[6/1/26] D65 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING

001I'm going to call this meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. Can we have the roll call? >> Yes. Anderson >> here. >> Hernandez [clears throat] >> here. >> Optike >> here. >> Wymer >> here. Maya Wilkins due to work commitments and Nicole Pinker due to health reasons will not be in attendance for today's meeting. Also with eighth grade graduations, Dr. Turner and Chris Van Norstrren will not be in attendance for today's meeting. And I want to send out congratulations to the class of 2026. >> [applause] >> Melissa, you have some comments to share. >> I do. Thank you, Pat. Um, we're going to continue the celebration now. Um, I'm going to share the following remarks on behalf of Superintendent Dr. Turner, who is speaking right now at Haven and Chute graduations. So, as a school

002year winds to a close, we would like to publicly recognize our 17 recipients of our high- five staff recognition program. This I I will have a round of applause shortly. Okay. Um, so this includes a combination of licensed and support staff members from across the district who go the extra mile in support of their students, colleagues, and families. Um, so once again, this year we surprised all of our recipients in their schools and it's really a joyful celebration to be able to do that because we're with students, we're with their colleagues, um, our union leaders were able to be present as well as our school board liaison. Um, we would like to offer our deepest appreciation to Byline Bank for its continued support and sponsorship of the program. Our recipients receive a gift card, a

003framed certificate, a high- five Yeti water bottle, all sponsored by Bine Bank. This program is in its ninth year and we continue to receive the nicest warm nicest warmest nominations for our staff. So, we'd like to thank everyone who submitted a nomination. I'm going to read the list of recipients. Um, and then we have a slideshow of their surprises. Um, and then we'll have another round of applause. Um, so Enza Bamba, Beth Brady, Juan Martinez, Linda Matsumoto, Jennifer Rico, Lar Patton, Claudia Evans, Sue Taki, Maria Zamoodio, Josh Pedrosa, Leslie Cervantes, Kristen Daniels, Jean Domes, Clara Australia, Julia Alvarado, and Selena Stacy, can you help me? Shakur. [applause] Oh, oh, oh, oh, sorry. And Lori, Lori Adalzy. >> All right. [applause] Um, and then more celebration. Last week, we held a lunchon for our 22 retirees

004at the Joseph E. Hill Education Center. Um, so this year's retirees, 22 of them have more than 490 years of combined service in district 65. So we are so grateful for their dedication they brought to their students and families over these many, many years. Um, and can I ask for one more round of applause? [applause] And lastly, um, on behalf of Dr. Turner, we would like to extend our sincere appreciation to our staff, students, families, and community partners. Um, this was a school year in particular that asked a great deal from a lot of people. Um, and we are thankful for their commitment and strong desire to center the needs of all students. We especially want to acknowledge and thank the Dr. Bessie Rhodess School of Global Studies, Kingsley Elementary, and Willard Tweet communities. Over

005the past several month months, staff, families, PTA members are coming together to honor the history and spirit of each school community. Lots of special activities have been planned. Um, creating time capsules across the building, planting trees, um, end of year celebrations and promotion ceremonies, uh, and student clapouts at many of our schools at the end of this week. Um, these parties are going to bring together current and former educators, students, and families as they close this chapter. and we just wanted to thank everybody who's been a part of that and who's provided support and care in this particular school year. Thank you. [applause] All right. Uh we're going to [clears throat] move into public comments at this time. Members of the public are welcome and invited to address the board during open public meetings. Speakers

006are discouraged from using the public comment period to air specific concerns about staff members being mindful that the public comment period is not a suitable form for factf finding or resolution of disputes. Rather, we encourage members of the public who have concerns about specific district employees to follow district communication guidelines found in the student handbook. Please remember to state your name and that you have three minutes to address the board. Speakers may not yield their time to someone else. Please refrain from applause between speakers so we may be may respectfully allow all speakers an opportunity to be heard. Also note that it is not customary for the board to respond to public comments. The best way to correspond with members of the board is by emailing schoolboard district 665.net. >> First, we have Kelly Post,

007Karen Barbour, Hannah Jones Lewis, Christy Norick, and Jonathan Newman. Good evening. My name is Kelly Post and I'm the president of Deck. When people ask about this school year, one word sums it up, uncertainty. There was ongoing uncertainty about which schools would close, that led to uncertainty about where educators would work and what they would be teaching. Today, most educators know their placements and allocations for next year. Yet, we also know there is continued uncertainty about what decisions may be made in October and whether we will have to go through this process all over again. However, uncertainty can lead to engagement. This year, we have seen deck members and the greater community become more engaged than ever in board meetings and district discussions. We stepped outside of our classrooms and our individual schools to take

008a broader view of the district and advocate for the future of public education in our community. That engagement will continue. We will remain involved, informed, and present. We will continue to ask questions, share our expertise, and insist that educators have a voice in the decisions that affect our schools. Our goal remains simple. Stability. Stability for our children. Stability in our schools. Stability that allows educators to refine their practice, build strong relationships, and receive the support necessary to meet the educational needs of every student. As this final week of school comes to a close, children across the district are celebrating their accomplishments and saying goodbye to classmates and teachers. They deserve to return in the fall to schools that are focused on learning, growth, and opportunity, not uncertainty. Thank you. We will see you on June

00922nd. >> Good evening. My name is Karen Barber and I retired from district 65 361 days ago. Um I come to you this evening though as a community member and not as a retired educator. I live at 3644 Grove Street in Skoi which is four houses away from Timberidge Park and Bessie Road School. Uh first and foremost, thank you for the service board members. This is a hard time to be a board member and I appreciate you being here. Um and I apologize to Pat for hearing me again, but I wanted to make sure I've re reached more board members. I'm here tonight to ask each and every board member to consider the context of the Timber Ridge neighborhood as you make a decision about the future of Essie Roads School Building. I taught 34

010of my 38 years in district 65. And I have to tell you honestly that I never understood this neighborhood until I moved here 13 years ago. Um, and truly, I'm still learning about it as I go. This is not a homogeneous Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. There are several different groups within the Orthodox community that live there, and there are many of us that are not Orthodox Jewish. We are not one. And yet, I've discovered we have some common goals. I speak for myself tonight, but I've spoken to several neighbors, and I understand that we are unified in the belief that we want to preserve our neighborhood. It's going to be really hard for you to make a decision to preserve our neighborhood without coming and visiting. So, I'm inviting you to drive through our neighborhood any

011Saturday, but make sure you drive slowly and carefully because many are out walking during the Sabbath. Come to Timber Ridge Park. That's all of the parks and green space surrounding Bessie Roads that belong to the depart district. Currently, you will see the space outside of Bessie Roads already serves as our community center. This park serves as Shabbat central and but it's filled with people of all ages and all types. There's ao soccer on Sundays and neighborhood families and there's even two resident Canadian geese that are terrorizing us totally right now. When you take that drive on that Saturday, make sure you drive past the many synagogues in our neighborhood and make sure you notice just how many armed guards it takes to keep my neighbors safe right now. Um there's rampant anti-semitic anti-semitic hatred that

012threatens them in very real ways and I've already made had to make several um police reports. It's it's serious what's happening there. I wrote to the Skooki Park District last fall and I asked them to consider purchasing the property. Um, we need a community center to unify us all and we need to preserve the community center vibe that already exists in the surrounding parks. As a community member, I'm asking you to sell Bessie Roads to the Skoi Park District. If that doesn't work, please consider another community center option. Another school would be a fine second choice, but please make sure to consider the safety of the neighborhood and choosing which school could be placed there. Please do not make the money, do not make money your first factor in guiding your decision. I realize fully

013that you need the $4.5 million for your solveny, but a 01 or 02 million, which I did the math is 10,000 or 20,000 won't make any difference in your financial situation, but it will change our neighborhood. I urge you to move on Bessie Roads Faster. It's fine to sell it. Go ahead and sell it. You need the money, [music] but consider us when you do it. Thank you. Hi, good evening. My name is Hannah Jones Lewis and I'm here as a district 65 parent and I think like every parent here, I want all of our children to attend schools that are stable, wellsupported, and focused on learning and nurturing them as they grow. This is why I'm concerned. The role of a school board is not just fiduciary. It's also stewardship. Sustaining a district where

014schools, educators, and students can thrive. Yet, in a recent public letter in the last board meeting, district 65 principles and administrators described the fatigue they are experiencing caused by the continual uncertainty. We also just heard that from Deck. Repeated changes in direction and unresolved decisions rippling throughout schools. These are the people leading our schools every day and their message was clear. Students, staff, and families deserve stability. I also keep thinking about the lessons we can learn from our district's history. In 1979, this board faced a similar challenge around underenrollment on the north side. Kingsley, Orington, and Willard were underenrolled and the district was under pressure and difficult trade-offs had to be made. Ultimately, Kingsley closed, Foster was sold. More than 45 years later, we are again wrestling with the same issues. The questions about enrollment,

015resources, and equity. And when some schools seem to face these pressures again and again, I think we have to ask what challenges have never been fully addressed and who has historically carried the consequences when the district has had to restructure. To me, the lesson is this. When systems avoid difficult but necessary decisions, instability does not disappear. It gets inherited by our kids. When we protect the status quo without addressing underlying inequities or enrollment realities, the costs do not disappear. They eventually just show up somewhere else in losing counselors, librarians, interventionists, classroom supports, and in burnedout school leaders who were talking here last week that are trying to hold our systems together. Our children ultimately pay the price when the adults responsible for their schools are stretched beyond their capacity. I do not believe that stewardship

016means preserving every comfort or every building at any cost. I think it means making hard sustainable decisions and being honest about the trade-offs even when they are difficult. So I want to end this simply. Please listen to administrators and the people supporting our children every day. If we say we respect them, we need to show it with our actions, not just our words. Thank you. Hello, my name is Christy Norick and I have three kids at Washington. One of my kids has an IEP and we came up for his annual re-evaluation this week and it was such a pleasure to talk with all the professionals who support him at school, an OT, a speech, um, special ed, social work, classroom teacher, plus the IEES coordinator who were there. um to have all of them talk

017about the progress he's made and have it be documented so diligently and really feel their compassion and enthusiasm for him as an individual was wonderful. Um and I'm I'm really grateful for the services that we have gotten in the district. However, I know that special ed services aren't working as well for everybody else as they happen to be working for my family. We know that they're not working perfectly because we see that academic achievement gap for kids without EPS compared to those without and we know we have a lot of outofd placements where we're not able to meet the needs of the student here in their neighborhoods. So, I think there are some changes that we can make immediately. Obviously, as the result of the special ed audit, there were some more long-term plans, and

018I'm in favor of having long-term plans as well as some short-term objectives so that we can hopefully um improve our practices and outcomes as quickly as possible. Um, so I would ask that we make sure our bookkeeping practices are all up to snuff so that we really know what all of those dollars are going towards and making sure we're getting the full reimbursement that we can for transportation and other services. Um, I would also ask that we look at the data from RISE and STEP specifically. Those are some unique programs and I'm curious how well those are working for students. You know, are the the kids enrolled in those programs making any more progress than kids who are maybe in a gened classroom with a pair professional? You know, and how do those compare in

019terms of the student experience and outcomes? Um, I also would like us to see I would also like to see us doing more tracking of the IEP goal attainment. you know, so for my kiddo, he has speech goals on his IEP, specifically OT, social work, etc. Um, so in addition to academic support that he's getting from the special ed teacher, you know, is he meeting those specific goals? Um, one day hopefully he's going to meet those goals and he's not going to need the OT anymore. He's not going to need the speech. Um, but without looking at those specific metrics, I don't think we really have a good picture of how well we're serving our kids with IEPs. You know, with a developmental delay, he's always going to be behind academically. That's just life, right?

