[3/9/26] D65 - Committee of the Whole

001I'm calling this meeting to >> at 501. >> Roll call. >> Today is Monday, March 9th, 2026. This is the committee of the whole. Roll call. Wilkins >> here. >> Pinker >> here. >> Hernandez >> here. Oakdike >> here. >> Ben Nstrand >> here. >> Wymer >> here. >> Anderson >> here >> for public comments. Member of the public are welcome and invited to address the board during open public meetings. Speakers are 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 forum for factf finding or resolution of disputes. Rather, we encourage members of the public who have concerns about specific district employees to follow communication guidelines found in the student handbook. Please remember to state your name and that

002you 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 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 65.net. Okay, we'll start with um Christy Norick, Miriam Kendall, uh Era Ziki, Mike Dice, Lauren McNamera. Hello, my name is Christine Noric and I appreciate everybody's time being here tonight. Um, I wanted to start by letting you know that um, I'm still interested in having more followup and transparency around our HR policies and procedures regarding the two staff members who were involved in the DCFS investigation and then criminally charged. Um, I'm

003I'm wondering if there might be something in our policy where we could follow up with DCFS once a month after we know an investigation has started. Um, it just doesn't feel good to me that that Mendes was on a paid leave for all of those months. And I don't know if there is something that we could do differently, but I think that we should try to find out. Uh, the next thing is that I'm hoping you will vote no on the technology budget as proposed tonight. I think that we should not be spending money on onetoone devices for every single student in the district. I think that we should instead pilot a technology cart for the students in grades K to three where those computers can move between classrooms so they can use them for

004testing I ready modules anything else that they really truly need them for and then for the rest of the day they're not a distraction because they're not in the classroom. If parents really feel like their child needs access to the iPad um at home, then they could individually request that their student get to bring it home. Um but currently at our school, those students are not typically bringing the devices home anyway. Um the third item that I wanted to address was the special education audit. Um I read that report and I thought there were a lot of great recommendations in there. I know at last meeting there was a big focus on continuing to collect data and see what the trends were and um I think there's a lot that's actionable that we can put

005into practice much sooner than 2019. Um, specifically, there were some recommendations about our financial recordkeeping. And I think that a lot of us agree we can improve our financial recordkeeping in this district to make it more transparent, to be more responsible, to be better able to respond to the state and other stakeholders when they have questions about how dollars are getting spent. So, thank you. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Miriam Kendall and I am here on behalf of ScreenSense Evston, a local parent group dedicated to fostering increased dialogue in our community about kids and technology. I am strongly encouraging the district to vote against the purchase of 1300 iPads at a cost of over $550,000. D65 needs to re-evaluate the heavy reliance on technology in our schools. Over,00 district parents and caregivers have told

006us directly through the screen sense Evston petition that they want less iPad time in the classroom. This technology is being used at the detriment of our children's attention spans, social skills, and does not enhance learning as touted by district administration. Parents and caregivers have told the board very clearly that they don't want these iPads. And frankly, the district can't afford them. If the district truly spends $3.9 million a year on technology that no one is asking for, this seems like an obvious place to reduce expenditures. Because during a time of a lot of disagreement in our community about the future path of D65, this is one topic where parents in the community mostly agree. On one side, there are thousands of passionate parents like myself advocating for fewer devices and less screen time in schools.

007On the other, you will find a potentially few apathetic caregivers for whom from whom there is little opposition. Some of the private schools in our area actually present their lack of a one-on-one device policy as a selling point for their school. Mr. Mr. Wymer and Miss Updikeke, you both supported technology reform as a key pillar of your campaign and people voted for you because you promised to take a strong stance on reducing screen time in the classroom. I encourage all board members to consider this purchase seriously and make a commitment to reducing our reliance on school iPads. This moment for our district represents a real chance to change the trajectory COVID started. Vote no on the iPads. Our students do not need a one-on-one device ratio. In fact, they'll learn better without it. Stop paying

008for all of these expensive non-curricular instructional applications that no one wants. D65 students are not performing at a higher level than they were prior to giving each of them their own tablet. The decision to give students an iPad was done swiftly. And so I'm hoping that we don't hear tonight that we need some arbitrarily long amount of time collecting data before we can make a decision on this. We can stop wasting money on iPads just as quickly as we started. Put those funds towards the aspects that actually make our education system strong. Invest in neighborhood schools, teacher salaries, and reading and math specialists instead. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Aril Duka. I am a D65 parent. I'm happy to see on the agenda today the student device purchase for 26 and 27. I'm

009here to ask you to please take this opportunity to cut costs and eliminate oneonone device for oneonone device per uh and eliminate oneonone device for students except for those with special needs who require devices in order to meet their educational goal. At this time there's considerable evidence that tablets and laptops contribute to decline in students academic performances. Studies have proved that reading on paper versus screens leads to greater comprehension. School districts have studied the the greater school district have studied the edtech they spend millions on only to find there is no improvement. In some cases there is decline in test scores. As a parent I'm honestly deeply concerned about the reliance of technology and one devices in our schools. Last May, when my daughter entered first grade, she asked my wife and I about using

010her school iPad over the summer so she could get to the next level on the reading app. We let her know we would focus on reading actual books over the summer and would not use iPads. She was disappointed because then she would not get a badge on the app. She said she does not read on the app, but clicks through the read aloud videos and waits until it finishes so she can get the badge faster. You can understand how problematic and addictive this gamification of education has become in our school system. The negative impact of this devices on young children is clear. I hope you all will consider the research that urges schools to get out of to get take out of the classroom. But honestly, aside from all the research and the concerned parents

011have, the reality is we simply do not have the money to spend on one-on-one devices and that tech, you can afford, you cannot afford to spend any funds on anything that has not been proven to improve students academic outcomes. Please see this cash strap moment as an opportunity to return to pen and paper and be part of a growing movement of schools who are taking back their students education. Thank you. Hi folks, Mike Dice here. I'm a district 65 parent of a seventh grader and a fourth grader. Three years ago, our daughter was issued a Chromebook in fourth grade, and it felt like a thought thoughtful on-ramp to an increasingly digital future. She'd already learned cursive taught marvelously by Ms. Doberin, and even after receiving the device, she was still required to work through increasingly

012complex math problems by hand while completing handwritten drafts before typing out her final work. Seemed like a good balance. As our kids spend more time on their devices, it became apparent that much of their screen time was not related to school. Now we all get to log into securely where the proliferation of adorably named apps leaves us wondering if what our kids are viewing during free time is brain pop or brain rot. Imagine a world where a 10-year-old is reading a packet issued by their teacher that has distracting games, jokes, puzzles, comics on the back of each page, silently tempting them. Absurd, right? But that's the challenge presented to this generation when more of their work at school and at home is tucked behind a screen despite mountains of evidence showing diminishing returns academically along

013with rising costs, security and privacy threats and a future of nearsightedness. These problems are only going to multiply and it's not unique to district 65. I work in academic technologies at Northwestern and I hear daily about peer institutions retreating to blue books at in-class screen-free work due to concerns about generative AI and cheating. One of the central complaints from this shift, a classroom full of students raised on screens who can't write efficiently or clearly by hand. Add to that countless articles about high school and college students unable to read an entire book and a generation with waning attention spans after a constant exposure to hyper short form content. And it's only going to get worse. We don't need a future where school is a place where kids sit and stare at a chatbot all day.

014And I promise you that is where this is headed. It's time for a thoughtful, deliberate pivot on tech policy, not a full-scale retreat. There are great benefits to technology, especially in education, but there is a difference between time-saving convenience and learn dependence. I don't have the perfect solution for you, but I know that the status quo is not working anywhere. I urge the board and the administration to truly interrogate the onetoone device policy and the reliance on screens and school work. Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Lauren McNamera. I'm a Kingsley and Haven parent. I think all the newer board members ran on a platform of being willing and able to make hard decisions. I appreciate you all stepping up and taking on this work in support of our community. But after watching this

015for a few months, I'm starting to think that voting to close schools is not making hard decisions. Everyone up here was very willing to close schools and the only question to address was how many. Tom Hayden wrote a Foyer Graost on the special needs and prek transportation bid and if you haven't read it, I recommend you do. We operated without a transportation contract from July to December 2025 and then rushed an RFP. One vendor came in far lower than our current vendor who was chosen by Horton with no competing bids. The hard thing would be asking a question like what if we contract for a portion of the transportation to go to this lowerc cost provider to test their capabilities if we're not sure why they are so much less expensive. In the last two

016meetings, the board debated consolidating transportation policies, and I heard a lot of confusion in the discussion on this. The impact of this change is that students at our magnet school previously had to share twothirds the cost of busing if they lived one and a half miles or more from the school. With the policy edit, they now get bus for free. We previously collected $30,000 in fees for this service. Now, we may lose more than that as families opt to take advantage of this new free benefit. The hard thing is working to understand why the administration is recommending consolidating bus policies and what impacts it will have. After voting to close my kids school, watching you vote to remove cost sharing and provide a new benefit of free busing to magnet students is painful. The hard

017thing is going to be keeping the eye on the ball to find all these opportunities to save money and not add to the deficit. Comparatively, voting to close a school is an easy decision to make. It's clear what choice is on the table. But those consequences are borne by students and families far from the boardroom. I am hopeful that you will continue to lean into your campaign promises to do the hard work inside the boardroom, too. There are more financial decisions up for discussion tonight. Next we have Liz Wins, Colleen Egan, Alex Elliot, Kyle Campbell, and Maryanne Miller. Hi, I'm Liz Wllins. I'm a District 65 parent and a founding member of Invest in Neighborhood Schools. I'm encouraged to see the topics on tonight's agenda as they are important to our future as an excellent

018district. To quote Peter Ducker, "The best way to predict the future is to create it." With that in mind, I hope tonight's discussion includes a few key questions. First, do we need more devices? Do we need to maintain a one:1 device ratio, especially in gates in grades K through two? How does this investment help make our district truly exceptional? Could we consider an equity-based approach such as loan loaning devices to students who need them rather than maintaining universal coverage for all students? Second, as you review other budget priorities, how do we ensure that we are investing in what will make district 65 exceptional while also maintaining long-term financial stability? As the recent special ed audit highlights, our spending trends do not always align with performance outcomes. Increased spending does not necessarily mean better results for

019our students. I encourage the board to continue asking hard questions, to lean into productive and sometimes difficult conversations to ensure that the future is bright for district 65 and the Evston community as a whole. Thank you. Hello, my name is Colleen Egan, parent to three children in the district, two of which um attend Kingsley. I'm a parent of two of the 800 plus children who will have to tend attend an alternate neighborhood school next year. And like so many others, I did not come to these meetings and ask for one particular school to be stay open above others. I understood that sacrifices needed to be made because of the financial situation our district was in. And I assumed that the administration and board would keep financial decisions top of mind so that down the road

020more or even the same children would not need to be affected again by school closures. You can imagine what a slap in the face the decision the board made to rescend policy 4112 was which eliminated transportation for magnet schools and programs eliminating the feebased transportation services. $30,000 plus that the district will not be adding to the bottom line. A majority of our community still believes all of our children deserve neighborhood schools and this is a clear sign that maybe some of you have different priorities. And lastly, my kindergartener doesn't need a tablet. He can't even read. Hi, I'm Alex Elliot. I'm a Lincoln parent and a lot of this information is not going to be new to the people in this room, but I'm going to share my comment just in case. So, something has

021been weighing really heavily on many families, and that's because in talks about the district's deficit, blame too often is falling on one legally protected group of students, and that is children with disabilities. They are not the cause of this district's financial problems. Special education is not optional programming. It is not enrichment. It is federally protected instruction. Every child with a disability has the legal right to a free appropriate public education called FAPE. Individualized education plans or IEPs are legally binding documents that ensure students receive FAPE. Each IEP specifies the services a child receives, including how many minutes and from which providers. Those minutes are delivered by trained educators, paraprofessionals, specialed teachers, social workers, psychologists, and physical, occupational, and speech therapists. Without them, many children could not access an education at all. For students who attend

022outplaced schools, some commute an hour each way just to go to school. Outplacement happens when a district cannot provide a student with their legally mandated FAPE. So if the district wants to bring back outplaced students, any solution will require providing more services in district, not fewer. One idea should never be discussed and that is refusing federal special education funding. Students rights come from federal law, not from whether a district accepts a grant. So the legal obligation to provide services would remain. You would just have to increase the district's financial burden and find a way to pay for it locally. I urge you to visit special education classrooms, resource classrooms, step classrooms, rise, whatever it is, and see what special ed looks like in this school district. reassure families that the district remains committed to giving

023their children access to education because students with disabilities are not a budget problem to solve. They are students to serve every child every day, whatever it takes. Thank you. Hello, my name is Kyle Campbell and I am a Lincoln parent. Um, so board member Wymer, it is good to see you again and it was nice meeting you last week. Uh, thank you for your offer to listen and partner and I really am glad to hear that you were able to visit Lincoln School. Uh, board members Hernandez and Wilkins and Dr. Turner. Uh, the three of you actually have heard from me before directly. Um, two about two years ago, I emailed the prior board asking for an audit for our former superintendent spending habits. So, I'm glad to see that there's traction there. And, uh,

024board president Anderson, I don't know if you remember me specifically, but uh, we work together in your previous role as a physical therapist. So, I'm saying all this because in general, I'd like to establish that I'm plugged into D65. I'm plugged into Evston and education in general. Uh, like a lot of people in Evston, I've been trying to pay attention, trying to keep track of what's going on. Uh, watching the board meetings and the public comment, uh, this board under President Anderson doesn't seem to get enough credit and recognition. You all really do have a tough situation and overall uh you've navigated most things with patience and in some ways I think this could be one of the toughest school boards in the country to be leading right now. So I recognize that and I'm

025not here to talk about anything negative. Uh I am here to talk about the special education audit and special education generally. I want to make sure that I call out that speech therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, IIEES teachers, paraprofessionals, and everybody else that works in the school are educators. They're educators in my mind. Uh maybe from a pension standpoint or a union definition standpoint, they might not be legally defined as educators, but these people are educators for the most important people, and those are the students that those educators serve. Um, don't don't forget these people when you assess and determine what to do with special education. Uh, my mom spent over 30 years as a second grade public school teacher and I personally had six years of speech therapy when I was growing

026up. So, I just really do have so much respect for all the professionals that are giving services to our students whether or not they're educators legally. Uh, back to my speech speech therapy. I hated every moment of it. I absolutely hated it. But now my career includes regularly presenting to thousands of people all over the world and all related services are important and in some ways they could become the special skills that students use to have a career later. So I just want to personally attest that PTOST paras everyone else that works with students are important. Um and I'd encourage the board, Dr. Turner, Dr. Beersley and everybody else up here to visit schools like uh council member Wymer did if you haven't already to see what a day in the life of special ed

027looks like. You guys are regaining trust with the various communities I'm involved with. Just please continue that momentum. Ensure you treat tread carefully, thoughtfully, and respectfully when it comes to a group of students that don't often have a voice themselves. Good evening and thank you for your time and service to our community. My name is Maryanne Miller and I have two children in D65. I'm also a pediatric nurse practitioner and member of Screen Sense Evston, an organization of Evston parents across D65 dedicated to advocation for best tech practices at home and at school. My concerns this evening are related to the state of the evidence for best tech practices in education and whether research supports positive learning outcomes for screenedbased curriculum in children. Considering the district's proposed half million dollar spend on iPads, D65 says

028the purchase of the iPads is to support student learning. However, research shows the opposite that screenbased learning negatively impacts test scores and does not improve learning outcomes in reading, math, or science. There is evidence, however, that reading comprehension significantly improves when taken off the screen as well as creativity, problem solving, and social skills. D65 also says the purchase of iPads ensures teachers access to tech that supports instruction and differentiation. However, research shows onetoone student device use yields poorer learning results when compared to other teacher-led face-to-face strategies. Can this money be allocated to provide more live support for teachers to engage in more effective direct instructional methods? How many teacher aids could be afforded with this money? I am not against the teaching of digital literacy and the belief that teched is essential. I also understand

029the benefits of technology and screen-based learning for children with special needs. However, research shows that in young students, the benefits of offscreen learning far outweigh the risks across childhood development. And there is no evidence to suggest kids have a hard time catching up with tech skills at the appropriate time. We should also worry about risk of increasing health and educational disparity as a result of screenbased learning. Instead of buying smart devices, we have to be smarter about our spending because there is a lack of credible scientific evidence supporting this purchase. Thank you. >> Next, we have Andrew Frink, Robin Telander, Lindseay White, Kelly Farley, and Laura Buchanan. >> Thank you. Uh my name is Andrew Frink. I'm a parent of three children in D65. Um, and I first just want to thank all of you

030on the board. Um, and also the administrators of our district for being here and for grappling with these questions together. And also everyone in this room. We're all people thinking about really hard problems together and trying to find good solutions to those problems. And it's a very human act that we're doing here. And I wanted to start by quoting Wendel Barry who's a writer I admire very much. He went back to his home in Kentucky to be with the people he grew up with on the land he knew. And he said, "The great division that is waiting for us in human history is between people who choose to be creatures and people who choose to be machines." And I think as humans together in this room, we are very much engaged in the creative act

031of humanity here. And we have fostered that in the schools that we are the custodians of. And I moved here two years ago. And I've been amazed at the teachers my kids have in their schools. The the humanity of it is just beautiful. Miss Doul, Miss Medina, um are the teachers they have right now. And I want them to be able to connect with those people and to connect with the people in their classrooms. That is the hardest challenge they have before them. how to learn how to interact with other human beings in the world face to face. And I think the data that's been cited is compelling. Screens do not help students learn as much as people do. And we can all that's intuitive to us. I'm a scientist. I like science. I like

032scientific rigor. And there's plenty of that. But as a human being, we can all relate to that basic fact. Humans teach other humans. I just want to end with a story. I was at the talent show at Dwey K through two. My daughter was doing a roller skating routine that I wanted to see. And it was so beautiful. So many people, so much joy and togetherness. And then I went out to use the restroom and there was a group of boys who had taken themselves out of the room, little kids huddled around an iPad just watching YouTube shorts. And it was just was so sad to me. I just didn't it was such a shame. And I study how learning changes our brain in my lab and how novelty creates chemical signals that signal what's

