001Okay. Calling to order the business meeting for Diamond Lake School District 76. Roll call, please. Miss Angorola, here. Miss Bis here. Mr. Becker, here. Miss Hail, here. Mr. Hman, here. Mr. Candela, here. Miss Sullivan, here. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge aliance to the flag United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So cute. We now open the floor for public comments on agenda items. Do we have any public comments this evening? Okay, there being no public comments, we will move on to presentations. All right, we have two presentations this evening. The first one is our Diamond Lake school learning spotlight. I'm going to introduce our principal of Diamond Lake, Mrs. Mley, who will introduce our teachers
002and what they will be presenting tonight. All right. So, we have our teachers today who are here to teach us how to read. We have Miss Aliara, Miss Isabella, Mr. Robert, Miss Linda, Miss Mary, Miss Sophia, Miss Chloe, Mr. Francisco, Mr. Albert, and Mr. Felix. You hear? So at our biggest work we do in kindergarten is we start learning how to read. So, first we begin with our letter sound and then we start tapping in our and blending. Are you ready to start tapping and blending? Yes. Okay. So, let's get in our spot over here so that we can see our teacher so our students can see us. We're clustered together a little here. Here we go. Come on over here. All right. Are you ready for your first word? Do you remember where to
003look? Yes. All right. Teachers, are you ready? We're going to do dim. So this is how we start learning to read. It's also important that we know our site words. So the next thing we're going to do practice and show you how we get to our site words. Here we go. Are you ready? time to do your practice activity. So, go to your students and tell them what you need to do. Yeah. Come on out to your students. Just find a student. Right over here. Come on over here. Are you going to teach with Francisco? that two make the same sound. Yeah. There's like no upside down which colors they choose. My favorite colors are brown. All right, Francisco. Did you Did you And what other two colors? What other two colors? It's a brown,
004white, and red. Oh. Oh, yep. That's the color. No white spots. Leave no white spots. Oh yeah, that's definitely my daughter. My brother speaking to the speaker to the speaker. the teacher turn your class. Are you ready? So, we also learn how to read in Spanish and Miss Sophia is going to lead us in a practice we do every day or almost every week, every day at the beginning of the school year. So teachers face your students. Are you ready? Hit it. [Music] I man [Music] emana esta est mano mano mano mo. Fumbrella. Luna. Tortuga torto. [Music] cornero. Needle. Needle. Needle. Needle. Focus. [Music] Miss Linda is gonna lead us in our dilabas activity. Here you go. Are you ready, teachers? Make sure you're nice and loud. [Music] Do [Music] Do Fore! Foreign! Foreign! [Music]
005reading. So teachers will come to you with their book. Felix here. Who's going to go with Felix? All right. So, there you go. Chloe and then the rest will find a part at the table. Okay, let's go this way. Why don't you do it? You can do three. It'll be great. Let's go this way. How about right here? Right over here. All right, Mr. Francisco and Mr. Felix, come on down. Come teach them. teach them how to read. We're gonna have to listen in here. So, what are you doing? You're highlighting. What are you highlighting? Are you Why Why can you highlight this? N. You're the teacher. Can you highlight that? No. Okay. I can. So, are you reading it? Did you read the word? Yep. So, let's read the words. Did you read the
006sentence? [Music] Wow. Can I Yeah. Okay. It's just great. Do you want to see more? That's what you do. We won't crowd your table the whole time with our our word papers. Great job, kindergarteners. And you did it in English and Spanish. We are really proud of you. You were excellent teachers and thank you. And you were so brave to come up here and teach a lesson, especially to people you don't know. So, we are really proud of you. Awesome work. Our second presentation this evening is recognizing uh the core value of opportunity in sparkle on the O. So we recognize staff and students each month who have exemplified the core value. Um they're nominated by their peers or the administrative team. So I'm going to have Mrs. Mley uh please recognize and share out
007who your staff member for opportunity is. So today, it's my pleasure to recognize two incredible members of our Diamond Lake School family. Our Diamond Award winners for opportunity are Miss Elenni and Miss Tony. You may know them. They hang out with our friends at recess and lunch. Every day, Elenni and Tony go far beyond supervising lunch and recess. They are creating a space where students have real opportunities to grow, learn, and thrive. Through their patient guidance and thoughtful presence, they are helping our students build the kinds of skills they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives. They give students the opportunity to make choices like where to sit, who to talk to, and how to solve their own problems. By trusting students and giving them room to navigate social situations, they are helping
008build confidence, independence, and social awareness. They know that these moments, talking with friends, resolving conflicts, and making choices are powerful opportunities for growth. Eleni and Tony also understand that our students are not just learners in the classroom, but young people preparing for the real world. They help them develop the skills they need beyond our building on weekends, in their homes, and out in the community. What's even more special is the compassion and kindness they bring to every interaction. They offer students the opportunity to be heard and valued. They model respect and care and their leadership in the lunchroom reflects a deep belief that every student deserves a chance to express themselves and feel a sense of belonging. At Diamond Lake, we are lucky to have Elenni and Tony out there with our students every day.
