D65 Regular Board Meeting

001technical difficulties so apologies for for the late start we are still waiting for one board member who will be here we're just going to give him a few more minutes to see if he can can log on and then we will get started dealing he's saying he has no link - can you send it to him again please yes [Music] and then Adila once you have sent in the new wake if you want to go ahead and do the roll call and hopefully he will be able to join us momentarily okay I'll go ahead and take no call at 7:22 p.m. Hernandez Lindsay Ryan here Mendoza here Tania moody here no help will come back Kim sorry yeah kartha yeah help earn yeah all right glad you were able to join us Joey Wow that

002you know that's the that's zoom for you and it wouldn't be a good zoom meeting without some technical difficulties for joining us for our final board meeting of this school year and what a year it has been we'll start off with Sergey I believe you have the approval of the meeting agenda a new amount of Education improve tonight's meeting agenda as presented Hernandez Ryan yes Mendoza yes Tanya booty yes help him yes Kim yes Cardinal yes next on the agenda is some board and then superintendent comments and I'm going to I actually have a number of comments that I would like to share this evening and first of all I just want to recognize the incredible work this past year of our interim superintendents who was supposed to be a year preparing for a leadership

003transition ended up being so much more unpredictable and involved than any of us had anticipated and Heidi and Phil you both embraced this district and community as leaders that is intern leaders just as our leaders and although you would never work with each other before your entry into the district as a team was so seamless and you so quickly recognized the talent that we have and embrace the problem yet identified and you provided us with the brave professional in steadfast leadership during a time of such as upheaval for our students our staff our board you provided this board with guidance and mentorship through the superintendent search process and and that is really just the tip of the iceberg of the enormous work that you've done for this district I know I personally will never be

004able to express enough how grateful I am to both of you to have been thought partners with you over this last year you truly were a gift to us and I know that you will be a gift either individually or hopefully again there's a team because I think you really are a formidable team to any other district to find themselves in need of interim leadership so so from the bottom of my heart thank you to both of you and I just want to open it up to my board colleagues if anybody has anything they want to add so if you arrogant I just wanted to take the time also I echo all of us Sunnis praise you guys have been incredible to in helping us transition from once we put them into another and again

005I appreciate the time that we lost them together talking and helping us strengthen and build our relationships across a district between the cabinet and the board between the community and the board hear our concerns about making sure that we're communicating with all stakeholders and then will you get communications in order to be able to communicate effectively with stakeholders across the district so again thank you for for the incredible work ID in a field that you've done and we're gonna miss you for sure and also looking forward to them in our demo on taking leadership in this district and so excited about his framework I think that's gonna help us move forward and you've set him up for that and you said I'm Oprah success you've set up set us up for success so thank you

006I also want to thank Joaquin Stevenson who's gonna be leaving our district and his leadership around the racial equity work I wish him luck in his new position and again looking forward again this work will continue on without him but he's done some incredible work with the cabinet and again trying to find ways to engage stakeholders across the district so that those are my contacts some other comments but I'll probably speak up sadly after your say your comments Unni anybody else yeah I was just like - I feel like y'all have thoroughly covered so much so thank you for keeping that up Hardy and Phil has just been a pleasure so to work with you all and I really been impressed with the professionalism the expertise that you all brought to us but also the

007heart that you brought to us you operated in a manner that you clearly have us in your heart and mind and we're truly an incredible team the two of you all together and to the rest of us and um yeah it's it's sad to say farewell and but we're also so excited for for what's next so thank you all Rebecca so I wanted to take a moment to just express how fortunate we were to have two individuals that are just you know total a18 players I feel really fortunate to have witnessed two just incredible superintendents bring their best and I think for for me it was just like having you know someone like Michael Jordan working for us and to be able to really witness somebody who just gave their gave their all and just

008brought an incredible amount of dedication it wasn't it wasn't just interim work it was really joining us in our path and what we're doing at our school district but I just I took great joy and watching you watching you work and learning from you and just thank you thank you so much you're gonna be you're gonna be missed yeah for sure anybody else want to add anything I'll just say as the newest member of the board I did not get to work with you quite as long but even in my brief time with you I could sense your deep expertise and your passion for this work and I learned in just the few board meetings that I was part of so I appreciate what you've done this year and even though I didn't get to

009work with you I I - we'll miss you thank you all right I think this is Joey and I think that the looking back it was really hard for us as a board to know what we needed out of the superintendent role as we began the transition and he brought stability right away as a bridge to Heidi and Phil and I don't know how you could read the evidence in 65 community and know what we needed to bring it to to the office into the district leadership wise but yeah you read a community right and you took great steps they weren't all easy steps to take and we really really appreciate your leadership your modeling and the care that you took of the community as if it was your own so thank you and just

010to echo what we needed was unflappable and you all delivered it every single time when things felt chaotic or totally unprecedented you all just like stayed the course and helped us problem solve and it was incredible as we you know try to go through situations that none of us could have anticipated your steady presence I think gave all of us the room to breathe and do what we needed to do and so I'm you know starting out on the board and I'm very grateful for you didn't bring me puppies Heidi I asked for puppies but otherwise grateful for all that you did to steward us through thank you agreed you think they've been here for a year but you have definitely made an impact on this board and on our community so thank you very

011much I just wanted I had some other some other remarks that I had prepared because we're also going to be doing a later in the meeting we will be doing our board reorganization and so in advance of that I wanted to share a few few remarks at the risk of sounding cliche the last three years serving as president of the district 65 Board of Education have been simultaneously the most challenging sometimes it was frustrating and without question the most rewarding experience of my professional life and I just wanted to take a few moments to celebrate some of what we have accomplished over the last three years during this time we took the district stated commitment to equity to the next level adopting a comprehensive racial equity policy making racial equity trainings a mandatory requirement for

012employment in this district or for serving on this board in formalizing through policy the use of a racial equity impact assessment tool for all board level decision-making we also encouraged and supported our administrators in making racial equity trainings available to our community partners and parents which I believe it had been instrumental in moving forward some long-needed equity conversations within our district such as conversations being facilitated by the PTA equity project as well as an increasing support for and reducing opposition to much-needed equity measures in our larger community such as the City Council vote in favor of reparations we use the findings of a racial equity audit to take action on eliminating tracking in eighth grade algebra and to enhance our capacity to serve spanish-speaking emergent bilinguals and tweed classrooms we expanded our gender policy to

013be more inclusive of students and staff who identify as non-binary and albeit not without some timing issues set in motion the creation of students and staff administrative procedures to better support our gender expansive community we revamped our dress code policy largely in response to calls from our students highlighting the racial disparities and enforcement and we rewrote our discipline policy to reflect our commitment to restorative practices and to ending the school to Prison Pipeline something that feels particularly particularly resonant in this moment we pushed for a rethinking of the SRO relationship with the Evanston Police Department so limited to an adult based relationship focused on true emergency planning while we urged our administrative team to provide altar of supports for students in crisis which led to increasing the number of school-based staff traced India trained in

014de-escalation techniques in the creation of school and district response teams to provide developmentally appropriate supports to students in crisis using collaborative interest based bargaining we negotiated two long-term contracts with our largest collective bargaining units educators and paraprofessionals that honor the work and expertise that they bring to their jobs every day while staying within the district's reasonable financial projections or at least they were reasonable before kovat nineteen kind of upended everything and as an extra bonus I'm told that this was the first time in many many years that bargaining successfully concluded prior to the end of the school year we have worked with in the Finance Committee and with the business office to adopt a racial equity loans and budgeting so that we can preserve our referendum dollars and plan for long term financial stability while

015maintaining our commitment to enhancing the experience of our black and brown students and to reducing the gap an opportunity to achieve then we oversaw an expansive and inclusive superintendent search process that engaged over 1,000 community and staff members model the use of a racial equity lens and resulted in our hire of a dynamic passionate and bold leader whose values experience and vision are exactly what we need to help us reach this boards and our community's goals of creating safe inclusive equitable schools that support the learning and growth of our students and eliminate the racial predictability and student outcomes oh yeah and by the way there was also pandemic in there that we had to pursue to plan and adjust for that's important as it is to celebrate our accomplishments and I know that there are

016certainly many that I forgot to mention these remarks would have been way too long if I tried to list everything it was also important to understand that there is still much work to do especially at this moment in time when many of us are attending rallies and wearing t-shirts or holding signs that emphatically proclaimed that black lives matter we need to reflect on what we are doing to give those word mean if those words meaning so that they are more than just words each one of us has a role in dismantling anti-black institutional racism and for black lives to matter in our schools we must Center the needs of black children and families to my board colleagues we must reflect on how we adopt policy on whose voices we hear and how we ensure that

