in the mat, but their dedication, perseverance, and character as student athletes. First, we would like to honor Charlie's Cartwright who placed first in the 95-lb weight class. Uh she battled through an incredible competitive bracket showing grit and determination in every match. In unforgettable moments, she had the entire gymnasium on their feet cheering as she secured hard-earned victories in multiple matches during this tournament. Um I believe she is also our first female wrestler to take first place in at a wrestling. Um yeah. Um >> As a fifth grader, uh Charlise's accomplishments are
010even more impressive. She went on to compete at the IKF Girls State Tournament where she placed third. Uh we are incredibly excited to continue coaching and watching her grow over the next 3 years here at West Oak. Nice job, Charlise. Uh next we want to recognize Leo Ferrata who also earned first place competing in the 100-lb weight class. Uh he faced tough tough competition throughout the tournament but remained focused and resilient, ultimately finishing on top. As an eighth grader, this marks the culmination of years of hard work and growth. Leo's dedication led him to qualifying for the IESA State Tournament this year. And while we are sad to see him go, we are excited to see all that he will accomplish at high school level. Congratulations and nice job, Leo. Uh finally, we honor Jason
011Calixto who placed third in the 155-lb weight class. He competed in a challenging bracket uh filled with close matches, demonstrating toughness and determination to finish strong. As a seventh grader, Jason has shown tremendous growth since his fifth grade year. And we are eager to see how he continues to to to develop and lead us as an eighth grader next season. Nice job, Jason. All three of these student athletes exemplify what it means to be dedicated not only during the season, but throughout the countless hours spent training outside of it. Their conference placements and season success are a direct reflection of their commitment in the wrestling room, their discipline, and their pride in representing our wrestling program. They have truly demonstrated what it means to be student athletes and we could not be more proud to
012honor these three incredibly well-rounded members of our wolf pack. Congratulations to each of you. Your hard work, resil- resilience, and commitment throughout the 2025 and 2026 wrestling season have set a standard of excellence for our program. As your coaches, we are incredibly proud of all that you have accomplished and look forward to seeing what the future holds for each of you. Congratulations, guys. And I And a shout-out to our wrestling coaches as well. They put a lot of time, energy, and effort into supporting students and helping them find their passion. Okay, congratulations, everyone. Um we will now move on to the superintendent administration report uh and to the West Oak Middle School learning spotlight. Excellent. Thank you so much. We're going to take uh just a 1-minute break if you were here for the student
013or staff recognition and you need to get home and maybe get some homework done. We want to give you the opportunity. Um you are welcome to stick around for the rest of the meeting, but if you uh need to leave now, we completely understand and we're going to do a little transition as we get some student presentations that are going to uh switch with our cabinet team. So, it's going to pick up here. Echo. Echo. Hello. I'm saying it. Echo. What is putting my camera Make sure that Yeah. Yeah. He does follow >> All right. Well, excellent. Well, thank you everybody for your willingness to stay as well. We We We really look forward to this every year. I just see it the ability to to give, you know, our board just a just kind
014of some insight here on how you know, what what our school is like. And you know, we you know, we're we're privileged enough to take on three new board members. You guys don't have any kids in our school and we just want to give you guys a feel for for what it what it is like. I I am I am privileged to be next to some some individuals that I've been able to work with the last 3 years through what we call our student ambassadors. You guys will hear about that here in just a little bit. And uh I'm going to I'm going to have them take it away here in just a moment. But, you know, we talk we we talk and this is something that is is in common places we talk about
015embracing, empowering, and excelling. And and the people next to me really just exemplify that in in everything they do and just being an excellent role model, excellent leaders within our school. And I just couldn't be more proud and grateful that I get to work with them you know, for the last 3 years. So, really we want to show you guys just kind of a glimpse into the life of we're going to take you guys inside the life of our our middle school. And we got a little video montage at the end here. Now, with every student ambassador team that I have, there are five per grade level. As you can see, there's four. We had one person that's absent, but she she spent a few hours putting together a video montage to get to kind