009So, come on up. Thank you. Thank you. You're so appreciate it. Do you like to say anything? Oh, yeah. I didn't. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I didn't expect it, but thank you very much, guys. You deserve it. I feel the love. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Nice shot. Make sure. All right. For West Oak Intermediate School, I would like to recognize two exceptional um staff members who go above and beyond their duty, their daily responsibilities to create something that's truly special for our students, our schools, and our communities. As the sponsors of our West Oak Intermediate School Student Council, Mrs. Berman and Mrs. Brodzky have not only supported student leadership and service, they have cultivated it. They've empowered students to find their voices, develop their ideas, and turn those
010ideas into meaningful action. At our last board meeting, we were fortunate to witness a presentation by our student council students. Their pride was evident and rightfully so. They shared with us the many events that they've led, the partnerships they've built, and the ways they've given back to our community. Behind each of those initiatives is the steady guidance and unwavering support of two of these amazing teachers who believe deeply in the power of student leadership and community service. Mrs. Burman and Mrs. Bradsky exemplify the core value of opportunity. They open doors for our students not just to participate in activities but to lead them. They create space for students to grow into confident, capable young people who understands what it means to serve others with purpose, passion, and heart. Through their care, dedication, and commitment, these
011two teachers ensure our student council is more than just a club. It's a force for good for our schools and our community. Their passion, service, and kindness create an impact far beyond the classroom. I want to recognize and thank Mrs. Burman and Mrs. Broaddsky for their remarkable work. You both truly make a big difference and we are deeply grateful for your dedication and service. Please join me in celebrating Mrs. Burman and Mrs. Braski for their outstanding dedication to fostering and providing opportunities for service and leadership for all of our students and student council. Congratulations to you both and please continue to sparkle on. Thank you so much. Uh we really really love being uh able to run this club and just listen to all the great ideas that the kids have and just to see
012what they come up with and the ways that they can help the world. Yes, thank you. We love being with the student council kids. They're great leaders and we are very fortunate to have such great students in our club. Mr. Peterson, would you like to come up and do the honors for West Oak Middle School? All right. Uh hello, hello and good evening. Uh it is my true pleasure uh to recognize uh Mr. Adam door as our April's recipient of and our superintendent spotlight in the area of opportunity. Uh Adam is an exceptional educator and leader whose influence is felt across every corner of our school. He actively serves on our building leadership team uh where his voice and vision helps to shape the direction of our school community. As a seventh grade team lead,
013uh Adam supports his colleagues, helps coordinate instruction, uh and ensures that students receive a cohesive and supportive experience. Uh what's more, Adam takes his dedication beyond the classroom by voluntarily attending our district PTO meetings uh every every month uh on his own accord and assists with multiple supervision duties each day, showing his willingness to step in and assist the school wherever he is needed. Uh Adam's commitment uh to expanding opportunities for students is remarkable. uh his in addition to his core role as social studies teacher, he has taken on the challenge of preparing and teaching three separate project lead the way classes um which provide a hands-on future ready learning experience that pushes students to think critically uh and creatively. These courses include drafting and modeling, computer programming, and new to this year u robotics
014by his contribu go far beyond his academics. Adam has built a strong trusting relationships with his students, making himself a steady and supportive presence in their lives. He he created and leads our board game club uh offering students a fun inclusive space to connect with uh connect and build community. Uh I think he was I think he was talked into it. I don't think he even realized it, but some kids started the club and uh and and they just thought I think they asked you if uh if hey, do you think that'd be a good idea? And I think you just said yes. and I he didn't know but he was volunteering himself to uh to lead that the last couple years. Um but Adam's heart and service uh his care for others and his
