001e e e our regular board meeting adila can you please do the roll call yes today is Monday March 17 2025 this is the meeting of uh regular board meeting of District 65 the time is 6:29 p.m. roll call hail here Sue here Salem here Wilkins here Kim here Lindsay Ryan hereand here okay thank you um I'm going to read the land acknowledgement we we take time to acknowledge that the land we meet on is the traditional homeland of the Council of Three Fires the parami oji and Odawa this land also served as an important meeting place for Miami hunk the monoman enoa sac Fox Poria Arapaho cheyen and other tribal Nations this land has long been a center for indigenous people to gather trade and maintain kinship ties located at the intersection of several
002great waterways the region has become the site of travel and prosperity we acknowledge Evanston and John Evans are tied to the massacre of the Arapaho and Cheyenne for railroads and Westward Expansion upon which John Evans developed his wealth and founded Evon this land was violently taken under settler colonialism through genocide and open Warfare and the region that is now Illinois and Chicago land is still home to thousands of native people who are actively struggling for sovereignty self-determination and Justice the genocidal acts of settler colon colonialism extended to peoples of Africa and their enslaved de Ence despite Illinois eventually prohibiting slavery slavery was an accepted practice before and after statehood the vestages of slavery remain throughout the United States and directly affect the descendants of enslaved people's rich and heterogeneous communities who help to find the
003African diaspora the genocidal patterns of violence against peoples of African descent and Indigenous people have been replicated to exclude and harm people from many intersecting marginalized identities in the United States religious minoritized disabled and lgbtq identified peoples black and indigenous people of color and people of color WR large these patterns demonstrate that the pursuit to end State sanctioned violence against bipac is a daily struggle for Liberation from continued social political and economic anti-black racism and oppression today we acknowledge that we're living breathing loving grieving laughing and sharing space on unseated territory may we learn to honor the historical and contemporary presence and power of the people and their belief that we must be caretakers of the land and Waters for the livelihood of future Generations we encourage everyone to continue to expand their knowledge and
004reduce their harm through awareness of local Mutual Aid models for survival and through engagement with online and local resources such as the Chicago American Indian Community collaborative and the shorefront legacy center all right uh and with that uh we have our uh board and superintendent comments and I think the Dr want to take it away absolutely so good evening tonight I am honored to recognize a remarkable Act of Bravery by one of our students at Lincoln Elementary we have families and members of our Lincoln Community here with us for this special recognition and I would like to invite Hildy Minik and her family up to the St to stand near the podium along with the Yang Meyer Abbott family [Applause] this February during an unexpected medical incident at school Hildy a fourth grader demonstrated extraordinary
005courage and quick thinking when this medical event occurred Hildy immediately acted reacting out reaching out to help and ensuring her peer safety on the stairway her calm and selfless response prevented what could have been a much more serious situation we are so grateful to see Cena here tonight with her family safe and doing well in moments like these we are reminded of the incredible character and kindness our students show every day hild's actions reflect a deep sense of care for others and a willingness to step up when it matters most we also want to acknowledge the compassion and teamwork of hild's classmates who quickly stepped in to offer support and assistance their actions exemplify the caring and supportive Community we strive to f in all of our schools students within the class will part partake
006in a special pizza party this Thursday in recognition of their kindness Hildy on behalf of the District 65 Community we are proud to recognize your bravery and present you with a bravery award in appreciation of your actions your courage is an inspiration to us all before Mr lemur our manager of prevention and Special Response presents the award I would like to invite either of our families who are here tonight to say a few words as well as any board members no remarks well on behalf of the board again Hildy thank you for your bravery and again this is something that we strive for all of our students right to look out for one another and take care of each other I mean it's really critical especially in tough times like these right so again just
007thank you thank you for the wonderful wonderful bravery that you've exhibited and we celebrate you today [Applause] that's great than [Applause] we also have our high five recognition January and February recipients of the high five celebrating excellence in District 65 award so in January we honored Ali Harnet social worker at sh Middle School um ly wood Willams a par professional at Washington Loi is it Loi Loi Loi it was so fun going to visit them and now it's coming back uh February we honored um Young Young G Kim I always he he told me how to get it right and I still didn't get it uh classroom teacher at Nicholls middle school and then Robert Green bomb a pair professional at Oak and so we have a quick video that we want to show so
008you can experience it with us so much about students her work promoting has the potential to exp and coordinate is one of always [Music] adila did you download it for I will try again we'll try again later sorry no worries we go all right well we and we we want to just say again this is one of the favorite parts of our U meeting here where we re acknowledge and recognize that The Talented uh folks across the the district who do just some incredible incredible work on behalf of students so again congratulations to all our high five winners next item up on the agenda is our approval of meeting agenda I move that the board approve today's meeting agenda as presented second yes Sue yes yes yes yes Lindy Ryan Yes Herz yes next item