020But how well is he doing on his individualized goals? I'd like to see that data available. Thank you. >> Good evening. Uh my name is John Newman and I am a new parent to the district. My daughter joined just over a year ago and is a student here at JEH. Um I can a little bit of background. Uh my I grew up my brother was diagnosed on the autism spectrum when we were both younger and um we went through what I thought was a pretty incredible program and saw him make leaps and bounds and gains and improvements. He's now a project engineer and actually was on the team that just redid Main Street in uh in Evston. He does pretty good work. Uh so you could say as a Purdue engineer, he he's he's made

021his leaps and bounds. Uh I just have to say that the experience that we've had with our daughter who was also recently diagnosed on the spectrum has been far and away better than every anything I could have ever possibly expected. Um, she was sorry. When she was diagnosed, we didn't know which way it was going to go. And the supports here are more than anything anyone could have hoped for. the clear love and care that she receives from these professionals every day. And I can only see if my brother had gotten even a fraction of what he see got here, where could he be? And if and if he was the shining star of success we could have seen and we see what she gets here with the professionals in her classrooms and the flex

022and the in and out. Sorry, the Irish in me just takes over too sometimes. I I sit I sit in situations much like you often. I'm a facilities manager for high school. I know what it's like to have to balance a budget and to find money where there isn't and to find a way to keep your shining star, which is the goal of the students and their outcomes. I I trust that the people in these seats are going to give it everything they got. Just know that if you're looking for a shining star, look here. [snorts] cuz my sister-in-law is a social worker at another school district and even she says that when she sees families come through her are transferring out of 65 and coming in she has to for inform them that their

023standard of care is going to be a little different. What you have here is beautiful. Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] >> Uh, good evening everyone and thank you so much for this opportunity to speak. Uh, my name is Danielle Bailey and I'm the mother of 5-year-old Ka Bailey who has benefited tremendously from the early childhood program at JE. Cole was born extremely premature at 27 weeks five days um and faced serious medical challenges at birth including lung disease, heart complication, brain bleeds and failure to thrive. Um we spent more than six months in the NICU and when we came home we came home with a feeding tube. As she began to grow, we noticed that her speech coordination and motor skills um were not up to par. Because of her medical history, she was unable

024to participate in the daycare or spend much time with children her own age during her early years. when she entered the program at JH shortly before her fourth birthday. Um it was the first opportunity to be a part of a classroom with her peers of her age. Um what makes this program so special at least for our family is that these services that are needed are available all in one place through her IEP. She's re received speech therapy, occupation, physical therapy, as well as educational support from the team um that work to help uh to help her succeed. Most importantly, she was able to receive these services while remaining a part of her classroom community. She wasn't separated from her peers um or made to feel different. She was included, supported, and able to work

025alongside other children receiving the help that she needed. Um the growth that we've have seen in her has been incredible. Her speech has improved dramatically. Her confidence has grown. She participates in class, communicates her needs, and has developed friendships with other children. The prog progress that she's made here is a direct result in the support that we received from the program and a dedicated staff that believe in her. As a mom, honestly, I can't say where she would be without these services. This program gave Core the opportunities that changed the course of her development and prepared her for success. The programs didn't just provide therapy for my daughter. They gave her a classroom community, help her find her voice, and prepare her for success in transitioning to kindergarten. And I understand that difficult funding decisions

026must be made, but I ask that you consider the impact that this program has on children and families like mine. Early intervention isn't just an ear an extra service. It's the foundation that helps children reach their potential. COA is just one of many success stories here, and I hope that you continue to support and protect the program so their future children and family can receive the same opportunity that's made such a huge impact in our lives. Um, thank you so much for your consideration. And I do have just some pictures of KA and I have pictures from the time that she started here. You can see her here, the smallest one in her class. This is her transitioning here. This is her second year with her teachers and her support team here. This is the

027last year we've been here right before graduation. So, I just hope that you guys that this is very important and I really appreciate your time. [applause] >> [applause] >> Next we have Shelley Betts, Lindsay White, Maliah Girtzma, Jean Clipperton, Russ Shoen. Hi, Ka was one of my students, so gonna try to get through this without crying. Uh [snorts] my name is Shelley Betts and my husband and I are lifelong Evstonians, proud District 65 alumni, D65 educators and uh current parents of a fourth grader and a preschooler here in the district. I've dedicated my career to early childhood education for over 16 years. And since 2024, I've had the unique privilege of calling the amazing staff here at JHCC my colleagues as well [snorts] as my baby's beloved teachers. I want to start by thanking Andrew

028to uh for taking the time to come and visit our program and ask questions and see our staff's devoted efforts firsthand. [snorts] When my family's youngest child needed early intervention for a language delay and sensory needs, we advocated fiercely for him. [clears throat] And as he turned three, it became clear that he could get exactly what he needed transitioning out of early intervention all in one spot here at JH. We [snorts] worked with a team here of experts for a full evaluation and he seamlessly transitioned into receiving speech therapy during his day in [snorts] JH pres's preschool for all program. Because my husband and I both work full-time in the district, we relied completely on district busing to transport him. He heads to kindergarten this fall and thanks to the staff here and his team,

029he officially has graduated from speech therapy. I share this just to give you one more glimpse into one more family of all the countless families that JH has positively transformed. It's the foundation of the school district that you represent and vow to uphold. [snorts] If we truly want to live up to the high equitable standards this community claims to value, we cannot fail to understand how our youngest, most v vulnerable learners start their educational journeys. JH is so much more than just a big beautiful administrative building with lots of square footage. Our family center here serves infant infants and toddlers from six weeks to three years old. And our [snorts] early childhood center prepares our three to 5-year-olds for kindergarten. Under one single roof, we house head start, preschool for all, seed, bilingual classrooms alongside

030speech therapies, occupational therapies, physical therapies, social work. We offer parenting support. We house ESCA. We hold health screenings and we even partner with the Evston Public Library and the Evston Symphony Orchestra to offer enrich enrichment for our students. The list goes on. Instead of consolidating and reconfiguring the already underutilized school buildings in our district, some of you are looking to withdraw resources from a full thriving program that Evston that serves Evston's most vulnerable population without fully understanding what we are even about. Please do not strip resources from the foundation of our children's futures. Understand us, value us, and protect JH. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Lindseay White. I'm also a proud JH parent to a preschooler who's thriving, and I echo everything that's been said. Um, first I just want to state that it's a

031privilege to be able to stand here at 5:00 p. p.m. on a Monday evening to address the school board. There are many families that you represent who are not in a position to be here tonight due to jobs, childare, many other reasons. And I'll remind you that you represent all of those families, too, whether or not they can show up here. Standing here again tonight asking this board for updates on where things are at with any fundraising, partnerships, or additional revenue ideas. Have the community groups who proposed these ideas in the fall brought anything to fruition? Because where I'm sitting, October is getting closer and closer, and we haven't heard a thing about any of these options that would allow us to push off the uncomfortable decision of closing additional schools. I also want to

032elevate the collective letter that was shared by our D65 principles and admin. I've been disheartened by efforts in the community to discredit this letter or not take it seriously. These are the leaders who run our schools. And when they tell you how dire things are and that we need to turn and that we need to turn things around for the next school year, it's this bird's duty to listen to them. When they speak about constantly shifting expectations and delayed decisions from the board, making their jobs even harder, it is your duty to hear them and to adjust. They are asking for change at the governance level so next year does not mirror the chaos and instability of this school year. Please review their list of asks and take them seriously. I'm also concerned that instead

033of following the thorough and equitable STRP3 process, we now have board members who are just spitballing ideas with no data to support them. One says, "Let's close a school in every feeder pattern." One says, "Let's not close any schools at all." It leads to chaos and confusion and upheaval for our educators and their families. We heard about it tonight from Deck. Last meeting, I heard a board member suggest that we call a special meeting in the next week or two. This was two weeks ago to debrief on SDRP. We would talk about what worked well, what didn't, and discuss next steps. Three additional board members, so by my count that's four of you, agreed that this was a good idea. And yet, we haven't seen any followthrough. There's no meeting and there's no actual progress.

034Is this intentional? Why the delay? When will we begin to discuss the resolution and or any alternate funding sources that would allow us to deviate from that plan come October? By October, this board needs to make needs to cut an additional $5 million for the next school budget. So I ask again, when will this board start taking the financial crisis s seriously and when will you start having the conversations? Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Malia Gertzma and I am a former Kingsley parent and a current Haven parent. The following is a description of the Kingsley Haven site from the 1940 redlinining map of my neighborhood. The southeast corner is the least desirable as it now houses a number of negro families. These families, however, are being slowly eliminated and the properties are

035coming into somewhat stronger hands. A new school ridded the area of part of them as the housing was condemned for this use. The home clearing referred to was done by or for the North Evston School District and its board at the direction of the district voters in order to build Haven and its grounds. According to the 1920 and 1930 census, about 130 black residents lived on the Haven Kingsley site at that time. It was the largest concentration of black Evstonians in North Evston by far. An entry point for many, a home for many for years or deca to to decades for some, and a place where they could own property. These black eminstonians were families with children, multi-generational households, borders, business owners, and working-class laborers and foremen. They were figures in the local black churches,

036and created their own aid organizations like the Irakcoy League. One even ran for six ward alderman in 1902. Heck Powell's childhood site home was on the Kingsley site. By the time District 65 built Kingsley in the 1960s, all of these families and individuals were gone. Cleared in aid of the North Evston voters and the school district's 1920s goal to build a middle school for 2,000 students with a 10 acre playground. Some residents fought back in court in the late in the early 1940s against being cleared to expand Haven's playgrounds. They were supported by Evston aid organizations and even city council. But the district persisted and the residents lost. Kingsley's buildings and playgrounds sit directly on top of land where the North Evston School District and its voters caused this harm. District 65 now has a

037unique and possibly once in a century opportunity to make reparations at this site. To refer to this question as merely a philosophical one, as one reporter called it, is an affront to Evston's commitments to equity and racial justice. It is also a patently false description of the duty and obligations of public actors in general and under our civil rights laws in particular, like the federal civil rights act and the Fair Housing Act. The school district and the city of Evston in their roles as users, owners, and sellers of public property are bound to comply with these laws of our country. While federal enforcement of these laws is in question, we in Evston can and should set affirmative compliance with civil rights laws as our goal and north star. North Evston needs more kids and families

038to support its underenrolled schools. Uh we need more um bipac families to make the schools more diverse and we need more affordable housing for our teachers. Please do the right thing with the Kingsley site. Thank you. [applause] >> Hi, I'm Jean Clipperton, a D65 parent and one of the data nerds. Um, I have questions tonight on the curriculum memo, specifically regarding the selection of programs and what evidence we have to support their introduction. Part of why we spent half a million dollars on new iPads was to maintain stability for teachers. It looks like we have at least one pilot pilot program in play. I'm curious how these were selected, these programs, what the anticipated costs are, and how the programs are being evaluated regarding their outcomes. The initial pilot didn't have a sufficient sample size.