017we are not implementing policy directed at historically marginalized marginalized groups but rather are including those groups in the planning for our administrators and staff this means reflecting every day on how our biases and former practices continuing to use the racial equity impact assessment tool as a check against those biases and authentically inviting the expertise of each other as colleagues and collaborators always keeping the academic and social/emotional needs of students particularly black students at the center for our union leadership teams this means reflecting on the important historical role that unions have played and bringing about change but also in hindering it so that your organization's can lean into the former and honestly scrutinize the ladder and for our parents this means reflecting on how we advocate for our children and recognizing that being anti-racist means accepting

018the programs and practices that our data proves to us is harming black and brown students must be changed even if we perceive those programs and practices as benefiting our own children and I do just want to give a special recognition and thanks to our students who really do regularly show us how amazing they are from the concerning foster performance a few months ago to the rallies and discussions that young people are organizing right now and I mean literally right now cuz I think there's a fundraiser that some recent et HS grads have organized for this evening but the things that they're doing to support black lives and advocate for police reforms now they are showing up and they are giving me hope and inspiring me to do better every day I encourage our board and

019our incoming superintendent I really think intentionally this year of how we can engage these young voices in our anti-racist work I stepped down tonight as board president feeling grateful to worked alongside this most amazing group of board colleagues working with all of you these last three years has been such an incredible experience and I cannot risk express how remarkable a group of people you all are and how extraordinary it is to think about all that we have accomplished together none of this would have been possible without each one of you I'm so grateful to be able to continue this work with you for at least another year and I am so grateful and honored to have shared this leadership journey with Anya Tania vooodi one of the most intelligent compassionate and forceful advocates I have

020ever worked with her support of me as well as her challenging me when my ideas and assumptions needed to be challenged made me a better leader and I can think of no better time than right now when our community needs strong Black Voices to guide our work to be welcoming one of the best is our new board president I know our board and district will continue to do great things under her leadership thank you thank you did we have any other board comments I think there do you said you had yes I did I just wanted to stay the currents in English and Spanish so I'll start off with that it would be English oh so as you know you know we've had these protests as much-needed protests around the racism in the society and

021but one of the most troubling aspects and the recent protest is the emergence of historical tensions between the black and brown community and specifically the violent attacks on black people by Latin X gangs in Chicago these tensions between our communities arise from fear and distrust sold by a shared history of colonialism and living in a racist capitalist society that continues to exploit us our two communities have been terrorized by local police and federal police in the form of the FBI CIA and ice when we have tried to organize for better social and economic conditions in our communities and in our home countries whether that next community the CIA using our home countries to destabilize our economies continue the exploitation and extraction of our natural resources first many of us to migrate here in order to

022face the same exploitation to benefit the Society's insatiable consumption habits in the black and linux communities the FBI and CIA local police had and continue to terrorize destabilize and demonize grassroots and social movements we're fought for equity social justice and human dignity these struggles have always ended in the death of brilliant black and brown leaders like Fred Hampton and Rudy Lozano or the discrediting of the immunization of their brilliance such as in the cases of Angela Davis and the lordís website so when we release history I'm here to one condemn any attacks for my community against any black person and also publicly commit myself as a rat next public official to do whatever I can to ensure that black lives matter I would like to invite my Latin ex colleagues and neighbors to explore our

023own and pissed bias and internalize colonialism that manifests itself in the discrimination against their black and indigenous Latin ex brothers and sisters and our african-american American brothers and sisters from existing district racial equity trainings I would also like to invite black colleagues and neighbors to dialogue with Latin ex neighbors and colleagues and discuss the history of our unique struggles in order to build our power and find a way for the Latin s community in Evanston and more short to support our black sisters and brothers in the struggle community members who are tired of statements and are ready to act now for transformative change let's talk to our children about the kind of world they would like to inherit from us and what it would take to create a new system in world I asked my

024other son Matias a rising sophomore at HHS and he had this to say stop consuming things from begins to industries or corporations when the when the consumer stop consuming the producers will fade this also includes mainstream media stop watching news all the time and get different to the news from different sources number to support smaller local owned businesses and specifically businesses run by people of color like barber shops street vendors corner stores and strength etc canet then help people out be active in your community try and start your own business and advocate from food medical needs an education that incorporates more mental health or how people that want help but don't sacrifice perso yourself too much make sure you make sure you are stable and mentally healthy yourself then have fun and don't get carried

025away here demand justice for George Briana and the modern and the countless other folks who have been persecuted and murdered by the IRA police si se puede suspected coupon season at the Cintas protesters s and so he mental attention as historic as until a communion agree Martina his Pacifica meant a loss attack his billandkaz contractors las personas megaspore Carter has pandyas la fenix in Chicago s testing she owned a center in OSS comunidades suit in the nearly they were as conscientious embarrassed una historia con parte de the culinary : Ali's mo he said Agra ceased a capitalistic a continued Expo Tondo knows no estas dis comunidades an sido tear or Asada's por la policia local call sia fidella ffe say ice cuando tratamos revenues are no estaba en las condiciones sociology economicus a no es

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027como frog hunt any ruie Lozano demonisation the subra campus kimonos castles and color Ella Davis you know Laura sweater yah-yah-yah sistema indomie home and la segunda th's compartir o los dientes de consumed in cosas de grandes induced SE corporaciones consume and consume it Vance include a loss principal Hermes de comunicación cave a Honda verno note noticias con el tiempo y boost ender Mario's cuentas de información numero Rosa a las Empress's locales y specific Ament alas empresa de Diez poor personas de couleur connect 8a y lu de a las personas apple aquarius a vendor or a samuel antes tiendas de skin etc say active when tucamoa dad young trent a comienza to proprio negocio mucho para lucha para a alimentos necesidades medica see me Lucas yonke habla Monsieur de salud mint Argos cuatro y las personas

028que quiero personas que no tiene you de ya Segura que tu estas s table meant are meant a here's a llevar justicia para George Boyd Briana coach Roy be honor Briana llamada seasick poison Thank You Sergio any other board comments yes I I have a comment so uh thank you for for sharing that said heal my comment tonight is a comment of appreciation and gratitude for our community so we have possibly endured as a collective one of the most challenging and unpair mentok events of our lives I think we could all agree and I have to say that I'm just incredibly proud of this community and how we come together to support our families our community members and I wanted to just take a moment to express my gratitude to the countless organizations in our

029community that have helped during the pandemic meet the needs of the of koban 19 and so that goes to individuals established organizations but I think more so to the organizations that came up as a response to all all of the in the needs that our community had during the last 90 days and then some so I'm not going to name them all but I just wanted to thank one community for their patience and for their their trust in us as a school district to know that we were working around the clock for many hours trying to really meet the demands of online learning and the demands of the pandemic but also just the the countless community members that have stepped up to help with assisting their neighbors for countless needs that have come up in

030our community and I just I'm incredibly proud to be part of this district 65 board but more so the the of instant skokie community so thank you for all of the help that you you've extended to our our youth and our families the organizations that have that have stepped up and I just implore all of us to to keep at it because we're gonna wear this this rides not over and so the with the same spirit of community that we that I feel right now in this meeting I just I hope that what's going to be presented this evening that that we continue that collaborative nature and that I'd also just wanted to thank you so me for your leadership for the amount of time I don't think people understand just how much time it

031takes to be a school board president and you just have really amazed me in your you know the time that you give and really the dedication and the passion that you bring to your to your position that's you know sort of like a full-time job so I wanted to say thank you for being a great leader and again thank you to the community for for getting us through and we still have so much more to go so that's that's my comment for this evening Thank You Rebecca anybody else we will move Ilyn Heidi did you have the Intendant update that you wanted to give us yes we'd like to do that Heidi and I would like to spend just a couple brief moments sharing with you our experiences over the years Heidi and I a

032super-dense have been called a lot of different names but to be mentioned with Michael Jordan is quite flattering so thank you for that was outstanding with that as well you know the gave us two main goals to put in place and one of those was to move the district forward based on the seven parties and then secondly a goal which was extremely important was to develop and implement a plan for a smooth transition for the new superintendent and to make sure that that person would be fully prepared for that given the combined 85 years of experience that Heidi and I have as educators this year stands out as being very unique we of course had the pandemic and moved to remote learning and then most recently as some of you have mentioned this evening with

033the anti-racist movement going on in Evanston state national and now it's even gone global is another one too that makes it very unique we'd like to thank the board for their support the cabinet to staff and the community for making decisions based on one key thing what is the best interest of students and that's the bottom line with that as well the future I think is very bright for district 65 SUNY the leadership the compassion the grace that you have exhibited as serving as board president is exemplary on you you have big shoes to fill but we are confident you will be able to do that in a great manner to follow along with that as well lastly with dr. Horton he's already made a very significant and positive impact on not just our school

