001Hi everybody. I am reconvening to open session of the regular meeting of the Therapy District 72 Board of Education. It is January 21st, 2026. It is 7:04 p.m. We have already established that we have a quorum. I would like to ask that all members of the public be respectful of everyone at this meeting. Ensure that you silence your cell phones and please join us for the pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nation for all. We're going to start with approval of minutes of the regular and close session meeting of December 17th, 2025. May I have a motion and a second to approve the minutes of December 17th, 2025? >> Any corrections or comments? All those in favor of approving the minutes of December 17, 2025 say I.
002I. Any says are approved. Next item up is approval payment of bills. I have a motion in this to the payment of bills in the amount of $350,54.91. for the board secretary. Please call the board. >> Yes. Next item up. There hasn't been last month. We had our parties. I think that it was it. I know the kids appreciate when they um are able to do that. Thank you to the volunteers who always volunteer. This Friday was supposed to be our dancing bingo, but unfortunately because of uh low volunteers, we had to cancel. It's really heartbreaking because I know the whole committee try really hard and they go all out. They really do. I think the and a whole bunch of factors kind of played. Just to play it safe, we cancel because our parties
003grow bigger and bigger. They are very very fun and sought after, but for safety for everyone, we decided to cancel. I know they kept up the whole sneaker stuff going so I think she sent out something to kind of some kids work really hard on there. So, we appreciate that. Um, next January 27th, we have stressfree fundraiser Illuminati until 11 p.m. That's Um the 29th we are having a um speaker it's it's called growing up in the public mile in the digital age. Uh was invitation decided to go ahead and some funds and help sponsor this. It will be in the wood hall auditorium at 7 p.m. on the 29th. Our next community meeting is February 10th at the nest. And then we also they like to share. >> We do have money. So, the
004county finally released uh monies a couple weeks ago. Uh we've got 40% of their total money from last year. So, we should have received 100% by now. We received 40. Uh in the news in the you probably if you've read the Tribune, reading the news that's that's happened. The county is at odds with school districts because basically what's happened is that this money that we haven't received, we have been able to invest. we have been able to pay bills and some districts have had to issue tax anticipation warrants because they don't have the cash flow or they don't have the cash on hand to meet their cash flow needs. Luckily, we're not in that situation right now, but I believe the last estimate was like $1.2 uh billion dollar it's cost districts as far as
005investment earnings, loss investment earnings. So, it's been a huge debacle is what what they debacle this thing. So, um, we're happy to have some money on hand now and hopefully the rest will be trip away in the next couple months. >> And I'll just add to that, you know, our responsibility and board's responsibility are to be, you know, stewards of the taxpayers money and for Cook County so severely drop the ball. Um, you know, they really should um to cost districts these unnecessary costs to get finance financial to work with them to issue these warrants to lose money on investments. This is taxpayer dollars and the community should be outraged all across the state um county specific. But it it's just it's I've never seen anything like it and you know we'll continue to keep
006you posted but you know as we work so hard to try to be careful with every dollar and protect those funds um we can't we can't even you know use the funds as we should be allowed to use them. Um Many districts are losing money and and experiencing significant costs. I think the total cost of Cook County districts to date, Jeff, $118 million because of the county's lack of being able to facilitate getting funds through they have a new accounting system software. Um, and there's so the county is kind of pointing the finger at the accounting software and the software company's pointing at them. whatever it is, it's still ridiculous that school districts are experiencing extra costs or loss of money because of their mistakes. So, you know, we could talk a long time about
007that, but we'll continue to keep you posted. Luckily, we're in a situation where we don't need to borrow money. We don't need to issue tax forms. Um, you know, but it still significant. >> Yes, I was going to make the money to Jeff. I didn't have one, so I'm not going to not going to say Jeff, but uh last time uh last when Mets I was fortunate enough to be uh at Niles West watching our eighth grade girls go back to back for girls basketball championship uh I know Sarah was able to be there too um just a credit to them and I I try to do this as often as I can with groups of kids um watching them just over the times they played together volleyball soccer and and basketball they're just a
008really incredible group and always get glowing uh glowing reports back from coaches and refs and um so seeing them be able do that was was fantastic. So now they want to kind of go for the the three repeat in soccer. Uh we'll see if they're able to do that. It's always uh it's always a test of will, but they'll they'll do great. So um that was the last time now we're in boys basketball season. Uh and uh obviously cheerleading as well. So that's exciting. Um update on field trips. I think the previous meeting that we were at, we talked to them about field trips uh middle school this past month. Um we had a couple that took place. Fifth grade went to the field museum for their annual trip. uh connected their social studies curriculum.
