001I got a special email. So I don't need my regular >> know you all like study. You want me to jump next month? already starting. I'd say frustr Make it over. I think something there was there's two lanes. I was in the right lane and another person in front of me stopped. I think one or two in front of me. Scott, but someone was going around and there was two children >> crossing and I laid on the horn. I laid on the horn, but I think they heard him just >> stand to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Johnson. >> Lady Johnston. >> Diana Mendoza. >> Hold on. >> Oh, sorry. >> No, she said
002Diana Mendoza. >> Diana, are you're joining remotely? Can you state that? >> I am joining remotely. Diana Mendoza >> here. >> Deborah Sweat Robin B >> here. Um, can I please get a motion to allow Diana Mendoza, board member, to join the meeting remotely? >> I move. >> I'll second it. >> Um, Johnston. Hi >> Johnson. >> Hi >> Vicky Pettit. >> Hi >> Robin Bond. >> Hi >> Diana Mendoza. >> Hi. >> All right. >> Good thing it passed. I don't know if Diana you were even allowed to vote on that. So >> I'm not sure either. >> We'll figure it out. >> We have we have four guests. So that's okay. >> Action agenda. Additions. Corrections and modifications. Anybody want to make any changes to the agenda? I'll >> make a motion to
003approve the agenda. >> Um moving and correcting items as presented. >> Second. >> John Brotherson. >> I Johnston. >> Hi. >> Diana Mendoza. I >> thank you. >> I Robin B. >> Hi. >> The comments. >> All right. I'll read our statement. Members of the public are welcome to speak during the followup comment section of the meeting only. Comments are limited to five minutes for speaker. Board members will not respond to comments or questions during this time, but they may follow up with speakers following the meeting. The total time for public comments reaches 30 minutes. It will not tonight. The board may suspend further comments until later meeting. Speakers are asked to please conduct themselves with respect and civility towards others. And I think we have three folks for public comment tonight. >> Hello. Welcome.
004>> Sorry, miss time. I was doing something and okay, there are some things I've got I can't do each one of these. Don't have one to do. Um the thing is is um what I didn't say was the ranch scar um schools on schooldigger.com are ranked 803 out of currently 811. That's pretty bad. And the current reading scores are 7% and the math scores are% proficiency. Really bad. Um the phonics I'm glad you're here because you gave a presentation. My question is, is this something that just started or has this I mean from 2011 to 2015? That's another thing I want to know. What happened? Why the big drop and why the steady low scores? There's something that's not going on. But if you're concentrating I think you were saying that you were concentrating on
005the lower grades. Oh, no. the fifth, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade should be prioritized because they're going to high school in an year or two. They need to be prior prioritized. Um, bullying. Um, I I told you last last time I was here about a little girl that had her backpack in the door of a bus and her legs were dangling. That same friend told me about a little girl who got off the bus crying because bottle of waters were thrown at her. The same friend stated that another girl was supposed to be dropped off in the South Point Commons was not and her father had to go looking for her. Um it really doesn't sound like rental schools are providing a safe place for the teachers andor children. And I'm hearing that um oh
006that um se several parents that say say that it's been suggested that the children be b that are being bullied should come to school at a later time to avoid the the one that is bullying. That's not real. Um, I think the the bullying the buller should have their parents escort be escorted by their parents to the school, not make the ones who are being bullied go to school later. That's wrong. Very wrong. Um, and one parent was stated that the a child was told that if they stated something, they could be shot or that the school might be bombed. They were told that it was an indirect threat, so there was nothing that could be done. fear is still implemented and should be dealt with. I mean, come on. Nowadays, kids are people are
007more apt to um do violent acts, hurt someone, do something that will kill someone or hurt someone at a drop of a dime. That needs that needs to be dealt with. And then, um I went online for the bullying policy and I seen a lot of blah blah blah. I didn't see a clearcut of this is what needs to be done and this is what happens and it's um I was we were told that it was oral but I think I mean it was on the form. I think that that will the form will generate an investigation. I think that it should be oral and or on the form and it should not be just to one person. So far, so far the superintendent is the only one that gets these um the the forms
008to um um handle. I think it should be more than just the pr the principal or the superintendent. Um and I and I also in the um bull anti-bullying thing it says bullying has been linked to other forms of antisocial behavior said um as vandalism, shoplifting, skipping and dropping out of school, fighting, using drugs and alcohol, sexual harassment and sexual violence. I you guys should um educate the parents that this happens when their children are bullying and some of and I understand that some of the bullying is coming from the parents at home. So that's why they they act out at school and I know divorce has a lot of um causes a lot of kids to um bully others. But usually they act out they don't bully or hurt someone else. So, I mean,
009you got to do something because it doesn't look like anything's been done. And there's the schools, they're not getting any better. And then and then I just found out that Illinois lowers the standards making the more students seem proficient, not help um improve the student learning, and and you guys are hiding the prices. Are you guys part of that decision? So, it needs to be retracted. Um, that's all I have right now, but and I did give my um my email and I would like to hear responses on this and what you're going to do about it and and because right now in the last 14 years, nothing has been done. Okay. >> Nothing. Thank you. Thank you. Bennett stand. >> Last time we didn't tell you you could sit. >> Yes. >> Ready? >>