034district but also on our community as well Heidi and I both share I think the purpose of Education in the best way that we could encapsulate that is a quote from dr. Martin Luther King the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically intelligence plus character that's the goal of Education again thank you very much it's been an honor and a privilege for us to serve the students the staff and also the board and the families of district 65 Heidi you have a few words that you'd like to say as well you know what thank you so we have definitely found it to be an honor and a privilege to serve in the role of interim superintendent in Evanston Skokie school district 65 this has been a year to

035remember as the district has faced some unprecedented challenges I think one of our favorite gifts was being able to witness the joy that students and staff experienced together as they fully engage in the learning process in our classrooms and we just can't wait to welcome all of our students and staff back to their second home their schools we wish to express such sincere gratitude to this Board of Education to the amazing administrators and faculty and staff that we've had a chance to work alongside our community partners have been amazing and as phil has said our families are truly wonderful and I feel that everyone has come together this year to provide learning and safety for our students students across our globe and in our local community they count on having effective schools paramount to us

036this year in in this role has been our commitment to ensuring student learning and safety leading racial and gender equity strengthening community partnerships and creating practices for accountability and increased communication as we look ahead towards the new school year we have every confidence in dr. Hortons leadership I cannot tell you what a pleasure it has been for us to see him throughout this transition be visionary and and completely engaged in the process of ensuring that we will systematically improve student learning outcomes and experiences in each of our schools all of you have become our educational family and we wish you well as you move forward we know that you will have the courage and the resolve to face the issues of tomorrow and we will truly miss being a part of this extraordinary school district

037Thank You summer for our district updates we have the night too one of those is to give you an update and Stacey if you could do that for us to talk about the summing summer learning experiences that we are providing our students so really I'm following up and just sharing the summer enrichment information that we have everything that I am saying tonight is available in the district 65 website and there's a tab on the front page for summer enrichment as far as summer enrichment this summer it was important for us to provide a number of different things I'm one we are continuing to run our targeted programs for students that are not yet at grade level with a primary focus and on our youngest learners our students rising to k1 and to all of our

038district run academic programs our remote this year and we're just launched today there's intention to keep it close to the end of the school year to help families maintain routine and those programs are focused on students with I EPS second language learners and then just students as I said in our primary grades that are not yet at grade level and we're interested in accelerating those learning learning opportunities in order to have students being the best position for their return to school additionally we work to provide opportunities that families could access on an ongoing basis throughout the summer because we know clearly the they move to remote learning in the spring has left families seeking ongoing learning opportunities we are are web-based learning tools including st math Lexia newsela i excel all of them are remaining

039open to families through August 7th and so students can continue to move forward progressing in the customized learning both ice station newsela I Excel all adapt using Diagnostics so they adjust to meet the needs of students exactly where they are so we do encourage families to continue using those tools additionally we have a partnership with the Anniston public library they of course are running their summer reading program dig deeper we're encouraging people to go and sign up and everything is available remotely and online this year they have learning platform where students can be tracking their learning and we will continue to celebrate learning with Evanston Public Library our librarians also issued their bingo boards and we'll be doing real Aloud's throughout the summer encouraging summer reading in partnership with Evanston Public Library we really are

040trying to consolidate our efforts there and get kids reading as much as possible we know you know there are a couple really pieces of important pieces of information the amount of time students spend in independent reading outside of school is the best predictor of reading achievement period and a 1988 study and there's a load of other information out there so at a minimum taking advantage of the virtual resources both through district 65 and Evanston Public Library to keep us in books learning about the world is an incredible way to go I mean you'll find those resources again on the district 65 website additionally we did put out a June enrichment board and you'll see the enrichment board is focused on pre-k 2 to 3 to 5 and middle school and reaches into the arts and

041enrichment opportunities as well as stem and literacy the board does indicate whether an adult is potentially needed to support accessing that learning or whether students can engage in it independently and there's some incredible resources out of it on there including some of Joe boulders you cubed resources Smithsonian resources virtual field trips so again we encourage people those are there we're curating them we'll publish another board a beginning of July and another one in August in order to keep kind of curating and putting out opportunities that I think families and students will find engaging and fun and really connect it across disciplines for students and then the last thing learning related is to continue to watch the el3 pourer Parent Portal as well as student portal because our partners are putting up summer programming there and

042that is where we will see some of the virtual opportunities from the yiou others going up within the community that students have the opportunity to access as well connected to that we did make the decision to leave all of the technology that we have distributed since March 13th within the community so that students could continue to access remote summer learning as well as all of our partners activities throughout the summer and so that for us is 1,200 devices in addition to the sixth and seventh grade iPad so really well over 2,500 devices and 400 hotspots in the community to allow families to stay connected continue to do the learning through learning systems access Evanston Public Library resources as well as our summer programming we did extend finally our technology service hours as well and so

043families will continue to have tech support in English and Spanish throughout the summer and the hours and access for that is available again on the website and the last thing that we did make available on the website was access to mindfulness and social-emotional learning opportunities because we you know the ability to be able to connect how kids and adults make sense of the experiences that we're in and keep working on self-regulation and navigation in these difficult times is really really important and so we really encourage families where possible to access these opportunities and if there's feedback or additional things we can do to be supportive to please reach out so thank you safety thank you very much for providing all those resources with you and your staff to give students continued learning during the summer

044time which is even more important this summer with the learning depth that is occurring with that too so thank you we really appreciate families for everything they're doing right now to keep kids connected and everything they have done to get us to this point so thank you to the families for all the work they've done great point the second item e1 talked about tonight board is give you an update on what we're planning for the return to school we started this process about six weeks ago and then as dr. Horton has been transitioning in he has taken the baton and sprinted forward with it which has been great so he'd like to give you just a brief overview what the process is going to look like and I believe the first meeting is tomorrow for

045the kickoff right dr. Horton yes thanks thanks Phil absolutely I think more than anything it was really important and what's exciting about the city and Evanston and Skokie is that you guys are in front of this state and then you're ready to say I really believe and this is showing more like in it's better than any other time that the students do not fail it's the social structures that we as adults create that fill our students and that's what's happening right now and we want to be sure it's we embark on a return to school plan or we include and involve key stakeholders across but not just the district but the city of Evanston so with our team with led by although I mean all of us are really chipping in heavy we have reached

046out to roughly over 60 community members parents all union representation some clergy in addition to special education supports any organization that's in our community our parents we have invited constituents to be a part of this this large return to school task force this taskforce will convene for the first time tomorrow and we are I just want to say thank you to everyone who has committed their time we're asking for quite a bit of your time over the next five to six weeks where we will plan and we will actually address building out four different options we are currently in a state of where we don't know what it's going to look like when we return to school we don't know if we're gonna return earlier on the time that we have scheduled or even later

047but this task force will play a major role in bringing recommendations toward to the board so that we can decide whatever choice we make that we have a viable plan that has 100 percent the community voice involved in it so a dealer can you is it can you pull that out the different options and I'll just talk through really quickly all right as you can see here and you'll learn more about this this is we're starting with the different options and in the potential calendar implementation so option a to open schools with no contact limiting we understand that this option is probably not going to happen in the fall but when it happens we want to be fully prepared for that option B schools open with significant safety hygiene and social distancing the school day

048will look very different in order to adhere to establish safety guidelines new procedures may include a staggered schedule hybrid of in-person and remote instruction social distancing in classrooms no large gatherings arrival dismissal scheduled and thorough hygiene measures option C school opens for some students and staff with significant safety hygiene and social distancing I just want to say thank you to everyone who has completed our survey so far we've had great responses and this option was really generated from the responses from our survey concerned about our marginalized students who may not be benefiting from the current remote structure and we want to be sure that we have options in the fall that are viable and that are effective this option is a hybrid of remote and in-person instruction that may prioritize the return of students based

049on age academic standing access to resources and care at home and other unique needs not the unique needs really falls into the category of SEL food support mental health all of those other areas that are so important option D schools remain closed and remote learning continues with feedback from educators students and Families we continue to refine and strengthen our current approach to provide equitable and sustained twenty experiences for all you've heard me mention the fact that we must look in the mirror district 65 this team and our staff we've looked in the mirror and we know there's a lot of hard work that has been put in but we also are expecting to to do this better the country was hit with the pandemic out of nowhere and so we had to create something that

050was viable and it made sense but now we know there's time for us to put all of the structures in place for this to be effective and of course ski is a new calendar if it's implemented and then any out of any one of these options a new attendance calendar could be adopted by the district and just within just with a new timeline this will require stakeholder collaboration which we are engaging in now so a dealer here's where we are and we talked about convening return to to the task to school task force comprised of educator staff administrators parents and community partners representation from all bargaining units we are fully vested in hearing the voices of law as we plan for something that we have no one has the answer to and we are going

