001We are ready. Yeah. All right. I am reconvening to open session of the regular meeting of Fairview District 72 Board of Education. It is March 18th, 2026 at 7:06 p.m. We have already established that we have a quorum. Like to request that all members of the public be respectful of everyone at this meeting. Ensure that you have silenced your cell phones and please join us for the pledge of allegiance. to the flag of the United States of America and to the standard indiv. All right, we're going to start with approval of minutes of the regular and closed meeting of February 19th, 2026. May I have a motion and a second to approve the minutes of February 19th, 2026. >> I motion. >> I'll second. >> Second. >> Okay. Well, all those in favor of approving
002the minutes of February 19th, 2026, say I. >> I. Anybody opposed say nay. >> Okay. Chris Dean, did you hear that? >> I did. Thank you. All right, minutes have been approved. Next item is approval of payments of bills. May I have a motion and a second to approve the payment of bills in the amount of $161,7916? >> I move. >> Second. >> Would the board secretary please call roll call vote? >> Yes. >> Mr. Tamura, >> yes. >> Obert Witworth, >> yes. >> Diana Diaakus, >> yes. Christine Sua, >> yes. >> Jaclyn BJ, yes. Saji Phillip, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> Bills are approved. Next item is parent teacher association report. Um, Sylvia, do you have a report for the board? >> Good evening. It's a very quiet month. Um the only two
003things we have is that multicultural night is next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Um I think we have a good amount of um volunteers to help and make the tables, but we actually need help with the parents volunteering to make sure that we have a very smooth event. And then the next thing we do is our next general PTA meeting is at the nest at 7 p.m. on April the 14th. So it's been kind of quiet. Not much going on. Next month we'll have parent um teacher appreciation week and then all the fun stuff for the eighth graders. So that's all. Thank you. >> All right. Next item up is the school activity report. Does anyone from the board or administration have any good news they like to share? >> Hello everyone. to echo uh what
004Sylvia said the last month seems to be a little bit uh calm before the storm of the end of the school year. Um things that have wrapped up in uh from the middle school lens as we finished up uh boys basketball season uh with a success as well as the cheerleading season uh at their showcase last weekend at Als North High School. Um so we're on to our last sports season which is uh boys volleyball and girls soccer even though weather isn't helping but that's beside the point. So hopefully they'll be able to get that going soon. Um, also, uh, just this time of year we start to see more of our field trips. We always like to communicate those. Our seventh graders, uh, had a couple field trips in the last, uh, uh, since
005the last board meeting. They went to, uh, North Light to see the Chinese acrobats and the Field Museum. Uh, and then our spin-off program went to, uh, Shakespeare Theater down at Navy Pier, which they do every year. Miss Tony brings those students. Uh, and we also had our solo and ensemble contest, Mr. Connor and Mr. Park since our last uh, our last meeting. Uh, and besides that, parent teacher conference is next week. We're excited for that. Um hope I'm not stealing anyone thunder on our team, but um that's always a uh something to look forward to for our teachers and for our our parents. So that is all from middle school. >> Hello. Good evening. Preschool is going great. Um now that our applications for next school year have been open for the last few
006weeks, we are now up to 37 applicants already, which is really exciting. Um, we expect more because some of our returning students haven't yet filled out the application. I'm encouraging to do that, but so we expect more, which is great. In terms of our current preschool students, they just finished their exercise unit. Um, and they now are into their water unit. So, they're learning about water and all of the important things we do with water, including cooking and bathing and all of that fun stuff. Um, they're exploring, they're doing art projects with watercolors, so they're really having a good time. Hello everyone. Um, so at the primary um, world, we have also had some field trips recently. Our first graders went to the Chicago Children's Museum and our second graders got to go to the
007Shed Aquarium. Always wonderful to get out and to take advantage of these museums and opportunities that we have in the Chicagoland area. Um, also just wanted to make note, I know there was a shift in the calendar and I wanted to talk about how that is good news. So, as you may recall from previous years, our parent teacher conferences used to be in February and for primary that second trimester was only like 30 something days. So, we have shifted the calendar with our now parent teacher conference is coming up. Uh, trimester 2 ended on March 6th. So, it's a more balanced when it comes to the amount of days in each trimester. And I have to tell you, the teachers, many teachers this week have said, "This feels so much better for many reasons. One