039What measures have been taken to ensure the continuation will be adequately sized. I've commented in the past regarding budgets and spending. I'd like to see the discussion on curriculum center on evidence and data while also having some discussion on cost. I know this can be challenging because we place such a high value on our students and their learning. But we need an understanding of what a curriculum can offer, data demonstrating its success and what the financial and temporal commitment are for the district and staff. None of the link Google documents link were available on my phone that were in the curriculum memo. So, it's hard to understand what factors are at play and under consideration. I look forward to increased transparency and an emphasis on evidence for our curriculum. We need an understanding of how

040curricula are helping us to meet student learning goals so that we can understand gaps and how to address them as our scores have been stagnant at best. Thank you. [applause] >> Hi. Good evening. Russ Shown, Willard, parent of father of two. Uh I'd first like to thank all the Willard staff and faculty who have done an amazing job. I'm sure many parents feel that their neighborhood schools also are doing amazing. Uh since December, I've heard repeatedly that the board was open to creative solutions to the district's challenges. Uh many of the solutions we've seen so far, let's close a successful Tweety program. Let's lay off librarians. Nope. Now, let's rehire them. Let's potentially close another school in October. These are not creative solutions. They'll erode trust and it is less likely the district will succeed

041in the long term. So where are the creative ideas and what is the process that will generate them? For the last 25 years, my professional work has focused on helping organizations solve complex challenges using creative problem solving. Creative problem solving is different than regular problem solving. An example, recently we worked with a national nonprofit facing major financial crisis after losing significant source of federal funding, billions of dollars in the hole. They could have simply cut their programs, closed their member sites, maybe laid off their staff. Would have solved the problem, but it would have devastated the impact. Instead, they used creative problem solving. They clarified their vision. They looked at their current state. They identified what are all the challenges we could solve. They identified the most important ones and they solved them. For example,

042they didn't just say how to cut funding. They said, "How might we diversify our funding? How might we increase our membership? What partnerships can we pursue? How might we protect the core offerings today? They're on a path to financial stability. The challenge challenges facing District 65 are complex. They're real, but they require more than just cuts. They require vision and creativity. I believe it's the board's responsibility to articulate a long-term vision for the the district, articulate the current state beyond finances. We need to understand why families are leaving. Recently, I spoke with a couple of parents considering pulling their children from the district. The main reason, in their words, was quote, "The current district 65 administration is a dumpster fire." That whether you agree with that statement or not, it reflects a trust problem that

043should be addressed. So perhaps the board might consider in addition to cutting funds, how might we encourage families to stay a return? How might we diversify funding? How might we build private public partnerships that strengthen our schools? How might the district rebuild trust? Instead of focusing primarily on future school closures, I encourage you to engage in true problem solving that is creative, define a compelling vision, and partner with this community to build sustainable solutions. Thanks. [applause] Next we have Kelly Farley, Jame Hopkgate, and then Liz Wens. The recent projections for enrollment next year are over 100 kids fewer than our current K8 population. To achieve that, we're counting on almost 400 kids to register for kindergarten that haven't yet. I sincerely hope we register well over 400 more kids. But even if we do, to

044get to 75% capacity, we need 800 more students to enroll before the end of the summer. To get to 70%, we'd need over 400 more kids. Put it another way, we'd need another one to two full schools of kids to enroll. I assume that means this board's going to be looking at other areas for more material cuts. And I want to emphasize how much more savings we realize from reductions in ongoing opex numbers versus selling more schools if trends continue. Sale proceeds aren't insignificant, but not nearly as material as ongoing cumulative savings temporarily right sizing creates using an estimate of $1.5 million savings for one school and modest inflation. We save over $17 million in 10 years. The bigger lever in is in building our assets through avoided operating costs. I'm not advocating what to

045do with the schools we know will be closed this year. I'm trying to convey the value in right sizing our district for what is likely to be our needs for at least the next 10 years while preserving assets for future use. Build a vision of equity and opportunity for all students, financial management for a stronger future, and valuing the people who work in our district and cultivate our kids. We need to invest in the enrichments for our kids. Reading specialists, field trips, the awesome drama program at Lincolnwood, math programs like the one at Dawze, or perhaps the amazing intramural clubs our PE teachers used to run at our school. The last year our school had clubs. Over 300 students participated in things like flag football, adventure club, tennis, golf, running, and more. These cost the

046district less than 5K for the entire year. Those were defunded and outsourced for a fee-based program that depends on parent volunteers. parents who are not certified, trained, or vetted the way our PE teachers are. Uh, our PE teachers don't just give basic pointers and keep the peace. They teach that being an athlete means being a leader, setting an example to your peers and the younger kids at your school. They taught how to talk with coaches, how to thank your parents for their support. They weren't just teaching the kids what it means to be a role model. The kids witness our PTE teachers example. That flag football club had roughly 20 kids. The outsourced one this year had none. Our tennis club had 13 kids. This year's outsourced one had two. If your school doesn't have

047a lot of caregivers with flexibility in their schedules to coach and reliable transportation, your kids may just have to miss out. All these small cuts were piecing together add up to real impact for all students, especially less privileged ones. There is no scenario that avoids pain, but please don't continue to look for the solution in studentf facing programs and staff. And can we maybe fund our clubs again next year? Good evening. I'm Jamie Hopkkey. I'm a Washington parent. Um, I didn't get to say this uh the last meeting, but thank you Pat uh for your leadership as president last year. And wanted to say congratulations to Nicole on uh being elected as our new president. And thank you, Maria, for getting clarity last meeting on uh whose property tax appeals this board intends to intervene

048in. I'll be filing foyas to see which appeals uh the administration's targeting and I'll provide an update at the tax levy meeting in November. Um 80% of the district's funding is tied to property values, not student enrollment. This administration's not financially harmed at all by declining enrollment because the money does not leave when families leave. As Tom Hayden has pointed out repeatedly, closing schools is a political decision. The district won't head into a death spiral no matter how poorly mismanaged because you have le levy authority. But I seriously doubt you'll ever pass a referendum if you close any more neighborhood schools. And that's because this district has mismanaged money for at least eight years and is using declining enrollment as an excuse. Let's not forget that we're operating a deficit because of outofc control patronage

049hiring, wasteful spending, consultants doing work that admin should have been doing, millions spent on non-mandated programs like pre-k busing, which should be self- sustaining, charge people for it. A 57% increase in special ed spending with little explanation, just to name a few examples. Declining enrollment is happening all across the country, but it's happening at a significantly faster rate in Evston. The 17 felony counts facing Devon Horton certainly doesn't help, but the bigger issue is that this administration has failed to attract and retain students. I look forward to seeing the actual numbers on how many families have chosen to leave during this administration's tenure. I believe we need an immediate change in the superintendent and executive leadership. These are not the people who will restore confidence in our district or bring families back. More importantly, they

050have not articulated the positive vision needed to make academic excellence the district's top priority. The Horton 3 continue to try closing their way out of this enrollment problem. But the real question is why are families leaving in the first place? We need to give families reasons to stay and reasons to come here. Toy is enormously popular. How many students could we attract like Russell said uh by expanding and marketing it? The magnet program appears to be really popular as well. A renewed focus on academic excellence would certainly help. We cannot keep blaming enrollment decline solely on lower birth rates. Families need compelling reasons to choose district 65. And I just wanted to mention that Jean from Data Nerds said that the administration has not reached out to her. She sent several emails. So I know

051uh Oakden people are like where's all the ideas? Well, data nerds at least have tried to get a hold of admin and they've ignored them from my understanding. So thank you [applause] Hi, I'm Liz Wolens, a D65 parent of three, including one here at JH and the co-founder of Invest in Neighborhood Schools. I'm here tonight to ask the board to use this summer to develop a long-term plan for the administration to execute. I want to bring I want to discuss how making decisions in isolation is exhausting to the families in this district. In June of 2025, the administration sent out a survey about moving from a half-day program to an early dismissal on Monday model for professional development. Even though the change had teacher support, the decision was eventually tabled for the fall of 2026

052school year. Then on April 20th of this year, the administration asked you to vote on terminating the SACC half-day program to save about $47,000 and allow the staff from SACC to participate in professional development. Now, tonight, a memo in the agenda indicates that eliminating half days is still on the table and could take effect in the fall of 2027. Maybe this was all discussed behind closed doors, but from where the community sits, it looks like the admin set the board up to ask families to adjust to a new way to cover half days for one year. If at the time of the vote it was laid out that the savings would be for one year because the calendar was changing, would you have still voted the same way? Maybe. But at least the community would

053have heard some discussion about the reasoning and ask of them to take the brunt of that decision. I ask the board to hold the administration accountable to a vision that sets district 65 up as an exceptional district and ensure that they give you all the materials needed to make educated votes. For those in the community, please join us at invest inev.com. Thank you for your time. [applause] That concludes public comment. Thank you for all of your input. >> Next item up is the approval of the meeting agenda. I move that the board approve the agenda as presented. Second >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Hernandez, >> yes. >> Oakdike, >> yes. >> Wymer, >> yes. We are now at the curriculum policy section of the meeting and we will hear from principal Anderson who is going

054to give us an update on the gender advisory team. >> All right. Good evening. Um I'm Jill Anderson. I use she her pronouns. I am the principal at Park School. Um but I am here tonight as a member of our district's gender advisory team. And happy Pride Month. Um, so, uh, I'd like to tell you a little bit about the the district gender advisory team. Um, during the 2526 school year, this team consisted of district educators, a school social worker, a board of education representative. Thank you, Andrew. Um, a principal and an assistant principal. And we have met twice monthly since April. Um, our mission is to foster equity, provide education, and advocate for proactive and inclusive practices that remove barriers, create safe and supportive spaces, and ele elevate the voices and experiences of LGBTQ

055plus students and community members. Our primary responsibilities are to support and oversee implementation of gender support plans and school coordinators, to develop and recommend resources and training for district and school staff, to review and recommend revisions to district procedures related to gender support, and to support schools in creating affirming and include inclusive practices for students. Um this year in the short time that we've been meeting um we have uh worked to confirm that every school has a gender support coordinator. They've been in place since the beginning of the school year and that's the primary point of contact for students gender support needs. Uh we have a lead coordinator who has provided guidance and the implementation of gender support plans and school-based supports for transgender and gender expansive students. We have also gathered and reviewed resources

056related to gender inclusivity, student support, and LGBTQ affirming practices. We've conducted a needs assessment this year with school and district leaders to help us understand existing resources that are in our schools um and also what are the needs and this is really going to inform our work for the next school year. We've also uh analyzed and collected data on the current practices of gender and sexuality alliance clubs and rainbow clubs. We have several of those programs that occur in various schools in our district. Um we wanted to understand what are the current structures uh what are some barriers for those schools that do not have those programs in place. And as a result of that work, we have drafted a framework outlining the purpose and the core components of a GSA and a rainbow club

