Naperville 203 Board Meeting 9/8/2025

001Good evening. Since >> 604, the board of education has been in close session to discuss 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. Collective negotiating matters between the board school board and its employees or the representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more class of employees. Litigation when an action against affecting or on behalf of the school board has been filed and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal or when the school board finds an action is probable or imminent in which case the basis for the finding shall be recorded and entered into the minutes of the closed meeting. I will entertain a motion to come out of close

002session. So moved. >> Second. >> Motion and second have been heard. Please call the role. Miss Pen >> McMillan. Oh, excuse me. Blastic. >> I here. >> Kelly Black. >> I. >> Winsky. >> I. >> Kush. >> Hi. >> Cuz >> I. >> The motion passes. We are in open. Good evening and welcome uh to the September 8th, 2025 uh school board meeting. Our mission is to empower students to develop a learner's mindset, demonstrate adaptability, communicate effectively, think critically, and become global citizens. Uh, please call the role. Mrs. Patton, >> board members present this evening, Charles Kush, Melissa Kelly Black, Joe Kazminsky, Holly Blastic, and Mark Winski. >> Please join the board in the pledge of allegiance. Okay. Item 4.0. Item four, recognition. Item 4.01, good news. >> Okay, we do have some good news

003to share. Uh, both Neapville Central and Neapville North were ranked within the top 50 schools in Illinois by the US News and World Report. Central ranks 22nd and North 26th. All five high schools in the Neighborville area from district 203 and our neighbors in 204 made the top 50 list. Congratulations. All right. On Monday, August 25th, Napville Central is happy to host a DuPage Valley Conference student group leadership summit where they brought together the leaders from all DVC student sections. The Red Hawk Rowdies, Dog Pound, Mustang Stampede, Nqua Gold Rush, Warrior Nation, and the Decal Crows Nest. The objective was to share ideas for growing school spirit and develop a concrete plan for encouraging sportsmanship between the schools during competition. It's a terrific day of fun and collaboration. And for a final product, the kids

004created a sportsmanship video to be shared via social media by all schools. And then finally, in a landmark moment for Neville School District 203, Neville Central High School and Neville North High School's IHSA flag football teams kicked off their inaugural seasons. Both teams are undefeated and at least as of the writing of the good news. Um these games are are uh not only celebrate a new sport for Nepal but also stand as a testament to the continued growth and positive momentum of women's athletics. It's a celebration of these athletes trailbrazing spirit and a positive step forward in the rich history of women's sports in April 203. That's the good news for tonight. >> All right. Thank you. All right. We've reached a point in our agenda for public comment. The board of education welcomes comments

005on 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. The board respectfully request that speakers refrain from commenting about specific individuals. Um as I call individual for public comment, I will also designate if there is a next speaker so that they will have appropriate time to prepare. Um as outlined in board of education policy 2.230, 230. Individuals addressing the board of education to conduct themselves with respect and civility toward others. Individuals are free to express their criticism regarding decisions or policies, but the board of education expects that they will refrain from personal attacks on our superintendent. Board

006of education members and administrative staff. Um because the questions raised in public comment address district operational matters, the superintendent is the board's designate to coordinate response to public comment and will apprise the board accordingly. At this point, I would like to welcome Jason Copeland. Uh, good evening, Jason Copeland. Um, want to thank the board for putting your questions about Press 118 and 119 in writing. Until now, your public stance was safely vague, like district 203 is complying with state law. Uh, but your own questions reveal the truth. Some members of this board are openly considering breaking federal law, and you've documented it for everyone to see. So, bravo. Let's be clear. Title 9 is federal law, and it's supreme over conflicting state or local guidance. It's right there. It's in article six of the constitution.

007Non-compliance isn't theoretical, and it carries real consequences. Complaints have already been filed. A Department of Education investigation is coming. When it lands, this district will be on the hook. But your written questions aren't just questions. They're a paper trail. Accepting federal funds while deliberately refusing to follow Title 9, that could be prosecuted as fraud under 18 USC 101. Conspiring to deny students their civil rights. 18USC 241. You've practically handed the evidence to the investigators. Blaming IASB guidance and hoping for a new DOE or DOG isn't going to save you. You could do the right thing, comply with federal law, preserve exclusive spaces, and stop gambling with the district's future, but instead you're choosing ideology over responsibility. Sports teams, bathrooms, and locker rooms separated by sex have worked incredibly well for decades for 99.99% of the

008students. The only thing that's changed is this board's willingness to risk everything for needless experiment. You know, there are other solutions, and it's beyond me why you won't implement them. If only the new state rules about mental health evaluations for students applied to board members, we'd finally understand why you make these choices. Because too often when faced with the choice between sanity and ideology, you choose ideology. Shame on you. And go Bears. Okay, I have no additional slips of paper. So, um this will conclude our public comment period. Um as I mentioned before, uh the yeah the superintendent the board has designated our superintendent as a spokesperson for the district and as our design uh to respond to public comment, he will apprise the board accordingly. So again, this will conclude our public comment period.

009All right. Item six, action by consent, adoption of the personnel report. Well, I accept a motion to approve. >> I move approval of item 6.01, adoption of the personnel report. >> Second. Motion and a second have been heard. Please call the role. Mrs. P. >> Kusinski >> I. >> Kelly Black >> I. >> Winski >> I. >> Blastic. >> I. Kush. >> I. The motion passes. All right. Item 7.0 communications board of education reports. Um, does any board of education member have a report um relative to your responsibilities as a board of education member? Okay. Uh item 7.02, president's report. I do not have a report this time around. So item 7.03, superintendent's desk school report. >> Okay. At this time, at this time, I'm going to invite members of uh my team to come

010in and begin to assemble uh in preparation for the following report. But uh as they do that, I'm just going to address any question that may be lingering because we've had a few questions come in in regard to um the role Innovative School Experience played in recent contract negotiations. Um those negotiations didn't require that any of the things within those recommendations be implemented. Simply outlined what it would look like should uh there ever be a vote to move forward with it. And ultimately uh the teams removed any of that language from the contract to avoid further conflict and ensure a stable learning environment for our students. With the contract now approved, the plan that was presented to the board earlier this year is not moving forward. And we will focus on the challenges that remain.

011uh not simple problems but working together we will work to find solutions and so um I know to the community members of our staff it's been uh some difficult conversations but we are committed to listening and working openly uh to ensure that uh we can move forward uh every decision we make will be rooted in uh a devotion and commitment to our students and by focusing on them we will move forward together so with that I'll invite our team up and uh that will lead us right into our presentation in regard to uh student discipline. This is uh an annual uh presentation we give to the board of education as a part of policy 7190. Um and so um summary is loaded and they'll begin >> question for dad. >> Yeah, I just there's so

012much confusion out about the innovative school date. So can I just have a yes or no? it the understanding that a lot of people think is that that was ruled out with the teachers union contract. So is it ruled out? Yes or no? >> The the plan that was presented to the board >> just yes or no because it gets confusing for people. I'm not trying to be rude or confrontational. >> The innovative school experience plan that was presented is not in the contract and so on. >> No, my question isn't if it's in the contract. It's can we during the term of that contract make those changes? >> Make what changes? >> Can just because something isn't in a contract doesn't mean I'm just asking. So if >> we have to work within the

013language of the contract. >> No, I know that but that seems like a fancy way of going around that you know not everyone has a legal. So they just want to know. People just want to know >> the innovative school. Can we under this contract implement the innovative day experience? Yes or no? Is that clear? >> We cannot. >> So, >> I think it's pretty clear Dan just said we cannot. That's a no. >> Oh, no. That's fine that I got it on the record. >> So, then let us move on then. Okay. Okay. Thank you, >> team. Go right ahead. >> Oh, thank you. Right. Good evening everyone. Every year the administration provides an update reviewing our district's discipline data. These slides provide an overview of data related to behavior threat assessments, restraints and

014restraints and timeouts and then data from each specific level. >> Tonight we'll talk about behavior threat assessment. We'll discuss restraint timeout. Each level will summarize the behavior incidents that they saw during the 24-25 school year and do a little bit of comparison to the historical patterns. And we will also discuss student sense of belonging. The district utilizes a behavior threat assessment to determine the level of threat a student may pose to a peer or staff member. Since the beginning of the 22 23 school year, we have conducted a total of 834 threat assessments with a majority of these assessments being identified as no threat or transient. This suggests that our tier one instruction, which teaches students how to handle frustration and conflict in positive ways, is making a significant impact. When a student's physically aggressive

