001All right. Since 601. >> Okay. All right. Since 601, the board of education has been in close session to discuss submission uh discussion of minutes lawfully closed under the open meetings act, whether for purposes of school board approval of the minutes or semiannual review of the minutes as mandated by the act. the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees or legal counsel, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee or legal counsel to determine its validity, and collective negotiating matters between the school board and its employees or their representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees. I will entertain a motion to come out of close session. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion has been moved and seconded. Please call the role, Mrs. Pat
002>> McMillan >> I >> Gerky >> I >> Blastic >> I >> Kelly Black >> I >> Winsky >> I >> Kush >> I >> Kazinsky >> I. >> The motion passes. Good evening and welcome to the December 15th board of education meeting. Our mission is to empower students to develop a learner's mindset, demonstrate adaptability, communicate effectively, think critically, and become global citizens. Please call the role. Mrs. Board members present this evening, Charles Kush, Christine Gerky, Melissa Kelly Black, Joe Kosminski, Amanda McMillan, Holly Blastic, and Mark Winski. Student ambassadors present, Brooke Welch, and Shria Kunanath. >> Awesome. Please join the board of education in the pledge of allegiance. Uh we have Ellsworth Elementary who will be joining us to lead us in that. Thank you so much for having us today. My name is Sarah
003Lukan and I am pleased to introduce our fifth grade student council members. >> Hi, my name is Mickey. >> Hi, my name is Adelaide. Hi, my name is Vivian. >> Hi, my name is Henry. Hi, my name is Yina. >> Hello, my name is Vance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Okay, >> if you'll stay right there for just one moment, Mrs. Patton is going to take a picture of you all. Well, this will be an interesting backdrop. >> There we go. And if you will stay right there, if there are any family, friends, or media wants to come up and take a picture of our pledge leaders,
004you're welcome to come as far far forward as you'd like. You're welcome to come on up front if you'd like. There you go. Let's thank our friends from Ellsworth for joining us this evening. Thank you, Miss Lukan, for bringing your fifth grade student council members. Thank you for being here. Okay. Always awesome to have our students lead us in the pledge. Um, item 3.04, student ambassador reports. Which of you would like to go first? >> I will go first. >> Awesome. Thank you, Brooke. >> My name is Brooke Welch. I'm a senior from Neville North. I am the vice president of National Honor Society. I am in top dogs. I am a dog pound member, which is our student section. Um, I'm a member of senior board, black student leadership association, husky crew, and I
005play soccer. For our school's December report, after Sam spoke with you last, we had our research and design boat races. At the end of November, our research and design classes compete in cardboard boat races where the students are able to use the boats they constructed in class from cardboard and tape to race across the pool. and they test their designs. Students and parents are able to watch during lunch periods. And while my boat didn't necessarily win, it was nice to be able to apply the work we did in class. We also had our Wicked Christmas Carol play. Our play production of A Wicked Christmas Carol was performed to the elementary schools during last Friday and the show continued during the weekend. The coffee house cabaret was held right before Thanksgiving break where students performed during
006all three lunch periods in the LC instead of our winter assembly and nine acts performed and the student feedback was that they were happy they got to perform to three three times to new groups of students. We also had our winter concert last Tuesday. choir, band, and orchestra all performed, and underassmen have started the process of selecting courses for the upcoming school year. Um, students were very excited um due to the new due to preparations for the new addition, adding on to April North, that no current seniors or no one who will be a senior next year, so current juniors will lose parking um parking spots, especially in the winter and because of the bus lot. Our dance team hosted a large competition on the 9th in which they placed fourth. And not only were
007many students able to attend and support because it was hosted at North. Um, but even more students were able to get involved with volunteering for clubs such as National Honor Society and Spanish or French or other language national honor societies as well. Our show choir teams had DVC this past weekend and it was also hosted at Neighborville North where they attended expert sessions in order to improve their technique. And as we approach final season, LC be the LC at North becomes a quiet place to study. And some students who normally sit in the LC during lunch now sit in the large calf or small calf. And it's nice that we now have comfortable seating in the small calf to mimic the comfortable seating in the LC. We also had signing day last week and Nepal
008North staff, coaches, families, and students were thrilled to celebrate all the student athletes who will be continuing their sport at the next level. Students who park on Fifth Avenue, sophomores and juniors, are excited about the new road and sidewalk so they don't have to trek through the snow on the cold mornings. And wind sessions are now held two times a week. And students are excited that what I need or win sessions um are two times a week now as we approach finals because that means there's more built-in time for students to get help from teachers, complete makeups, or cater to their overall needs as a student. We also had Coco and Cram where students can study after school in RC and select and select classrooms to get help from teachers, peers, and indulge in hot
009chocolate. And then this week is finals week, so you'll see lots of students at the libraries or finishing up papers and presentations. And finally, for our sports season and record recap, boys basketball is 7-2, and we won our cross town game this past weekend. And girls basketball is also seven and two and they played hard but fell short in their cross town game. Overall students loved the Naval North Central staff basketball game that was played at halftime and large numbers of students have been showing up to both girls and boys basketball games which is um a record or good for dog pound leaders and we're very proud of that. um especially the double header Friday night games and hockey won their senior night game on Saturday and we're excited to celebrate seniors from both North
010and Central and gymnastics, dance, wrestling, bowling, and color guard are also in full swing. >> Thank you, Shria. >> Hi, my name is Shria Kuna. I'm a senior in Napville Central. Um I'm involved on the varsity teams for Science Olympiad and Batman. I'm also the vice president of competition for HOSA and president for Rotary. So on December 12th, we had our winter festival concerts which included our concert band, orchestra, choir, and adapted music. We also had cocoa and creme on December 3rd and 10th. The cafeteria was full both days and a lot of students were enjoying hot chocolate and studying for their exams. Winter sports are also underway at Central and recently we had a lot of people attend the cross town basketball game against North. Students are also getting ready for finals and are
011looking forward to winter break with a lot of final projects and preparations taking place. Many seniors also are also gearing up for regular decision applications with a lot of early decisions coming out this week. Yearbook photos for clubs and winter teams have been complete and a lot of them took place in the auditorium. And something new for this year is Hawk TV, which they've completely rebranded and and a lot of staff and students have enjoyed the change. And many clubs at Central have contributed to the toy drive that we have for Gift Mart as well as creating care packages for cancer patients. Our student advisory count committee also sponsored a frosty fun week last week, which we had daily dressup themes. And we also had a lot of fun activities in the cafeteria, which we
012had ping pong, which was my personal favorite. And we also have the speech team is going off to a great start. This past weekend we had the tournament of roses which we hosted with a lot of different schools on December 13th. Science Olympiad also hosted their first invitational in November and they competed at the NAV invitational this past weekend. HOSA also had their regional testing rounds last weekend and both BPA and DECA are preparing for their competition season. Thank you. >> Very nice. Thank you both for your updates on what's happening at our schools. We really appreciate you guys coming and telling us about it. Um you guys are more than welcome to hang out for the entirety of the meeting or if you have things due like studying or things like that. >> It
013is finals week and it is finals weeked that they so we just want to make sure that you guys don't feel bad if you have to tip out. It's okay. All right. All right. Item four recognition item 4.01 good news. >> Okay. Um start with good news. We have a lot of good news to share. On November 22, 2025, Neighborville 203 hosted our fifth annual first Lego League uh tournament for our 41 elementary and junior high teams. We are one of the few school districts to offer this number of teams to our community and it is all because of the generosity of the Neighborville Education Foundation. Approximately 470 students participated and were evaluated based on their coding through robot games, presentation through innovative projects and expression of core values. Each student exemplified the profile of
014the learner through their adaptability, communication, and critical thinking skills. The eight junior high teams that participated in the Illinois qualifier on December 6th at Neighborville North High School were five of our 203 teams, and they advanced to the next stages of the Illinois First Lego League. Good luck in their next competition. Uh the lead, which stands for leading for equity through action and discourse event on December 2nd, was a resounding success, bringing together students from Nepville Central and Neighborville North for a day of powerful learning. The high energy event held at NIU Neighborville featured NIU Neighborville featured dynamic sessions including keynote speakers Juel Fuguni and Lewis Tubins aka Logan Louu. Students were deeply engaged in workshops focused on advocacy, identity, belonging, mental health, and resilience. Through collaborative hands-on activities, students developed practical leadership skills, leaving
015the event equipped and inspired to champion equity within their schools and community. Neighborville 203 is proud to have partnered again this year with GiftMart, a local holiday tradition that supports more than 400 children in our district. Early childhood and elementary families were invited by their school's administration to attend a one-day event based on need. At the event, parents selected new donated toys for their children, offering in a caring, empowering, and dignified environment. Because of generous donations from our 203 community, there were enough toys to meet the needs of every registered child, and every family had a choice when selecting toys. Here's the impact of those contributions. 760 handk knit items were distributed. 930 children received gifts across both district 203 and district 204. Three toys provided per child. 3,100 toys collected in total. $4,500 in
016toys purchased to help meet the need. And remaining toys were donated to local programs, including three additional local gift marts. There's an there's an additional support available to older students. Please contact your home and school association for more information. And then finally, Lincoln Junior High School students led a donation drive during November in partnership with Loaves and Fishes to provide non-p perishable food items and household items to those in need. And that's our good news. >> All right, item 4.02, Neighborville North Boys soccer team. >> Invite invite principal Wall and Coach Conrad to come forward. help me recognize our state champion soccer team. >> Thank you, Dan. Uh, I am joined by head coach Jim Conrad. And first we have assistant coach Steve Golitz coming in. Next, Jack Bowska. >> [applause] >> Uh, Chino Gonzalez
017is not able to join us tonight, but Andrew Hebrron is here. [applause] Sam Hess, [applause] Charlie Furby, looks like there's no Charlie Furby, but Luke Bowska is here. >> [applause] >> Kaylin Gionome. [applause] Anthony Flores not with us. Dylan Healey is though. [applause] Ancar Litter not here. Brian Beerman not here, but Josh Peterson is. [applause] Next we have Colin McMahon, [applause] Cam Brown, [applause] and looks like we might have a few few in a row not here. Um, Abby Wadwa not here. Eddie Zer, Carlos Cardonia, and Diego Hernandez not here. Um, Matt Cwley is not here, but we do have Arnav Nagpaw here. [applause] Uh, Will Bonafice is not here. Uh, Leo Palacios is here. >> [applause] >> Aiden Kirkpatrick. [applause] And lastly, Jose Deleó Navaro is not able to join us tonight. >> Well,
018I I'll say uh Coach Conrad, it feels like this happens a little too often and frequently that it seemed a little hoham this evening. Um but uh we are extremely proud of you as a team and uh your accomplishments and I know just how well you represent Neighborville North and Neighborville 203 uh off the field and in the community as well. So thank you for all of your hard work and everything that's gone into it. Family and friends who are here, all of your support that you're giving also congratulations again. Mrs. Patton's going to take a quick picture. [applause] And if there's anybody else that would like to go a little bit closer and get a good picture, you are welcome to do so. >> All right. I'm sure you're excited to go home and
019get ready for finals. So, thank you for spending some time with us this evening. Congratulations. Okay, we have reached the port point in our agenda for public comment. The board of education welcomes comments from the public at its meetings. Citizens who wish to address the board of education should identify themselves by name. Comments by individual shall be limited to three minutes. If the individual is representing multiple individuals or a group, they shall be allowed to speak for five minutes. This the board respectfully requests that speakers refrain from commenting about specific individuals. All right. Um as a in accordance with board policy, issues raised in public comment will be taken under advisement by the board of education but will not be discussed this evening. Issues raised during public com sorry public participation may be added to
020future agendas or addressed by administrative staff because the questions raised in public comment address district operational matters. The board is the sup sorry the superintendent is the board's designate to coordinate response to public comment and will apprise the board accordingly. All right. [snorts] I have two slips of paper. So my first speaker is Alicia Hernandez Grande and Alicia will be followed by Holly Bonkowski Bergman. Alicia. Yes. Good evening and welcome. >> Hi. Good evening. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. My name is Alicia Hernandez Grande. I'm an Ellsworth Elementary parent. Uh my daughter Gla is in first grade. My son Luca is a kindergartner and I even have a baby Mia. She's 10 months old. She'll be part of the 20 2030 2031 kindergarten class, which seems impossible to me. Um I
021also serve as treasurer for our home and school organization and I am here tonight to speak on behalf of many Ellsworth uh families. I'm also joined by Erin Acham and her daughter Genevieve who is also a first grader at uh Ellsworth and Ellsworth also led our pledge of allegiance tonight. Um we're here to ask something that feels very simple but I know is also quite complicated. Um Ellsworth's parents are concerned about the condition of our school facilities compared to other 203 district schools. uh we visit other 203 schools like Naper, Mil Street, and BB elementary schools as part of sport district practices. Right? So my my kids were doing uh for example basketball at Mil Street once a week. Um and we've also gone to schools like Jefferson Middle School for events like the Lego
022League. We have friends, colleagues, and neighbors who are familiar with our other schools and their facilities. And through that, we see where our building just falls short. Um, of most particular and immediate concern is our learning commons. So for those unaware, the learning commons is a primarily library space, but that also serves a series of functions like a classroom, meeting space, club space, maker space, etc. Um, at any school, the learning commons is constantly reconfigured throughout the day to meet student needs. But due to Ellsworth's specific building limitations, in other words, our building is really old, um, our learning commons has to exceed the needs placed upon other learning commons. To accomplish this, we need modular walls, movable bookshelves, and supporting technology. And we know that a functional and updated learning commons is possible because
023we've been seeing it elsewhere. Um, we're just not seeing it at Ellsworth. We have heard the district warn that resources are tight and that uncertain and sudden shifts in federal funding are beyond the district's control. And I completely understand this. I myself work in higher education. I get it. Um but knowing that lean times are ahead, that just makes us extra concerned to make sure that Ellsworth doesn't fall even further behind its peers. Our question tonight is simple. What can Ellsworth's home and school do to support district 23, our school principal and our teachers in evaluating the learning commons for improvement and investment? We have some funds through home and school. We can fund raise for more. We have volunteers that are ready to help. What we need is clarity on what is possible and
024how we can partner with you to make it possible. Um, I want to share a quick story that illustrates why this matters. Uh this weekend, Luca, who's my 5-year-old son, and I, we made Christmas cookies for friends and neighbors, and he insisted to put aside a batch for Ellsworth Learning Commons uh director because every single week she lets him come into her library and take one of her books home. And I tried to explain to him that it's not necessarily her books, but she got a batch of cookies this morning. Um, and while he is in awe that his teacher is so generous and trusting with all these students to let them all take a book home every week, um, what he doesn't understand, but I do, is how that same teacher is spending her