057and began a development of a toolkit um that will serve as a resource guide for school leaders across our district and for club sponsors. Finally, we have reviewed and ex um the existing district administrative procedures related to gender support and we have drafted recommendations um to to those procedures and I'll discuss those in a little bit. For the next school year, our plan is to continue expanding on this work. Uh we will continue to confirm and support gender support coordinators in every school in our district. We will develop resources and guidance documents for school leaders and staff. We'll provide recommendations for districtwide professional development and staff training and provide oversight and accountability for our district administrative procedures. And finally, we will continue to expand the guidance and support for our GSA and our rainbow clubs

058and all resources for students. Um I spoke about recommendations to the current administrative procedures for gender support. Those procedures were developed in 2020 and so our team looked at those procedures and made some recommendations and revisions. Um there was a lot of good stuff in there already. So it it feels somewhat minor but it's you know words matter. Um and so um I'm going to highlight some of the main points there. [snorts] First of all, we renamed our group. Um we were traditionally called the gender support team. Uh we renamed it to the gender advisory team and that's to distinguish between the district level team that really provides that oversight on procedures and training and resources and then the gender support team is school-based and is an individualized team to support the needs of a

059specific student with a gender support plan. We made recommendations to the membership of the gender advisory team that it should include a member of the superintendent's cabinet, a school board liaison, a school leader, a school social worker or psychologist, and then other staff identified by the superintendent or designate. And this is really to ensure that there's representation um not just from the school leadership and the uh the our educators in our district but also district leadership um and making sure that there is social emotional support staff and representation from this board of education. We made some important clarifications that students are not required to have a documented gender support plan in order to access gendered facilities or school sponsored programs that align with their current gender identity. The current language here didn't make that very

060clear and it could have been interpreted either way. Um we expanded and clarified language um around gender affirming curriculum and instruction really reinforcing that uh we need to be creating inclusive and affirming learning environments and that is a district collective responsibility not solely the responsibility um of individual educators. We added language about gender inclusivity that should be considered during curriculum review and selection process and when that is not available that our district should create and to collectively uh supplemental resources guidance um and or possibly contextual disclaimers. Sometimes we need to just say and name this is not present in what we're talking about here and we talk about the voices that are not being represented. Um, [snorts] and of course the gender advisory team would be a resource for all of that work. We added

061some language to clarify that when genderbased activities or opportunities are organized and advertised, it should be inclusive, intentionally inclusive of non-binary students. for example, instead of girls volleyball, saying girls, non-binary volleyball, really making it very clear that students that would align with the activities in that particular group are welcome in that group. Um, and we finally we added language clarifying that the gender advisory team should be a resource for staff training and professional development. want to name that that wasn't a significant change in terms of revision, but we did identify that our current staff training is an area of continued improvement and that it's missing some guidance regarding genderinclusive lessons and classroom environments. So, in conclusion, the gender advisory team is committed to supporting safe, inclusive, and infirm affirming learning environments for all students. This

062work completed this year revised some of the foundational structures and the resources to port to support schools in meeting the needs of transgender, non-binary, gender expansive, and LGBTQ plus students and we look forward to continuing to do this good work. >> Thank you, Princip. Uh colleagues, questions. >> I I have a question. Um it's under the uh recommendations um where it says added language clarifying when a gender-based activity or opportunities are or so is is does that mean that the a group that has a genderbased identity is that something that should be included in their like their mission statement and >> and then you als do is it also guidance to you have that um language in any of the activities that they have. So, can you kind of explain that because I I'm thinking

063of a couple of >> clubs that I No, you have. So, I'm just >> Yeah. >> trying to think of how what what that looks like in in practice. >> I think that's that's a good question. So um in the current um procedures there is already a section about gender um based activities um and that I'm sorry also about just activities in general um and that um transgender and gender expansive students should have access to school sponsored programs that are consistent with their gender identity. So that's not something we were recommending a change in. What we noticed is that um in gender-based activities uh again that students should be able to join that that align that if that group aligns with their gender identity. Um at the same time it was missing language about non-binary

064students. So our our recommendation is that when an activity is uh specific and it happens a lot I would say in in athletics right we have girls volleyball or boys basketball that we want to make it very clear that students that are non-binary are also welcome in those spaces. Um I believe that's really our current practice but our language doesn't always match that. Um most of our other clubs are already very inclusive. Um, and so that language in here just really reinforces that. Does that answer your question? >> Yes. Okay. >> So, let me just use an example, the one that I'm from, like Black Girl Magic Club. >> Yeah. >> So, when they have their activities, how do you see them promoting that to their school communities? >> Yeah. Um, my understanding is Black

065Girl Magic Club is already a inclusive group for for right for um gender and race. um and they are doing the work of learning and celebrating, you know, literature for >> centering um black girls. Um and so they do not would not need we would not expect them to change their name if that's a concern. Uh but in but making sure that in their advertisements when they're sending out welcoming that um it's it's clear that all people are welcome. All students are welcome to join that group and I believe it currently does. >> Yes. Okay. I'm just >> yeah taking that and putting it into what I see in practice. >> Right. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Any other questions? I just want to note Oh, there was one. No, I just want to

066note that um you said you this last revised in 2020, so you took on a heavy lift this year. So, thank you, Principal Anderson. Please give our gratitude to the team. We know this is um leadership and a labor of love. Thank you. >> It's a great team. Thank you. >> [applause] >> I'm going to begin the finance buildings uh buildings and grounds and personnel section of the meeting. Um first up, Dr. Beardsley on the property disposition for Kingsley and Bessie Roads. We just need a minute to get the slides up and then we'll get started. >> Thank you. >> All right. Good evening. Um, this evening is part two of a conversation about the future use of Bessie Roads and Kingsley sites. This presentation and the associated memo builds on the presentation, memo, and

067discussion from May 18th. So, I'll repeat small bits of it, but not a lot. If there are additional questions, please refer back to the memo and the slides from May 18th. All right, as a reminder, um we are we have four general categories for consideration for these two properties and future use. Retaining the property for future use, which includes potentially so category one is retaining. that is when we hold onto a property um and can include potentially mothballing andor using the building as a swing school if future school renovations require this concept. The second option, again moving in a clockwise direction, would be to secure a longerterm lease for the property with the goal of offsetting some of the costs of holding these buildings, including operating and capital costs. Initial cost modeling on this does

068not indicate that that would bring in significant revenue, if any revenue, but can reduce some of our expenses potentially. Option three is repurposing a building. Our use of this term has been focused on the district retaining ownership of the building but moving a different academic program or administrative office space to the facility. This option could lead to selling other district properties. And finally, option four, selling. As you will hear later, when we did our community listening sessions, the community added a complexity to the idea of selling. There was a communicated interest that if the buildings were sold that the district would help to direct its use, and we will discuss that a little bit more later. Should the board decide that it wants to sell one or both of these properties, there is a very

069specific process that needs to be followed per Illinois school code. And I'm really just repeating this because these are the procedural steps that we would be executing if the board chooses to move forward with selling one of the properties. The process breaks down into three basic steps. Preparing for sale, which is essentially ask the district to prepare all the necessary documents for a potential sale. placing um and at the end of that process there's the board has to come to an agreement to place the property up for sale. Then the the property goes up for sale and that can be through a negotiated offer or public auction or a private auction. Um and again you can only negotiate a deal if it is with a government entity. And then ultimately there is finalizing the sale.

070The board decides if it wishes to accept a bid or an offer and if it does it then moves forward with approval of sale. Shifting a little bit to the community engagement that we've done over the last two weeks since we talked about this uh last we had an opportunity to issue a survey to the community and at the time that we prepared this data which was Friday morning we had 318 responses. The largest response groups for the survey were white, female, and English-speaking. And approximately 42% of the responses come from current District 65 families. 33% of the individuals indicated that they lived in the District 65 boundaries, but completed it as community members. And I think that's an important piece of information because we always have to hold that these properties are assets of

071the broader community. When we take a closer look at the survey, the survey responses elevated fiscal responsibility, neighborhood preservation, and community benefit as their highest priorities. And as you'll recall and as I'll remind you in a little bit here, kind of question one that we had to the board or challenge number one to the board was what priorities would the board want to hold when considering what how to move forward with future use of these buildings? And so specifically, you can see how it broke down um fiscal responsibility. Um well, I'll leave that. You can see it and I'll move into the community engagement um committee. So something when we engaged in the community listening sessions they we did two one at Kingsley and one at Bessie Roads. They were very different experiences and I

072think they refle reflect the very different aspects of the communities where those schools are located. At the Bessie Rhodess community listening session we had over 70 attendees. Um specifically sorry I'm gonna catch up with my notes here. All right. Um, when at the listening session, we asked community members to move into small groups and come to a consensus on their priorities and then submit their responses via a Google form. We also collected individual papers and Northwestern has been helping us to analyze the input both of the community listening sessions as well as the survey. I do want to sincerely thank the participants at our listening sessions who came out. We do know that it's a really busy and challenging time of year to attend these types of sessions and I felt like the groups were

073incredibly engaged and gracious and really gave us an opportunity to hear voice from the community. Specifically at the Bessie Road session, the attendees elevated neighborhood preservation and open space. The community spoke of the strong Jewish identity in the community and centered the ideas of community safety which included the their families feeling safe at the park as well as walking um moving around on bikes safely and de and keep maintaining a decreased amount of traffic. One of the things they raised is that property is in between two major thoroughares but not on any major thoroughares and because of the way the streets are set up entering into that there are limited streets that enter into the property. So they did raise a couple things. They said if this building does become something else they raised questions

074about the amount of traffic or interest on you know activity on the Sabbath. They also raised questions about the number of cars or increased parking demand or traffic that could potentially happen. Um, very specifically, the community did speak to, and you heard it from the public speaker tonight about the fact interest of maintaining that open space and neighborhood preservation. So, you'll see the top two out of this group were neighborhood preservation and open space. And they were very sure to make sure, you know, I think they would want me to really put forward part of that neighborhood preservation is the feeling of safety for the Jewish community in that neighborhood. All right, moving on. The Haven listening session, we had lighter attendance, but an equally interesting and I think engaged conversation. You'll see when these

075groups pulled together, they also elevated financial responsibility. Their second was community benefit and specifically this session moved into a conversation of the history of the property which was also shared by a speaker this evening and about the fact that there was a density of black families that lived on this property prior to district 75 which was the merge of what is now district 65. um essentially claimed the property to build Haven and then eventually expand the Haven campus which then approximately 40 years later became Kingsley. So that came up and where the group ended up moving was a conversation about with that history is there a way to align to a community need of housing and affordable housing. The last piece of that then kind of moved into affordable housing on top of the fact

076that school staff have a difficult time securing housing frequently in Evston or near adjacent. So could there also potentially be some consideration in that space? Now when we talk about crosscutting ideas or observations, you can see we had two uniquely different community engagement sessions. I would say though that things that were really shared across the community sessions and in the survey are really three. Number one, um we had two uh we had timely resolution and transparent decision making listed as a value or a priority. The community kind of said in both of the sessions like yeah those matter but those are process pieces. So they said can we vote for those but you know hold our votes for these other things too. So they the strong voice of from these sessions and the surveys that

077folks would like a timely resolution on these decisions and they would like these convers these conversations and decisions to feel transparent. Second um in both spaces there were people really spoke to the fact of kind of a degree of um resolution that at least one of these properties is going to be sold. There was a lot of speaking to the fact of like we know this district is in a difficult financial situation and also speaking directly to the fact that like we want the district to resolve this situation because if you don't it hurts our taxes and it hurts us as well. Um so an understanding that it is likely that at least one of these properties will be sold. Now the note third note kind of dives back into this definition of sell. Even