033important. And these iPads are tapping into that very basic powerful pathway in a way that we do not understand and cannot control. and it's just more than we can manage and I think we need to protect our children from that especially when they're I have two kindergarteners. So, thank you. >> Hi, my name's Robin Telander. I'm a parent of three, a former special ed teacher and a child therapist. I want to start with a simple question for this board. What is the bottom for this district? Is it having over 200 million in deferred maintenance across our buildings, which makes them unsafe and inaccessible for kids with disabilities? Is it overspending on special ed by sending so many of our children out of the district instead of building stronger programs here? Is it having a superintendent

034federally indicted? Is it continuously presenting data that later turns out to be inaccurate and making major decisions based on that data, especially naming Lincolnwood when capacity numbers were wrong and the building cannot even be leased or sold? Is it mishandling another school closure and having no plan for what we're doing with Bessie Rhodess or Kingsley? This is the bottom for me. Our assistant principal and a preschool teacher being accused of some of the most heinous crimes that can be committed against children. The district's communication remains disappointing. When a grown-up your child has had their diaper changed by or been alone in a room with, is accused of sexual abuse, do not link websites or call it a personnel issue. Parents should be given simple, clear guidance about how to talk with their children about body

035safety like this. Your private parts are the parts of your body covered by a bathing suit. Most of the time, no one should touch or look at those parts except to keep you clean or healthy, like a parent helping you or a doctor when a parent is present. If anyone ever asks you to see or touch your private parts or shows you theirs, you should always tell me or another safe adult right away. And if anyone ever tells you to keep something like that a secret, you should do the opposite and tell a safe adult. You will never be in trouble for telling, and I will always believe you and take care of you. Parents should have been given that. Parents should also know the warning signs to look for. Things like sudden bedwedding, recurring

036bladder infections, sexual knowledge beyond a child's age, sudden fear of certain adults or places, nightmares, or significant changes in behavior. And we should acknowledge that children with disabilities are statistically more vulnerable to abuse, which makes prevention and clear communication even more important. At some point, we have to ask whether these are isolated incidents or whether they are symptoms of a system that has stopped holding itself accountable. And we also need to talk honestly about what anti-racism means in practice. Being anti-racist does not mean shutting down parents who raise concerns. People raised concerns about Horton and Menddees. Look what happened. Too often those concerns were dismissed as racism instead of investigated. True anti-racism requires humility and created a culture where concerns are examined and not silenced. Board members board members, you are amazing. You are seven

037volunteers. This is not your full-time job. And that structure sets you up to fail. What this district needs right now is serious oversight and the repair of systems that have clearly broken down. Because when institutions stop holding themselves accountable, the people who pay the price are the children they were supposed to protect. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Lindseay White. I'm a D65 parent. Uh given that I currently have a child here at JH in the half-day program, I wanted to share a few things about that. The program itself um whether you choose the morning or the afternoon is a two and a half hour program uh two and a half hours in length. The GH building not accessible by public transportation or not very accessible. Uh my family has one vehicle and I know we

038had a hard time getting my middle child here daytoday turning back around coming back two and a half hours later to get her. We've been lucky. We've signed up for the bus this year. My youngest comes here and uses the bus. That's been a huge um change for our family. It's been amazing. Um, I know it's tough to imagine many working families, especially families without a car, accessing a 2 and a half hour preschool program and being responsible for, you know, turning around and getting their kid soon after. Um, I would also add that I would be completely in favor of making the busing free for those who qualify from a need perspective and charging a fee for those of us who don't as just a potential option. um or to move to a full

039day preschool model and making sure that we're able to serve those who need preschool the most in our district. Um six of you have said that you'll maintain preschool busing and I appreciate that. Um to get rid of busing severely limits preschool access which does a disservice to our community as a whole, especially the kids who otherwise would not access preschool. Many of these are the kids who are likely to be affected by our district's racial achievement gap. the um the one school boards in the past, superintendent in the past have been working to close for many years. Uh research and data show that access to quality preschool education as well as support within the classroom improves the ed educational outcome for kids. And this is what we have to do to close that racial

040achievement gap. Uh past D65 school boards have had this same conversation and but at this point we're talking about cutting preschool busing which would essentially cut preschool access for our most underserved communities. Uh in regard to special education, I appreciate everyone's comments tonight. I fully agree and I would like to applaud Sergio and Pat for speaking up at the last meeting in particularly forcebed. uh we need to keep these essential services and we need to lift up the educators who work with one of our most vulnerable populations in this district and this includes our amazing pair of professionals who are educators. Um these people make education accessible for not just the kids they serve but for all of our children. Both of my kids who are in D65 K through 5 classrooms, they have they

041have classrooms of 24 25 kids. You can imagine kids with an IEP not having the support that they need with one solo classroom teacher. They've only ever had one teacher. If they don't have support, that affects all of our kids. This is not just an issue of these kids getting support. Um, let's see. Uh, there would just be not enough attention to go around the classroom. PAR professionals are essential. Uh, I want to keep things positive here tonight, but I do want to point out that the reason we're discussing cuts to preschool busing and uh, special education is because we did not follow the process of STRP, the board refused to close the appropriate number of schools. Thank you. >> Hi there. I'm Kelly Farley, D65 parent. Um, I was prompted to come here today

042based on the experience of my friend whose fourth grader has had an IEP for years. And I was frankly shocked to hear her experience because I fully support public schools. I support our district. And it was it it broke my heart. Um, she's had inconsistency in case managers, regular delays in hiring and staffing for the one-on-one time her child deserves. We lack the appropriate number of educators, which to be clear does include OT's, speech therapists, pair professionals, etc. Um, one specific example would be those certified in the full year-long Wilson training program to support the reading needs of students with IEPs. An education model that prioritizes inclusion is only prioritizing a seat in a classroom if the child cannot participate if we're not giving them their warranted amount of one-on-one time cons with consistent staffing

043with whom they can build a relationship and the quiet pullout rooms needed to support them. We need to learn from peer school districts north of us or perhaps in Oak Park where they're serving children more effectively and more efficiently. The board recently questioned, "Why not set our goals at 100% readiness?" But when we talk about special education, we talk not about improving the improving the outcomes, but cutting the costs. The families in our district who rely on special ed services deserve to hear about urgency in improving the outcomes of our services more than that we need a three-year span to address the audit findings. They like all of us deserve to understand why the cost went up while the results did not. This can't take years to unpack. I wonder if a large component of

044the increase in costs for out is for outplacement because we're not able to provide services we should be able to uh for a lack of consistent staff levels, certifications, and resources to support our inclusion model. While I certainly have been here many times supporting rightsizing our expenses, it cannot be to the detriment of special ed students getting equitable services. Thank you for listening to me speak ineloquently and with limited personal experience in this area of our programming, but with deep love for the students and families who depend on them. Our commitment to equity and inclusion needs to lift them up and protect them amidst the necessary cuts needed to make our district sustainable. My name is Laura Buchanan and I'm a Willard school parent. I'm also here to address the board about um iPad use

045and spending in D65. District 65's growing reliance on iPads and screenbased applications has negative consequences on educational excellence, online student safety, and student development and behavior. Growing evidence shows most students benefit from greater emphasis on direct hands-on learning. In addition, there is increased understanding of the harm to kids when screenbased activities are emphasized. Studies show prolonged access to screens is linked to changes in children's brain development and eyesight, reduced ability to concentrate and retain information, reduced critical thinking and emotional intelligence, and increased anxiety. At the time of preparation of this public comment, 1,128 people related to the district had signed a petition, a screen sense petition urging the district to limit screens to students. Um, I also personally have a lot of thoughts on this topic that I'm not going to go into completely tonight,

046but I wanted to bring up an anecdote. My child was in kindergarten and um had never really used an iPad prior to going to school and had limited access to screens. Um and I try to keep my personal views on this not I don't want to expose that those to him too much because um ultimately I want him to you know feel supported in his education and he is having a great educational experience in kindergarten but he himself has come home and noted things like why why are we reading through a screen all the time instead of a book like why are it seems like so much of our time is it's delivered through a screen or we're staring at and a screen a seessaw or we're doing this on a screen or like maths

047on a screen. And I just think if a kindergarten kid is picking up on that that it seems excessive compared to their day-to-day life and their prior preschool experience and whatnot, that's that really says something I think about how possibly over integrated screens have become in our even in the lower grades. Um I just don't think we need onetoone devices for our students. I think it's also considering the budget situation that we have, it's it's not something that we can afford. Um, so yeah, I urge the board to request that D65 reduce their dependence on screens entirely. Cutting onetoone device usage and associated costs will significantly improve our students education and our budget. Thank you. That concludes the public comments for tonight. >> Thank you for your public comments. Um we're going to move into

048board comment and I want to um share an experience I had this past in the past two weeks. Um which is why I have on my JH t-shirt. Um, I attended the JH ECC Black Experience Celebration on Thursday, February 26. Uh, the event was made possible through a foundation 65 connecting through cultures grant. The goal of the grant is to foster a sense of community and belonging among all JH families. Building trust is the cornerstone of those strong relationships. Schoolwide events provide opportunities for families to experience JH as a welcoming, safe, and enriching place. These events also allow parents to connect with one another, fostering a network of support. Each family brings a unique perspective and through shared experiences and discussions, they strengthen their commitment to antibbias education. for the Black Experience family celebrations. Three

049classes participated with songs and affirmations, and I can't tell you how uplifting it was to see those three classes seeing this little light of mine. It was amazing. Uh CNW Catering provided a delicious meal so parents didn't have to worry about dinner. I want to give a big shout out to all the JH educators, staff, and the team volunteers who helped manage the hands-on activities, including a sensory sensitivity room for students who needed a quieter space. Staff members volunteered their time after working eight hours, demonstrating their deep commitment to JH. The participants for the JH ECC black experience included 107 adults and 85 children. So you can imagine what that looked like. Um but this was compared to uh last school year when there were only 57 adults and 62 children attended. So it it

050was quite a delightful experience and I want to send a thanks out to the JH ECC staff. Yeah, >> thank you. Uh, I'd like to clarify my comments from the February 23rd board meeting and apologize for any distress I may have caused parents. I stand fully behind our D65 students receiving special education services whom we have a moral and legal obligation to support. In asking challenging questions to our academic leaders about our special education budget, I have two goals. Identify why outcomes have worsened while the budget has significantly increased. And two, to support with urgency critical evaluation of our oversight and processes. Answering these questions will help inform the best possible interventions and outcome for our students using our existing resources. Thank you. >> Okay. I move that the board approve the meeting agenda as

051presented. >> Second. >> Wilkins. >> Yes. >> Pinker. >> Yes. >> Hernandez. >> Yes. >> Wymer. >> Yes. >> Anderson. >> Yes. Um hi uh good evening everyone. Uh we are going to begin the finance personnel buildings and grounds portion of our meeting this evening. Um, and first up on the agenda is a discussion of an current update of our financial situation from the beginning of the financial year uh in July July 1 to did we get through January 30th, Tamara or >> did we get through January 31st? >> January 31st. Thank you. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Um, as Maria mentioned, I will be going we'll be going through a brief slideshow um that will discuss financial performance from July 1st through January 31st. And the reason why January 31st is the end

052date is because that is the most recent month that we have fully closed. The financial services team is still um in the process of making just a few entries for the month of February. So, I didn't want to present those preliminary numbers until those um entries are made. So, we will be going off of the January 31st numbers since that month is already closed. So, looking at the agenda for the evening, um I will go through the budget to actual uh again through January 31st, looking at our revenues, how much have we received and then looking at our expenditures, how much have we spent of what was budgeted. Also, take a look at the 2024 property tax levy revenues. We've discussed a bit over uh the past few months about the delay in distribution of

053the 2024 property tax levy. So I'll talk a bit about how that delay has impacted us and then lastly talk about some action planning for the remainder of this fiscal year. So this first slide um is our revenues year-to- date revenues as of Janu or through January 31st. So on the left side of the screen you see those uh all funds excluding capital projects and then on the right side of the screen is just the capital projects fund that includes the construction uh revenues construction related revenues uh and construction related expenditures for foster school as well as capital projects districtwide. again uh through July through January about 58.33% of the year has elapsed and you see there for our all funds excluding capital projects we're just coming in under budget at about 57.1% and then

054on the revenue side um revenue side for capital projects for foster that is a little bit below budget or a bit below budget at 37.66% 66%. So that small bit below budget for the all funds excluding capital projects is largely due to the um interest income reduction related to those delayed property taxes which I'll talk a bit about that later on. Looking at the capital projects fund that revenue is all interest income. So the interest income is based on two things. Um it's based on actual interest rates. So at the time we prepare the budget we assume particular interest rates and then interest rates can fluctuate up and down based on what the market is doing and then also uh the account balanced we earn interest on the amount of money that is in that

055account. So if drawdowns occur faster than anticipated then that will mean there's less money sitting in the account to earn interest and so then that projected interest can be a bit lower. So that's what's happening there with that budget. Moving on to expenditures again um all funds excluding capital projects on the left and then the capital projects fund on the right there. Same percentage of the fiscal year elapse just under 59%. One thing that I do want to note here um is that our expenditure cycles are seasonal particularly with our salaries and benefits. So while we have uh elapsed about 59% of the year the all funds uh expenditures excluding our capital projects is below that. Uh and then uh the same for the capital projects for uh foster school. So now to talk about

056the property tax revenues and the impact of those delays. Um, again, we've been discussing this probably since August of this year when we first became aware that there was going to be some delay in those receipts. Um, and we know that the district had to issue one round of tax anticipation warrants in November as a result of those delayed receipts. And then we were anticipating issuing another round again in January, which we did not have to do because tax money started to come in. So that first bullet point there, um, through January 31st, we've received about 92.8% of our levy. Typical collection rate is about 98% and usually that would be collected by December. So we're still lagging a bit behind. We just got some tax receipts today um, and received an email from the

057county that what came in today is attributable to the 2024 levy. So they're still distributing money from that 2024 levy. Uh, one important note as well, taxpayer refunds are not up to date with those distributions either. So, when um taxpayers, whether they're corporate taxpayers or homeowners, whenever they put through a request for a refund, um, an assessment, review, etc. Those refunds are paid out of property tax distributions. We received notice from the county that those uh distributions had not been netted those refunds had not been netted against the distributions. So that will come likely when they start distributing our 2025 taxes as well, which that should be this month. U but as of today, we're still receiving 2024 tax revenues. Um the table there that you see is an estimate of cost impact to the

058district of about just over $1.4 million. Um and there was a team from our financial advisors at PTMA that assisted basically all of the districts in Cook County with coming up with these numbers. The tax anticipation or tax anticipation issuance costs, those are hard numbers that we know. Um and those other costs are estimated. They're estimated based on historical trends. And again, this was a team at PTMA that put these numbers together for us. So there is that second line there, the 215 almost $216,000. That's related to the spring distribution, which is uh related to the 2025 property tax levy being distributed on a month late. Those revenues should have been distributed statutoily uh this month in March, but there was a a delay. So they'll be distributed um in April. So about $216,000 worth

059of lost interest income due to that delay as well of one month. And again, this estimate is only through December 28th because that is the day that the county started releasing 2024 uh property tax distributions. This table is uh a breakdown of interest income. I have the budget to actual here. Note here that I only have the funds listed that we levy for. So we do not levy for our working cash fund or the capital projects fund. So that is why they are not listed on this table. Um the funds that are here are those that we levy for. So of the budget for this year of about $3.6 million, we've received about $842,000. So, we're uh just under 24% of that interest income budget received. And again, it's largely attributed to the interest income

060lost because of those late property taxes. We'll continue to monitor that projected income over the coming months as well. And um lastly, as far as what's next for this fiscal year, so I'll touch on a few controls that we have in place this fiscal year. Um and some of the controls that we had in place last year as well. So that first bullet point there is in relation to budget managers and the review of budget spendown. I've asked cabinet leads to check in with relevant budget managers uh regarding what is truly needed to get us through the end of fiscal year. So those responses will be taken into account. Any funds that are budgeted but not spent will remain in our reserve balances. As for the purchase order cutoff that you see there in that

061second uh bullet point, what that does is it does a few things. The first is it helps with the notion that FY26 are for students in classrooms in FY26. Additionally, that purchase order cutoff allows for adequate time for materials to be confirmed as received and then for those invoices to be paid this fiscal year rather than pushing into next fiscal year. Um, also there are some exclusions listed there in terms of the purchase order cutoff, namely for grant funded purchases. some of our grants cross fiscal years so they don't actually end until August 31st. Uh so we don't want to cut that spending off and then grants in general will continue through June 30th. And there are some other um things that we do in terms of reporting with grants to ensure that we are

062spending according to those guidelines. Um some of those purchases can end up being paid in the next fiscal year. However, there's um reporting that we do that allows us to not negatively impact those grant budgets in a subsequent fiscal year. Utilities, transportation, special education, out of district expenditures, any debt service payments, and any uh other contracted purchase services that we will need to continue to make payments on to stay current with our providers, those will continue to be paid as well. It'll just be those mainly purchase orders will be cut off for any non-grant related expenditures uh on April 10th of this year. And then we will again continue to monitor that fiscal performance for the remainder of the year. That is the end of presentation. Open up for any questions. >> Thank you. Um

063I know uh one just technical question. I know that you had budgeted um a rather large increase in electrical or utility spending for this year because you were anticipating that going up. How has that come in so far? >> Electric is trending very close to what that um projected budget was. Gas is a bit under budget. in checking in with our um the consultant that we work with for our energy p energ energy purchasing. They are recommending um pretty significant increases for next year as well for the next fiscal year. But yes, those all of those uh the budgeted numbers were based on recommendations from our energy provider. So the electric rates we budgeted 36% increases. When I checked in with them, they were at about 34%. So that was really close. Um, and then

064for gas, I believe we budgeted a 15% increase and that was coming in at about 8 to 9%. >> Thank you. >> I have a question and a comment. So, first of all, thank you because it's it's refreshing to see us tracking so close to budget and really knowing what's going on. So, thank you for that. I know that took a lot of work to just be able to provide um such an accurate update. Um, and then my next question is about the property tax revenues. So, where does that money come from? Does that mean that our cash on hand goes down? Like, I mean, those are real dollars that we're not making based on not getting those revenues on time. So, I just want to understand a little bit more the impact of that.