015behavior poses an imminent danger to self or others, physical restraint and or a timeout may be necessary to ensure the safety of all individuals. Data representing our early childhood through connections populations represents an overall decrease in behaviors requiring the use of a restraint or a timeout with 44 students during the 23 24 school year and a decrease to 29 students during the 2425 school year. This represents less than 1% of the total student population. >> We will now transition to a summary of student behavior at the high school level. In the 2024 2025 school year, there were 6,348 behavior incidents recorded at our high schools. 65% of high school students had no behavior referrals last year. Another 21% of high school students had only one or two behavioral referrals. When combined, 86% of the student

016population are responsible for approximately 22% of all recorded behavior events. These students are considered tier 1 students from a behavior lens. Tier 2 students, which comprise approximately 9% of the student population, have between three to six behavior referrals and are responsible for approximately 25% I'm sorry, 29% of all recorded behavior events. Tier three students representing 5% of our overall high school population have seven or more behavioral referrals and are responsible for approximately 50% of all recorded behavior events. These students receive the most intensive support from the student services department and our student advocacy specialists. Our student advocacy specialists provide interventions to students following suspendable offenses. Also, they support those with excessive referrals. students with an activity or activity athletic activity code violation, students with excessive absences and others. While the types of offenses vary widely,

017attendance related issues comprise over 60% of behavioral referrals. Class or school truency is the most frequent violation with slightly over 2100 incidents making up 33% of all disciplinary referrals followed closely by tardies to class or school being just under 1900 incidents or nearly 30% of referrals. No other category of disciplinary violation comprises more than 10% of total referrals. The most severe behaviors are the most rare. Referrals for fighting, bullying, harassment, or the possession or use of alcohol, tobacco, or drugs comprise less than 1% each of total disciplinary infractions. Most behavior incidents are resolved without using exclusionary discipline. Approximately 21% of referrals are handled with some type of conference involving deans, social workers, counselors, and parents. Almost half of high school behavior referrals are handled with lunch detentions, usually for attendance related matters. Before and after

018school detentions are used to resolve approximately 21% of behavioral referrals. An exclusionary discipline is only required to resolve 6% of behavior incidents. The demographic information for students who receive behavior referrals is listed on this slide. Sophomores have the most referrals overall. and exclusionary discipline peaks during sophomore year. Last year, nearly 40% of all students suspended were sophomores. Seniors have the most behavioral referrals due in large part to attendance since seniors tend to take the most liberties when it comes to their uh coming to school near the end of the school year. While seniors have the most referrals in general, however, they have the fewest suspensions. Our black, African-American, and Hispanic Latino students are over represented in incidents of exclusionary discipline. Unfortunately, this data has not changed much from previous years. These students continue to be

019monitored by our student support personnel. It is worth noting that since relatively few behavior referrals result in exclusionary discipline, a small shift in student behavior can have a significant impact on the overall percentages. >> 81% of middle school students do not receive even a single minor referral and 94% receive three or fewer in a school year. Minor referrals are developmentally appropriate at this age and provide a low stakes opportunity for support, restorative conversations, and reflection. Our students overall are very amazing and these moments are part of the learning process that helps them grow and move forward. Important to note, 95% of our students demonstrate positive conduct and contribute to safe, supportive school environments. Last year, only 4.4% 4% of middle school students received exclusionary discipline, a figure consistent with prior years and aligned with the

020MTSS or PBIS benchmarks that fewer than 5% of students typically require tier three supports. The most common contexts were before and after school hallways and unstructured time such as lunch and recess with fighting and aggressive conduct and derogatory comments as the leading behaviors for exclusionary discipline. At the elementary level, 99.2% of students are not involved in exclusionary discipline. The focus in elementary schools with student behavior is that behavior expectations must be taught with the same intentionality as academics. Since developing students self-regulation, problem solving, and social emotional skills is a critical part of the learning process through systemic training of school teams at each elementary building. Implementation of the behavior solutions processes and strategies were implemented across all buildings in our district since the start of the 2425 school year. This includes the teaching of clear

021expectations through tier one strategies, the acknowledgement and celebration of students following school rules and expectations and student reflections on behavior throughout the school day. for students requiring additional support through tier 2 school teams creative behaviormies for small groups of students which offers targeted interventions focused on skill building and students who need additional support are also offered individualized coaching and instruction to target specific skills together. These approaches create a proactive system that enforces accountability, promotes a culture of respect and responsibility, fosters a safe and respectful learning environment, and equips all students with the tools they need to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. A strong sense of belonging is essential for student success. As research shows, it not only improves academic performance, enrollment, and mental health, but also reduces absenteeism and discipline concerns. Belonging is a key

022goal within the district's comprehensive equity plan and school improvement plans measured through the Panorama student perception survey. These results help schools identify both strengths and areas of concern, enabling strategies that support specific student groups while also promoting a safe, respectful school community for all. Our student perception survey results indicate that elementary students generally report higher levels of belonging though there is a slight downward trend that we are monitoring. Fortunately, these results have held steady at 67% in recent years while secondary students have demonstrated steady growth and belonging from 46% in 2021 to 55% in 2025. In grades 6 through 12, students in each targeted demographic group such as race, ethni, e ethnicity, and um e status, etc., have experienced approximately seven percentage points growth in their sense of belonging from 2021 to present. This progress

023suggests that targeted efforts such as student advisory councils, inclusive curriculum, and climate building strategies are helping students feel more connected and in turn should lead to improved attendance and reduce behavioral concerns. The district equity team and student success platform provide additional support by aligning datadriven insights with MTSS practices to improve both student outcomes and school culture. While progress has been made, the district remains committed to strengthening students sense of belonging as a foundation for improved learning, healthier behavior, and greater connectedness to Neighborville 203. >> In summary, uh we'd like to highlight that of the threat assessments conducted, a high number of them have been resolved as transient. During the 2024 2025 school year, there's been a significant decrease in behavior requiring the need for a restraint or a timeout. The vast majority of our students

024do not exhibit behaviors which require intervention or discipline. But when they do require intervention, the vast majority of those behaviors do not require exclusionary discipline. We will continue to support our students with behavioral concerns in an effort to reduce discipline predictability based on demographic characteristics. At this time, we will entertain any questions. >> Four questions. I'll just simply point out, I can't remember if somebody mentioned it, there is an executive summary with uh information that's contained within board docs as well. >> Okay, questions from the board. >> Holly, >> um just to start with um questions kind of defining some of these terms. Um what's the difference between or how are we using and defining restraint and also timeout? So a restraint is um when a student's behavior is u poses a a danger to

025self or others and we have to go hands-on and so any staff member that would have to do that uh requires to go through extensive training to ensure that we do that in a safe way. Um and it um is meant to be as short as possible. Uh whenever we do that there's also state guidelines that we need to time it. we have to um keep a log of um what deescalation strategies were utilized prior to needing to put a child into a restraint and then all of that data is submitted to ISB within 24 hours. Uh a timeout is when um a student is secluded from their peers um and um not given the opportunity to leave a space. Uh that typically happens when um there's a lot of maybe throwing objects or um

026they're trying to uh leave the building in an unsafe way. Uh that also um has a lot of requirements that come with it. Um it is as short as possible. There has to be line of sight at all times. A staff member needs to be in that location with the student at all times. Um and then as soon as the student is calm, uh the doors opened. Just one one follow up on that. Um they were lumped together. Do we know the data on is one more prevalent than the other? >> We do have the data. Yes. Sorry, let me pull it up. >> Um having I can give the data. Um having saying that one is more prevalent than the other is is hard because um there are times that they they're kind of

027combined. So there could be times when a student is in a timeout and then the behavior escalates and then um a restraint is required while they're within the timeout. Um so it is hard to say whether one is more prevalent than the other just because of that happens at times. So last year we had 58 restraints and 84 timeouts. Thank you. Yeah, >> Joe. >> Yeah, thank you for your report on this. Uh it's encouraging to see the um middle school and high school level uh uh belonging uh increasing. Um regarding the elementary that has this kind of slow uh decline, um is that uh decline uh statistically significant? and um what are um schools doing to try to uh combat uh that and try to improve it? So each school uses the sense of