016of give you guys a taste of what the what life is like as an eighth grader. So, we're going to show that at the very end. But, our our our presentation just amplifying student voice, choice, and engagement. All right, so you guys want to introduce yourselves? Oh, okay. Um, I'm Maddie, and I joined because um, I like to like um, what's it called? Like help the students and like learn more things. And have fun. I'm Olivia, and I joined to be the voice for my peers and make a difference in our school. I'm Levi Saho, and I joined student ambassadors to make the school a better place. I'm Jack Lorries, and I joined student ambassadors to make a positive impact district-wide. As student ambassadors, we are leaders leaders within the school, and we do various
017events, such as our graduation. And we help plan school assemblies every month. We also help with scholarship allocation and school initiatives. As you can see, we put up posters, help pop popcorn, and volunteer at different events. Some other things we have done at um, are we have helped change school policies, such as the dress code and electronics policies, and we do food tasting every year. We like to help make school a positive experience for everyone by giving tours to new students and meeting with our superintendent, Dr. Noll. And we have also started the report card task force, which three of our student ambassadors are currently in. Recently, we presented at the Aimed Exploratory Conference, where we talked about how our school is so small, but very mighty. We use CHAMPS in our classrooms to help
018build engagement and behavior. Um, C stands for character, H is for help, A is for activity, M is for movement, P is for participation, and S stands for success. We use PBIS to help enforce behavior, and we get various rewards. As you can see, on the left is our students helping um pass out rewards for PBIS. The top is some different reminders of how we should behave in different areas. The pizza boxes were reward we had, and on the right is a teacher explaining behavior expectations in our innovation center. We do a challenge every trimester that is focused on academics, attendance, and behavior to reward our students for excelling in these categories. On the left, we have a movie room. In the middle, we have snow cones. And on the right, we have a choice
019room, and this one was cosmetology. Every year, we also do an academic challenge that um is for the grade level that has the most growth in their test scores by the end of the year. And we've gone to various places such as Lakeside Lanes where they can go bowling and play at an arcade or Sky Zone. Also, every month, another challenge we do is our reading challenge um where there will be a different kind of book that you are expected to read. And if you do that, you get entered into a raffle where you can win a reward. So, for academics, right now, this is our second year of standards-based grading. We do test prep. Um we do common formative assessments. And uh we have We have a little something for you. >> Proficiency scales.
020So what you guys are looking at with the proficiency scales, this is this has been a lot of our work here so far this school year and just really kudos to all the hard work of our of our staff. We we do we have we have and we're organizing with our our web our district website is a a teacher facing scales which are are are are not the most consumable but it's just something that's available for for for parents, families, guardians. You know, just just to know what what's being taught and and you know, and and what scope and sequence it is being taught at. And then, you know, there this is being an example of a student facing student facing proficiency scale. And as you guys can kind of see, you know, there is
021different different levels of mastery that you can achieve. You know, two be in this that that that basic we're approaching mastery, three we've achieved that mastery, and that number four is we are approach we're we're exceeding it. And as you can see there, you know, to make it to make students more more responsible for you know, more take more ownership in their learning. We do have them self assess and then also just you know, kind of be able to to have these conversations with others with families family members with staff members. You know, just you know, where am I at? Where do I think I'm at and where you know, where's my goal and you know, how where do I want to get to? So just kind of give you guys an idea of some
022of our work that is already being implemented but we're looking at full implementation come this fall. Academics, we go for the sixth graders, we go to a field trip to Camp Duncan. And we use the Innovation Center to like learn and like use it to our advantage, and just have it as a calm space. And in one of our classrooms in Ms. Holzman's, um they have a bike, which is 6th grade ELA, um to get their energy out if they have too much. Here in PE, we use uh heart monitors and uh the fitness journals and the fitness room. In 6th grade, they learn CPR with the fire department. And we did Frizbee golf, or whatever it's called. I'm not sure. Um in Project Lead the Way, we for 7th graders Okay, out of order.