025own money to make this space functional and welcoming for our students. Um, I know that our school is forcing staff to give up their offices during specific times of the day just to fit all of the different learning classes we need in math and literacy. um and that the school has been trying in every possible way to make up for what we lack in physical spaces to do to fit all of our students needs. Um and I feel and uh the rest of Ellsworth Home and School feels that that level of dedication from our staff and faculty deserves district support. Uh where are the parents in all this? For a few years now, our home and school has worked tirelessly to fund raise for learning commons improvements specifically. Um, as you might know, home and
026school organizations can only earmark $5,000 a year for capital uh projects like this. So, that's forcing us on a very slow pace. Um, in fact, it's forcing our fundraising efforts to be much slower than our school's growing needs. Um, furthermore, since Ellsworth is an older building, we're cognizant that our building's age and location causes uncertainty about what kind and scale of renovations are even possible. In fact, and frustratingly, this is kind of where previous conversations with this district have consistently ended. Um, our school population is too small. Our building is too old. The close by lots around us. >> All right. Okay. Our next speaker is Holly Bonowski Burkeman. >> Good evening and welcome. >> Good evening. My name is Holly Bonowski Bergman. I've been a teacher for 33 years, including more than 15 here
027at District 203. I'm also a person with a disability. one that I've managed professionally, successfully, while continuing to serve my students and my families within the district. I'm here tonight because I'm asking for an early retirement that I never planned to take. Teaching is not just my profession. It is my entire identity. I gave this district my expertise, my loyalty, and my trust. I believe that if I showed up for students, their families, and this district, I would be treated with basic fairness and dignity in return. That belief was wrong. What ended my career in district 203 was not my disability. It's how this district responded once my disability became visible. When I disclosed my condition, I expect professionalism. I expected respect for my medical privacy. I expected compliance with FMLA. Instead, I was reduced
028to an inconvenience, a liability, a problem to be managed rather than a teacher to be supported. Despite winning five Midwest and national awards in the last six years, despite being one of only seven educators in the United States to win an award for working with significantly or significant profound grief within their families, my work was ignored. There was no district response to it. There was no congratulations, no thank you. And that silence was not accidental. It was a clear message. From that point forward, I lived with constant fear. Fear of being targeted. Fear of being blamed. Fear that my disability made me expendable. Fear that decades of service could be erased at a moment. Fear I no longer made a difference to District 203. So, let me be completely clear. I am not retiring because
029of my disability. I'm retiring because this district district made me feel that I should not continue. This [snorts] district did not lose a teacher. It drove one out. And it should alarm every parent, every employee, and every community member that a district capable of doing this to someone who has worked in the profession for 33 years could do it to anyone who becomes inconvenient. vulnerable or sick. No educator should ever be punished for needing accommodations. No educator should be forced to choose between their health and their career. I do not have any more public comment request. Does anyone else in the audience wish to address the board of education? As a reminder, because the questions raised in public comment address district operational matters, the board has designated our superintendent as a spokesperson for the district
030as our designate to respond to public comment and he will apprise the board of education accordingly. This will conclude our public comment period. Okay, we have reached a portion of our oh sorry we've reached the business portion of our meeting. As a reminder to the community, the board understands and has affirmed through our board agreements that is each individual board members uh responsibility to prepare for each meeting. Additionally, we understand that it is our individual responsibility to effectively communicate our concerns either to the superintendent or board president prior to any meeting in a timely manner. Board members have also agreed that avoiding no surprises is paramount and displaying respect for all district administration and the community. In the spirit of no surprises and in accordance with the ISB best practices, the board has tasked itself
031to send questions in advance of each meeting to the superintendent. This practice allows the superintendent to provide the best possible answer for the community. Additionally, it allows for maximum efficiency during the community's meeting. Those same submitted questions may also be asked in open session along with new ones that may arise during discussions. If you ask a question, please state if you sent that question ahead of time. Um, Mr. Bridges, did you receive questions from the board of members in advance of tonight's meeting? >> I did. I received questions from each board member. >> Okay. All right. With that, item six point six. Item six, monthly reports. Item uh as you can see there are a number of um monthly reports there from the Treasury report, investment report, insurance report, and budget report. Are there any
032questions from the board on those? Yes. >> Thank you, Charles. Uh I asked this question uh in advance, but I may not have asked it right. So, uh, Mike, could you maybe just explain to me um the the changes that we saw in the um ending balance last month in September for the insurance report and then how that changed the beginning balance in the October report. So, I understand the the the the movement of the 500,000. I'm just not sure why the GL balance would differ between the two months. the GL balance didn't change is the the the actual bank account balance uh between the two bank accounts is what with the was what the transfer was for. >> So so when I look at that report that is a bank balance report. >> This
033is a bank balance report. Yes. >> Correct. >> Well it's it's the bank balance and the investments >> and the investments but it's not the GL no >> to the Okay. Got it. Okay. Thank you. That clarifies it. >> Okay. Other questions? All right, seeing no questions, item seven, action by consent. Item 7.0. Yes. Sure. Which one would you like to pull? >> Okay. So, there we go. Item 7.01, adoption of the personnel report. Questions on the personnel report? Okay, seeing none, I'll entertain a motion. >> Motion to approve 7.01 adoption of personnel report. >> Second. >> Motion and a second have been heard. Please call the role. Miss Patton. >> Kazinski. >> I. >> Kelly Black >> I. >> McMillan. >> I. >> Winsky. >> I. >> Gerie. >> I. >> Blastic. >> I.
034>> Kush. >> I. The motion passes. Item 7.01. Sorry. Item 7.02 bills and claims. Um, oh, Melissa question. >> Um, I've been bringing this up with each bills and claims. I want to reiterate when I ask questions or make comments. Um, it's it's not to argue and it's not to say anything's being done wrong or point blame. When I ask questions, really, the question is, is this the best way to be doing it? and should we look at others? So, with the bills and claims, um the account coding that I've been requesting that the state of Illinois uses, um it came up in my uh several of the sessions I took at the triple conference that we just went to with the IASB. And um one of the conferences I went to about finance, it
035came up and I was the only one in the room who their bills and claims does not list that schoolboard members did not get those codes. So that triggered me to to look at what our neighbors are doing as far as bills and claims are. And just to reiterate, the billing system that we have to we're required mandated by the state to learn and that we're required to use um has a coding system that basically does what fund is it coming from um function. So what are we getting it for and the object um and so I have a copy of our bills and claims. You'll see that it lists the like say check number vendor name, check date, check amount. Um, when I looked at, well, first of all, I looked at I I
036focused a lot this uh conference on budget and finance, especially since we've had talks about the situation, concerns about it, and maybe possibly having to cut back in some areas. Um, I went to the district of every presenter that I went to their conference and every presenter school district does list. They list the check number, the vendor, um, they have a description, so student council supplies, they have a date, invoice, they have the account number, which is so important. Um, not only did those presenters, which I have copies I can share with the other members, but Neighborville Township, they do the same thing. Um, went to nearby Bington, um, Pleasantville was one of the presenters, they do the same thing. Um, Orland Park or Orland School District, New Trier, Woodidge, which is used to be
037our division leader. So they have out of they're a school that doesn't necessarily have the same finances, but all of their schools have been exemplary. All of them or just not one the last time I checked in with them. And they do that. So my argument, and here's Elmherst that also does it. So my argument is not I understand we've always done it this way. My question is not to place blame, but if I'm being taught through the ISB and other organizations that the state of Illinois mandates, I know this accounting coding that the other school districts do this and it helps them figure out what fund did it come out of, what um the information, what was actually bought versus looking through pages and pages of just checks. I have no idea idea where
038the fund came from, who it was spent, what it was spent on. So, just too to add to this whole conversation, I didn't have special access. I accessed all of this just going to those school board those school districts websites. So another thing that's important about this is number one our fiduciary duty and we are responsible for all spending not to have that information when we already have to use this accounting procedure anyways. Everything is coded because that's how we turn it into the state of Illinois. Um to not have this information and to just randomly go and pick out not have the description. I don't have the benefit of of being able to know what every purchase is. And this if other school districts can do it, it seems to me we can we
039can do this. So I am again asking my fellow board members that we consider using a practice that uses this function and does the description. So you would we would know at a glance whoever does bills and claims doesn't have to bother an employee and call up and say what's this? they can say, "Oh, that was student council supplies." That way they know. Another thing some districts also do is they go even a step further and they break it out again under fund. So we would know how much was spent out of the education fund. I know that we get a high level report but we don't know the other thing is they also do how much was spent this much how much a percentage of the budget where are we at and this helps
040us keep accountable so I'd like a response from my fellow board members whether they would consider doing it in this manner >> anyone else have any commentary on Okay. Um I will point out um couple of items that are loaded into board docks for anyone's viewing pleasure. They are loaded into public comment. Um we have uh a letter from our memo, sorry, from our attorneys as well as a memo from our auditors. um both of which touch on the process and both of which have provided an opinion that the process as we currently do it is um is more than adequate and sufficient in terms of how we handle it. So um I recognize that there may be other people who do things differently but um based on documentation we've received from experts in the
041field again auditors as well as our attorneys um they have uh deemed the process to be uh not only sufficient but um a positive process. So, um, understand your objection in terms of you think we should do things differently, but having not hear not hearing anything from other board members, uh, and then also having the documentation, uh, that everyone can take a look at for themselves, make their own determination. Sounds like we're in a good spot. >> I'd like to respond. actually in the official audit that gets sent to the state. So this is a legal document at least in two locations. They actually point out that they are not to provide an opinion on the effectiveness of the district's internal control over financial reporting or on compliance. They also outline the areas that they
042don't even review that they just rely on the documents from the district. They're doing a highlevel audit. So again, procedures that wait obtain an understanding. The goal is to obtain an understanding of internal controls relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate for those circumstances, but not for the purpose of the expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the district's internal control. Accordingly, no such opinion is expressed. I am concerned that an individual came but in the legal documents we turn in one two three four places they talk about no they don't go through it all they are using the documents and the opinions of our our staff that's not the purpose so there is a disconnect so again the official documents if this is the legal document it should
043be amended if they're saying they reviewed our internal because they're saying in this legal document they did not >> other comments. >> Mark, I will turn it over to you. >> Yeah, thank you, Charles. Um, I had the honor of doing the bills and claims this past month and uh Charles uh participated as well uh as part of the rotation. Um, and I do want to thank Michelle Swopee uh for all the uh wonderful work she did um in providing support and explanations for all of the questions that we had on the bills and claims. Um, and Michelle does a great job. She has all the material right at hand. Uh, she can tell you uh exactly uh what these items are for. Uh, we can check the approvals, the account coding. Um, so I
044I think it uh and and to go back to what the auditor had had told us in the last meeting was that um he understands our process uh that the board goes through uh in terms of its review and bills and claims and he said it was um probably more than what was necessary. So, um I I don't think the bills and claims review itself is is part of the financial statement review. Uh so, I do want to clear clarify that for the public. Uh this is a separate review that's done by the board uh over and above what's done uh by the finance team and our auditors. So, uh this gives us the opportunity to ask questions and ensure the appropriate oversight. Uh, so I I feel pretty good uh about the work that
045is done by the board in terms of the review and uh Michelle does a great job making sure that all of our questions are answered. So um I I guess I I will move to approve uh the warrant number 1072497 through 1073013 and warrant number nine and this gets us all the time zero 0 0139 totaling 28 million 353,26120 for the period of November 18th, 2025 to December 15, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion and second have been heard. Um, any further discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. McMillan. >> Hi, >> Kazminsky. >> I >> Blastic. >> I >> Kush. >> I >> Gerky. >> I >> Kelly Black. >> Nay. >> Winsky. >> I. >> The motion passes. Item 7.03, uh, board meeting minutes from November 17th, 2025. >> Motion to approve item 7.03, board
046meeting minutes from 1117, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion and a second have been heard. Any discussion? Please call the roll. Mrs. Ben. >> Kush. >> I. >> Kelly Black. >> Abstain. >> Blastic. >> I. >> Winski. >> I. >> Ksminsky. >> I. >> McMillan. >> I. >> Gerky. >> I. >> The motion passes. Item 7.04. Uh, close session minutes from uh November 17th, 2025. Motion to approve item 7.04 as presented. >> Second. >> Motion and a second have been heard. Any discussion? >> Melissa, >> I'd like to reiterate that the closed door minutes um it's a requirement we go into closed door to discuss certain items and some of those items once they're no longer fall under the law as far as the open meetings act. what we can um not discuss in open board
047um open meetings once it becomes that it's no longer needs to be privileged it it is not only it's demanded that it's released however our notes are so our notes are so generic you don't there is no real information provided it just really gives the statute so it doesn't serve the purpose or honor the open meeting acts um its intended purpose So, I will be voting no. And I would like to see again it be more specific so it honors the point of the minutes. >> Any further discussion? >> Okay. Motion and second have been heard. No more discussion. Please call the role. Miss Ben. >> Gerky. >> I. >> Blastic. >> I. >> Kazminski. >> I. >> Kush. >> Hi. >> Winsky. >> Hi. >> McMillan. >> Hi. Kelly Black. Nay. >> The motion
048passes. All right. Item eight, communications. Um, we have a number of different uh communications listed uh in that are loaded into board docs. Um, item 8.02, board of education reports. Um, does anyone wish to give a brief update on something that they've done in their official capacity as a board member as it relates to our committee assignments, unique events, uh, or adop at our adopted schools or select special district events? Joe, [clears throat] now I'll try to keep this brief. It's been quite a busy month. Um we had the uh triple eye conference which I always uh appreciate going to and um you know learning about uh what other districts are doing. Um you went to some really uh good sessions on uh superintendent evaluation uh policy changes some of which are in the policy
049document tonight. I I look specifically for those. Um uh want to give a shout out to Amanda who did a great job uh and her uh panel on advocacy um based on um the the work that uh she did in in Washington DC early this year and and last year. Um [snorts] and uh one thing that I wanted to uh mention um kind of put on on the radar possibly um this year there were almost no sustainability sessions and uh yeah there's usually something on electric buses or solar panled or something. There's never been anything like the carbon action plan and I think that would be a really great panel to have um at the next trip. So, um yeah, I I don't know when exactly um the the proposals are due, but that's something
050I would be interested in working on. Uh if the rest of the board would be interested in putting that forward um and having, you know, district staff, board, and I'd love to have student representative on that panel as well. So, um, yeah. So, that's Triple I. Um, we, uh, Dan and I spent a lot of time together, uh, in the last month. Uh, [laughter] we had, uh, school visits at, uh, Naper, Jefferson, and Washington. Um, and, uh, it was great to visit, uh, all of those schools. Um, uh, great to hear the initiatives that they have going on this year. uh what their needs are, um progress on their SIP goals and uh just a lot of good uh conversation and and getting to kind of walk around and see the schools. Um you know,