008is that they just have more time to get to know the children in that second trimester. What was happening is is they would meet parents in November and then they would we have Thanksgiving, winter break, and then it feels like we just met, now we're talking to you again in February." So, I have had a lot of really good feedback from staff about just that being better. And the bonus is that the conferences used to be in February, which would always fall around the hundth day of school and Valentine's Day, which is a very big deal in primary. So, for the bonus reason of that, um, it's just people have been able to really just lean into what they're doing and be able to focus on it better because those things are not just jammed
009all in one week. So the good news is is that second trimester is over. Um we are now into trimester 3. The report cards are finishing. I read every single one of them in the last 36 hours and uh we are ready for parent teacher conferences next on the 20 the 26th. So if you have not signed up, please do so because it's going to close soon. Also um just wanted to highlight that part of our HMH curriculum adoption that we had as we know whenever we start a new curriculum there is a lot to learn and we have some other school districts within the township that also adopted this curriculum. So, Miss Hoffman has been working with the instructional coach from district 74 in Lincolnwood and we have now connected with also with Culver.
010And so, we're creating kind of our own professional learning community. And last Friday, we had about a half an hour where teachers got to meet each other. And, you know, we have three sections here. They have three sections. Another place has six sections. So, it's nice to have just that connection with other teachers who are teaching the same thing you are and like how is it going? So, we are really excited about this opportunity to be able to continue to grow this relationship within the township, right? We have so many resources right here. So, I feel like that's awesome news and something that I hope we can continue to build on. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Chivoka. Good evening, everyone. Uh, last week was our wellness week, which our insurance and wellness committee puts
011on every year, uh, where we it's centered around our wellness screening for our staff, which is provided by our insurance company. This year we had 60 people sign up which I believe is a record. I have to go back to my uh my notes but it was 60 people is fantastic to have that kind of participation. Um it's another one of the things if we get a certain number of people participating the district does get a payback uh from our insurance premiums and that's used to then fund some of the activities we have during the year. Uh two of our insurance committee members Trisha Klein and Patrick Stoneberg have organized also an activity which is tour to Fair View which is people walking laps around the building with their signs around the building if it
012was introduced a couple it was last year to get to know the new building and it took off and people enjoy it. So we've decided to do it this week as well in addition to last week. Uh, Miss Kemp was nice enough to pro provide a breakfast for the staff for everyone participating. And you all will be getting the newest piece of Fair View or Falcon Fit swag coming up. We were going to do winter hats because it seemed like the theme given the weather right now, but then there was a little bit of a push back. So, we're reconsidering. There's been a lot of feedback from our staff and everyone seems to like the gear. So, we're going to try and go a different route. But, um, it was a great it's a great
013success. It's a lot of fun every year and we thank you to the committee for putting it on. Thank you. Uh, the robotics season finished up last week. We were right there going into the finals. The boys were doing great, ready to take first place. They had kind of done really well the the entire tournament and their motor died as soon as the bell rung for the uh uh finals. So, they ended up taking fourth. They were kind of upset because they probably could have won, but they still did a great job. So, f a fantastic year for them. And then as Karen said, the report cards are finishing up. So you can all expect those in your emails next Wednesday. >> All right. Next item is our board discussion with the superintendent. Please introduce