0237th graders, we do computer programming. 6th graders, we do modeling and drafting, which is a boot and skimmers. The computer programming is like microbits, or microbots. I don't know. Same thing. Um In 8th grade, we do robotics and drones. Band, we have lessons, full ensemble, almost every day. Currently, there is 151 students, and we do Nim Con contests. And we go to our future high school nights. In choir, we have a really strong community. Um there is currently 81 students with the 5th graders included, um with 6th, 7th, and 8th. Uh we do competitions, concerts, and solos. Um In music, we learn music p- uh we play piano, guitar, and you don't need much experience necessary. In art, we do clay, wood burning, oil pastels, and quilling. Uh DMA, we do light photography, cricket, video
024editing or producing and graphic design. Uh for assemblies, we focus on a positive environment and we basically just show the good in our school and have fun. Um we have students of the month every month. We have data and important information about our school. And the picture on the right you see there is our staff dressed up in blow costume or blow up costumes and they had to do like little obstacle course race. It was very hot in there if I I may add. I think this was like a September assembly. There is. There is. I will totally share that with you afterwards. Yes. Uh for student engagement, we have around 80% of all students that is involved in a club or activity. Um for sports, we have many different sports that our uh students
025love to participate in. For yearbook, there is several clubs that go along with it. Um the picture all the way on the right you can see is uh one of the winners for our yearbook cover contest which is students get to design a yearbook that they can put in a like election and whichever one gets voted the most um gets selected as the yearbook cover for that year. Uh student broadcast club is a club that highlights important things around the school. Um and it's basically just somewhere that students can go after school and have fun. Art club, uh, students can express their creativity among many different projects. Jazz band is a before and after school club that has two different bands. Um, which they actually have a Jazz in the Gym concert coming up tomorrow.
026Sunrise Singers is a morning club that they have uh, I'm not sure exactly when, but occasional mornings. And >> Wednesdays and Fridays. Um, and they also have a spring concert that they get to perform instead of, well, in front of Wallace. Uh, board game club was student founded. Um, which we have a sponsor, Mr. Dorr. Uh, that took over because a lot of students showed interest in a board game club. Theater club is also student founded. Uh, by Miss FF. And is a place where students can just hang out after school and have fun while creating a film. So, this is our cosmetology club. Um, this club is very popular in our trimester challenges as Olivia showed you earlier. Um, so it became like a big thing and students like ended up wanting it to
027be a club, so it became one of our bigger clubs. Um, this is our L project. It's it like honors a passing of one of our students named El Kim. It just like gives out things that would like make people feel good and they just help out the community. The things like they've done recently is like sell jewelry, read to classes, they go to Feed My Starving Children, and they give out like candy flower grams. Um the picture way on the bottom left is she was first chair in band, so we always have a uh purple stand there and chair just to like honor her there. Um and then those two pictures on the right, those are like toys that keep students occupied during the Illinois state testing. Um this is our Catalyst Club. I'm
028personally in this club. Um students get to go to Stevenson and talk about like drug prevention and awareness. Um they can gather those like things that they talk about and bring it like back to their community to like help with uh all of the things that go on. Um way on the left, that's our Project Snowflake. Um that's high school students coming to our school and talking about like the things that go on sometimes in our community. Um for Catalyst, we did just have our legislative lunch um month and a half ago. It's where like different legislators from different parts of Illinois come to like talk about and we spread awareness from the research that we've done. Um this is the Mundelein After School Coalition. Uh this group just helps out in the community. They
029do turkey drives, Halloween, they hosted the Halloween and sham- shamrock social, and they go to Feed My Starving Children as well. This is our National Junior Honor Society. This club is for um the highest achieving students, and it's really hard to get into. They hold like in National Junior Honor Society, they do things to help out the community. Um in the middle, that's one of our president elections. On the way left, that's our um, sponsor for National Junior Honor Society, Ms. Bedore. Um, standing with one of our students. Um, on the top right, that's them hosting the Mundelein, or not the Mundelein, the Halloween um, assembly. And then, on the bottom, they just help out with like the holiday things that go on in our school. Another club that we have that's gotten kind of