028belonging data when they're creating their school improvement plans and they'll use the data that's specific to their building and then create action steps that go along with that to narrow the decline and provide targeted interventions or supports for students or they'll implement sometimes schoolwide strategies in order to address um those declines. >> Thank you >> Melissa. Okay, before I start, I'm going to start by reading a statement and people have commented on this like why I do it. Part of it is like this is the homework I do for all of this. So, I'm synthesizing all this and everything else on the agenda. So, sometimes to make sure that what I say is precise, I do that. So, um just thought I would explain that. Um as a board, our responsibility is to provide oversight

029that ensures fairness, safety, and equity for all students. Right now we cannot do that effectively because the discipline reports we receive were incomplete, inconsistent or too often focused on surface level numbers rather than outcomes. We hear aggregate counts but not the incident level details that show where the problems are happening, what supports were provided and whether those supports worked. We hear subgroup dispar disparities, but we don't see measurable goals for reducing them. We hear about training and restorative practices, but we don't see fidelity checks and evidence of impact. Without accurate um outcomebased data, we're essentially being asked to govern in the dark. That's not acceptable. Tonight I'm I would like us to look at I'll ask some questions but the incident level and disagregated data by subgroup outcomes such as rei refidic sorry and intervention

030effectiveness contextual information like location time of incidents clear reporting on restraint and timeout behavioral threat assessments MTSS interventions and the panorama clim assignment data. Um this would provide us um the opportunity to make sure that corrective action plans for the schools um that can sorry that can um make sure that they can address our uh disort the disproportionalities between the different groups and our low uh belonging scores. Um, I think we should also, I know now in reading this, I know I sound a little negative. The the part of the job that's hard, you may very well be doing all this. It's just for the accountability piece, we need to know that. We need to know specific because when we make decisions, um, we need to be accountable to the taxpayers. These measures are not

031about creating extra work. the data already exists in our SIS systems like MTSS, Panorama and incident logs. What this um we want to see the full picture that way you know we can celebrate the success and work on the needs and not just the intentions because a lot of when we get these reports they're so general um and they're a lot of times coached as aspirational but there's no measurement piece built into it. So I have with all my research, you know, there are things we could do. It I really think it's our job as a board to keep the administration. We don't need to be making the decisions. We just need to know that what you're doing is working and if it slows down or it regresses that that data is being utilized and

032we see it as what can we do to make sure we do better. Um so I think that be something as a board I'd like to discuss. um moving forward is maybe we could get together as a board and decide well you know this information is already there. I don't want to board and read everything to everyone, but I think it would be good if we say this is the information we deem important just for oversight. Not we're not going to make operational, but our job is to make sure the operations are working and um that we have like this is what we expect from the report because it's not fair to you guys if you're told to give one report and like I'm a board member saying you're not giving the data, you know,

033it causes conflict we don't want. So if we have a clear procedure that everyone knows this is the information we'd like, this is how often, and then we get it frequently enough that we can shift gears. Just like with kids, we want assessments throughout. You don't want to wait till late to catch something. Um, and I think too that I go back to when I'm up here, we have certain things on the agenda that we talk about and it seems like it's an isolation. But when we talk about the sense of belonging and we're talking about some of these other programs um they have a found those needs safety and some of those other considerations have to be met until they can academically learn. So this is a very important piece and I think that

034there are areas that we've seen some slow growth that we need to go back and just keep it accountable and that way it's easy for all of us to have this conversation because as a board there are benchmarks that are out there that say that this is what the norms are and to make sure we're within those norms. Is that something the board members are willing to have a conversation about? Other comments from other board members? >> Joe, >> I guess I'm uh a little confused about what exactly you're uh asking for. um is if I as I if I remember correctly on the um school improvement plans for example the uh belonging data is there uh for each school so we can get a a breakdown um of that information or we do get

035a breakdown of that information it's not here but it's uh school improvement plans are are >> they're actually not that's in all my research one of the things that I addressed was that school improvement plans. First of all, we don't have a set that we expect a certain level at all our schools. So that's one issue. So there's not an overall consensus of what are we expecting everyone to do and holding everyone to the same benchmark. The other thing is we don't get the data just like right now somebody could argue well we had this conversation well a lot of the information that you need to break down like we need to know where these incidents are happening or I want to know the outcomes that's the biggest thing with all of this is the

036accountability of piece of how do we know what we're doing is working because once we know that we can say great you guys are really good at this but this is where we need to get better I mean not to make Dan feel bad with the Bears game tonight. I said I wouldn't bring it up, but talking about like the sports. >> Don't don't talk about the Bears game. Just can Can we stay on the topic, please? You said you didn't want Dan to feel bad. >> Okay, I'm going to stop this and go. >> I made a joke out of levity and it bothered you so much you had to I don't I think you would agree these aren't these aren't these aren't joke joking matters. I think that the points that you're making

037are valid points and I think that, you know, putting weaving a joke in there is probably inappropriate just because it may be >> m Let me explain it. May Let me explain it. I find unfortunately the environment on this board to be toxic a lot. So sometimes bringing levity that may not be your style, Charles. That's fine. But what I don't think should be the style of this board is intolerance. Just like we have students who learn or talk or speak differently, is it okay for us to go, you shouldn't have joked when you answer that question? I don't think the way if we maybe developed a better relationship and could joke or if somebody does something, Charles, if that offended you, please feel free to go to me later and we can actually have

038a conversation. That's how we're But creating this type of environment where you slammed on the gavl because you didn't like my joke. Did you think I meant it maliciously? I don't think Dan like that's not anything bad about Dan about I was trying to build a camaraderie. So that is my point on that. But the big thing is I want the outcomes and accountability and we don't know what we're doing and we owe it to the people. We can't be oversight if we don't know what the outcomes are. >> Okay, Joe, are you done with your comments? >> Uh, I I just uh want to I guess um my only comment would be um the the schools lay out or determine uh their their needs and and the goal is for every school to grow.

039Um and schools start at different places. they have different challenges and uh you know if we have just one benchmark you know if a school hits that benchmark then they can just sit back and you know kind of kick back and relax right but we want to keep seeing growth at every school so um I don't necessarily agree with a a district-wide you you have to hit it here and once you check that box you're all good I want to see you know continued growth at every school in every area >> so Yeah, I was just gonna follow up on that. Like I appreciate the recognition that we want to tailor it to the needs of each school and one that's knocking it out of the park. We want to keep moving the level higher

040if they're able to do that. Um, but I wanted to kind of talk about like I'm open to these conversations about ways we can always improve these things and get more information for the board. Um but one concern I have is you know it does need to be aggregate in the aggregate because this is about behavior private matters regard regarding students and we don't want to get to such a specific level that it's identifying and causes greater concerns. So I share you know an interest in and being curious about ways we can improve these reports but keeping in mind um the protection and privacy of the students in those specific school environments. >> Yep. Yeah. I it wouldn't be revealing student information and would my board members feel differently because this is sometimes how I

041feel if the benchmarks were how the groups that we say we use their programs and and and they they do say you should have these benchmarks. That's why I said we defer to them. These are not things that I came up with that I thought were great. These were based on the programs that are best practices that are recommended. So I guess sometimes my frustration comes of like I you know what we all have different backgrounds but I do think we I think we're all want to see positive outcomes but should we defer to our experiences or is that where we go with what they teach us as board members to go evidence-based and data. So, if I could present data to my fellow board members that showed these were best practices by many organizations

042and the very programs we use, would that sway anyone's mind or even be open to having that conversation? >> Mark? >> Yeah, I I think speaking for myself, um I I think we would always look to find ways to improve what we're doing. I don't think anyone has any issue with that. Um I think I agree with what Joe and Holly said. I mean there's there's relying on the expertise of the team and the data that they have that they then aggregate and share with us in a way that is easily uh understandable. Um, I think also when when I did some of the math on this, we're we're not talking about lots of uh students that are causing uh behavioral that have behavioral issues. We we don't. And I I I don't want to

043have the community think that um the we we have a lot of students that are are not behaving properly. An overwhelming majority of them are are behaving correctly. uh there's a relatively small group uh of students in our comm community in our in our uh buildings that um are having these behavioral issues. Um I would much rather I think from my my perspective is is just be sure that those students are getting the interventions that they need. Um and and recognizing we we probably as much as we'd like it to happen, we're never going to get to zero. >> No. you're never going to get to zero. Um, but how can we get better? And I and I think, you know, based on the questions I've asked, uh, you know, talking about is there any