051to fully open to what those decisions will look like again our goal is to not allow our students to fail and definitely not creating structures that we create socially that allowed them to do that so thank you thank you so much both to Stacey and dr. Horton for those updates you know in front they just the incredible amount of work I mean I'm especially so excited to hear about what's being offered over the summer that's a really an incredible amount of resources that the district is making available and so I really encourage parents to take advantage of it with their students over the summer um and again dr. Horton thank you for all of your work I know that there's we've been receiving some emails and I know people are anxious to know what the

052fall is going to look like I think we are all anxious to the ball is going to look like though we also know that these are things that we're gonna require a great deal of thought and you know varying perspectives so I appreciate the the thoughtfulness of which you are approaching this I know that we will be keeping you know state mandates and public health guidance certainly at the at the forefront and making sure that everything comports with those and you know just the the needs of students so thank you next on our agenda I believe is public comments and I know we have a few so members of the public wishing to provide a comment to be read at tonight's board meeting we're asked to email the board secretary by 4:00 p.m. this afternoon

053due to the governor's order the district 6500 Board of Education will be conducting virtual board meetings and adjusting the method of public comments as allowed by the public access councilor during the current state of emergency so Adila if you can unmute yourself and lead the first of the several statements that we have the first statement we have is from John Frye and Emily Lieber they say dear district 65 school board members as parents of a district 65 student and regular voters in local elections for the past 10 years we strongly urge the school board to resume normal operations for elementary and middle schools in the fall of 2020 according to the normal schedule with increased emphasis on hand washing and sanitizing playground equipment and other high-touch areas Cobin 19 does not target young children in

054fact 93% of those who have died from it or aged 55 or older and recently improved vitality rate estimates our estimates are closer to 25 percent or 0.25 percent which is not much different than the common flu we absolutely should be taking measures to protect and isolate the elderly and other more vulnerable members of our community however continuing the recent elementary school closures would unfairly deprive our children of precious educational and social skills social skills development time in the most formative period of their lives this impact is even worse for members of our local minority community and others who are disadvantaged in their access to computers and high-speed Internet furthermore recent school closures have inflicted undue stress upon working families across this area whose ability to work and what food on the table depends on

055our schools being open we fully support the eight principles put forward by President Obama and my brother's keeper your organization intended to stop these brutality and we feel strongly that this is not the moment to hurt these communities even more by depriving these children of their right to a public education we love and commend our district 65 teachers and administrators for their exceptional efforts to provide online educational tools for our kids during the past two and a half months however despite their efforts to adapt to the rules and post on them online education is simply not effective for elementary school-age children at this age kids lose interest in the online format after 20 to 30 minutes this format simply does not allow our teachers to give kids the attention they need and deserve an excessive

056screen time and related brain effects was already a problem from kid for kindergartners and first-graders before adding this to their day we understand why the Board decided to close schools based on the uncertain and sometimes misleading information we had available back in March however the facts are clear now and fatality rates are much lower than originally thought people need companionship and face-to-face interactions with other with other people and therefore it is simply not healthy to continue isolating our communities kids any longer like we did after 9/11 20 2001 we must fight to continue our way of life and ensure that our community's children are not left behind sincerely John Frye and Emily Weaver and we have another comment the next comment is from Jackie Lowell she writes thank you to the board and to Romy

057DeCristofaro for your in-depth dive into the data that revealed racial inequities and special education at the May 18th board meeting this resonated with me as a white parent and as a parent with a child with disabilities one would have to be callous not to be deeply saddened by the data presented that showed the significant lack of access to gen ed classrooms and curriculums for black and Latin X children with IEP s compared to white students with IPS and the over-identification of black children in the special education categories of intellectual disorder and emotional disorder and the over-identification of Latin X children in the category of language disorder I appreciated the context in which the data was presented wrong I explicitly spoke of system systemic responsibility for these problems I have been disturbed by several conversations critical

058of the discussion at the May 18 court meeting I have heard comments critical of the board calling their warning offensive and divisive this is that is a misrepresentation of the discussion I appreciated that the board was in full support of Romy DeCristofaro recommendations I also appreciated that the board asked that there be action taken to address the alarming racial disparities that we saw in the data that was presented the board refused to ignore those disparities or the children impacted by them members of the board used the terms white supremacy an opportunity hoarding I asked why are these seen as offensive and divisive terms I don't know another term besides white supremacy for a system that for its entire existence benefits white children and not black and Latino X children and if you don't call what

059that white supremacy please dig deep and ask what you do attribute racial disparities to if you if your answer is culture low-income families or children theirs also a term for that it's racist police I reject the idea that this data tells us that white kids with high EPS are more worthy of inclusion and academic rigor than black and Latin X kids instead let's understand that racial disparity spirit data is caused by an inequitable system that serves white kids better than it serves black and Latin X kids as parents we need to be aware of the big picture though I know that's hard especially for those of us with children with disabilities and that is why I appreciate Romy's comments that the district will distribute resources equitably and audit the evaluation process the diagnosis of black

060and Lenox his students I want to close by thanking the board and Romy did Christopher again what I heard on May 18th was the district 65 admin and board members support of Romy's proposed changes I heard them acknowledge their role in racial disparities in diagnosis and lack of inclusiveness for black and Latin X children with disabilities I heard them discuss solutions to better identify the true needs of students that is exactly what I would want if my children with true disability disabilities were not being offered the same level of inclusiveness or if they were being misdiagnosed with disabilities because it reflects our community values of equity and justice best Jacki low our next comment is from Evanston aid states dear district 65 board and administration thank you for the statements that you released to stand

061in solidarity with black lives matter last week your commitments to protect our black and brown children with a deep look to addressing institutional racism rudin and policy at district 65 thank you for taking the time to provide information regarding how race currently impacts children of color in district 65 it is our understanding that with the current tracking policy in place that one out of a hundred black students make it to accelerated given this information if this is the impact by race then why perpetuate a narrative that continues to harm our black and brown children a narrative that perpetuates the identities of inferiority and superiority that are playing out right now in our nation we also want to acknowledge and realize that there may be some concern about making a permanent decision to detract math at

062the last board meeting without the full input of our community we simply ask do we have a public comment went into dismantling racist practices do we have time for years of hard work by educators committed to anti racism getting drowned and overpowered by white supremacy and opportunity hoarding if we know that tracking has a racist impact and that our educators are equipped to serve all students in a differentiated model what stops us from ending this right now how will you continue to support teachers so that they can provide high quality instruction for our most marginalized students how will your plan continue to build support for educators for anti-racist teaching why allow the public to pick away at this decision over the next year for educators to have uncertainty about the future of 6th grade math

063for another year and for the opportunity for a racist backlash to rise is this a setup for our educators our administrators and our new black superintendent at this moment this town would not debate the worthiness of a Confederate Monument why are we debating the worthiness of a racist tracking system our children deserve better and our community deserves better if each of you as a board and administration has a belief that math tracking is racist the question remains than why we are asking you what side of history will you be on in a community Evanston aid our next comment is from Donna Wayne sue she reads according to recently done sorry let me start over according to the recent May 29th email accelerated math for the middle schools for sixth seventh grade math option has been

064discontinued for the 2020 twenty one year given the consideration that this was a recent decision for several factors there was no prior communication to parents about changing the middle school math curriculum fifth grade teachers were not made aware of this change until one week before the email announcement which has led which has led to a lack of transparency between the district and families citing an inequity for students up until the May 29th a male the language on the website and from the district indicated that there would be there there would still be a math acceleration process when parents asked about it it would be appreciated if there was more clarification about the process the reasoning behind the process for this change and how the funds from this change are going to be channeled there is

065mention of the new curricular materials however there isn't clarity around why this new curriculum material is being chosen was there something wrong with the current format and instead of making a drastic blanket change that affects all middle schoolers in district 65 why can't things be done in incremental ways based on the June 1st meeting it was stated that it is still possible for an incoming 9th grader to be able to enroll in advanced algebra 2 at HHS how is this possible or slated what does district 65 plan to do to achieve this in discussion with some of the district ro2 school board members they were not aware of this change in which the May 29th email states we are working in collaboration with middle school math teachers building administrators and district 202 to strengthen our

066math classrooms to fully engage challenged and accelerate students in their next sequential math class assignment some concerns and questions include does district 65 participate in the Illinois accelerated placement act if yes is it possible to share that historical data as well health buttons are stunned is it possible to share the breakdown of students and middle schools shoot Haven nickels that were in 67 or math or numbers in general how many children in advanced math 20 or sorry in advance not 20 we're in 6 7 math out of 6th graders is it possible to break the percentage of those in 67 math out for each sixth grade population what tracks a success for those 6 7 math speaking with 8 alumni that took the 6th 7th math in district 65 middle school they all talk about