030popular is our sewing club. Students get to expand their mind on sewing and get to learn what to make and it's pretty fun time. This is our intramural basketball volleyball. Um, this school this runs after school on Fridays. Um, it became a basketball and volleyball by student voice. And um, as we were laughing at earlier, that's Mr. Peterson after getting his tooth knocked out getting a rebound. It was an accident. Let's turn the Let's go to the next slide. So, this is our like school coffee shop called the Howlin' Brew. It's run by resource students. It's to um, help them manage money and have like real world experiences. I actually do have the coupons for them. It's the So, that's that's good for one free coffee if you guys need it on a Friday morning
031here. They are They are brewing it and it's the best cup of coffee you can get in in Mundelein. So, yes. I don't know. I just made that last comment. Oh, thank you. Thank you. All right, thank you, Levi. Our mini medical school is a hands-on taste of med school that about 30 of our students got to do at Rosalind Franklin University. We also do various things for community outreach such as our back to school bash as seen on the left, and we donated school supplies with McDonald's over the summer. We collaborate within our district in many different ways such as middle school choir students going caroling on the intermediate side, D76 kindness day as seen on the right where all three schools meet up in the middle school and spend a day together. Um
032D76 loves to read and fly up day are some more activities we do. And then we have here our eighth grade honor roll breakfast um which just shows our students that made the honor roll for that particular trimester, and they get rewarded with a breakfast and a certificate every trimester. For student celebrations, we have all the way on the right we have the clap out. In the top middle, we have uh some posters that students put on lockers to wish them a good luck in their sport. And then all the way on the bottom left, we have me and our member who is not here right now cuz she's in Canada uh for the IPA award. We have uh we gave out pizza and pop for the students who did access testing for their amazing
033job. Um we have the Judge Shane Award at the Lake County Courthouse, which is for the highest achieving and highest approved or uh highest improving. On the top left, we have one of our student ambassador members and her little brother winning the spelling bee for our school. In the middle, we have some of our staff meeting one of the students at their house because they give out signs to all the eighth grade class that is graduating. And all the way on the right, we have a student award day, which is right before the eighth grade graduation. So, as Olivia was saying earlier, we're small but mighty school. We do a lot of work in our school, but we also like to have fun. Um this is on the way left. Um this is our annual
034Brewers game that we go to, which is coming up for us. And then students also like matching and um Mr. Mr. Peterson and a student. Um this just helps students start off with the good day is on the left. They're getting greeted off the bus. Um in the middle, Mr. Peterson getting pied in the face in an assembly for people that did good jobs on their test. And then um bottom bottom right is Super Cooper, who's over there. And then um top top right is a staff member reading to a student. Um we also got nominated for uh 2025 Illinois Horizon and National Forum Schools to Watch. Um this is our first redesignation, and we're just hoping to keep it going. Awesome. All right. So, the uh the student ambassador that wasn't here, like I
035said before, she's like she's up in Canada right now. Uh but she wanted to contribute something to this presentation. So, this is this her giving you guys a a in the spotlight in you know, in the in in the first person kind of view of of what it's like to be an eighth grader uh at West Oak Middle School. What's that? Okay. 376 is home away from home for many students. But especially eighth graders. This particular grade of students is known for their individualized personalities, zest for life, and chaotic but unforgettable senses of humor. This is the life of an eighth grade student. Um First thing I do is go to the cafeteria with super super long hang out with them. I go sit down in the lunch area or whatever and I just talk
036to my friends. How do you feel about the current eighth grade class? Um I love that class. One of the best ever. I've had them for the past three years. Um I'd have to say they're different personalities. What's your favorite part about West Oak? Uh the communities the communities the teachers lunches What is the funniest they do on a daily basis? Sing. Well, the funniest thing I heard all year was one of the students asked me, "When is that hedgehog thing?" He was referring to Groundhog Day. Can you explain the photo? What's your favorite of the extracurriculars you do? So, like clubs or sports or just something you do in the school that's outside of class. The L project. Why the L project? Cuz um like we're like celebrating her like her soul. What do