078though the community was speaking about selling, the district was referring to sell as releasing the property, selling it to someone else. And when the community talked about sell, they really were talking about sell it so it can become this. Sell it so it can become that. Um, in the Bessie Roads conversation, there was a strong desire that that property really stay public space, that it potentially goes to the Skoi Park District or that is potentially used as green space and senior housing, but a community benefit. Um, it with the Kingsley property, similarly, they said, you know, you may need to sell this. If you do sell it, we would love to solve a community, you know, have a community benefit out of it. specifically because of the history the room really moved to this idea

079of affordable housing. Now one of the speakers in that meeting did also kind of speak to the fact that none of this happens quickly you know and so if something like that were to happen you know that is it would take time to move in that direction. Um so it does I think give the board a challenge. I think there is a degree of acceptance that at least one of these things will be sold. But there is a desire that was heard in these community engagement sessions that they're sold for a community good or a community purpose. And that came up more than the need to keep it in public or private hands. However, if something stays in public, there is more opportunity for a community to advocate for its well-being. All right. So then

080that really shifts us back to the questions that we put up for you in our last meeting which you know this question one is really kind of a question or a coaching to the board. It seems to get to this decision the board it's helpful for the board to come around some priorities or values. You saw the community engage similarly. They raised financial responsibility, community benefit, neighborhood preservation, and they also took the bottom two down there, transparent decision-making and timely resolution and said, "Move those out, put them in process, but don't make them go away because those are important to us." Okay, so those things are at play. You can see from the graphs we shared and that are also in the memo that there are other ideas that do lift up that historic and

081community legacy on the Kingsley side of things, open space and environmental sustainability on the Bessie road side of things. But question one is kind of how do you want to try to get to this decision in regards to priorities or values? And then question number two, I'm driving two different things, so it always takes me a minute, is should you decide to sell one of those properties, we would want the board to lean in on the method in which the process in which you would use to sell. And then that third question, we have kind of the kind of interesting layout of our property at Bessie Roads in that we have a standalone lot, but then we also have lots that overlap significantly on the green space in the park. And so, you know, Kingsley,

082I think if you sold it, you would move the full lot where, you know, you'd sell the full property where with Bessie Roads, if you were to sell it, you might want to break it up a little bit and potentially engage with the park district first around spaces that overlap on the park. So, those are really the three things that we're hoping we're going to get some direction on by the June 22nd meeting. And at this point, I kind of open it up for conversation for you folks. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Um after the last meeting, there were a couple of asks around uh potentially Park School and the feasibility of moving um Park into Kingsley. We also received a couple messages from staff uh at Park School expressing um their desire to investigate

083that further. Did you by any chance have an opportunity to look at that? >> Yep. So that is in the memo. Uh and essentially a couple things. There were two aspects of park. One was a comparative cost estimate of what it would take to renovate the park facility as opposed to moving park to Kingsley. And what we have there is, you know, what was attached and included was we have the TRIA estimate for an upgrade of park. We also had um Studio GC attached a memo to identify the HLS work that would be needed. in addition to that estimate because there were aspects of the HLS work that we filled in since. So I believe that added another approximately 1.8 to that. So you'd be looking at closer to 7 million. And then they are

084working on that project. They are also taking a look at Kingsley and are looking to deliver something that I'm hoping that I would have by next Friday so that we can kind of get an apples to apples about what comparative costs would be. The second request was whether we could potentially survey park families and we I discussed that with park leadership and we had a couple things going on. First, um I have been essentially we've been working with deck leadership over the year in this ongoing conversation of would we ever go to early release or half days. One of the things there are some issues around start times with park as well as would park be on an early release schedule or a half day should we ever go this direction. We already had a

085survey written and heading out to the park community and there was concern that and I have this very much concern is adding in an additional question about right before school ends of like how do you feel about your school moving would create a lot of uncertainty. Now, I did have the opportunity to uh I was at park for their curriculum night in the fall because park was being discussed during SD SDRP at that point and they did definitely share some comments with me. Um what I heard there were a couple fold um you know and transparently they're like you're not the first person who came here and has promised us a better building and we still haven't seen anything. So that was kind of comment number one. Comment number two was, "Sometimes moving to someplace

086new and shiny sounds good, but we also want you to consider the fact that this school is a home for a lot of our children. And when they come, they are frequently here for a very long period of time. They for they can be here for up to 10 or 12 years. And so, you know, what they spoke about is it's not a transition we couldn't overcome, but this does is a home for a lot of these kids." And so they just said to kind of hold that to that the way the kids interact with the building is different at a park potentially than it might be at a traditional school. And so we have that information, but we did determine that surveying at this time of year felt like it would insert some uncertainty

087and we it's, you know, a pretty low response rate at this point. So we hit pause on that idea. >> Thank you. Did you consider um surveying the staff more broadly? >> The so for this particular reason, no. What I heard the request at the last meeting was surveying the community. So that was what I I did follow up. Yeah, I think it's interesting and um I would like for us to understand how more staff members view the space at Park as serving their needs and their potential um hopes for you if if they were to move to Kingsley what they would hope to achieve in that move only because we did hear from just a few voices. But I would be curious, you know, also from Principal Anderson, um, what that might look like

088while we're waiting for the apples to apples bid. If it, um, if it is helpful when we engaged with park in the fall to do the TRIA price estimating, that did involve engagement with the school leadership. They are the ones that specked out what they would want to change in the building which so what is included there were their requests which was additional storage space a conference room changing rooms that are shared across classrooms things along those lines. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> So we heard a strong preference from one community member about Skoi Parks. Um, in the memo it did say that there was perhaps some misperception about the ETHs possibility there around it. It wouldn't be, you know, um, um, I forget what what the memo said exactly, but this would

089be the therapeutic day school. Do we have a way of communicating with the community? I mean, we're on such a short timeline here, but it does feel like there might be a misperception of the nature of the school. the I that is something that I could potentially discuss with ETHS and see if there's a direction or an interest there. I think you know I think part a little bit of what happened there is you hear the word high school >> and a lot comes up. Um, we did address with the group that the ETHS day school enrollment is fairly small and it is a different type of program. And so I think there is an opportunity for learning to happen there and that I just with the turnaround time of that being in the you

090know Thursday of last week I have not gone back to to kind of debrief with ETHS but I can do that. >> Yeah I can I was at that meeting I can confirm that uh Dr. Beersley gave that uh pointed answers to the community about their concerns. So they have that information. U one of the questions I have is um timing um especially with um the recommendation for the Bessie Roads property to become an open space and what kind of negotiations have to take place or would have to take place with the Skoi Park District slashvillage of Skoi in order for that to become to be a realistic solution to that property >> that so the Skooki Park District because they function as their own entity um has been engaged in this process is aware

091of the potential opportunity. Um they would have to speak about the potential implications and timing. Um I think some I do my understanding is that there's a referendum coming in Skoi and so it could potentially be that some of that funding is in referendum but they would need to they would need to speak to that. just you know one of the things that I've been thinking about and and I know folks mentioned okay so why are people leaving district right part of it too is the lack of affordable housing class families have been pushed out in the past couple of decades um and and that's a huge huge concern so I you know what's interesting is I heard as you as you share that some of the committee was sharing about you know the affordable

092housing as being an option right again something that I'm wondering if we have conversations with the city is part of, you know, their planning um around affordable housing and they're they'd be interested in having that conversation and even with open communities and other organizations um the local organizations are doing work around affordable housing, see if they want to have a conversation around that particular piece. >> We do have a check-in meeting with the city, I believe, next week. It's on the calendar for next week. next week's pretty tricky in everybody's schedule, but I if it's not next week, it will be in the near term and we can certainly share that conversation back. >> I'm curious um so so in the responses I saw 35 I think were for equity, but then the historical neighborhood

093historical dimensions was higher historical and community legacy. Are you >> talking about the overall? >> Yeah, the overall. >> Okay. No, that was low. I saw a different slide where that was higher, I thought. >> Yeah, I think the survey I think in the >> the listening session at Kingsley, it provided context. >> Okay. >> That I think survey takers wouldn't necessarily have unless they have a long-term history. >> So maybe was the feedback from the Kingsley session slide. >> Yep. Let's see. There we go. >> Yes. No, it's one. That's a small sample size. >> So, keep in mind it was So, those are groups. There were 12 groups. Got it. Okay. >> And they worked in four groups. >> And so, the challenge is we broke them down into groups. And we did

094that in the other session too, which is why when we look at the numbers, you know, you're you have, you know, fours and 15s and 21s. We just did we had a lot of people there, so we had more groups. Here we had smaller groups. But what you can see is all of the groups lean towards financial responsibility. The next one and then three of the four groups went in for community benefit. We also had an opportunity to kind of debrief. Um and we had two board members at that meeting as well afterwards and all four groups came to an a value for community housing. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay. So we know that the process of setting up affordable housing you already mentioned is long time frame. Can you maybe by June by the 22nd

095be able to provide us with just some idea from an expert about what we'd be looking at time frame if we were going to consider affordable housing there pursuing that? >> Yeah. So I think the tricky part with affordable housing and we got into this conversation a little bit as we were walking out with a few folks is you know there's a con you have to kind of decide you know well not decide you have to see what opportunities come you know what opportunities you can solicit and does that keep the property in the public and the city or the state or somebody is willing to take on the affordable housing project or does it go into private hands and kind of the the terms of the agreement are around the percentages and types of

096housing and things along those lines. And I feel like I said at the Bessie Roads meeting and I should probably say again here, this is not my lane. Um, we would definitely want to talk to somebody to give us some additional advice about like how would a district go about soliciting interest in turning property into affordable housing. >> So, we can try to track someone down to try to provide some guidance or advice on that. I think um you know investigation and finding information about that is is important to better understand that process. But I want to caution us as a school board that our job is to be a fiduciary for our school district. And if that we can do that and benefit affordable housing in our community, we should. But that is not

097necessarily our our mandate here. >> Um so that's all I want to say. Yeah, we can get by the 22nd. I think that's fine. >> I really appreciate the hard work that's been done by some sort of citizen historians here. Um, it's very sobering to learn this history. I also think that we have a responsibility as board members from a district that benefited from this to to pursue this to understand what was done. Um, so, um, I guess my question practically is what would it mean to I know we're in a limited time frame, but this is always with advocacy work around justice, money, limited time, or reasons not to do the right thing. Um, but what would it take to explore this history a little bit better to understand what happened here? Are there

098still living descendants? Um I I do think there is like a moral dimension here of even if we sell this property for the to the highest bidder um we have some responsibility if we've benefited from the forceful displacement of these folk and so I I what would it mean like in a very practical hands-on way uh knowing we have the pressures facing us to explore this more fully >> the um and I I do I know there's some community work to further understand the history. I think you know and what I'll frame here you know when we brought this discussion item starting May 18th we said hey we you know we're looking for the board to give us direction by June 22nd. Ultimately the board decides when you give us direction. The rationale around the