065>> So, the interest income will not be made up obviously. Um the property tax revenues will eventually make their way to the district. Um but it it's the the interest income that is the biggest impact and it it impacts us on both sides of it because as we're spending down our fund balance reserves that means that money is not sitting in our accounts earning interest. And then on the other side of that we're not getting additional money to add to that. So we can um increase our interest earnings. So, it's unfortunately at this point that estimated $1.4 million, which a portion of that is the tax anticipation warrant issuance cost as well, about $130,000 of that, I believe. Um, but the the rest of that interest income unfortunately is lost. >> Okay. Thank you, >>

066Tamara. There was a note about the purchase order deadline, but it said that technology was excluded. What does that mean? >> So, there are some technology purchases. Um, it's timing cycles. So, there are technology subscriptions or other payments that need to be made after April 10th. So, that's why um those particular purchases would not be subject to the purchase order cutoff. Similarly, there are uh purchases that our facilities team may need to make after that April 10th cut off as well. So that it that facilities team is excluded nutrition services. We still have to continue to purchase food for our students. Um but for the most part, those technology purchases would be related to subscriptions or other purchases that need to happen based on timing that couldn't occur before April. >> Question. Um, >> I

067just gonna ask real quick, what what's the normal date of cuto off for purchases in other years? >> I don't know what was done here before I showed up. Um, but last year I uh implemented the April 1st cutoff. We pushed it back a week or a few days this year because of spring break. Um, but I don't know if you >> Okay. >> Were you about to say something? prior to the year the year that you came there we implemented a cut off of um June 30th in that in that fiscal year prior to that there was no cut off they just rolled over to the next year >> and is the implication of that then most large so this is for this year and then starting in when do they when are we

068purchasing for next here. >> So, we will the system will be open for staff to begin to put purchase orders in for FY27, but um those orders will not be sent to vendors until after July 1st. So, everything will hit that since we're cash basis, everything will hit FY27. So, the orders will be sent starting July 1st and then that'll make sure that they're received during that fiscal year and then the invoice is paid during that fiscal year as well. Right now, I want to also clarify that the reason that system was put into place is because we could never catch up. We were always chasing bills. >> Um, in addition to there was no system in place where the board approved bills prior to, it's like they had already been paid and then the

069board was approving them. And so to create a a solid system, we put that cut off date in place and it just forced everybody to have to just get on board with not being able to make purchases after or make not be able to make purchases after that fiscal year had ended. >> That makes any sense. >> And just to build on that, we get bills from the prior year and you know, one of the questions would be, well, why are we so far over budget? And part of it was because we had bills from the previous fiscal year that we hadn't paid and because we're on a cashbased accounting system that will come out of that year's budget. So that that was part of my thank you for the processes you put in place

070to clean this up so we can look at more accurate numbers and stick to budget. >> Um the slide six uh with the breakdown of lost interest that's accounted for in the 1.4 million. >> Correct. >> Right. Um, and then I'm curious, so this is impact on on FY26, just the rollover impact on FY27 of lost interest. Can you just speak to that for a minute? What can we expect there? >> So essentially, um, again, this is all budgeted numbers at this point. So when the fiscal year closes, we'll see exactly how we performed um with our revenues and our expenditures from an actual standpoint. But if we're just looking at budgeted numbers, then that impact would be um our fund balance would be $1.4 million less than anticipated if we're just looking at that

071budgeted revenue. >> Is there a recourse for the lost interest payments? >> Um there are there is a group of superintendent working on um potential legislation and potential lawsuit against the county. I don't know where all of that is going to shake out. Um, part of that was part of the reason why the resolution that has been passed by a lot of school districts, including district 65, uh, regarding the delayed property tax payments, part of districts passing that resolution was to kind of help give um that teeth if things move forward. and either the county is held responsible or Tyler Technologies which was the software company um that was responsible for the um the delay. So but but that's where it stands right now. >> Thank you. Um in terms of the uh budget expenditures

072were 51% year-to date. Is that what you would expect? Are we tracking in accordance with when we typically have outflows throughout the year? >> Yes, that's we're tracking about where I would typically expect. Um what you will see at the end of the year in June, our salaries and benefits numbers will spike a bit and that's because we're paying all of our uh educators depending on which type of pay cycle they're on, they get the equivalent of of four to six checks essentially. And so we're paying all of the educators um their salary and then paying those benefits in advance as well. So you'll see the salary and benefits numbers spike in June. But right now where we are in the year at about 51% expenditures, that's about right. I saw that you had noted

073a couple of things that you were doing to sort of manage budget expectations for the remainder of the fiscal year like asking cabinet members to re-evaluate their budgets. Yep. Okay. And when um you know this is we're we're needing to manage $1.4 4 million dollars of revenue that we aren't going to see. And so, how are we going to still meet the budget obligations that we've, you know, the deficit level of about $370,000 that we have approved? How do we manage to that number? So that's part of the reasons why I started having the conversations with cabinet leagues and asking them to speak with their budget managers to see um just how much realistically we need to get through the fiscal year and if any of those purchases that were budgeted for this fiscal year

074if they could be delayed. Um and again we'll we still need to wait to see how this year is going to end actually with our expenditures and our revenues. Um but just looking at that gap in the revenues, the budgeted gap in the revenues, that was one of the reasons behind having the conversations, initiating conversations to have people really look closely and see if there's anything in there that we don't need to spend money on for this fiscal year so we can stay as balanced as possible. >> I know last fiscal year you guys did a great job of managing the budget throughout the year. So, we came in in a much more favorable position than we had originally forecasted. So, I appreciate you doing that last year. I know that that was, you know,

075the effort of getting rid of a lot of things that you you knew you probably could. Um, and I know that at this point we had budgeted, you know, to a place where we thought was sustainable. So, um would you keep us posted on if you believe that the budget deficit is going to exceed the approved amount um and by how much >> uh you know on a monthly basis kind of how we're tracking to that so we have line of sight >> absolutely >> into that. Thank you. >> I think it would be also helpful to know the outcome of those discussions that you're having. So, if there's a way to keep the board informed on uh which expenses we might have some leverage with um and what those areas are. So, I'm particularly

076interested if we have uh discretionary expenses um where you think we have more opportunity um uh than potentially in in other areas. Um, so if we could know going forward kind of what you're hearing uh in terms of potential reductions uh and what those reductions amount to and then where we might have additional again opportunity and discretionary line items. >> Sure. Absolutely. >> And my concern is if we're rolling expenses into FY27, then that's our f further stretchable deficit cuts that have to be made. So um if those are going to be large significant then we'll need to know even conceptually as a board >> because that's just further we have to go >> any other questions on this topic good okay um next discussion so one of the the the item reads um board

077budget priorities for 2026 2027. Um one of my goals is for us to be able to get um you know a draft budget together for fiscal year uh 27 prior to um Tamara's departure. I know normally we um don't get a draft budget together before um September time, but considering the institutional knowledge that you've gained your expertise um you know it would be valuable to us to have a budget discussion prior to your departure um even if we aren't approving it. So the the goal of this conversation is to help the administration see uh the board's priorities for um the budget uh for for next year just as an initial conversation so that we can all express kind of what we want to make sure um is included or evaluated for this next budget cycle

078before you begin. Um, we have a couple line items on this uh, budget or on this topic, but I think before we dive into that, um, you know, some of the places where I would like to see us, um, really do some evaluation, and I think it's on the agenda, so we'll talk about it, but is in our technology spend and in our applications. Um, I think there's potentially some opportunity there for us. Um the other place where I would like to better understand what our leverage levers levers are is in the possibility of and changing adding um reading specialists and math specialists. Obviously that's an addition to our budget and not a cut. So it's going to have to come from somewhere. Um but I think that we've we've seen that we need some

079additional assistance for students and I'm you know curious what you all think. Um those are two of the primary areas where I see um I think there's some further discussions around transportation that we can have. Uh you know there's the potential for a different busing model um that we've talked about kind of at the board level um that references more of a looping model versus a individual route model and the evaluation of those uh potential savings. Um, we talked a little bit about the changing of start times, but we haven't really gotten an analysis of what that means. So, I'm going to stop talking and let other people weigh in. Um, you know, this isn't a conclusive conversation. This is really a whiteboarding and idea session. Um, just so that we can better communicate our

080priorities. >> I think one um area is just to have more clarity um and conversations about what statutory programs we're offering and what aren't. Um, often times we, you know, we have, um, you know, districts take on areas of work because it's important to take it on, but oftent times when we're looking at budget cuts, it's really important to understand spend on um things that we're not obligated to do and then to understand in those are we are we are we losing money? Are we are there ways to think about doing them in ways that they're cost neutral? That's not always true, but I think there needs to be intentionality of as we're in these budget moments to have more clarity on on where we're spending on programs that, you know, are important to the

081community, but they're not they might they're not we're not required to do them. Um, cities have uh multiple of organizations that um do work. And as we think about our van diagram, what we do that we're uniquely positioned to do. Are there other things that we do um we do well? Um but others might do it and it might be a great opportunity to see if there's some way to um um think about collaborations. So that's um one area um technology cost, but to me it's more about um not about just cutting costs. It's more about having um a vision around the role of technology and being able to situate those costs with uh with respect to what we believe the outcomes are. And um I think the and I don't say that with the

082assumption that the team doesn't that that doesn't exist. I think we as a board haven't really truly fully had that conversation. We've had it about pieces, but we haven't fully had it about the um the full cost. Um, one other area that is until we have the um, the facilities, it's almost like it's we can't speak on this until we have the the report coming in, but the I can't imagine we're going to it's going to be less than what it was. So, I imagine it's going to be more um than what the last one is. And so right now our facilities conversation has been more about um we're going to fix and we're closing mainly from the standpoint of underutilization. But depending on what this document comes out, we might have to come back

083and have a a more re a different reframing conversation around facilities, you know, depending on the amount of um um deferred maintenance. And then the last one um is a lot of conversations we've had around I think the continuum of supports in terms of in schools um from an academic support. So if a kid needs we definitely understand our needs for special education supports but also for um homework help. How do we think about that? What's the role of the the district? What's the role of uh other providers? Um, and how can we think creatively about making sure that there's clarity for families? How if your child needs support, homework support in math, homework support in other areas, whether that is available at the schools and whether it's not. And right now that's differential um,

084you know, depending on the school you've at. I've heard, you know, at the school where my nephew attends, I hear one thing and I hear other access at different places. So I think there needs to be clarity around the uh continuum of supports across the um the full spectrum of of academic needs. um to start with a non-financial finance issue uh for not for you Tamara I don't think as much um but we did have specific recommendations from our consultant the SJP3 process to adopt board policies around 90 days cash on hand annual capital projects investment amount balanced budget student assignment process strategic planning and explicit financial monitoring I think that's something that we need to make progress on early um this term I don't know if that falls that that may all in the

085the policy committee. That would make sense. I'm happy to take a load there. Maya, if you send me on my way, I'll I'll help. Um and then um just ree echoing now something some of my colleagues have already mentioned but we did hear when we had our academic achievement update that there are interventions that are being kind of um thought through and that we will then be we will then be have those financial implications for what it takes to fund those and I think it was September. I'm just going off of the top of my head about the footnote in the um academic achievement report. And so I just hope that we um can make a turn to really focusing on educational outcomes and bridging our our gaps in educational outcomes. And I hope that

086we uh can be bold even though knowing that money is tight um with those. Um and then we we've all in some way or the other, maybe not you Chris because you're you're a little newer, but I think we've all indicated in some awareness that at some point there will be a need for additional funding um to address our long-term capital issues. And I think it's very important that we demonstrate discipline um so that we can go with credibility to our community should the case be that we need to do that. Um so I would like us to um revisit capex. I know we can't go up much but I think that's something we're not where we should be. Um and we need to keep rising that that increasing so we can demonstrate to our

087community that um we're trustworthy when it comes to asking for further money to deal and address with our capital needs. I think all of those things are important and I think there are lots of things we should look at. Um I I think that it is critical that we keep our focus on making sure that we are supporting students and their educational outcomes through all of this. So that means special education, that means you know preschool education because we know what a big impact that has on student success. Um but in in addition to that like I think that there are so many things we can do and we can explore but I think we need to quickly get to the stage of planning and what resources we need to really explore these things and

088how much time does it take to really figure out what's feasible what makes sense for our district what the financial impact is because I think until we start getting into those specifics and really see you know like we we we we're up here every month and we talk about a lot of things and you know like towards the ends of meetings I don't I usually feel like we weren't able to cut the costs that we wanted to cost on on specific decisions because we realize that there's a student need there that we can't give up and so you know I think because of that we just have to be really careful about putting a lot on the table that you know, yes, we can put a lot on the table, but we have to be

089realistic about how we schedule it, how we address it, the time needed to actually make some of these things happen in a way that will have a positive impact on students and on our budget. And I think we need to quickly transition to that because, you know, like our budget problems are real and, you know, looking at that page, they're getting worse and not better. Um, and the longer we take to sort of figure out what we're doing. As we see here, we're losing out on interest income um from some of those decisions, too. So, lots that we can explore, but I think that we need to get pretty practical and pragmatic pretty quickly. >> I agree. Oh, sorry. >> I co-sign that. I mean, I I also agree with all of the major uh

090components of the budget that need attention and there's been a lot of um conversation brought forward, but I think we're going to have to narrow it down and prioritize it so that we can so it can be something that can be actionable and specific so that we can have focused effort on what it is we're going to actually attack and the priority of that because that will significantly influence how those monies are um directed. So, this is a good start for the conversation, but I'm encouraging us all to do continued reflection on that so that we can come to a meeting and have some consensus about the approach that we're going to what our priorities are going to be. So, to me, it's this is good discussion, but I would like for us all to

091give it very serious thought so we can focus and implement. >> Uh I yeah, I agree with bunch of what's been said and specifically would would echo Andrew's comments. I think we really need to center first and foremost the academic experience. Um and are we uh are we making strategic investments in uh student outcomes uh in supporting students who need whatever level of support they might need and also uh generally uh kind of investing in academic excellence. Uh when I think about our investments thus far uh I don't think we've had an invest or we haven't had a investment issue. We've had a return on investment issue. So our per student spending is I think you know fairly robust. Um but we have not been able to really see a return uh on the money

092that we've been spending uh in in many areas. And so I think moving forward we have to just be uh really rigorous about uh making the case for any given cost and how well it actually ties back to student outcomes. >> Yeah, I I I'll cosign on that as well. I think again censoring uh you know student academic and social emotional outcomes are critical right and and again I say that both right I think u uh previous iterations of the board um and again I've been here for 10 years um it used to be just focusing on academic instruction and that wasn't getting us anywhere right we were just focusing on reading and math and we've done evaluations of reading and math specialists and we found that that wasn't very helpful I'd love for us

093to kind of review that information again um and also the impact of what we have now right in instructional uh folks who've replaced them. Um and and the thought there was okay well let you know again I can teach social studies uh you know through reading and vice versa I can teach math through reading and reading through ma again you know reading is and learning should be integrated right I mean that that that's how life unfolds um so for me like I I I want to see an evaluation of some of the strategies that we've already done and again we do see it through some of the of course um the the uh reports around data um for all students and then specific student groups. Uh I'd like to see us go back uh you

094know I was go I was looking through the data dashboard uh today um that's been put on the D65 website and it's got all these reports that we've had in the past. So I encourage my colleagues here to look back um I want to say back in 2016 when I was on the other side of the DIY you know pushing the the then school board to really try to improve outcomes for black and brown and just overall marginalized students in the community. We asked for black student achievement report, right? And for a couple of years we got that. Um and uh and then we asked for a Latino um and now we we we we we've gotten away with that from that. But again, I'd love to kind of just um it's been integrated a

095little bit more in the reporting now. So we're very we're much more um cognizant of it and we've included that social emotional piece which I really appreciate. Right. Um so so really as we think about pri budget priorities, right? How do we make sure that everything that we've tried to implement uh again some of it's worked some of it hasn't but always centering you know social emotional as well as academic outcomes for our students uh in whatever budget decisions we make and I think that again I'm on board with exploring all these different things um but but again as as my colleagues have said here again it's we really have to narrow it down as uh President Anderson uh shared um because again we do have some very very major budget issues uh which I

096just will not continue to get any better u and then given the the federal as well as state um uh issues that we're we're going to we're going to be experiencing the next couple of years I mean I was at a I was listening to the the uh governor's budget uh hearing was it last week um and and their budget analyst is saying look uh we we made a b balanced budget now but the next two years are going to be painful because the federal government is really really going to be, you know, putting their their fist down, particularly for states like ours. And I think that's uh again, all of those macro things affect our our local um impact and outcomes in regards to budgeting, uh curriculum, investment in our teachers and education, social

097emotional learning. >> Oh, one more final point I forgot to mention. Uh I would also just make a plug uh kind of in terms of budget mechanics for uh a bottoms up budgeting approach where we begin with you know how how much do we actually have to spend uh and then work our way up from there as opposed to building budgets based on prior years. Um that might be a useful exercise at some point. >> Can Sergio you just you said something that I think is important to uh to bring up. Um I think you were saying that we've we might be as new board members we might be asking to to explore ideas that you know as someone who's been here for 10 years has already been explored. So I do think it's important

098um you know we can do our own research on this but it is maybe important to know like if we're saying let's explore reading specialists if there was a whole study that was done four or five years ago about that how do we how can we be intentional of bringing that back up um or how to make sure that's brought up so we're not if we're asking questions we're asking questions on top of um information we already know um as opposed to in Um um that so that's just something thank you for saying that. I want to highlight we can probably make sure we do a better job of that. I will try to do a better job myself of going back to and looking for those. But if we know if someone's been who

099could say oh we know we've done that before. It'd be great to you know let us know that so we can go ahead and do that work. The other thing, and I'll just say this, you know, as a board member, I haven't spent my whole career in K through 12 education. And so I think it's good for us to you know come up with ideas but I think you know from our perspective our role is really to you know to set the tone to set the high level objectives and then I look forward to working with um this very smart experienced team up here because I think that you know at the end of the day you all are the ones who are in this um every day and who have a much better understanding

100of everything that goes into managing this district. And so I think that it's incredibly important for us to lean on your expertise as well. Couple common themes. Um prioritizing educational outcomes um looking for expenditures that are generating a return on investment. Um, I'm sorry. I had one more and it just left my brain. >> Um, >> I know it was capex. >> Yes. >> No. No. >> Of course not. >> But we'll say that. Um, uh, budgetary mechanics. Um, and then, uh, yeah, I think Sergio, yours was, uh, evidence-based, uh, investment, right? Um, okay. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Um, having a viseral reaction to that right now. Okay. I think uh after that discussion we can go to the proposed summer projects. Uh so capbacks Andrew here we are. >> All right. Thank you.