009up is our public comments members 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 hear specific concerns about staff members being mindful that the public com period is not a suitable for for fact finding or resolution of disputes rather we encourage members of the public who have concerns about specific District employees to follow District communication guidelines found in the student handbook please remember to state your name and that you have three minutes to address the board also 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 at district 65.net and with that do we have any public speakers sorry um
010I think the videographer was telling you that the download was complete so okay um did you want to stop and we'll pause and if you want to show the video yeah I don't know if it's on his end or my end okay let's start with public comments sorry and then a problem forward okay um so we have have Ruth young test Christal Linda sigani is the first three people that signed up hi my name is Ru young I am a teacher and I'm giving all of you and all of you in Zoom land a homework assignment your task is to do your research about the best District 65 board candidates we need people who will work for Justice for All District 65 students staff and community members be sure to research who will make sure
011funds are going where they belong for our students curriculum and school programs buildings and to folks who help build educational exdents like our par professionals instructional coaches and early childhood Educators we need people with intimate knowledge of how our school system works who the players are and who can ask the hard questions to make it so every child thrives so I'm asking you all to do your homework and then get out there and vote this assignment can be turned in any time by voting between March 17th and April 1st by 7 p.m. and it can be done in the language of your choosing I look forward to seeing your results and getting a board of education that will make distri District 65 a place where everyone is proud of our school system so [Music] cont
012contrib EXC Sy [Applause] good evening superintendant and members of the school board and everyone else my name is Tess christobal and I I am a par professional at J Early Childhood Center I would like to take a moment to recog recognize nurse Susan Paul for her exceptional contributions to our school Community her expertise in Pediatric Care has been invaluable in ensuring the safety and well-being of our students particularly those with specific medical needs her specialized training has allowed her to effici effectively manage our school's health services and provide the best possible care to our students having someone so dedicated in the role of school nurse has been a tremendous asset to the entire School community and we are thankful for her continued support thank you for your time and consideration and um I have um
013a colleague who couldn't be here personally so she has requested me to read her short speech my name is uh Linda Seamon a par professional at CH Early Childhood Center this is my fourth year here I am a medical graduate of internal medicine from India with 15 years of work experience in the medical field I have found nurse Susan Paul to have excellent clinical nursing skills which is highly invaluable and her handling of sick andur injured children is truly commendable she's very thorough in clinical examination and is very knowledgeable I sincerely hope the board would make every effort to retain this hardto find skill for the welfare of our children thank [Applause] you I'm going to ask the board if you would like to um go back to the high five video before we move
014forward or should we continue with public comments I'd say we what what is the important thing do you want to see the video yeah we'll go with the video yeah so we'll take a brief video pause between the uh public comments societ let everybody Al cares so much about District 65 students parents her work promoting has the potential to expand and coordinate Services needed the most Alli is one of the most visible staff members always present at community events representing the district with integrity and [Applause] knowled is consistently a wonderful role model for our students she she always helps all children in any room she serves by giving clear directions and expectations while also letting kids be kids miss L is the perfect example of a war demander she truly deserves this award [Music] you
015it what you to know [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I love the way that you redirect students in a patient you I to be like you [Music] [Applause] [Music] again thank you to our again winners who are going to showcase the best of what d65 is we'll continue on with our public comments Melissa Rosen Bridget UD and Molly B hello my name is Melissa Rosen swag I'm a Bessie rhs parent and I'm here tonight in support of two beloved institutions at our school the first one is our assistant principal Miss Sarah antrum graph beloved Le known as Miss Ag and the second is Miss djang who heads our mandering curriculum at Bessie roads uh Miss AG is a critical member of our school team her leadership is invaluable she's been with us for a long time she's
016a great source of support and advocacy for teachers and students and families it was unfortunate to hear of the school board's decision to dismiss her and I ask that you reinstate her we need everyone we on Deck to get us across the finish line for this last year of School Miss Zang has been amazing at providing Mandarin to our students it's because of her work that we get to call ourselves a school of Global Studies Multicultural and multilingual she takes it upon herself to do amazing things in the classroom and outside including the recent Chinese New Year celebration she also takes students to Chinatown and has even taken students to China as the board and the superintendent reflect on the cuts that you need to make to the budget please consider how much the children