010Yes. And this is >> Okay. So, we are the Ransol Family Advocacy Coalition. Our goal is to ensure every child in Randol feels safe, supported, and valued at school. to strengthen the relationship between families, school, and community leaders through open communication and advocacy. Our vision is to unite Gran Tool community where families and schools work together to protect every child, promote accountability, and create a culture of respect, inclusion, and understanding. Our mission is for the Ransel Family Advocacy Coalition to empower parents and families to take an active role in student safety, well-being, and education. working together to advocate for safer school environment, stronger anti-bullying measures. Encourage transparency, accountability within the school system, build bridges between parents, educators, and community leaders. Educate families about policies, resources, and their rights. This promotes unity, respect, collaboration across our
011community. We are not here to fight against. We are here to work with them. Our goal is not to blame, but rather to reform the current policies to be more effective. We want to be part of the solution, helping to create safer schools, stronger relationships, and a more united community. We would like to thank the board for listening to the community's concerns and addressing several major issues from last board week. This is a great start. We have met with many community residents and agree with many of their concerns. Number one, equal advocacies for black and brown communities, administration, non-teers, and contractual workers to take a culturally sensitive trauma informed and implicit bias training. All those who interact with our children, including contractual workers such as bus, drivers, and afterare should take conflict resolution training. Make
012it a part of their contract. Multiple ways of communication when there's an issue at school. Letters home, text message call, and email. Notifying families promptly when there's a situation at school before the 10 days are up. Clear solutions to address meanness and rudeness. Re-evaluation of the CARES program. School morning huddles to be documented so that structure to address our busiest children's needs and to better support our teachers. bridge the communication gap between administrators and principles. Again, this is what many of your community residents have asked. This is all an effort to support our community's growing needs. >> Thank you. >> And our final contestant of the evening is Supreme Good evening. My name is Sabrina Rivera. I'm a member of the Randall Family Advocacy Coalition. As you know, we're a group of dedicated community members
013who came together with a common goal. First, I want to speak on what I see RCS doing right. I want to acknowledge the communication efforts and improvements we've seen so far. I often receive calls celebrating my children's acade academic success and I've had several staff members reach out to share the good they see in my children. These calls are positive and uplifting, and I know your educators are working tirelessly, so taking time to reach out with a positive message means a lot to caregivers like myself. I want to thank the school board for listening to our concerns and those who want to see see us achieve our goals, as well as the superintendent who has spent time answering our questions and hearing our suggestions about positive changes we hope will improve school conditions. I would
014also like to thank our SRO and police chief for hearing our concerns, answering our questions, and workshopping ways to improve our school and community. And I want to thank every staff member who puts their heart into their work and does their best to care for and educate our students. We appreciate your dedication and efforts and encourage you to continue working with us to provide our students with a safe, thriving learning environment. We have seen seen a shift towards positive changes and we're pleased that a flyer may be going out soon, if it's not already, to help families understand their rights when dealing with bullying and harassment. We hope that this will help families understand the bullying reporting process and make reporting more accessible. That being said, we want to reiterate our concerns and hope you
015will continue to work with us to find solutions. After speaking with multiple community members, an ongoing concern is that there still may be under reporting of bullying happening within RCS. We are looking forward to hearing whether or not the bullying reporting flyer helps students and families feel heard and are hopeful that conflicts will now be handled and recorded appropriately, timely, and accurately. Our families deserve nothing less. Our students and families also deserve clear plan communication within a timely manner regardless of topic of communication. And in that same concern, we can encourage you to attempt multiple forms of communication with families, following up with letters home, emails, phone calls, and handwritten notes, as parent square does not seem to be the most effective form of communication for many in our district. After much community discussion, we
016are still hearing what sounds like a lack of staff, admin, and upper admin communication, and accountability. We ask that you get to know your community. We ask that you observe what's happening in your halls in person regularly and that you hold all staff and administration to the same level of accountability that you would expect out of those who would educate your own children. We ask that you give your staff confidential ways to bring their own concerns to you as well. We're not here to distress the system but rather improve the system and ensure full accountability and transparency not only with students and families but with each other. We believe that by continuing vital discussions with honest ongoing dedication to our community and school and by building good working relationships between our coalition, the school and
017community and all who serve the community, we can take part in improving the safety and health of our students and families. We're asking the school to move forward with their plan to share the plain language form about bullying reporting to help students and families understand their rights and responsibilities and to make reporting more accessible. We ask still that all reports of bullying, threats, and harassment, whether verbal or otherwise reported, be accurately recorded via written record about bias or finan given to the guardian of all parties involved properly, as well as to those responsible for investigation, data tracking, and reporting served data. We ask for best practices to re be reviewed and used in ongoing education for all staff and admin from the very top down with a focus that staff and administration receive and apply