067the benefits and resources that were provided to them a hundred percent of those eight alumni identify as black with three of them female share that that was one of the most beneficial experiences not in middle school for themselves does the magnet schools provide different opportunity for their students or are they also going to be under the same adjustment Donna will follow up with a FOIA request for all this information as well just as other curricular changes have based understanding their needs to be clarity behind this curriculum change with time dedicated to transition and support Thank You Donna wangster and we have one last statement from Meg Curley who is the president of the district 65 educators councils representing over 750 educators she identifies as cisgender white female and pronouns are she her hers meg states

068she would like to address the board this evening about permanently eliminating the tracking of middle school students in math in despite the best intentions a book that has been shared and discussed throughout the district and community the authors write tracking is and has always been deeply racialized the mechanisms that distribute students to different course levels may have shifted over time but the structure itself has always had stratifying effects abundant research recent research shows that trapping has significant negative consequences for equity exasperatingly and class learning gaps there are abundant empirical moral ethical and ethical grounds for questioning the continued use of this practice as a union we want to be clear tracking perpetuates institutional racism as resolved by our National Union organization the National Education Association supports the elimination of such ability groupings NEA believes that

069the use of discriminatory academic tracking based on economic status ethnicity race or gender must be eliminated in all public school settings D tracking is also supported by the National Council of teachers of mathematics we have linked these and other resources at the bottom of this statement the statement will be shared and made public on the packet as well in 2017 when to be tracking for eighth grade math was approved by the board one of the reasons for the change was because the racial makeup of the students and the accelerated math program did not match the racial makeup of the district white students were over-represented and black and latina students were underrepresented in reports following that decision to detract data showed the positive impact for black students female students and students in the lower quartiles of

070standardized testing so we are asking now what steps need to be taken to make this a permanent decision for our students in sixth and seventh grade in addition we have some other questions for the board how does tracking and math align with the racial and equity educational equity statement of our district whose priorities are being centered by not making this decision now how does waiting to make this decision protect comfort and tradition instead of advancing equity for students of color which students will be most harmed by this delay as you think of who is being centered are protected or harmed we would ask you to isolate race in your responses in 2017 the board voted 5 to 1 in favor of detracting 8th grade math we believe that board was right in this decision and

071in 2020 d tracking map is still the correct path for our students especially our black and Latin X students we support the work that is happening this year and we would like to see the board commit to making this permanent as possible as soon as possible as educators we want all of our students to be successful we are committed to challenging and supporting all of our students including providing intervention supports without tracking we need district support to create a structure that centers our decisions with a particular lens on our marginalized students from the NCTM position statement they advise providing educators with space to collaborate and ongoing real-time professional development educators have expressed their support and urgency 4G tracking in the math Standing Committee statement we asked for strong support for educators from the School Board

072district level and then building level administrators as well as the community we know that racial equity is a priority in our district we also believe in making it a priority and all that we do this is not just about tracking math it is about committing to actions that will dismantle racist systems in our schools as I wrote an email to our Dec members last week we as a union are committed to doing the work we are committed to standing with black educators children and families in this fight for justice we ask that the board stand by their commitment and urgently move towards permanent action to do this we are also asking to know when this will be on the board's agenda for discussion and action and that we can hear tonight each board members position

073on G tracking in math in our district 65 middle schools in kindness McCurley that completes our public police behind thank you very much a deal and thank you to everyone who submitted a statement we will move on to sorry the next item of our agenda is the our action items and we have a consent agenda which busy you have the motion on that I move that the Board of Education except for recommendations Nations may 20 2014 it's construction of April 2018 closed session minutes of recording April 2020 list of bills treasurer's report budget amendment the FY 21 see LIC insurance renewal premium payment the FY 21 self workers compensation renewal premium payment the FY 21 prevailing wage resolution that the FY 21 working cash fund transfer power school student information system agreement and the cyber

074security agreement Hernandez yes Lindsay Ryan yes Mendoza yes Tanya booty yeah children yes Kim yes kartha yes next we have approval for our new superintendent to begin work early on June 18th just by way of some explanation we people may recall that we recently had voted to extend for dr. Earhart a natural winstram the original original contract with them had done each allotted a hundred days of work we realized that that was not going to work given all of the additional work that was created by transitioning to remote learning and created my Cove in nineteen so we've added work days to their contract however by law to preserve their pension they can't each work more than 120 days and they are hitting that they will hit that by June 17th we need to have a

075superintendent and dr. Horton has graciously agreed to to move his start date to June 18th so that is what we are voting on so Rebecca if you can please take that motion yes I move that the Board of Education revised its May 4th 2020 motion in accordance with with this motion regarding dr. devon Horton starting date and superintendent and authorized dr. devon Horton to commence employment with Evanston Skokie school district 65 as superintendent on June 18 2020 and that he be paid at his twenty twenty twenty one twenty twenty-one per diem rate for the period of June 18 20 22 June 30th 2020 that's second Hernandez yes Lindsay Ryan yes Mendoza yes Tanya woody yeah children yes Kim yes Carter yes our next action item is a sy 20 curriculum update on pilots and adoptions

076before we vote on that I think Stacy will be giving us a presentation the essentially just have kind of a introduction to it the memo really works to accomplish two different things I'm first we are providing in the memo and of the annual update of curricular materials and so that is attached and you can see the materials that are being used across the core content areas and science social studies ela math and across the board and then additionally in within the memo you'll see that there are some requests to move forward on adopting some curricular materials most specifically we have completed the process of the curriculum review for science in third through eighth grade and we are seeking approval for adopting great minds and third through fifth grade and open Syed in middle school to

077be clear this was connected to them to the science curriculum review it has gone through the process of working very much collectively and collaboratively with our debt colleagues it has been approved by our Standing Committee within the science discipline and has support of the curriculum Advisory Committee so we bring this forward after identifying it through an extensive paper screen piloting the materials and then seeking support in those avenues additionally we have second grade phonics that we are bringing forward for adoption last year we brought forward K and one and that's part of the teacher's college units of study and for k2 that really kind of creates the third leg of the stool we have they're eating units of study the writing units of study and phonics last year second grade was not completed yet so

078we could not adopt it at that time we have piloted the materials and have support from the Disciplinary Standing Committee and the curriculum Advisory Committee final where she can finally we're seeking support for the k1 writing units of study again that's filling in kind of the third leg of the stool for our complete look for complete literacy instruction reading writing and phonics and again these have been piloted and supported through our standing committees and curriculum Advisory Committee and so tonight we're bringing that forward seeking approval for those moves as well as sharing the curricular materials for next year I will add the little caveat that that is the curriculum materials as we know them right now as dr. Horton did state we are running the task force globally and we are planning for teaching and

079learning around four different scenarios for next year there may be some adaptations and some supplements that we need to make in order to make sure that we are making providing educators and students the best possible materials for each of those scenarios that we have I think what I want to speak to just quickly before opening up for any questions and I'm really excited about the pilot materials we have coming forward in middle school study sink will be piloted in our middle school a couple things that are really nice about study sink one really highly rated at reports curriculum it is built on a digital platform and so it will in my opinion be able to stand very well regardless of learning environment next year and then secondly in math and middle school we are will

080be mu newly piloting des book which is a math curriculum that's built off of the luster of math which is an open source curriculum that is one of the highest rated standards aligned curriculums through ad reports and des book is a partnership between illustrative and desmos which develops really high quality math tools that are already in use among some of our educators in district 65 and we're fortunate enough to have two district 65 educators who are does most fellows so we are really excited to be have the opportunity to pilot that we were selected one of 40 districts out of it I forget the exact number they applied but it was well over a thousand in order to be able to pilot this curriculum in seventh and eighth grade the curriculum pilot some really is

081not fully developed in sixth grade yet so we are piloting next year open up which is built also on a luster of math so we'll be moving into a very much aligned set of curricular resources and that will really support increased levels of rigor and kind of stronger mathematical experiences in 6 7 & 8 which is part of our response in order to make sure that we are accelerating learning both for our students that are not yet at grade level as well as our students that are above and beyond grade level so that's kind of the memo in a pretty short summary I am certainly open and willing to take any questions as needed thank you very much for that overview Stacy the board are there any questions or comments Joey two questions Stacy I

082didn't go through and add them all up what's the total bill on all the pilots and resources that are in here do you know the I would need to go take a quick look Joey it is so it's right about a half a million dollars okay find the science curriculums for great minds that's a six year license we did to go longer because they're better savings long-term awesome thank you and my other question is you know the the relationship with having some desmos fellows I think they're called and the excitement around desmos and des book and those resources sounds are seems to have some parallel or familiarity with the excitement that we had in the relationship we had with everyday math when University of Chicago was developing those tools as well we had a lot

083of teachers in Evanston it really excited about a new resource at the time that was up and coming and and we engaged in it and so when I went to ed reports to look at the report for illustrative math and I compared that with what everyday maths rated they're on opposite ends of the continuum are we to expect a more rigorous review of everyday math math in the coming years the so our official math curriculum review would be is two years out not next year but the following year and we do have we are aware of that review and we've been working with the m4 and in certain situations working to address particular gaps but yes that k5 math curriculum does come up for a year in two years we did move forward we moved