099June 22nd is that if the board is going to go forward to potentially sell one of the properties, we want to make we know we have that the board has essentially kind of four million in the budget for next year. Um we want to make sure that there's the timetable to potentially sell the property in the next fiscal year. So, if the decision doesn't happen on the 22nd and it moves into August or something, that's just that that's the, you know, the the wild card that we're playing with. >> I think it's probably would make sense for us to have um more full and definitive discussion around the Bessie Roads property as it seems like we have um obviously a greater voice from the community that came out. we have um I think some distinct

100interest uh that we can investigate and that has the clear like I think the the cleanest or clearest potential resolution for us. Um and then you know the issue around the park school potential movement the viability of that obviously is going to have a capital consideration to it. Um, and then that gives us a minute to, you know, find out a little more information about the history of the property. >> And even if we were to retain this as an updated park school, are there there things we can do to um increase awareness and commemorate what happened in this space, >> right? I think a framing of it, right? So when we think about the the right the Bessie roads piece is a lot more cut. I totally agree with you but again the framing

101that you're saying Dr. around keep cell right just making sure that that is part of the conversation as we move forward with that particular property >> and I think where Maria went you know ultimately we say here like if the board does wish to sell what's the process if not then we want to look to define those next steps so administration has clear guidance on direction and work we should be doing to support properties and future use >> so I actually think that you know we have some community members I Malia um has done some work on this the history of the property that she just said um you know and so we might be able to leverage that instead of asking the administration to dive into it. >> Yeah. Yeah. Maybe >> is that

102fair? >> Shorefront legacy center. I mean there's there's lots of historical resources here >> we could partner with just to really take this seriously. >> Would you be able to lead that effort, Andrew, and reach out to the Shorefront to ask them to help us with that? Um I think that we could trust our administration to reach out to them and ask if there was capacity. >> That's not a problem. >> Yep. >> And even working again we we still we're still part of it was the cradle to career, right? They they they engage with all the institutions. So even thinking about that affordable housing piece. I know they've been doing lunch and learns with institutional partners every month. They did a really great one around ramparound which is again emerged out of here uh

103from our social workers here district 65 which is really awesome. But again having that particular group is leveraging that that group because that that has all the institutions community organizations that were already engaged. So that's one avenue. >> Yeah. And and one thing to keep in mind about the consideration of the park school relocation is that that's a joint partnership with 202. So we have to make sure we engage them in that conversation. Um, and and I'm agreeing with um my my members here about um I'm looking at it as a two-phase process with Bessie Roads being the the first um endeavor that could come to some closure so that we can make sure we focus on our financial responsibility and then that may give us some time to do additional um investig ation into

104um the other options for Kingsley because in addition to speaking and collaborating with 202 if park were to move into Kingsley then we would have to consider what happens to the park building because that's a two that would be a two-phase process if that were the consideration. So that would come right come right back to the board. So that's just another part of that. One thing to hold as you talk about Kingsley is the city of Evston will most likely want an update because they had communicated an interest about Kingsley being a fire and police headquarters and if it doesn't feel like it's going to be a possibility or if it feels like it's going to be more on a 12 to 18 month or 12 month to 24 month I think they will need

105to know that because they will most likely move on to a different site. just a wrinkle for our consideration as we move forward is Dr. Beersley and I had a answer my question for me but when we use the REA so we're committed to using REA to assess our policy which is a racial equity impact assessment but it is a present focus future focus and doesn't really deal with historical Am I right Dr. Right. So, it's just something for us to think about that we don't have default protections built into our decision-m process to address, you know, our history, our very, you know, complicated history as a district for our awareness. >> Dr. Beley, what what do what's your sense of when we need to um have a response for the city about their interest

106in in the Kingsley building? When we asked them that, they said the sooner the better. >> Okay. >> So, I can follow up with that and see if I can get a slightly more concrete answer, but I know that they have been looking for a site for this for quite some time. And um so I can raise that again and certainly provide an update on that. >> That would be great. >> Okay. So, at the June 22nd meeting, we should have a more formal budget for the changes to Kingsley required. Um, and then, uh, we can take a will of the board or an actual would we take an actual vote on Bessie Roads and what we wanted to do with it on the June second? >> You don't actually need a vote. You need

107to come to consensus on the direction that you that if you wanted to sell and what what >> which of the three options you would want to pursue and then what we do is we work on writing a resolution and it's the resolution that needs a twothirds majority to carry >> twothirds majority to carry. >> Okay. >> But it allows us to move from into July to work on the resolution, get all the pieces in place and have us moving when we hit August. on the park possible relocation. Um I faintly remember in SRP2 some meeting between SDRP2 and SB3 SDRP 3 that even was mentioned as a possible that might have space is do you recall anything like I I'm trying to think well what I'm getting trying to get at is is there

108let's say Kingsley just wouldn't work out for to relocate park but are are there other buildings right which may have the capacity to be able to house. >> So funding ISB funding for out of district placements for a therapeutic day school require the building to be a standalone school. We did inquire about whether there could be district-wide administrative offices in that same building as well. And we would want to triple check it with the state, but it does appear that could happen. But you can't have two schools in the same building and still receive the funding. So for park, we would need to consider a standalone facility. And so at this point, um, and what a couple things with the park program, as we discussed, I believe before, there are needs and there are wants.

109And one of the wants which I see as being a important part of the park academic program is having access to stores, public transportation, opportunities to acquire job skills and life skills and that park location serves that well. Bessie roads does not serve that quite as well and that would be the other empty school right now. Uh Kingsley can serve that in the sense that there's the central street corridor not very far away. I I had the the honor of riding the metro train with park students on uh last Friday. I took a half day and it was great. Incredible. So, and I've had the honor of working there when I first moved to the school district. Um I was doing sub subbie uh at high school and here in the district and it is

110just an incredible part of and just going back to what people say about Park. I mean, it is it is a home. It really is a home. Um, and as a sub, that was one of the places I just preferred. Uh, because it just the community there is just incredible and the families and and students are just staff are phenomenal. So, I get I get the need for space, but I also get that again there's that that feeling of of of community there and a home for those students who again are there for many years. Just just a great space. >> Okay. Can I before you shift, I'm going to believe for the next steps coming out of this. I'm going to reach out to Shorefront and uh Malma to kind of check in on

111further development of the Kingsley Haven history. Um engaged with the city just one to kind of share the general interest around affordable housing and see if there's any idea, you know, appetite or interest there, but also to understand their timeline for understanding the police and fire headquarters. Um I'm going to loop back ETHS to share kind of the roads engagement so they can understand kind of the general reaction and concern of the community. Um, and I wrote I typed Kingsley Park Communication and I have no idea what that is. So I'm going to assume if those are the three right next steps, we're good. Anything I missed? >> Communication levels were >> I think we handled the I mean >> you know what that was the updating on the pricing. >> So that's my >>

112Can you read those three one more time for me? >> Can you read those three one more time? >> Yep. Communicate with Shorefront Legacy and Ma Girtzma around the constructing of the Kingsley Haven history. going deeper on that, engaging with the city, just raising the question around affordable housing, the use of that plan possibly for affordable housing to see if there's lot pathway interest in that. Also engaging with the city about the timing for a decision on the police and higher fire headquarters, what they would, you know, if Kingsley is that decision is going to be 12 to 18 months out, does that prove to be no longer feasible for them? um making sure that the kind of apples to apples pricing for updating Kingsley to make it uh suitable for the park program as

113opposed to the park renovation is complete for you guys for the next meeting and then engaging with ETHS I can share the community engagement session so they can understand kind of the concerns and determine if they want to try to do some communicating to to offset those concerns. One more thing. Um along with the financial piece for Kingsley, would you be able to just interface with just list out um maybe in consult with uh the staff or administration at Park School to list the risks um that they see in a potential move so we can weigh >> sure >> the and maybe the benefits benefits and risks just side by side so we can look at it. It's a It's a busy week, but I will reach out to park leadership tomorrow and see if

114we're able to put something together. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, next up on the agenda is alternative approaches to reducing D65 structural deficit. Um, in this section of the meeting, I wanted to share a quick statement and then as we move forward into a discussion about um the structure of how we could potentially move forward in defining our capital asset strategy. Um, so I just I want to acknowledge that we stand at a pivotal moment. We have for quite some time now. Um, and over the past several years, the board has taken the difficult steps to address our structural deficit and try and stabilize our district financially. And there's still some work to do there. As we know, um, in STRP3, we analyzed our school utilization, enrollment trends, and community priorities in an effort

115to understand how our current building footprint aligns with the realities we face today. Um but the STRP process uh was missing some key pieces of information, namely the um master facilities plan, life safety audit, the special ed uh uh the special ed audit and plan um and also lacking the important discussion of the disposition of the potential buildings that we were going to close. Um and this next phase must have a complete plan in place. I think when I look back at the decision to build foster school, one of the things that um was not in that plan was the inevitable decision to close a school. Um and that was left to uh this board to do. So I want to make sure that in this next phase we're able to put forward um a

116full plan so that people can know um what is coming forth. Uh I also want to acknowledge that our buildings are more than structures. They're places where students discover who they are, where teachers inspire learning, and where communities come together. If we want excellent education in District 65, we must ensure that our facilities are designed to support the needs of 21st century learning while remaining financially sustainable for decades to come. Um, I wrote a draft of this plan um to develop a capital asset plan. Um, I'm calling it elevate the enhanced learning environments via assessment via asset transformation and excellence. Um, this is a framework for developing a long-term communitydriven capital asset strategy plan for district 65. It builds on the work of SDRP but shifts the conversation from fitting students into existing buildings to

117ask asking a much larger question. What should a future ready district 65 look like? We know that the challenges before us are real. Enrollment has declined and many of our facilities are aging and require significant investment. Our district continues to face a structural deficit, including the need to identify at least $5 million in additional reductions for FY28 and further savings in the years beyond. At the same time, the educational needs of students have evolved. Today's schools must support collaboration, STEM and arts programming inclusive of special education services, flexible learning environments, and stronger community partnerships. Elevate recognizes that we cannot simply maintain the status quo and that we do not currently have the resources to repair and sustain every building exactly as it exists today. We must think creatively, strategically, and honestly about how our physical

118assets can best serve our students and the community over the long term. This process will be led by the board in partnership with the administration, planning professionals, educational experts, and most importantly, our community. Unlike prior processes that focus primarily on preferences, Elevate will focus on inviting ideas. We want residents, educators, planners, and families to help imagine what our district could become through community input, hearings, educational programming analysis, financial modeling, and scenario development. We will build several comprehensive options for the future of D65. Each scenario must be evaluated not only for cost and feasibility, but for its ability to deliver equitable, highquality educational experiences. Throughout this work, we remain committed to fiscal responsibility, transparency, equity, and community voice. We also recognize that schools are deeply connected to neighborhood identity, and history, and any transition must be

119handled thoughtfully and respectfully. District 65 has faced significant challenges in recent years. Um, declining enrollment, financial instability, diminished public confidence. Um but at this moment we must lift up um public confidence and show that this board can develop a long-term plan that is comprehensive and incorporates excellence and education at its forefront. I want to invite um our colleagues here to have a conversation about this plan. I think um circulated copies, but just generally speaking, um what I want to acknowledge, Andrew, is that you called for and we should do a review of the SDRP3 process to begin. Um I would like to go through kind of the phases of this and get your feedback um on the different areas to develop the ideas. Um so generally what we're talking about is in phase one we

120will go through the SDRP3 process um to reflect on that and what went well and what needed work. Um in phase two, we want to work with um members of the community, mainly um in a in a similar fashion to the way that the city of Evston asked for feedback and asked community members to answer questions around Envision Evston so that uh community members, our constituents, families, and small groups can come with ideas for how we should reconfigure our district because I think as we're looking at this now, um, you know, closing one additional school probably isn't going to get us to a place where we can fix um, we can address the $500 million of capital assets over the next several decades. Um I would like to then propose that after those ideas are

121gathered, we can review them and invite um people to come and present those ideas to the board in a task force type hearing setting that's public um so people can hear um how we can address uh different feeder patterns with um different ideas about how to uh repair our buildings. Um, and then really working with Studio GC, the administration and community experts, uh, in community development and schools management to design a footprint that works throughout our district to address not only the current education needs, the the special education spaces, and then um potential spaces for future ready educational curriculum. um we would have a discussion about those. And then I think the the biggest piece of this that we need to ensure we are taking into consideration is that as we need to repair our

122buildings, we are going to have to ask the community um to vote um for a referendum to be able to pay for the changes that we're we're looking to make. Um, and that I think we've universally said is necessary in order to address our capital needs. Um, so generally when I'm looking at how we guide our discussions, I think we've heard from multiple people, I've heard from multiple people have also come before the board that educational excellence is um something that has not been a focus as much um in the conversation between the board and the administration over the last several years. um and that we need to bring that back uh into the four of trying to determine how we can ensure that that is the conversation that we're focused on with our families.