051especially Washington, which is where my kids went and this is my first time uh there as a board member. So that was uh fun to go back. Um, we had a citizen finance committee meeting. Um, and uh, Mark was at that one and uh, I'll I'll leave comments until the the levy comes up and uh, Mark may have something to say. Uh, we had the superintendent community advisory council um, where Holly's uh, was at. Uh, that was a great meeting. It was really kind of a get to know the other members and get to know 203. Um so a lot of good discussion at tables there and [snorts] um uh this past Friday the superintendent student advisory uh committee um met uh over at the live center and I got to attend that um and
052uh that that was really uh a great meeting. It it's so uh interesting to hear the comments that the students have have um at these uh advisory committee meetings and um you the thoughtfulness they put into the discussion and the openness. I mean they they told it like it was um and that was really great. Um, and uh I especially liked that uh you know the the district brought belonging data for them to look at and they were sitting there analyzing the data and and really kind of digging into it uh which made me very happy um and uh really giving some uh nice responses um you know to the um the administration and and to to me while um you know we were at that meeting. So, I appreciate being able to uh sit
053in and uh hear the students um at that uh council meeting. Um yeah, that's uh been my month. >> That's that. >> Anything else? Quite a laundry list you had there. Okay. Anyone else with Holly? So, as Joe mentioned, I attended the first superintendent community advisory council and I just really wanted to highlight the group that is part of this council. It's um community members who applied themselves and then these were their applications were reviewed externally. So, it's a really interesting diverse group that really reflects the entire community. So, I was really impressed with that at the first one. Um I got to go to two of my adopted schools as well. I got to go to Lincoln and their recent home and school meeting um an evening meeting. We got to hear about um
054grade level um celebrations for fall activities and fall sports and kind of the sense of belonging that's being fostered there at Lincoln and some of their fundraisers. And then I also got to go to Coco PJs and Coco at Riverwoods which is amazing. An evening with cocoa and picture books is one thing, but to see elementary students snuggle up on a a gym floor with a blanket and being so happy and cozy to listen to stories, it's a joyous, wonderful event. So, I really enjoyed that as well. Also did that triple eye conference. Um was my first one and it was really interesting. I I picked especially the sessions with leaders from the general assembly who are on the education committees to kind of get an idea of what are these legislators thinking of for
055our future and I found that really helpful as well. >> Very cool. Thank you, Holly. Amanda. >> All right. Well, I'll start off with the triple I um I've really enjoyed the the main speakers, the keynote speakers that they brought in. And um they had Bernice Armor whose uh nickname is Fly Girl. Uh who, uh is one of the well is one of the first female uh pilots in the Marines. Um definitely the first African-American um woman and she just uh talked a lot about overcoming obstacles and just having a really positive attitude and focusing on the mission. you know, especially when things get rough, you know, why are you there and um you know, what you're trying to do and how um and just how we engage with each other really matters and uh
056really focusing on our commonalities. Um, additionally, we had another presenter um Damon West who uh wrote a story about the coffee bean and he had a very interesting story. He talked about his time in jail and um [clears throat] how he uh you know came from a family that had everything, made some really bad choices, got caught um went to jail um and then uh life afterwards and and becoming a motivational speaker and giving some tips on um how to be a positive influence in a toxic culture. And that's kind of like the metaphor of the coffee bean. Um you know because uh you know if you he a coffee bean will actually change the water and make it something else if you are um so I thought that was pretty powerful. Um and then
057on the other side then I also had some school visits as well. I got a visit with Scott and Kennedy and Meadow Glenn's uh really great visits um at each of those schools. Um, Kennedy, I got a walk in one of the admin meetings where they were literally looking at data and talking about, you know, how they're trying to adapt uh some of their uh school uh goals based off of that real time uh work. Um not sure if they were showing off, but they did a good job uh if they were. So, no. Um just kidding. And then uh Scott, you know, there's a new principal there, so you at Middle Glenn, so it's really great to see kind of how they're um you know, making an impact and influence in the in the
058schools and um kind of making it their own. So that's it. Thanks. >> Awesome. >> Melissa, >> all right. Well, um I know that we're always expected to give our board reports. So I was able to do a couple of things that are my favorite things of being a board member. So the first one is the cocoa and cram. I love that. To go to the high school, I went to Neighborville North. We gave um treats and hot chocolate, but I had the job passing out the cups and the raffle tickets. The students can write win prizes. And that was my favorite thing is I got to ask them what they're studying. Um I have to say I'm always so impressed with our students. Um you know they are so polite. Um their focus this
059time I think versus even last year. The students really did settle down. I also want to thank all the staff that was there that took their time to go around and work with each the groups kind of got if you wanted math help, if you needed help in certain areas, they had um you know staff members available for them to work with. Um so that was fun and I also got to talk with some of the parents that volunteered. So again, thank you for everyone that worked together but that together for us um the triple eye. So um I want to thank my board who gave me the responsibility of being the delegate for the de delegate assembly. So I was asked to kind of explain how that works. Um it works very much like
060the process of we get an agenda like this meeting. Um they are serious about um the the voting and making sure that there's no interference. So you get a golden ticket. You have to use that golden ticket and you don't if you have to go to the bathroom. you have to you have to have that golden ticket to come in and out. The other thing is that we all vote anonymously using electronic device. Um so the process starts pretty much like a board meeting called a meeting. We approve rules. Uh we listen to the reports of the credentials committee. Um we approve the the agenda. We get the report from the president. We also have um the financial re uh report. We get the documents ahead of time, but we review those. And then this
061year we had 10 items which were um amendments to the constitution for the IASB. Um so it works that each uh school district gets to send one delegate. The room is set up so that we can do like we do here. It can be a consent agenda and if it's a consent agenda, those items stay on there. We all vote at once. Um, this year of the 10 items, four of them were pulled. So, as we do here, although there they set up two microphones and they rotated people um from different districts, delegates gave their arguments to and for supporting the amendment. those that opposed it. After listening to the discussion on each of these matters, we voted um the votes did turn out that all the proposed amendments were carried. Um they were voted
062for. Um we did vote for the new IAS uh IASB president and vice president. Um we also the only uh resolution that was there was only one for this delegate assembly and that was on the school um bus safety funding which was carried and supported and it went to consent agenda. No one even had an arguments. Um so that was my report for the delegate assembly. I was able to the other thing that I said I did stuff I like this month is I I love the conferences. I love learning. So I focus each one of us. It's nice when you're on a board you have different interests. I always kind of focused on the dollars and decisions for some of the sess sessions I went to. Um so uh the IASB there's one presenter
063that she's wonderful. I've gone to a lot of hers but she talked about so I'll kind of tell my read some of my notes. The reason I selected a few I've selected three of the sessions to describe is that I feel like a lot of times that you know the people that are hopefully watching us and paying attention to what we're doing that you maybe understand we use a lot of acronyms or you also understand how in schoolboard conversations what are some of the things how do we go about doing things and what are our conversations. So dollars and decisions. So they focused on academic ROI. So what's the academic return on investment? This measures the effectiven. So they advise us to look at programs and compare them. And what we're looking for is they
064say the programs can fall into one of four quadrants. You can have high impact and low cost. Those are programs we really want to scale up because we're getting a lot of bang for our buck. We have a high impact, high impact and high cost. we want to substain those or maybe modify those. Then you have low impact, low cost and this is where for using those programs we might want to consider doing a redesign your low impact and high cost. Those are actually programs that we want to phase out. Um so we did a table activity. So the first one we did was decide if it's micromanagement or governance. Micromanagement would mean it falls under administration. Uh governance would mean that it's a board. So for example, one of the ones that the the
065group discussed was that was governance is for example the board approves a multi-year phase out of low performing programs based on RO ROI data. Next we did simulations. They gave us um they said you have to reallocate $250,000. So we're supposed to and they said you know they gave us the program the percentage of gains and then the cost. And what was interesting on this one is the simulation actually used she [snorts] had the session uh director had pulled information from school districts. She pulled our school district. So that was kind of interesting. However, you couldn't use your school district and because we were top four. That's another thing going to these conferences you understand how fortunate we are. A lot of districts they really do have to make a a lot of really hard
066choices. Um and then we talked about you know is your table we discussed you know what went wrong what should have been flagged who should have flagged this for the board review what checks or policies would prevent a repeat then we had what parts of the budget are protected how will you explain the trade-off to families and staff another insightful so all my sessions without me knowing it kind of led into one another so the next section that I found very useful ful was called use predictive AI models to accelerate growth and close achievement gaps for English learners and students with IEPs which is very relevant for today's discussion. Um so they used a a system called EC. The school district is able to utilize uh data scorecards, a strategic dashboard. Use AI to set
067realistic specific goals for the district, schools, specific groups and individual students. Moni, it monitors progress in real time and makes adjustment enables the administration and staff to make adjustments throughout the year. so growth and achievement are maximized. This system also helps the district evaluate the effectiveness of programs and interventions so the district can figure out their ROI return on investment so resources and time can be invested in high impact programs and interventions. Now using the dashboard scorecard and data tells their community their story with accuracy. Another thing we talk about a lot at school board meetings is how do you tell your story? What is the story of our school district? So this is a tool that can be used. You can share the facts, the data. A school district like ours, I know that
068we have a lot of savvy parents who they want the data. So what does that data mean? How does that tell what we're doing and what we're achieving? Um I personally would like to see our district utilize a system like this, especially for our students that are behind, need interventions or additional assistance, so that all our students have the opportunity to leave our district with the skills they need to succeed after high school. And the last session that I was going to highlight would be the basics of school finance expenditures for school novice. During this session, the presenters um explained how the expenditures are coded. They reviewed the account number structure that includes the fund the money that came out of the function that identifies the action or purpose for which the person or thing
069is used for and the object that describes the service or commodity obtained. They explained how this coding system is used for the ESSA report and the state budget form. They also discussed def deficit reduction plans and the limitation to increase administrative costs by no more than 5%. Um and this is where I tried to share that information with the the board. I would like to see us um have more fiscal responsibilities especially as we have to do things as board members and make tough decisions like tax levies. So my takeaway what I took away from the conference message isn't about spin it's about trust. Not all stakeholders will agree but they need to have the data facts and understand the process. boards who explain why earn credibility. Be centered on student outcomes. Be grounded in
070data, not emotion. Be preemptive, not reactive. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you for your report. Uh Mark, >> thank you, Charles. Uh yeah, just a few things that um I was able to participate in over the course of the past month. Uh Prairie had a Prairie Elementary had a multicultural event uh that was sponsored by the school family community partnership. Um and they had uh booths set up uh that uh parents participated in uh from uh countries in Europe, Asia and South America. And that was either from where the parents were originally from or a place that they visited and they had a strong connection to. Um and it was just something uh really great to see the diversity within the school. um dance, uh food, uh descriptions of the country, cool little things,
071and all the kids were going around and getting their uh passports uh uh stamped at the uh at the school. So, it was a a really wonderful event, and I probably ate a little too much as I was snacking my way around the world there. Uh people have mentioned the triple eye conference, so I uh first time I participated in that as as well uh with Holly. Um I I I won't go through all the detail, but I I think one thing that I I did take away from it all was that uh there's a lot of different districts in this uh in this state, different sizes, uh different complexity, uh different folks on the board, different problems that they're trying to solve. And um you know, I thought it was really interesting to talk
072to people and find out uh how they are doing things. And that's really I look at it as that may be the right answer for their district. and we have some right answers for our district and I think we can share and talk about the different things. Uh but at the end of the day, I think each district is going to uh use the resources they have, the people they have on the board, the administration, and make the best decisions they can and move forward with that. Um so that was a tremendous three days. Really enjoyed going to that. Um Neapville Central, uh Coco and Creme as uh Shria mentioned, uh they had two days of that. Uh very uh very nice turnout. They use the cafeteria. Uh it was great seeing all the uh
073students line up for their cocoa and uh get to their tables and then start working with their uh their classmates on uh what they were either getting prepared for for tests or uh doing homework. So really nice to see that. Uh going back to Prairie Elementary, they also had something called the jingle event on a Saturday. Uh so they had a doughnut truck outside and uh the kids were inside the school uh shopping for gifts uh for their uh parents and and and family. Uh so that was a really nice event and uh it was nice seeing all the kids shop uh for the gifts for their families. Um as Joe mentioned uh he was uh participating in a lot of different events with Dan. Uh so I was able to fill in for him
074at Mil Street uh which was having a closing assembly where they uh slimed uh five of their teachers um and and just I I cannot describe the looks on the children's faces when the first teacher was slimed. It was uh they were just in so they they enjoyed it so much. Uh it was incredible. And uh last Friday uh I had the opportunity to participate in the district ribbon cutting uh for the uh clinic that we now have on uh on Ogden. Uh we were able I was able to uh you know meet the folks that actually work in the clinic and uh it is an incredible facility. The people there are really great. Uh and I am so proud to be part of a district that is offering that to all the employees and
075it's something everyone should definitely take care of. The folks there, the doctor, the uh physician assistant really want this to become the primary care destination uh for the employees. So really they are highly motivated uh they know what they're doing uh and they really want to uh really connect with all the employees. So it was great seeing that. Thanks. >> Thank you, Christine. >> I'm gonna have a shorter list than some of my colleagues. Um I'll start with the um the most recent and that was Coco and CRA. I was there with Melissa and Charles. Um super fun event. Um I'd like to thank NEF because I know they do play um a role in making sure that event is successful. Um super impressed with the kids. not surprised. I won't say that, but I
076am always impressed. Um, they came in, they got down to what they needed to do, and the fact that at the end of a day, high school kids are asking if it's okay to take a snack, I was like, I I think you should take more than one, you [laughter] know. So, um, just super respectful and, um, cognizant that they weren't the only ones who were hungry at 3:30 in the afternoon. Um, but I did have fun. It was a fun afternoon and it was well worth um me missing a couple hours of work. I do it anytime. Um, but the other event that we've all talked about so far is the triple eye conference. Um, always very grateful to have the opportunity to go. Um, I enjoy um, learning um, sidebyside with my colleagues.