017at Bessie roads have already been through and consider their stability and their support for this last year of school please reinstate Miss Ag and Miss Jen's classes and allow us the opportunity to finish strong thank [Applause] you my name is Bridget utter and I'm a Bessie rhods parent there continues to be a complete Communication Breakdown with Bessie roads families I've heard a lot of talk about how you're going to be more transparent with us as well as a apologies about how Bessie Road's families are treated with promises to do better but unless those words are followed with action they are empty promises we recently were informed that our assistant principal is being let go we have yet to hear any official communication from the district and board providing Clarity on this decision and how it
018fits into a districtwide analysis our school which is a global study school is being further degraded by having our Mandarin program taken away I've heard president Hernandez uh State multiple times that he would love to offer Spanish English two-way immersion and mandrin for more students so I ask why then are we actively deciding to pull back on our Mandarin instruction and why are we again separating decisions on Bessie roads from our districtwide plans on programming location if you think Mandarin education opportunities are important why don't you advocate for its preservation and expansion and integrate it into your districtwide decision why haven't we as families at the global study school been invited into these decisions affecting our children I found out about Mandarin being cut from one of my own children and have had no official
019communication on this whatsoever from the district or the board but I do see it was quietly scrubbed from The District 65 website so somebody has been talking about it if you'd engage with our community you'd see that we're a group of people who are willing to listen and interested in finding solutions that elevate two-way immersion and a global City's Approach at a time when these are very important values to be advancing but unless you're willing to take the steps to actually engage with us as fellow members of your community all we see is a willingness to continually degrade our school and a continued lack of care towards our children our families and our educators [Applause] superintendent Turner and d65 board members first I want to thank you for taking a few minutes to hear my
020thoughts today my name is Molly bero and I'm a mom of a current kindergartener at Bessie roads I'm coming for before you today to express my frustration with the continued disregard for the Bessie roads Community most recently the dismissal of assistant principal Ag and the transfer of Mander and instructor Miss Jang have ramifications felt not only by students and families but of course by these faculty and staff members directly Miss Anam graph is a valuable leader at our school in addition to principal burkel where would we all have been this past year without our assistant principal to step in and teach students when the decision to continue seventh and eighth grades at Bessie roads was made without all of the teaching roles filled where will our community be when we are inevitably put in another
021strained position next year without such a team member to be able to step in and assist similarly we've recently lost Miss Zang who is an important part of the Global Studies curriculum at Bessie roads through her teaching another important World Language Mandarin the addition of this language to our curriculum was one of the reasons that I selected to send my daughter to be Bessie wrot but you have taken away another key piece of our experience all of the students interact with the assistant principal and Mandarin teacher daily and their absence will be sorry now and next year will surely be felt by all of them one would think student impact would be a consideration in who you let go prior to the closing of our school but it's become repeatedly apparent that this is not
022a factor in your decision making the staff of Bessie roads are not just line items in your budget and neither are our students My Hope Is that we see change with the upcoming Board elections and that the district steps up to do better thank you for your time [Applause] next speakers we have our Kate odard Peter schneck Christopher dinardo good evening board members super attend and d65 Community my name is Kate odard I am a parent and proud member of the Bessie roads Community tonight I am here to express deep disappointment in how the Administration has treated our school specifically the elimination of our Mandarin program and the recent dismissal of our assistant principal Miss Sarah AG despite Bessie rhods remaining open until the end of the 26 school year let's be clear closing Bessie
023roads was never just about a building it has always been about dismantling a community cutting the Mandarin program at Bessie roads without communication or transparence transparency is unacceptable Miss DZ and this program were essential to our Global education Mission families were given no chance to prepare no opportunity to advocate I found out it was gone from my second grader after school in the car ride home how is it possible that such a foundational aspect of our curriculum was quietly removed without any Outreach to the families it affects most next the recent removal of our assistant principal Sarah AG a trusted leader and teacher an advocate for our children and a pillar of stability during a time of immense uncertainty roles and qualities we are not seeing from our current Administration in a moment when our
024school's Community is navigating one of the most challenging transitions we have ever faced why would you take away a key figure in ensuring a smooth supportive and structured school year at Bessie roads we have spent this last year watching this Administration make empty promises about supporting Bessie roads we were were told our kids would be supported through the transition but instead every time we turn around something else is being taken away cutting the Mandarin program check closing Middle School mid year check removing key leadership check what's next should we expect you take the desks and the whiteboards too you are removing the furnace from our house in the middle of winter this Administration is trying to erase buy roads before it closes but we are still here our children are still here and we deserve