014the reports to the board. >> Sure. And if I could ask one member of our team um if you don't mind pulling up the personnel plan so that the audience can see it. Um it's in the board packet. Um Barry, if you just roll to the first page of the personnel plan as I'm talking. Um so I am just going to hit a few of the highlights of the personnel plan for next year. Um as you would expect our administrative team works on this um very closely together um in trying to make good decisions um to recommend to the board going forward. So um in the highlights here or maybe the low lightss but we are experiencing um and have experienced decreasing enrollment in kindergarten through third grade. So we've gone from four sections many
015years ago in each of those grades to three sections and that uh sort of trajectory is rolling into fourth grade next year. So we will be um reducing one section of fourth grade next year based on student enrollment. Um so that grade level will go from four sections to three sections. Additionally, we are going from three kindergarten sections to two kindergarten sections because kindergarten registration is ongoing. Um, we just opened registration. Parents are just starting, but um, this happens every single year. So, for those of you who have been at board meetings, you've heard this before, but we have to wait until we have the students registered and fully enrolled before we look at adding a third section of kindergarten. If I were a betting woman, I would say it's going to happen. It's just
016a matter of time. It typically does. Um, but it has not happened at this point. So, it would be irresponsible of us to ask the board to approve three sections of kindergarten when we don't have the students yet. Um, additionally, you'll see that we have eliminated the instructional coaching role for next year because that position has really evolved over several years. Um, so what we're proposing is that we change the title of that position. So, um, we would be changing that to a coordinator position. Um and you'll see it on the personnel plan as um instru uh curriculum and instructional coach uh position which uh Rebecca who's in the audience um has been our instructional coach and over time you know the responsibilities have kind of just changed and we feel that this title is
017more reflective of the work that she's actually doing. So um we're not adding a new position, we're not really taking away an old position. It's just sort of a new new title, but we wanted to be very transparent about that and that's why it's represented that way in the personnel plan. Um, we will be recommending the addition of a part-time speech pathologist. Preschool has um really resulted in more students with with speech needs. Um, we Carly kind of thought this could happen, but we really wanted to wait and see once we had students in the building and what their needs would be. Um, again, we're trying to be very responsible about what we ask for, and if we don't have the students to merit it, we're not going to ask for a position. But at
018this point, um, we do have a need to add speech time for students. We think it's going to be very difficult to identify an excellent candidate in a part-time role. So, we're currently having a conversation with Parkview, one of our township schools, who also needs a part-time speech pathologist. So hopefully we can h between the two districts we can hire a full-time person um and get that great person who needs the full-time employment but will be shared between the two schools. So that's sort of in the works right now. More to come on that down the road. Um the administrative restructuring that we have previously talked about is is formally laid out in the personnel plan. Um which would be um moving from two primary uh two principles K4 and 58 to a K8 principal
019adding two assistant principles. Um again, we feel that in that restructuring um we can really um just improve our services for families and for students as well as focus more deeply on our our instruction and classroom time. Um allowing Mike to really, you know, have that higher level viewpoint of the kindergart through 8th grade with the support of the assistant principles. So, um we're really excited about that. Um and that is also laid out in the plan to be um very detailed. And finally, um we do have a member of our transportation team who will be retiring this year um in an effort to save on some costs. We are not going to be replacing that bus driver. Um we're also not going to be replacing a bus um when the time comes. Um we
020currently have an extra um vehicles, not full-size necessarily buses, but we're trying to really hone in on having the number of buses we need for our routes. We do like having a backup bus because there are many times when buses go down. Um so there'll be more to come on that but in terms of personnel um we uh are recommending that we not replace the retiring driver at this time. So so those are sort of the highlights of the personnel plan. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Team, if I left anything out, please jump in. But we're ex very excited about the plan going forward. think it's going to be a little bit different, but hopefully will help us continue to improve what we do. Questions? No. Okay. >> All right. Moving on. The