077Um, I know I say this every year, but we don't get together [laughter] for the most part except twice a month. Uh, we may talk one- on- one, but this is the only time that we do this. Um, all of us and triple eye conference, we're almost all there. So to be able to sit and listen to very motivational keynote speakers, um I enjoy having that, you know, where we're sitting together and and taking in um very um most most of the time they're very poignant messages. Um but then also just going to sessions and randomly one of one of us or two of us or maybe three of us are in there. So um we can just be together and learn. Um, and I'm always appreciative for our board dinner because we don't talk
078business. Um, but we get to just be together, laugh, and work on our own relationships. And so I'm always grateful that our superintendent is there with us. I don't know, he may wonder why he's there sometimes with these seven people. Um, and this year, um, Mark joined us also. So, it was good to to sit and I think our end of the table talked a little bit of hockey, a little bit of sports, bunch of stuff. So, um just a great opportunity to be with each other and um learn and and learn about Word Stuff and learn a little bit more about each other. Okay. All right. Well, thank you all for those uh reports. Um so, item 8.03, President's Report. So, I'm going to report on a couple of things. I I also have
079spent quite a bit of time with Superintendent Bridges in the last couple of weeks. Um uh I will start off though with Triple I. So I'll just echo what everyone else has said. Wonderful event. Uh great opportunity to go to learn to see what others are doing. Several board members mentioned the opportunity to just hear what other districts might be doing, how they might be handling something, and it's always great to to get those kinds of learnings. Um so I really appreciate that uh opportunity every year to be able to do that. Uh next is uh I attended the general home and school meeting um which was great. Uh you know can't thank those individuals enough for the work that are that they do within our schools. Um we have 23 buildings and uh and
080that are individual schools but the home and school groups really turn those buildings into communities. uh they really are communities. So some of the work um that some of the events that they put together uh and the things that they do um are just phenomenal and they really helped they really helped to build that sense of belonging not just with the kids but then also with the family members and the communities as well. So just uh special thanks to those group those folks as well. Uh also attended uh uh with Dan uh my adopted school. So I went to BB uh to visit with principal Peterson there. Um and some wonderful things happening there. Also went to uh Neighborville North. So um uh had a good visit there. Um it's interesting in the student ambassador
081uh report. Brooke mentioned that uh the seniors and and up rising seniors and juniors were very excited about the fact that with the new construction that's coming uh they found a way to accommodate all the parking spaces and so there will be no parking space loss. It's amazing how sometimes it's just the little things. That was really good. Um, but a lot of great stuff happening at North as well. Later in the day, I did have the opportunity to attend Coco and CRA with fellow board members Melissa as well as Christine. And just the energy of the students uh in the learning commons, you know, with the Coco, the level of politeness, those things have already been mentioned, so I won't go into more detail there, but it's just a wonderful event. So, thanks again
082to all who are involved in putting that together. And then uh Mark and I got the chance to attend the ribbon cutting that was phenomenal. Um it's a great facility. Um I just think it's a testament to some of the difference. I believe we're only one of is it two districts in the state? It is maybe three. >> Excuse [clears throat] me. I actually asked a couple of the folks that were there. He thinks there are more beyond just school districts though. >> Oh god. >> In terms of municipalities and things like that. So >> Okay, got it. Um but either way, one of a few um at most and it's just a great uh facility. Mark already mentioned uh the quality of the staff that's employed there. Um and then the level of convenience
083that's created um and the utilization is continuing to build. So, um it's really exciting that it's something that uh that we have in our district that not every district has. Um and it's a it's a great uh benefit for our um our staff. Uh and that is it for me. So all right, item 8.04, superintendent staff school report. >> Okay. This evening for superintendent school report, uh I have with us uh Dr. Rakita Leaks, our executive director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Uh and she's been leading the work uh in our district uh with many folks in terms of updating our comprehensive equity plan. So this evening she'll provide an update to the board of education on our plan uh kind of where we're at some successes, areas that we uh will focus on,
084and just some next steps. So I'll turn it over to Dr. Leaks if we can get our plan pulled up, please. All right, perfect. Good evening board members. My name is Dr. Rakita Leaks and I will facilitate the comprehensive equity plan board report for December 2025. In tonight's report, we have four main outcomes. I will provide a brief overview of the comprehensive equity plan, offer contextual information on the progress made, and highlight areas for continued growth and opportunities across all of our our pillars of success since 2023 and provide an update on the latest data associated with our indicators of success. And finally, I will update the board on our immediate actions and next steps for continuous improvement. Next slide, please. This work is essential because despite our district's o overall high academic achievement patterns,
085we are aware of persistent racial, ethnic ability and economic related disparities and inequities in our students learning and comprehensive school experiences. While we know many of our students, staff, and community members feel a strong sense of belonging and connectedness, we must acknowledge that this is not the lived experience for of all. Our ultimate goal remains clear. We will meet our goals when demographic features are not a predictor of success or experience for any individual in the district. This slide illustrates the strategic framework of the comprehensive equity plan. For each pillar of success, there we go. For each pillar of success, this framework connects our highlevel overall goals to more specific measurable objectives. These objectives are driven by the dayto-day work, which we call key actions. And crucially, our success is measured through the quantifiable indicators
086of success, which I will review after the update on our key actions for each pillar. Here our five pillars of success which were identified as key areas to focus on to collectively help us achieve our goals. I will provide an update regarding the progress we have made in each of these areas. Let's look at the progress within our first pillar of success, systemic transformation of culture. For the progress and key actions implemented between 2023 and 2025, we have established multiple systematic modes to gather student voice, including the student perception survey, the superintendent student advisory council, and our high school principal student advisory councils. We have also worked uh to advance whole school culture and climate and culture programming including the successful implementation of restorative practices. And we have enhanced extracurricular student educational experiences such as
087the annual leading for equity through action and discourse also known as lead student conference. Moving forward, our continued growth opportunities include a deeper focus on creating learning opportunities for students specifically on restorative practices, building stronger adultto student and studentto student relationships across different demographic groups, continuing to examine our systems, processes, and mindset around student behavior. Expanding outreach for student involvement and participation. our student perception data um our students perception survey data actually indicates that secondary students who participate in activities and athletics report more favorable ratings and sense of belonging. This trend suggests that formalized extracurricular involvement may be a protective factor that we need to better connect our to our general student body as well as an increase um increasing student and stakeholder voice at all levels of the organization. Our second pillar is courageous
088equity centered staff. Key actions implemented here include which we were fulfilling our identified growth opportunity in our update to the board in 2023. We established the district equity team to support equity concerns at the district level and share experiences to better understand additional concerns, actions, and supports for staff and students at the school level. We are delivering targeted professional learning including um dedicated new educator training, job embedded coaching for equity and our our career 203 learning opportunities. We concluded an administrator's we conducted uh an administrator's academy with a focus on restorative approaches and we are now threading humanistic values in professional learning. And we are ensuring that all professional learning is differentiated to reflect various audiences, positions and career stages. And for continued growth, we are focusing on increasing professional learning related to culturally responsive
089curriculum and instruction. Pillar three, equity centered school and classroom practices ensure that curriculum instruction and resources provide access for all and incorporate a culturally responsive lens that includes diverse cultures and perspectives which will increase students capacity to feel connected to the school community and achieve at high levels. The principles of equity are now reflected in our school improvement plans. We have enhanced our curriculum to be more inclusive and have updated our resource se selection process using an equity centered resource identification tool. We have added differentiated text selection that better reflect our students and have revised our social studies curriculum to include the positive contributions and lived experiences of underrepresented groups. We continually review high school courses, introduced new courses, and um updated existing ones to ensure educational equity. Professional learning for new educators includes um
090training on equity centered um instruction and classroom practices. And we have connected with relevant community partners to enhance our curricular experiences. As we look ahead, we're focused on continual growth. This involves conducting a comprehensive curriculum audit update and audit while carefully assessing and addressing specialized programs, courses, and experiences to ensure a more equitable learning environment for all students. Our fourth pillar is perpetuating systems of equity and opportunity. Key progress in this area includes focused efforts on targeted recruitment to diversify our staff. We are increasing our outreach to teacher preparation programs that have, you know, s pretty a significant amount of diverse education graduates to further diversify our applicant pool of highquality candidates. We are supporting our um our various equity affinity groups for staff from historically underrepresented demographic groups. And moving forward, the human resources
091team will work with these groups more closely to identify how to best retain these staff a as well as utilizing the staff perception survey to gather candid feedback related to the equity professional learning. And our continued growth opportunities are centered on um leveraging the intro to teaching program which is part of our career and techn technical education or CTE pathway designed for students interested in education careers and associated um and the associated career pathway endorsement to encourage these students cons to consider Neighborville 203 as a future employer. This type of grow your own initiative is highlighted as a key action on our current comprehensive equity plan. The final pillar is family and community empowerment. Regarding key actions implemented, we have strengthened our support with essential family and parent groups like home and school, the bilingual
092parent advisory council and the success family organization. We have provided various equity center resources for families such as resources to to support families experiencing food insecurity and resources for families and students impacted by recent immigration enforcement and increase overall community engagement through various committees such as the diversity advisory committee and the newly created superintendent community advisory committee and so on. For continued growth, we are focused on offering more parent caregiver education opportunities and working to increase stakeholder feedback overall. This leads us directly into the review of the latest data associated with our indicators of success. We will begin by looking at the first area, sense of belonging. Sense of belonging is critical to the success of our students. Research has shown that a student's sense of belonging improves academic outcomes, increases continuing um enrollment, and
093is protective of students mental health. Additionally, sense of belonging illustrates how SEAL and equity are intertwined. As a result, sense of belonging is identified as a success indicator on our comprehensive equity plan. Specifically, we will review the most recent student perception survey results by grade bands, followed by an analysis of these results as broken down by different student groups. Elementary students in grades three through five participate in the student perception survey. Generally, our elementary students sense of belonging remains a strong area with 71% favorable rating. We disagregate the elementary sense of belonging data to understand the lived experiences and perceptions of all of our students. This, as this chart illustrates, while our overall sense of belonging is high, we see gaps. Specifically, our data indicates that students who are black, African-American, Hispanic, Latin, economic disadvantage,
094and students with disabilities report lower sense of belonging compared to their peers. However, the fall 2025 survey data shows that student groups except black African-American reported a noticeable increase in favorable ratings for sense of belonging compared to spring 2025. Nonetheless, general gaps still persist and confirm the need for targeted interventions that we mentioned in our first pillar, specifically in building stronger studentto student and adultto student relationships, increasing participation opportunities, and expanding our restorative appro uh practices. The favorable rating for students, secondary students, sense of belonging reached 67% in fall 2025, an 11 point increase since the last survey in spring 2025. When we disagregate the secondary sense of belonging data, the disparity gap persists. students who are black African-American 59% and two or more races also 59% um report they're not 59% of the survey
095that's their rating for favorable rating report the lowest sense of belonging among student groups but a point of celebration is that students in each reported demographic group also showed a show substantial growth experiencing between 9 to 20 percentage point increase in their sense of belonging since we began since we we started this survey in 2021. Having a diverse workforce is a long-standing district priority. Board policy 2.142 states, "Our hiring practices will reflect our desire to recruit and retain talented employees whose skill sets enhance excellence in education as well as a culturally rich and diverse perspective. And pillar four of our comprehensive plan comprehensive equity plan perpetuating systems of equity and opportunity states district administrators will hire and retain diverse workforce that represent the district and school demographics. Fostering a diverse and inclusive teaching workforce is
096an effective gap closing strategy. Neighborville 203 is comprised of a wonderfully diverse community representing a wide range of cultures, languages, and backgrounds. By hiring highquality educators who mirror this diversity, we send a powerful message to our students that their identities and experiences are valued and respected. When students see teachers who share their backgrounds, it can boost their self-esteem, sense of belonging, and overall academic performance. All students benefit from exposure to diverse educators, leaders, and staff. And in particular, research has confirmed that students of color tend to have higher academic, personal, and social performance when they are exposed to teachers of color. I want to note that our recruitment, hiring, and retention efforts do not deviate from our standards. We want the best candidates who reflect the diversity of our student body. This slide provides an
097update on our progress in creating a courageous equity center staff that better reflects our student body using data from the last three hiring classes. An important note is that we did not include data for staff um who identify as two or more races or multi-racial because the overall numbers are lower than the reporting threshold which protects identifiable data. We see a positive and noticeable trend in hiring Hispanic Latin staff, which has increased significantly from 5.03% in the summer of 2023 to 14.56% in the summer of 2025. This increase is due to the increase FTE for EL program expansion as well as our targeted recruitment efforts. However, we have seen a decrease in hiring rates for Asian and Pacific Islander staff and continued low representation for black African-American staff. This data reinforces the need to expand
098and diversify programs like our intro to teaching as well as continued targeted recruitment. In addition to hiring, retention is critical. This chart shows our staff retention rate. This is for certified and um support staff combined by demographic group. Overall, retention remains strong. This informs our work to ensure a supportive and empowering environment for all staff. For example, the um HR team has committed to work collaboratively, as I mentioned before, with our equity affinity groups to identify ways to improve staff retention for those underrepresented demographic groups. Assistant superintendent Dr. Patrick Nolton previously noted to the board of education in November of 2025, just last month, Neighborville 203's academic performance continues to be a statewide leader. Yet, the data clearly defines the academic equity gap that drives our current strategy. The district's overall proficiency in English language
099arts, mathematics, and science equals the 99th percentile rank when compared to all other unit districts in Illinois. All of our schools received a high designation under the state's summitive accountability process and our English learner progress to proficiency is 22% compared to 7% for the state of Illinois. Despite again um the high overall perform performance the core equity gap remains the ongoing need to support the academic proficiency growth and success of the following student groups including those with economic disadvantage black African-American Hispanic Latina English learners and students with disabilities. This disparity confirms the focus of the revised comprehensive equity plan um which those academic indicators will be on accelerating growth for those groups. As previously shared in the student behavior report to the board in September 2025, at all levels, our behavior data indicates that the