044indicators that we have? Um, I I think the response I got was there there really isn't any. Um, so things seem to be coming up in in students lives like in all of our lives. Um, and we need to be agile enough to address those behaviors when they come up. So, I'm I'm not sure getting more information is is going to change my my questions and I think also the success that the team has seen. >> So, uh, two comments. Um, one, uh, in response to the question about, um, I I'll just piggyback on Mark's comments about, um, more data, not more data, but, um, any any information in terms of how we can improve and things like that. So, um I think that uh we're always open to uh any information that you'd want

045to share with your fellow board members about, you know, documentation or whatever of things and then we can at least have that so we can take a look at it and then make a determination uh after having the opportunity to review that. Um I did have a question for the group. Um we mentioned uh that the sense of belonging uh we're looking at that as an an early indicator some of the improvements we've seen there as an early indicator of um addressing some of the uh kind of the truency issues and some of the other things that we're seeing. So the the theory is that um the better the sense of belonging the more likely students are to you know show up at school and show up on time and and ready to learn. Um,

046how much of a lag time would we project between kind of when we see the increases in the sense of belonging and then how long we think that'll take to cascade into the increases we expect to see or the decreases rather we expect to see in truency rates. >> No, I was just going to note that that's something that we can take back maybe connect with Dr. Nolton um in order to make a determination and to be able to share that information with the board. Unless Mark, you have something specific. >> The um there's a student belonging piece. There may also be a um just a scheduling piece to this as well. You know, we have um seven class sort of slots, if you will, in a standard student day plus lunch in an eight

047period school day, which means that a student could acquire 28 credits before they leave high school. um nowhere, you know, the graduation requirement is far fewer than that. And so, um you know, we have students that some students have study halls and then when they for some reason if they if they get called in for their study hall so they get that extra hour of sleep in the morning, then they may show up as chronically truent. So, digging into some of those structural pieces is a part of that. um when you see such a dramatic increase as students get older or further along in their careers, the seniors versus the freshmen, um there is definitely a structural piece to that that needs to be analyzed. That student belonging is certainly a big part of it,

048but it's it's one part of I think of a larger hole >> Joe. Yeah. Um kind of sticking with some of the high school uh data. Um the cell phone violations are are the number three after truency and tardiness. Um, I know it's too early to have uh actual data, actual numbers on this, but uh do you have any anecdotal uh evidence on um uh how the new uh cell phone uh restrictions um and earbud restrictions and everything are uh impacting um the number of referrals? >> It's too early to tell on a number of referrals basis yet. What I can say is that the implementation has been relatively smooth and seamless. very few uh you know complaints from students, issues from parents. It's been very it's been very well supported. People understand even our

049students understand that they're better. They are able to focus more when that cell phone is away. Um so so far the implementation of sort of the new procedures has gone really really well as a as a whole. Um but it's too early to tell for any data. We are still in sort of that honeymoon period of everybody getting back to school and being in the in that mindset. So, um, you know, we'll be able to report out more, uh, as as the year goes on and towards the end of the year when we have our 7190 presentation in the spring as we get ready to review the parent student handbook. Um, our student advocacy specialists and I are actually meeting tomorrow morning and one of our goals is to produce a report that comes out

050quarterly that's updates us on a more regular basis and provide some actionable information for them as they intervene with students. >> Great. Thank you. Uh and then um you know we we obviously want to continue uh you know improving within our own district but uh can you just uh share a little bit about um what other districts you benchmark against and how we how our discipline uh reports look uh compared to those districts in in the state of Illinois. >> We can't there's actually not a lot of districts that provide this type of report to the board of education. Really? Um, and there are some that um that have and moved away from it. And so we do so um as a result of language within policy 7190. At least I should say it's not

051presented in a way formally like we're doing. Um and so yeah, so that's just really >> it's hard to say kind of where our numbers land within the state. Thank you, >> Melissa. And then Holly. >> Um well, I have a few notes. Um, so I want to say thank you with the cell phones. High schoolers said I know previously one of the problems was that maybe different teachers had kind of their own and so I heard back that like all the teachers really were strict which I think helps all of them and I noticed that the kids took it very seriously which is nice because then you're not hopefully it stays like that. So you did a great job with that. Um, as far as there are indicators, so I I I don't agree

052with that. There's indicators through our MTS system, panorama, they're all there are within the frameworks we use, there are benchmarks that these that were to hit or information or growth. So and the fact that there might have been changes on the state level with the information gathered all the data we have of the indicators we have in our internal data. Um so that again um we could actually have indicators decide as a group these are the indicators we want because I guess the biggest thing I keep hearing is like I circled it be sure but that's the million-dollar question to say that I want I want I want or I want all these kids to do this we want to make sure well that's how we make sure and that's why We what sometimes is

053difficult. I go that would be like having our students be like we're not going to grade those tests. We're gonna like you told us you knew what you were doing. I'm I'm I don't mean to be insulting. I'm just exaggerating. It's my way. But I mean it is in a way of like this is how and in work we do that like and this is something we need to teach our students. I don't think you could be in a corporate information and be like no we're not going to set goals. We're going to have aspirations and I know you all have different office like groups but where no it's outcome pace and you stick to it and as I say this a lot of times the way I phrase things make it sound negative but

054in actuality when we have those outcomes those numbers those can give us all these opportunities to rejoice celebrate and be happy but it answers the million-dollar question of be sure. And then my other thing I've brought up in um another thing I would say especially to our new board members, our previous disciplinary had a lot more data. You might want to go back and look at those um to get an idea too of information we've had or might be available. Um the other thing I've brought up in the past and I still have issue with this is one of the biggest things is attendance. Now my understanding one of my there's a couple concerns I went to I think it was central had their presentation with the innovative day experience but they were talking about

055the numbers and they talked about the correlation that it was interesting they didn't find attendance to negatively impact academic growth which was fascinating to me and that's why we want these numbers. So with attendance, one of my things is it's do we want attendance is good, but those kids can have a lot of we talk about mental health, we talk about sickness, we don't know their home lives, where they're coming from of having just a blanket policy of you get is it 10 days a semester? Does somebody want to make sure? >> Well, there's state code on what is expected. >> No, I know >> they don't give absent days. >> No, but my son at the high school, I believe this is a better question for you that they're instructed that they have 10

056days and each semester because my son has freaked out and not wanted to miss school when he was sick because he's like, "Mom, we can't do this." or he's mentioned to me friends of his freaking out because they're like so and so's mom, she can't afford to go to doctor and they'll only excuse it. They won't take the mom's word. They want a doctor's note. So that's why we need to look at the details of there might be nuances in the attendance issue and we want to make sure that we're looking at the big picture. Do we want our kids in the classroom as much as possible? Absolutely. But I think that welfare of the students is really what we want to be looking at. The other thing about it is my understanding for the

057last I don't know how many years is after that 10 days that students are told that they cannot make up the work and I have emails because I had a son who did that one year and I got the letter saying you can't make up the work. Well, my issue with that is then you're penalizing kids academically and that should never happen for whatever reason that we take away learning opportunities. Um, so that and then I also heard they went around and talked about losing, you know, off-campus parking stickers that I'm not so concerned with. But this message of attendance, don't come in when you're sick. We don't want stuff to spread. If your mom can't afford a doctor's note, should we make them get a doctor's note? That I'm not sure. I'm not comfortable

058with that. And do we penalize kids academically? And if this isn't our policies, why is that at the open houses? Why are the kids being taught this? Why are people going in at home and, you know, during their um what is that? Not study hall. What's the home room? Um yeah, I I think that attendance is important, but it's always balanced against something else. And how are we doing it? And in some of these cases, are we doing what we need to do? We're alienating families by if you send home a threatening letter or if kids have whatever issues. Um where again I go to let's build up our community. Let's be positive. We're going to get much better buy in and success if we approach it from that versus a punitive approach. >> So

059just to make sure that everyone has the same two state definitions. If someone is chronically absent, that means they've been absent for a total of 10% or more of school days of that academic year. And so that's monitored on a on a monthly basis. 10% of now since we've been in school for three weeks. And uh that includes absences with or without cause. So it doesn't mean we have a note or maybe we do or the parents called in. The state defines it as 10%. We don't have we follow state code. That is how they define it. Um if a student is chronically truent, then that's a child who has missed five or more percent um of the previous 180 school days also and is chronically absent. Um and they don't have a valid excuse.