123Um I you know I I know that we need to have a a plan uh in order to get to a place where we can have a deeper discussion. Um, and so I wanted to put this forward so that we could pencil out um, and I could hear feedback from my colleagues on this structure. >> So, can I ask first, uh, last time we discussed this, we weren't sharing it with the public. Are we going to be more transparent with this time and respond like share it via foyer requests or such? Where where does this stand as far as where this is at? Since we're naming the document, are we going to share it publicly? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah, we can. I wanted to get feedback. >> So, my understanding is that it's

124it's a draft. It's a draft. And this is just a discussion about the draft. And I want to go back to something I heard from the community. Um, in looking this um plan or this idea that I think we need to clarify our vision for define I mean we need we need to we as a board and we still need to have that meeting but we can sit down and clarify our vision because that's really what should be leading future in future plan. I mean we to me that's the starting place. So um we can talk continue to talk about this. What I like about this endeavor is that it involves communicating with talking to the community. We as board members have to go out into the community and one 21, you know, what are

125you thinking? What's your ideas? What what are your concerns? Uh, one of the concerns I hear have heard across um many conversations is the vision. What is our educational vision for this community because that's really what should lead what we do with our buildings, what we want to see happen in our buildings. Um there are implications for um our special education services because we those are our students too and we have to make sure that all of the students in district 65 um have a place in this plan and have something that will help to elevate their educational experience in the district. It also goes back to bringing people back into the district, recouping some of that um enrollment. So, and it's yeah, this is this is our first definitive effort in this area. So,

126we have to start somewhere. I got to say, so I'm I'm looking at this at the proposal. And I appreciate that we have a framework, but a lot of this has already been done through the SDRP processes. We've we've we've solicited community input as a school district. There's tons of ideas out there that are that the community has already provided. Many of you already sat on these sat in the community meetings that led up that led up to SDRP3. So we already have have the ideas. Um we created the you know smaller groups to kind of dig into facilities and curriculum and out of that emerged again the um the reports that we requested right and updated uh master's facilities plan. We have the sped audit that came out of community input. So I I

127just got to say again this these administrators have done a tremendous amount of work already that that that I already see that that that that's that that we're kind of repeating in this particular framework right so I I really think so when I look at the different phases I think where we should really be starting I agree with you with the vision definitely have to have a vision and particularly around uh academic excellence for sure right and you can never lose equity either Uh but I think where we we really need to start is phase four is the scenario development like it's like we we got to work with studio GC that is for me the starting point uh let's get all the information in regards to okay so now what are our next steps

128in regards to how we move so again I think the discussion we're having today around Kingsley uh and and uh Bessie roads right that is we are there we we are in that process but uh you know what are the next steps in regards to how we move forward uh with our other uh facilities and and what the costs are in regards to again all those four options that were just presented to us. Um, so I mean again I I think this is a good plan but I think this is this is again this is things that we have done as a district to really try to come to terms uh with where we're at financially um academically uh programming th those things have been underway and it's just us having to sit down and

129make the hard decisions right and I know you know with the community again we're going to here. We're going to get yelled at. There's no easy way out. There's no But again, I think we we will what we can do and we can honor is continue to engage community as we have been in the past couple of years through all the SDRP processes. People have not been excluded. We have not tried to intentionally exclude people. We have tried to include people. Right. I I I just don't So So, so again, I I just want to say again, I appreciate what this administrative team has done uh to get us to this point. that's up to us to really make these hard decisions. Um, and again, I appreciate us trying to create this framing and I

130think it just follows along the line of what we've been doing already in regards to the SDRP process. It's just now we I think we started phase four scenario development. Now, what do we do? How when should when can we start making those hard decisions? >> I think uh I'm struggling with again the tension between deficit reduction and forward thinking. And I know in this document you've separated the two which I I understand I just right there's pros and cons of both. So for instance with the 5 million reductions uh that we have to make that could have a facilities impact this fall but then we would have already started forward visioning and the footprints changing as we go because the two processes are separate. I that's just that's a challenge to me. Um this

131was one of my arguments for doing the two schools last fall was it would create a space where we could do strategic planning. This feels a little bit backwards to me to start with a an asset plan that doesn't emerge out of a vision or strategic plan. I know someone mentioned maybe we could spend this summer. two months ain't enough time to come up with a anything close to a realistic uh strategic plan or vision. Um so I think we're in a conundrum here. I'm worried that if we don't have the strategic vision plan, we'll end up simply what maybe unintentionally kind of replicating the systems that we want to grow out of. Um so that's just a tension I'm fueling as we navigate this. I mean, again, we've I think now it's 222 days

132since January 9 and I think it's like 212 or so 213 days to October. So, we're burning time. Um, so, so I just don't know. Yeah, it feels a little bit backwards. Um, yeah. And that's not like a that's just a real problem solving question is how are we going to create the vision plan while simultaneously deploying assets. >> Yeah. No, I I I can see that. I mean, I think I intentionally aim to separate the deficit reduction from the capital asset plan because the estimates around school closing savings was not going to get us to where we needed to be from a deficit reduction standpoint. Um, it certainly helps, but we will see next year exactly what the savings is from closing Kingsley and then we'll have a more realistic number for what that

133can contribute. I think more importantly when I look across our district and I see the enrollment patterns that we have and the profound disrepair that our buildings are in. I ask myself questions around how we will gather the funds to repair the buildings that we have. And so it's sort of a two-pronged approach of we are going to have to ask the community to support the rebuilding of our buildings. And in order to do that, we need to demonstrate a thoughtful comprehensive plan. And I hear what you're saying, Sergio. I think we didn't have the updated master facilities plan last fall. We didn't have the special ed off a audit last fall either. um we didn't even know necessarily that our minimum of effort had increased by 50% over two years. Um and so we

134didn't we didn't have that information then. Um we have it now. Um, some things that we hadn't necessarily considered or something that I would say I struggle with is um h and and I hear it too coming from school administrators. How do we kind of create an aspirational and forwardlooking school district amid the budget deficit conversations that we're having because what I hear is um what I know what I what I experience is a lot of excellent things coming out of our district. I was at Willard last week and the fourth grade had a presentation on um the American Revolution and they all wrote rap songs to describe the loyalists versus the revolutionaries. And I thought that's awesome and what a great way to learn about that part of our history. And there's things that

135are happening across our district that are amazing and our educators are putting in amazing um time and work and our students are achieving incredible things. Now, we're not seeing that always borne out in the assessments that they're taking. Um so that obviously is a piece that we need to focus on. But we, you know, we have educational achievements that we need to highlight and um and focus on and then the board needs to have very serious long-term conversations and we and by you know in in the process of SD SDRP3 what we asked and we need to have a more in-depth conversation a retrospective of this but we asked people's preferences individ idual, you know, word preferences. And what I'm proposing here is for people to answer more complex questions um together in groups or

136in as they individually want to to be able to bring forward to the board. So, for example, um you know, we had some conversation during SDRP3 about potential K through8 schools. we have one K through eight school. That is an idea that I think has come forward a couple of times. I'm not sure if the community feels that that is something we should investigate more fully. Um but that is an idea that I would want to hear if we're going to be acknowledging that the number of buildings that we currently support is too great for the population that we serve. And so instead of looking at it and saying, "Let's just close one school here, one school here, and ret try try and get people to get behind what we're doing so that we can

137fix the rest of our buildings and give us an opportunity to present a more ambitious and forward-looking plan and then allow the community to say, "Nope, I just want you to patch and repair the buildings I have. All I care about is that I have my neighborhood school that I've always wanted or I would like to support a more ambitious plan that has maker spaces and science centers or something of that nature in a school district that has a smaller footprint. >> So what I'm hearing you say is is again this is going back to that again visioning and then just having a framework on how we then again we're doing two things simultaneously, right? we really have to think about right sizing there. There's just no other way around it. But at the same

138time, what are we going to offer after we rightsize, right? Like so so so I hear you and I I that's where I want to get to as well. And and a lot of those ideas have been collected in the STRP process and we could still solicit more. Again, that that's not the end all beall. I'm not saying okay, we stop. We should No, we we're going to I still want us to continue. And I agree with what with the part of the framework where you say, well, let's continue to engage community as we go through this process. But I agree. I mean I think having okay instead of just talking about okay well we got to close these schools we got to we got to right size we gota but we also but to

139what like what what what are we going to offer kids right but one we're going to get to we keep frontf facing staff that's what I want to make sure that we we we continue to do right uh we keep programming uh we keep clubs we keep all of the things and the enrichments that that our school districts value for our students so so all of that I I think you I mean I agree I mean what can we you know how can we do those two things simultaneously right what what is it that that um that people really love and then again folks have highlighted here I mean we talk about you have the parents who talk about how you the power of JH and early intervention to really transform developmental um outcomes for

140students right that's I don't want to lose that right but we would lose that if we cut uh you know u um uh um J was it transportation or if we cut programming or if we relocate Right now, now I'm starting to get because I used to be a proponent of early childhood being in in buildings, but then of course we have to retrofit those buildings where here you have wraparound services for our most vulnerable students and they get everything that they need in once and and that changes their trajectory, right? Um in regards to outcomes developmentally um as well as social emotionally and academically. So yeah, I'm with you. I'm with trying to do those things simultaneously. We definitely have to rightsize, but then what's at the what's at the other end? What what

141type of programming and enrichment is there for families and what are the outcomes for all students in regards to academics and social social emotional outcomes when they leave this district and head over to ETHS, right? That that Yeah, I'm all for that. >> Yeah, I I I co-sign. It's a both and issue. to me. Um, and we do have the master's facility plan. We have that to to lean into. So, I mean, we have plenty of information. We have to come up with a vision that's going to guide the input and the access and the utilization of that information. So, to me, it's we're going to have to do both at the same time. Another issue is timing. We still have have the deficit that we have to manage for 28, you know, and that

142work will start in the fall. So, it's we have to me it's a shortterm and a long-term process. And this um this building assets plan is more of the long-term process for me because I I don't want to I don't want to have to consider reducing programs and staff. That's that's that's not going to work because that destroys our vision. So that that's where I'm sitting right now. We have to me the vision has to guide the process but we also have to deal with fiscal year 28 what we're going to face there and we need to utilize the master's facility plan and we have that information to rightsize our district but we have to use our vision to guide it. It's not just about numbers it's about the outcomes that we want to see.