037you think you're going to miss most about them? Um Their humor and just like every time I see them and say hi to me in the hallway, even if they don't have me as their teacher. So, I think it's pretty cool that they are. Um This is a sensitive topic for me. I don't want them to leave. I don't want them to graduate. I want to hold them back and sabotage their grades so they can't graduate. Um but I really will miss their everyday conversations and just having fun through learning, for sure. Thank you. What? Posing for a photo. Well, I'll miss the students here. How long have you been here for a while? Been here for a while. Been here since fourth grade. Since Since Since K. Um I'd probably say the classes and
038the social studies. Social studies. I'll miss >> There we go. All right. So, I'm I I hoping you guys sense a general theme here. And with all the pictures, all the videos, a lot a lot of smiles going on. And I know Levi kind of mentioned here we we work hard. Uh we work extremely hard, but we want to we have a lot of fun, too. And and uh it's just been, you know, it's it it it's it's I'm grateful to be able to work with these guys and just be just be the principal at West Oak Middle School. It's just a just an it's an amazing time. And uh it's it's been truly an enjoyable uh experience for me here in my career. Um So, I'm going to throw it over to you guys.
039We we did not practice these. We didn't, you know, full disclosure, we did practice this a couple times. Um but we have not practiced there or we did not we did not we wanted this to be genuine. So, I'll just leave it up to to you four here. You guys can answer either one or both if you would like. But uh what do you think what is your favorite uh West Oak Middle School memory or and what do you what do you think makes the middle school special? You can. Okay. Um I'm answering both because um Moms is special because um it's a really good community and it's like yes, it's small, but it as we said, it's a good school and it's mighty. Um My favorite memory of Moms from Moms is because uh
040woah, what? Um not just because I'm here, it's because when I joined student ambassadors it was like a really good experience and like knowing that I could like make more friends. It was really fun. Um one of my favorite um WAMS memories is going to Six Flags with Sunrise Singers. And something that I think makes our school and our district special is just our staff is really amazing. They make every student feel loved and welcome and like they really matter. Um my favorite memory from WAMS is um one of our assemblies, the staff surprised with my sister coming to the assembly and got to play a game. Um and my favorite and it made like it's special because I was new to the school in fourth grade and they really just welcomed me in and
041it was a good environment. Well, we did it float the idea of Ruby joining you and you were like, "No, I don't want that to happen." So, I I love the fact that you say that. Okay. Um my favorite memory is probably walking in every single day and seeing all my friends and all the staff greeting me in the morning. And uh what I think what makes WAMS special is how tight community it is and all the bonds that students have with each other and students with staff. And basically just everything is so tight-knit that it's I don't know. I'm better. Awesome. All right. Well, I I just want to say thank you again, guys, for for being such great leaders. Uh these these amazing uh amazing people, they they represent us so well and
042they're just leaders within our school and I I just love the ability for them to just tell our story because you know, it's it's it's it's an amazing it's it's amazing to be part of and you know, like I said before, not only within this group, within our school, but but just as a community in itself. Um so, that So, that was you know, so that was kind of more that the student part of this uh presentation. Just want to kind of touch upon some some other things, you know, within the district we talked about the three P's. Um, and you know, some of these that we have done to to kind of highlight those. I'm just going to go over relatively quick. Um, you know, really I as we said before, you know, we
043want to build that community within our school. We also want to we want to bring that community inside of our school as well. So really one of our school improvement plan goals within um that that that the three P's here um is is the positive phone calls where we we've challenged all every every one of our staff members to, you know, call a parent every week. Uh, and just tell them how great their kid is and how much they love having them in school. Um, you know, and just encourage them to to continue to be part of uh be part of um their their kids' educational lives. And and you know, that's been a very positive experience uh for us here this school year. Uh, PBIS enhancements, this has been a huge jump for us.