060And I just want to make sure when we're that we are assuming positive intentions of our school support teams because I know a lot of the deans, assistant principles, principles, social workers, counselors do work endlessly with some of our families and providing them support and it is a regular conversation. There's usually weekly meetings where they talk about students attendance. They review if a student has a medical note or a serious illness. That's not something that they're issuing a truency letter for. um and hyperfocused on. It's more for the students who are refusing to come to school, who are having a struggle, who need some more wraparound support. So, as someone who spends a lot of time in the schools and sees how hard they're working, I want there's always room for growth for sure and

061our rates of chronic absenteeism and truency could be better in this district. And we do need to partner with homes, but I do think we have a lot of amazing resources here and staff who are working really hard for our students and families, too. So, I just want to make sure that doesn't get lost in this conversation. >> No, it's not. And but that goes back to my conversation about the other agenda item is we talk a lot about what we're doing. What we're doing what we're doing. But as a board member, I don't that's operational as far as what we're doing. Dan controls operationals. What my job as a board member is to go I'm outcome focused. So, I have to say and I'm taxpayer focused. So I'm here to say I hear a

062lot about these attendance issues and I've gone to conferences with the triple I cosba is you know all these different groups that talk about best approaches to this and if we're not so on one step we can say what we're doing that's great but if we're not focused on gathering the data and outcome we don't know which of these approaches is working we by our own measure say that we're not where we want to be. So I just go, okay, so you you're telling me you're doing great. We're not getting where we want to be. I'm asking for outcomes in a specific plan and maybe the voice needs to just not be that's another thing the administration you see it through your lens. My job is not to see it through I gather everyone's lenses

063all the people. So, I think that is another thing I think we need to do more of as a school board is make sure we're listening to all the different perspectives because it's going to be different for each one. >> Okay. Other comments from Holly? >> Yeah. Sorry, I had additional questions and I didn't want to hit you all with them off the top. Um moving away from you know the absenteeism in tardies. My biggest concern and I know this has been a stubborn number and has been a frustrating point previous to this time is the disparities in our subgroups and exclusionary discipline and it's a stubborn issue. I I saw, you know, um working for restorative policies, you know, belonging is going to take time to trickle up and a lot of things focused

064on working with students or students and their families. Um just wanted to ask this so much. Obviously, it's a stubborn number, so there's no magic answer, and I and I realize that. Um, but kind of to split out what we're doing to support our staff and control for or address potential bias from the adult or the staff member in that kind of discipline. Um, and then also, you know, if there are additional steps we are looking for because we're got to keep trying new things with that stubborn number. Just kind of general information there. I'll let Rita a little bit talk a little bit about the training on uh implicit bias and unconscious bias. But for just to look at some of the numbers, we have about 3.8% of our student body overall experiences some

065sort of exclusionary discipline. Uh that 3.8% is a relatively small number. When you then break that out into ethnic subgroups or if you're looking at gender or if you're looking at the vi nature of the violation, you start getting down to very individualized statistics. And um you know it's difficult to draw broad generalizations on trends from a very small pool of data. You just there's a lot more uncertainty when you have three or four students in a particular you know uh you know when you start filtering out certain things. Um, and you know, we we have the information about ethnic subgroups and all the different natures of the of the violations that could occur. And most of the time in some of those boxes is it's one or three. And so you start the reason

066why some of that's not reported at this table is because it be it gets very personally identifiable. Generally, the state of Illinois does not report out subgroups smaller than 20 in order to preserve the anonymity of those individuals. And so the majority of our exclusionary discipline reporting comes in when you start if you start breaking out by more than one factor into single digits. Um that being said, there is a tremendous opportunity because we know who those students are as individuals. And so that is where our social workers, our counselors, our student advocacy specialists are so important. Uh one of the questions we received today was about the transition and drawing trends from junior high to high school. And when a student exhibits behaviors, um, let's say they're they're down seeing a disciplinarian or a

067social worker on a regular basis, they they get added to a case load at the very beginning to help assist them with the transition. And when if the transition is successful, they can exit that progress monitoring, but can return if they start we start seeing behavioral uh concerns at the high school level. Um, it really does become a case of getting to know the individual student and counseling and working with them. Um, one very powerful piece of data I kind of discovered through this year's uh, you know, teasing out this year's information when I said that the number of exclusionary events peaks at sophomore year, freshman year strong and stronger sophomore year falls off dramatically junior year and then senior year. Um, you know, there can be any number of reasons why seniors would be

068experiencing exclusionary discipline at a far lower rate. Um, some of that may be just maturity. Um, but there's also a big portion of that of that which I would attribute to the purposeful instruction that goes on in home rooms, the follow-up by student advocacy specialist after discipline so that if a student gets in a fight that they don't fight again, that if a student is caught with something at school that they should not have, that that incident does not repeat itself. And so, you know, seeing that our seniors exit having so few exclusionary discipline events to me is a sign that the interventions are working. Um the students may come in and and experience some struggles, but by the time they get ready for graduation, those struggles are greatly reduced. Um and we, you know,

069we we're happy to see those those uh young men and women cross the stage who um you are on their way to being successful and prosperous adults. So um we have to be careful about what conclusions we can draw, but a lot of that again goes down to individual students and working with them. There are some general trends. if you back off, you can and try and work, you know, try and and look at the bigger picture. It is disconcerting to see the disproportionality. Um, but when we I did actually break out the students by ethnicity by year in school and I was very pleased to see that all demographic subgroups improved in their behavior over time. In fact, our our minorities who have probably the most disciplinary events improve the most. difficult to draw

070any real generalizations because again you start getting to if you're looking at just seniors of certain ethnicities who have exclusionary discipline you're talking about single digits in some cases one um but that trend is true when you aggregate the last three years the 22 23 23 24 and 24 25 school years um that information is consistent over time. Um so it does show me that that there is there are some celebrations here in the data in spite of the fact that you know early on in their high school career there may not be uh we may not be seeing the behaviors that we want the trend is generally positive before they exit the system >> and then Rakita if you want to talk about the uh training. >> So first Holly I want to thank

071you for that question and and raising that point to the forefront. Um there are several opportunities um within the district for different work groups to get some learning um around implicit bias um and you know personal responsibility and impacting change regarding our disciplinary outcomes and understanding one's role in um how we respond to those behaviors and how we interpret those behaviors and how we would support students students. Um there is still room for growth. Um but I will just share um some of the work that we're doing. For example, for new educators, and we've been doing this for several years now. Um our new educators, they have a new educator learning professional learning program that they participate in. And um my department we actually have a multi-day multi-hour um training opportunities that we provide to

072them um that explicitly um you know covers topics like implicit bias for example as well as culturally responsive teaching amongst other things. um our substitute teachers when they um as part of their onboarding process they um we also provide them with some implicit bias training. This year we had the opportunity to work with our uh transportation staff and providing them some training on implicit bias at least as an introductory and there is conversations about continuing that learning. um for um our other groups like we have our district equity team for example and they are doing a lot of targeted work around um you know looking at these various outcomes that we're talking about and and how we can improve things um and it's sort of like a train to trainer model where um we provide

073them building their capacity and then they can take that information back to their buildings and work with their building equity teams. Um there's again still room for growth and making sure that those things are actually happening. Um but that's part of that that process that we are doing. Um and then in years past we have done some more largecale district-wide um efforts and um targeted learning around implicit bias and I'm actually working with the middle school team this year to do more work um in that area as well. >> Thank you. Is it I have a couple follow-ups on that and thank you for sharing what the training is. That's really helpful and I'm thrilled to that it's expanding to other groups and I appreciate the perspective on how to look at the data. Um,

074and that's actually what one of my other follow-ups was because it seems like we lean a lot on like belonging and building belonging throughout our time in school. And again, this might be one that we end up with too small of numbers, but do we are we aware of when we're thinking about exclusionary discipline, how many of these students are with us for their whole career or a large chunk of their school career? Um, and do we need different approaches? If someone's been with us through kindergarten and it's been a problem, then that belonging piece is something to look at. But if a student has come to the district later, that's kind of hard to build out of thin air. So, just curious if that's something that's relevant or is it too small of a