084up in the middle school math review because of some of the things that we were seeing with sixth grade that we thought were particularly important to address k5 is a little more challenging because our educators are teaching all subjects and so there's much flexibility we want to make sure educators have the time and space to be able to pick up and really get into and learn curriculum well so yes that is greater and that's an appropriate comment in question absolutely thank you thank you for those questions Rebecca you have some yes my questions are around the science curriculum for both elementary and middle school are you able to share with us if that if those curriculums have content on climate change and environmental sustainability yep absolutely they do I don't have the list of units

085in front of me right now Rebecca but that is so we did have a member of the community as part of the process they've had an opportunity to look at some of those units they are connected to the Green Team as well there is some strong content that does connect to global global warming to equity to equity issues connected to climate change things along those lines and we are one thing to note with great minds we will start and actually open site as well we won't start with the full complement of Units in the first year that we're gonna start with two units next year I believe in third grade and one of them is one of the climate change units but I would need to go back and check as we build out to

086the third and the fourth unit there's you'll see strong evidence of that content throughout across the grades thank you that's great news well that is great news thank you that that's really exciting for our students anybody else hey one more has a question Stacy did you say that I know you said that math was an open-source tool is math is the science one also so open Syed is an open-source tool so the six eight that we are adopting is an open source curricular tool you still do buy some of the materials through end but it is a much more affordable solution than you know as a result so I wanted to first commend you for looking at those resources because there they're a little bit harder to look at and the ones that people can

087just come in and kind of sell you the stuff so a thank you for for doing that but it also poses a challenge and my quick question is how do you foresee bridging kind of that parent support that needs to come with helping people understand that these tools look different than just like the the technics book that a lot of us grew up carrying at school or do you think if some of that that's already bridged by the technology yes so I think there are a couple pieces of it I'm gonna probably have to answer to you Joey one the one eighth of both olestra t'v and open syat or operating is it's written open-source but there are companies that are essentially packaging the materials and that is helping to ensure that some of the

088kind of I would say that kind of accessibility features things like that are available to educators and students and families and it feels more like a curriculum that you would buy from a mcgraw-hill or something along those lines illustrative actually has a mcgraw-hill option it has an open it open up option so there are there are different ways in which you can purchase those open source curriculums where we are going now like open Syed this past year had part has partnered up with a provider whose packaging the resource and that really allowed our educators to be able to access it and feel much more comfortable with the instructional materials and so I think both of them are far enough along in the open start source kind of evolution that these materials will not will feel

089very much supportive and high-quality regardless thank you Susie thank you any other questions all right well thank you very much and I think especially I just want to just highlight because I know that some of our comments were around the math the middle school math changes and I know there's probably some unease with some parents with the decision not to move forward with 6/7 compacted math next year and I just so I want to highlight that the new curriculum that's being piloted really is going to address some of concerns that parents have around meeting kids where where they are so I'm excited that that it's moving forward I'm excited that all of these changes have gotten educators support and so thank you for all of the intense works and I know was to to move

090all these pieces forward especially during a pandemic I think I mean I think you have the motion on this you want to go ahead yes I move that the Board of Education approved the adoption of the recommended curricular materials as outlined in the board memo we have a second second Hernandez yes Lindsay Ryan yes Pindos that yes Tanya booty yes he'll burn yes Kim yes Hertha yes and then with that we are going to move on to the our board reorganization portion of the meeting and so to kick that off we need the appointment of president and secretary protons so Joey I believe you have that motion you can I do I move that the Board of Education appoint Phil Earhart as President Pro Tem and adalah crushy as the secretary proton second second okay

091Hernandez yes Lindsay Ryan yes Mendoza yes time your booty yes children yes Kim yes yes Phillips all you you muted Phil board is I'm gonna make you aware of now Anja Tanya booty has submitted a letter of interest in serving as the president of the district 65 School Board are there any other nominations including self nominations for this position not seeing any then we will now take a vote to elect Tanya booty as board president for the duration of one year Hernandez yes Wendy Ryan yes Mendoza yes he'll burn yes Kim yes Tanya booty yes Hertha yes thank you all um I have the next moment or do I have the next month I do have the next motion but I also um wanted to read a statement if y'all can give me a couple

092of minutes um so thank you to my board colleagues and to the district 65 community that we represent it's an honor and a privilege to have served in board leadership for the past three years with sunny in a true honor to now step into the presidency row sunny thank you so much it you leave really big shoes to fill in it it's been a pleasure to work with you [Music] yeah you are an outstanding board president during unprecedented times I'm grateful I'm so grateful for your continued presence I'm sorry I lost my track and biz thank you so much for joining me in board leadership we are so fortunate to benefit from your gifts and talents as well I'm grateful to Heidi and Phil to have the opportunity to work closely with you this past

093year an interim year like no other I'm certain and I thank you all for your phenomenal commitment to district 65 and I'm so excited to welcome dr. Horton you have cued up a powerful launching pad for your leadership and we are so excited to have you officially start on June 18th lastly thank you to everyone's family for sharing you all with the district 65 community and for my family for sharing me our families too are engaged in a service to our community um I'm so proud of the groundbreaking child and family-centered racial equity policy making that this board has done I value each of our lived experiences talents and contributions and I'm so excited for the meaningful and without it doubt at times difficult work that lays ahead I have been saddened of late heavy

094and tired with grief and fear by the state sanctioned violence that we see being enacted across our nation I'm proud of the global throngs of communities including our own organizing themselves to bravely engage in mutual aid and stand up and demand more humane and just treatment through reforms abolition policies and demands for investment in community the past two weeks as a black woman a black mother I have felt pained I believe strongly and sit sit here because I believe our children deserve a more healed a more sustainable a more empathetic a more loving world they deserve to live in a world free from barbarism in a world where there is no question if their lives matter and right now that is not the case but it can be while I have grief for a Maude

095Aubrey George Floyd and Brianna Taylor and the thousands that have come before them and since so much grief and fear and rage it's paralyzing at times but I also feel hope that chain Danka because we are the descendants of the undefeated because of that I know we will persevere with love for one another with vision for our children's future with imagination and with fervor for our community while I grieve the air of this country and the conscience of everyone who has been and continues to be complicit in its genocide of the indigenous and kidnapped African captives who have built it and whose descendants still reside I grieve yet still I rise still we are here I speak up I stand up because we deserve also to be served and seen we are not diversity accessories

096and our suffering is not background noise an excerpt from Maya Angelou still I rise leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave I am the dream and the hope of the slave I rise I rise I rise look at the composition of this board in our district administrative team we rise I once was a child at a district much like district 65 and demographic climate and culture my aptitude to lead and learn was neglected and I had no models in my school district to envision myself in the seat that you all have voted me into it was not until my departure to an explicitly racist school with a gifted program that my learning was invested in to the negligence

097however of my emotional safety no family or child should have to make such choices between learning and physical or emotional safety I'm committed to leading with the value of academic rigor forever child and holistic learning and I can do that confidently because those are the values of this board my hope is that we lead in a way that ensures every child has academic and emotional readiness to take our seats down the line and thirty years from now when they do they won't be maintaining justice rather than fighting to build it so it's with humility and on the shoulders of my ancestors and many both voices that came before me that I step into this role and on behalf of the entire district sixth on behalf of the entire district 65 community what I can continue

098to promise you board colleagues in district 65 community is a continued commitment to transparency and inclusivity and to not let our foot off the gas as unrest spreads across our nation it is clear we need our commitment to racial justice now more than ever and the power in making policy with individuals full humanity in mind it's a misnomer that talking about race is divisive remaining in this consciousness about race is truly divisive and a violent practice we are seeing the consequences of that today so we will continue in this work Thank You colleagues for your trust and your collaboration together we will do big things for the children and families of district 65 in collaboration with the knowledge and wisdom of our stakeholders with much gratitude let's go district 65 let's link arms and move

099forward in community for a just and equitable future we believe in you Chania thank you so I'm going to read the next motion and I'm so proud to do so biz Lindsay Ryan has submitted a letter of interest and serving as the vice president of the district 65 School Board are there any other other nominations including self nominations for this position if none we will now take a vote to elect Lindsay Ryan as vice president for the duration of one year Hernandez yes Lindsay Ryan yes Mendoza yes and you lady yes children yes Kim yeah yes [Laughter] dramatic pause there I want to start by expressing my gratitude and appreciation to suni for her incredible service to this town my fellow board members I'm grateful for your trust and confidence I'm humbled by the opportunity