018in-person ongoing training that focuses on anti-bullying practices, trauma-informed care, and whole child care. We ask that you find and apply trainings that are culturally responsive and training that focuses on implicit bias as we see a great need for this education for all staff within your school system. And we request that if a student continues to be an aggressor to any student after restorative practices have taken place, there be set follow-up procedures to provide necessary resources and support to the families of both the aggressor and the victims. We thank the district for coming together with our coalition and caregivers to be a part of reconciling the issues we are collectively dealing with. And we want our community and school to know if you are dealing with an issue and need an advocate, we are happy to
019help however we are able. Thank you for your time. That comes the end agenda. >> The only uh items I was going to highlight is item D, which is the approval of the school maintenance grant project. Um that's annual. We do that. It's a thousand matching grant and that $50,000 will be used towards the renovation of Pleasant Acres parking lot which didn't finish last summer. Uh but once that project goes out to bid that will actually come back to the board for approval at that time. It >> Yeah, this one I was highlighting. Okay. Um, anybody want discussion on consent agenda or can I get a motion? Make a motion to approve the consent agenda items including personnel report is submitted with the stipulation. Each individual is required to comply with all requirements for new
020hires as indicated in Illinois statutes and RCS boarding ratification of bill. Please finance manager of your board second. >> Hi Diana Mendoza. >> Hi >> Johnson. >> Hi Robin B. Hi discussion and possible approval of any items removed. >> Number six, that's understand. >> All right. And Nia's director is here in case the board has any questions, but um really we started this two years ago. We started with Nia two years ago, right? >> Yes. Okay. Um and so we are just updating the memorandum of understanding. Um it addresses some things that have come up I think in the last two years but uh as a reminder there's no uh funding provided by RCS to NIA. They are NIA is funded separately. Um and what they do is um Mr. Hall and his team have
021a parent mentoring program that they uh hold in their building or they they host in our district >> discussion on that. >> I how many I I know you're ready to call up. How many families how many men do we have? So, right right now we have >> uh right around 18. We're we're goal or we're supposed to have 24 and uh you know we're actively recruiting and so forth. I was wondering I was going to ask you after the meeting if uh we're planning to come speak and share about what we do. Can we just do that next next month? >> Sure. >> Yeah. But we have 24 our goal is to have 24 parents. We range anywhere from 20 to 30 each year. work alongside volunteer alongside teachers. >> Thank you. >> Um
022can I get a motion to approve the number 10? >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second John and brother. Hi, >> if you pet it for button, >> sorry, I had to find the right thing. Uh, Katie Johnson. >> Hi, >> Diana Mendoza. >> Hi. >> And Robin Vaughn. >> Hi. >> Do you want to stay while you state her? >> Mr. Hall is my brother-in-law and I'm also on the board for NIA. >> Favorite brother. He's my favorite. >> Some looks in the audience. >> Okay. >> Approval of the separation agreements. >> And when we do the motion, you do have to read the person's name. >> Does anybody have any questions on this? Want to talk about it? I'm not comfortable with it. Does anybody want to make a motion? I make
023a motion to adopt the separation agreement with all >> Johnston. >> Hi, >> Diana Mendoza. >> I >> Pettit. >> I >> Don Brotherton. Hi, >> Robin Bond. >> Hi. >> Um, presentation of 2025 school report card designation. >> Well, I have the tax lo, so just a second. There it is. All right. I said it in the wrong order. Okay. Um, so this information was already shared with the board. Uh, and this information is public. Um I'm going to run through the school report card designation information. So the objective here is to provide the board and the public an overview of um the most recent school report card data and our ongoing school improvement efforts. Um I'll share the designations of each school, their status and why, highlight areas of improvement and areas for
024growth. Um and provide information about our ongoing school improvement efforts. And uh this is the most reliable source for school report card data and it does have all of our historical data and that link is in there and it's every school district and every school in Illinois. Um so there is a major change that uh we have shared is that the district the state of Illinois moved from a fivepoint proficiency scale and returned back to a fourpoint proficiency scale. Um and there's has been some in the media that have suggested this is a lowering of standards in Illinois. So I'm going to go ahead and read some explanation is that following an 18month uh long process, Illinois adopted new researchinformed assessment performance levels to give students, families, and educators better data on academic achievement and
025college readiness. prior performance levels mislabeled many students, often indicating that students were less academically successful and prepared for college than they actually were. The new benchmarks for proficiency align across English, language arts, math, and science and grade levels and reflect real college and career readiness expectations. Um so what this Billy is saying is that prior Illinois had some of the highest cut scores in the nation. Um and even though we have some of the highest uh test scores nationally um the proficiency rates were actually matching um where we were on those national at the state level. So there was a four-point scale forever and then when the state adopted the AR they went to a fivepoint scale. So now they've come back to that initial four point. Um, what does this mean for RCS? So,