075number? >> Well, I would we did not tease out that data this year. Historically, Patrick has uh when he's pulled the data shown that the vast majority of the students that we see that encounter that have exclusionary discipline have been in our in our school system for their entire academic career. Uh is a district we have relatively low mobility and so those students generally are with us the entire time. >> Um oh so those that data that I said before that I wanted broke down into that. Um, that's kind of why I wanted that data is that it does tell us specifically the different groups. And just so people know too when we talk about this, I think sometimes like the public thinks we're talking about specific groups of individuals where what we're talking about

076here is systems and frameworks for every student who's who needs that extra help or struggling because I personally believe a lot of time like discipline a lot of times is there's a need we can try to fill. So I think that's maybe too um I'd like to reframe it in that by reporting these numbers isn't about you know a few bad kids or you know that kids struggle because I think that's part of the things that kids like discipline means bad and these kids are probably the kids who least need to hear you're bad and so I think if we reframe this to the idea of like we're going to measure outcomes and what I talk about like the data would what interventions did this child have? Was there a response? Was that productive? Because

077it is very individual. But by getting that data, we see our students escalating after, you know, how long does it take them to get a referral or if they're in, you know, what what kicks somebody up? Is there automatic? Do we treat all our kids? The problem is if we don't have set standards that we say and processes and we leave it all individual, that's where we get into where everyone's treated subjectively by whoever the person in front of them is. Where part of the reason to get that data and hold people accountable is to say, you know, everyone always has their story, but at some point we have to say this is the growth we want for our kids. Because again, not saying we're not doing great things, but that's operations like great do

078it minus the outcomes and if there's areas to grow, I would say that's an opportunity to try new things. Now, to go back, I've done a lot I've myself worked a lot with equity and gone to a lot of conferences. So, I'll share with my fellow board members along with that other information because it's really rooted in this. There are indicators. Um and one of the things we want to know are there indicators? That's one thing we want to chart behavior because you know what leads to the next step is are there things because what we really want to do is get practices where we don't escalate to the first and restorative justice. Yes, we need to do more with that. I've gone to a lot of seminars about that. It works well. It teaches

079those kids versus preaching at them. So, what one of I think a school district, one of the presentations I went to, I think it was Minnesota, but I'll get you the information. What they did as a group is they kind of had that they didn't see the progress that they wanted. And I talked earlier about those perspectives, those different lenses that really this isn't a problem that just a classroom teacher can or just one administrator or one board member. It takes those different groups getting together. So with this particular there are audit audits the outside groups there's a lot of them a lot of school districts will do an outside audit and again it's not bad it's just a fresh pair of eyes um but what one the Minnesota school district did was they invited

080one of the things you'll see with belonging and with attendance we keep having to have the buyin of the students and the parents and I think that's a piece that I feel a lot of the people like in our community is some kind they don't feel they have a voice right wrong or indifference is so what this group did is they invited staff members at all different levels you could have a specialist because they see them in gym totally different behavior in gym um you know we have a teacher we have you know every group we had and then they have people in the community can participate that have all different backgrounds and have students so they're ending those p perspectives the staff We hear a lot that the staff doesn't feel like they're listened

081to. This is a great opportunity to pull in and say community, we're listening to you. Have students selected. This is what this group did. Have your students show up and then they have a voice. It's one more way I know we do other things with students. Another reoccurring thing is it seems to be all the same. Like again it can just probably by the nature of it we get a lot of the same students who are already high success or might not be in these categories. We probably want to target the input from students that maybe want to participate that fall into some of this. And then they sat down and they said we're going to do a data dump. We're going to sit down and look at all the data and see what we

082as a group think this tells us and then as a group come up with some possible things to change. That doesn't mean we don't stop the good things we're doing, but I think that it not only can give us some new strategies. I think it respects the voice of all the parties and I think it's wise because we need the voice of everyone at the table. We want the buy in and we want to really do it well because I don't I can't tell you what some of these people like their background and what their struggles are. So I want to hear it from them. I want to hear it from our students that are most at risk. And you know what? How important would that be to those families, those parents, and those students

083to say you're important? Because a lot of those kids, it, you know, kids think that their behavior is who they are, their worth as a person, and it's just not. And sometimes maybe if at the end of the day, we just get to say we care and we hear you. I mean, that's pretty powerful. So, I would suggest that the board do something like this. It's a great opportunity to get voice input and even if not our our practices don't change that much. I think sometimes it's the journey that's so important too. >> So what I would suggest is um you've referenced a lot of different pieces of material. So please share that with uh your fellow board members including the ones that aren't here obviously. Um and that way it will give us an

084opportunity to take a look at what you've provi or what you've uncovered and provided and then we can uh have further discussion around that. But uh unless there's other comments from other board members, I will thank the team you have other comments. Okay. Thank you guys for your presentation and then we can move to our next agenda item. Okay. All right. Discussion without action. Um item 8.01 1 press update 118. >> Okay, we'll take uh really 8.01 and 8.02 together. Um just because it'll be hard to keep separate on which of the press updates it was in. Um but um board reme just a reminder subscribes to IASB's uh press policy s uh system which provides updates to uh recommended or model board policy based on uh changes in law, new laws, uh modifications to

085laws um or changes best practice, precedent cases, things like that. Uh provides those recommendations through their uh their legal team. uh and so this helps us keep on top of our policies. Uh Dr. Cohen has presented this to you uh at the last board meeting as our typical process will be uh this meeting again discussion without action uh and we'll look for action on the press update 118 and 119 the September 22nd meeting. Dr. Corn, is there any new information you need to share? No, but I do want to thank Mark uh for recognizing I transposed two of the digits in my in my memo. You know, sometimes you're uh I've realized over in the last six months, I think my need for reading glasses is actually starting to get a little bit more intense.

086So, but thank you. >> Okay, Mark. >> Yeah, thank you very much, Charles. Um just want to make sure we're we're being clear as a board and as well with the community and and Mark, maybe you can just answer a few questions I I have. So, one, can you just uh clarify uh what specific changes uh have been made at the federal level to title N? >> The essentially title N is referred back to the 2020 version of which was uh Trump's Trump's first administration. We lived with the previous 2020 through most of the Biden administration and only in June of 2024 did the rules change uh coming out of the US Department of Education. Um immediately upon taking office title 9 was reverted back. Operationally not much changed for us. We did adopt the

087policy in the pre in the update press update in 2024. Um but operationally it didn't change much really the the um exclusion of gender identity as a protected class in in in title 9. It was excluded in 2020's operational rules. It was included in 24 and then eliminated in 25. Um operationally did not change much of what we do at all. Um in fact this was anticipated and Rakita who's our title N coordinator would you know would have would have been able to uh to answer that question as well. Um, as far as our uniform grievance policy though is concerned, the any student who or student staff member um member of the community feels like we've discriminated against them based on their gender identity is entitled to the protections of the Illinois Humans Rights Act.

088Um, that has not changed. Um, that is standard that is separate and apart from title 9. Um, so if somebody were to allege a violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act that did not fall under Title 9, then their relief would be the uniform grievance procedure policy 2260. Um, again, operationally, nothing really changes. >> Got it. And and just uh to expand a little bit on the uh Illinois Human Rights Act. So um that is not contradictory to Title N. the section on um the protections for gender identity. I there there is a there's a the changes to title 9 I think are in contradiction with some a number of different definitions in a number of different states including Illinois. Um how that works out is beyond the scope of our decision-m here in this

089room. Um but we're you know we're doing the best we can. Now the Illinois Human Rights Act is more germanine to us as Illinois um the states generally have the authority over education federal uh administration has control over education funding from the federal level but it's not an enumerated power of the federal government. So uh we rely on the state of Illinois to give us you know their their statutes their guidance and of course case law. uh if should case law somehow impact uh our operations then the press policy would take that into account and that would be updated. >> Got it. And if a student is here in Illinois, we feel they are protected based on the Illinois laws. >> Yes. >> Right. >> Yeah. So if a student um is on an academic