044We've moved to PBIS rewards. Uh, I know we talked uh Olivia talked briefly here about uh the PBIS store. We we've broken our school into different parts of the school where, you know, we have expectations in the innovation center, the cafeteria, uh in the classroom. So all those things are outlined and we do those reteachings um you know, on a regular basis as well. Um, for our staff, uh this is our second year of doing this, but um just be able to to get out of our classrooms and go to somebody else's classroom. And and hey, I'm going to take that one thing that I that I learned from that classroom and I'm going to add that to my my toolbox and and help make me better. So just really just enhancing those those those
045PLCs and um you know, I talked about that updated our our PLC format where every every teacher is getting that every week. We're just talking about teaching, talk talking about learning and and helping us just make ourselves better and make our school better as well. And then finally here uh we we've uh we've been pushing hard on this. Um, you know, Maddie mentioned this uh briefly, but standards-based grading, this is are into our second year. We've learned a ton. We're still learning. Um and thank you thank you to parents for being patient with us on that. Uh proficiency scales, I think it's just definitely going to continue to help level us up um as we move forward with this. And really um you know, jumping into our our assessments, I think this is an area
046for that we could really grow in. And and this is going to help make us better. And it's going to help us get a have a better idea of what students are understanding and to what level they're understanding it. But more importantly, uh you know, they know where they are at in this journey of learning towards towards these priority standards. And then that And then also just revamping our our our report cards to make those easily consumable for you guys. Uh we we want this to be a way of communication to all you in in a way that you guys can understand it. So, just continuing that work just holistically, it's just going to continue to help to um just to make us the best that we can be. All right. So, uh any any
047questions um I I I'm a little boring, but if you guys have any questions for them, I mean, feel free. I don't have any questions, but I just want to say that was a I don't currently have any students at your school, but I will next year. And your presentation made me really excited about that. And I know she's going to love it there. So, thank you. Uh her story joined student ambassadors. It's really nice. He gets us food. That's why they keep coming back and forth. Mr. Peterson, I got to know including um the fifth student, I got to know four of them on the Washington D.C. trip. So, great kids, great examples, great leaders. So, nicely done. What's that? Great great classes as we already kind of mentioned as well. So, great eighth
048grade class. Thank you guys so much. Thank you all so much for coming. Um if you would like to stay for our business agenda, we'd be thrilled to have an audience, but it will not hurt our feelings if you would like to get home and continue on with your evening. But, congratulations to all of you. You did an outstanding job, and it was very fun to watch. It was very sweet. Oh, that's Mine. Oh, that's very cute. Thank you. Okay, moving on to our business agenda for the evening. Um we have one item for review, and then two items for action. The first item for review is I'm going to give us food agenda, which we will vote on at our next meeting. The next item is um personnel, and that item is up for
049action. Be it resolved that the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the personnel items as depicted on the agenda and we have four new hires. May I have a motion to approve? Yes. And that motion is approved. Um the next item up for action is very exciting. It is approving the recommendation to hire our director of multilingual learning. Be it resolved the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the recommendation of Dr. Aaron Noe to hire Ms. Yolanda Roldan as the director of multilingual learning as presented. May I have a motion to approve, please? Yes. Congratulations and welcome. Fantastic. We're so thrilled to have you. Thank you. Hi, everyone. Um I'm going to just stick to reading it because I don't want to miss anything. Um I want to start
050by expressing my sincere gratitude to everyone who has been part of this journey, especially the interviewing panel. Thank you so much for all your questions and really giving me the opportunity to share a little bit about myself. Um I just really enjoyed getting to know you a little bit and really sharing my vision with you. I am also incredibly thankful to Dr. Aaron Noe and um also to the board. Thank you so much because you saw that confidence and you have that trust in me for um this role. So, thank you so much. I'm truly honored and excited to be joining such an amazing district. I knew that the minute that I started coming in for the interviews. And I really mean that. Just the community feel, the welcoming environment, and then being here at