021superintendent report for March, a lot of what I've already talked about is in there. Um, so I'm happy to entertain any questions that Ford has of anything that's listed there. Um, any further explanation I can provide to anyone. No. >> Okay. >> Christine, do you have any questions? >> No, not at this time. Thank you. >> It's only Thank you. >> All right. Next item is our board committees and representatives. Um Raphael is not here today, so we'll ask at the next board meeting. Um Jackie, um any updates on NTDSC? >> There was no meeting last month and for March, it's next week. Stero will be present. Okay, perfect. And then um Christina, any further updates for PTA? >> No, nothing more. >> Okay, next item is Freedom of Information Act. I can report that
022there were no um Freedom of Information Acts received since the last board meeting. Um we do not have any information items in correspondence for this month. Um at this time, I would like to invite board members of the audience to address the board in public comment. The public comment period is designed to gain input from the public and not for immediate response by the board to the question or comment. If you wish to address the board, please come to the microphone and state your name. A threeminut time limit will be set and the board secretary will keep time. >> Hi, Stephanie Lorenus. Um, did you say my address, too? No. Okay, great. >> Thank you so much for your time tonight. Um, I'm here to talk about language classes at Fairview and foreign language. Interestingly,
023as you just saw in the staffing plan, over the last five years, foreign language has gone from 1.33 staff members to zero. My eighth grader just registered for high school classes. It was very exciting. Um, the amount of work that her teachers did to prepare the students was unbelievable. My daughter knew her classes, knew what teachers had recommended her for, and she came with a prepared note card. Um, and her counselor was like, "Let me tell you what the teachers recommended you for." She's like, "I know. I know exactly what I'm going to take." And she was very excited. Um, she felt really confident in her possible choices at that moment, even though a lot was unknown. And she truly knew more than we did as parents. It was phenomenal. The counselor then asked if
024she wanted to take a language or a fine arts series of classes to meet the high school requirement. As adults who know the system, we asked her counselor how to support her in seeking her current goal, which is to attend a four-year college to be a lawyer. Immediately, he said she needed a language, any language, and she needed three years, not two years, in order to attend a four-year college. So there are many colleges that if you would like to attend a four-year like the U of I downstate you need three years and if she wanted to really pursue being a lawyer a language is the preferred route. Um so that's six semesters of electives that she now has dedicated to a language because she has to in high school. She looked at the class
025list that she was so excited about and she immediately took off digital photography, a class she was looking forward to um for her freshman year and an alternate potential career path that honestly I was very excited about for her because of her creativity and her artistic talent. Hopefully she gets to put that back on her elective list. Niles West is very good about having many electives as students get older, but I have no idea if she's going to be able to add that to her list. Now, had she had years of language here, she might have had the chance to test out of that initial first year, so that she only had to take four semesters or two years of that language requirement in the high school, opening up two elective semesters for her in
026high school. Um I Northshore schools know this. So I work in a district where students in kindergarten through 8th grade get Spanish instruction two to three times a week and there are remote ways to get accelerated French or German through beritz which is an online tutoring platform in the upper grades because the community knows that our students are entering a competitive global community. Being multilingual is seen as a strength and a leg up in most career paths. Honestly, I don't want my daughter to go to a highly competitive college. I know Fairview has already brought her up with so much success. She's going to be fine. I just wanted her to be able to broaden her career and skill options and ensure that a four-year college was a possibility. Please bring languages back to Fair