090team or a sports team and they travel to a different state, what are the protections that they have? >> that's that's a difficult question to answer without knowing the circumstances in the state. Um our inner scholastic activities in athletics are governed by the Illinois High School Association and their policies and bylaws reflect state law. uh if you sign a nonconference out of state contract with with another school in another state, then that's going to be something that would have to be discussed. >> So, they may not be covered under Illinois state law >> Potentially. Yes. >> Okay. >> Thank you, >> Holly. >> So, I just have, you know, thank you for that explanation. It was really helpful. Um, so essentially what a lot of the press policy is doing is there were citations to

091title nine that no longer apply. So it's cleaning that up so that we're citing what authority is there now for title 9. Um, but the Illinois Human Rights Act has not changed. Um and we have uh there are protections for our students under 5A which involves public you know public education or educational institutions for our employees who are public employees under other parts of the Illinois Human Rights Act and also um for public accommodations because we provide public accommodations. Those are all still the same and that's why operationally we're not seeing changes under the H the current Illinois Human Rights Act. >> That's correct. >> Thank you. Um, and that applies not just for for gender identity, but for each part and each protection. Um, you know, because Title Nine has us looking at that

092one, but all of those protections for each of those groups. Um, national origin, race, real or perceived of any of these things, those have all remain the same under the >> That is that is correct. And and by and large, you'll notice if there ever were an allegation of any sort of violation of anybody's human rights, um the policy 2265 on Title 9, it is less of a policy in terms of defining what the you know who is protected and under what circumstances because that comes from the federal government. That's that's that's enshrined to them. It is more of an operational policy in terms of if there is an allegation that their title N rights are violated, here's how the district will react. And so that title N policy enumerates here's the steps of the

093process. Uh 2260 is much the same that that process in fact the processes are virtually identical. So, um, there there there's almost no, um, distinction between how we would handle an allegation of a Title 9 violation versus some other rights being violated through 2260 because that investigative process and the reports that are produced are the same. Joe >> and and just kind of further um clarification about you know this process and and what goes into the uh content. Um this uh language by and large is the uh press language directly except for the couple of notes that are in the memos where the district policies are actually typically more uh stringent than the the state uh code requires. Is that correct? >> Yes, that's correct. You know, I would say by and large the more

094the more the rule than the exception. Uh it would be our recommendation to accept repressed policies as presented because they are vetted by a team of school attorneys not only from the IESB but most of the major school district law firms that you know represent school districts across the state also have a representative on their board. Uh Robin Schwarz has a representative on their board. Senator So an attorney from Robin Schwarz was also consulted on the press policies that come out. There are a number of policies which may be customized. Uh for example, fund balance policy may be differ from district to district. Uh some districts will create certain policies around revenues that come in from a referendum, etc. Um but those are more the exception than the rule. Uh and so we tried to

095note some of those exceptions in there. For example, the 7190, we review 7190 on an annual basis, so updating 7190 at this time was not necessary. Um, and there are there are a few others, but by and large, press policy, uh, the nice part about it being consistent with press, not adding to or deleting from it, is that when there are changes to the law, whether that's federal, state, case law, etc., those changes are automatically reflected in press, and you don't have to go back and say, well, why did we do this? Why did we write in this caveat then? because sometimes those things can be, you know, if they're not well documented or maybe they were a resulting of one situation that now everybody's forgotten about because it's 10 years later and no, you

096know, no one in the room is the same anymore. Um, that the sticking with press policy generally keeps you current and keeps you uh keeps you compliant. >> Thank you, >> Melissa. All right. I have a question with policy uh 310 credit for alternative courses and programs. Um so the policy we have or we would pass it limits a maximum of two units of credit towards high school graduation requirements for coursework through colleges, universities, correspondence classes and special functioning schools. Um, is that true that we limit that? >> Often that's not the case. We we have relationships with college page. When students come to us with transcripts from other institutions, we evaluate those on a on a case- by case basis to check for alignment. Um, we have to if we're going to give credit

097for high school graduation, we have to make sure that the courses that a student brings in are aligned with Illinois learning standards. So if they if if there is a graduation requirement that says that a student has to take civics and then they transfer in a course that they say includes civics, we have to then vet the um syllabus from that course against the Illinois learning standards to make sure that they are meeting all Illinois graduation requirements. Um so that's usually done on a case-byase basis and we there are always going to be a few exceptions here and there. We have students that come to us from all over the world uh with with transcripts that uh that um you know it's sometimes it's it's challenging to sit down and kind of create a like

098for like with the course that we offer and their high school equivalent. >> Okay. And then my understanding is for dual credit. Okay. So with the case by case this policy states that it would be a maximum of of two units. And so if we don't actually do that, we might want to look at that number. >> And then >> if I I don't interrupt. I'm sorry. I just want to make sure there's a a certain clarification. What everything Dr. Cohen said is is correct. But where the limitation comes in places of a if a student already enrolled >> is seeking to go find credit from some other serving institution. that is limited to and I believe we do adhere to that um like a dual credit for example or a dual enrollment by its

099definition we are giving credit we are saying it is our so that's not an outside credit so that's uh I think that policy is is limiting in terms of I'm going to go to on my own this online provider or this way right and so that's where the limit is and we do uh typically I believe universally adhere to that right um it is something we've talked about looking at in the future, but uh at this point not not >> um so yeah, thank you for that because I did notice which I was happy the dual credit courses were included and that I have to thank the district. I think it's wonderful the amount of dual credit classes we have. Um not only does it give it, you know, the criteria for some of those

100classes because they're technically a college class provides some rigor. Um I know they kind of vary in their amount. Um the other thing is it helps our families. This is uh money that goes towards like they don't have to spend for a college. So thank you. We are so blessed. Um but going back through the case by case. Um you know we talk about attendance. We talk about we have kids with all sorts of issues that if we were to open this up this might give them some more leeway on what they could take. say you have a child with I think what I'm hearing and I'm again I'd have to look at data but um is that a lot of these students it's it we have more coming back from the pandemic so I

101think you have a lot more anxiety you have a lot of things going on and again this is difficult for parents where if we maybe had a chance for say a reset with a child that they aren't worried about missing school and not being able to keep up and they could do a program and maybe they do more than two units. >> Yeah, >> that would be nice. And then I was just going to add I'm sorry. >> Can I add that just so that I don't lose the I want to respond to that part. Um, you know, I do think it is critical that our schools work very closely with families and kids in unique situations and and look at plans that will help them. Uh but ultimately if we're going to award a

102student a Nepville 203 diploma and say that they've met the the the the policy of Aprilville 203 state board of education so on and so forth. We have to ensure that we can do that and just opening up to allow students to take from anywhere that that doesn't do that. um and then to just let them do that on their own would really create a very difficult burden um on our staff to be able to identify and to vet the the syllabi the course grade the content and all of that. So in an effort it's to you know again you know we stand in in front of the neighbor central neighbor north graduates every year hand them a diploma and my words or Dr. Cohen's words are something along the lines of we endorse and

103certify that the student has met the graduation requirements defined by the state board of education and the neighborville community unit school 203 board of education and we congratulate you on your accomplishments right and so I think that's the part that we have to be cautious about >> and to one other point too I'll say we we have a very robust set of opportunities through our a lot program our alternative learning opportunities program so um in fact just earlier this year in I believe it was March or April the board approved approve an extension for the OMBbudsman program which we offer both on-site and off-site. We have the Neapville bridge. We use a programs like Egenuity to help serve our English language learners. So, we have a variety of, you know, sort of non-traditional courses that

104are available to help students that have certain needs. And our our staff, our counselors do a great job of pairing up the right student with the right tool that will help them uh based on their need. >> Thank you very much. And Dan, I completely agree with what you're saying about we want to keep those standards. So under it, it does say that it has to meet certain criteria. So no, they would have to do the North Central Association of Colleges, Secondary Schools, andor the Illinois State Board of Education. So I'm not saying we should take everything. That would be a huge, but we do want it to that quality. Um, I'm just saying it might be something to explore um as something we might want to look at because I know another thing is

105um our summer courses. That's a time that students we talk about stress and workload. Um they they this gives students the opportunity to maybe take some summer courses over the summer in accredited high standard and be able to take them at home, maybe somewhere else. It gives them flexibility or if maybe they work. We have students that work and that way when you do an online a lot of times you can you know those students can still participate but they can still work which a lot of them need to do for themselves over the summer. Um so what else was I going to say? Um, going back to Okay, so this is something I've had a few people said this to me and I actually think it's a good idea. So, let me do my