025the same respect stability and resources as every other school in this District this administration had a choice to honor your commitments to allow our students to finish with dignity and to support the families who trusted this District you may have put our school on a limited timeline but our community will not stand by quietly as you attempt to erase us before our time is even over our children deserve better and we demand better thank [Applause] you I'm Peter shank parent of two Bessie uh rhs children I'd like to start by thanking Joey for pressing Baker chil last week on lack of best practice and adequate Financial controls that $575,000 has gone missing from District bank accounts emphatically supports the urgency for the financial controls you've been advocating for lest any more money go misplaced or
026as Baker chilly euphemistically put it an unlocated difference of $575,500 $100,000 luxury Vehicles signed Insider contracts provided gross misrepresentation on leas certificate documents and now finds themselves in breach of all major debt covenants of said documents and yes even lavish themselves with free lunches one wonders where said money might have gone not a good look gang I also wish to thank Omar for always making himself available to our community and addressing our concerns he's a model board member with a sympathy towards parents that's very much missing from this Administration the administration and superintendent do not think it important to meet with parents in advance of a decision to close the seventh and eighth grade classes with two weeks notice the administration and superintendent do not think it important to meet with parents in advance of
027closing a cherished Mandarin language program more on that in a bit the administration and superintendent do not think it important to meet with parents in advance of eliminating the role of vice principal at our school I regret to inform the board that there is considerable misinformation being provided to you by the administration at the start of this school year the district had eliminated two of the three Middle School teachers that led to both principal brel and vice principal Sarah AG heroically stepping in and teaching classes to make up for the shortfall indeed the ballooning of full-time equivalent expenditures FTE highlighted by Larry Gavin frequently have been mitigated by their constantly stepping in far from cost savings the elimination of the assistant vice president vice principal role will lead to another increase in full-time equivalence and
028increased costs back to the Chinese Mandarin program China refers to itself as the Middle Kingdom does anyone know what their name for the United States is great country very good beautiful country which has always moved me when I when I heard that in her time learning under miss xang our daughter's pronunciation of Mandarin became amazing I spent four years working with Chinese manufacturers traveling back and forth to China and despite daily contact and concerted efforts on my part my pronunciation was Never As Good as hers there's something about doing language acquisition while younger which is so critical to mastering the language further the event M Jang held for Chinese New Year was a beautiful introduction to Chinese culture and arts the beautiful dance program I'll wrap this up by saying the abrupt closing uh first
029off one thing I want to say is that I've never seen a better example of preparing our children for a future than Miz jang's warm gentle and enlightened instruction it's been a beautiful introduction to Chinese culture and language finally the abrupt closing of the Middle School the removal of the Mandarin program removal of our assistant principle with neither consultation or Outreach to our community shows a callous disrespect for our children their academic growth and well-being you are failing our children academically being careless stewards of their finances and don't even have the professionalism to communicate and engage with the community you're paid to serve thank [Applause] you all right uh hey everyone superintendent Turner Bard uh my name is Christopher and I'm here to provide a character reference uh for Sarah Anam graph uh M A
030has been a constant for our family during our three years at Bessie roads uh a rock during a period of great change for a school uh as wonderful as she is though no parent wants to get a call from the assistant principal in the middle of the day much less one about an incident in which their child has become disregulated uh during my previous comments here I've gone out of my way not to mention my own children specifically but uh I'm going to make an exception uh tonight uh it's not uncommon for a child with an ADHD diagnosis to have an adjustment period to a new medication it's not uncommon for a family to have trouble negotiating with an insurance company to secure a proper dosage what is uncommon is the level of care and
031professionalism that Miss AG demonstrated during an incident uh that were it not for her presence could have gone uh much worse uh and I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly thank Miss AG uh for all that she has done not only for my children but for the entire uh Bessie rhods Community I know that wherever she ends up next year she will be an invaluable asset to that community and I'm still holding some hope that there's a chance that that Community could be Bessie rhods thank [Applause] you next we have Doria Han Dustin Clark Jamie Wallace and RT toi okay good evening board members and members of the community my name is dor Han and I'm here on behalf of my mother Miss Jong who taught Mandarin at bissy roads and Abid at King
032Arts to to show support for the Chinese program at d65 Chinese is a vastly different language from languages of Latin origin and because of this it offers offers A New Perspective on things and even a whole other way of thinking the culture is also very different and has so much to offer students in terms of experiences and values the Chinese program contains uh continues to support critical thinking in students and op student perspectives to an entirely different world not only does it enrich their education it provides communication skills and language learning that can be used in the real world students at Bessie roads have sorry students at Bessie roads have been in the past significantly and positively impacted by the Chinese program Miss Jong has worked here for many years and has done her part