009Our eighth graders went on a new field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry uh and they were actually able to tour the Ubot that's on site um which was really cool uh during their um their their unit on World War II and kind of talking about that. So it fit perfectly. And then um our seventh grade did add a field trip so they're going to also this year go to the field museum and then next year uh they're going to do a project this summer to try to bring back something more Chicago cultural um that they used to do. Um, and so we tasked them with doing that. So hopefully they're they're going to find something really exciting. And then we're on for Camp Timberly uh in the end of April. So we're
010going back to Timberly uh in April. So all shaken out, getting those back in place. And then uh our eighth graders have really started to ramp up the transition to Niles West and High School in the past uh couple weeks. They had their curriculum and language night at the high school. And then their counselor meetings take place really quickly after on February 2nd. they'll meet with their counselor and talk about courses and all that exciting stuff. So, trying to keep them centered and saying we still have months left at Fairview. Uh, but it's exciting to think about a high school for them, too. So, that's all I got. >> All right. Hello. Preschool is going great. Um, right now the students are learning about wheels. They're their unit of study in wheels. And I wanted
011to give a shout out to Mr. Laysum. a site visit to his room. Um, and so they got to experience Mr. Lays and all his wonderful teaching and experiences. And he actually rode his bike in the classroom and with a helmet, of course. Um, and the students absolutely loved it and they got to build lots of things with wheels, so they had the time of their life. So, shout out Mr. to Mr. Le. Um they're also recreating car washes in the classroom as they are learning about wheels and they recreated a whole scene with pretend water and tickets and somebody collecting the tickets. So a lot of fun pretend play. It's been great. >> We often see in the wild see >> he even wore it in his office room. So it was great to
012see that. Yes, for sure. At the primary level, I know last month you were able to see the presentation by our special education teachers in partnership with NTDSC and I wanted to share that relationship is growing and continuing. We actually started as we come back last week was our first week the Falcon Friends. So it's a partnership with Mrs. Rossman's classroom who she was one of the presenters and our fourth grade and we're working on having buddies. So, we're having students from each of the classrooms go and it's during their like Friday fun time or Friday free choice that they have and it's an opportunity for them to really socialize, play games, continue to build that relationship. They were all really excited about it and last week was a huge success. They sent us pictures
013and lots and lots of smiles. So, the kids are all really excited about it. We actually started to launch it right before break with a social story and just expectations for the fourth graders so they know what to expect because you know when you have diverse learners and students who may have other challenges we want them to be prepared but I think what I have seen over the years in with this type of partnership is how much empathy it builds within our you know students who are you know have maybe don't have the same challenges when it comes to learning or school. So, I'm just really excited about how this can grow and that they can really continue to work together. So, that was exciting. That's something new that is starting. Um, also we last
014week we had our EL family game night and it was a huge success. We had I would say close to 100 people there. Um, we get pizza and we have games in the nest and we actually had Sabiah who is uh part of she's works with the she is like the the head of the EL parent center. She also came and was talking with families and talking about some of the resources that they have. She's looking to get information about our families, multilingual learners in general and what support they might need. So, we're working with her on that. But, it was a great success. And I just similar shout out to uh Rachel Olsen and to Carrie Rodas who did a lot of the like all of the planning for that. I was the pizza
015or I just ordered pizza and picked it up. Um but they really did a lot to make sure that it was a really great evening for everyone. So just yeah, shout out to them. And then just in general we think third grade or K8 we're doing our benchmarking right now which is that three times of year. This is the middle the middle time of the year when we kind of take that temperature check of how our students are doing in reading and math. So students in kindergarten um and up they took the fast bridge which is the fluency type of test and then this week they're taking third through 8th grade are taking that the NWA math test which I know many parents in here know all about that. So that is happening right now