015commitment to creating opportunities for all students make him an invaluable person inside our school. Uh I am proud and honored to work alongside him uh and grateful for the many ways he enriches our building every single day. Uh thank you Adam. Uh continue to level up, lean in, and sparkle on. Thank you. Um, thank you again for the nomination, uh, Mr. Peterson and obviously this would not, uh, this would not be possible without the support of the board and Dr. Charma Lewis, Dr. Cunningham. Um the project lead the way program has exploded over the last couple years and I deeply appreciate your support all all along. Thank you. All right. Now it is time to recognize our students who exemplify the core value of opportunity. Mrs. Moley, would you like to announce the Diamond Lake
016recognition? Our student nomination is Lette Cervantes. She is not here today because she is traveling and she'll be back tomorrow. So, we'll be we'll be awarding her her diamond award on Friday. But her teacher mentioned that Lette is always open to giving opportunity for her and her peers to be successful and to celebrate her peers. So, we are very excited to celebrate her on Friday. We're going to do things a little out of order because we are recognizing the West Oak Intermediate School Student Council. So, if I can have Mr. Peterson come up and recognize our student for the middle school. Oh, Mr. Door. Sorry, Mr. Door. Uh, good evening. I want to start by saying that I couldn't think of a better candidate to receive the opportunity award than Lou Martin. For two years,
017I've watched her grow in the Project Lead the Way program and inspire students to join the board game club. She brings a positive energy to every meeting, encouraging every student to participate and feel included. From the moment Lou joined our middle school community, she has brought an incredible influence to our district. She is known for exceptional willingness to go above and beyond in assisting everyone in need. Yes, Lou is a born leader. But what makes Lou a great leader is her ability to include everyone around her in any activity she is doing. She demonstrates a wonderful drive in seeking opportunities for her own growth and achievement and she is equally exceptional at extending opportunities to others. With an eye for potential, Lou has personally encouraged students to join clubs and organizations, recognizing their talents and
018seeing their positive contributions and sense of belonging. She sees opportunities and seizes them for herself and for others. Best of all, she does this with thought, care, and kindness. I look forward to seeing what the future brings for you, Lou, and for all the opportunities life will present you. Congratulations. We know you want to say I just want to say thank you so much for the nomination and thank you so much. Mrs. Bradsky and Mrs. Berman, would you like to come up and recognize our students from the West Oak Intermediate School Student Council? We know that not everyone could be here tonight, but we're going to say everybody's name because we know some families are watching from home. We want to recognize the um WOS student council tonight um for their great leadership that they
019have shown throughout the year. Um they have come up with their own ideas and they have been wonderful leaders. Um they have given opportunities to our school, our community and the world. Um helping other people is their priority. They've shown so much enthusiasm and um excitement for making the world a better place. So please help us welcome our student council members. Okay, we she's not here, but we have Devon stored. Oh, okay. Uh, Adeline Tees, Spencer Tilman, he's not here, but his mom is here. William Serwinsky, come on up. Samantha Sotero, Sophia Martinez Tez, Richard Terron, uh, Charize Cartwright, Chris Alaran, Eric Sanchez, Charlotte Opppek, Aiden Gonzalez, Isaiah Rosas, Zoe Miller, Guysa Strauss, Solomon Strauss, Sammy Doll, and Ashley Gonzalez. Thank you guys for everything that you do each time. All right, that concludes our
020presentations from this evening. Can I have all the staff and the students who earned an opportunity recognition to follow Mr. Hansen out for a picture? I want to thank our kindergarten teachers in training for a wonderful presentation and thank you our kindergarten real teachers and staff who showed up tonight and thank you Mrs. Mley for a wonderful presentation. We're going to do a quick change and bring our tables up while Mr. Hansen takes pictures. So, I'm going to invite the DT to come back. Family and friends who joined us and supported us, you are welcome to leave. We have a really exciting meeting planned, but this was really the big highlight. So, you're welcome to stay or I know you've got bedtime routines to get to. So, thank you again for all your support and
021being here tonight. Okay, moving on to our business agenda this evening. We have a number of items that are all up for action. The first item on the business agenda is 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 item, that item or items will be pulled from the omnivous vote agenda and voted on separately. Be it resolved 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? Mr. H. Yes. Mr. Becker. Yes. Miss Bis. Yes. Yes. Mr. Fandella. That motion is approved. The next