033in contributing to the students education in hopes of spreading a communal love for Chinese culture and a passion for language learning among the youth and she takes pride in the work she does here and sharing the huge world of Chinese language and culture um the Chinese program still has so much to offer to all the students at um dist 65 and has already created so many memories and experiences here we hope that the Chinese program can continue to florish and bessi Roads and bring both a scholarly enrichment and diversity to this learning environment and we ask for the support of the community thank [Applause] you hi good afternoon my name's Dustin Clark um I am a resident of Evon as of a couple years ago uh love our community I love where we get to
034live and especially those of us who can uh afford a reasonable lifestyle here so I wanted to say first to the d65 board Administration and faculty thank you for your public service to our community to the students that we have here um over the past few months we've seen a significant volley of negativity disdain and uh discouragement of public service especially at the federal level so it's a hard time to be a public servant I know that because I'm also a public servant for a Transit Agency in our area um I I very much appreciate the work you do the motto we have beside the d65 seal every child every day whatever it takes those are uh that's a terrific motto to live by so residents of the d65 area um understand the board inherited
035and the administration inherited a very challenging uh situation the persistent decline of enrollment and the budgetary situation is particularly daunting again I say that with with experience I manage a very large budget at our Public Transit Agency um it is a very challenging uh position to be picking kind of winners and losers between programs and projects and Investments you want to make and recently the board decided to continue the sac summer camp program at Lincoln Elementary and some form of iteration uh we were excited because we want to send our student there um a future d65 student potentially but we have run into some issues with getting that student registered we prepared an application signed up within two days of it starting we had a dialogue with the uh administrators and now we've been in
036a state of limbo over the last several weeks being told that because we don't have a student that is currently registered we can now suddenly not uh participate in the program and that has not been the case in the years past um this seems to be um either a change in the position of the administration or perhaps a misreading by the project or program administrators so we encourage you to consider opening up that program for any and all residents who pay taxes into our system here we'd love to send our student there um this summer and potentially d65 down the line consider this a lost leader for welcoming new students perspective students into your system consider this the handshake for new community residents such as myself and our family and consider having 9065 students in
037that program and if you need to pass the word down to the administration and clarify that that we've done this in the past we should continue to offer this to all residents please do so thank you [Applause] Jamie Wallace and then R decide um we would like to take this time to yield um our time yeah we'll we'll yield our so we would prefer to um connect with you privately thank you check your email well that concludes the public comments for tonight can allow that yeah raise your hand if there's okay great come on up hi good evening um my name is Rachel brll I am an Evon resident I've lived in Evon since 2015 uh I similar to Dustin um have two students who we would very much like to participate in the um
038in the summer program at Lincoln Elementary we've heard outstanding things about this program we um it it's Unique in the area it offers better coverage it also offers an excellent quality of care and we understand that coming from the district this is something that is really excellent we appreciate the district that we live in but our children are not enrolled in a d65 school we feel that we know other families who were not d65 families who have taken part in this program in the past and appreciated this program and um highly recommended this program we would like our children to be able to partake in this program as well we feel that the responses that we've been given to this point have been um just to push us away and it took a long time
039to get a response and ultimately the response was that because it's considered an extracurricular activity we're not allowed to participate in the program because we're not enrolled in a d65 school to us it seems like something drastically different from something such as being enrolled in a sport or a club this is a summerlong program to improve and service the community and it's an excellent program we're taxpayers in the community we've lived in the community since 2015 and we would really appreciate the opportunity for our children to attend this program similarly we recognize that our current School selection may not be our ultimate School selection and have always kept in mind that we may enroll in d65 and this has left a really awful taste in our mouth um I really appreciate your time and we
040are very interested in this program because we know it is so excellent and we feel as community members that this is something that should be available to us as well thank you very much all right well thank you everybody who participated in public comment as always we're always welcome public comments and critiques and praise and all in between uh the next item up is the Foster School update so I like to invite Kirby he's got three items here Foster School update sap 3 and sdrp update we we don't have any updates tonight on Foster school or on sap 3 um those updates were given at the committee of the whole meeting week yep we we did do this in the committee the whole so for folks who are interested in getting those updates uh please