016and yeah we're just we hit the ground running. We're like pedal to the metal here as we started the new year. So a lot of great things happening. Thank you. >> Second Oh, sorry. Second grade. Second grade. I'm sorry. You're right. Second grade through eighth grade. In my brain. >> No, it's just >> because they just took it. Yeah. Second grade takes it for the first time. In my old world, it was third grade. So, it's I have to reprogram my my brain. Yeah. Second grade. They started in second grade, which is it's a big deal because it's on the computer. It's the first I would say like big high. It's not It's information for us, but they see it as like a big test, right? So, it is it is a lot. and our
017teachers do a phenomenal job preparing them. We really just want them to do their best. You know, we want them to and if it's a hard test, like it starts giving them questions. It's an adaptive test, so they start seeing things that they've never they've never even seen before and they get worried about that. So, our teachers do a really nice job of preparing them, and it's okay. This is what it's supposed to do. You didn't do anything wrong. It's okay that you may not have seen this before, even though, you know, we haven't learned it yet. It's okay. So, okay. That's all we have. I'll just add one other. Um, we received NTSC recognizes teachers and staffs across the township, but two of our teachers received recognition from Maria and FND for their work
018and embracing um their special education experience into their classroom. So, that's it's nice to see. I love it that they do that. It means a lot to all of us to see our teachers be recognized. And um that's in the board packet. You can read it. a little bit more detail, but I know Jackie is here tonight. She would want to share that. So, um actually three really quick things. So, one, I will always appreciate the transportation um folks, especially on days when it's really cold and they're right on time. So, huge kudos um we're not waiting out for a long time. So, it's much appreciated. Um the nest continues to be such a hot um like the after school nest programs are such a hot commodity and it's really nice to actually see some
019middle schoolers. I think some of the programs are geared um to all ages and so it's like science projects last week and this week and it's really hard to get a time slot on my phone but it just speaks to how amazing um of the program it is and what a great job this Chris does. Um, and then just will echo that I was able to visit the Snapchat following the presentation. Um, and it was like probably top like five encounters that I've had fair. It just really was so special. Um, I donated some stuff and one of the one of the children there was like, "You're you're supposed to be buying things." No, I I know I will. I was going to drop by the dollars and it was just really such a great
020experience um to to see. So, Thank you all for doing that. >> Next item is our discussion. So the superintendent, please introduce the reports to the board. >> Absolutely. Um so last month um a couple inquired, you know, how are things going with your strategic plan? We're in year one of a fiveyear plan. Um so based upon, you know, getting those questions, I thought it would be a great opportunity to sort of do a a midyear check in um on our strategic planning. So, in the packet, I provided sort of a summary of what we've been working on. It is not um the summary is meant to be just a summary. Um it's not fully inclusive of everything that we're working on, but it should give board members um and the public a general sense
021of the types of things that we've accomplished so far and what we're working on this year. Um so, under goal one, I'm just going to kind of run through a couple of the highlights and then I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. Um under goal one, um the to introduce the parent square this year. Um, and it's really been a success and I really feel like um, our community has embraced it. Parents are signed up. It's a great way to communicate. Um, and you know, that's you know, Mr. Corey's efforts um, and getting it out and really encouraging people to to give it a try and to use it. Um, so we feel like that has been a success. We continue to moni monitor attendance and try. Um, postco school districts has
022continued to struggle with attendance. Um, students being in school every single day. Um my son goes to a high school in the area and their motto is every minute counts and it's so true. Um every minute that they're here at school really matters. So the more often we can have children present in school um the more they're going to learn and more benefits we will see as a community um as as they grow. Um so we continue to work on on that area. Um and we have the parents in school program in full swing. currently have three parent mentors working in buildings. Um, they volunteer in classrooms and the idea is to work on their English skills but also learn about the American public school system by being inside classrooms. So, we're happy to have
023that program off at this year and their goal to facilities and finance. Um, one of the items in this category was that the district um work with the firm to complete a security audit um which has been um completed and different priorities established. Um so in the coming months as we talk about facility planning and the budget, we'll continue to kind of talk about those items that are going to be included going forward. Um in addition in that area, um Jeff will be providing as he already does continue to provide sort of annual financial updates as to where the district stands um in terms of budgeting and fiscal sustainability. And goal human relations. Um, this uh had outlined uh staff wellness and really focusing on trying to provide staff with um the ability to have