026when looking at our data, um, yes, our proficiency rates went up, but I'm not advising that you compare last year's proficiency rates to this year's proficiency rates because the scale changed. Um, so what's more reliable for us to look at as a district is student growth metrics. So, the student growth metrics didn't change. So, there's two ways of looking at how students are performing. um are they at the proficiency levels and then the other question is are they improving and making growth towards the other challenge this year for us which won't be a challenge next year is because of the organizational changes at K5 um when you look at for instance pleasant acres data that's on the score report card right now that is not pleasant acres that is in that building right now um
027so that does make it a little more complicated for compar um how designation is uh calculated. So this little house supposed to be a school house is what the state has and I realize it's probably too small. Also, is there a way for me to Nope. Okay. Um, but for every school um in the state, they have this little index score. Um, and it's on a 100 point scale and all of RCS schools met the commendable uh index score. Uh, that's very good. And so, how do you calculate the index score? This is JWer. That's the school I picked here. So, most of RCS's schools have eight categories that are considered when giving the overall rating score, and I've listed those out there. Um, not all of our schools actually have this one group, which
028is the English learner progress to proficiency group. Um, so only if a school actually has an English learner group, is that score factored in. Um so three of our five schools have that pleasant acres and a so for the designation the state considers uh proficiency in math and language arts growth in math and language arts um progress to proficiency for English language learners science proficiency there's a school climate survey we every district in Illinois calls got the bonus five points because you do the survey, you get five points. And then chronic absenteeism. So the state for K8 schools is looking at proficiency, growth, and uh absenteeism, whether students are attending school. It's different scale for high schools. Um all of our schools are either commendable or targeted and I put in definitions of those. Um
029we do not have any comprehensive or intensive schools. We have in the past. Um so that is actually I think a celebration. Um so here are the summit of designations. Again this is all already public information. So JWater is in its second year at commendable. Uh Pleasant Acres moved into commendable uh this year and then three of our schools are considered targeted and I'm going to explain what that means. Um uh what's uh better to see too is that we are our schools that are targeted are only targeted for one student group. Um I will say years ago we had schools that were showing up as targeted for multiple student groups. And I'll explain what a student group means here. Um now the way targeted happens is even though all of our schools scored in
030the commendable range. If any one student group scores as a separate group below the commendable range the entire school is in is identified as target and that is done to protect and make sure that all groups of students are showing proficiency and growth. I'm going to I'll share some examples of that. So in a community like Ranul, we have every student group pretty much. Okay. So all of these student groups are being evaluated to make sure every single one of these student groups is above commendable standard. Okay. Now some of these to be fair, we don't have a full subgroup. For instance, um in order to have a student group qualify, you have to have 20 students in that subgroup. I should stop calling them subgroups. They're not called subgroups anymore. They're just called groups.
031Um so, for instance, we don't have any school with 20 students active military, right? So, but that is a group that would be tracked. We had that. Um so, this just gives you an idea of the diversity that we have. Um so a lot of schools um in our neighborhood I would say have very few subgroups. So Prior to be Ogden um which is the first district to the south of us their only student groups that are measured are white students, males and females. Those are their only three groups. Okay. >> Those are the only people that they have at their schools. They don't have enough students. They do not have at least 20 students in a school for a disability. They don't have 20 African-American students in a school. So, they are not held
032accountable for making sure that those students are making progress like we are. >> Oh, >> yeah. They still are in their total, >> right? >> But they're not considered a group low. And I'm not saying this is a negative. It's just >> What do you mean they're not held accountable? >> Um, so for us, if all of our schools have an African-American group, so if in any one of those schools African American group does not make it adequate, not at that measure, that component of that score called the Index score. >> Okay? >> Then the school is targeted for improvement specifically around that student. >> Okay? Um and again we don't view that as a bad thing. Um it does come with some additional resources that we can target to support students. Um but the
033other example which is I looked at Lello today that's another example. Lello is a one school district. They're commend their one school is commendable. They have no student groups because they have >> they have 51 students and >> they have fewer than 40 fewer than of those 50. They don't all take the test, right? Because they only test grades four through eight or three through eight. So they do not have any student groups other than whole school. >> That's wild. Um, and they have neither 20 white students who are tested or 20 Hispanic students who are tested because they do have a large Hispanic population. So just kind of interesting and uh when you start to dig into the data on it and you're a lot of people compare districts um and uh >> so
034our schools are charged for >> right so the the at broad meadow we have at least 20 students who are tested who have disabilities and that group of students um performed below that the cuto off threshold on that And at East Law, the student group is black or African-American students. And at Northview, that group was students with disabilities. I a question I've gotten is students with disabilities. Yes, students with disabilities. There's a broad range of disabilities, remember, that students have. And they're not all cognitive disabilities, but uh almost all of our students with disabilities are required to take the same test as a non-disabled student. I believe it's a 1% threshold that only 1% of students with disabilities can take the alternative test. Am I right? Index, right? Um so they're taking the same test.