100to serve as the vice president the school board I commit to using my voice in this role for us to reimagine this district in whatever way is necessary as we strive for equity and deliver on our shared commitment to dismantle white supremacy creating anti-racist policies and practices to transform our operations to improve the outcomes and experiences of black and Latino students I am beyond excited to partner with Anya to do this important work ahead thank you it is Kim all right yes okay so I have the next motion I move that the Board of Education accept the recommendation and elect the dialogue Qureshi as secretary for the Evanston strophe school district 65 Board of Education until its next reorganization meeting in 2021 Hernandez yes Lindsay Ryan yes Mendoza yes Tania woody yes children yes Kim

101yes cards oh yes all right so um next on our agenda my agenda just disappeared sorry yeah the code of conduct okay yeah so um you have that motion absolutely so this is oh so I move that the Board of Education adopt the attached cord of a conduct recommended by the Illinois Association of School Boards second Hernandez yes Lindsay Ryan yes Mendoza yes Tonya Budi yes children yes Kim yes kartha yes so the next item on our agenda is the adoption of our board agreements and [Music] there was these are the same board agreements that we adopted last year with just one addition and that addition is the transgender and gender expansive trainings that will be offered to staff and making that available to to the board as well and requiring that board members do

102both beyond verse DC or all all of those beyond diversity seed and the transgender and gender non-conforming training then anyone have any other comments or or discussion items in relation to the agreements all right biz I think you have the motion I sure do I moved at the Board of Education adopt the attached Board agreements second Hernandez yes Lindsey Ryan yes Mendoza yes kill him yes Kim yes kartha yes Tanya booty yes all right and so the next item on the agenda is the board retreat which will give us the opportunity to reflect on our practices and vision as a board with the guidance of the IASB field office and will also give us a chance to if we want to do any revisions to or additions to the board agreements to dig into that

103more as well this summer Becca you have that motion I move that the Board of Education schedule a closed meeting for Wednesday July 22nd 2020 beginning at 9:00 a.m. to be held at the Joseph E Hill Education Center or virtually for the purpose of discussing in closed session board self evaluation and the appointment employment compensation and performance of specific employees Hernandez yes Lindsay Ryan yes Mendoza yes Tanya woody yes Halperin yes Kim yes kartha yes thank you so the last item besides oh I'm sorry it's the last action item before a couple of discussion items is the board meetings I got that one yeah Joey I moved that the Board of Education approved the 2020 2021 board meeting dates as presented okay Hernandez Lindsay Ryan yes Mendoza yes Tammy Aboudi yes Kilburn yes Kim yes

104card though yes all right so we're gonna move on to a couple of discussion items first is our board planning discussion so at the end of each school year we take this opportunity as a board to talk about priorities for the coming school year so that the superintendent and cabinet team have the opportunity to plan and we will review what those plans are as we reconvene the next school year so ask everybody to think of three to five priorities and I invite you all to highlight your three to five or potentially more like myself uh priorities that came to mine as you reviewed the draft that was linked to our agenda the draft that we sent you board is the one that was used here based on the feedback from the board on trying to

105streamline those and see if you wanted to continue to move in that same section 4 we could do if the board would desire to do so is they could provide those to the President to the vice-president of work with dr. Horton and then together that agenda for the upcoming year with that too if you'd like to do with that approach I would like to give the opportunity for the public to hear what our priorities are as well so we certainly don't certainly don't need to belabor the point but I would like to give those who are in attendance the opportunity to understand what our priorities are as individual board members ok joy let's say should we just start throwing some out there yeah yeah please do I think my first my biggest priorities certainly as

106dr. Horton comes on board as a as a governing body is our strategic plan has reached its end of term and it's time to figure out a process for how we're gonna recommit for what the the vision the near-term vision the next five years looks like and that strategic plan is pretty all can all encompassing right it's got a financial picture it's got a academic excellence picture it's got policy focus that's a that's a big item but I feel like we want everything to be tied to we've we've used those seven priorities in place of a strategic plan and again I don't know what the the end product looks like but I'd like for us to have a space to discuss how we're going to work together to take dr. Hortons vision for the district

107and our governance and so the seeds of a successful long term future great thank you oh oh sorry no I say go ahead okay you know I had one of that that is one of my my suggestions I think you know I don't know if this is really you know kind of a priority for next year or just more of a making sure we consider Hallie monitor you know we know that the upcoming year is going to be a non-traditional school year and probably gonna have some sort of remote learning and all of that I don't know how we can build in discussions regularly it's sort of progress monitoring of how remote learning is going how we are adjusting as necessary and I think that's gonna be important for us as a board to here

108but also for us to report out to the community sort of the special circumstances for next year so that was one thing it was brought up in several public comments today around math and math acceleration and I do think that we should have some public discussion around what the administrative thinking is but I also want to be clear that it probably is not something that is subject to a board vote I know we've in the past we've kind of muddled it because we did vote on D tracking eighth grade math which I think was kind of a remnant of having the board previously having intervened in not allowing the consolidated algebra for all so I'm kind of correcting it in that sense I don't know if we want to necessarily going forward trying to perpetuate

109having some of these sorts of administrative program decisions really being board votes but at the same time I think there's value in sort of having it as a discussion item at a board meeting so the community can better understand what the plans are how the math pilot is going what plans are for if we are continuing they're not continuing the acceleration program and all of that um again I don't know if this is more of maybe a monitoring kind of question you know we we got the report last month whatever that was around special education and some of the proposed changes and I think we probably need to see the more intensive changes and so having building at some time for discussion sort of like the follow up of now that we have this data

110we've made some initial changes what's next to better support our special ed students and then finally something that I bring up almost every year it's not every year is I think we need to build in conversations around boundary lines and it's a difficult topic I know for any community and it does impact a lot of other you know decisions around programs or delivery around twe around special education and so I think we need but I think we need to be able to figure out how we are going to start really digging into that conversation about whether we redraw a boundary lines whether we are talking and I realize that we are also in a very precarious financial situation so it seems odd to be considering you know building a school but you know whatever those

111discussions need to be I would love to see us or intentionally delve into that and maybe have a timeline for when those decisions can be made that makes sense thank you nothing wrong with consistency Sonny Sergio is that you yes you know given that down again this pandemic as well as the the racial issues that have emerged around race police and I you're causing a the social trauma for for everybody in the country really want to have a robust discussion during a more fighting around mental health sports or fan or for students and families if you know community members and any community organizations locally and the city to help with some of the reasons some of the restorative healing and conversations and dialogue that's gonna be needed in order for us to get over this

112the social trial these social traumas that we're suffering now again you've got a lot of people in crisis folks who lost jobs I mean it's you know there's something that we really need to have to consider that and that impacts the way our students will be learning in whatever way we try to deliver our instruction and and the way people we decide to go forward with that so again paring that along with the discussion and how you know the task force how we will deliver instruction and then making sure that we have supports for parents right that are accessible and in communications with them around how children and the children are doing or progressing and getting getting that you know echoing with my for college that said earlier is I kind of make making sure

113that there's progress reports on how maybe having this feedback loop between path between families and and and our school district in regards to how they're receiving the work and how we can continue to partner up with them right that help us Co develop and and improve and evaluate remote learning and the mixed delivery system that I'm sure it's been that we're gonna be delivering through for the next clear oh thank you say again I can't I'm not sure she'll our Rebecca who started okay so for me I think the two ended a little bit so what said he already started I think that I'm really concerned about about recovery so I think a lot of our conversations have to be centered around a community that's recovering from a pandemic and so conversations around family and

114community engagement I think they're going to be central to a lot of the the work that we're going to be doing this coming year in addition to that I think a lot of the I would love to see more around parent education with all than all the different initiatives that we've had that we've been introduced I definitely think that's an area of improvement for our district to ensure that we are giving parents and community members all the necessary tools to understand the changes that are taking place and how to best support support students and you know with the LGBTQ week and the black lives matters week I think that there is again areas of improvement to how we engage our parents in those those two weeks specifically but again back to you know just recovery

115and still I will keep on with priorities around early childhood and how we're working with partners in addition to you know to echo SUNY's comment about you know potential redistricting and are specific to our tweet our tweet conversations that need to be had in regards to ensuring that we're setting up Bessie Rhodes for success in the coming years and I just want to ensure that that's kept as part of our planning and finally as you know as a partnership that we have with the city above us and I want to ensure that our commitment to carp remains president I'm really I was really really really happy with Stacy's news earlier but I think that that's a really essential partnership that we need to keep at the forefront as well as ensuring that word we're a

116district that is preparing our our young our youngest leaders to take over the helm or that's going to be needed and those those would be my areas of concern thank you sua yeah thanks fun yet um I guess colleague once said when we were talking about strategic planning and one of my former institutions culture eats strategy for breakfast so along with our strategic planning I want to talk with dr. Horton about what are the cultural changes that we need to make as a district and what what are the how can we kind of foster a culture of continuous improvement right that's gonna require a continual reflection but also some of the things that we were talking about I think in that miracle's framework that you laid out about accountability specific metrics and the continuous feedback