024a balanced uh a balance between their home and work lives. Um and so, you know, we continue to try and innovative new ideas to promote staff wellness. Um you know, that will be ongoing throughout the year. The preschool program is open um teachers who would like to have their children in the preschool program and have staff members whose children are in the program. Um just another way to kind of just develop that connectiveness with the faculty and staff and provide them that opportunity. So happy folks that are taking advantage of that. Um and then finally, one of the objectives for this year was to build camaraderie outside the school amongst the staff. Um and that's a little bit harder to get off the ground. Everybody's busy. Um our staff is sort of of more towards
025younger families and younger children and so they're just super busy and so getting people to go out to a cup game or something like that feels a little bit hard to get off the ground. But we're going to continue to think about how we might to do that. It could be including kids, it could be a lot of different things, but that's where we are on that goal for teaching and learning. Um in this area um our instructional coach Rebecca Hoffman has helped us kick off um a mapping plan for starting middle school. Um curriculum mapping is that's where you kind of map out every curricular area in grades 5 through 8 to kind of see all the key topics and standards that are being covered from grade to grade. Um so that's a project
026that's in progress. Um we're working with the middle school teachers and to not have it feel too overwhelming. It's sort of a progressive So, you know, when we're in September, they're kind of writing in those topics and standards, September, October. So, we're just building upon itself, um, which is a great work in progress. Um, preschool programming. Um, we will be undergoing PFA compliance audit this spring. So, Carly and her team have been very busy preparing for that audit. Um, we believe that we're going to, you know, pass it with colors. Um, but it's the first time, you know, so there will be certain things that they point out to us that we need to continue to to work on and grow. Um but that's not a bad thing. That's really the intention of the audits
027is to help districts grow and become better. It's not so to speak. Um you know so we would expect the same thing with this preschool audit. Um we have had an amazing moment in preschool. I believe that our program is nearly full um at this point in time which um you know last year at this time we weren't feeling it was at capacity it wasn't um so that's building on itself which we're really happy about because it seems as if the reputation is sort of out there in the community that it's it's a good program. It's a solid program. Kids are enjoying it. Parents like it is um so that's really exciting. Um, another initiative in this area was to continue to build our relationship with NTSC. Um, as you know this year, um, NTSC
028is struggling with having enough space for all their classrooms and employees this year because we had some additional space down towards where the gold district office was, we allowed them to sort of transform that space into offices for some of their teachers who go from building to building. So there's about um NTPSC staff members who have an office here at the um even though they may not work with children office space here. So it's kind of a home base um by doing so it freed up more student space at campus um which is important that the students not be moved around or displaced. The adults are more flexible um so that's kind of how we tried to help out this year. And then finally five technology another project that we identified through the process of
029strategic planning was a concern over the amount of screen time students were having um postco and with the implementation of oneonone devices students are spending a lot of time at home and a lot of time at school on devices um so Mr. Corey along with Mrs. one of our fourth grade teachers are completing a project to kind of research where are we at in school with screen time and there are some things that we can do to help um maybe trim back some of that screen time. Um we have watched YouTube and I think that has been a really significant um piece um and trying to bring back some of that screen time. Um that's for students who are looking at YouTube unrelated to medical school project. Um you know we're going to consider some
030other options um but we think it's import in that technology and screen time as much as we can. We think it's a really great tool. We're very happy to have it. Um, and our teachers definitely rely on it in the classroom. So, we're not suggesting we want to pull it 100%. But how do we bring some balance back to it? Um, you know, one thing that Mike has done is that at recess time, the screens are the Chromebooks behind me because recess is time. Um, you know, so there's small things like that that we can do. Um, continue to work on that. Um, and I brought up the son because she's currently in a program at Loy University working towards her administrative licensing and so she has a research project that she has to complete