101Um so I'm just going to provide a brief overview of our current planning for the summer. I do want to kind of frame a little bit of context. The ideal timeline for planning of larger summer projects is to begin this discussion in August or September. take it to bid in November, go for, you know, October, November, look for approval in December or January. That allows us to be able to take on larger projects. Um, you know, so and that gives the lead time to get bids, um, and to really kind of assess the, you know, uh, take on work that contractors later in the game are not available to do. We began this process and discussions in August and September with the iterations around school closure. We really did need to put things on hold.

102Um when we've come back, what we have here are what we see as being very important work. All of this work was in our Cordian Clark master facility assessment several years ago. It is work that intersects both health life safety as well as capital improvements. Um, but we're timing wise we would be going out to bid very soon. We're currently working with the architects that have done the master facility health by safety so that we can execute this work over the summer or potentially in the case in the roofing as we move into fall if that timetable doesn't work. And so just a little bit of framing. And so ideally we come to these conversations much earlier in the year and that does give us a wider range of options for that work. When we

103pull essentially when we developed the list of summer projects this year we did we tried to do a few things. We really needed to sit in the context that we're in with the district which means number one we got to prioritize the things that feel absolutely most critical. Number two, uh we did not we had a very successful summer last summer. We worked across three different sites primarily, but with the va with closing and opening of schools and still hosting a fair share of summer project or summer learning, excuse me, that would be park district programs, city programs, as well as our own programs. We knew we needed to be more focused on a location or smaller location, a smaller number of locations to set ourselves up for success. So what we're looking at here

104is really a prioritization around King Arts predominantly. We've got some other smaller projects that we're going to really try to accommodate some section movements and making sure that we're doing some of the necessary look and feel and otherwise abatement that can be done, but we're predominantly focused on King Arts here. What we're looking at is doing really finishing up the abatement of asbestous at King Arts. This has been done in a few different phases, but we still have a good 60% of the building where we can finish the abatement and redo the flooring. For those of you that have been in King Arts, we really do have kind of the 1970s carpets. When we lifted those on the upper floor, it makes a really significant difference in the look and feel of the building and

105the ability to make it clean um and removing dusts and dirt and things along those lines. And so we're looking to finish up abatement and flooring at King Arts. Um, and actually I'm going to So I'm going to shift a little bit to the FY26 closeout and then I'll jump in. Um, we do, you noticed in Tamara's slides that we still have money that we have not spent out of our 1.4. So we are closing out the boilers and the chillers that you guys approved earlier in the year. that's going to um actually use the remainder of those funds with the exception of the fact we're using the remainder of our health life safety funds to repair a chimney at Walker that Studio GC in the process of doing the health life safety master facility

106assessment tagged as needing immediate repair. So, we're getting that done. And we're also replacing uh essentially the intercom at King Arch which has not been working for several years which is it works intermittently but is a safety issue and so we need to resolve that uh going in picking back up on King Arts. We build on that intercom work to install a new fire panel which also is past lifespan needs to be replaced that can intersect with health health safety. Um, we have a we need to do some sewer repair. Um, we have a situation where that backs up kind of twice a year and has been for the last couple years and it's time to get it done and so we need to get that repaired. Um, and then moving down, we also uh

107we will keep moving on a partial roof replacement. We closed King Arts about three four years ago, but we're only able to complete about half of the roof due to financial limitations. We're going to come back and we want to get as much of that roof done as possible, but the total cost on that roof would be about 2.6. So, we're not going to get all the way there. Um, but we'll get as much as we can. The last thing that we really want to address um facilitywise in King Arts is that we have a wall in the annex that is in need of repair. And when we do that, we'll also need to repair the floor for this particular classroom because of lead time. We will not get that done this summer. So, we've

108made the adjustment to hopefully push as further along in the roof as possible and then come back and do that one wall in the annex hopefully next summer. And the architect is recommending that we go out for bid in that in September so we can line up a contractor and have that set and ready to go. that wall does need to be repaired. Um other projects pending available funding because particularly the abatement work um and the roofing work will go out to bid. If we do have any available funding, we would then also move to put air conditioning units in the kitchen and cafeteria. This is not a centralized system. This is window units annually. Both those spaces get very hot in the fall and so we're trying to address a perennial request and then

109both from the city and the school community ideally enclosing the dumpster on the alley which is a frequent victim of fly dumping and excess waste and so trying to be a better neighbor and addressing that issue. So those are the primary projects around King Arts. we would close King Arts to students this summer and really work to execute as many of those projects as possible. When we look below, um, Orington this past school year only used the upper floor and main floor for their major classrooms. Um, we are now adding some additional sections back into Orington. So, we've been talking to Principal Schoffman about going into that basement and basically doing kind of a refresh where we're rewrapping pipes where we're kind of painting walls. We're redoing the flooring, which would also be abatement in

110the basement. Um, and getting that space to a better usable place because we want that look and feel of classrooms to to feel good to our kids and families and our educators. Um then shifting down kind of the balance of the money of that 2.7 would then also be invested into a combination of things. Our leaders complete essentially what our shorthand term is the summer wish list but it's really the summer please do list and really please do. Um it would be executing those summer projects to the extent that we can within budget and time. We seal code on average three to four parking lots a year. So, it's considering that you really need to do those every three to five years, otherwise you are, you know, gathering more damage and wear and tear on

111your lots than you should. And nickels is one that we keep coming back to. It needs a refresh in the hallways and the classrooms. Um, we will not be able to do the whole thing. We're hoping to be able to chop off a floor and can take that off over time. All right. So, this is what we are proposing. Keep in mind that for every campus, we always do a playground refresh. We assess any any broken or damaged playground equipment. We replace that over the summer. We dig out wood chips as needed. We put new wood chips in. We do a deep cleaning of the school buildings and to the extent possible do our best to do grounds maintenance, certainly trimming back hedges. We will seed where we can. Um, but that's kind of the

112that's what the summer looks like for us in regards to projects and just general expectation. questions or comments. And just to frame too, these the larger projects here will come back. We would put them out to bid very soon and would come back to you for bid approval. H >> how I don't know if you know this off the top of your head. Thank you for laying that out. Um how much is the partial replacement of warehouse windows? Do you know that >> the we just brought bids in on that because when we went out to bid last August, we did not get a bid that we thought was was within range. So, we declined all the bids. We do have some new bids. One of them is pretty well within range. Um we are

113reaching out to that vendor to clean it up and we can we'll be bringing that next meeting to you with the bid amount for your option to decide whether you'll accept that bid. And so since we still are vetting that bid, I'm going to hold off on stating the amount. >> Can you explain then like the scope of the work? I mean, the reason I'm asking and focusing on it is in our current budget situation, this is something that is very far from the classroom. Um, so I'm wondering what uh what the scope is of that. >> So essentially the driver here is we do have a $25,000 sustainability grant that helps to pay for it. for those that have been by the warehouse and the very well the windows throughout the warehouse are virtually

114permeable. Um they're extremely old um and quite a bit of cold air gets in. The windows that we're trying to replace are in the front and so where essentially the staff works and so and it's on the conference room space and the office spaces in the front and the staff that are there buildings grounds custodial the president myself at various times and so we're working on replacing those it will have a reduction in heating cost and you know the 25 will certainly not cover the project but helps to contribute ute to it and ultimately that will be a board decision about whether pursue it or not. But it does it will improve the overall culture climate of that space and we'll have money savings and you're welcome to come by the warehouse and take a

115look at the windows and that space. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Absolutely. >> I apologize if I I missed this uh in in prior meetings. Uh how does the prioritization take place across all the the buildings? What's the process for for ranking uh the order of these projects? Yeah. So essentially when you when the master you will have a presentation on the 23rd from Studio GC that will run through the new master facility plan. We're still operating largely on our old plan but with input from studio GC because we needed to get moving on this work. They will essentially show all the prioritized work for essentially you know capital improvements, capital maintenance and health life safety and then they give a recommendation of how to stage that work out over the years. Now we are

116significantly behind the pace that Cordigan Clark laid that work out. So as you can see here we're going back and picking up two projects that were started several years ago but not completed. The abatement was started several years ago and not completed. The roofing was started several years ago and not completed. So, we want to come back and clean that up. And then really the thing that brought us back to that building was the sewage backing up as well as the cracked wall because we have a longer term safety concern that we want to address. And so that's where we go. We also then receive input, you know, so we lean pro predominantly on the report and then for smaller items we reach out to schools and leaders to hear. Um, when we talk about

117buildings and grounds, like with our black tops and things along those lines, we are essentially trying to knock out like three or four a year. But then what also comes up is in some cases, like in the case of Washington last year, that parking lot was no longer able to be salvaged. So, we had to dig it out and repair it. And so, those things become extremely expensive. And that's where we have to lean back on the plan and say relative to other parking lots and other needs and relative to the sequence of the plan, when will this happen? And in that case, we needed to prioritize parking for our educators. >> I just want to celebrate that we're the first board in I think over 10 years to spend more than $1 million on

118capital X. So like we don't have a lot to celebrate, but that's something for us to celebrate. It's and and we could be the first board in a very long time to increase that a second year in a row, maybe just 10%. >> Chris, a little bit too, you know, we pay attention to that. We also try to tend to a variety of different schools. Last summer, we really focused on Willard, Washington, and Haven. >> Hey, Willard, Washington, and what? >> Willard, Washington, and Haven were the focus of work last summer. Um, ideally, you know, what we would like to do is get in a rotation of closing approximately three schools a summer doing that work because it gives them a breather from summer programs. It allows us to be more efficient in our use

119of time and then move summer programs back in. >> Okay. >> Uh, next up is the student device purchase. >> All right. Elena Caserus is going to come up and we'll give some information on the student device purchase. >> All right. Good evening everyone. My name is Elena Cast and I'm the executive director of technology. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the proposed student device purchase for school year 2627. So what I'm going to do, the goal of this discussion is um I'm going to start with um providing some context around our current student device life cycle. I'll also highlight some cost-saving initiatives out of technology services that we've done over the past two and a half years. Now, our student device life cycle has changed and so that has been part of our

120cost savings initiatives. And then I'll also um highlight some of the work we've done thus far to improve the ways in which students engage with technology in the district. Um we're always progressing and we always have more to go. And then just to provide a timeline here, the reason I wanted to discuss this tonight is that um hopefully um we would get a decision on the purchase at our next board meeting on March 23rd. Um technology services hopes to provision the new devices this spring as we plan for a busy summer ahead. Um to provide a little bit more context, our billing technology specialists are 11month employees and they're off during the month of July. that's six team members and they'd provision the devices and so we would really like to get started this spring

121um as we will be doing a lot of work to um decommission and install technology at roads and Kingsley and then Foster School. Um so to build some context on our student device life cycle. So past practices previously technology service services purchased onetoone devices annually for students in kindergarten, third and sixth grade. Students used those devices for three years after which those assets were repurposed or sold. So students had a three-year device life cycle. As part of our technology plan and cost savings initiatives in school year 2425, we transitioned from a three-year to a 4-year student device life cycle um to save money. We also talked with other school districts and learned that this was a practice that they were doing and it worked effectively with their students. And so with that life cycle, we

122now purchase devices for first and fifth graders and they use those devices for four years. And then iPads are repurposed from exiting eighth graders for use in kindergarten. Kindergarten students use those devices on their fifth year of life. And since our kinder students use iPads the least, they can effectively use those older devices for a year. And then our keyboard cases that um were part of the purchase, it was 1300 iPads and 1300 keyboard cases. Um our provisions to students in third grade and fifth grade. And so the cost savings there with our current device life cycle is that we purchase for two grade levels instead of three, which is about a third of savings as compared to previous years. This is hopefully the third year that we will do that. Um, this year we'd

123like to add on some additional cost savings. In the past, we purchased support warranties for each student device upfront to cover the cost for lost and damaged devices. So, Apple Care Plus was purchased for iPads and extended service agreements was purchased for Chromebooks when students use Chromebooks. Um, last year we did purchase Apple Care and this year with our current um, proposal, we are suggesting that we forego an upfront $109,000 Apple Care expense on our student device purchase. Um, loss and repair claims data from this school year do not even come close to an upfront $109,000 expenditure. And then we have been triing work with new repair vendors to get our per incident repair cost down rather than working with Apple's provider which in my opinion charges a pretty pricey upfront blanket fee for replacements.

124So this year's proposal is $109,000ish l less than last. And so those are some um as I mentioned as I when I got started um our student device purchase or our student device life cycle life cycle is part of our cost cutting initiatives. Our department has been very serious and creative over the past two and a half years of how we can cut down expenses with our local technology budget. Um so the first part at the top outlines how much we have um saved comparative to past years. So for our student device uh life cycle now that we have a four-year life cycle um you can see we're saving around half a million dollars each year compared to when we had a threeyear life cycle. I'll just outline some other chunks um that we have

125wherein we we have successfully saved um additional funds in our local budget. Each year we have done technology non-renewals. So we have reviewed software usage, worked with the academics department to determine if different software meets the um curricular goals that the academics department is working towards. And we have um done non-renewals each year. The uh numbers here total around I think it's 23 different software nonrenewals. That's anywhere from Zoom to Zern to Kronos, Learning A to Z, EXL, Performance Matters, a bunch of other technology softwares that we have nonrenewed in our district. Another piece, a large part of our expenditure in technology services is our VoIP phone contract. Um about a year ago, we presented to the board our um contract re renegotiations with our current provider. So we were able to um success successfully

126renew our contract um at a lower price. And so that's an annual savings of $60,000 a year. um it was listed as 20 last year because we presented in um March. That's when that contract went through. And then finally, I'll explain um some information around technology lease funds. Um in the district for the past decade or so, the district has pursued lease funds to to purchase technology, hardware, and other services. um when we get an annual lease, we are then paying that lease off the next four to five years. And of course with that borrowed money is interest. And so part of our technology plan um which we are in our second year of was to move away from lease funding and be more creative with our local funds. And so each year you can

127see that our lease payments are dropping. And so the numbers that I'm showing um up here are funds that we are not paying um to re to pay back lease funds. And so we have two more years in which we will pay back lease funds. This year we did not pursue a lease. Last year we pursued a lease that was um about forgot the number. It's about 30% of the annual leases that we had pursued in the past. And so we've really tried to be creative with our spending and cut down where possible. Our student device purchase and change in life cycles is a huge place in where we've done that. And then I'll me mention too that these numbers here um don't include staff redu reductions from the technology department. So over the past

128two years, our team has um decreased in size by about 30%. And all of the current roles have reimagined positions. So we have really been trying to cut where we can and be creative um in our current structural deficit. >> And I think just point of clarification, there will be no request for a lease for technology going forward. >> Yep, that's correct. There's no >> there will be no. So what Elena explained around the lease funds is that last year that she has not come to ask for release. There will be no request for lease funds to pay for technology going forward. She has successfully managed her cost structures down to be able to pay for all techreated spe uh expenses using general funds. So there will be no request for any lease for technology

129funds to the board. And then I'll highlight here some changes in the way that um students engage with technology. These are some changes that we presented I believe last spring to the board and um I'll highlight the changes that were made over the summer and then ones that we have either completed or are working on this school year. Um, last summer we blocked students ability to openly search and use YouTube after a monthsl long pilot at a middle school. We also reviewed all apps um that students used to determine curricular alignment and cut down scope by grade level. This work has continued through this school year. We are still trying to cut down the apps that are scoped to students in partnership with the academics department. And then we updated indoor recess guidance to be

130technology free and we created a personal electronic device guidelines for the district. This school year we made a change with our technology um take-home procedures. And so our kindergarten and first grade students have been keeping their devices at school rather than taking them home. We also have been reviewing um student email access in use with our district instructional technology DI committee and we'll be modifying access before of spring break which will we will be communicating with the community and educators here shortly. Um, we have been reviewing all websites that students can access via Google single sign on and have been cutting down access based on need as well. This work is ongoing with the academics department and we plan to survey staff and families about our current summer device take-home procedure. Currently, students in the

131district have taken home their devices over the summer and we have heard feedback about screen time and students use of technology and so we will be surveying here in the spring staff and families about that current procedure to with the intention of making a change this summer based on that data. And then I'll just highlight here as well um some external partners that we have been really excited to collaborate with this year to strengthen and refine the ways in which our students engage with technology. We are lucky enough to partner with NORC out of the University of Chicago to develop an edtech edtech toolkit. This researchbased project engages administrators, teachers and families to refine our approach to technology adoption and and student engagement. our administrator, our administrator and teacher um focus groups are complete and

132then we have um community focus groups which they will be engaging this week actually and then we're also partnering with the Kore foundation in collaboration with the academics department on a year-long facilitated process to enhance computer science and digital citizenship learning opportunities. This work will support our current computer science curriculum and explore new middle school initiatives and also additional K through8 digital citizenship integration opportunities across content areas. All right. So, I kind of explained our current device uh our current purchase that's on the table. um our current student device life cycle um cost savings initiatives and kind of some progress that we've made in the past year or so um around the ways in which our students engage with technology. Any questions? >> Yeah. For the um the project at the University of Chicago, what

133grade levels is that research being conducted with? Is that for K through eight or are certain grades focused for certain grades? >> Um, I believe it's K through eight, but I could be wrong. I will get back to you with that. My off the top of my head, I believe it's K through eight. >> Thank you for doing that. I know we heard in the fall from I think a D65 parent who is involved in NORC and offered for that partnership. So, thank you for reaching out to that offer and completing that. Um, can you go back to the slides of what you've um the changes that you've made to the um technology access? >> That's slide six. >> Oh, I have a thing. >> Okay. Okay. Um, I know one of the things that

134we uh I was curious about in the fall was our ability to monitor and understand the actual time that students are spending on their iPads. Have we been able to have any is there any way for us to know that? um pulling that data is very difficult but we do have academic minutes which my colleagues from the um academics departments can speak to. >> Um >> so those minutes outline what is suggested for technology use. Okay. So, this is the suggested academic time that's spent on technology. >> And is there a cor corresponding instruction for non-academic time on technology? >> There's overall instructional minute guidance around for each content area and then they're sharing with that what would be the recommendations for any kind of screen time or use of technology to support learning. >>

135Okay. >> So, go ahead. Oh, okay. Um, pretty much K through five EL. >> Yes, you go. >> Sorry. Thank you. Um, K through five, um, literacy pretty much their core instruction h has very little need to use a device. Um, most of the students are using their device for assessments and that's a few times throughout the trimester. Um when we have volume of reading time however students are open to looking at the digital libraries that are accessed on Mayan Luzella epic um and they can also access the Evston public library as well as the district 65 um digital libraries. Um in referencing to social studies there's a lot of creation being done on their devices. So research presentations um and those types of things uh are prepped out through kindergarten through 8th grade. Um

136I would say the same information is aligned that I said for K5 is the same for 68. Um our sixth grade 68 literacy classes actually have workbooks to read their the text in. So they do not have to have their iPad in order to access the on grade level core instructional resource. However, there are other components they do use that are on their iPads. Um, and oftentimes it is their opportunity to differentiate um the vocabulary access, provide some um inputs for multilingual students who are accessing a core instructional resource so that they can do the ongrade level reading. Um, and then there's, you know, there's some other components like, um, uh, I can't remember the name of the app, but it it is a audio book service for students with, um, IEPs, >> learning ally.