100vast majority of students consistently meet positive behavioral expectations. However, systemic attention is needed for the concentration of incidents. For example, at the high school level, a small group of 5% of students generated approximately 50% of all behavior referrals and require the most intensive support. The primary issues driving these referrals are low-level highfrequency incidents related to attendance with class or school um truency and tardiness collectively combining comprising over 60% of all behavioral referrals. Demographically, students receiving one or more of these behavioral referrals are 45.5% white, 15.8% 8% black African-American, 10.1% Asian-American, and 6.4% Hispanic Latina. This data is critical for monitoring equitable access to positive school experiences. Furthermore, when examining the most severe consequences, a disparity is evident in the use of exclusionary discipline, which is in school and out of school suspension. For instance, black
101African-American students who comprise of about 4.7% of our student population account for 21% of in in school suspension incidents and 30% of out of school suspensions indicating significant over representation. Similarly, Hispanic Latin students are over represented in out of school suspensions at 17% compared to their 11.9% share of the population. As a point of celebration at the middle school level, student groups, including students with IEPs, students who are black and white students, all saw a decrease in exclusionary discipline from the previous year. This dis disagregated data confirms that while the district is reducing overall exclusionary practices, discip dis disciplinary equity must remain a top focus. The data highlights a critical need for universal schoolwide interventions, particularly at the high school level to address the highfrequency attendance issues. Simultaneously, student support personnel will continue to closely
102monitor and address disproportionality in the use of exclusionary discipline for black, African-American, and and Hispanic Latin students, which requires a shift um toward proactive support and restorative practices. Lastly, the district has been identified as being significantly discrepant and in the over representation of black African-American students with an emotional disability. The student services team created and submitted an action plan with the state of Illinois board of education to work on decreasing this overidentification. This action plan was approved by ISBY and um includes three action goals. the implementation of the MTSS system to ensure consistency, transparency, and improve outcomes for students, ensure access to preventative behavioral health services for all students who need it through the revision of our RISE program, and professional learning regarding improving the authentic sense of belonging for all students, understanding and implementing
103humanistic behavior approaches, including traumainsted practices, In summary, although we have made made notable progress, particularly as in student sense of belonging, there is still significant work to be done. Our data clearly highlights three primary areas that will be our immediate focus for 2026. And that includes continuing to close the persistent sense of belonging gap for our historically marginalized student groups. um addressing the ongoing need to support the academic proficiency, growth, and success of specific student groups and increasing the diversity of our staff to reflect our student demographics. Based on these findings, here are the our key next steps for 2026 and going forward. In the coming months, we will publish an update to the comprehensive equity plan to reflect our current needs and goals, maximizing our impact moving forward. continue to audit and update the
104curriculum as appropriate and ensure equitable access for all and increase professional learning on culturally responsive curriculum and instruction. Center family and caregiver voices by offering more parent and caregiver education and continuing to amplify the student voice at all levels and focusing on increasing the capacity of the district equity team to lead this work and ensure equity is threaded explicitly into all professional learning. And to lastly to continue to monitor and and analyze all data with a specific focus on the outcome of our identified student groups to drive our continuous improvement. This concludes my presentation. I welcome any questions from the board. Okay. Thank you Dr. Lee for your report. Questions from the board. Ma, >> thank you so much. Uh, this is really comprehensive. There's a lot to unpack here. Um, sorry [clears throat] Melissa,
105I feel like I'm bumping you. Excuse me. Um, one of the things that uh where I'd like to start and this was a question I did send in advance was noticing that there does seem to be uh a significant increase in belonging between the spring and the fall especially in the high school area amongst the groups even though it's not at the higher level but it's like a significant jump. Do we have an idea of like were there specific interventions or things that happened between the spring and the fall that uh we can maybe contribute to that? >> Um not necessarily between the spring and the fall, but there have been a there's been lots of intentional work over the past few years that our schools particularly at the secondary level um have you know
106a lot of that work has been put forth and um they've been doing a lot of work to implement it. Um, and that includes really trying to learn more directly from students about their experiences, whether that's through student panels and student interviews or focus groups. Of course, the introduction of our um, high school principal advisory councils um, has been a great way for our principles to learn more about the needs and concerns of our students and so that they can leverage that information to impact change. We have of course the superintendent student advisory council as well which serves a similar purpose but at the district level. Um and then offering experiences like um what we shared in the good news um the leading for equity through action and discourse um that student conference providing more
107opportunities for students like that and then continuing a lot of the work that we've been doing for a long time which is offering a robust having a robust robust offering of clubs and activities that students can participate in. I think we're just now really seeing the results of that that work. Yeah, that just really demonstrates that there's not a silver bullet here. Right. Right. You know, it's a it's a comprehensive um multi-tiered plan that has and that you have to allow to take time to kind of integrate and and change. Um, one of the other areas, um, you had put in here statistics about, um, different staff, um, groups by race and how much, uh, we've hired in, uh, the past few years. Do we know like what the overall percentage is within the district
108of each of those groups versus just like what we have hired like new staff versus the total staff. >> Yes, I mean that's of course also available on the um our ill our school report card. Um so it has information there. >> I can check there. Okay, thank you. >> Um and then the this isn't something I sent ahead but just really resonated with the the kind of conclusion and I really appreciate that you're keeping it real with us in regards to the fact that we're doing some things well. Um, we're making progress, but there's still a lot that we need to do as a district um to try to um not have any kind of predictable uh disparities, right? Especially around um the discipline and then um part of that is contributed through the
109truency and the attendance, which to me teens a lot speak with their feet. You know, they show up when they want to and and they feel especially if they have a sense of belonging. Um, is there um I guess what I'm kind of wondering is uh with that discipline component um and who's makes the decisions for exclusionary or not um are are there specific interventions uh around there to try to raise awareness and kind of have that data accountability for that group that's making those decisions? to the greatest degree possible, our student advocates will try and get in front of any issues before they result in exclusionary discipline. Um, so for example, deans can refer, you know, a group of students to the student advocates if they sense there's a conflict uh to try and
110resolve that conflict before it escalates into something that might result in exclusionary discipline. Um it's obviously used as a last resort um for our most severe offenses, fighting um or possession of things that they should not have in school, um vapes, etc. or you know using a cell phone in an appropriate location. Um those things are often reactionary. We try and get in front of things as much as we can uh between our counselor, social workers, and our interventionists or student our advocates. So I'm not sure if I'm answering your question or not, but >> well, what I heard and I could have maybe heard it wrong was that um the especially the African-American and Latin um population was um mostly having tardies and um uh attendance issues and those were leading to exclusionary practices.
111That's what I heard. Was that wrong? >> Generally no. I mean we, you know, for example, if a student's not reporting to school, we generally would not then exclude them from school. We want them to be be in the building. So, um, but what is what does correlate is if a student has 25 behavioral referrals to the office, they may have a lot of attendance referrals and have some exclusionary discipline for other behavior. >> Okay. >> So, oftentimes that those correlate, but yeah, but yeah, but attendance issues are not leading to exclusion. >> Thank you for that clarity. That's an important indicator for me. So, thank you. >> Other questions for the board? >> Melissa. >> Um, so I went back and looked at the previous um when we started the comprehensive equity plan. um
112the uh 2020 through 2023. And first thing that I noticed a difference um I think it goes back to that was why I took the time earlier to explain you know ROI return on investment and the need to drill down and find out you know what are the programs how are they succeeding not succeeding what are we getting out of them and then how much it's costing us and when we look at the equity plan um you know I I think all of us want every student to succeed and every family to have kids that succeed. Um, so when I looked back at the goals, if I'm not wrong, this report, I liked the earlier report more because we had actual set goals. Um, for example, and we said how we're going to measurement. the
113district uh trends will indicate at least 9% reduction in academic gaps for the following groups. Um we also have that the district district trends data trends for students who are eligible for special education services will be proportional to the overall district demographics. Uh district data shows trends will indicate that the at least 9% reduction in demographic and workforce groups for certified and non-certified per permanent staff relative to each race ethnic group including as Asian, black, African-American, Hispanic and Latinex. How do I say that? I say it right. >> Latinx. >> Can we Yeah. Can I clarify you? right there just for a second because I think she wants to >> So yes, we are in agreement. Um actually we're aligned um the comprehensive equity plan that you're referring to is the one that's actually currently
114still in place. Um and um because the plan launched in 2020, which we were in the midst of a a global pandemic, it caused a a pause in some aspects of the work. Um and so what we did, we still provided the update to the board in 2023 as we had initially planned to do, but with um an awareness and letting the board know at that time that we would we would keep that plan in place for an additional couple of years um and continue to do that work since our first year or so got a little rocky start just due to um the changes that we had to make in the navigating the pandmic. So tonight's report is intended to be kind of an update on the work, not a presentation of the plan
115with the measurable metrics that will be coming. >> But how do we I guess this is my question. >> It's some of these reports are difficult for me because it's operational. I appreciate the narrative of telling me what you're doing. I I want that. But really, when I have an update, I do want that data in there because I want to know where we're going. I want to know as we make decisions as we make decisions tonight. This is relevant because we're making summer school courses. You know, I I I'm still we have kids with IEPs. What I'm seeing is we didn't get this growth and I understand I completely get that we came out of pandemic. However, this goes back to that ROI in evaluating this is at what point do we keep doing
116this without being able to show that we're having the intended impact. Maybe we're going down the wrong path with this because like for me the sense of belonging is relevant because we want I want ultimately all our kids to leave here with as many skills as they need to be successful in life. So it it's kind of that's why I say they talk about the academic ROI but I believe that you need to have these other functions for them. We say that belonging according to the studies show that this will translate And the question is does it translate? I don't know with the data. I don't know what the data when I look at even this report. If you look back, most of the the the um the graphs are pretty much where they were
117in 2021 levelwise. So that makes me go, okay, are we getting the impact? Are we on the right path? Because it's been how many years? We're coming up to five years now. That's five years students have come and gone. So that's why I brought up my reports even about that one software program, how other districts are able to do this and really zoom in. One thing I don't see in here either is root causes. I see the narrative of what you're doing and thank you for all of this. But as a board member, what I'm required to overview is the data of is this getting where we want and are we investing properly? Because one of the things, you know, I go back and look at if I want my students, I want the students,
118what I ultimately want with this equity plan is for the students to leave our schools with the skills they need. However, if I look at our district, yes, blacks the the black students in EA ELA, English language, wait, English language >> arts, arts. So, only 50% of our students in our district. To me, that's not okay. That's not acceptable. That's not a take it slow approach. um that maybe we need to get start rethinking or put more on the gas because this is important. We have students um in math are black students. Only 29% of the kids in the district are proficient in math that are black. That when we say things and this is another thing about that narrative I keep saying the 99th percentile of community unit school districts. What I hear when
119I hear that first of all, you've picked a small segment to compare yourself to. And then the real message is also what I keep kind of feel this district does is we're great. We're great. I go to the, you know, we don't need to do know what other districts are doing or do what they are. We're going to do it ourselves. >> Melissa, I'm going to ask you now to a question because you're kind of >> here to answer your question. So, please ask her a question. Hispanic students under 50% with skills with math almost every group with disabilities uh 44% English learners 34% IEP only 28% of our students with IEPs are proficient. So when you tell our community 99% you're not talking about all our students. That's not equity. That's I want equitable.
120I don't want to see these groups alone. And I know you don't. But what we're doing isn't getting there fast enough. So what what can we do to accelerate this? Okay, great. Um I think we are in agreement. Um and we acknowledge that we do overall have high patterns of high achievement overall, but we are very clear um and acknowledge that the gaps that you've named exist. Um our academic progress report highlighted that as well. So we are in full agreement. um the work of this plan and then of our second iteration of the plan which we will be rolling out soon um will directly address that those concerns and those needs. everything from having um you know FTE like for example our math specialists were um that was something that we put into place
121to support um the the growth of students in math and addressing the gaps that you did you so eloquently highlighted um and many other efforts. So we are we are doing in intentional targeted explicit work um around those those concerns um and and we see some inconsistent um progress with gap closing um and we're we are acknowledging that fact and so and that's why we're t taking a look back and and having a second iteration of the comprehensive equity plan. >> Okay. Because one of the things as a board members that's frustrating sometimes I feel like there's a disconnect like we get this you're doing your job but I as a board member I see that when there's opportunities to allocate resources or funds for example I kept we're going to talk later about the
122summer school programs and I asked for reports and data on that for our most at risk kids for our IEPS. I want to see are we improving? Are we doing the right courses? I didn't get any of that data. >> Melissa, can I ask you to hold your summer question to the summer school? >> But those go together. If we don't do both, you can't do your job. You want to do it. But we need as a district to stop saying we're 99% as if and just go yeah we do a lot of things great but there are kids we with the IEPs when you look at exiting our high schools and some of them it's less than 30% of the kids have the skills they need and this has been going on for years
123so this needs to change >> and I know you know that and thank you but we it needs to be done and it's not and we need the numbers to show that it's being done, not just the narrative. >> Other questions from other board members. >> Christine, [clears throat] >> thanks for the report. Rakita, um I will say and I and this is what I struggle with, so I don't know that you could answer this, but maybe someone else could. when we do the like I'm just looking specifically right now at the um sense of belonging um surveys, we have kids that take that survey in the spring that we no longer have with us in the fall and then on the flip side kids that are new um to the survey. So I always
124struggle with how do I balance that you know um I mean when I look at the high school or the um secondary we've seen a clear um improvement in student belonging. I mean those numbers are indisputable. The grades three through five it's a little flatter. Um but I I need I and I didn't send this ahead. It was just this was coming to me as listening to conversation and the presentation. How do I figure that out? How much weight do I put on that? And I don't maybe we need Patrick here to help with that one. I'm not [laughter] sure. >> Um, but I I mean it is it is the truth, you know, and I I also wonder, you know, some kids have a tough year and that perceptions um survey is going to
125take a hit, but then the next year they have that teacher or they have that experience that turns it around for them. So, I'm always trying to figure out how do I balance what I'm reading here? Um because I just think there's more to it. I don't know. So, um I think that's partly why we do the survey twice a year. So we offer the survey in the fall um as well as the spring so that we can see the experience um the growth experience of students um across one academic year, one school year. Um and there is actually some functionality built into um the the the database the um platform that we use um through Panorama where we can actually um disagregate the data in a lot of different ways um including um identifying
126students who recently transferred into the district if that is a curiosity um that school leaders or teachers have to see those who are recent transfers. ers into the district, how are they rating their experience um compared to the overall rating? Um so there are some ways to look at the data um to get at exactly what you're talking about, but I think the most effective is the fact that we offer the survey multiple times in a single school year. I think one of the other things that we need to look at too besides just the perception survey is really those summaries when we look at our school improvement plans because our sense of belonging is beyond just our survey. Um and really when they when they go on those goals, they look and say what