035The same thing happens with our English language learners. is that even though we will have kids who may have been in the country for months and know no English, they have to take the same test in English. >> Okay, >> it's interesting. >> Um so really it's quite remarkable that none of our EL subgroup student groups uh triggered it frankly. Um so um going on areas where we are seeing improvement. So these I call these the highlights. Uh we really are seeing movement in our English language arts area. Um and that you're not going to hear me say I'm satisfied. I've never said that with where we are with proficiency. We have a long way to go. Um but we are consistently seeing improvement in both proficiency and growth in ELA. And I will say
036our internal data with some of the changes we've made this year is very promising right now. Um, Ader is doing something right. I'll continue to celebrate that. That the second year in a row, that is one of our schools that has every student group for the second year in a row, they're making uh they made commendable. Um, Pleasant Anchors also made commendable this year. Uh, an area where we've really focused on improvement is chronic absenteeism and truency because we know if the kids aren't at school, they're not learning. And so we have seen uh quite a bit of improvement in those rates. Um none of our targeted schools had multiple student groups. And another thing to highlight from the report card is this has been a long-term goal for our district is for six straight
037years teacher retention rate has improved. Um and having consistent staff in our buildings is also a key metric to being able to improve student performance. Um now areas for growth. Um we are struggling in math. Uh there's no way really to look at our math data and say that wow that looks good. I'm not trying to present it that way. Our growth percentile has declined. Um we are seeing what I would call the upper elementary academic plateau. Uh so where we are seeing the growth decline is in grades four through six. But we're seeing that in English language arts and math. So we need to figure out why is that happening? How do we address that? Um we continue to see low growth rates within our students with disabilities group. Um lower than um yes
038um so I'm trying to remember I made this presentation three weeks ago. ELA the for what I'm what I'm showing here is that ELA which is English language our students with disabilities growth rate it would be 41 uh the non-disabled peers would be their 40s um I think I'm reading that right I might have to correct myself there also within our attendance data the student group that is continuing to struggle the most is our black and African-American students so what that tells told us is as much as we're improving attendance, we need to do more to focus on that specific student group. >> Is that 100% black students or are those mixed students? >> So, it's however the student identify, however the parent identifies as a student. So, if you put down that your student
039is multi-racial, they're in a multi-racial group. Yeah. So yeah, it should only include kids who parents when they register identify the child as black or African. That's what you were asking. It does not include kids who get the whole ide >> what the parent puts. >> All right. Um growth trends. Um and so here what you'll see is um growth dipped slightly from a strong rebound called strong rebound when we came back from COVID. Um it what we want to be is uh close to 50. Uh 50 is is where we'd love to be at 75 but we need to be at least at 50. Um, and then in math, what you can see is there has been a consistent decline and we're seeing that most in grades four through six. All right. So, what
040are the things that we are doing as a district and have been doing to try to address these concerns? And very briefly, some big things. I didn't even make a slide for you. The first one should be here is the uh investment in prek that we've done. Um, next would be the K5 restructuring benefits from that. What I don't know that the board is fully aware of is what we are currently investing in leadership development. Uh, and when I say that I mean teacher leadership development through an ongoing program um around instructional leadership teams. And so the idea of that is is that we need our teams of teachers in buildings um being able to look at data about our students to make decisions, implement changes quickly, responsibly uh for improvement. Um the a massive
041overhaul in which has also been uh challenging at times is a major shift in how we are organizing literacy instruction. Um and it I if you were to go into a classroom this year compared to last year it very likely looks very different. Um even how for the first time maybe ever uh during the reading block at the elementary level students are moving rooms um to move to be in uh ability groups. I'm definitely summarizing it a lot but groups based on needs. So if you're a student who's struggling with a specific reading skill, you're with students who are struggling with that same reading skill. So that the teacher is providing very explicit instruction on that skill that needs to be fixed or improved. Um so that is a massive shift in how we're doing
042reading instruction. Um and then the data review piece is aligns with that leadership development where we uh reorganized all of our school improvement institute days uh to be focused on data analysis and responding uh to the data of our students. Uh we did a bunch of that last night with instructional leadership team was here. We had 51 educators in her room uh talking about not just looking at the data but talking about how to use the data and how to take that back into our buildings um and change. Um so how do they all go together? Um each one of those big ideas are some which I glossed over are ensuring this they're go aiming at the shared goal which is that all students are experiencing high quality instruction every day in every classroom. Um,
043and together putting all those things together is helping us uh create a coherent districtwide improvement system. At the same time, what we're trying to do is build uh capacity in the staff we already have in our buildings. So that the old saying is work smarter not harder. Uh, and that's what we're aiming at with with that leadership development data. Um so summary over the past three years RCS has made steady gains in reading and literacy attendance retention and climate indicators continue to improve uh demonstrating systemwide stability and our work in leadership development literacy and collaboration aligning our schools under one coherent group. >> And now what questions do you have? I think that was my last slide. >> Um, how do you foresee the changes we made in school organization in the forecast? >> So,
044>> basically student group. >> Sure. Yeah. And I what I can say is we should have um what we're able to do right now. We were not >> sorry I have cold. I can't. I'm sorry. >> Um, what we're able to do right now, we were not able to do last year in terms of organizations. So, I'm going to look at first grade teacher who's in the back of the room right now. So, now there are five first grade classrooms, five first grade teachers, a full uh one and at Northview there's a special education teacher, that's Rachel. and when they get to their um literacy block, you also have some TAs and you're pulling in other teachers during that time so that again we can get kids into targeted groups um for support and intervention.