143So >> timeline to me is a bit of concern with this. Um I think feasibility is something we're really going to have to look at. Um I think that it's going to be important that we has this been given to administration at all yet to give feedback on. >> Not to give feedback on. I sent it to Stacy earlier. >> Oh, okay. So it wasn't given in time to get any feedback for this. So that will be important though. That's going to be really important to talk about feasibility uh from the the um people who will be facilitating this. You know, I just think too is I I don't know how we're going to get to the 5 million with at least one more school closure. We have the Lincolnwood resolution that's coming up in

144October. Um, so we would be managing as well, admin would be managing a potential school closure or more uh this fall and spring. Um, we would be possibly managing I don't understand how we're going to get a strategic vision or plan out of this, but we that needs to be going. Um, we have a bunch of processes that will need to run concurrently. Um we have now got a sense that really our admin is roughly at at right sized. We might be able to find a few efficiencies here or there. Um so >> we haven't had a discussion about the >> that's my perception. I got to share my perception. Um so then I think we're going to be looking at a lot of consultants uh to make this work. You'd have to have a

145financial consultant probably. We are going to have to possibly have educational consultants as well as um um I I don't know how far we would get into referendum development, but that would probably require consultants as well. So just to name that would be expensive and it would be heavy to get us across the line knowing that we still have to cut 5 million in FY28 too. So timeline is a real concern for me. I don't know. And I think another thing to name too is just transparently to say because it ends in May, we'll be seating half of a new board in May. So we've seen kind of the chaos that happens when a process is handed off to a new board. Um and so I think we have to think about what can this

146board do to hand off to the next board as a stepping stone. They've got a cleaner slate to work from. So I'm curious about that cut off date in May, too. would we be handling off the final vote on whatever we do to brand new board members who didn't go through the process, didn't hear public comment, uh, you know, didn't Yeah. So, that's a that's a concern I have. Feasibility timeline. I don't know that this is feasible. >> I think um the first step is probably to have uh the retrospective um on SDRP3 uh was something I think you had mentioned Andrew uh and I think it's important that we do do that. Um I think also there was I think one of the things that you brought up Sergio is that you know we

147did have a meeting between the program committee the finance committee and the buildings and grounds committee. I think one of the things that I recall in the that process is that the programs committee and the finance committee didn't feel that they could really contribute as much to the process and it became a lot more around the facilities and the creating the scorecards in the end. Um there was a lot of feedback from the program committee that that they weren't necessarily being able to be involved in how they were envisioning um those things. Although I know that and in SAP 3 there was a lot of discussion about JH and and prek although I haven't seen the the documents yet. Uh I haven't been able to locate those documents yet. Um so that we could see

148the output of all that. Um, so I think the the reflection of STRP would be the first piece. Um, and then uh and then collecting community input. I think we don't necessarily have a a quorum here to be able to have a definitive discussion in terms of what the will of the board is, but I wonder if we're able to just at least schedule the retrospective on STRP3 and say that I think we all kind of agreed last time that we needed to do that. >> Well, a retrospective on on on the community input that we got from would be good, right? From SDRP and all the SDRP processes, right? One, two, and three would be really good. what what ideas did we collect there? Right? That's reported. That was all written down. So, that's

149one thing. And then and then but also where are there gaps where are there communities um who may have not participated that contribute to to the convers are are JH teachers part of the conversation? Are are park teachers part of the conversation? Right? Are are some of the parents who have kids with those specific types of needs? Were they part of that? Right? So even trying to identify because again for for a lot of us again this is we have the privilege to be able to have these conversations or comes to public comments but there's folks who again are are just surviving dayto day trying to stay here in Evston right can can can we get their voices because that's what I I'm interested in and I think that's where the gap may be um

150and I know that's something that we we've struggled in regards to trying to get those folks to to communicate what do you think about what's going on what what vision do you have for your children what do you want right in regards to the outcomes for for a student. If your family lives in the second ward or you're working class, you know, you how do we how do we capture that those voices that may have not been captured throughout the processes of community engagement the past couple years? >> Then let's I'm going to bring this discussion to some kind of conclusion. >> Well, I've got more to say too. I've got more I've got to >> I have one one ask um and maybe I don't know Dila if this is an ask for you

151could you please create a board folder with all of the SDP one two three information in it and I think the SAP one two I think it's probably all somewhere that I haven't been able to look at it all Thank you. >> I just point out too, I think a missing component in here is um engagement with educators and staff um and reflecting as well as we think about timeline and feasibility. We know that this would have direct impacts. I mean, we're talking about CBAs, uh CBUs, collective bargaining units. um if we're talking about education, we might be talking about curriculum. This could filter down to real impacts um for conversation. So, um I think that is a missing component. Um one thing that stood out to me on page four, you uh defined equity

152as no student or community should bear a disproportionate burden or receive diminished resources as a result of facility decisions. Is that your definition of equity, Maria? Um I I wrote that. >> Yeah. Yeah. I just I just need to know because I think part of what we're negotiating um as a board, we reflect different perspectives. We reflect the diversityities of the values of our community. Um but but that definition of equity is in my understanding not equity. That might be kind of a flimsy equality. um and it doesn't align with official district statements. Um and I think that definition could really undermine the civil rights of our marginalized students. Um so I would like us to clarify that. Um I think that that shift in that definition really it corresponds to some broader shifts we're

153seeing where equity language or civil rights language is actually used to undermine equity or civil rights. So, I think that's something that we need to look at and make sure that this um the values here reflect um the values of the district. Um >> okay, >> I noticed um you said reversibility. You want to allow for reversibility of plans. Uh, right. So that essentially if something maybe didn't work or things changed that we could pull it back. Am I am I interpreting that correctly? >> I think what I was considering there was, you know, like the situation that we had with Kingsley where it was closed for many years and then we needed it again. um to the extent possible to recognize that our current demographic plan includes a fairly flat um student population, but

154I also [clears throat] want to recognize that our population dropped about two and a half times the national average and also the surrounding districts. And so if we can create an excellent school district that people are attracted to, we may see some of that population move in um in a way that we hadn't anticipated. So I don't anticipate that um that would mean necessarily, you know, we would need to reopen Kingsley, for example, at this point. But I just want to be clear that if if we can remain flexible um then we should >> right. I think flexible is the right word there. I think you know um to make plans based on a vision should um in a sense make reversibility not necessary um but flexibility is always a good thing. Um, I did

155see the bit around the demographic projections that you'd said they are uh the words you are not entirely accurate. Can you tell me a bit more because I know our demographic projections aligned with the city of Evston's demographic projections we heard in STRP3. So, can you tell me a little bit more? >> I didn't say they weren't accurate. >> The district, it said on page two, the district should consider that the demographic projections are not entirely accurate. Not I mean that being what I'm saying is is that our population in our district dropped two and a half times the surrounding areas. And so we as a community need to recognize that people chose to leave here and go elsewhere. Um, we know this is true and so the the potential future projection of that doesn't

156include the potential that if we created a more desirable school district that people may move in in greater number. >> Oh, so you're conflating the lower demographic of the broader district with So I'm think I mean Evson we know affordability crisis. We know that uh there's there's decline. Um you know, I I would just I'm confused by that because it we've we've had pretty stable projections because they compared to COE. Yes. There's regional kind of local difference. Is that what you're accounting for? >> I didn't do a demographic study, Andrew. >> Yeah. Well, we have it. We have one by an expert and it aligns with the city of Evston. So, that language caused a question for me. Um I think one of the bits too this is a very board centric plan. >> Yeah.

157And I think we need to make sure that the full board has full access and understanding of the plan. >> So this is a great beginning conversation, >> right? But I think we're going to have to continue this conversation and have board members come you know you know how we come up with our questions specific questions that we can share with each other. >> I mean in accordance in accordance with OMA >> I am I welcome in fact we I tried to schedule a conversation with you Andrew so that we could have I could hear some of this feedback because I'm not putting this forward as that we should just do this with no with no changes. I think what I'm looking for is some constructive feedback so that we can come to a plan

158that everyone is happy pursuing and a timeline that we feel is is something we can accomplish alongside the obligations um and timelines regarding a referendum. So those that that's what I welcome. So you can reach out to me and we can kind of go line by line and and I would love to hear specifically um you know comments and and and so that we can collaborate. >> Yeah. I mean if >> let me just >> and I would like the full board to be fully informed about this so that you know we can >> well at least be part of the conversation. >> Yes. To be part of the conversation. >> They are informed. Well, no. Yeah, collaborative, right? >> Collaborative. So, that's >> So, I think we have um >> I want I wanted

159to just say though that I want knowing that we weren't going to have a full board here tonight. This isn't an ideal time to have this conversation, but in the in the effort to move forward um in the conversation, I wanted to make sure that we had something to talk about. So, that's why I put that forward. So I think logically the next step is for us to schedule a retrospective um so that we can get that those learnings and then plan the next step. >> Yeah. And I think um uh you know obviously we weren't all invited to give a plan so we're starting from your plan. Um, so it'll be important that we build in time both to have individual conversations, but I hope we can have a full board conversation um that

160we can shape this um so it reflects all of us and um brings us together. >> I would welcome a proposal from you, Andrew, if you want to put one together and send it out. I would welcome to hear that also. >> That is nice to know. Um, we're going to move on to other business. Um, I move that the board approve the resolution for the dismissal of educational support staff Camille Story. >> Second. >> Anderson. >> Yes. >> Hernandez. >> Yes. Yes. >> Wymer. >> Yes. >> Approval of the intergovernmental agreement. Uh I move that the board approved the intergovernmental agreement for special education services agreement between Evston Ski District 65 and Huntley Community School District 158. >> Second. >> Anderson. >> Yes. >> Hernandez. >> Yes. >> Wymer. >> Yes. >> Uh please

161note uh the number of FYI items. Any conversation there? >> I just have a question um really quick about the curriculum update. Um I saw Thank you for putting that together. I'm assuming Dr. Seth, you put that together. um when we're I noticed that this was uh related to kind of a a board directive around the need to to have this update at this time. Um, was there any um discussion around or um information put together around the I Ready lawsuit at all or any changes to the way the curriculum was going to be developed regarding student uh data. >> There is actually a response in that memo. >> There's a link in the memo. >> Oh yeah, there it is at the bottom corner. I suspect this question will also be answered with there's

162a link in the memo, Dr. Seth. Um to see where we're at in the because we have a schedule of curriculum review. Is that link in here and I missed it to know where we are in the next I think we have a seven-year schedule of curriculum reviews. >> I would have to the entire team actually left after. >> Okay. Okay. But can we just get that if it's not Yeah, I didn't see it. So that would be helpful to be able to place this within a broader spectrum of time to know what's how that's >> almost. Yep. >> Any other questions? >> No further business. I adjourn this meeting at 7:28 p.m.