127what is the progress and our principles do a really nice job of giving more context as well on what is the sense of belonging outside of just the perception survey. So it's really when you go to your adoptive schools having those conversations as well with our principles beyond just these numbers on how what is happening not only with their students but even in their home school and their parent events because sense of belonging is beyond just our kids. Um and so really asking your adopt the schools kind of what's happening comprehensively um beyond just that survey. So actually that sort of I think leads me into my second question. Um and this stemmed from the um statistic about kids who are participating in extracurricular activities have a higher sense of um belonging. Um what barriers
128do you see like what can we help with as far as removing any barriers? I think as much as I'd love to see 100% participation, I don't know that that's really realistic for a variety of very valid reasons, but I want to make sure at least at our level um what are we doing to make sure that kids have every opportunity and then it just comes down to I choose not to do something instead of I I I can't. I think you have put a lot in place for our students especially when we talk about the activity buses that was one of the biggest barriers was transportation. Um we seek out we call families um sometimes just like you said we have students that just choose not to we have students that have that are
129working um for their family that are providing child care for their family outside of the school day. Um they are doing things just within their academic studies. So the the pieces that the board has very generous generously put in place um one of the biggest is the barriers of transportation also we cover their cost. So if there's ever a cost um not only our students that qualify for free and reduced but we also do have um students come to us that will say we can't pay for the uniforms or we can't pay for um the fees and we do take care of that from the direction of the board. So, um I think we have a lot of good things in place. Um we're constantly having conversations with our students, uh our counselors, our social
130workers, our deans, um our assistant principles, our teachers, and so I I think we're putting a lot in place. Actually, I know we are. I don't just think that. But we also do have students that that choose not to um because of some other competing priorities in their own home life, their school life, or just their need to relax on their own. >> Thanks again for the the presentation. I appreciate it. [clears throat] >> Other questions for the board? I come back around to you in a second. Okay. I did have one question and then I'll come back to you. Um um this gets into the retention rates you mentioned from the staff. Um can you speak to what and and I did send this question ahead to myself I guess. Well, I guess to
131Dan. Um what specific actions are underway to address uh the retention rate of staff of color? And then you know what are some of the root causes that have been identified? and you showed the numbers in terms of where they're going, but just what are some of the things that are being tried to attempt to address that, whether it's just been put in place and you're not sure if it's working yet, just get a sense of the range of things you're looking at. >> So, um I've been working with HR um and um have extended an an invite to them and they've already taken me up on this even today. They actually did this today um with connecting with our um employee our equity affinity groups >> um to talk to those individuals directly um
132the people who are you know clearly involved in those groups to find out more about um why they choose to stay. We've had conversations about maybe the implementation of stay interviews um to learn more about um their experiences and how we can rep possibly replicate whatever the positive reasons why they are staying um across um the larger you know demographic of the workforce. Um as well as um you know just having more conversations about their experiences just in general. Um, some anecdotal things that I've heard as far as like that impacts retention could be about whether or not um staff of color in particular feel a sense of community and connection to their workplace, right? Um, and so that is a big thing. So, we've talked a lot about that with in the context of
133students, but that's also important um for adults. Um and then also um opportunities for uh growth professionally is a big one. Um and so HR has been having conversations even to like I said today for example of of highlight highlighting different pathways for growth across different um employee groups. So looking at NESPA pathways looking at um NUMA pathways and INUA etc. um so that people are have a greater awareness of what their options are. Um but then also having real honest conversations with hiring managers etc. um around culturally responsive hiring practices um ensuring that we're not getting in our own way um and you know not providing those opportunities uh to those staff who might be a good fit for it. >> So >> okay >> those are just some examples. Okay. Um, one other
134quick question. Um, oh, is there a and I sent this one ahead too. Is there a metric for community sense of belonging? So, we talk about sense of belonging for the students and you know kind of the target is around 80ish%. That's deemed as a pretty good number. If 80% of the folks are feeling like they belong, that's a good thing. Um, couple questions. One, is there a community metric for that? and and understand like the correlation between the kids feeling connected and the parents feeling connected. Right? And then the other question is sense of belonging is is is and if I'm incorrect but this tell me it's a leading indicator or it's intended to be a leading indicator right so what kind of a lag do do we expect to see between when the
135sense of belonging rises and then the it pulls the academic numbers with it. Um so to answer your first the first part of your question um regarding community indicator um our current comprehensive equity plan does have an indicator of success connected specifically to community sense of belonging which is the metric is 80%. Um right now we are leveraging our five essentials um survey to um determine whether or not we are on the path of meeting that metric which we are. Um overall our ratings um through five essentials are pretty positive, pretty high. Um recently five essentials has now offered um an opportunity for us to disagregate that data by different demographic groups that wasn't always available to us um in the past. So um that is the metric you know to answer the first part
136of your question. As far as lag time um actually I don't have a clear answer to that. Um but that's a great question that you've posed and one that challenges us to really think about like um you know how much time do we need to give ourselves? um we've kind of identified artif I don't want to say artificial but just like goals like for example with the first iteration of the comprehensive equity plan we gave ourselves three years um that we were hoping to see um positive impact and improvement um on the things that we've implemented and as I mentioned before due to the pandemic we did give ourselves a little grace and extended it a couple more years um but that's something I would have to go back and have a conversation with for
137example with Dr. Nolton um and then doing some additional research to make that you know to have a clear answer to that question. >> So just to clarify to make sure I understood the first part. So I got the second part. So >> still trying to figure out that side of things in terms of how much of a lag or a lead rather it would be. Got it. The on the other thing you mentioned around the community number. So as of right now, unlike on the student data, we're not able to disagregate it by ethnicity or >> we are, but that's very recent. >> Oh, that just happened. So we we don't we're not we haven't reported out all those things. >> We haven't reported out. >> Okay. So we just got the ability to
138be able to do that. So in a subsequent upcoming sometime report, we'll get similar to what we got on the student side. >> Awesome. Okay. Thank you, Melissa, you had a question. Yeah, I was just going to go back to what Christine said, and that was one thing I did notice is that we're really relying a lot on surveys, self-reporting. Um, that's also why it would be nice if we had some other metrics and datas and key indicators besides just um again, I go back to that the conference. Since I went to that session, that particular district was able to show great results because the software they used was able to go down for you could do it by group. they had specialized and English learners and students with IEPs and they were able to
139go down and find the specific. This is very high level which is is nice in one way but to really know what's going down getting root causes you know maybe we should explore looking at a product like that that can help us identify more than just survey information. It can also be used to give us other other um data points maybe a broader range just like when you assess something usually on students your best is to have a more comprehensive assessment. Then going along with um Jane had mentioned the SIP plans. That was one thing I was confused with is that again I feel like, you know, we stayed a priority, but then maybe I would have appreciated that if in this report we had the data and the information from the SIP reports, the
140individual school reports, because that would be very valuable because each school does their SIP belonging report differently. So, it's a way for us to determine what was done at what schools, which saw growth, which didn't see growth. That would be a great tool to help us evaluate. So, if we're going to bother and say this is so important, we're going to put it in our school improvement plans, we should look at that data and utilize it. And so, I would appreciate if we put those in the plans um moving forward. So, again, we might want to uh think about doing that. Another thing about the SIP plans and just in equity, one thing I've heard a lot from parents in the last few weeks is as the report cards came out and they were comparing
141the schools when we talk about those achievement gaps or we talk about you know where our level our students are in proficiency and growth there can be huge variations between schools. So I know in some for some people that's an equity issue to them and that goes back to that academic ROI or just ROI in general and why this information is important to the board because we allocate where the funds go. So I don't know if that's also a discussion we need to be having as far as equity is what can we do to get more consistency. We can have huge gaps between our schools and um it would be nice if we could get those closer in. >> Okay. Other Joe >> just a a [clears throat] couple of uh things. F first uh
142thank you for the uh very comprehensive uh report. um from the last couple of uh questions I I just want to clarify or get clarification. So the the um new software that's been rolled out um is now able to do that disagregation of data and uh yeah it's a fairly recent so it's something that we'll be able to see kind of going forward >> for five essentials for >> for five essentials. Yeah. [snorts] Um and then uh um this is not something that I I sent ahead but uh kind of struck me as um as you're giving the presentation about um the the grow your own uh opportunities which I I think are very exciting um um and that intro to teaching one is um a dual credit course. So, um I think it's a
143nice opportunity for high school students to um kind of explore uh that that career path and um earn some college credit. And if they decide it's not for me, they're going to college with three credits. um and and they don't have to take that pathway, but um you know that they're able to uh kind of check it out in high school without declaring a major in education, going through a year, and then realizing this isn't what I want to do. Um, so I'm wondering how that uh course is kind of um marketed to students, how how they learn about that course, you know, are there information sessions? Are there or do they just kind of find their way uh in into that course? >> No, we are um they some of them do find their
144way because they've had passions since they were, you know, in kindergarten who want they wanted to be like their teacher. But we definitely also do some targeted um conversations that's part of our uh eighth grade experience. Um so she like around our career motivate. We talk about career interests. We talk through um the pathways at the high school and then we continue those conversations um at the high school level. But you're exactly right. I mean there is dual credit um great dual credit for our students to get. And we just today at Neighborville North had a conversation with Jay Wallal uh the principal about how do we target some of our underrepresented uh groups um and students for our uh own teaching program and really do our grow the our own and possibly even working
145with North Central a great education college right in our backyard and how can we utilize COD and North Central to bring um students back here. So, it's definitely something that we're we had discussions about today. >> That's great. Thank you. Okay. Uh other questions. All right. Seeing none, thank you very much. Uh item nine, discussion without action, 9.01, press policy update 120. >> Okay. We uh warned you this uh 120 is a big update, but if you had a chance to go through Dr. Cohen's uh memo. Uh you see a lot of them are really unchanged policies. Foot footnotes have been updated. Some legal precedent or things that have changed some things. There are some updates in there. Memo outlines. Um reminder of our process. This is really kind of just giving it to you
146today saying there's a lot here. Take your time. Uh we have to have the updates into press by the end of February. So uh we'll come back in January. Um and then we have meetings in February also for those that might require further conversation. Um Mark is included in the memo recommendation to adopt it as presented not to adopt as presented and there are some that we set aside like 7180 7190 because we do our own kind of in-house process for that at the request of a board member. Uh redline versions have been added uh now into board doc. So those are there as well. Uh we'll do our same process if as you go through these send me your questions and I will go through those. will create a separate policy questions document that
147will also load into port doc. Um but um they're there. I don't know if there's anything specific we need to add at this time but uh there are any questions regarding process or for clarification we'd be happy to answer those. >> So a question for process from from me. So this is in without action now. Is it going to come back in a couple of times and without action or >> definitely a couple times based on questions but there are some like for example unless somebody says to me I will give you an example of a policy um policy number uh 6140 policies unchanged only the footnotes have been updated we may put that in a policy consent agenda at the next board meeting right unless somebody says I want to dive in a little
148bit deeper on that type of a thing right and then some of the others that u may require additional conversation Okay, that's helpful to know. Okay, other questions from the board. Okay, so it looks like we had a little homework to do um to go through and make sure we're getting any questions to Dan. Uh so next time we see this, it'll still be without action. Correct. >> That's right. >> Okay, >> great. Well, >> unless there's some of them very simple. >> Got it. >> No change. >> Got it. >> Yep. >> Understood. There may be some that find their way in. Got it. Okay. All right. Item 10, discussion with action. Item 10.01, 2025, tax levy determination. Okay. At the November 17th board of education meeting, our CFO, chief school business official presented
149uh to the board of education regarding our estimate for the tax levy for uh that needs to be filed. We're going to recommend that you adopt that levy uh as presented. U Mike, any new additional information we need to share? All of the information is loaded in there from board docs as you you'll remember. Um this has to be filed with the uh county clerk by the end of December and this being our last meeting recommend you approve it as presented. >> Okay. So this is one we're voting on. >> Okay. So uh I'll entertain a motion. >> Move approval of 10.01 2025 tax levy determination. >> Second. Motion to second have been heard. Any discussion? >> Melissa, question or point? >> I think I've made it abundantly clear that I have been unable to
150get the information as to how the money our taxpayers money is actually spent. Um we it seems like each time we have the tax levy come up we talk about oh things are so hard but we don't not once since as I've been on the board have we actually talked and and initiated reductions in our spending. I think the administration should come up and we've had this discussion with ways to reduce funds before we just keep going every year back to the taxpayers asking for more. We're also in a situation this year where it's a very turbulent time for a lot of people. So, I'm not comfortable asking our citizens to keep paying more and more, but we don't ever cut. And you know when I you know everyone has to cut back when you
151know we don't want to spend more than we can. I mean we were even discussing buying an entire just this fall office complex. No it has to be released because it's not relevant yet. It's not it it needs to by the law. I'm just going to I'm just going to I'm just going to I'm just going to I'm just going to suggest that um that you just be more judicious about conversations and where they're able to occur and where they're not able to occur. >> I will say this then >> so I would that I do not that's why I don't approve closed door minutes. Anything that no longer is relevant has to be released. Um, I think it's hiding. It's hiding that I have to the FOYA, if you looked under written, I've had
152to actually foyer. >> The foyer wasn't an earlier agenda item, which it was on top. >> No, it's relevant because I haven't been able to even get how the money is spent. Why do I have to foyer? >> That's not the conversation that we're having right now. >> Charles, I understand topic. No, no, no. It literally is not. It's not about I don't think it. >> Do you know what I foyed? Expenses. I do. But FOYA is an earlier item. It actually is loaded into more docs like it's relevant to this. Nothing state Charles. >> All I said is that it was an earlier item. >> Am I making agenda uncomfortable? [clears throat] >> No, you're not making me uncomfortable at all. >> Then please let me No, but those two things those two things
153have one. >> I understand it doesn't Melissa, >> but please let me finish. >> Melissa, it is my job to make sure we keep the meeting moving along. You are talking about an agenda item that's not there. So you're making this sound like I'm uncomfortable. I'm not uncomfortable. Well, Charles, every talking about something questions or I mention things >> that are hot topics like interrupt and do this. >> No. When when I I interrupt you when you're talking about something that's not on topic, >> if you if you want to use this evening as a if you want to use this evening as a perfect example, I have called on you every time you've raised your hand. So, if your assertion is that somehow I don't want you to speak, that is factually not true.