045And guess what? We have groups happening now of kids who are at or above grade level. They're in a group. They don't do interventions. they're, you know, doing book studies and not in kindergarten, but um they're doing those kinds of things. So, yeah, we should and our, as I said, our internal data, the growth data we have internally, uh we've just gone through our first cycle um is very promising um in our where we're focusing right now, which is grad. So, that should lead us to increased test scores eventually. No guarantees it'll happen overnight. Um, you asked though about u I think you were asking about budget issues too, right? No. >> Okay. No, I just heard that in my head. Did I answer your question? >> Sure. >> Okay. >> I I do. Oh,
046sorry. Anyone else? So, this seems like it your information varies quite differently from Miss Rita's information. So, why is that? Like what's the difference between what you're using what Miss Rita used? >> So, I'm using Is that >> I said your name right. >> Yeah, you got it right. Okay. >> Okay. So, um I think it's a I haven't had a chance to look at what she provided us, but um I think we might be comparing apples to oranges. Um and I'm not talking at all about where our district rates against uh a state that has 3,000 elementary schools. Um so, uh I'm looking at Ranchel City Schools, how we did last year, and how we're doing this year. >> Okay. But what is the difference? you pointed out that you use something what is
047if you can explain what's the difference between that >> I don't know what schooldigger.com is but it's a I think it's just a website that recycles the um Illinois school report card data >> I had a comment actually like I brought it up on here because I ended up on the Illinois report card website the other day I was messing around your data is great. You can break it down on a lot of different ways and kind of look at it and see like make comparisons yourself in that way. Um it's not always that I'm like wow it's like laid out pretty user friendly and like the data is well organized but I was a fan of the website. So just wanted to give a shout out to that website. So >> there is literally
048every piece of data. >> I mean and you can break it down in so many different I was having a little too much. I'm going to say it loud before I go in the back. Illinois report.com Illinois reportcard.com is where you can find a whole bunch of information and it's user. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you. >> That was longer than I thought. >> Do we have tax levy next? >> Tax levy. >> All right. Uh, and this is another item just >> No, I said my fault. >> Presentation tenative tax levy. I'm going to do this fast if it's very similar to the presentation that I've done every year. The tax levy is the amount of property taxes that we request. The extension is the amount of property taxes the county will attempt
049to collect. for the levy. When you look at the data, the levy, the amount we request is higher than the extension. And the reason that is done is to account for any possible error. And I'm not thinking it's our errors. It's like it's more likely errors or new property that comes on the books or something like that at the county level. So the other thing is Champagne County is a tax cap. And so what does that mean? We this means the attention the amount we collect cannot exceed the consumer price index of five consumer price index four or five% whichever is lowest. And I think the last two years we've actually been at 5% or higher for the CPI. So this year it's 3.7. This means of all existing taxable property in RCS, the total
050revenue we can collect will be no more than 3.7% higher than last year. However, there's new property and for the first time I think this is a celebration for Randol itself. For the first time in a long time, there's a a large number in front of that new property, which is we have about $1.7 million in new property came on the books in Ranchol this year. So that number that those dollars aren't factored into the tax cap because you don't they get they come in and they get the full rate basically. Um and so I don't know what that $1.7 million is. I've gone over it in my head. I just don't. Okay. Now what does that also what also happens? So um property values have increased and the so the equalized assessed value so
051that's the value of the property that you're taxed on um in Ranchel city schools increased by 10.4% this year. I think it was 11% last year. So, we're seeing significant growth in the property values, which I get as a homeowner, that doesn't matter unless you're selling your house. Okay? But that's where the tax caps come in from a school district side to protect the taxpayer uh by limiting what a school district could could let. Um, so we don't levy 10.4% even though the property values went up by 10.4%. So the recommendation on the levy uh we it's called balloon. So we balloon the levy uh to 4.98%. Um so we that's the highest we would possibly extend. We cannot get that much. But remember the reason we levy more is to protect the case between
052the time we levy and by the time the tax bills go out there was an error on part of someone some. So the likely extension. So this is the real number is this one is a 3.62% increase uh in the rate and not the rate saying the wrong word 3.6% 6% 2% increase in the extension, which means $245,000 new dollars uh would come into the schools. The overall tax rate would go down um for the fourth consecutive year uh to 3.732%. So what does that mean? Is everybody puts on their hat of what does that mean for my taxes? Okay, so RCS is for most Ranchel cities, most folks who live in Ranchel, we are the largest part of your tax bill. Um, so I took the current year for a home valued at $150,000
053in our district. And believe it or not, according to Zillow, $150,000 is the average price of a single uh residence. That could be a condo, it could be a duplex, could be a standalone home. So that house based on the rate for the current year would pay $1,984 to the school district. Next year that same home is now worth $165,000 and then you apply the new rate. the tax bill is 20 thou $2,60 which is actually a net increase of $76 which I I'm not saying that's a small amount but in terms of total dollars um it's $76 it's about a 3.8% increase in the dollars paid by that home. Um, so the way to calculate it if you're doing your homework at home is the EAV, which is 1ird the value of your house.