022item up for action is personnel. It resolved that the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the personnel items as depicted on the agenda. We have one new hire and we have one resignation. May I have a motion to approve, please? Yes, that item is also approved. Moving on to the custodial services contract extension. Be it resolve the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the 2825 2026 custodial services contract amendment as presented. May I have a motion to approve, please? Second. Sullivan. Yes. That motion is approved. The next item up for action is approving the food service joint contract with Arbor. Be it resolved, the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the 2025 2026 food service joint contract with Arbor as presented. May I have a motion
023to approve, please? Yes. Yes. Mr. That motion is approved. The next item up for action is approving the student meal prices. Be it resolved, the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the 2025 2026 student meal prices as presented. May I have a motion for approval, please? Second, yes, that motion's also approved. And then the last item up for action on the business agenda for this evening is approving classified staff salary raises and bonuses. Be it resolved that the Diamond Lake 76 Board of Education accepts and approves the classified staff salary raises and bonuses as presented. May I have a motion to approve, please? I'm sorry. Miss Okay, that motion is also approved. And that wraps up our business agenda for the evening. Um, moving on to board discussion. I just wanted to
024share with you a memo that Dr. Cunningham put together of just uh staff updates, people that have requested transfers, people that have uh left, um why they're leaving, changing positions. Uh we just wanted you to see that um just to give you an update on it. So, are there any questions about it? um not that really if there's specifics you can you can ask us or if there are things that we can't discuss we'll definitely let you know but we try to outline as much uh as much of the details as we can just so you understand all the movement that was happening Mr. Becker we had a right but this year we have had a substitute there all year so we had Mrs. Hoffman there for the first part of the year. Mhm. Right.
025So that that position we couldn't fill it last year. Um so but this year we're fortunate enough to do that. Any other questions? Okay. Moving on to freedom of information requests. Uh we had one and it was fulfilled. Notices and communications. Uh we have the information from seedall. Um and then for district 76 highlights, we have the March Diamond Edge newsletter and I um moving on to public comments and petitions on non-aggenda items. Do ladies have any comments for us? Nice to see all of you. Okay, moving on to others. Do we have any others this evening? Yes. Um, I was going to maybe have Eric Rogers help me with this too, but um, I wanted to just mention that the village of Mandeline um, passed an impact fee ordinance that is very specific now
026um, and has pretty much like cut our impact fees moving forward in the future in half of what we have previously gotten. Um there's like pending litigation or legislation um that passed out of the Illinois State House. Um it was unanimously voted yes um to be able to kind of like um for villages to be able to not only ask for like land donation or money in le of land but also for construction costs. And so I think they're still um working on that and seeing if they can get it through the through the state senate. Um but if we don't get that then in the future we will have much lower impact fees coming in. Yeah. I mean I think you summed it up perfectly but yeah the legislation kind of caught uh district
02779 and 120. not the legislation, the uh the village ordinance uh caught those two districts uh by surprise because the new development. I forgot what it's called though. Okay. Yes. So yeah, they're building I think up to 3,200 homes or close to that. And so their impact fees uh structure followed ours uh really similarly. We actually took district 120s back in the day and just kind of went with the formula. So we use uh what's referred as the Neighborville formula for calculating the amount of people that might be in a res a certain residence. So threebedroom generates more students than a two-bedroom would. Uh but we use a different kind of formulary multiplier. We use the operating expenditures for the district whereas the ordinance is using a land value metric. So they're saying it's like
028$150,000 per acre. Um that's what like a student price might generate. It was something along those lines. I'd have to speak to a little bit more articulately with the exact formula in front of me, but it used a lower multiplier than we did, which produces a lower uh impact fee. So, what an impact fee is is just if a developer wants to sell a home and develop a home, they need to pay the district this impact fee for the additional students that that district might realize. So, uh you know, we we haven't been able to see too much impact fees in the in the past. We would get it from Cardinal Square, uh that new development that the Stevenson High School's in. So, we'd get a little bit of that money. So, every time a