154That is not what has happened. And I don't think that anybody who's actually watched this meeting will have observed that. So when you're off topic, I'm going to tell you you're off topic. If you would like to talk about something that's on topic, you are more than welcome to do that. So >> I just Are you going to talk about something that's on topic? >> Ask taxpayers. I don't know how your money is being spent. Watch the board meetings. You'll see that I ask for accountability that other districts give their citizens and their board. So no, I'm not voting for the tax levy. You deserve better. >> I do feel may I I apologize. I do feel a responsibility to remind the board that you did receive a full audit at your last board of
155education by an outside auditor. It was an extremely clean audit. We are extremely transparent through the whole bills and claims process and everything that is done in terms of meeting our financial obligations, maintaining the highest possible financial score, highest possible bond ratings on on all of that. So, um, it is there. It is available to you. We do follow all state protocols, all state rules. We have an extremely clean audit. I want to thank Mr. Francis and his team for the extremely hard work that they do to ensure that that happens. >> Amanda, >> I also have no issues for how we um budget or spend our taxpayers money. I think we have a very transparent and open process that we review on a regular basis, but um I'm feeling really conflicted about approving this
156tax levy. I know that we have a very dire uh financial future. [snorts] Um but the reality is that we continue year after year to put the burden on our taxpayers. And I understand that we're in a difficult situation where the majority of our money comes from local taxpayers, but um you know with inflation and everything, I think that we need to uh really be very mindful about um the burden we're putting on our community. We have about 15% of our um community are senior citizens on a very fixed income and [clears throat] uh raising 250 uh uh dollars uh per year on taxes um per household uh on average is a lot you know for for them. So, I also uh would rather look at ways that we can um create more efficiencies in
157our uh budget and um today we'll not be um voting to approve the tax lobby. >> Other comments? >> Joe? >> Yeah. Um, so I I certainly uh understand the the burden uh of the new taxes. Um, as we discussed our last meeting though, the district is looking at those efficiencies. Uh, we're already looking at a $12 million deficit if we approve the new levy. Um, and yeah, things become very dire. We we can't get that money back easily if we um if we say no to the tax levy. Now that you know uh compounds year after year in reality our employee uh a lot of our employees salaries are tied to CPI and if we don't raise the taxes right the state's not giving us more money the feds aren't giving us more money
158the the reality is we have to raise taxes in order to pay the bills to pay the uh the the teachers to uh you know keep the the district going without going hugely in the red. So, um I will be approving uh the tax levy. Um and I I know that it's uh it is a burden. Um and it would be great to have a different uh funding mechanism at the state level, right, where we might not have to raise the taxes every year. And I I think that's something that we can advocate for. Um, but I mean the reality is we have to do this and we have to approve at the full amount. >> Yeah. I just out of um very respectful for the the comments that our board members have made in
159regard to being concerned about the tax burden. Um, I I do encourage I I do recommend to the board that you do extend this levy to the amount allowed for all of the reasons that have just been shared. But I also want to recognize and acknowledge efforts this board has made over the past several years uh for taxpayer relief. In 2017, this board uh made an early payment of $9.5 million worth of bonds, saving $3.2 $2 million of interest payments that would have been paid for by the taxpayers between 2017 and 2024 through a debt service abatement. Uh the board has saved taxpayers $20.6 million. In 2019, there's a $2 million levy abatement that saved taxpayers money and and kept the ex the levy lower. In 2021, there's a $10 million tax reimbursement back to
160our taxpayers in the community. 2021 also a $ 1.1 million general fee refund. So estimated taxpayer relief between 2017 and 2024 has been about 36.9 million. And now we find ourselves in in in a challenging financial situation where we indeed will have to find efficiencies. We in indeed will have to make reductions, but that will grow significantly beyond the tw 122.5 million that was presented to you in forecast if you choose not to to extend this levy. So, just wanted to make sure you had that background. >> Okay. So, Mark Holly Christie, >> thank you, Charles. Um, I I I think the way I look at it is we we are and I agree with everything Joe said. Um, we are looking at a $12 million deficit. uh we are going to have to make
161reductions in programs and there will be reductions in services. If if we don't raise the revenue we're planning on, that's just going to make it worse going forward. And that means bigger reductions bigger reductions in service. And I I think I I agree with Amanda. It's it's not a great time to do this. there there's certainly a lot of pressure on families on um on on folks that are retired. Uh costs are going up in general. Um but I I think this is is a situation where if we don't do it, it's just going to put more pressure on us in the future years to make even bigger cuts than we may be expecting to to our budget. So, um, I I'd rather deal with some pain now than a lot bigger pain in the
162future. So, I will be voting for the levy. >> Yeah, I'm going to follow up on um both what Joe and Mark said. Um, I'm very concerned that even with this tax levy, we have a $12 million deficit. And I believe strongly that we need to work to address that this year because it compounds and it costs us more um and our the longer we wait um and I think it's definitely a both and situation and I I don't want to skip ahead in the agenda but we have an example tonight. Um we had a increase in labor cost. So, we were going to have 20% additional fees that we were going to potentially was in an initial summer school proposal to pass on to families. And initially, we were looking at it either we
163pass on the 20% or we take on the 20%. And staff has been really responsive and worked at a plan. And there's something I mean we haven't voted on it yet but has shown us that we can find a way to meet student needs and meet academic needs um belonging needs and present something that serves the community but we're not passing on 20% increase on fees. We're meeting the new labor costs and we're not having to then absorb additional um costs. And I think that's something we can do, but the levy is necessary because in past times we had federal stimulus dollars come in or our investment money came in at a higher rate. Nothing is going to save us now. So at the AAA conference, they were talking about, you know, what what state
164funding is going to come in? They were talking about evidence-based funding that does not really benefit our district. We are not going to see that funding. The governor has already done an executive order that all the agencies are needing to find 4% to cut out of their budgets. State money is not coming in. Federal money is not coming in. This is the only thing that we can control this both this and working on our spending and being creative about focusing on those core needs which I think that summer school plan is example that we can and will do that. Um but we do need to and I will vote to support the tax levy because we do need to seek those funds. Um, and it it's worth noting as well, we can approve the tax
165levy, but if circumstances change, we have another time we can look at this and a possible abatement in March if circumstances somehow change, but I will support the levy. >> Um, excuse [clears throat] me. Yeah, I um we're all residents in the district, so our actions do affect our own homes, too. And so not saying that that makes it all better. Um but we're not exempt from making a a difficult decision um or passing on a difficult decision to somebody else and we don't have to worry about it. Um but this is the way this is the way schools are funded. Um I don't know that anybody thinks this is the perfect system. I certainly don't. Um and I think Joe brings up a good point. this could be something we bring with us to
166Springfield for our state advocacy day in the spring. Um, but we we don't have other avenues to raise the money that it takes to provide the education that the community um expects. And um unfortunately, we can't have both sides of that. And I'm not sure if I'm going to say this right, but that is an equation that you can't say I want the best but not have a way to fund it. Um, and that's just, you know, we we value our employees. Um, and we need to have the money to pay the employees to give our children the education that the community expects. We need that money for the programs. um we need that money to help our kids participate in the the extracurricular activities that we were just talking about. So it's a difficult
167decision. Um, I get it 100% because I will see a tax bill myself, but this is this is really the only option. And we do have that mechanism later to look at abatements if um we find ourselves in a position to say, "Hey, we we can um we can help out our taxpayers." And as Superintendent Bridges pointed out, we do do that regularly. We do not ever in my time. I came here in 2017. In my time here, we have never taken abatements off the table. Um, we have always given it con uh serious consideration. So, I will be supporting the levy um the tax levy. tonight. >> I want to reiterate I love education and I think that's the most powerful tool we can give our children. That's why I was an educator. That's
168why I came back and did this. That's why I get excited to go to the conferences. So, what I want to say is I don't we need to pay our employees well. Actually, they're our greatest asset. Um, and we want to provide our students with an excellent education. However, my concerns are this. Other districts can do those two things and they're not a tier tier four school with all the money we have. So my other concern is that if administration if we knew number one did we know this was coming before the last month because we certainly weren't having these conversations before this you don't spend more you shouldn't go out of budget and expects the taxpayers we have always relied on our taxpayers for the money we have not gotten a lot of as
169a tier tier four school, we have gotten minimal from the state and from the federal government. So, it's always been our taxpayers. So, I think that I'm not sure we can tie the tax rate and how much money like we have and utilize with not being able to provide. It's making those tough choices. And I think that we owe it to the taxpayers to show not before the tax levy day that we we're living within our budget and that we're delivering. And I think that, you know, I brought up school district Woodidge, much lower tax base, not a tier four. of all their schools, they were all exemplary except for one or maybe all of them. So, yes, it makes us work a little harder. But if I truly thought this would hurt our kids,
170hurt, you know, being able to pay our employees and all that, no. What I'm asking for is fiscal responsibility. Thank you, >> Joe. Yeah. Um, one other thing I wanted to uh just uh bring up was um on that laundry list that I presented earlier. Uh the citizens finance committee um met uh a couple weeks ago. Uh Mark and I were at that meeting and uh I want to thank uh everybody on that committee for coming out and um you know looking at the numbers as well. Uh and and they uh all support funding uh the the levy fully. So uh I [snorts] want to uh give that data point uh as well. The the citizens finance committee uh supports this. >> I want to say I was part of the finance committee and I
171think they meet once a year and it's maybe an hour. So I I think that needs to be disclosed as to how much time. But I do have to point out that I know that Holly, you you kind of went on forward to some of the agenda items and Joe, you went backwards to some of your reports. Charles, you didn't just interrupt them and tell them they were off target. I'd like the same respect as my fellow board members. >> They also weren't going on for five and 10 minutes. You were. If you check the videotape, if you want to look at how long you spoke, that's okay. So, there is a difference. If you want to look at the difference, that's fine. you have a concern, we can review the tape and figure out
172how long you were speaking on off topic. It's quite a bit of time. We can look at that though. The the tape exists. We don't have to make it up. We can look at it if you'd like to. We could do that. More than happy. Christine, >> I'd like to just call the question. >> So, I have to vote on calling question. Yes. Okay. So, question has been called. All in favor of moving on and moving to the vote. Roll call. Mrs. Patton, please. And just to clarify, this is that we're going to vote. This is not the vote. This is that we're going to vote and discussion vote. Thank you, Dan. >> Second. >> Gerie. >> I. >> Kosinsky. >> I >> McMillan. >> Hi. Winsky >> I >> Kelly Black >> I >>
173Blastic >> I >> Kush >> I >> Okay, so motion passes. Now we are voting on the item uh 10.01 tax levy determination. We already did a motion and a second on that. So please call the role. Mrs. Batton >> Kush. >> I. >> McMillan >> nay. >> Kazminsky. >> I. >> Kelly Black. >> Nay. Blastic >> I. >> Winsky >> I. >> Gerky >> I. >> The motion passes. Okay. Item 10.02. Designate individual to prepare the budget. >> Recommend that you uh designate uh Michael Francis, the chief financial officer, chief school business official uh as the designate to begin drafting the 2026 2027 budget in its tenative form. Uh Illinois law requires certain procedures that you must follow in order to adopt that budget. The first is to designate that individual to begin that
174development. Recommend you uh designate Mike to do so. [snorts] >> Okay. I'll entertain a motion. >> I motion um to approve item 10.02 as presented. >> Second. >> Motion and second have been heard. Any discussion? Seeing none, please call the role. Mrs. Patton. >> McMillan. >> I. >> Blastic. >> I. >> Gerky. >> I. >> Winsky. >> I. >> Kelly Black. >> I. >> Kush. >> I. >> Kosinsky. >> I. >> The motion passes. Item 10.03, summer school 2026 program. >> Okay. In response to uh board of education discussion and input, uh we have a modified proposal for summer school for summer of 2026. Kevin Coach, our director of summer learning is here and will be supported by Jane Willard and Missy Mckenry on any questions that the board may have. I'll turn it over
175to Kevin. >> I'm start. >> Oh, I guess I'll turn it over to Jane who's going to start. >> Good evening. Tonight's presentation responds directly to the board's directive to reduce summer learning costs in light of the district's five-year financial outlook. Our goal was to thoughtfully revise the summer learning model in a way that limits additional burden on families while preserving access, quality, and support for students who rely most on these programs. The outcome of this work is a proposed revision to the summer learning model for board consideration and hopeful approval. These revisions are aligned to board priorities and were developed using clear guiding principles that centers fiscal responsibility while maintaining our commitment to equity, access, and student learning. Before making any programmatic decisions, leadership established guiding principles to ensure ensure alignment and transparency. These
176these principles focused on prior prioritizing students with the greatest academic needs, maintaining access to multilingual education, enrichment, credit recovery, and enrichment pathways at our high school. We are reducing barriers such as transportation, child care, and food insecurity, continuing IEP aligned supports for students who demonstrate regression, sustaining summer music opportunities, and actually offering more, and balancing fiscal responsibility with program quality and equity. Every proposed change you will see is directly tied back to one or more of these principles. Across all programs, cost reductions begin with staffing alignment. We propose summer staffing classes using the same model and enrollment guidelines as a regular school year. Enrichment classes that fall below minimum enrollment will be cancelled in regular year snack procedures will be followed. To maintain access, limited snacks will continue to be available for students who qualify
177for free and reduced lunch. At the early childhood through junior high levels, we recommend a move to a four-week summer session. This reduces staffing costs by approximately one-third. We are also proposing consolidation to a single elementary site, which significantly reduces staffing needs while still ensuring access to remedial literacy, math, multilingual services, and ESY programming. Multilingual services will be integrated into general education classrooms to maintain access and instructional quality. Enrichment opportunities such as art and robotics will continue through science camp and a field trip fee is proposed only for junior high courses that include off-site experiences which mirrors our schoolyear procedures. At the high school, a reduced number of courses will be offered. We'll offer all credit recovery courses. However, some electives which consistently experience low enrollment have been eliminated. Further, we will only offer one
178comm Arts elective for all students. one comart elective specifically for current seniors who need the credit for graduation and one fine arts elective. Online classes will continue to run due to low overhead costs. Enrollment guidelines will be strictly followed for the remainder of elective classes offered. Due to low overhead costs such as no food service and no transportation, summer music and science camp will be able to run at full capacity. Staffing will be examined to match instructors to students at a level consistent with the directive to reduce costs where possible. >> Extended school year will move to a four-week model to align with summer learning timelines across grade levels. Services will continue to meet all state and IDA requirements using regression data to determine eligibility for ESY services. >> This slide summarizes the revised program
179structure. Elementary and junior high programs will operate in person Monday through Thursday for four weeks at consolidated sites. High school programming remains largely unchanged in format, including semester and year-long course options with predetermined asynchronous days. Science camp and summer music formats also remain unchanged from the previous proposal, reflecting our commitment to enrichment and student engagement. The revised calendar provides 16 instructional days for early childhood through 8th grade students and continues to offer 28 instructional days for high school students. The schedule allows for students to participate in summer learning and summer music, which has not been an option in past summers. No new course changes will be or no new courses will be offered in 2026 to determine the finalized impacts of the changes to summer learning programs due to limited space in a single elementary
180building. Digital art and robotics will be offered through science camp. Similarly, no new courses are recommended for grades 5 through 7. Course offerings will be reduced and subject to enrollment based cancellation. This aligns with our guiding principle of prioritizing students with the greatest academic need. At the high school level, offerings will will be streamlined to one communication arts elective, one fine arts elective, and essential credit recovery courses and the same graduation requirement offerings. Capstone research and low enrollment world language offerings will be discontinued. This change these changes preserve graduation pathways and credit recovery. This timeline outlines uh next steps following board approval, including curriculum revision, registration, communication, staff preparation, and operational planning. Registration opens March 3rd, and the program runs from June 2nd through July 30th. This structured timeline ensures readiness, clear communication, and alignment