041check out last last Monday's meeting on Comm the whole to get Foster School update sap 3 update as well as the sdrp update uh next item up is the approval of shoot principle SRP sdrp I'm sorry sdrp I might my apologize good evening um there is a memo that will be added to board book uh for your review but I will read some of the highlights of that memo um so as we know once we uh finished the phase 2 or the phase two reductions were approved on January 27th we immediately began uh the initial planning work on phase three of the sdrp that phase uh will focus on fiscal stability or fiscal sustainability and involves evaluating the feasibility of school consolidations or closures uh phase three is designed to be a thorough and data
042informed process and with that uh we will have Contin Community engagement as well as the formation of subcommittees and the work will be Dev will be divided into three areas Finance facilities and programs um those three key areas facilities will be led by Dr Beardsley with support from Dr first now from Student Center Services uh finance will be led by myself with support from Dr Harkin and then programs will be led by Dr speth with support from both Dr and Dr first now um again each area will be supported by a subcommittee um and we have right now there are applications available on our district website for people to apply to be a part of those subcommittees we've also had members of the school management team Early Childhood team multilingual team and rad teams playing
043a critical role in ensuring a comprehensive and well-informed approach through this um the initial meetings of the subcommittee will be held on Wednesday April 9th at 6 p.m. so we're looking at having all three subc committies formed by that time first meetings at 6 pm on that evening and those meetings will continue biek we bi-weekly for at least four sessions through May some continuing through June depending on the work of the Committees and then with a break over the summer uh so our families can enjoy a summer vacation and then we will resume those meetings in the fall over the next two weeks each subcommittee lead so myself Dr beerle Dr speth will be finalizing key Milestones of the subcommittee work and finalizing those agendas for those upcoming subcommittee meetings as well and we'll continue
044to update the board as uh we work through this process right thank you so much I appreciate that update uh any questions colleagues or comments just a quick question H how many um members are you hoping to recruit for each of the Comm uh committees subcommittees 15 to 20 hopefully 15 to 20 per committee correct okay that's a lot of community members I just have a comment to be as and I'm sure you're already planning this but just to be as communicative as possible make sure it's accessible to the public you know this is going to be really hard for all of us and the people participating and the community and so I know people are continuously asking for transparency and we're going to do it but you know there's almost as long as it's
045not um you know like student identifying or stuff we can't share just as much as we can make public facing is going to be appreciated absolutely yeah I encourage us colleagues uh here at the uh board table here if you can you know reach out to your communities uh your respective School communities um you know your social media groups to kind of share out the information again that is uh information is out there on um The District 65 website uh I know I've shared out a couple of places myself a couple social media spots so again just making sure that we get um just good participation to ensure that we are listening to community and the community dri continues to drive this process any other questions comments great next item up is the resolution abating
046the I'm sorry approval of the shoot principle now we can do it all right so it is with joy and pride that I announc am reman Snider as the next principal of Shute Middle School which will go into effect on July 1st 2025 Miss ran Snider has been a key part of the sh Community since she began teaching language arts and math at sh in 1994 now in her 16th year as an assistant principal and is committed to fostering a culture of collective Excellence I'm grateful for her consistent leadership and I am thrilled to see her step into this new Ro role for the sh Community I know the sh Community is in more than capable hands so please join me in congratulating M Ren [Applause] shider normally and unfortunately Ann couldn't be with us
047tonight but she did write a statement and I just want to read the statement her acceptance statement on the be on behalf I have been a proud District 65 and Sho Community member for the past for the last 31 years years during that time I have had the privilege of working with and learning from my mentor and good friend Jim molland I am honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the next principal of Shute Middle School I want to thank Dr Turner for her trust and confidence in me as I transition to this new role I am excited to continue working alongside the dedicated sh family of Educators and staff to Foster an environment where every student can Thrive I am eager to continue the outstanding work and to contribute to the continued
048growth and success of the shot family thank you again to the school board and Dr Turner for this incredible opportunity and so we salute you again and we know you're out taking care of family business and so we just want to thank you and we're excited to have you as the new principal of shot Middle School wonderful thank you okay so again I just want to extend our on behalf of the board our uh congrat congratulations to Dr R schmeer and the shot Community again she is a veteran um I know my kiddos were able to get through shoot uh and again she's just been an incredible presence there so glad to to hear that she's going to continue doing the incredible work that she does for that Community uh with that we'll go ahead
049with the vote I moved at the Board of Education approve and authorized the board president to sign a contract with Ann ran Schneider to serve as the principal of shot Middle School second h yes Sue yes Salem yes wi yes Kim yes Lindsay Ryan yes Hernandez yes next item up is the resolution abating the working cash fund of the district vote right away you want to just discussion you have to read the motion first I move that the Board of Education adopt the resolution abating the working cash fund of the district in the amount of 915,000 $ second this is the same dollar amount you spoke of at the committee meeting no changes any other comments or questions on this'll take the vote Hil yes Sue yes Salem yes Wilkins yes Kim yes Lindsay Ryan