137Thank you. Um, and so students do access that during their volunteering time in the middle school as well. >> Um, for math, it's very similar for the K5 space. For tier one instruction, everything is print material. It's whole group, it's small group, all of that interacting with teacher and each other. There's really no need for technology at all. The only place where we recommend that they use the computer is um or iPad, I'm sorry, um two times a week, 20 minutes each time, no more than 40 minutes per week for my pad, which is personalized learning where they can work at their own pace and it is what they need. Um that is hard to replicate in a whole group or small group setting for each individual student in the classroom. So that's the purpose

138for that. It's very similar in the 68 as well. This year we purchased all the books um for kids. So they are working out of the workbooks for Desmos as well. Um screen time is limited to just looking for patterns or you know playing with an you a particular equation to see how it works when you change the variables and things like that. But everything is done paper pencil for most of the lessons. And again the recommendation is the same my path 20 minutes two times a week and no more than 60 minutes per week which gives them an additional 20 minutes for what I need time some activity that might be online. So no more than 60 minutes per week in the middle school space for math. >> I did forget one more thing.

139Sorry. Middle school social studies. Um the middle schoolers access their atlas as well as primary sources um in order to complete like their more in-depth view of thinking like a historian. And so that provides them a window into other worlds and other times. And in science it's strictly um looking for an article, trying to find your evidence, your source, that kind of stuff is what they do um online. everything else as collaboration, experimenting, writing their findings and talking to each other and presenting it. >> Would you how would you add the um library time with CS? Is that considered instructional minutes? >> So K5, we only have CS in three grades right now. Not all K5K and one doesn't have it. It's only two, three, and five. and it's a fine arts 40 minutes per

140week where they're working on puzzle collaborating with each other coding at some points during the project but not the whole time. Um so they're learning about concepts and other things as well. 68 we don't have coding in 68. So >> do you monitor these in your walkthroughs just you know keep a general track of Yeah, >> I can answer that. Yes. And when we see evidence of kids on technology, we do debrief as a academics team. And then at the end of that meeting, we debrief with the school team and we give them that very candid feedback for them to then follow up with with their school teams. So yes, we do >> during the walkthroughs. Additionally, if we see a student on technology, we actually sit down next to the student and have a

141conversation with them. What are you learning? What are you doing with this? What what's the outcome? Do you know what you're doing? and then we follow that process with Dr. Turner and the school leaders. >> I appreciate uh the the broader context that you're you're setting here um and the the current cost reduction efforts. What I'm still trying to understand is what are we purchasing the new 1300 iPads for? are do we are because obviously there's a big difference if they're for kids with IEPs uh versus if we're proposing to buy them for kindergarteners. Um and given that that $500,000 is a pretty significant outlay, can you tell us a little bit more about the specific substance of of this request? >> Um just to clarify, we aren't buying iPads for our kindergarten students. um

142our kindergarten students get iPads that are um are exiting eighth graders when they leave the district. We um repurpose those devices for kindergarten. So our kindergarten students always have um well this will hopefully be the third year that they have a device that's on its fifth year of its life cycle. um our purchase which would be 1300 iPads and 1300 um keyboard cases would be for our first grade students. Um so students coming up from kinder that cannot bring that fifth year life cycle device up to first grade and our students who are entering fifth grade who at that point in fourth grade will have a device that's on its fourth year of its life cycle. And so, um, that kind of answers the tech, um, like the techn the technical purchasing piece. Um, I

143think you had another question there. >> Uh, well, I I think just generally what I'm asking is could we see a breakout of these 1300 devices? Uh, what grade levels, what student population, uh, what academic goals do they support? Um, are they specifically for classroom instruction? Are they for teaching? Um, because it's, you know, it's a it's a big cost. >> Sure. And I'll, um, an start to answer that and please feel free to add on. Um, so seven or 1300, so 600 of those devices would go to our incoming first graders, all students. Um, 600 of those devices would go to our incoming fifth grade students. Um there is a potential to change that number down um dependent on the survey data from um for taking devices home over the summer. We do occur

144a lot of device loss and breakage over the summer. And so if there is a decision made to keep those devices um in the district over the summer with with the exception of providing devices for families who are in need and want the devices at home um we probably could bring that 1300 number down a bit. We do usually provide a small buffer of devices to um provide students who come in with damaged devices or lost devices at the beginning of the year um with a device. we usually have our um testing the second third week of school and so we want to make sure that our students can um engage in that testing. Um to add on I did add a piece here just text um and so we have mentioned this before but

145um Illinois does have um two instructional mandates that specifically speak to technology. So, we have um a computer literacy mandate K through 12, which um requires school districts to ensure that students receive developmentally appropriate opportunities to gain computer literacy skills. And so, when our kinder students have those fifth year devices, um they are engaging in assessments and some of the pieces that Regina and Sonia spoke to. Um but they're also getting the opportunity to learn from their educators as they model computer literacy skills, how to open an app, how to close an app, how to turn your iPad on, how to turn it off. So, those are very elementary skills um primary skills that our kinder students will begin to learn and then um expand on. We do have a resource out of um the

146state of Illinois that was um given to districts and then we slightly modified that with our DIT committee to um kind of align with what our current practices and ensure um this was also when we had a iPad Chromebook split but to ensure that students could actually do those skills on the devices that we have. Um we also are required to provide internet safety education. Internet safety education is provided in our library media special um to students. They attend that special once a week. And then I would add to that um Nicole asked about um computer science. So a lot of our computer literacy skills are also woven into um some of our computer science teaching. And then I named here um I specifically pulled some Illinois English language arts and Spanish language arts standards.

147You'll see that within our standards from the state of Illinois, they specifically note the use of digital tools starting in kindergarten. They specifically note students ability to um engage with digital text starting in second grade. And these expand throughout the years and they specifically note students abilities to publish writing with keyboarding skills in third grade which is why we provision our keyboard cases to students starting in third grade. I don't know if you two would want to add anything, but that is um a bit more context of what these devices will provide students, especially related to our mandated unit units of study and our state standards. >> Just one followup though, the instructional mandates don't dictate one to one. Correct. >> They don't dictate onetoone, but they do dictate starting in kindergarten >> that we

148have to engage in those mandates. I I want to focus a little bit and there's sort of the technology hardware consideration that this is asking for and then there's really a curriculum question and how those devices are being used in schools. And so from a cost perspective um you know we well from a curricular p perspective the district has made a choice to have onetoone technology. So that you know unless that changes then we need to have a onetoone technology. But I think where where you've made some progress and some gains here is in the life cycle of those devices. Um and just some quick you know internet searching. I think the life cycle of an iPad could technically be between six and eight years. And so I'm wondering if we have any um you

149know you were able to extend it one year. Why did you choose that one year? and have you investigated potentially expanding it for longer than that? >> Sure. Um I can speak to that. We have um piloted not on purpose um this year with our fourth graders. >> So when we made this change um we also made the transition from third um from K2 iPads, 35 Chromebooks, 68 iPads to um K through eight iPads. And so we came up with um four different options that would extend the life cycle and also transition students from Chromebooks to iPads. And so this is the first year where all of our students have iPads. Last year there was one grade level with Chromebooks. And this is also the one year where our fourth graders have a device that's

150on its fifth year of life cycle. And um we did in come up with a number of issues with those devices. Um since those students had those devices since kindergarten, they ran into a number of storage issues. And with storage, we're not able to push our updates. And so many of those instances required um when our upa up when our updates came um those devices to be restored one- on-one like touching glass with a building tech specialist. Um we have six building tech specialists in the district and they support our 18 schools. Um and so our elementary schools are supported one to one and a half days a week. And so that was um quite time consuming and frustrating for educators and students to not be able to use their devices because they had an

151update screen coming up coming up coming up and they weren't able to um move forward with their update. As part of our cyber security initiatives and infrastructure in the district um we want to make sure that all of our devices student and staff go through updates. And so even though we provided educators and students with steps on how to clear storage, we found that as the students got older, um having a advice on its fifth year um did not work super well for our older students. >> Question two, um we also with the iPads, we resell the devices at end of life cycle. Yeah. Is there a difference in that resale price too if we continue to extend? Yeah, we can get um so I think they're ninth gen and we'll be purchasing 12th gen

152if I can remember off the top of my head or eighth gen. Um and so we do repurpose our Apple devices or we resell them. Last year we um brought about $75,000 into the district. We're at about 30 right now, but plan to resell um many devices as we end the school year. And so we will get more money with a younger device if we resell it. >> I have a question. So for me transitions um you said uh the kids in the fifth or sixth had Chromebooks and then you swapped them out for the iPads. Is that correct? In the >> We had Chromebooks third through 5th and that was due to purchasing in the pandemic to get technology. >> Okay. And then for seventh and eighth grade, right? We we continue on with

153the iPads. Is that right? Okay. So, the high school has uh they use Chrome. They use Chromebooks. Um and and they have their own little shop where they teach kids how to fix those. Something to think about. Um again, for me, it's about transitions. How do we make sure kids are prepared to to transition from 8th grade to So, and again, the other issue is again we're managing two two types of devices, Apple and Chrome, and then that's another whole mess. So, um, you know, ju just I'm just as I talk about it, I'm like, "Oh, well that that's not going to work out because that's going to make just make it a little bit more complicated." But I mean, I I'd be interested in us exploring maybe just going eventually transitioning out because that

154it takes time, right, to to do any of this uh and get folks used to tools, but transitioning to a tool kit that that aligns throughout the educational continuum for our students, right? Uh but again I that can't happen next year right right away but just just to think about how we eventually kind of maybe phase out Apple. Again, Apple's great reliable product, but it's very expensive. And I know they're again, I own both Apple and Android and PC stuff. And I just if there's a way that we can maybe and and again from just pulling from whatever the survey says and what parents and educators say because a lot of this stuff with technology too, it's so tied into curriculum, right? It is so and a lot of things that we talk about right

155here in regards to policies and and budgets there's just so many layers and there's so many things integrated that when when we ask one question it's really going to impact like about 10 or 20 other things right so even just me bringing this up around okay well can we transition to Chromebooks at least in the middle schools because that'll prepare our kids but then that has an impact on on on on younger grades because that that then we have to train teachers on how to utilize it then we have to phase out all the Apple products. So there's just all of these chain reactions that happen that just make this these conversations this difficult, right? But ju just just interested in maybe I'd be interested in exploring what that would look like after we hear

156from families around and offering that as an option like okay so what do you think in regards to technology use? Uh we're going to have to use technology and and so should always be as a tool. Um and there's a there's developmentally right uh as folks were saying um you know and the research is clear developmentally you know kids should be utilizing technology in the older grade um again unfortunately we have instructional mandates from the state that we have to follow it's just kindergarten we have to do what the state says but even and when I think about the walks right the instructional walks that you do right um one thing that I one pattern I continue to see uh in all of the instructional walks that you all have on is how so a

157perfect classroom like when when a classroom's functioning and humming um you know students are are one utilizing are not centered on technology but they're they're interacting in small groups and I saw some of those best practices they're like this is what should they should be doing in in each uh grade band you should be you know interacting you should be pro you know collectively problem solving like we're doing here that prepares you for life um and and and technology should just only be a tool at when it's needed, right? Uh and I think with the one-on-one because of the co the co and the pandemic, I mean, we we dug into it because we we just had to do it. Um but at some point, like I I I've always thought like at at some

158point we we do want to then eventually pull ourselves out of that one-on-one. >> Uh and then really try to make sure that developmentally >> we are utilizing technology as a tool that augments instruction. Uh but then the key is is then how integrated is a lot of technology into our instructional curriculum. Uh and then that's that's another question where we need to ask educators. Okay, will you be able to survive and find a way to to to not and I again teachers are dynamic and I I'm one and then we find a way but you know what support can we give teachers then to kind of help them integrate out of that and then really kind of focus on that trans on those transitions. So again, ju just a bunch of thoughts, but again

159going back to really h how do we back ourselves out uh and then really center best educational practice which is collective problem solving, right? Um and utilizing tool uh you know u uh technology in a developing appropriate way to solve problems uh I think is is where I'd like us to see us go as a school district. Right. >> Go ahead. to follow along with that. Can you go back to the slide with the number of minutes? I think it's so my question is if this is those are the recommended minutes per day is especially for like K through one is is that a place where we could do more sharing of iPads so it would not have to be onetoone is that's two through two. Um I I could speak a little bit to

160a shared cart model. Um this is not just a district 65 topic. It's a topic that other school districts in Illinois and ACN across the United States are having. Um I know that um so I mentioned that our students in first grade or kindergarten currently have a device on its fifth year of life cycle. Um, and then our incoming kindergartener students will have a device that's on its fifth year of life cycle. Um, I would not set up uh, so Apple has a shared shared iPad setup. Um, where students would log in with their districtisssued pass password and a shared iPad passcode every time they log in. um to do that the the device will totally wipe and upload the apps and the photos and the iCloud account for that student. In order to do

161that, we need devices that have sufficient storage that run well. Um I would not suggest doing that with iPads that are on their fifth year of a life cycle. it would be. So even if we went to a model like that, we still would have to make a purchase for iPads to supply um let's say a K1 cart. Um I will note that our district moved to secure student passwords three years ago to improve our cyber security um posture and our students have a long password that is not hard. that is not easy to remember on purpose. And so that would require our youngest learners inputting that password every time they use the device. Um I'll just mention as well um there would be a possibility of having to buy additional carts for specials as

162well. Library uses technology. Computer science starts in second grade, but if we did a purchase like that, that would be 11 elementary schools times at least 25 for a cart. And so we're looking at an additional p purchase of 275 iPads to fill carts to share for specials. And so even if we went that route, we would have to continue buying devices. Um, and it would be a major learning process and possibly a block for our youngest learners accessing shared iPads. >> Can I um can you go back another So already in our K1 this year, they're not taking So I think there's a couple of issues here. There's one around um our infrastructure and I want to say that the presentation of how y'all are thinking about the infrastructure um makes a lot of

163sense. So I'm asking now questions about content use of and sometimes you can have an infrastructure that you know might not go with the content use. So right now we have kindergarten and first graders not taking devices home right and at the same time we're saying in kindergarten I'm using 20 minutes a day for literacy only every two days like only twice a week for math and so help me I actually was expecting to see more use as a way to you know um in terms of to understand use of technology so I actually have the question Maybe a little bit like you were saying with the limited use that we're saying is taking place in our schools, right? We're actually saying there's only 40 minutes maximum a day that kindergarteners through fifth graders are

164using devices if I'm reading that right. Um maybe maybe I'm not reading the math one correct. Then I that makes me go well why can't you use why couldn't a laptop cart beyond the issues you just raised about how do we problem solve around the sign on and you know other QR code other ways to do this why are we efficiently using the technology if we're only if everyone has an iPad and they're only using it 30 40 minutes a day and it's sitting there and it's not going home and so I actually ask is it a efficient use of money to do it that Okay. I don't know who which um so it's a it's not a so it's is my read of the use of techn am I reading the chart right to

165say that K5 kids are only expected to use technology 20 minutes in ELA 20 minutes twice a week >> in math. Yeah, you are reading it right. >> You're you are you are you're not just noting that um >> for example in a K2 uh literacy class students are engaging in a 30 minute phonics lesson. They're engaging in another 10 minutes FMIC awareness lesson. Then they're also engaging in a one hour of core instruction where they're interacting with their peers and with their and with the lead educator. Um and so that's the that's the core of what they experience um in reading. We also recognize in the in the K2 um some of the principles the students need to learn as part of literacies is understanding if a book turns from left to right or

166right to left, upside down, right side up. So there is definitely um priority of students using the using books However, um we also in social studies class have students do um audio responses and video responses because they are able to articulate verbally high levels of communication, thinking, processing, collaboration that they can do with their peers that um can sometimes be hampered by the fact that their written language has not quite met their thinking in oral language. anguage, which is a very typical response for a K through 2 grader. If you've ever had a conversation with a precocious six-year-old, you'll understand what I mean about, you know, them talking to you about how leaves change in the fall. >> And so, they're able to do that discussion and um do an audio tape of that um

167and or video of that in Seesaw. >> And that gives you an understanding of what they can walk away with. Um, oftentimes that is a a major perk for students who are coming into our system with um multiple languages and or with some um dyslexia or other um challenges in in reading or writing. So, it's a it's an interesting um conversation to talk about the efficiencies of it all. um students are using it to create communicate and those can come up in moments when educators realize that they are um engagement and impactful for the learning. >> And so in that sense is it the the because I have I have the ease of access to it. So as a teacher can now say hey let's let's go do this project as opposed if I'm on

168a a laptop cart that I'm sharing with another teacher. Okay. I so I do think the the the So is the decision to do one to one in K2 less about the need for kids to have their own device and more about a technical issue with respect to um signing on signing off kids. is that it's and the cost of that of you know making it um um filo for kids to be able to sign on and off and not you know uh making teachers say okay it's just too much is it is that the issue for oneonone because I just the timing the amount of time here it's like okay well we could do a laptop >> but I think also you when we think about student centered scheduling the first thing that school

169leaders need to do is think about how to build schedules in order to meet the needs of students with IEPs and eels Then they need to consider their PE teachers and timing, preps, periods, fine arts. And so we end up with schedules frequently where like third grade very well has math block at the same time because it's a good 60-minute block right now. Um, and so what we need to consider is if we want kids to access I Ready for some individualized learning, that may very well be the exact same block and you might have three classrooms. And so you've got passwords, but you've also got logistics of carts moving from places to place. Where is that cart right now? I'm old enough to go back to carts and pre-carts, >> you know, and you