181across departments and buildings. Course fees will largely remain unchanged with the addition of a $50 fee only for courses that include field trips. While operational costs such as staffing, transportation, and materials continue to rise, these changes minimize tuition increases and do not fully offset district costs. Remaining expenses will be supported through school year 26 grant funding and the proposed school year 26 summer budget. This slide represents the proposed summer learning fees in each of our programs subject to board approval. We continue to be grateful for the board's ongoing support of our summer learning programs. These recommendations reflect the careful balance between fiscal responsibility and our commitment to students and families. We believe this revised model preserves preserves access for those with the greatest need, maintains valued enrichment opportunities, and responds responsibly to the board's financial
182direction. We're now glad to take your questions. [snorts] >> Question from the board. Holly, >> I just want to start by saying thank you. you I know this we we threw a lot at you and I was one of the people doing that and you didn't have a lot of time but this is you know living within our means it's we can't do absolutely everything in our dreams that we could do but the way you prioritized keeping the core classes looking at the high school where a music student can still get a class in in the summer and take their music all year um all those required classes for graduation those are in there and I didn't notice this with reading it but when you presented that summer camp science science camp or summer learning
183kids could then also do music. I think that's a neat opportunity that comes out of this new format. So, I know you did a lot of work um to stay in this budget and to work creatively, but thank you so much for this proposal. I really appreciate being able to turn so quickly and it's an example of us um confident giving me a lot of confidence in when we're thinking about this $12 million budget deficit that we have creative leadership who can prioritize exactly what we were looking for and the guidance we gave you in a very short amount of time. So just thank you for that >> Mark. Yeah, no, no question. But I just uh want to say thank you very much for what you delivered. Um I think um this shows what
184the team can do. Um and hopefully we gave you some more clearer guidance on on what we were expecting and I think to Holly's point, you prioritized what we said we really wanted to see and were able to deliver on that. And given the circumstances we're in financially, um it's it's it it really does uh say a lot about the team being able to rally, look at things in a different way, and uh deliver results that I think are going to be positive for the students, but at the same time helps us with the cost containment that we need. So, thank you, >> Joe. Yeah, I'd like to echo uh Mark and Holly's uh comments and and thank you for um the quick turnaround uh and a solution that um you know really does help
185um both the families with the costs and and um you know the the district budget. Um I do have one question about uh moving all of the elementary to one uh location. Um can you comment on how that um that there's probably an increase in transportation fees uh for that or is that kind of marginal? >> Yeah, I don't I guess I don't have the answer to that but I think um you know with moving the enrichment courses to science camp where we don't offer transportation um it may it may balance out a little bit in terms of number of students that we need to transport there. Thank you, Melissa. >> I what I did was I went back and I looked at I think what we're trying to do is we were focused on
186academics. We kind of started our conversation then we said we want our students even especially given the climate to be able to afford opportunities like some of these camps. I went through and I I looked at the park district. Cood has classes for kids. Um the children's museum, the settlement, and to be honest, they can offer a lot of those exploratory and enrichment classes for less than we can. And while I would love to be able to have those classes, I'm not sure it makes sense for us to provide classes that we live in an environment rich with these com comparable classes and camps can be provided um to the people in our community for sometimes a lot less than we can do it. Um and then I go back to our earlier conversation about
187equity and how it's relevant is I I go back to if we have the park district that is part of this and and they provide those recre recreational things, we have museums, we have everything. We're in the business of educating and what we heard today and we keep hearing about are these students that academically I went over those figures again 50% of our students in some groups are missing math and elementary. I'd like to see I will not be voting on this a yes because number one I go back I said this previous times when the last time the board got data about the effectiveness of the the academic classes especially for those that are geared towards students with IEPs they did not show that they had they actually regressed so I had asked for
188and didn't receive the information about um with students with IEPs you should certainly be tracking monitoring their progress. So, these aren't classes that I know will actually work for our students. Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but that's why we need those numbers. It and it bothers me that last time we had numbers and they weren't flattering. Now, we don't put numbers in. So, I need to see those numbers. I think this is our opportunity to go back to those students. I'd like to see what I would have liked to have seen is more classes. My understanding from a lot of the parents I know that have kids with IEPs, which is our group, that some of them are leaving 20% proficiency in necessary skills from our high schools. What I would like to see
189is us putting our staff and finances and resources. Let the others do the exploratory, the fun stuff and let us have more classes because right now we only offer a few classes for these parents and these as at risk students, students that are behind getting different tiered supports two and three. We have very little of those classes and students with IEPs. If you over only only offer a couple of classes, the extended school year really is supposed to be about being individualized. And if we only have a couple of classes that the parents with students with IEPs can put their kids into, no, they're not getting their individual needs met. And if I'm wrong with any of this, fine, but show me the data. But what we see in our numbers is we're not getting
190to their students with IEPs, and it's not a mystery. So we as a board in a district have to decide are we going to where's our priority exploratory or the academic or or narrowing down and following that we say we want equity for all students. Well this is an opportunity to do it. >> Other questions or comments? Uh Christine then Holly, you want to go a second time? >> Um I was just going to follow up on a question to make sure I understood how you followed our priorities. Um so moving like that digital art and the robotics went to science camp. So those enrichments moved and then over there that program breaks even and so we is that correct? closer to and then in the the summer school that we the core classes that
191we maintain the extended school year the multilingual learning that is the one where we do subsidize we're going to be within our proposed budget so we're not going to have to take on additional costs and expected we don't have to pass on additional cost but that's what we focused on >> correct >> with this one thank you >> Christine >> um one question um with the extended school year I know the time frame that we had like it was shorter and then it went longer and now it looks like it went back kind of to the middle of those two. That's adequate time for those kids because I know it's not a requirement but it's a pretty strong strongly recommended if your child qualifies like really give it serious thought about sending them. So I'm
192just I want to make sure that the the time frame is is fair and appropriate. >> Yeah, I appreciate that question. Um you're correct that the um duration of ESY has kind of um changed and that has changed that historically has changed um to align with um the time the timeline that um summer learning has gone and so um we are um changing it again to align with that. We do believe that the four weeks is sufficient um for our students who um are recommended for extended school year um by their IEP team. It's very individualized for the students that are recommended for it and it's based on data towards regression. When we look at the purpose of extended school year for students who are recommended for it, um you know the purpose is not
193to teach new skills. It is not to make progress for this. It's for students who data shows significant regression after breaks from school. And so we're looking at being able to maintain those skills over the break. Um and you know we do believe that those um the four weeks and aligning with summer learning um is adequate time for that for the individuals that need it. >> Okay, thanks for that answer. I was going into my own personal recollections on extended school year so that's why I was like let me make sure I have that right. Um but I appreciate that answer. Um so my comment then is more overall to the whole team. Um, [clears throat] when I first read through the proposal, I did reach out to a colleague and my first words to
194the individual was, "I think you're going to have to talk me off a cliff." Because I wasn't super excited about the new proposal. And that individual would attest to that. Um, [laughter] but it it took me a little while and a couple readings to um understand to acknowledge that this is a precursor to what we tasked you with at the last meeting overall with the deficit conversation. Um, so I had to get into the frame of mind of it's not so much the wants, it's the needs that we're going to have to kind of, at least me, you know, we're we have to focus on our needs first and if we can have more room for the wants, we will certainly do that. So I appreciate um the work that was done to modify this
195plan so we have what the kids need because summer school is still an option. Um, and there are people who maybe would benefit from it who don't sign up for it. Um, but we had to look at what are the kids looking to take historically and where can we best serve them? What are the needs that are out there? So, I appreciate the work that went into that and um I guess the next one I'll probably still reach out to a colleague and say, "Talk me off a cliff." But um just have to get in the frame of mind of we're going to focus on the needs right now. >> Thank you. >> One unintended actually celebration that came out was um that our music director, our summer music director came to Kevin and said,
196"You know what? Can we do this at the back end of summer school?" And for all the reasons he thought it would be better for students and now actually that we've gone to the four weeks when we really looked at the the dates, I could be in maybe a literacy in a math class because I might need some some ketchup help, but now I also can go to music. And so I think that's great for kids that they also can go to their their band or their orchestra orchestra or chorus and also participate in our K8 learning. >> Okay. So um I'm pointing not pointing point. Okay. Um, that brings up a point or it brings up, it just hit me when you said that >> in looking at how to make this work for
197students. I appreciate that our educators feel empowered to say, I have an idea that this might serve our students better and that again the team was willing to listen to that. And so, um, I'm glad you shared that, Jane. you know, because again, I'm I'm looking at the creativity that went here because clearly I'm off the cliff now. Um, in a good way. The creativity that went here, um, now it's making the next difficult conversations a little bit easier. Um, I'll be in a better frame of mind when I first open board docs. Let's just put it that way. So, thanks for sharing that, >> Melissa, I want to go back. You had said, so did I miss something? What data did you use to support that the four weeks was the optimal? >> What
198was used to determine that? >> Uh, I didn't say it was optimal. I said that we believe that students can still we can still stop regression or reduce regression with four weeks of instruction. I didn't say it was optimal. >> Okay. Well, I would again if these kids it's been so low, but going back to what data did you use for that they won't regress. >> Um you know the go moving it back to four weeks that follows the historical trend that we have been doing where we are moving extended school year duration the length of time to match what their general education peers are receiving. So just so I can rephrase this that it it you decided it based on a different factor versus necessarily what maybe would have worked for those kids. That
199has me concerned and we go back to should don't we want optimal since these kids are so behind? We have kids with IEPs leaving with a proficiency of 20%. Do we really align those summer services or summer's a great time for students is that that are behind they're already struggling in their classroom that the during the whole year. So this is an opportunity for them maybe we should have smaller summer school classes that focus on these kids. But I guess one of the things I hear that kind of bothers me a lot is the the idea that we're matching and I think it's probably to be honest our scores have not gone up there for our students. They're dismal and we have some of the biggest achievement gaps. So, I guess we maybe I think
200we need to rethink what we're doing and how long and what data we use because um I think summer's a great time if you've had a child with special needs, you know, that they're burnt out a lot. They might even be taking extra, you know, therapies after school. >> So, again, I'm I'm a little disappointed that we're not focusing more in what's the best for their needs and try to get them up to par. I appreciate that feedback. Um, you know, and I would say we have many, many students with IEPs that are making progress in this district that we're very proud of the work that our LBS and our related service staff are doing. And also just a reminder that the purpose of ESY is not closing gaps for our students in IEP. The
201purpose of ESY according to IDA is to stop regression as much as possible. And that is, you know, what our staff does and what they work hard to do. So, just in response to what you said, >> Melissa, can you >> I just raise your hand. >> Oh, sorry. >> Okay. >> In response to what you said, that I think is exactly the notion that bothers me is we're not required to do more than this. And this is and this is just so they don't regress. What about the concept of using summer as a time to build more skills into our students that are behind so they don't start behind grade level and struggle more? Um, I think that's something maybe the board needs to talk about is what is the goal of summer school?
202That's exactly what I would say if if the board I we this plan is responsive to direction that we got from the board of education at the last meeting. And so we can't have a discussion about looking at reductions um cost efficiencies on one end and then smaller sizes, more offerings, more kids on the other end. You know, there's got to be a balance here. And so what I do know is that our IEP teams who work with their students on their plans and determining their plans have those students best interest at heart and are doing everything that they can to provide them the support. And ESY is another tool that kind of helps us do that. Okay. Um I have a comment or two to make on this. So, um, so first of all,
203thank you to the staff for being responsive to, as Superintendent Bridges pointed out, we threw a curveball at you last time. Can you do this? Can you look at this? Can you do that? Um, you guys couple couple meetings ago came with a plan. This is what you wanted to do. And then we threw a big wrench at it and said, "We'd like to see you do some different things." And I think the way you brought forward is um is responsive to that. Um, is it perfect? No, no plan ever is, but um it does address the questions that that the majority of the questions that came up. Um I would ask that we take a moment to try to figure out how we're going to understand the differences in the effectiveness versus what we
204were traditionally doing versus some of the adjustments here. Jane, you mentioned a few things that were unintended positive consequences that came out of this. would love to try to capture some of that uh information so that um you know this is something that we do on an annual basis. So it'd be great to kind of say okay we were asked to make some adjustments these adjustments we made. This is what that looked like. This is what the positives of that were. This is what the not so positives of that were so that we can make a decision on an ongoing basis. Um because who knows next year we may say expand the number of classes. Next year we may say can you cut back a little bit more? there's a lot that we need to
205be able to have the flexibility to do. So, the more information you can get to us uh and help to start to capture based on what we're seeing with this new proposal or with this new program versus what we've seen in the past, that would be very helpful. Okay. Um seeing no more comments, uh did I do a motion and second yet? I don't think so. >> No motion. >> So, got a motion. >> Motion uh to approve uh item 10. 103 as presented. Second >> motion and a second have been heard. Please call the role. Mrs. Patton >> Kush >> I. >> McMillan >> I. >> Blastic. >> I. >> Winsky. >> I. >> Kelly Black. >> Nay. >> Cosminsky. >> I. >> Gerky. >> I. >> The motion passes. Item 10.04. Consideration of
206board of education expenses. >> Board of Education policy 2125 requires all board member expenses for travel, meals, and lodging be approved to roll call vote. An open meeting of the board contained within board docs are expenses related to the joint annual conference. Recommend you approve them as presented. >> Any questions? >> Anyone? No. Okay. I'll entertain a motion. >> I move to approve item 10.04 as presented. >> Second. >> Motion and a second have been heard. Please call the role. Miss Patton. >> Kelly Black. >> I. >> McMillan. >> I. Kazminsky >> I >> Winski >> I >> Kush >> I >> Gerky >> I >> Blastic >> I >> The motion passes item 11 old business item 12 new business. >> Oh my agenda doesn't have the item 13. Um item 13 calendar events
207>> upcoming events right events. Um, winter vacation begins next week, runs December 22nd through January 2nd. Uh, when we did the board planning calendar for the year, we put a placeholder in on January 6th, uh, indicating that may be a difficult day with staff being gone over break. Uh, there is nothing scheduled on the agenda. So, unless the board feels a need, we can probably get let that one go. Some head nods. will follow our 10-day notice procedure and make that notice and then the next board meeting will be on Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 right here at PSAC. >> You're welcome. >> Questions, comments, or concerns on what Superintendent Bridges just presented? >> Oh, you turned your mic on just >> we're ready to close the meeting. >> Got it. [laughter] All right. Okay. Item
20814, adjournment. Item 14.01. Motion to adjurnn. >> I move to adjurnn. Second. >> Motion in a second and a third have been heard. >> Please call the role. Miss Pat. >> McMillan. >> I. >> Blastic. >> I. >> Winsky. >> I. >> Gerie. >> I. >> Kush. >> I. >> Cuzinsky. >> I. >> Kelly Black. >> I. >> The motion passes. We are adjourned. Good evening everyone. Please get home safely and stay warm.