050yes Hernandez yes next item up as our consent agenda I move that the Board of Education approve the items accept the recommendations outlined in the attached group motion and approve the Personnel appointments leaves and separations February 2025 board meeting minutes gift acceptance for six native trees for Orrington March 2025 bills payable and February 2025 Financial updates second hper yes Sue yes Salem yes Wilkins yes Kim yes Lindsay Ryan yes Hernandez yes next item up is their approval of contracts above 25,000 all right so we've got a few of these we'll do them one at a time um I move that the Board of Education approve the following contract uh sonitrol for safety monitoring systems at $4,525 second hper yes Sue yes Salem yes Wilkins yes Kim yes Lindsay Ryan yes Hernandez yes I move that
051the Board of Education approve the contract for a marriages healthc care staffing temp Staffing for ECC and Family Center at $125,000 second hper yes Sue yes Salem yes Wilkins yes Kim yes Lindsay Ryan yes Hernandez yes I move that the Board of Education approve the following contract for True North Consultants Inc for Planned asbestos abatement activities in the amount of $ following contract for Dr Lindsay seeli for Consulting students with autism spectrum disorder in the amount of $13,500 second hper yes Sue yes Salem yes Wilkins yes Kim yes Lindsay Ryan yes Hernandez yes I move that the Board of Education approve the following contract for spotter staffing temp Staffing for students to fulfill IEP requirements in the amount of $126,000 second hper no Sue yes Salem yes Wilkins yes Kim yes Lindsey Ryan yes Hernandez
052yes I move that the Board of Education approved the following contract for agile bites Inc one password a password manager for staff system in the amount of $32,950 second hper yes Sue yes Salem yes wilin yes Kim yes Lindsay Ryan yes Hernandez yes all right the next item up is The non-renewal Honorable dismissal I move that the board approve the resolution authorizing the non-renewal of administrative contracts and honorable dismissal of administrative staff second hper yes Sue yes Salem yes Wilkins yes Kim yes Lindsay Ryan yes Hernandez yes next item up is the approval of the building use fees fiscal year 26 uh I move at the Board of Education approve the proposed building use fees for FY 26 as proposed and amended policy 8-20 cool so I just had a quick question here um I
053was at the PTA council meeting last week and there were some questions around um if they're exempt from the fees as a class 1a whatever um and uh yeah just we can have some clarity on that please so for groups 1 a and 1B they're exempt from the rental fees but if they're in the buildings beyond our work hours which are stated in the essentially in the memo and agreement so that's beyond our work day um during the summer or the school year then they would pay for the staff required to supervise the building and that would be if it was a late evening event or a weekend event we would then ask that they pay for that custodian who's there supervising because it's additional time beyond the work beyond their contractual day and so
054no rental fees but they would need to pay for the Personnel costs associated with any events outside of the work days that are slated inside of the agreements will there be any is there a plan to have any events exempt like if the PTA wants to host a kindergarten open house or various other PTA act like I guess I'm curious about some like sometimes there's a the line is blurred between a PTA event and a school sponsored event so I guess I'm curious on what that would look look like so our intent here is we do want Community we want to make our buildings available we want our buildings to be available to ptas and other events but we are also trying to make sure that we're as acting in a fiscally responsible Manner and
055so when we do have events on Saturdays that maybe require building access we do have to have custodial staff come in we do have to have them clean and so if it is a the way this is currently written it is if it is a PTA event or if it's a Yu or a fam they're going to pay for the custodial services that are associated for those events outside the day we would love to have them free of any costs during the work days which got during school days are the full work hour so takes that into the evening but weekends when we have to bring people in an additional time is just to cover our expenses and not more and during the week that's like till 9:00 at night right that's correct so really
056on a Friday night or a Thursday night not on a Saturday or Sunday when nobody's there and we also have summer hours listed there so if they did things Monday through Friday during the summer hours that that would be free as well so we're really talking about weekends if it's a like we we have sports that play on weekends correct okay so that would be exempt because it's a school in the Park District it's it for our sporting events that are district directed through the park district that would be free of charge because that is a District 65 sponsored event so the and we have we're work we have to finalize the with the Evon Park District but that would be included if the park district reached out and had a separate had an event
057separate of something that has been generated and directed with the district then that would be a different situation where we would somewh ask for custodial services or that supervision be it a conci or custodial be paid just simply trying to cover the cost of the people that are there for the additional hours okay I'm fine with it I'm I'll vote Yes but I would like us to think about it maybe it's the next board too but maybe there's a certain dollar amount that can be excuse you know $100 credit a year or two whatever for each PTA just to make sure that it's not stopping families from you know if they can't do a week night you know some times Saturdays are great uh hearing from Walker Saturdays are actually not great Sundays might be