117loop for how you get to some of the cultural shifts that we need to make so I'm looking forward to supporting you in that and then I think as others have said I think as we look ahead to this year of recovery is Rebecca aptly put it I hope we'll think about how we bring students back with trauma-informed practices in mind I mentioned this to Bill and Heidi a little bit what are ways that students can maybe touch base with the teachers that they left so abruptly and and friends that they left so abruptly this year and how can they reconnect with those relationships and get a sense of closure before they move on in their grades and to take care of their social emotional well-being as they transition back and we know that the

118transition back isn't going to just be like a flips up of a switch it's gonna be incremental it's going to be in fits and starts and it's going to be still unusual years so how do we prepare them for that and then I guess the communication piece as well it sounds like a lot of the myths understanding or you know bad healing seemed fostered by what people think of as a lack of communication or communication in ways that they are not used to getting or communication in places where they don't look right so how can we better those channels of communication so the benefit of having a stellar board is I could just say ditto all covered a lot of great things I just want to emphasize you know Rebecca you're talking about how we

119need to engage families and I do think that as difficult as this remote experience has been there have been some incredible opportunities there's some new ways of operating that are normalized that we really need to capitalize on for reaching families that zoom might be an option that we need to really reconsider for future topics and you know making sure we're getting information to folks more I think we've learned that people do show up but many of us have been on calls with 50 or 100 people that previously would have had 10 people in the room so let's not assume that everything we're learning right now or everything we're utilizing has to be scrapped I think also that I would like to see us continue to have growth in the racial disparity and discipline and I

120would like us to really focus on the report that we got on special education and I don't think that we will improve either of those situations without seriously considering redistricting and really thinking about resource allocation and making sure all of our students have access to what they need so I'm excited to work on all of those things as you all thank you so y'all had many of the things that are on my list but I'm still gonna share my list so I also would be interested in us having a discussion about bilingual education and our twe program specifically not just Bessie Rhodes and how we're supporting Bessie Rhodes in the vision that we initially voted on back in 2017 I think but also the discussion that we not had extensively about the single strand tweet

121programs and how ultimately will address that quality assurance in Shu and having those single strands isolated so that is on my list I would also like to loop back to early childhood we had a really great and useful early childhood report in 2018 I think 2019 but one of the there were a couple of outstanding questions that we had and I would love to get an update on and there was I think a three year plan or a three or five year plan that was included in the report that we received so it'd be great to get an update and how that is going and perhaps also to address the ongoing questions that we had I think it would also be so useful for us to get an update about how our schools have been

122doing with the SRO revisions that we made and along with I think redistricting and strategic planning is a discussion about our fiscal state and involving the community in those discussions and the last thing on my list would be touching base again on the sped report that Romi presented and the recommendations that she made and how we're doing on that those are topics that I would like to see come before the board and amazingly I think we had a lot of overlap in the things that we are interested in and hearing about in spending time discussing next year and I think we should also we'll have to be very deliberate about the the things on this list that come before us as discussion and what is an action item and making sure we're monitoring purview and

123the decision-making around those issues um but thank you all so much for your thoughtful reflections yeah Joey I had a couple others I just didn't want to share my whole list of prom oh okay just to be a little bit more deliberate - I I gave Raphael a heads up about this earlier today because I didn't want to surprise them I think by December we have to have a conversation around what the fiscal needs are moving forward and if changes need to be made what they are so that we can have community involvement I think we have to have action on that well before spring so a plan for a discussion around you know if it's if it's a budget deficit reduction conversation if it's a reorganization of resources or something whatever that's going to

124be from the administration that recommendation we are coming up against the end of our referendum dollar years and we've talked extensively for years around what that means what the trajectory is of those funds we are out spending what we have and we are we are living outside of our means and only being able to maintain our resources to kids because of the referendum which I'm grateful for but we need to right the ship at some point and I think I think the Bell is going to ring at the end of this calendar year so we need to have that conversation and have it publicly and give people a chance to engage in that conversation with us because I think choices will have to be made so that was that was one that was a big

125one it can fit in with the strategic planning project process as well but it's something that's coming up and the other is I want a second of the vote for culture over strategy I think specifically dr. Horton something that I would like to see kind of ongoing over the course of the year I don't know if it's two or three times throughout the year is a check in with our educators around this first year you only get one first year in the district and so you get to be the ultimate auditor and chief of how you feel the district is and whether we're whether we're doing surveys you know whatever you do to to get from all the educators how they feel about working in the district how they feel about supporting our students I

126think is critical for you to then bring back ideas and recommendations for how you want to either lift up some voices and promote the positive but also alter and change the people that are feeling down about where they work and how they work and I think there needs to be as an approach to sort of read the culture of the place before you can actually impact it with that you know I've worked in a number of school districts I've observed a lot of school board meetings and as a school board member you get a lot of communication that is you know tilted a little bit to the to the negative a little too often sometimes usually because people only speak up when they're upset about something and we can impact that we can use again

127not a lot of time but we can use five minutes at the front of every board meeting to promote students to promote family engagement to promote good programs that are happening and to highlight things that are going on not just in the you know we have the high five which is great but you know there are other ways to to promote things that are going on and to show everybody that there's a lot more good happening than bad we just aren't communicating it or noticing it or talking about it a lot and it can also help impact culture and how we all feel about our community great thank you Joey was there we're there any other priorities that folks didn't have a chance to highlight or share okay then I would like to work quick

128I just wanted to add and this was mentioned a little bit but in regards to you know two years ago I think we started on the measure of our social emotional learning and well-being and how our students are doing and how our staff are doing so just wanted to add to that that we we still need a way to measure how our students are doing social emotionally as well as our staff so I think that's a really important piece that that we still need to work on and it was mentioned in different ways but I think more so again in terms of recovery I think that our needs are going to be very different than they were any other year and just to bring that back around that we still need that piece absolutely thank

129you thank you all for your reflection the time that you took to reflect and provide such thoughtful feedback I'm looking forward to dr. Horton your first year and I'm looking forward to having a chance to dig into these important topics the last item on our agenda is our board or last two items our board committee appointments in our school liaison assignments a deal has the electronic copies and will be you'll be posting them or attaching them to this agenda right ideal oh yeah it's been updated to the board packet and then we'll post it to the website tomorrow morning okay wonderful so yeah our committee appointments are not terribly different I do want to acknowledge the change on the policy committee and celebrate Rebecca stepping into the role as chairperson and also express our gratitude

130to say to go for all of your leadership on that policy committee over the past three years you've brought some really important conversations to the fore and have been an excellent leader of the committee and I'm really excited Rebecca to have you lead us in this regard going forward this year and I don't and the other notable changes Sonny will be on the park advisory board and city setting Liaison Committee and biz will be joining the City School Liaison Committee as well did anybody have any questions or comments about the committee appointments just a quick question cuz I'm a newbie so do I just wait to hear from when these I mean I know I get the Finance Committee meeting invites but the other ones do I just wait to be invited or where I

131have to raise my hand and say I'm here how does that work some of them you just wait to get invited yeah okay yeah there will the they're on the board can the meeting calendar like the the meetings are on there and then we usually get email announcements reminding us of those meetings and the agenda the agenda is being ready for review at first for the district 202 and 65 one the dates are on our board meeting dates that's when the meeting is the committee will move probably one month before that to plan the agenda and that'll be like a surprise you know 7:30 a.m. meeting that you'll get a weeks notice about okay thanks for the heads-up so the committee meeting should be listed on the meeting calendar as well under committees but you

132are correct the joint district 65 202 those have not been planned out yet so those meetings are not on the calendar and the same goes for the city school liaison committees we have not coordinated with our outside partners yet for those okay so what's the I usually that's how I usually find out is by consulting it so what what's the timeline typically for getting those coordinated and that calendar updated so you usually normally we would have had those dates by now I think it's just a matter of hopefully within the next month we will figure things out and coordinate across the board with that and I'll make sure that it's updated and we'll make sure that it's announced at the first board meeting for 2821 wonderful thank you all right and so the last thing

133on our agenda our school liaison appointments um our school liaison employment appointments remain are going to remain the same for the 2021 school year just made a correction to make sure that Sula was listed here for Lincolnwood and Walker and the attachment to the meeting agenda listed some details about the benefits and the roles and responsibilities of the liaison appointments and I encourage our community to also check that out so that folks are aware of who their liaison is in how to benefit from that relationship at their children's schools we are here and in service to community and we definitely want to be connected with our schools so did anybody have anything to add to [Music] the liaison appointments and questions or concerns associated with that all right well with no business before the board

134I adjourn this meeting Oh fYI is at the bottom y'all sorry um I joined this meeting at 9:35 have a great summer thanks everybody everybody