170have the kids that ran the carts down the hallways and learning time just gets lost. >> And so I think it is about passwords. It is about but it's about making sure that we can center students needs and that they have access to the tools to support needs while owning that. We've done a lot of work to try to say it needs to be for learning at the right time and with limits. >> So what are the implications if we were to move away from a one-1 on a remote education days? >> We wouldn't have it. >> We had to go to snow days. >> Yeah. I mean that's >> we will get cheered by most people under the age of 12. >> That's a key demographic indication there. Um, however, >> but if we

171do go to snow days, they get tacked on at the end of the school year. >> They don't care. Yeah. Right. >> Mine doesn't care, but anyway. >> Right. >> So, that's a significant consideration. I I'm >> during anyway. >> Curious. Um, right. So, so I feel like this is a little bit of a a hard area as a board because clearly as a board we're very passionate about tech use and we want to make sure that there's digital well-being. Um, I'm hesitant to use the budget mechanism to try and force shifts through on curriculum and practices. That doesn't seem like a healthy dynamic between admin and board to me. Um, so I'm just curious, um, thinking about that in our decision here. Also, you know, what would happen here? We've been we received numerous

172requests not to approve this. So what would happen? Can we lay out what would happen if we don't approve this? >> A partial approve. I mean because I think there's fifth grade there's to me there's the K2 issue of the laptop for the for the K2 or what the first grade. So let's just be clear about first grade, >> right? And then there's laptops for fifth graders, right? So there's two. The 1300 is is two. I >> I think it's more than two though. I mean, I think what we've identified, you know, what Sergio identified is, and we already have, we have Chromebooks already in our ecosystem. >> They're out there. >> We used I think we used to, not anymore. >> We don't have any of those anymore. >> So, so let's just let's

173just say I think it's nice to see what the recommended technology minutes are, but we don't actually know what they are, and that is a function of them being iPads. um as I understand it, we can't monitor screen time at an aggregate level based on the apps that are being used and so we don't actually know how much time is being spent. It could be more, it could be less. Um and that is a function of the tool that we've chosen. I think the other thing that I'm struggling to understand is that we have made tremendous investments despite a lot of savings. We've made tremendous investments in educational technology, both applications and devices, and we haven't seen demonstrated change in our student outcomes as a result of that technology investment. And so when I think

174about sort of the mechanisms, Andrew, to your point, you know, it it is an opportunity for us to ask the administration to think critically about not only the best use of our financial resources, but also what's in the best interest of our students. Then we have an opportunity, albeit tight, to to to ask for that before we decide to just continue along a path that we know, you know, that the research shows is not good for kids. um you know the gamification of math is you know and the reduction of ma their ability to do math facts on paper and those kinds of things has not has not corresponded to an increase in our math outcomes um and it's a really important piece and I think there's a lot of educational research or research just

175in the world that suggests that you know children are not able to sustain their reading in books at the same rate that they were prior to a digital age. And I think onetoone technology exacerbates that issue and the iPads exacerbate that issue. And so as a board we have very few levers and the budget is one of them. And so I look at this as an opportunity for us to ask the administration to evaluate our technology spend across functional areas and across educational outcomes to better understand if we're spending this money um you know for for the best use. >> So my questions still are on the table just by the way. Uh so what would happen if we don't approve this? And I had another one naming right the just for any other reflections

176about um using this lever financial lever to exert curricular change or and and to that I'll add another one. How many would it save us if we moved to carts? How many how many fewer iPads would we need to buy for the K through2? So I'll be quiet now. Those are my questions. >> Maybe we don't have an answer. >> Doing the math right now on the fewer. So I I mean we can dig into actual numbers but if we don't go forward with the purchase um we have devices right now in district our exiting eighth graders have devices that will then e enter their fifth year of life cycle. Our exiting or our fourth moving to fifth graders have devices that will enter their sixth year of life cycle. Our kinder students have devices

177that will enter their sixth year of life cycle. I would not suggest putting those um devices in carts. Um we could possibly move down the sixth year life cycle iPads to kinder and first grade. We've never had devices in our system on their sixth year. Um it I definitely would have caution around that. Um, and then we discussed carts. If I if we moved to a shared iPad model, we really need devices that have sufficient storage and are up to date. So, even if we did a K2 cart model, we would need to purchase new iPads for those carts. >> What are we stoing? >> So, that would be one grade level. >> What are what are the kids storing? I mean, they use Google Classroom. All the assignments are in the cloud. What are

178they storing on their iPads? So, we have a number of apps that are scoped to student devices. Students have through their district Google Workspace accounts that's also linked to their iCloud accounts. So, they have anything that is shar um saved in Apple files, Keynote presentations, their photos, um their presentations that they have made throughout the year. Um and these devices also have a student filter on each device. They're not like a personal device. They're managed by a district-wide um MDM. JF is our mobile device management system that pushes out apps and updates to those devices that adds on additional storage than just having like a personal iPad. And so that's a skill that we student we try to teach students in computer literacy. um one of our computer literacy skills, going through their um photos

179and deleting duplicates, deleting ones at the end of the year that they don't need. Um but students use iPads as their instructional tools. They're proud of the photos that they've taken of their students, of their work, videos of their presentations that they've done. So, it is hard to work with students and say, "Hey, delete all of your videos." That's their work that they're proud of that they have for years. I mean, our our fourth graders have five years of their work on those iPads now. >> Well, we could put that in the cloud, right? >> We can, but that takes up storage >> on the on the device. The I the iCloud takes up storage on the device. >> And so, to be clear, the storage is both what is needed for the apps and

180the management as well as student documents. And I think one thing that you know we would also need to look further into is assessments require certain operating systems and generally have to be relatively up to date for patches and security things along those lines. And so as the devices get older, we need to check and see whether those operating, you know, every operating system that comes along uses more and more memory that we would be at a place where we could use an operating system that's acceptable for state testing and those kind of things on the older devices. So that's another place we'd need to check. >> Yeah. Our um our assessment apps push updates every year and those updates correlate with the iPad updates. That's why it's super important that our devices are updated.

181Um >> is there um so I imagine I think of in bands K2 3568 for me the question about middle school devices you know I believe they need them we can always talk about effectively how we're making sure they're used because I also think creatively we haven't we've talked much a lot around core content but at least in my own experience some of the most um in Regina your work how I met you um is the creative uses of devices and how they can allow some young people who aren't um you know writers to find a way to express themselves and imagine in science and things like this and some of the great projects y'all are doing with some of my Northwestern colleagues and Tombat that require these and I would say Evston should lean

182in to those experiences even younger because we are unique it's right at our next door we have access to other people don't and so I would hate for us not to continue doing that in our middle grades and also moving it down. So 35 to me is a is a is a is more on and even for testing we need devices for assessments in definitely 3 through 8th grade they're testing it. the K2 I think is a space of hearing and listening to community and saying if there's a a way to um since we I assume last year we got new iPads for first graders which would mean uh the second graders would have iPads new only one-year-old iPads and if for some reason we didn't get iPads for first graders this year that would

183mean K and first and second could have laptop cart sharing something without dealing with the oldness and kindergarteners can get what they would normally get. And could that allow us a moment to um understand what the impact is of a of a of a um of a cart system? But I am extremely sensitive to the having experiences trying to get kids to sign on and sign off. And so we might be underestimating that hardship of what it's going to mean for educators, but I know people somewhere have conquered it. Um, and so I just a real like is it um is K2 is that a I mean have y'all been planning for the assumption that maybe K2 would go to a laptop cart or is it really just fundamentally a core shift? if our K2

184grades went to uh a laptop cart as a and leaving three through 8th grade in the one to one. I think it'd be a huge shift for educators, for students. Um bringing up what Stacy shared about scheduling, we would have to do massive um re like rescheduling to make sure that students have access to the technology they need at different times. Um, if we did do that in K2, we definitely would have to buy carts specifically for specials. Um, for sure computer science and second grade and um, possibly library for use K through two. And so it would be a big shift. >> Um, I just want to say thank you. I didn't say that when I started, but thank you all for the work and noting what we've changed in over the last year.

185like we've made some really important changes and so I just want to make sure and note that and say thank you and note that you've been responsive. I think one of the things I've appreciated about making these changes is there's been an attempt at a roll out like a a test would a test in this case be viable of say a K through two cart model at one site um where we could get feedback from educators. we could see. >> Have we gotten feedback from educators about one to one in K through2? Have we asked them? Have you all have you had discussions with K through2 educators on reducing one to one? >> We've had recent surveys about um the Logitech keyboard case and its use to impact this purchase. Um we wanted to see

186how um effective the use of the keyboard case was and educators feeling about moving forward continuing to move forward with that purchase. We have not opened the discussion for um carts K through2. Um I definitely think it's something that we could pilot in a school. Um we do really try to pilot things as much as possible in technology um just to see so that change can be supported and if it is a negative impact it will only support uh impact a small group but that's definitely something that we could do >> when you say before we try to like move into some kind of pilot I really want to understand if the juice was worth the squeeze like how much money would we really save from a cartbased model given and all of these different

187implications um given the fact that we would probably have to spend more for more sophisticated devices with more memory and right now we're letting kindergarteners use the old eighth grade computers. So I think like we would really want to do a costbenefit analysis be on the financials as well as the impact on classrooms and scheduling and that sort of thing. And then like you know I'm always keeping in mind deadlines. So, is my is our deadline to make this decision April 1st? I think is is that one of the things that we need to take into consideration in order to make sure we have um the technology for next school year because I think that needs to factor into to our decision as well. >> So, we are hoping to spend local funds from this

188fiscal year on the purchase. Um it's within our current budget. um lead time for that purchase is about a month from Apple right now. And so um we were discussing earlier the last moment when we or the when we can last get purchases in. And so I would um be okay with a beginning of April to hopefully get those devices miday. Um the latest we could get them really is June 1st. um we don't pay for things and obviously until we get the hardware in stock and so other school districts are also doing their purchases right now. The more school districts that do their purchases at the end of the year, the longer the wait will be for those devices. We really are trying to think about um our staff too and the capacity to

189support. If our staff does not have the time to support over or provision the devices over the spring, set up new models for a K through2 cart setup, whatever it might be, we could have to um seek outside um support. Apple provisions devices. I know that other districts have worked with high school students and college students to work in the technology department over the summer. So, that would then be an additional expense. has some >> I think that's where too I just want to and I super appreciate Elena. I super appreciate everything that her team does. >> The reality though is I think we've got to understand how the dominoes fall. >> Um and I would I would be very discouraged for them if we got as late as June. >> Um they really this

190team is planning on like the day after school ends being in roads and buildings taking technology equipment out uninstalling it moving it to Foster reinstalling it. like there's a full summer on the plate for these teams in order to support moving. So, you know, really we would want these devices in hand by May one so they could provision them, >> put that down and focus on making sure bill >> that makes question one more follow up on that because I also wanted to make sure I understand the implications from the conversation we had earlier about like trying to get expenses for this fiscal year in this year. So, would that impact that as well? So if we don't make you know like if we don't I I guess when is our deadline to make sure

191this expense hits this fiscal year as opposed to >> I thought realistically it was March 23rd you were coming back for the board to make targetation on the approval that will give you enough time to put it in and get this purchase by the April 10th deadline that Tamara gave. So that's the timeline. >> Okay. March 20. Thank you. So, with that being said, like what I would love to do is like I think that if it's important that we explore that, I think that it's fine and we should do it, but it feels like we're late now to do that without negatively impacting next year unless we're okay knowing that there could possibly be problems next year if we don't get things done in time. And I really before we did any sort of

192like piloting or looking >> Can I jump in? Can I jump in here? >> Oh, let me just finish this thought. um before we did any sort of piloting or anything like that, I would really like I think we need to like really start looking at the numbers and seeing what the impact is like what is the impact of having to buy you know computers that will support multiple students using them know that that's knowing that that's probably a higher technology cost and all of the things that go along with that. So we see if we would even be saving money and then separately we can have a discussion about as we have been like the instructional use of computers but just from a cost perspective let's see if this even makes sense. I I

193just want to point out that when we first got onetoone devices we used QR codes to log in. Um I don't know that that was just as secure but it is possible to do that um if we were going to go to that model. But I think I I want to get away from this thought that like we have to spend the money this year, it's going to cost us more next year because that's actually not logic. So like if we make a determination, we take a little longer but we end up spending less but we spend it next fiscal year, we're not actually spending more money, we're spending less overall. >> So it's a timing issue. You're correct. But um but I think we need to think about this and what is the most

194efficient use of our dollars and no matter what year we're spending them, >> right? >> I mean I it it would be less but then you would have the problems that she um explained earlier about students using older devices in the sixth year of their life cycle. So that's what I'm referring to. It's sort of like are we okay taking a hit in terms of what's going to happen in the classroom and knowing that there are going to be problems and knowing that there could be a loss in learning time like because that's the implication of sort of waiting if we don't have the devices we need >> I'm bear with me as I gather my thoughts here. Um, I'm very concerned about this conversation because it seems quite disconnected from the parent feedback that

195we've heard so far. Um, and it also seems somewhat disconnected from what I think is our mission as a board, which is we came in uh as a change board. uh and parents have asked for us in particular today to radically rethink our paradigm when it comes to technology in the classroom and educational technology. Um and so I think we somehow need to meet the families where they are. Um and I understand that there are always going to be downstream implications of big budget decisions. Uh but we have to be willing to allow things to get a little bit messy and to make decisions that may have some potentially some unforeseen consequences down the road. Uh if it means that we are exercising fiscal discipline. Uh and so again, I appreciate that we've been making

196cost cuts so far, but we're making cost cuts within a broad category where there's been a tremendous amount of consternation on the behalf of parents who are experiencing what this technology is doing to their kids. And we somehow as a district have to get ourselves aligned so that the decision that we make here on this particular issue uh actually reflects what we're hearing from the community. I I would just add it's not just the community, it's actually the educational research and the outcomes that we see. So we're not just responding to emails that we're getting from parents. We're looking at our educational outcomes. We're looking at the research that's coming out of, you know, other bodies. We're looking at how the effects of kids and their social emotional well-being as a result of these types

197of devices. and we're saying that we should do better than the status quo that we've been doing for the last five years. And I would like to see us think much more critically about this instead of just saying it's a timing issue. We have some hurdles on administration and we really need to think as a district at least. I believe that the money that we're investing, we just got done talking about budget priorities. the money that we're investing is going to contribute to improved outcomes for our students. >> I agree that we should take a look at, you know, and continue to listen to parent feedback and really try to understand from an instructional perspective how we're using technology. I think we should always be evaluating that and it looks like the team is on

198a consistent basis looking at that looking at the impact it's having on students making sure we're in lot in alignment um with guidelines from different organizations who have expertise in this area. What I'm saying here is that like from a you know from a financial perspective we should really look at what is the financial implication of making some of these changes being discussed and how much will it really save us and if that's worth it because right now you know we don't know like you know it could be cost neutral it could cost more like what are what are the implications of going to a cartbased model we really need to understand those numbers before we would decide or think about, you know, making any changes. >> One clarification on um with regard to the

199cart model. I know in K1 we're not we're they're staying. It's not that it's still a one to one, but we had to we had to purchase I assume carts or something to charge the devices, right? So what is the at least my understanding on the prior screen it said K1 devices aren't going home which means we're responsible for charging them which did we then buy laptop cards and we sort of know the cost of what it means to keep devices you know what's the what's the additional cost for first grade I guess whatever grade that was second whatever grade didn't take them home K and one this year what's the additional cost for those schools of of what you had to put into those classrooms to support the devices staying there. >> Yeah, we

200currently have charging carts in K through2 classes. So that's where we encourage educators to collect the devices when they're not in use so that they can charge so that they're not temptations for students to grab out of their desks. So in the wide majority of our K through2 classes, we have charging carts. Um there's a few exceptions for educators that were strongly against them just due to the size of their class. Um but we do have those. They run anywhere from 1,500 to $2,000 a cart. >> And just for clarification, I was talking more about um the cost of having devices that can be shared. and just like if there are any implications with like models or storage space costs if we know that we're going to have students sharing devices. >> That's a good

201infrastructure that's needed because you're wiping every when I log on it's wiping me and putting you on. So definitely it's the infrastructure but the device is the same but it's the >> your internet has to be good in order to >> I just want to go back to you said something interesting about the summer device policy. Who are we surveying um about the summer device policy? >> Um we plan to send a similar survey that was sent out about the e-learning days to all staff and families. >> So and about how many iPads would we not have to purchase if we didn't allow them to go home for the summer? Um so right now we are so our 1300 iPad estimate is 650 a grade level. >> So we would probably cut about a 100

202iPads. >> Okay. So we could just say we don't want to survey people and we want to keep our iPads and we would have a hundred less. >> Right. Well, I will say I mean uh I've been very fortunate many years to be able to use the iPads um that students because they bring their iPads on, it does enable a lot of other types of programming that takes place in other uh summer camps and things like that that take advantage of the iPad. So, um, you know, for many years, I don't know if that's still the still the reality, but those devices actually do get used by partners um to power summer programs because you don't want they're not buying iPads. They're just used for the summer. >> Well, I guess the the the buying

203of the extra iPads though is because they don't come back or they get broken, right? So, I guess I would say if we were going to do that, then maybe we need a partnership agreement to let those organizations administer those iPads instead of letting them come home. And I only say so because there have been several occasions in which I found iPads in my yard right before a thunderstorm. Um, you know, which reflects badly on me as a parent allowing my child to use their iPad during the summer because they were making movies in the yard. So that's I think more of the worry on the >> and I'm just concerned if we're going to cut off any intentional community engagement. Um, I did not just join this board as a change board, right? But

204also to ensure that we move forward equitably. We know that the loudest voices are usually the resources voice resource voices in our community. So I do think there needs to be some intentional outreach and I would appreciate that. Um I'm concerned if we force a K through2 cart model and it's a disaster and that's on us. Um there's a hard bit here where we are in a system and and we have all these layers of responsibilities. I would be interested to hear more about a potential pilot for a K through2 cart. Getting the numbers that Maya has asked for so we know if this is even something that's worth the effort. Um, I think that would be important and I don't know, we have to acknowledge that probably piloting a K through2 cart. That's that's

205actually actually money we're going to have to lay out as a board. Uh, because those say we have carts. >> Yeah. >> Well, we're going to have to have extra iPads because those students will still need individual access. If this is over several months, if there's a snowstorm, right, then they still have to be able to be in line with the rest of the school or site. So it's complicated, but I I would appreciate um investigating a K through2 pilot part K through2 part. >> I think that's great. I think that's a great thing to look at. I think we also should look at the spending that we've had on um edtech both uh curriculum apps and devices over the last let's just say since before CO and maybe not before CO we can choose