051the board meeting tonight just really confirmed that for me. Seeing the student success report and then also all that you do for honoring staff and students, that just really was the cherry on top for me. So, thank you so much. My time in Harvard um has really played a significant role in shaping who I am as an educator and leader. I've had the privilege of being a dual language teacher while in Harvard and then moving into an assistant principal position. And um being an English learner myself, that really helps me to continue that um that work and really have that perspective every day. Those experiences have its have strengthened my commitment to ensuring that multilingual learners are seen, supported, and empowered. I carry a deep sense of gratitude for the colleagues, mentors, and community members
052who have supported me along the way. Several of them actually joined me here today, which was a huge surprise. So, thank you so much for being here. And also, of course, I'm very thankful to my family who are also here. They are my rock. They have supported me through schooling and, you know, every every new adventure. So, thank you so much. As I step into this role, I do so with humility, gratitude, and a strong commitment to continue learning, growing, and leading with a multilingual lens. I look forward to partnering with all of you to support our students and families of Diamond Lake, and to build on that incredible work that is already happening here in the district. And I'm ready to sparkle on. Thank you. Um so, with that, we will conclude our business
053agenda for the evening. Um moving on to freedom of information requests, we had one lengthy one. Um moving on to notices and communications, we don't have any for this evening. We then will move on to public comments and petitions on non-agenda items. Do we have any public comments on non-agenda items? Okay, then we will move on to others, and I think Vicky, you have one. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. There's this one. Um so, I just wanted to give an update on like as everyone is aware Route 683 is going to be widened sometime in the hopefully not so distant future. Um, one of the concerns that I've had about it is our buses safety and being able to exit safely onto 683 and so um I've had um some emails back and forth with
054IDOT trying to figure out exactly what they've done to ensure that that our students will be safe and um yeah, we've kind of gone back and forth. It took a while. We finally got um their traffic study but it was done in 2017 which obviously was before we consolidated schools and changed our start times. So it's just something that um we should all be aware of that there is potentially this issue um and yeah. Do you have anything to add? No and I did just get an you know Nikki's been advocating for the potential of putting a stop light down at the Acorn 683 so just giving it an opportunity for us publicly to talk about us advocating or advocating on behalf of that light so that we can have a proper conversation related to
055that. Let's see if there's any thoughts, questions. Do they anticipate doing an updated traffic So yeah, communication has been slow. I think my first email to them was at the beginning of January and then our response was um what the beginning of February and then I responded pretty much immediately and then we just got a response in the middle of March. Um So, yeah. I mean, we we are definitely planning on asking for that along with some other information as well. Um but they don't intend to do it without us um needling them a bit, so. Yeah. And the full scope of the construction project of 6083 is not fully transparent at this point in time, so I I I think, you know, Nikki's advocating on behalf of the board to get some additional information.
056As we get it, we'll keep you updated. updated within your board packet to just public knowledge additional information. Yeah, and that website still isn't updated right now. No. That's from 2017. Yeah. Yeah, it happened sometime between March and March now. Yeah. I think that's roughly where Right. narrow time And it says right here We have been aware from some of our families that they did purchase properties along that corridor, which I think there's a lot of complications with the negotiating for the properties. Um now, it has been clarified that they have done some purchases. I'm sure you've seen some of the businesses on that roadway that are most closest to the railroad tracks um are the ones that are starting to move into additional locations. I mean but you definitely we've seen just being actually
057mentioned Currently with the two lanes of traffic and buses going out, if you've seen them try to access it, they have to go around the traffic. There will be five lanes as our understanding right now. And just making sure that we safe entry and Right, my my concern more is like the speed and the volume of traffic. If it's the one throughway that doesn't have a stop for a railroad crossing you can just count on the fact that there will be more traffic coming through and you know, that they'll be going faster. Yeah, and there's I mean there are bus stops essentially right on the road. Right, and so that's another question I I doubt if if you know, have they taken any of this into consideration. So. I think it's really additional information for
058just the public Yeah. Absolutely. Several of our students. Several of our students. From the Westfall campus all do go back and forth by bus. Through that intersection. Just so you know. Okay, any >> Mhm. >> Thank you. Thank you.