058better so just it would be nice to kind of think about that but I'll still vote Yes on this because I think that's something we can always make an amendment toward or you know the board can just look at if we can do some sort of you know threshold for each each building to have no I appreciate you raising that and that's something that we can hold for future cool thank you and we can also monitor to make sure that it's not having an adverse impact that's not exactly right exactly so thank you that's great well I don't know if anybody seconded but I will second Hil yes Sue yes Salem yes wils yes Kim yes lindsy Ryan yes Hernandez yes ask a question for I apologize I um I thought our the gift acceptance
059was going to be a separate um vote and I just want to put something on the record um when we're talking about tree or when we're talking about any donation going to a specific school um the long conversation for the last few you know 10 years around uh Equity cross ptas is thinking about is that something that's being offered to other schools so is there um is there a plan to offer the same option for other schools that also need trees or I and I apologize I missed it on the agenda that's okay um I can pick up on that um so what the sustainability team led by Karen uh Karen Beretta we're working with we're doing a number of different things here we've been working with buildings and grounds as well as natural natural
060habitat evst to essentially build maps of each of our campus to determine where we would benefit from additional trees and where we do not need additional trees and most campuses can benefit from additional trees but only in certain places and trying to make sure that when we put trees in it's the best long-term commitment for the campus and so those maps are being developed and that's allowing us when people we've developed also a regular cycle for donations you need to submit by uh this one was January 31st but it'll be December 31st if you want to plant in the spring and you need to submit by the end of May if you want to plant in the fall it's reviewed and we look at the maps and say is that campus in need of trees
061if they are and it's will guide them on the type of tree and the available locations they're all on the line they select the location we plant if a campus is not in need of trees we would route them to another campus to plant and then additionally n uh natural habitat Evanston and narum have a program available for groups to access free trees for planting to support this so we can also direct schools to that program to support planting in ways that are one lined up with the district needs and two would not cause a finan a significant financial obligation so there are two answers there like one we're monitoring and if we realize that that that we have a school that is in need of trees we would direct people that are interested in
062supporting this from one campus to another to meet the need there may be times where we say we really appreciate it but we actually don't need more trees at this campus and would you consider planting it yeah it's not a quality we don't need trees at every so we're going to monitor and direct folks and then if there are people that are interested there are ways to access this in a lowcost manner to make sure that campuses have what they need great and just for the for the viewing audience right the long the longterm or for the next situation that comes up with gift acceptance the long-term challenge that we were trying to eradicate with some of this policy was that there would be let's say there's unsafe uh uh playground equipment it would get
063removed by the district at four schools because it was unsafe and then two schools would fund raise and pay for its replacement and then two schools would just not have they'd have less equipment right so um for future board or folks that are listening who are board candidates right the the goal with this is always to make sure were're assessing who else would need that thing can that gift be something that is done more broadly not everybody needs the same stuff but because the facilities are all very different but just making sure as board accepts gifts that that that is a consideration so that we make sure that the equity between schools continues to exist so I apologize for not talking about that at the right time I appreciate the question and we're we're working
064on watching it and we'll make sure that if there's something you know it is need-based and then if it does feel like it's not balanced direct folks appropriately going off of that um Dr Beardsley with the I know that was it pep the PTA Equity project they also do their native plant sale as well is that also similarly treated as well as donations to the schools or is it different because it's I am not connected to how are you asking how proceeds are maned the Su of all that goes into the pep fund I don't think it's about it's about individual people buying plants for their own homes but the community works together to do the sale so that every school benefits for reason I thought that yeah there was an opportunity to purchase plants
065for their schools or maybe I didn't think that's what this was I don't recall that being the case this is my first ra year round um but I don't believe that's been the case we definitely have community volunteers and school-based volunteers that sustain native Gardens and we've been working on getting signage up and regular maintenance routines but I don't believe that I don't recall that case Okay pep is in the plant space if you decide that you need plant partnership with our sustainability again my apologies for being out of work thank you no not a problem not a problem if there's ever question we can definitely always go back all right uh next item up and last item up is the approval of the financial audit for fy2 24 for folks who want a little
066bit more detail on that we talked about that at the committee of the whole meeting last Monday so I moved at the Board of Education approve the fy2 24 Financial audit as presented second h yes Sue yes Salem yes wils yes Kim yes lindsy Ryan yes Hernandez yes all right and with no further business I IJ this meeting at 7:24 p.m. everybody have a good night and great rest of the week e e e