206here. 2022 when we came back from CO and what our spending has been on those apps and on the technology every year and what our educational the change in our educational outcomes has been so that we can really take a look at what is our investment in this technology getting us. >> Yeah. And and and I think you know so we've adopted some new curriculum around science and reading and multilingual. How how integrated is technology in the current curriculum that we're offering? I would say it it you know >> these curriculum curriculum companies >> curriculum companies are are really digging in with the tech uh and there's no there's no sign of letting up. So that's that's another issue that kind of we got to think of right so that I I I definitely would

207be interested in that because again it will impact what decisions we make. I mean again I trust me I I I I I know the research. I know tech is just not the best solution in education. I'm I'm the old school. I you know again it's about kids interacting in small groups and solving problems. That's what we want them to do as adults. But at the same time it's like okay what what is the rest of the world doing in regards to how we deliver education? Right? and and and there's there's deeper issues in the society in regards to what we're deciding to invest and and that's unfortunately impacting us and making this this decision difficult. So again, I'm down for hearing from the survey from from stakeholders, you know, educators, parents, students around technology

208use. I'm down for getting the costs on what would it mean to this scenario where we have carts versus the current scenario. Um yeah, all of that good stuff. So, can we get clear with what we're asking? >> I'm gonna say back what I think that for the next episode because I know we got more to go. >> Um, so what I hear right now is what would be a cost model around a K2 um essentially cart model. So, what would be the cost to launch a K2 cart model? And I think part of what Elena shared is it wouldn't launch well with fifth or sixth year. So it might have an upfront cost to get there. Um I would say that part of doing that we can do our we will bring the financial

209cost but then we also do we will work to gather information in regards to impact on schedules and some of the unintended consequences of a cart model. We may not be able to you know we'll be able to bring some of that but not a complete picture by the 23rd most likely. And I also heard um the question about what's the cost for edte solutions from 2022 forward and any connection to educational out um outcomes and then I wrote integration to tech and I don't know what that means. >> Does that are does that seem right the edtech cost? the integration, how how integ So looking at our curriculum that we offer throughout the continuum, how how integrated is technology >> materials >> and can can we make sure to cuz I think what's hidden

210in here is I know that there's uh creative uses of technology and other projects that you know if I look here I'm going oh 10 minutes I don't see those. So I would sort of pop the collar on showing putting that in there so we can account for that because right now it's not there but I know that it is taking place. >> And I think the assessments too that's the other piece. >> Yes. So scheduling and assessments. >> Yes. Assessments. Right. >> All right. >> Thank you all. Appreciate it. Okay. Uh, all right. Thank you. STRP phase 4 uh next steps. So, do you want to say the first words? >> Yes, I'll say the first words. So, we're we're coming back to this um effort um around the resolution that was completed on

211January 9th during a special board meeting. After the resolution to start the hearing process for Kingsley and consider Lincolnwood at a later date passed, I stated, I would like to recommend that Nicole Pinker and Maria Optike lead the board efforts of working to identify the alternative approaches to reducing the structural deficits toward the goal of financial stability. So I stated that during that meeting. So I want to clarify um the path forward um so that the community is aware of what is happening and so that we as a board are on are also clear about the path forward. So I would like the board to move forward with a process where all individual board members are encouraged to conduct outreach of community members and conduct their own individual review and research regarding this matter on

212an informal basis. Board member engagement should be based on your vision of the process, outcome, priorities, and concerns around the process. If two board members would like to collaborate together, that is acceptable, but this is not to be a board committee. OMA guidelines will be strictly observed. Under no circumstances should three or more board members discuss this work outside of an open board meeting. I understand that Nicole and Maria are interested in undertaking this work, but other board members are encouraged also to do their own work and to contribute. I'm proposing that at the next board meeting in March, we start to share our thoughts and ideas with the entire board and the community so that we can begin our collective work on this project. So, it's an open invitation ensuring that we follow OMA

213guidelines that we share information among the board and that we share information with the community on a regular basis. >> Thank you, Pat. Um, I've been thinking about this. Uh, Nicole and I have been thinking about this. Um I think a couple of my thoughts that I wanted to um share and get feedback on um is around alignment on what our goals are for this next process. I think um you know we came in I came into this process the SDRP3 process after the sort of goal and process was already defined. Um and so in reflecting on the output of that, there were some key elements um of that output that I felt were um incomplete, which is why um I think that we that I ultimately uh voted to close just one school. Um

214I also uh I also wanted to kind of think about how we move away from um this process being called SDRP as that is stands for structural deficit reduction um process and I would like us to pivot our discussion to enhancing our learning environments via asset transformation and excellence. So this is essentially looking at our spaces as opportunities. Um obviously they are also liabilities but they are opportunities to improve our learning environments for our students. Um and I want us to think about uh those learning environments and how we set us up set ourselves up for the future and our and our children the children of Evston and Skoi up for um you know the next 10 to 20 years. Um, I think we as a board have a unique opportunity to um set a

215plan in place and attempt to fund that plan. I think we haven't had a a long-term strategic asset plan um that has been funded um and it has resulted in us being as as un significant underinvestment in our facilities for a very long time which has brought us to this place of having a lot of deferred maintenance. Um and so through this process, I would like to see us focus on how we evaluate our learning environments, how we um take the information that we're going to get from the master facilities plan and incorporate that into um essentially three scenarios that we can um discuss and debate as a board um that will have implications on uh the footprint of our district, our long long-term strategic asset plan, our funding uh revenue priorities as you brought

216up, Andrew. Um and that we sort of align that work um in a visionary and long-term setting. So, um I will continue to share additional thoughts about that. Um but I wanted I want us to shift to uh you know forward-looking visionary process um acknowledging that we also need to do some structural deficit uh reductions and that's a budgetary consideration that will you know happen alongside this um building process. I mean I again I I agree with a lot of things that you're saying in regards to really exploring like different parts of the of the system right and visioning how we how we deliver education um and doing it within the budget that that we're able to right so so I think about you you you know you talked a little bit about so elevating

217learning environments so you remind me of um um so at the state board of we have a what something called the equity journey continuum um which addresses three things, right? It's student learning, learning conditions, and elevating educators, right? All those are three pieces that a school system uh encompasses. And if we get it right at all of those pieces, right, they're broad, they're broad key areas, um we really uh then you're really making a difference. Um but again, it's something that we as districts, you know, is be created, but school districts are supposed to refine it. So what I'm hearing you say is like how do we refine, you know, what what we're delivering in regards to instruction and educational outcomes for students. How are we thinking about finances and making sure that all of

218that uh is is is is done efficiently and and that we don't run into structural deficits. So again, I'm I'm I'm down for that and and I think again one is is one of the things that I really appreciated from the other phases that we had was the there was a visioning part right before the the hard conversations. So there's a lot of, you know, if we I'm sure we have access to some of the ideas that the community gave us because there was those community conversations that were leading up to some of these tough decisions we made, right? You know, and I sat at a couple of those tables. I saw you at some of those meetings where we're kind of talking about so what should we do? How do we spend? So, so

219again really going back to to to some of those ideas that we collected through through that process, but really as as you say, making that pivot in regards to visioning how we how you know how this district moves forward and we modernize how we deliver uh uh quality educational experience for students. So, and then again there's there's a couple of places too that that these things are already happening in right. I think uh I think about so through our collective baring agreement we have um you know these these um these administrative educator you know partnerships that that that that that or groups that meet around curriculum instruction and making those types of decision right and maybe us being able to kind of jump in and kind of listen in or even get notes from those

220folks in regards to how they want their their the team the administrative team as well as our educators are thinking about how how we're moving forward Right. I also think about some of the parent groups that were that we created, right? We have a special education uh parent group that that that uh was created a couple years back uh that was instrumental in pushing us to do the the the uh special education audit. So really exploring some of the some of these uh groups that we're already in that already having these types of conversations then really um again really point them towards what you're talking about Maria is like that okay let's elevating you know our our educational experiences and and environments right uh so so making sure that again the the structures that are

221are currently in place where folks are engaging uh that we're leveraging those as best as possible um and and then really kind of working together, right, to co-create uh this vision of of a better uh educational system. So yeah, those are just some some of my initial thoughts, but again, a lot a lot more to think about it. And then I'll bring some more stuff back as I think about it. And all of that plus keeping the priority of financial sustainability as a component of whatever we do moving forward because that is that's forefront of what we're dealing with at this point. So that's I just keep that as a mantra financial sustainability. >> I do want to recognize though that you know at the we have not been able prior boards for many decades

222have not dedicated significant resources to um building maintenance. We were told during the SDRP process that the building the annual building maintenance number is $2.7 million. That was what we were told. I think um whether or not that's actually the case like all things being equal if we were up to date, right? Just every year that's what we would need to spend once we were up to date. We're obviously significantly behind on that maintenance. Um and let's just say for you know argument sake that that number is $200 million. It's reasonable to think that it'd be higher than 188. Um, let's just say for argument sake it's 200 million. That's, you know, I don't know the math exactly, but 80 years of investment, in which case we're not going to ever get up to date.

223So, I think it's it's certain that we will if we want to become up to date in our in our maintenance, we will have to um look to additional funding outside of our current budget in order to fund those repairs um from a life safety audit or I'm sorry, a life safety bonds or from a capital referendum. Um we're going to have to invest in that. And so if we're going to have to invest in if we're going to have to ask for that anyway, um I want us to evaluate um giving the community some options for what kind of a K through8 school district they want for the community now and for the next decades to come. Um and so if we have if we're going to go and ask, we should give them

224the option. >> I want to just follow up on two things. First of all, I 100% agree with you like we have to keep this budget crisis and it is a crisis at the forefront because this is something that we have to solve for in order to make our district sustainable. And I like there I said this a while ago there are two different buckets. The reason it was called structural deficit reduction is because we have a structural deficit. That means every year we're spending more than we bring in in revenue. And I think that we need to get to a point where that's balanced where you know set aside yes maybe um facility cost is something different other than you know ongoing repair and maintenance. But we have a structural deficit that we have

225to solve. And I think because that is a crisis right now, we really have to make sure our focus is on that and solving that. Um, I've got some process questions too. Like one of the things that I really appreciated about STP, the SDRP process, especially three, is that it was incredibly transparent. And this administration worked very hard to make sure we were going out and soliciting feedback from the community, making sure we were working with the community to understand holistically, not just like, you know, who comes here or who's the loudest, but holistically um what the community wanted. And I guess one of my concerns is that with with this sort of setup from a process perspective, how do we ensure that that happens, that things are transparent, that everyone is aware of the

226conversations being had, that all parts of our community have a voice in whatever comes out of this process. >> Let me speak a little bit onto that. I think there's um I appreciate those uh questions and I also there's two things we're all grappling with. One is my understanding is we need to cut $6 million next year. Um even if we cut close Lincoln would we still have much more to do. So all of us on our own should be in conversations with community members reading everything waiting for the um for the master facility plan. We've learned a lot about um what is possible um conversations over multi-year for special education. So in some sense I see part of this process is saying hey we know the cabinet um has to focus on closing and

227opening up buildings. We need to do our learning our work to figure out what are five things that we might want to put on the table. then as a board come up with decide on what are the two things or whatever that we're asking the cabinet and administration to then bring back and make realistic I think it would just be irresponsible for us to say all of our ideas we're asking the cabinet to ideulate on all of our ideas but I think we should be doing the work to to come up with some of those ideas and then talking to each other right we have the you know OMA allows us to have conversations one-on-one with each other. We can get far in thinking of things and I hope actually talking to community members. I

228talk to community members all the time. That's legally enabled to do. I want to it's not only my ideas, it's what other people's are. So I think our um ability to um work as individuals or work in in tools and share out what it is that we're learning, all of that can be public and be done within OMA. we do have to set a deadline of when we have to say here are the things that are possible and make the decision of what are some of those things we believe are possible to continue to explore and then asking cabinet to engage us with that but I don't think it's fair for us to to for me to say hey here's my 10 ideas come every constantly asking you to vet the 10 ideas um but

229we have to I think trust each other that we can do some work some thinking and be clear about our ideas cuz what I didn't like about SDRP is I felt like it was more because of when some of us came in it I felt it was unfair to the community because it was at the end where we're saying what we think as opposed to all being to have more more direct what we're thinking for that to help drive um the process. So should be clear should be transparent. No one should say where you know I have no problem sharing out where who I've talked to what where ideas are coming from but I don't think we necessarily want to do the full OMA process which would be very time inensive for the cabinet um

230because every conversation would have to be supported in the ways in which um they were supported um before >> I also want to call >> I think this is would be helpful I think one of the things that happened in SDP3 is that you know like the team came back and publicly laid out who they had talked to, who they had had conversations with about this topic. I think that if board members are having conversations, then we should have a monthly agenda item where, you know, board members come back and read out the people and the groups that they've had conversations with and the ideas that they're exploring so that we can keep this transparent and make sure um not just all board members, but the community is involved as well. I think I would

231just say that I think a it's a community members's um we every community member might not want their name mentioned that they're in a conversation. So, I think there has to be respect of of how community members want to be uh recommended, but there's I don't have any any there's no concern for me to say, "Hey, I've talked to so and so." I don't that's not I want to point out >> what um what schools or what organizations or you know what they represent because I think we need some sort of mechanism to make sure that we are getting feedback from the whole district. >> Yes. and yes and I think also the reality is anything we vote on has to have vote has to have four majority people hopefully more than four that votes

232on it. So, um, if you're saying that, um, we need to make sure we're hitting every single corner of the community, um, I mean, that's easy to say. Yes. But the reality of if any of us is talking to every single corner, um, I think is, um, a little problematic, but I think collectively, we should make sure that we're talking to every every corner of the of the city. I think I talk to constantly all over the city. But I want to be clear. Let's not let's not let's be clear what we say that we all are going to do that and everyone is if we say it everyone needs to talk to every every aspect of the community and their plans. I just want to point out that you know this is not this

233next phase is not a process where we throw away all of the information and knowledge and community engagement that we have done up until this point. We have some great data and you know I think the scorecards are very informative about what the community desires and how our schools reflect those community desires. Um and so you know that is all part of this. I think one of the things that was difficult uh in this process in this last process was um trying to come up with options and scenarios in community um rather than having scenarios to discuss with the community. Um, and so it's just it's just a little different way around it. Um and then having more of a long-term plan for funding and for building um you know disposition whether that be renovation

234um expansion or you know repurposing um that wasn't included in this last process that we need to know in order to be uh have a long-term plan. No, go ahead. Yeah, >> I've got a long list. So, uh, you can come back. Okay. >> So, I'm curious. This is a finance committee meeting, not really a committee of the whole. Um, it's a finance committee meeting. Um, are we running this process through the finance committee? Is um what what's going on here with the with this being located in the finance committee? Are we seeing this not as having programming connections? Um >> so the reason this meeting is focused on finance is to have this as part of the conversation. >> It was also to um have a focused meeting >> so that we could continue

235with our close session meeting. So initially it was to try and help focus the content of the discussion on these impacts. >> Okay. and to be cognizant of the time, but to also start to have this conversation with the public and get get started on a collective process and to have this discussion be open among the board and to the public. >> Okay. >> It's also a finance buildings and grounds and personnel committee. So, it's sort of from a finance and a buildings and ground standoint. >> I mean, programming is very much here. >> Yeah. So, I'm just curious. Did you ask Maya if she had >> I talked to Maya about this about focusing this meeting about just this meeting but not necessarily involved in leading this process. Okay. I just wanted that to

236be clear. >> But Andrew, didn't wasn't the ask for this meeting of this confused? Wasn't there explicit ask to have this conversation at this meeting? >> Yes, >> absolutely. I'm wanting to identify how we're moving forward >> and who's going to be chairing this process. >> Um I think it's deep concerns I have. We were asked to engage a document in preparation for this meeting. >> Um and it's I it's like four or five page document and I'm going to have very specific questions about this document. Um and um so so I'm I'm just wanting more clarity about how we're managing this and I'm curious if we also asked admin if they had the capacity, did he be involved in the next phase of this? Are we just making the determination to kind of leave

237admin out of this unilaterally as a board or did we consult with admin to the degree at which they would like to be involved in this? >> So, at this point, um, what we're discussing today is to get the board members in alignment on how we're moving forward. That's all we're doing today. It's the beginning of the process. We as board members need to um work among ourselves to determine how we will determine how we're going to move forward. Every board member is going to be engaged in the process. It's an open process and once we come up and the um information information that Maria shared is is her approach to it, >> you may have a different approach. You may come up with a different ask. >> Okay. So, this isn't centering one approach.