05433 and a3% times the rate is how that is done. But on your tax bill, it come you have everybody else on there. You have the high school, you have the library, you have the village. and then you get part of those. Um, so that's the recommended levy and we'll have that to be voted on next. Does anyone have any questions? Wasn't that one to discussion of the timeline of completion of superintendent evaluation tool? Um, this was something I added just to remind you to please um get started on those and get them going so that we can work on getting that done hopefully next month. But um the January meeting at the latest is where should be on that. So, um, if you guys have time, just work on getting those done and then
055Yeah. So, that was just a reminder information items. >> Yeah, there my power got out of work. Um other than uh the one I want to make sure to highlight is uh board policy 7270. This would be the first reading. It was added to your packet. Um, the district is recommending that we go ahead add to that policy language that we have not previously adopted, which would allow our school nurses and other trained adults to use an undesated asthma medication, which would be an inhaler. So, it's an emergency rescue inhaler. Um, and uh, yeah, that's really at the request of our nurses to try and prevent some of our ambulance calls that we have. Yeah, all the media was about our threat and I am going to talk about that briefly. Superintendent >> new business.
056>> Um, one of our members had um several items on here for new business and she unfortunately couldn't be here tonight. So, we uh we'll just table those until next month when she has an opportunity to explain to the entire board of her ideas. >> We'll postpone. >> We'll post and there's one on here that you put on talk about that. Um I would like to discuss with the board if they are um amiable to putting established time limits for debate and discussion on contentious items that we um have that come up every now and then that can significantly extend our board meetings. where as we vote or we debate for let's say more than 20 minutes on an item or 30 minutes on an item, if we can't come to some kind of consensus
057on it that we um tail it for the next meeting and then we take that time in the meantime to do um more research on it, more thought on it. That way we come to um the next meeting and we can hopefully take it up again. We wanted to make this an >> for next month. If you wanted Yeah. >> to add that to next month's >> and it's just going to be a an agenda item, not an action. >> It would be something that we would have to vote on. >> No. So do you want it to be a discussion item or are you wanting me to develop uh >> right >> the language they give you? >> So develop the language >> and then discuss it. >> So >> yes >> if that
058is something that you guys >> So we we're not going to discuss it. You just want to know if we are open to discussing I'm open to discussing you. >> So and also I just to highlight at the last board meeting the board approved the protocols for placing items in new business. So that's this is the first time we've done it this way. So um the idea is Robin wants to board president Bon wants to consider an a revising board policy 220 22 220 two. Okay. So, she provides an explanation and then we kind of have to decide like I said is this do you want to just discussion or you craft policy that kind of thing >> and then someone has to call the motion place the I put it down there place it
059on a future board agenda as presented and then someone second it assuming it gets a motion and second if the majority of the present are in favor of it and we would move forward with putting it on the agenda. >> Make a motion. That >> makes sense. It's a little complicated, but we've had a lot of requests lately. >> Thank you. >> I'll make a motion to place the item on a future forward agenda as presented. >> Thank you. >> John Brotherton. >> Hi. >> Johnston. >> Hi. >> Nikki Pettit. >> Hi. Diana Mendoza. >> Hi. >> Robin B. >> Hi. >> Board superintendent comments. >> Yeah, I was just gonna provide uh some highlights. We have some upcoming events. Um tomorrow night is chamber banquet and we do have two of our teachers nominated
060by the district. Hunter Birch for uh new they call it rookie educator I think. I forget what it's called but for newer teachers. and then Vicky Cox who whom I think everybody knows who's uh been around a long time and uh she I think she might be our most senior teacher in the district right now. So those are our two nominees. Reminder, joint annual conference starts on November 23rd. I didn't even put an end date so we're all just staying in Chicago. >> Starts on 20. >> I'm just making sure you're paying attention. >> It starts on Thursday. >> Can you see what my brain did? I'm like I think something this 23rd >> it ends on the end. >> Do you want to talk? This is your chance to say what you need to
061the board members conference >> starts on the 20th ends on the 23rd. Um you should have a packet in front of you. Those of you that are booked through us this year, Mr. Brotherton, I always get really nervous. Okay. >> Um and that does have your badges. Make sure you always have your badges. You'll have to go get your lanyards downstairs. that has an outline of the events that we're invited to. Um, that's it. If you have any questions, I will not be there Thursday. I'm coming in on Friday instead, but shouldn't have any problems checking in. >> I'll be there >> and Scott will be there and I will be available be email. I'm just not coming Friday. >> I'm sorry. >> Can you be there Friday? >> I'll be there Friday. They don't