106pitch. Is that somebody said that there's a school district that does that you'll see the rest of that policy. It talks about other ways to fulfill your physical education um requirement. And so, like if you're in sports, it would fulfill it. I know our students are really crammed with a lot of opportunities. Another thing that I as a parent struggle with as a high schooler is we have so many great programs and classes that I want them to take. So by the time the child's trying to fill all their requirements or in college or whatever their post you know education experience is going to be um that was oh with okay so going back to the idea so basically and then having a background and and knowing a lot of people that kids we talk

107about discipline one of the groups when we talk about um groups is kids with 504s or IEPs and so forth. And again, I come from this as my parental perspective and lens is that it could be very hard. It's a very unstructured time. Kids suffer from, you know, not bullying. I'm not going to say that that's possible, but unstructured time is hard for discipline. It also is hard for kids maybe that aren't as athletic. So, that's a stressful time. There's a lot of things that can make gym class stressful. So this particular school district did where you could get credit. We do the great program with the hundred hours that you get a special certificate. Isn't it 100 hours that the kids get a community service and they get the the cord they can put

108on at the graduation. Um but it they said if you do so much like housework, mow lawns or do something in community that's physically active. Um and they specified it for senior citizens. we could do whatever that you work with a community garden. So you're learning more skills, you're getting physical activity, you're maybe developing an interest and then their thing with the the citizens, the senior citizens is it's a good opportunity for our students to learn and listen to people. You know, a lot of people want them to respect and it gives an opportunity to expand their scope of who they interact with with the day. But we might want to I think that would be something neat looking forward to um looking at the other PE opportunities for kids in high school. So maybe

109they can lessen their load and explore other opportunities. >> Other questions or comments? Holly? >> Um I had questions on um let me get the number here. the AI where the AI policy is listed and so is this you know it's one of the blue additions is the recommendation that we adopt that optional language about the use of artificial intelligence enabled tools. >> Can you remind me of that policy number? >> It's 6 starts on page 67 of the 83 and let me roll up to get to know the number. That is 6235. Page 87. >> Sorry, I sent this one two weeks ago, but not this >> 67 >> the update the 1189. >> It's in 118. >> So the it's instruction and access to electronic networks. And as you scroll down, there's optional

110language that looks like we're seeking to adopt regarding the use of artificial intelligence AI enabled tools. Um like the first sentence is the board recognizes that AI enabled tools are important to enhance student learning educator effectiveness in school operations. Personally I have a concern about that one but it is about adopting a policy down the line. So I just wanted to know if we're um it's recommended to adopt that and kind of the procedure for adopting a policy if we >> so what we can share with you um and I apologize that we didn't get this in here. uh we do have actually internal or internal procedure around the use of AI as an example uh you know the board actually approved the purchase of an AI tool for all of our teacher magic school

111right and so uh you know we do recommend the adoption of this policy with what's here we'll share with you in advance of next board meeting kind of the what we've identified as our our position statement on the use of AI uh and an overview of the professional learning and support that's provided uh for our staff in order to use it >> and So would we if we adopted this um it requires to implement the use of AI enabled tools we'd the designate will create a districtwide plan. So is that plan you provide already our existing one or we >> we already have one? Yeah. Uh there there was other policy that we had um kind of linked in through our um acceptable use agreement that essentially didn't name AI by name that named in

112terms of tools and so on and so forth that that made it acceptable. I think because now districts are probably asking for AI policy. Uh press is making this recommendation. >> Um yeah, I noticed that. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't wait. >> No, I I was going to ask of other questions. So, go right ahead. >> No, I noticed that too. And then yeah, if and if when these come up, if there is an existing policy or for one of these, it would be great to have it in the documentation so we know because I I didn't know we had a a plan so moving forward. Is that something Dan we could get? I think we did actually share that when we brought to the board the recommendation for the adoption and the purchase of

113the magic school tool which would have been at the end of the 23 24 school year as a part of that budget as a budget initiative but we'll certainly bring it back to the surface. >> Yeah. Moving forward because I don't always remember those past meetings. We have so much and I already have my readers. So if when we're considering a policy that we have attached to it previous information or relevant information um so we know what that plan is. I appreciate that. >> Okay. I know the comments. This is coming back uh next board meeting. Will that be with with action at the next board meeting? Okay. So it comes back next >> with action. If anything's still unsettled then we can certainly pull policy out. We'll probably do it um as one. So

114that for example uh if a if the board decides that we we need a little bit more work on a policy we get a move uh for approval of press update 118 and except >> policy one two three. >> Got it. Okay. So um fellow board members continue to get your questions in if there's additional questions that we have because it is coming back for action next time around. Okay. All right. Um are we on item nine or did we Yes. Item nine, discussion with action. Oh. >> Oh, 8.03. Yeah, we did. We did 8. >> So, in the press updates, this is a a policy that we kind of set aside. We need to get it in place. It's one that's required. We had some conversation about language, but in in terms of consulting

115with council as was recommended. This is the language that's actually recommended that we have in place. >> Questions from the board. >> Melissa. >> Um, yeah, that policy really ties into what we were talking about before. So, I think that maybe this is something we want to look at and look at some of that information I provide you and maybe we you know integrate it or think about how we're going to do that or if we want to do it but that we just have that discussion with some of that information. >> If you could just as a reminder make note of that when you send that information to everyone that would be helpful just to link those two together. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Other questions or comments on 8.03. Okay. So, uh, that is

116coming back before the board as well. Uh, with action at the next meeting. All right. Item nine, discussion with action. We have no discussion with action. Item 10, old business. We have no old business. Item 11, new business. We have no new business. Item 12, upcoming events. Item 12.01, schedule of events. >> I'll just note that the next board of education meeting is on Monday, September 22nd, 2025. Is a success cooked out on there? >> Uh it is it's not on here. We typically just put um um and things impacting the district calendar. Uh but that is scheduled for Saturday, September 13th. This upcoming Saturday, believe the time is 1 to 3:30 at Seager Park. >> Correct. Yes. And don't we also have a ribbon? >> We do. >> Connections. >> Uh what's that date?

11730. I think it's Thursday, September 18th as well. Okay. >> Yep. Thursday, September 18th. >> That sounds familiar. Yes. Thank you. That's That's next week. Haven't gotten to next week yet. >> All right. >> I was just going to say and I don't know the I think it was yesterday or the day before over the weekend sometime. I had >> I don't know if it was on something we received and it said to have the calendar or if I was on the website. Um, but I went on the district website where it says calendar of events and it didn't have anything on there. Is that accurate? >> I don't know what you're talking about. >> So, if you go on >> I I know where the district event calendar is. I don't know what specific

118event you're talking about. >> Any I I I kind of flipped through and was like, "Oh, so I didn't know if I maybe it's a me issue. If somebody could send me like redirect me where I'd find No, that's just school board, but like the district for parents to look up for them to be able to look at it and see what's going on or even as a board member. I don't just participate in board meetings. I like to go to different events. So, it's nice to >> There's a tab clearly labeled on the district homepage. It is district calendars. And if you scroll down district 203 calendar, now I see your issue. There's nothing populating in here. >> No, I like that. But what you what you do though is particularly you would go

119to a school an individual school. We can't populate every individual school on the one district calendar because wouldn't be enough room for it. >> Well, or maybe just have well I'm not sure we should have a tab and not have it there and maybe >> it is there. No, but there's nothing in September. If you go to October, there's some things that are highlighted on that on that calendar. You go to November, there are some. >> Okay. It's just hard. Like I said, people have multiple kids at multiple places. They're I can't help but think with technology these days or AI. We could do something or maybe you click on sports calendar or something extra so you can actually see what's coming up and participate. It's just an idea, >> right? We have had some

120technical stuff with this calendar. We are switching over to a new web page that will and the IT team will be working to make some connections too. So, >> okay. Thank you. All right. Uh, item 13, adjournment. Item 13.01, motion to adjurnn. >> Move to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Motion has been moved and seconded. Please call the role. Mrs. Patton. >> Husbinski. >> I. >> Blastic. >> I. >> Kush. >> I. >> Kelly Black. >> I. >> Winsky. >> Hi. >> The motion passes. We are adjourned. Thank you and good evening. >> I want to thank our