031and this is kind of our strategic plan. So kind of helpful to us because she's spending a lot of time on our project. She'll share the results of her project with us and what we're um so it's a nice partnership for everybody involved. Um, and then you know kind of To sum it all up, um you know, really only half about halfway through the school year. I feel that, you know, we're really in a good place with building some momentum. Um next year, we recommended thatricurricular area. We took a year off from curriculum review because we had a really heavy math and reading adoptions, not only financially heavy, but also in terms of teacher training heavy building. So, would likely do science um and that would be a project that application student% not quite what's
032our would be any other questions. strategic the full strategic plan is included in the board packet. So you can really see you can dig a little deeper to see the activities under each of the different goals um and kind of over the five years of plan. So that's there at your fingertips. Um and then next is the superintendence report for the month of January. Um you know we're working hard on transitional activities um now that the board has selected the next superintendent. Um so that has been really exciting. Um something that we're really focused on. Um, other than that, you know, January is sort of just kind of getting back into routines and we have a really great next four months of school and a lot of full school weeks and we really feel like
033this is just a great time of year to really capture a lot of what we're learning. So, um, you know, other than that, there's always ongoing student matters that we spend our time on, um, parent matters that we have to is off to a really good start. Questions? >> All right. Next item is our board committee and representatives. Jackie is not here today. I mean, you kind of went through a lot of buildings and grounds. Um, you touched on the security that started implementing in terms of transportation department. We talked about buses and whatnot. So, just a few sort of nittygritty things related to transportation as well. All right. Regarding Freedom of Information Act request, I can report that there were two freedom of information received since last board meeting and that it was responded
034to as required. Um, we do not have any information items and correspondence for this month. We'll move on to public comment. This time I invite members of the audience to address the board of public comment. Public is designed to gain input from the public and not for immediate response by the board to the question or comment presented. If you wish to address the board, please come to the microphone and state your name. A 3minut time limit will be set. The board secretary will keep time. All right, we are going to move on to action items. May I have a motion and a second to approve job share proposal for 2026 in 2027? Any questions or comments? >> Board secretary, can you please follow? >> Yes. >> Raphael, yes. >> Yes. Yes. We have a motion
035and a second to accept the district audit report. So, >> so the entire audience included the board packet. Uh, there's nothing really there is clean on it this year. Uh, again, thanks to Miss Delisha, the business office who helps tremendously with getting all those records together and doing a good job throughout the year making sure that everything is well maintained as far as business records. Um, no commentary really. It was just an ordinary audit. Obviously the discussions with myself and the auditor were around um you know every year we talk about internal controls and purchasing to make sure that's in place but also um some of the more um pressing issues such as our decrease in fund balances gross construction and then working our way up there. Um you know this year in our audit
036there was a negative um there's some ne negative net expenditures because of the last construction payments that we did have come through last year. Uh but other than that I mean clean audit nothing no concerns at all. So again this just speaks to the organizational process that we have in place in the district office doing a good job. >> Thank you. >> The board have a motion second to approve the certified staff list. This is an annual action that the board needs to take. Um, and it basically establishes the seniority of our certified staff members in the district. So, from the person with the most years of experience all the way down to the person with the least years of experience. Um, the seniority really comes into play if we're in a situation where we
037need to be reducing the numbers of teachers. Um, and you know those folks um are typically those folks who are spoken to first depending of course on performance and position and credentials etc etc. So this is something that >> and I I'll just say right now it's the same support which is the next in a different classification. >> Will the board secretary please call? >> Yes. Have a motion and a second to approve the support staff list. >> Second. Secretary. >> Yes. >> And then does anyone have any items for future consideration for next month? >> All right. We have a motion and a second to adjourn the regular meeting with the Fairview Board of Education. It is now 7:36. >> Thank you everybody. the board please call ahead of myself. All right. Thank you
038everyone. Good night. Thank you.