029developer comes in, we'd enter into this reciprocal agreement or this uh agreement with the village of Mundeline, the developer and the district and say, "Hey, here's our impact fees." Pretty much you have to pay it because there really wasn't a ton of recourse. If the developer didn't want to, they could enter into some mediation with the district to come up with a lower fee. But in the past, we'd give them our rate. they'd say, "Sounds good. Here's the check." Whenever they want to develop this property, and the district would just get a little bit of uh additional revenue from that. So, the impact of 79 and 120 is just going to be amplified uh so much more aggressively because they may see tens of, you know, hundreds of kids. I think I've I think I
030was talking to you and there might have been 800 students that were estimating at one point they might see. I mean, we have 350 kids at Diamond Lake. That's a whole new building and a half. uh they would have to build. So the impact fees that they would have generated could have been up to about 12 million if they were getting their same formula. I think this one drops it down to like 2 million or less. So either way, it's not enough money to build a school. So that's where really where the inherent problem comes in is this is hopefully to offset uh impact free have to be used for construction related initiative for capital projects. So, it it sounds like it caught him by surprise. It caught me by surprise, too, when they were
031pushing this through on a Friday, uh, you know, right before the board meeting. So, there's gonna be plenty more to come. It sounds like um once there's the new mayor seated, it's going to be broached again. So, I think you you probably know a little bit more about that those actions and me. But, yeah, in the end, I don't think the impact of the district is going to be too great because we're very welldeveloped in the district. I spoke to Amanda um Warchie. Orche. Thank you. I can never pronounce her last name. Uh at the village, she does the um helps with land development, things like that. So, I spoke to her. She's not aware of any properties that might be in development with the district. Uh within our boundaries, it was really garden fresh.
032They look to kind of repurpose some of their properties, but that's going to be really commercial businesses. Um, so I don't think we're going to see we're going to realize in the immediate uh short term uh much lower fees. Any agreements we have outstanding will still be honored. This will be for new agreements and developments going forward. So it's kind of my knowledge base with the with the impact fees, but uh they they're really kind of jamming them through with the village. uh so they have every obligation and incentive to get lower fees for developers so they can attract more developing development firms in the future. So I think it was done probably a little bit quick for uh for everyone's liking but to be continued. So I hope I c captured most of that.
033You did great. Thanks. Um there's also I'm glad you said that because you reminded me there's also another piece of legislation that I think passed out of the house and is in the senate um that impacts it will impact potentially like our agreement with seedall because it impacts special education cooperatives. So, it's supposed to provide for additional transparency with the funding um to give us a better sense of like where our money is going, better reporting, and then it's also supposed to provide um kind of a a more specific mechanism for pulling out of um one of those co-ops so that you're able to because essentially we have to you have to vote on approving someone leaving. And when you do that, your vote is based on you believing that they're able to provide those
034same services for their students in house. Um, but we wouldn't necessarily know that about all of the different districts, you know, that make up those special education co-ops. So, this adds a couple basic requirements about them, you know, kind of presenting like what they would do in house, which I'm sure anyone that's pulling out of a co-op has a comprehensive plan of how they're going to best service their students. It just is sharing that information so that districts can kind of make an informed decision. And I think also in the long run, it's designed to make it easier for people to be able to leave if they, you know, think that it's in the best interest of their students to bring them back into the district. So that's also uh going through right now. Okay.
035Um anything else for others? Okay. Well, we do not have executive session this evening. So, can we get a motion to adjourn? Yes. Yes. Thanks everybody. Thank you everybody.