027View so that my current third grader has the opportunity to expand his creative thinking, be competitive in a global society, and get the chance to take more electives in high school to open his mind to careers, hobbies, and future exploration. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we also had an online public comment that I will read. This is from Jasmine Rosa, the parent of three current Fairview students. I'm writing to inquire about the current policies or protocols regarding staff members bringing in visitors. I would appreciate any information you can provide on whether this is permitted and if so, what are the guidelines or requirements to ensure a safe environment for everyone? >> All right. Okay. Thank you. Um, we will now move on to approval of action items. Um, may I have a motion
028and a second to approve the following consent agenda items? And I'm just going to read through all of them, so bear with me. Um, approve school fees for 2627 school year. Approve fiscal year personal plan. Approve the retirement request of a certified staff member effective June 2030. Approve title one parent engagement plan. Approve part-time teacher contract for 2627. Approve release of close session minutes for 61125, 820 25, 924,25, 101525, 11 1225, and 121725. It's a lot there. Does anyone have questions? I know we reviewed this, but it sounds a lot when you say it at one time. Okay, Christine, any questions? >> No, but I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Would the board secretary please call roll call vote? Yes. >> Obert Witworth. >> Yes. >> Eststera Tamura. >> Yes. >> Diana Diaakus. >>
029Yes. >> Jaclyn Boug. Yes. Saji Phillip. >> Yes. >> Christine Sya. >> Yes. Thank you. Okay. Um, can I have a motion in a second to approve the non-tenure teacher contracts for 2026? I'll move. >> Second. Okay. Okay. with the board. Any questions or comments for this one? Nope. Okay. Board secretary, can you please call a roll call vote? >> Yes. >> Jaclyn Boug, yes. Saji Phillip, >> yes. >> Estimura, >> yes. >> Cobra Witworth, >> yes. >> Diana Dakagas, >> yes. >> Christine Sya, >> yes. May I have a motion and a second to approve the honorable dismissal of staff members? >> I'll move. >> I'll second. Any questions? >> Christine, any questions? >> Okay. >> Board secretary, can you please call roll call vote? >> Yes. Um, >> Saji Phillip, >> yes. >>
030Dan Zakus, >> yes. >> Jaclyn BJ, yes. Hbert Worth, >> yes. >> Mr. Tumura, >> yes. >> Christine, >> yes. I have a motion in a second to approve the non-renewal of a certified staff member. >> Motion. I'll second. Any questions or comments? >> Christine, >> no. >> Okay. >> Board secretary, can you please call roll call vote? >> Yes. Diana Diaak, >> yes. >> Christine Christine, >> yes. >> Jaclyn BJ, yes. Saji Phillip, >> yes. >> Estimura, >> yes. >> Wworth, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Final approve the technology director contract renewal for 2627. May I have a motion? >> Second. Any questions about the contract? >> No. >> Will the board secretary please call a roll call vote? Yes. >> Estar Tamura? >> Yes. >> Saji Phillip? >> Yes. >> Hbert
031Witworth? >> Yes. >> Diana Diaakus? >> Yes. >> Jaclyn BJ? Yes. Christine? >> Yes. >> Congrats. >> Um, items for future consideration. Does anyone have any items for future consideration? U member Tamuda is asking about when we will be presenting the facility plan for next year and what types of projects will be incorporated into the that uh facility plan including you know any security updates or upgrades etc. Is that something that Jeeoff are you thinking about presenting that in the coming months or closer to the beginning of the school year? >> So they even talk about either May or August. August typically when we do a review of the summer projects that Casio does uh and have the operation of budget for the next year. May we can also do because then we're planning previous
032to summer and then do a review afterwards. It's really dependent upon what the board prefers. I know traditionally we had August for operations maintenance but we're willing to do whatever you want. I I think we need to finalize some of those plans internally. Um and if we are ready to roll, um part of that includes myself having a conversation with the Skooki Park District about a few things. Um which has not happened and probably won't happen until early April. Um I think that could guide some of our thinking in planning going forward. So I think we will need to get back to you on that. >> Okay. Maybe before you go. Yes, that's what she's getting in. Yeah. All right. Anybody else? Christine, do you have anything to add? >> I don't. Okay. May I
033have a motion and a second to adjourn the regular meeting of Fairview Board of Education at 7:33 p.m.? So moved. All right. with the board secretary. Please call a roll call vote. >> Yes. Diana Diaakus, >> yes. >> Jacqueline BJ, yes. >> Saji Phillip, >> yes. >> Ersuma, yes. Wait, yes. Christine, yes. Thank you.