062ask any questions. >> All right. >> Is the um information about the place that we need the actual tickets in here? >> Yes, it is. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. And and if it's an event that you actually need tickets for, your ticket is in there. Okay. >> There is one event that you will need tickets for, but we can't pick those up till Friday. >> Okay. >> And you will get in touch with Chris. Chris will have those tickets for you. >> Chris is going. >> Okay. Um, so anything else on for the comments? >> I don't think so. Anything else? Let me know. >> And uh I want to highlight December 8th for this is not a public event. um is uh for board members are welcome to come is we will
063be at Willow Pond at 3:30 to 5:30 for our staff celebration as part of the staff holiday gift. Um and uh we did it two years ago. Some of you were able to stop by then. Uh but it's called happy hour. It's we serve appetizers. >> That's it. >> That's clever. >> It is. I know. Not by alcohol. Promise. being serious. Um, December 18th is the next school board meeting. All right, the next one I want to update folks on is just talk a little bit, see if they have questions about the school threat that uh came up uh November 3rd, I believe was the date of it. Um, I think um, you know, if you have feedback for me on communications and how that played out, make sure you share that with me. Um,
064I have never I'm, you know, I've been in education over 25 years. I've never had an incident like that happen. Um, and I I shared this with lots of folks. I was extremely impressed with the response from the Rancho Police Department. Uh, uh, much better. I mean, as good as you could hope for, I guess is the way to say it. Um, they had it figured out within hours. uh it didn't result in us needing to uh cancel school, those types of things. Um and uh so very impressed with the process. Uh you know, fortunately from the start, it did not appear to be a real threat. Um based on, you know, how it was posted, the profile of the person who posted it. Um, what I do want to share and make sure everybody
065knows is kids do make comments, which is different than posting something on Facebook that's very specific, okay? But kids do make comments and uh things like, "I'm going to bring a gun to school." Kids will say things like that. Um, that doesn't rise to the same level because when something like that, if it happens during the school day, there is a threat assessment process that we do immediately. in the school day that involves the police. It involves uh typically involves one of the school social workers where they immediately come in and start doing this threat assessment to determine if it's credible. Okay. Um so I don't think a lot of people realize that. Um but those things happen. Those don't rise to the level of us sending out social media posts when uh kids say
066stuff. Uh but I do want to make sure everybody knows that uh there is a very structured process that happens. It happens immediately. Um other things that would happen. For instance, if a kid says he's going to bring a gun to school, you know, part of the process is working with family. Does the kid even have a gun? Does the kid have access to a gun? That's part of the process. I will also tell you parents are very cooperative on this. they are very upset when it's their kid that does it. Um, so I don't want anyone to think that parents are out there think that kind of talk is I also don't want you to think it's happening all the time, but I thought I'd bring it up since we have that and uh
067we do take it very seriously. Uh, then there's I listed some agenda items for December. That's it for me. >> It's all about finances and taxes next month. Superintendent. >> I have one thing I just wanted to say. I apologize. Um I just wanted to say with Veterans Day this week, I want to say thank you to all of our veterans in our service in our student parent body um and in our community. We appreciate you um and all you do for for this country and for our community. And I also want to take a minute to say thank you to our civil and public servants, our teachers, our police officers and firefighters. Sometimes you don't get the recognition that you deserve. And I want you to understand how much we appreciate. Yes, >> I
068do. >> Yes. just noticed my wife has a Facebook page and I occasionally go to that stretch to and I've I've seen over the years up tick in the things that we as a school district put on Facebook and I just I'm just amazed things that we do. Tom Major was in picture just yesterday about the veterans day. The high school varsity basketball team came over to Broadville and stood at the entryway broad and high five the kids as they keep now that you know I think they really enjoyed that you know and just that's the kind of positive things you know we have a lot of things we need to work on. Yes, but it it's it's nice to see we and u every day I get my update at 6 611 to 6:15
069local all the schools what's what went on that day and that's neat. I know what's going on. >> I just think that's a neat thing that we never used to ask. Thank you. And if you aren't on Facebook, the district's Facebook feed is on the district web page. So you do not have to have a Facebook account. That truth. Yeah. Thank you. Just the districts. We don't have all the schools. I get a motion to adjurnn. >> We didn't ask. Diana, >> do you have any comments you want to make? >> No, I do not. But thank you for asking. >> Hope it feels better. Thank you. >> Okay. >> I make a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> That's fine. >> Ladies, >> all in favor?