238>> No, not at all. >> Okay. That's helpful to know. >> This is just it's just it's a place to start. >> Okay. >> That's all it is. Um and as board members um think about the process uh and analyze what they want their participation to be. Um that is something that we will share with each other. We don't have a firm plan yet. So I don't want to my intent was not to make an ask of the cabinet until we know what we are proposing. That's not a clear to me that's not a clear ask and we and we do need to be cognizant of the work that the that the cabinet is engaged in. >> Absolutely. >> So that that to me should definitely be part of the thinking process. I have this

239idea. Let me share it. But I'm also let me think about implementation and the reality of how this can happen in light of what's currently already underway. >> Yeah, I think that's really important, Pat. And you know, I think it's hard because on one hand, I think that we have already like the admin gave us a plan. We didn't go with that plan. So now we have to go back and figure something else out. So I want to be, you know, very understanding of that that, you know, people put in a whole lot of work and a whole lot of time um for a plan and and we sort of, you know, we walked away from that. That's >> But then on the other hand, um, on the other hand, I'm very confused about how

240we as a board are supposed to come up with the ideas that are going to fix our budget deficit when we don't have school finance expertise. We don't know the ins and outs of like how this administration operates. I mean, like, you know, even sitting in these meetings, I think everyone is asking good questions, but it's pretty apparent that this is not what we do on a day-to-day basis. And so, you know, I think it's great for us to come up with ideas, but I don't feel like we as a board can realistically get us where we need to be when we don't have a full understanding of all of the intricacies of, you know, of finance, of schools, of like just even all of the policies and regulations. like like it is very hard

241for me to see how as a board our ideas are going to get us there without a tremendous amount of partnership with the administration. So how do we in this process start to you know make sure we're getting to real ideas that are actually going to work and I think we need the admin to do that. >> So I don't think anyone's saying we're not engaging admin. And I think there's been plenty of um if you go back to the list of cuts, the last one 17 mill there's ideas that are on the table, ideas that we said no to. We're also getting back a master facilities plan which we didn't the last time talk about um a referendum. I simply see this as saying board members spend your time taking in what we've already

242done from SDRP the new information we're getting in and come back with some realistic ordering of what you think can get us to 6.2 2 million cut next year might be more 2.5 and 29 FY30. We've already been given some of this. We now have to um prioritize it. And so for those of you who believe that Lincoln that if we had just done the Lincolnwood plan, that is coming back on the table, right? And so for those of us who didn't vote for it, I think we have the responsibility to to lean in and try to put some other ideas. I am not trying to be Stacy, not trying to be anyone else's role, but I do think the information is coming back. We have the ability to look at it and make some

243suggestions. Some things we can't say right now because we're, you know, not oblig we're not allowed to talk about some of those cuts, but there are cuts on the there are things that are plausible that we as a board can say to our cabinet, we want this to be explored. um which I think is what we need to do as opposed to saying go find anything and asking them to sort of go redo this process to come back and give us things that we're then going to again say well I don't want that or I don't want that. We need to say here's the four things that we agree need to be part of this. So, so I just want to be clear, this conversation is not necessarily about the structural deficit reduction that needs

244to happen. That is a separate but interconnected conversation that is happening and that we began in the earlier part of this meeting by talking about what our priorities are for our budget and by discussing with the administration how we want to hear about and structure the budget conversations between now and the end of the fiscal year so that we will know how we were going to make the financial cuts that are required in order to meet our goals of 90 days cash on hand um and the other goals that we had discussed. And so this is this this process of a long-term strategic asset plan does not deny the fact that we have to continue to look at our structural deficit, but it recognizes that there is we we could decide to say, you know

245what, all we want to do is put roofs in in HVAC units and we want to take a look at what that looks like. We haven't even seen how much and what that looks like today. And so we're just going to do that. That's fine. We're going to issue the life safety audit bonds. We're going to have to go to a cap capital referendum. We're not going to close schools to save enough money to fix all of our buildings. That's not mathematically possible. And so we have to think about this in a different way. And so all I'm proposing is that we take a look at this as an opportunity to evaluate our learning spaces and determine if a proposal to enhance our learning spaces, potentially consolidate some of our schools, that that might be

246a way forward. I think it's pretty clear from my perspective that we would not have gotten a referendum if we ended up closing three schools. that we have not provided the community with sufficient vision for what we're trying to accomplish as a board outside of just cutting things. >> So that that's what I really want to make sure you understand my like I don't think that we should stop having structural deficit conversations by any means. I think it's the responsibility of the administration. And I think we've gotten some conversation going in that regard and I expect that we will continue to see that from the administration in terms of what they believe is feasible for next year's budget. Got it. I just want to be clear because I understand and I think, you know, I

247think that's fair to talk about the things that you're talking about in a longer term vision, but the agenda item I see here is SDRP phase 4 next steps. And I know that's the agenda item I asked to be on here. How are we getting to solving our structural deficit? So, I think it's great to continue talking about other things and how we can envision for the future. We should do all of that, but we've got a budget crisis at hand now that we need to focus on as well. And so, I want to make sure we're getting to that and really focusing on that at this moment. It reminds me >> and this um is in I mean we we all voted for the resolution unanimously >> and this was a component of the

248language. So this is an effort to honor that language and to address address the ask. >> Right. Exactly. Yeah. >> So that and today is just the beginning of that. But we also have a deadline that we have to adhere to and that is part of what this process will be. We have to you know October 2026 is the indicated date in the resolution. So we have to we have to follow that. So this is just a precursor to the work that's going to be moving forward. I mean, I'm open to more conversations, too, Maya. If you want to give me a call and we can have one-on-one conversations about structural deficits and how you want to see that presented in the finance committee, I'm 100% open to that. Well, that's great because I think

249like you know what I like to see is I think I would like to see an agenda item on SDP I or structural deficit ideas at every meeting because I think you know going forward we we we can't work in a black box and this then just come out you know in October and say hey here are the ideas. We've got to make sure we give administration time to vet. Make sure we're clear on what the implementation would be if it would really help solve our structural deficit. Make sure people in the community know what's going on. Make sure everyone is adequately represented. And from a process perspective, since we're talking about process, I think we really need to think about how people are going to come to the table and make sure we are

250bringing forward these ideas to everybody, not just one-on-one conversations on a regular basis, >> right? So the the the reason we talked about board priorities is so that I mean that's the place we have to start and I see that as part of this work. So >> then there should be a deadline of ideas. I mean there should be a deadline when we bring them forward. >> Um I think we were saying May or some May or something. It has to be a deadline. It can't be there was never a thought of October. It's like ID8 get to what we agree on to then allow it to move to the next level to get uh defined in partnership with cabinet. Oh, I just say this um this reminds me a little bit of when I

251was part of a a turnaround in an organization and I remember a team member came up with the best phrase ever which is that you know as we're part of this turnaround process we have to have a dual operating mindset. So, we have to have the short term because we still have to solve a lot of immediate problems, but we also have to have the long term. And I I think that's kind of what we're talking about here is how do we develop that dual operating mindset so that um the you know we can still still take uh dramatic action to reduce the deficit but we're also thinking about uh what the long term looks like because in the short term uh there are budget cuts that we can make to try to achieve sustainability

252but the other side of that sustainability equation is revenue and I think that's where the long-term plan comes in. So I'm concerned. So a I like the fact that we're expanding beyond cuts to talk about what's next. I appreciate that. I'm glad that that's part of this next conversation. I'm concerned if those merge, if we lose deficit in um the next steps. I think this was an error of the 2017 referendum. Um, we were actually doing this in the SDRP process until I and I think a couple other board members flagged and said, "No, we're using this to actually hide some things. Please separate the referendum from our deficit reduction." So, my concern there is that we stay honest. I'm not critiquing anyone, just saying as a board we stay honest about where we are

253financially. and it will be tempting to try and use a referendum to to paper over some of our really hard decisions and and I'm not there. Um I think we have to make these hard decisions while still envisioning. So I appreciate that. Um I have some broader questions. Um so what I'm hearing is that we are committed to working off of SDRP3 data moving through this process. Is that right? I mean that was expressed that was expressed by both people on the on the side I voted on as well as I know Dr. Pinker you said that we want to keep working off and building off of that data. >> Yeah. I mean yeah and I think we also will know where we will have data from >> Yeah. 26 you have to start off

254with what's there. Yeah. >> Yeah. But we're not overriding SRP3 here. We're not using alternative frameworks. We're going to continue to use a consistent framework of STRP3 bringing in these extra data points. That is my is that what I'm hearing from >> I mean I think one of the lack one of one of the things that was identified in the STRP3 process is that we didn't adequately account for special education spaces in our utilization model that was brought up numerous times. And so I think this time we should really think about what are the optimal special education spaces that we want to incorporate in all of our buildings. My understanding was that as we got to the refined scenarios, we actually did calculate that in our building utilization. Dr. Beardsley went back and worked um

255our final two four scenarios in light of pull out spaces both. Yeah. >> Yeah. The way we operated it was essentially we needed a consistent calculation and then we needed to place programs. And once we placed programs, we reserved spaces. And so since we were one deciding whether what schools and programs were what schools were open and closed, we needed to hold programs out of it until we knew what schools were going to remain in the system and decide where to place programs. And so it really in my mind followed the pro you we were clear about our process and you know essentially once we had closer determinations of the schools moved essentially held program spaces and in the process engaged with school leaders and with the IE department to define what was needed for

256programs in particular. And I think we have to hold that there is we have our we have a large inclusion portion of our services then we have related services and we have our specialized programs and it's just making sure that we count appropriately depending on where we want to place the buildings but it did it was in the process. So I mean a simple thing is um I don't mean to say simple I don't mean it that way um but if you look at take um a school it might look at 24 classrooms and you say oh I can have four tracks or three tracks you add step into a school and might have four classrooms where you've removed a whole track so how you understand that school as how many kids can go there

257right if you think of it as a general it's different once you have to pull out and so part of it is is do we have a consistent way of and there's also questions around we need pull out you know teachers have come up and said hey we need dedicated pull out so if we look at a building how do we understand classrooms not as just teaching classrooms but are there special types of classrooms for um um programs but also pull outs um do we have the science room so I think it's just a layer >> to that though what we had you know pull outs and the amount of related services providers is driven by your students and your students individual education plans. >> And so, you know, the way we walked into that

258and a building is a building. It has a certain number of classrooms. The classrooms have a certain amount of capacity to it. How we then choose to use that building can give you a different read on now, now that we're using this building, you know, park had a very different capacity before it was used as park, >> right? you know, you have to say we have a baseline capacity in the way we calculate it consistently and then we can modify that based on how we choose to use a building. >> Right. So would we would you say now that the ways in which you're allocated the classrooms for next year effectively represent all the best use of the space in the ways in which you want it. So let's take King um Foster. We know

259there's going to be a large number of IEP students there with the assumption there's going to be pull out. Now, that building was actually built for it takes advantage of that. But imagine if we're at another school. Do we have the language and how we talk about our spaces in our building so everyone clearly understands a classroom, a special education classroom, a pullout classroom that we have the language to talk about. Um that >> I think just to that though even just the language around a special education classroom like we just completed our audit and one of the aspects of an audit is that there is no discernable discrepancy between a general education space and a special education space. And so the way we're counting our classrooms is a classroom is a classroom and then

260it's how we choose to use that you know is the thing that varies. So if you look at our old at the older quarter in Clark in some cases they chose to just identify the classrooms with smaller square footage special education classrooms. That's not an appropriate way of going about it. It has to be an equitable and you know space for that classroom. >> But when I look at so Lincolnwood like just so just having and I'm not choosing link we've been in Lincolnwood and we saw the use of Lincolnwood spaces. So in those classrooms, those step classrooms, I hear you saying those are old surface, they're just general education classrooms, right? But the right but the but how they're used and maybe even how they're set up is a little so that's why I

261think the distinction of how we talk about that, >> right? And so I think I think we're not necessarily saying different things. I think we're actually saying that how do we just make sure we articulate that in the in the layout of the building because that school from the use of those classrooms has a different um capacity that it can hold >> if you if you choose to maintain and understand if you change programs you change capacity. Completely agree. We're 100% on that. Okay. So to that whole conversation to me says we are using the SDP information as a foundation for what we're envisioning. Um, as far as timeline, I had seen the timeline in this document with a decision to be made spring of 27 and knowing that really through CBAs and such, we

262have to make a decision much earlier than that to move forward in a particular way on a closure. So, this proposal you submitted would really preclude any possibility of a closure uh for the 26 27 year because of its timeline. I don't think we're talking about closing a school in the 2627 year. If we're going to make a decision on October, >> we have a resolution that says 28. >> How would I saying did I say 26? >> Yeah. 2728. >> Okay. But this has a decision to be made in spring of 27, but then you couldn't have a closure in 2728 on that short of a timeline. >> Plan, Andrew. Okay. This is a thought this is this is something to put thoughts on paper. >> We can have all sorts of conversations about

263it. >> Yeah. >> You know, I literally wrote it over the weekend. after having lots of thoughts about it for the last eight months, maybe not that long. So, you know, this is not anything set in stone. It's a point of starting. I'd love to hear yours. >> Yeah, I think it'll be important that we keep talking about this as a group um in public. I just want to name we came off of a really hard November, December, and January as a group of six folk. Uh trust is thin right now. Um and so it's going to be important that we communicate and we go about this process in a way that will ensure that we effectively communicate. Um you know it's felt very much like um we've had to kind of force the issue

264to get us to to talk about this. There's been times where the the entire team has not been kept up to pace on information um and and uh in ways that that that won't promote moving forward as a whole board on this. So, I just would urge us to to keep this up. I like the idea of a regular update um and to ensure that if we can be transparent with each other, I'm sure we're transparent with the public, that'll be really important. So, let me just say that it has been my intention for the last several weeks to communicate with every board member and so that will continue and every other board member can communicate with every other board member as well. So, it's it's going to have to be a an intention that

265is goes across the board. So, I I have a system and I do appreciate the contact I've had with every one of my board members. I value you each highly. Everyone has different talents and strengths and so um I'm going to continue that process. Um and we will make sure that this remains um with regular progress updates among us. Um I will also share information with Dr. Turner just as a point of checkin so that we all know how this process is moving forward. >> But it's all of our respons I just want to this is all of our responsibility. It's not this is not a um Nicole and Maria are going to go and do this. We all should have ideas or hopefully have um something to contribute to this. And again, this only

266happens, we only can move forward if we can collectively uh agree on a way forward. So, uh I enter this knowing that it has to be visible because I have to share it with you. I have to share it with you. You have to understand it to think if it uh makes sense to to um engage the cabinet and the administration on doing something more to it. So, it's not a secretive thing. We were OMA requires a particular approach is what it is more so than it is our desire to try to do something that is not public. >> Yeah, I think having regular updates will help and I think like for a process moving forward, we need to set up some things, right? We need to understand from the administration how much time they

267want to vet ideas because we can't decide on anything that's not feasible. You know, we need to decide when we're going to bring those ideas, how much time the administration is going to need. Um like we just have to set up some guidelines. We have to set up some guidelines. Are we going to vote as a board before we, you know, have the administration exert resources on seeing if an idea is viable? Like I think there are things we need to decide in terms of process to see if this is going to work. And I agree like, you know, from a financial perspective, we're going to do we're going to have to do more even than closing Lincoln would given where our financial situation is. I'm just still, you know, I think it's great for

268board members to come up with ideas, but at the end of the day, I think that like the administration have a lot a lot more experience. So, I'll be honest. I'm not sure what ideas I'll be able to come up with because I've been in this process for, you know, four years now, like trying to figure out what we can do to um reduce our budget deficit. And some of the things have been done in in, you know, in partnership with the administration. they were really hard things to do, but knowing the realities of how like this district works, um it's very hard to cut that kind of money um without significantly impacting important programs that I'm not willing to touch. So, I think, you know, we're just going to have to see how this

269goes going forward. But I think at a minimum, we need to be transparent with the public, with each other, and we also have to make sure we are taking into account resources on the admin side and being respectful of their time and understanding the time they really need to properly vet ideas. >> Agreed. I really want to celebrate um the admin's role in even bringing us together to conclude STRP3 and I think it'll be important that we work in collaboration with admin um because sometimes admin can find ways to think outside of sort of a board impass or something like that in ways that can bring us um along And so I hope that whatever we come up with, we have a clear deadline to hand off our ideas to admin. >> Absolutely. >> And

270then we expect admin to um bring us recommendations as the experts in the room. Um that will be really key. And then also to possibly engage what about we have we still have a facilities committee right for SDRP3. um and what would it mean to intentionally build uh rigorous community engagement into this as well I think will be very very important. I don't want to downplay the role that student centers student centered services played in STRP2 and three. they provided a lot of capacity um and I think a lot of back-end work especially on the financial modeling piece um you know and so that is a consideration as we move forward um that you know I know that consultants are a dirty word uh these days but that we really leveraged the expertise of the

271modeling and planning and and thought process that um student centered services came through and um partners at Northwestern who worked with uh Stacy and the facilities committee on the scorecard modeling as well. So it wasn't necessarily just uh the admin and cabinet that were doing this work. Um but there were outside outside parties as well that were contributing. >> Yeah. I I think an important important point for me will be right I don't you know it's it's it can be frustrating when you when you engage admin and you know where do you stand on this where you consulted on this and if they're not being consulted on things um that's not healthy either and so my concern is we've repeatedly said admin's too busy Dr. Turner, have you been asked, are you too busy? Do

272you not want to take part in this? I mean, so I really just want to make sure that we're communicating with admin um and making sure that you are having a voice in this process. >> I haven't been informed about I don't even know what document y'all are referring to and talking about. >> So I think that itself is a sign of some things that we can work >> brought to me. Okay, >> that document was We have >> It's an idea. That's it. It's not I don't want to I don't I I wrote that and I need to know what my board colleagues think of this direction before I occupy one minute of Dr. Turner's precious time. and and and I just am not going to throw things over the fence that have no

273bearing on, you know, the short or long term if no one else agrees with it. So that that I just want I just want to name that that we as a board have to make a decision on what our high level direction is before we engage admin. That is what we're talking about right here, right now. >> Some of these things actually already exist, have been put on the table. I mean, I I think there's this assumption where Well, I'm not going to even say that. Um, I'm done. Go ahead. >> Okay. Um, I think >> so. I will make sure that we as a board have start having these conversations with each other, come up with a time frame and um determine um what the path forward is going to be. So we can

274have further discussion about this at our next board meeting and within that time we should be able to come up with some with a firmer direction. Okay. Um, I would like to uh remove the last item from our agenda for this evening given the time um that we're here and I don't actually not prepared to talk about this right now. So, um that's okay. I'd like to table this for another time. >> Number four. Uh, I move to remove item four, uh, B4 from the meeting agenda for tonight. >> Wilkins, >> yes. >> Pinkard, >> yes. >> Hernandez, >> yes. >> Ben, >> yes. >> Wymer, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Okay. Um, the next item on the agenda is the approval of the fiscal agent partnership agreement between the board of education

275of Evston Skoi Community Consolidated School District and Foundation 65. >> I didn't actually say I was sort of waiting to say they wanted to talk about it. I move that the board approve the fiscal agent partnership agreement between the board of education of Evston Skooki Community Consolidated School District 65 and foundation 65. >> Second. >> Is there any questions or anything or >> Okay, I'll take the vote. Wilkins. >> Yes. Hanker, >> yes. >> Hernandez, >> yes. >> Oakde, >> yes. >> Venus, >> yes. >> Wymer, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. Motion passes 70. Next is motion to recess into close session. I move that the board move into close session on March 11, 2026 at 5:00 pm for self evaluation. It's not 5 p.m. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

276You're right. You're right. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I thought we were talking about right now. I was I was jumping ahead. Sorry. >> Sorry. >> For self-evaluation practices and procedures for professional ethics in meeting with a representative of a statewide association of which the public body is a member. >> Second. >> Wilkins. >> Yes. >> Hernandez. >> Yes. >> Ben Newandr. >> Yes. >> Wymer. >> Yes. >> Anderson. >> Yes. >> Next is motion to recess into close session. I I move that the board move into close session today at 9:00 p.m. to discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, and performance of specific employees. >> We have a second. >> Wilkins, >> yes. >> Pinker, >> yes. >> Hernandez, >> yes. >> Ben Newandr, >> yes. >> Wymer, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes.