001[Music] We call the meeting to order. Please call the role. >> Yes, sir. Dr. Cross, >> present. >> Dr. Crawl, >> present. Mrs. Lamman, >> here. >> Mr. Onus, >> here. >> Mr. Mrs. Pertie, >> here. >> Mr. Roth, >> present. >> And Mr. Red, >> here. and join me for the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. That's supposed to call for that was the for the budget hearing at the meeting. >> Yeah. >> Um the budget hearing is open to take comments and answer questions from the public on the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget. The tenant budget was presented at the August 5th meeting and will
002be discussed tonight regular meeting of the board of education. The budget has been on public display for 30 days. Lisa, do you have anything updated to present to us? >> The presentation [Music] What's that? >> Give us You can just do it. It's already linked on the board. [Music] >> Okay. Um, this will this will be very brief. Um, but I didn't want you to approve a budget without getting the final exact numbers as of today. The primary thing that changed was when I came to you, I didn't have a lot of the numbers. I didn't have my final EVF numbers, which is the evidence-based funding, the funding from state. Um, I didn't have some of the final CPPRT, which is that corporate revenue. So, some of the revenue sides changed a fair amount. Um,
003and if you look at the top section versus the bottom on the right hand side, you can see the ED fund. I thought I was going to um just put 18,000 into our reserves, but because of that additional revenue, I'm at 317662. So on the next page is just a breakdown showing that revenue. And on the right hand side, you'll just see that the numbers on the right in a few of those categories. Like I mentioned, I even added a little bit to our interest on investments as well because I as I invest, I learn exactly where I stand. And as I've mentioned before, I never know what my rates are going to look like. And this is this is where I fell. So I felt like while I was tweaking other things, I might
004as well just make that a little bit more specific as well. And then our federal sources changed a little bit because we did end up getting some funding that we weren't anticipating. Um, at one point we didn't think we were going to be receiving title two funds. Now we are that kind of thing. So I just I just tweaked it a little bit. I want again to present to you exactly as close as I think it's going to be um to our final numbers. So that's what this looks like. Um the next page um is our expenditures. Um on the left it says no change. There were some slight changes, but again it was just to tweak it because of personnel changes, different things that happened between the last presentation and this, but very very
005small. Um, because obviously you can see we grew quite a bit. Um, so our expenditures only changed a tiny tiny bit. It didn't change in any other funds though. And then the next page is the revenue uh breakdown of the O andM fund. For this one, the 74,000 versus the 24,000. That's just a facilities grant. Again, I didn't anticipate, didn't know I was going to be getting. Um, so I added that one in as well. Uh, the next one is just the ext expenditures for the O andM fund. That did not change at all. Um, obviously anytime you make any changes to a um uh a revenue or a um balance at the end of the year, you're going to impact our fund balances. So, this page obviously reflects that increase in the ED fund.
006um a little tiny increase in the O and M fund as I mentioned and then the others are pretty much remaining the same in the transportation fund. You'll see it did go down a little bit and the reason behind that was I did transfer some of that revenue I was going to put towards uh transportation back to um the uh ED fund and the reason was is because in transportation I am now getting an additional amount uh from um uh the state for our transportation reimbursement. So, it just made sense to not build that up too much. We're not looking to have a huge number in there and we would like the funds in the ED fund obviously here going forward. And then the last page is just again a forecast uh projection of what
007the fund balances will actually look like in each of the funds, the four funds. And the top portion was what it was and the bottom portion is what it is currently. Well, obviously if you add $350,000 a year over five years, you know, that's a fair amount. So then our fund balance is going to look a little bit heftier there. So that's kind of the reasoning behind that. But um nothing substantial changed. Uh certainly not in any expenditure. It's just those revenues that I u mentioned. So any questions? No questions from the board. Okay. Thank you, Lisa. >> Sure. Um, >> is anyone present who wishes to comment on the proposed budget? My board policy 2 230 speakers are to give their name and be limited to 5 minutes. There being no comments or questions,
008uh, I declare a budget hearing close. Uh, please call the role to open the e-learning plan hearing. >> Dr. Cross >> present. >> Dr. Crawl >> present. >> Mrs. Layman >> here. >> Mr. Onus >> here. >> Mrs. Pertie >> here. >> Mr. Roth >> present >> and Mr. Red >> here. >> Right. The e-learning plan hearing is open for the purpose of taking comments answering questions from the public on the proposed e-learning plan. This plan, if approved, will be for the next three years. The e-learning plan was posted in the local public newspaper 10 days prior to the September 2nd regular meeting of the board of education. Is anyone present who wishes to comment on the proposed e-learning plan by board policy 2230 speakers are to give their name and be limited to 5
009minutes. There being no comments or questions, I declare the e-learning plan hearing closed. Please call the role to open the regular meeting. >> Dr. Cross >> still present. >> Dr. Crawl. >> Mrs. Layman >> here. >> Mr. Sourge >> here, >> Mrs. Pury >> here, >> Mr. Roth >> present, >> and Mr. Red >> here. We already did the pledge. So, we'll move on to recognition. >> Okay. So, um I'm going to call up Mr. Carter. >> Mrs. Dupant is here. I want to make sure. >> Okay. Well, thank you. Thanks for the So, Mr. Carter and Miss Dupont, would you like to come forward? This is pretty exciting. Any chance that we get to recognize students? So, I'm going to turn the floor on over to you. >> Okay. Well, I um was just
010going to come up and ask Mrs. Dupont to come join me so she can do all the talking about >> our very talented uh art student, Maisie. >> Okay. >> I have Maisy come up here. >> Maisy, >> this is Maisie Ellen. She is honored as one of as um one of 45 students across the entire state of Illinois to be chosen for the Art Education Association statewide show. Um I was under the impression that they selected more, but actually 45 is a very small number considering every artist, every art teacher in the state is allowed to enter 10 choices. And so when you consider that huge number, 45. So, um I brought a copy of her artwork. It's um a print and this is it. It's not quite as good a picture as the
011original which was done with ballpoint pen and is a much greater variation of shades than the original. So, what's wonderful about it is um this is a mooncheck moonshack skull. A lot of artists throughout art history like to draw skulls. They're just visually appealing. And this one's interesting because it has horns and teeth. Um, and uh, so she chose that as her observation and she's got it by a lake. She observed the sparkling water on the lake and she put her surrounded by hyasins. It's a symbol of new birth and life and hope and peace. There's a Greek myth about a guy named Hyasinus. Did I say it right? See, she's the expert. Um, and hi this when he died by by some fatal accident, some terrible tragedy. His blood was rebirthed into the hyestent
012flower which is reborn after one of the first flowers to bring bloom every spring and it's just a a beautiful symbol of life and death. So yeah, that's it. Bridge's amazing. Can I say one more thing? I should have also said that her artwork will start traveling in October throughout all the state. The whole stage show goes from location to location, a new place every month from October to October. Um, and that is going to be just a chance for everybody to see Maisy's work and appreciate. So, thank you I'm just going to do this because well done. >> Thank you. I can't do my kindergarten qualified for ours. >> But she does a lot of schools, too. Georgia. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. You You knew it. >> All right. Every board meeting
013provides two opportunities for public comment. First session of public comments at the beginning of meeting strength for items appear on this meeting's agenda for discussion or action. Second session of public comments at end the meeting is for other communication that's not necessarily on the board's agenda. In order to speak at the meeting, members must complete a card with their name and topic and turn in prior to the beginning of the first segment. Comments if you wish to speak and have not yet turn in card to do so. Board of Education will take all comments under consideration and respond if necessary promptly. We ask that your comments address the board of education, not the audience. We limit your comments to five minutes. Participants are expected to conduct themselves with civilian respect and follow guidelines outlined in
014board policy 8:30 visitors to and conduct on school property. Further information about public participation in board me can be found in board policy 2230. >> We have three participants and we will administrative reports. Okay, our first administrative report is Miss Kate Wyman. Uh she's been busy uh putting together the six day enrollment report. So, I'm going to turn the floor on over to Kate. >> Thank you. Well, it's wild to think that we've actually wrapped up three weeks of school and today marks the 15th day of school in District 709. But the information I'm going to be sharing with you tonight is from the sixth day of enrollment, which was August 19th. These numbers have already changed since that date and they will continue to eb and flow throughout the school year. So, historically speaking,
015you'll notice that our enrollment numbers are down slightly from last year. Last year's 6-day enrollment report indicated that we had 3,270 students in district 709 and 3,796 students who attended district 709, Bethl, and Blessed. This year we have 300 3,000 excuse me 170 students two students walking our halls and that does include our prek speech students. If you take into consideration the number of students who register in district 709 which includes our outplace students, those who attend for private speech only or maintain some sort of partial enrollment which could be for band, orchestra, etc. Our student number as of 8:19 was 3,226 students. Our number of district 709 students including the BETHL and blessed sacrament students combined is 3,621. Um you might notice in the report that Bethl and Blessed have also experienced a decline
016in their enrollment this year going from 526 combined students last year to 449 combined students this year. Most notably, you might notice that District 709's kindergarten numbers are significantly lower than in years past. We have 175 students, kindergarten students in our classroom seats compared to last year's 207 kindergarten students. When you flip forward to the Craropper report that was an enrollment last revised in June of 2022, you'll notice that Craropper predicted our district's total enrollment for the current school year to be 3,223 students. So when you look at our 1646 elementary students, 474 junior high students, and 113 high school students, you'll see that all of our enrolled students in district 709 is very, very close to that cropper prediction with Craropper being 3,223 students compared to our actual 3,226. As previously mentioned, our enrolled
017number of students today is different than day six. We're already up to 3,236 students. And while we have seen a decline in enrollment from last year to this year, I know from speaking with many parents during the registration process and supporting the administrative assistants who assisted our families with registration that families continue to desire to be in Morton 709 and enroll their children in our schools. I'd like to give a big shout out before I wrap up the report tonight to our technology department, specifically Corey Ray and Carrie Datson for making sure P school registration was ready to go and open for online registration. our district and building technologists who make sure each day that we have what we need for registration day and assist to ensure everything was working properly so that when those
018families walked through the doors to register, our amazing administrative assistants, office staff members, and building principles could welcome and assist our families with registering their children in district 709. It is a big undertaking and everyone does an excellent job to ensure our students are ready to begin the school year. We have a great team and what a privile privilege it is to be able to provide education to the children of our community. So I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have about the numbers. >> So do you think the cropper report is worth it since it's that close? >> It was very close. Yes. I don't know that they've been quite that close in years past, but this year they were pretty much right on the money. Jerry, >> I feel like
019there's history there, but I'm not sure. >> Just a little bit of history. >> Just a little bit. >> Any other questions? >> Just a comment as uh as I sit with like the Illinois um IASBO group in the central Illinois Valley uh region, enrollments across central Illinois have been down. Um there's one school district that did see a little bit of an uptick in their enrollment um from the group that was attending our meeting a couple of weeks ago, but um it's definitely something that we're seeing um some negative trends in central Illinois. So not sure what the reason is for that. Um but uh you know we'll keep a watchful eye on that and I think you know later on in our meeting you know we've got some facility things that we're looking
020at. Um, you know, anytime you have a decline in enrollment across central Illinois, you know, it's it's a reason for concern. But it also, you know, the positive side of it is, you know, we're not growing by two or 300 students where we'd be faced with making some large facility type, you know, decisions that are taking place. But everything from whether it's the Craropper report or some of the information that we're seeing, I think the district's in a good spot. And I want to, you know, recognize Kate. It is a lot to sit there and go through those numbers and she did a much better job than the previous guy in in outlining my speech only students and those that are outplayed. So, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. So, I have the next
021I don't know about 14 slides that I'm going to cover. And I woke up this morning and didn't know I couldn't speak until I got to the base uh where I handed over my ID card for military duty and I went to say, "Hey, good morning. How?" And I sound like Peter Brady. So, um I don't know where this thing came from. I hope it's shortlived. Uh but uh I want to begin like with all of my reports with gratitude and then I'm going to hit some of our district goals, you know, that I've put together. Um but this one's pretty special. I got an email last week from Isby and it's not every day that you get an email from Isby that you're like, "Wow, that was awesome." Uh but our 709 preschool program
022has achieved the gold circle of quality rating from Isby. And one of my favorite quotes is that's what Wright looks like. And so um we've got some of the people here in the audience, but there is a long list of people about 20 25 of them. Should I read them all? Why not? My voice isn't going to get any better. But from our administrative team is Mrs. Scrogs, Mrs. Mester, Mrs. How you guys miss Bulka and Mrs. Franklin. They did a great job at the onset bringing on the preschool program. And so, um, just a commendable job steering the ship on that one. Our teaching team is three people, Miss Gill House, Miss Hancock, and Mrs. Green. We've got a whole slew of pair of professionals that need to be recognized because they're in there
023day in and day out. They're making sure that all the criteria is is being accomplished that goes into this rating and that's Mrs. Herman, Miss Damian, Miss Harvey, Miss Odum, Miss Schwindenhammer, and Miss Solano. Um, we have our related services providers and therapists because we also have two um that work with Tazwell Mason County, but Miss Kennel, Mrs. Bush, uh, Miss Cuffner, Miss Thornton, Miss Glidewell, Miss Webb, Miss Sheen, Miss Kerberlow, Miss Gleason, and Miss Whitaker. Um, and then I can't forget the other partners, um, that we use with collaboration. So, our nursing staff, uh, Miss Labriola and Miss Phillips, our food service director, Miss Lonus, our custodial staff, Mr. Schumacher, and transportation, Miss Thart. So, transportation gets a shout out because that increased several new routes to an already busy um um route scheduling
024that she has to do. So, kudos to everyone and um Miss Scrogs make sure that that recognition, you know, gets uh put out there for everyone. So, thank you for your work on doing that. So, just a brief moment of gratitude. Next, um, this is kind of a, uh, the presentation I I did for our kickoff assembly with all the staff at the first day of school in service. And so, I have two areas of focus from a leadership perspective that I just want to dial in on this year. They're simple. It's our mission. And if you've seen the email that I've been sending out with the potter post, it takes 7 to 21 repetitions to create a habit. Well, we've got a couple potter posts underneath our belt, but I'm going to focus on
025our mission and our people. And my goal is that sometime here in midepptember, then when I'm out and about, I can say, do you know what our mission is? And that would be the measure of success. And so for those of you that may not know our mission, this is the board's mission to be a provider of and an advocate for the education of all children. Really simple. And this covers our full spectrum of what it is that we do. It doesn't matter if you're preschool or you're 12th grade, simply a a high school teacher that serves mostly seniors. We need to be the provider and the advocate for every child every step along the way. And it doesn't stop with academics. And you'll see later on in my report something that is really cool.
026I'm not going to let it out right now, but I I'll circle back to it. This covers our clubs. This covers our activities. This covers our sports. We need to be an advocate for all kids and we need to provide them with the very best that we can. we won't get it right every day. Um, and so that's okay. We have to learn from our, you know, our growth. And you'll see that that's going to be embedded in one of my other slides as well. So the other component of my leadership focus for this year or our leadership focus is our people. And this is what gets our mission accomplished. Okay. Last month we had I had this slide on here. The slide on the left is uh all the new staff with our new
027staff orientation. And then I needed to include the people on the right. These are all of the new staff members, the new administrators covering new positions. And there's two people that aren't on there that are in new positions this year. Dr. Teter and myself. So if you add that to the mix, we've got 10 staff members, 10 educational leaders that are trying to keep the district going in the right direction, focusing on growing our team and focusing on our mission. So this was a kind of a rebrand of the um pillars that the district has had in the past. Um, I could spend literally 15 minutes talking to anyone that would want to listen about just how beautiful this image is and why is it so why do I think it's so beautiful? Number one,
028our mission is right down there at the bottom of it. And then followed by our mission are the five board goals which are a work in progress, but the headings of the goals aren't changing. We're focusing on academics, climate, communication, facilities, and finance. And that is the foundation of everything that we do above and beyond. And so, as we move forward, I've got a slide on each one of these, but the three pillars are founded on our board goals. And our board goals represent our overall mission. And everyone that we serve is at the top. Okay? So it's really an inverted, you know, viewpoint. We need to serve everyone and that's our community, our students, our staff is all at the top. So I'm going to spend just a brief moment on each one of
029the pillars. The first one is preparing students and staff for a future with purpose. Okay, I am a quote person because quotes stick with me. And how can I remember this pillar if I don't associate it with a quote? And my quote for this is we need to begin with the end in mind. Now what does that look like? We could cover the entire educational spectrum here at Morton 709 and I could say this pillar focuses on our preschool and the end goal is when the students walk across the stage in May get to shake our hands and get a diploma and everyone is uh celebrating on that day. But begin with the end in mind can happen on a daily basis. It can happen on a in a class. We need to focus. It
030could be a unit, could be a week that's determined by the person that is embodying this pillar. Focus with the end or begin with the end in mind and prepare our students for a future with purpose. And you would recognize that what we're focusing in on in preschool is way different than what Mr. Carter and his team is focusing in on at the junior high, which is different than what we're focusing on at the high school. The next one is promoting social and emotional and mental wellness for all students. And we added this in staff on there. As um you know, I always like to say work is a dirty four-letter word. And sometimes these days aren't easy, and that's okay. Um, we know that there's a lot happening in our world and in and
031in our environment and we don't get to control what happens outside of our walls, but we sure have to embody that and put our best efforts forward for teaching students. I had a uh a teacher that specializes in behavior education and they gave me a a visual. They said, "Joe, if there's 60 minutes in an instructional period and we're trying to focus on both behavior and academics and we try to plan 50 minutes for academics, but what is needed is more time for behavior. >> We've got to recognize that the behavior is really important." So, social and emotional wellness is equally as important. if we're not if we're not healthy in that area, there's not much education that's going to go on in the time that we've planned for academics. And so, if you think
032about those two as being part of one circle and they have to give and take, we got to make sure that people are prepared social and emotionally. Okay, this was a quote that Stephanie Brown forwarded to me. I got to give credit to Amy Fast, principal. It's not social emotional learning and academic learning. What I'm trying to say is those two things are not detached. It's just learning. And we have to recognize that those two things go together. And then when we look at just maintaining rigorous standards driven curriculum and instruction, my quote for this one is muscle only grows in the presence of resistance. And so as I mentioned on one of my earlier slides, work is a dirty four-letter word. It can be uncomfortable to grow and learn and that is okay. We
033often times learn more by our mistakes than we do by knocking it out of the park on the first swing. And so these are the three pillars that we're focusing in on. And so what we've described to our leadership team is we've pushed this out to all of our buildings to come up with their building level goals. And I asked all the principles to come up with one goal in each one underneath each one of these pillars so that we can say the same language over and over and over. All of our initiatives should tie to one of these three pillars. Okay? And these pillars are founded on the board goals which is founded on our mission. And so I kind of mentioned a little bit uh just just a moment ago about the building
034level goals. I will give the board in one of the weekend updates a copy of all of the building level goals so that you can review those and see those see what each building is focusing in on there. It's really a great work because they're all developing those independently based off of their needs within their building. It's really neat to see. But I also want to give credit to the IPA, the Illinois Principles Association. they have a leadership framework for their principles and one of the things I jumped on was this infinity loop and it's it's something that we're pushing forward and it's so simple um leaders will come and go but if we embody this process where we plan implement assess and reflect and then we keep circling back we can we can move
035forward with this in literally everything that we do here at Morton 709 whether Whether it's academics or extracurriculars or within the band program, we plan, we implement, we assess, we reflect, and we just continue to work on continuous improvement, recognizing that we are going to fail every now and then. And so, where are we going to do this? We're going to embody this in our professional development, within our curriculum, within our facilities, or even our day-to-day business operations. look at what it is that we can do. Our finance just had an audit. An audit is an opportunity to look at what we do and make it better, right? And that's why we do that. So before I move on, any questions about building level goals, the leadership direction, our mission, and our people from the
036board. Okay. Okay, then I've got a couple more slides and this is where I get to some of the fun stuff. I wanted, you know, as phase one at at Morton High School is coming to an end and then we just had a bid opening on 827 last week, which we had some really favorable results. We had a good response. There'll be a little bit more discussion about the bid opening, but I did want to give the board and the community a picture. This is the East Gym. I think it looks amazing. Um, so we've got new flooring in. You can see the new standards are going in. We have a a new paint scheme. And then to the left hand side where the dark is, that's where the bleachers are going to go. And
037so we're excited about the future opportunities to have some competitions in that space. Um, it really looks good. So kudos to everyone that's involved. I know Rodney's in the audience. I know he's been um you know working with the contractors to make sure things keep going, make sure that the doors are getting processed in order. But um I'll talk a little bit more about phase two later on in the meeting. Um the next thing is is our uh board site visits that I wanted to hit upon. Um so this has been a work in progress. We finally gotten to a point where we're going to be looking at having these four different site visits. Um, one of the things I'm going to recognize Valerie. She's doing a great job making sure disclosure statements get put
038out there. Anytime that you have a gathering of three board members, you or more than three, you have a quorum. So, these are site visits. These are days that we're going to be going to these uh locations and the board is just going to be doing um getting to know the staff. It's more of a social gathering. There will be no official work that's going to be taking place. And so Valerie will do a great job of posting those as site visits just in case someone sees a gathering of board members. There's no agenda. There's no official business that's going to be going. But um we had a committee that looked at this. this is where we're settling on and u you know recognize um Mr. run. We're jumping in. We're going to do it.
039We're going to follow that infinity loop. We're going to plan, implement, assess, and then reflect. And if we need to tweak it, we'll tweak it moving forward. So, excuse me. I'm about out of gas here. Other items. This was something that was shared with me at the end of last week, and I just think this I heard it during Cherry and Gray, which was just about what 10 days ago. Uh there was an announcement that we had 416 students in fall sports. That is absolutely outstanding. Um I know any of us in education know that if we can get our students engaged, they're going to perform better academically. And this is, you know, to steal one of my quotes, use one of my quotes, that is what right looks like. Now, it's hard to set
040the bar this high. So, our high school staff's got some work cut out for them. What are you going to do next year for the encore on this one? Um, and then just another item that I just would like to make the uh board aware of is uh we will be going through our uh regional of office educa of education compliance audit. Uh I think there's a meeting set up in October uh where uh we get to go meet with the ROE and they're going to lay out all the items of which we need to provide evidence for. They'll come on in and they'll do a deep dive audit into our systems. It's everything from our hiring practices to our curriculum. And so I'll be happy to share that information with the board once all
041of that has been done. But it's pretty much an electronic process. We'll learn more about it. I believe it's on October 22nd. So, >> is that an annual? >> It happens, I think, every four years. So, Dr. SMont got in and out of this position without ever having to do it. So, um anyway, I always like it. I when I was in doing school finance, I always like the audit. I always like, you know, and I'm getting ready to go through one of those on the military side of the house. they're going to expose what it is that we do well and where it is that we need to improve. And that's what we do in education, right? We're just trying to always improve. So, good question. The last thing and then we'll turn on
042over um is the monthly board policy review. This was on school board policies and we had 10 of them. It was policies 2.105 through 2170. Some of these are going to be in our consent agenda because that was part of press policy uh update 119. So, any questions for me or anyone else on our leadership team about our goals or updates? >> I like it. You did a good job. I don't have questions. I just want to say gratitude. Thanks for putting it out there. Very easy to see. Along with mission is vision. The vision is out there. So, great job. We still have some work to do because that is a secondary mission that is on the board there. Full disclosure, that's a work in progress. We've got some ideas, but I like a
043mission that is really short, sweet, and that we can uh say it 7 to 21 times to create a habit. So, >> yeah, and that's been bugging me since day one. So, thank you for that as well. >> Thank you. I >> think we're on to discuss Oh, we board committee up. Um so for us uh do we have any committee updates? Anybody meet? Anything you want to discuss? I mean finance we haven't met since before all the budget stuff. So that's kind of our hard work for the time being is gone for a while. So anybody else meet or have anything to share? >> The facilities he's going to mention facilities. >> Dan and I met as well. Um but that's also in um some of the discussion items and we have that if
044you want to elaborate anymore I don't know. >> No policy committee also met. >> Okay good um smart goals for us. Has anyone actually taken the time to go through? I spent some time in them um yesterday actually, the day off and um I think the specific is maybe the hardest hurdle. Um but I worked on the second one a little bit, so I would appreciate like any comments or feedback on that. Um something that I'm just brainstorming about is um how the board can um encourage dialogue and how we can be maybe um more transparent in our discussion processes so the interested parties would have more closure, more details like what would that look like? because I think it falls under that second goal which is climate and um you know I think we've
045done such neat work with surveys um through some of the committees that have gone on and we're seeing the results of those so just you know we're gathering a lot how can we also share back so that's kind of what I was thinking when I was looking through it but to be specific stuff and so yeah I was hesitant to get too verbose Um, did you want those like in a different color or anything? Like I started typing. I'm like, >> I started that about a year ago and um, so red was not done, green was done, but needed to be have the board look at >> and then I had it in a paragraph form the two that I think were green. Then I put the SMT so that way you could see >>
046what each part of the goal was and then you can add to it. So my feelings are everybody goes through it. You kind of get to the 95% done and then we bring it to an actual meeting and finalize it. So that way it is now climate and you got communication which is two goals that you're hitting because you're communicating why we're doing the goal that we're why we ended up on the specific goal. So >> yeah. And I um am more of a brainstorm person. So I was thinking is this communication, is this climate and then um you know see my notes in there regarding evaluation and how we can improve with that and maybe lead by example in some of those things like we have one evaluation we do but throughout the district
047that process it goes all the way down and so how can we lead well and in that and be accountable to each other for that the same way that our administration and staff are doing a great job doing that. So like we can learn from them and then set that tone. So climate versus communication like I need help delineating some of that. So I'm looking forward to working on it more together. >> Anybody got any ideas on how to move? So I went through I was like well you know the finance one cuz it was just blank with smart and I was like okay I want to start working on this. I'm like specific. It's like well Lisa does all the specifics. >> I know it. That's why I left that one blank cuz I
048was like okay well measurable. It's always measured and so it's like it's almost >> I almost put don't go red. >> It's like could be pretty simple. you know, hit your 180 or more. >> Then I was like, well, maybe we should just have a finance committee meeting and now Lisa, she can actually help us with specific measurables that you think could be >> it'd be way better that way. >> Have her guide us. Anyway, as a thought, >> yeah, I feel that too. >> You sit there and just like a blink. >> Yeah. But the whole purpose is the current goals that we have are more fluff and we needed to make them better because if we're asking schools we'll say to have a smart goal and we need to have smart goals and
049that's that's communication. >> All right. Anything else on that? >> Right. >> Agenda building or just that topic? >> That topic. Right. agenda building. >> Sorry. So, um I just had two things. One just following up on um the five essentials survey we had asked or I had asked along with the audience member like for more breakout and specific populations. Just wanted to make sure that that was kind of kept on the agenda. um looking for some of those um results to see if there's any specific population that didn't fall in with the majority. And then um I just wanted to bring up the parking um situation at the high school. I feel like I definitely as a board member need more information about that. Um you know, I'm just curious. There's been some um
050reports that there's a shortage there, but I don't know how many students apply for a parking spot. How many do we have? What's the process for students? Just, you know, there are so many affected parties. not just students but residents, not just student drivers, but our guest instructors, um visitors, um you know, board members who have meetings there who are a little late because they parked very far away and you know, just what are we looking at and what's our community expectation just to explore that as a board I think would be helpful. um even if we find oh you know we're meeting those needs but I wanted to maybe bring that up for agenda building >> anything else right discussion items >> okay uh we have one item uh for discussion and and so
051uh the press issue 119 had about 25 policies that we went through. Um most of them all but two were just uh just for review or had very minimal. So those are going to be on the consent agenda. Uh there are two uh policies that uh are bringing for discussion um that will then uh land on the agenda next month for uh approval. The first one is uh policy 4550 which is our payment procedures. Um Lisa had talked to me about uh just a couple of minor changes in there that have to deal with u the payment of reoccurring bills. Um so the suggestion on that was um in the language that there's a provision in our policy that allows it authorizes the treasur uh to pay reoccurring bills. um she is recommending that and
052we're recommending that we strike that and uh the language is changed to other bills within the budget. And so um one of the action items later in today's or tonight's meeting is to approve the budget. So when you approve a budget, you're you're giving authorization for us to pay the bills that happen within our budget. And so it's just a it's just another way to make sure that bills get paid on time. And so that was the suggestion on that one. Um the second one is uh something that we've discussed here at the board table about um it's policy 740 non-public student school students um including parochial and homeschool students participation in extracurricular activities and intercolastic competitions. So our um current policy the language is a little ambiguous when you read it. it it makes
053it difficult to understand how it is uh breaking apart, you know, intercolastic um or extracurricular activities uh with extra, you know, with athletic activities. And so, you know, we had a provision in there that said a non-public student who participates in extracurricular activities is subject to all policies, regulations, and rules that are applicable to other uh participants in the activity. that was okay. It was the one that was what governs how much the student has to attend um you know school. Could they be uh just a homeschool student not attend any classes and participate in extracurricular activities? And so we created language that breaks it into two categories. The first one is the students are eligible to participate in athletic intercolastic competition and activities requiring auditions or tryyouts provided that they meet three conditions. The
054first one is that they have to adhere to all policies and regulations. Um participant adheres to the regulations established by any association in which the school district maintains a membership. So, for example, at the at the junior high, they would have to follow the guidance and policies of the EESA and at the high school, it's the IHSA or any other entity that we uh maintain a membership in. And the student must attend a district school or be enrolled in four credit bearing courses for a school district. And so, we really had very good dialogue. We've talked about this. Um what does it mean to represent Morton 709? And so um to represent Morton 709, the recommendation, what is being what is being proposed here is that to wear that M on our on our uniforms
055is that you need to be a student that is enrolled in a majority of our school day. Now the second condition is to participate in extracurricular activities. So that could be clubs, uh that could be art club, that could be um uh frisbee disc or disc uh golf club. And so that has the same set of conditions. The difference is is that um they don't have to participate or be enrolled in four credit bearing classes. They must attend a district school and be enrolled in one credit bearing class to be able to participate in the extracurricular activities like clubs. Now, one of the questions that was that has come up since the committee met was um give you an example um you know we have we have private school students and maybe homeschool students that
056are enrolled in band at the junior high. it's just one class. It happens mostly before school. Um, those students would be able to participate in things like the EMA. I think that's right. If I'm not saying it right, it's the it's the music where the teacher says, "Hey, you're good enough to participate in this and you you're basically competing at I think it's at ICC among other students." But it's not it's not like a school is competing against another school. And so those would be permissible that the students would be able to participate in that. If we had an art student that was taking an art class and participating in art club and their work was going to be on display, that would be permissible to be able to do that. And so um we're
057trying to clean up some language. This one had a little bit more dialogue and discussion and it has really been a work in progress. Soon as we think that we get to where we know where we're at and comfortable with someone start saying well hey did you consider this and that's what you know policy work is we'll never get it right follows that leader that continuous improvement paradigm. So um I don't know I'll defer to Miss Bernie and Dr. crawl if you have anything else that you'd like to add. But for board discussion, >> I think you covered pretty much everything we talked about, unless you have something to add. And we had a lot of discussion um about how to be as inclusive as possible and yet still try to protect um that division
058between um homeschool parochial school and our public school district. And I wish there was an easy way to, for lack of a better word, maybe cherrypick the best of both worlds. Um, but for the policy for our school district, um, I feel like the facult or the staff and administration were really united in in how they really felt that, um, that this half day was really important. So, if it means anything, I got friends that are homeschooled that play baseball that want they're going into high school freshman year, and they were looking around to do uh still keep his son in homeschool, but everywhere they went was four four credit hours in order for them to play on a public team. So that seems to be standard, seems to be fair. And I think the
059fairness equates to the kids that are going to school for at least four hours, probably the 8 hours compared to the kid that would only go one hour and still get the same. So I I think that's fair is is the four. And this is going from another homeschool um person that I know that that did some research on that. So whoever came up with that, I think is standard across the board. I think it seems fair to me. >> Well, thanks for all the leg work on that. It's it's come up a couple times in the past and you know, our language was murky, I guess. So, >> it was there was that comma that kind of >> kind of made it confusing. So, we just needed to clean it up and revise it
060a little bit to make it a little more clear. Yeah, I think you know, you chew on it from every angle, but you know, the the blessing right now for our schools are that we have um really competitive programs and lots of kids. There are districts in our area that require fewer classes in order to participate, but those schools typically are trying to get enough students to have a team to represent their town. So in the future, you know, if things change, maybe there would be a need for us to revisit this policy. Um, but at at this point, we aren't losing enough students to clubs and we are having enough people to have a team that, you know, for it seemed like the best way forward for our district still. Yes. Because we're really
061not changing it right in substance. Is that what you would say? >> Yeah, that's correct. And I should clarify there's a difference between public and private. Private's I think less than the poor compared to the public >> from what I understood. So >> yeah, good job. >> Appreciate it. >> Okay, I think that wraps that up. >> Okay, we move on to action items. Do I um have a motion for board of education approve the three-year learning plan as presented uh beginning with the current school year. That's the e-learning plan. >> So moved. >> I'll support it. >> Uh discussion. I just got a couple of comments. So um there were no changes to our e-learning plan. It's been in place. uh it's a three-year requirement for us to um have it renewed. Uh we
062there's certain protocols that you have to follow and you know that hence why we had a hearing. Anytime there's a board hearing, there's typically a action that follows. And so um it's our recommendation to uh approve the three-year e-learning plan as presented. >> And the way that we've got it set up, this is kind of like an insurance policy in case the absolute worst happens, but we're not planning on using it. Very good. >> Yes. Thanks, chair. >> Conal. >> Yes, sir. Mrs. Lamman, >> yes. >> Mr. Red, >> yes. >> Mr. Onus, >> yes. >> Dr. Cross, >> yes. >> Dr. Crawl, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kurtie, >> yes. >> And Mr. Roth, >> yes. >> Do I have a motion for the B board of education approve the final budget for the 202526
063school year? >> So moved. support. >> Do we need to discuss it? I mean, you guys have seen enough the numbers. No questions. Thank you, Lisa. >> I want to commend Lisa and her team for doing that in the finance committee as soon as we get this thing done. She's already starting to work on the uh 2025 levy. So, that will be another uh committee meeting that will take place. So, nice job. Thank you. I please call the vote. >> Yes, sir. Mr. Red? >> Yes. >> Mr. Roth? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Perie? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Layman? >> Yes. >> Dr. Crawl? >> Yes. >> Dr. Cross? >> Yes. >> And Mr. Onus? >> Yes. >> Right. Do I have a motion for the board of education to approve that the board approve theou
064regarding the health savings account as presented? I move that the board of education approve theou regarding the health savings account as presented. >> Support discussion. >> I'll say a couple comments on this one. This one uh popped up uh quickly um because tied to our insurance renewals. Uh we're um uh we use we're part of a uh central Illinois educators. Uh they're the brokers uh insurance cooperative that uh handles all of our you know the insurance renewals. um with uh some of the premiums going up um significantly, um CIE was able to put together a high deductible plan that could bring back at one time the district did have a health savings account. Um I think that would that last existed in the 2018 to 2021 bargaining um the CBA. And so um this will
065be at a cost savings to a member um and to the district because uh it's basically we're sharing the the savings and the premiums for those members that elect the high deductible plan. And so it's a win-win uh for everyone. So I'm just asking the board to approve this recommendation. It's an honor to be able to offer good things to our staff. >> It is. >> Please call the role. >> Dr. Crawl, >> yes. >> Mr. Onus, >> yes. >> Mr. Roth, >> yes. >> Mr. Red, >> yes. >> Dr. Cross, >> yes. >> Mrs. Perie, >> yes. And Mrs. Layman, >> yes. >> All right. We have a motion for the board of education to accept the base bid plus alternate bids. 1 2 3 4 6 feet and seven from high construction project
066cost of $7,53,000. >> So moved >> support >> and timing is everything. So our architect just walked on in and then I know we also have Rodney here in the audience. So um if there's any questions that I can't answer, I'm going to defer to those two gentlemen. Um we really had a nice uh response in our bids with six companies uh submitting bids um as a result of completing the phase 2 work and this is what we're looking at you know our recommendation. This will pull a lever for future phases to take place. Um and so there there was a lot contained in there. Um I I think one of the estimates that was early on um had us in the ballpark. So kudos to Lee for putting together um some solid estimates. It
067doesn't always happen that way. and uh you know so it's it's not comparing apples to apples because he was he was giving us estimates before we had things back like soil boring test results that kind of changed the scope of you know what it is that we needed to do. So, um, that's about all I want to feel comfortable, uh, sharing on that, but, you know, to the board's questions, we've got we've got two subject matter experts, but, uh, we're recommending that you that you approve the the bids and the alternate bids as indicated there, so that we can start phase two before phase one is all done. And then that will get us a chance to start working on phase three. So, if this goes through, Mr. Edwards got to start going back and
068working on phase three. So, >> so if approved, can you put all the bullets that you put in the action so and the potter post so the community knows all what we're going to get in addition to uh the weight the weight training facility. >> And I'll hit it. The the big one is is that when you walk into the nice new entry, what's the first facility to our right is the wait room. Okay. If we are able to move and move forward with this phase, the next phase would be a relocation of our principal office area to that front entrance, which would just round out the campus. I mean, when you come on in, it would it would colllocate all of our administrative offices and and support. How many times parents drop things off
069would be right inside the front entry. It would enhance our already secure entryway because you would have a vestibule where someone would come on up, they could drop things off without having to traverse the school. So, it's it's a safety and security benefit. It is just a good customer service to our community or any vendor that's coming in. It it just enhances that. And then the one of the other benefits of a relocation of that is it is going to offer us the opportunity to expand our classrooms and maybe do some restructuring of our classrooms. Give you an example. Skills USA as a program, our CTE programs have been growing, right? So, um, with some replanning and structuring of classrooms, I think that's on the north side of the school that may be able to
070open up like where our current drivers at is, that's colllocated with our CTE classes. That's a great space to turn back on over to our CTE program. And so, what we would get out of a it's just not a weight training facility. It's it's a weight training facility. It's a Bertha of Frank expansion. Um we're looking at being able to do more programming in the uh expansion of the Bertha of Frank the front entrance there. Um and then also additional driver's ed classroom. So, um, this is the first level lever of two levers that we can pull to really and I think the biggest selling point is, you know, we'll watch our our student enrollment and our growth, but this could be the last capital big capital project on our footprint outside of just renovations
071on the inside like restrooms and instructional spaces in there. So, but yes, Mr. We can put this in the potter post this week. >> I would like that so that way everybody sees where this money is going in addition to classroom safety, security, everything is right where we want. >> I just have a couple comments or questions. Um the first one is is one question I kind of fielded from the community is regarding the birth of Frank and people are wondering if the theater is going to be bigger. And I just want to put that out for the record. We're not dealing with the theater, we're dealing with the entryway to provide more space there. Um, which you will touch on, I think, in the Potter Post and we've talked about a few times in
072here, just the different activities we can do in there, even during the day, throughout the day, after school, in addition to um when the performing arts center is being used. My second question is and maybe this is more for you two back there is time frame because I don't want to overpromise and underd deliver. So what's reasonable? What's an expectation? >> Uh did I see a completion date of >> um I'll just speak loudly. um completion date is what we're targeting for the weight training facility is August and the Bertha of Frank lobby in October 15. Now, part of that is weather dependent um because we're, you know, we're going to get started, but we don't know if this is going to be, you know, a cold winter or a warm winter that might play
073into that, but that's what the we have a substantial completion dates. >> And just to clarify, 2026 >> 2026. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yes. And to your point about the, you know, Bertha of Frank, so if you've been a parent that has attended the um Christmas concerts >> and you have one school that's leaving and another school that's ready, so we'll have the space be able to accommodate that. Another one is magical. You know, ma the magical should be able to perform everything in that entry way. And so, you know, that that just creates more opportunities. And I know Mr. Edwards probably has a handful of other activities that uh that they could um utilize in that space, but it really is it will help control traffic flow to two primary entrances on
074the campus. You'll have the Bertha of Frank Performing Arts Center entrance and then you'll also have, you know, the main entrance. And so the Illinois Street will pretty much be, you know, we'll look at that as far as absorbing some of that entry space as possibly classroom. Still making sure that we're in compliance with ingress and egress code. So, >> I wish we had a better name for the expansion than the Bertha Frank expansion because we do all think um theater. And then for me, I just think, well, big deal if you're a little crowded. Our kids need classrooms. So, I really want to express um gratitude for all the patience that um you and Mr. Edwards had because I really felt like as a board member I can only vote for this if I
075see that is going to affect more than just an hour or two several times a year or just the arts students. And so I I appreciate your suggestion because I the list is magical, band camp, chorus, daily instructional space, study hall, which is in our very noisy, very bright, very congested cafeteria or has been. And so we need that space for every high school student who takes the study hall school lunch, which we are our cafeteria is in woeful need. So really, we're not voting just to make oo and awe everyone who walks in for Bertha Frank. Like this is what we're asking our community to back us up on spending all this money for. Um, and so I just really appreciate you listing all these things and look forward to seeing the improvement if
076this is approved um, to so many students, not just our athletes or just our fine arts students. >> Very good point. All of our students will come through Morton High School at some time. So, they'll all be able to um reap the benefits of of this phase. >> Anybody else? Valerie, please call the RO. >> Mrs. Layman, >> yes. >> Mr. Red, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pertie, >> yes. >> Mr. Roth, >> yes. >> Mr. Dr. Onusaorge. >> Yes. >> Dr. Cross and Dr. Crawl. >> Yes. You gently let me know. >> Moving it along. >> All right. I have a motion for the board of education to approve the student requesting to attend Morton School District for the 2526 school year on a tuition basis paying maximum amount allowed by state law. >> So
077moved. >> Support. discussion. >> Okay. In the past, um the board has uh by board policy allowed non-resident students to attend board schools on tuition basis. This one didn't take a traditional approach. Um we have a the request is for uh Morton Junior High School student um to be uh approved for a tuition as a tuition base for the 2526 school year. Um the tuition is set by our per capita tuition charge uh which is determined through our financial audit. So we will should be receiving that information here shortly. Um as a reminder non uh resident students may attend district schools u based off of board approval superintendent recommendation um and is subject to the following that student will attend on a year-to-year basis. Um so this is authorization for this year. Um and then
078there's other conditions. Uh sometimes at the elementary space may be a limitation. At the junior high we have sufficient room and um you know the parents guardians will be charged the maximum amount of tuition. Um also the parents and guardians are responsible for all transportation. And so that's our recommendation uh to the board to approve uh this student for a um the 2526 school year um in the maximum amount allowed by the state >> discussion. Um, I'm just I'm I've since this has come across uh my quote unquote desk, um, it's it's been a um challenge for me to um because this is such an unusual um request and um I'm and at one side I am um you know our policy was uh violated and so I have a hard time with that. But
079at the other hand, our mission is to be a provider and an advocate for the education of all children. So I feel like those are equally important and as of right now still having a hard time with which um which way to go. Uh so I just uh I feel like because I mean the policy was violated uh whether or not it was knowingly or unknowingly I you know I don't know but um I just feel like if we don't have you know the policies of society doesn't have policies, rules, laws, it begins to break down. And so I'm having a hard time um with that. But I value um anybody else's feedback or opinion if they have anything to say or not. Might be the only one and that's okay. The circumstances are highly
080irregular. Um I'm voting based on our administration's recommendation tonight. >> Yeah, I I would fall in the same place. I totally I I don't disagree with anything that you said and then at the end of the day I'm going to trust that Joe and his team looked into it and I think this is the best route forward and the most important. Um I do not discount every single word you said. >> Thank you. Okay. >> I do have it. You know as from the administrative perspective um you know I always ask what does right look like? Okay. And that's one of the things that, you know, it's difficult. Um, Miss Wyman, I know she's jumping into a new position and she's handled a lot of the enrollment things and, you know, this is a pat
081on Wharton's back. It's a desirable district that people want to attend. Unfortunately, um it doesn't always uh go as the way we would plan it or to follow um our protocols and policies. And that's what, you know, that's one of the things that we need to do a better job administratively. You know, we do have certain locations within our district boundaries where the the district lines cut neighborhoods in half. And so um you know so that's one of the things that we need to do. We need to make sure that we try to minimize any potential errors. And you know if if anyone's listening in the community I would say we have a policy and a process that we need to follow and we all need to own that and and be good role models
082um and do those things u because I do know you know all my years in education and Dr. Teter and I go back way back when we were high school administrators. This happened then um where people are just wanting to come to Morton and it is a difficult task to tell someone that I'm sorry you don't live in our district and and typically when we tell people what the tuition cost is the conversation ends and so um so I appreciate everyone's in input. we're taking that forward and I just felt that I need to share that from an administrative perspective as well. So, >> well, and I appreciate, you know, I know you like that quote, what does right look like? I think you just had it on your slide. >> And right again looks
083like to me being a provider and an advocate for the education of all children. However, right also looks like following our policies and doing things the right way. So to me it's almost like they just cancel out each other and I'm not quite sure which one is I mean they're equally important in my opinion >> and that's why it's very difficult. So >> please call the >> Mr. Roth. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rud. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Layman. >> Yes. Mrs. Perie, >> no. >> Mr. Onus, >> yes. >> Dr. Cross, >> yes. >> And Dr. Crawl, >> yes. >> Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? >> So, move. Can I just say thank you for all of the work on cleaning up our overnight outofstate trips. Um it's
084just really well done now and streamlined. I appreciate all the supporting documentation and um just good job guys. >> Thank you. Please follow >> Dr. Crawl. Yes, Mrs. Layman. Yes, >> Mrs. Perty. >> Yes, >> Mr. Roth. >> Yes, >> Mr. Red. >> Yes, >> Mr. Onus. >> Yes, >> and Dr. Cross. >> Yes. >> Um, non-aggenda related audience presentations. >> Okay, we have three non-aggenda related presentations. Uh, Kevin Miller, you're up first. Um, followed by Mary Thacker. And hopefully the timer on the screen works. It works great in my office. So, if it doesn't work tonight and you want to come back tomorrow and see it work, come to my office. But, uh, this will be your five minutes. So, you can kind of keep an eye on that without me interrupting you. Well,
085thank you. And, uh, good evening, Mr. Board Chairman, Mr. Superintendent, and all the board members. And good evening to you, Gloria Stanford. Um, I'm Kevin Miller and I'm president of Tri County Tennis Incorporated. We are the large tennis group. By large, I mean 530 members strong. We run the Tri County Tennis Tournament. For the past four years, we've had the privilege of using Morton High School's tennis courts for our tournament. I say privilege because it is a beautiful facility, greatly structured, and every year we've had an increase in numbers and participation in our tennis tournament. We are very grateful for the opportunity to run our tennis tournament here. We did so the last two weeks in July. We had an increase in singles tournament entries, an increase in doubles, an increase in juniors. Uh it
086was such a fun event. The last two days of our tournament, or I should say the very last day, we rented a big white tent, had a live band, the food trucks were there, we were on the courts having great activities. Then we all sat down and watched the best two final matches of the whole tournament together. It was great, and you folks made it possible. Thanks again for letting us use that tennis court. Now, with that said, at Tri County Tennis, we always make it a point to leave our tennis courts in better shape when we exit than when we found them. And it is in that regard that I wanted to talk to you briefly about the state of your tennis courts. Uh, Mr. Chairman, I have photo copies uh made of various
087uh places on the tennis courts. It would assist me if I could uh distribute these. I have one for each of you. With your permission, may I do that? >> Go ahead. >> I have nine copies here. And if we could maybe just pass them down the line, I'd very much appreciate it. If you look at the first page, you'll see these tattered and torn uh windcreens. Windscreens are applied to the uh chainlink fence by the use of zip ties. As we looked over these tattered and torn uh windcreens, we saw that they had been set up not using enough zip ties. That is one zip tie is supposed to be every 18 inches or so in a nice grommet there. Uh these throughout the tennis facility had a zip tie in every other grommet.
088As a result, when we get the winds in the spring, uh the zip ties that are there are inadequate. They snap. The windscreens start to to flap and they tatter and they tear. In fact, one uh windscreen that spanned the length of two courts, weighed about 150 pounds, was missing entirely, was put into the tennis building because it had come down about six weeks earlier, still had not been uh set up or put back in place. Uh I garnered six volunteers with four ladders and we put that windscreen up for you. Uh, I then went throughout the entire facility and put in literally hundreds of zip ties. So, your windscreens now are in good shape. They're not going anywhere. They're still tattered and torn and many of them need to be replaced. But that's uh
089the status that I know some of us here like quotes pennywise and pound foolish came to mind. It was pennywise not to use zip ties in every single possibility. But how foolish because now those eventually are going to need to be replaced. If you look at the front page, bottom lefthand corner, you'll see the tennis court and how dirty it was. I want to credit your athletic director at the high school, Mr. Scott Jones. I brought this to his attention. Within a week, he had the tennis courts powerwashed. And if you look at the second page of photographs, you'll see again a pennywise pound foolish result. These tennis courts, to my knowledge, had not been powerwashed. The recommendation is to power wash them every year. Uh back when I coached 5 years ago, and up
090until the present time, I've never seen them washed. They were so dirty that once they were washed, we were left with stripes and marks throughout the tennis courts like what you see here. Um, these windscreens and these courts are what some 200 tennis players from our area saw when they first came to Morton High School's tennis courts. Um, it's a bad first impression and uh and we're hoping that uh it can be addressed in the future. Please, if you would turn to the third page, you'll see these posts, the tennis court posts. They've been coming out uh of the ground for years. You see evidence of past attempts to put them or stop that uh protrusion of the posts from the ground, but they're not stopping. They continue to uh rise out of the ground.
091And on the last page, a large crack in some of the tennis courts. This was court number two. Produces a nice stream of water even on sunny days as the water this the tennis courts percolate. My time is up. I will. >> Thank you very much. Okay, next up is Mary Thacker. And following uh Miss Thacker is Ally Hon. >> Good evening, board members. First, I'd like to ask you if any of you have children, grandchildren, older children that have been in the system of Morton School. I'm here tonight as a concerned grandparent to speak about the urgent and deeply troubling situation at Jefferson. Over a past few weeks, a student has made multiple gun threats at this school. The first two threats were directed at individual children. The parents of these two students notified
092the school principal and were assured everything was taken care of. However, this student was allowed to remain in school. The school district resource officer was not notified of these threats and the students that were the victims to the threats were never interviewed by the officer. Most recently on Friday, the same student threatened to bring a gun to school today and shoot a group of children, including my grandchild. Another student told their teacher, but the school principal stated they were unaware of these threats until a parent personally called the school Friday, that being my daughter. It wasn't until the third gun threat, that this resource officer was involved in questioning parents and students. I will be sure to keep the bully's name confidential here. However, I think some context into the severity of the case are
093is warranted. This bully was already expelled from district 150. He was also dismissed last year from another 709 elementary school. Since the first week of school at Jefferson, our children have been exposed to multiple acts of physical violence from this student, my grandson included, as well as physically, sexually explicit language. going as far as conducting his violent acts in the bathrooms where he knows no cameras can catch him. He also has been reported to call anyone who has reported him as a snitch and against them he retaliates. My concerns and concerns of many parents is that the school has not taken these threats and act of bullying seriously enough. There was no communication about gun threats to Jefferson families. And what bothers me most is this bully is allowed to continue to be at the
094school where he continues to emotionally and physically harm our children. First question for the board is how many gun threats how many gun threats must occur in this school before we will consider action? Well, it's a law. When a gun is not phys physically seen, it needs to be reported to the state police. You failed. Second question for the board is how many gun threats may occur before the school will be transparent with our families about the gun threats. Lastly, what produce what produces are there? What processes are we taking to ensure safety of our children? How many warnings must we have before safety of our children and we don't end up like Minneapolis and you fail. You know the law >> time. Last up is Ali Ana. Good evening. Uh, thank you to the
095school board for giving me this opportunity to address some of my concerns. My name is Ally Witzig Anen and my husband Matt and I have three kids who attend Jefferson School. I also attended Jefferson as did my father and his siblings and my grandfather and his siblings. We as a family have moved several times in town and we've made sure our kids can stay at Jefferson because we have loved the culture, the teachers, and the families we've met over the last several years. During the first week of school, my fifth grader mentioned a new boy in his class who was getting into a bit of trouble. This did not strike me as anything out of the ordinary until I got a text from another mom, her daughter, uh who um asking if my son was
096having any trouble with this student. She shared with me that her son and several other boys had been threatened, harassed, and physically assaulted by him. I was surprised that it had gotten that bad. My son's pretty aloof, so um he didn't he he knew the boy was getting in trouble. He didn't realize how bad it was. She shared with me that on the second day of school, this child had threatened another classmate on the bus with gun violence. This is when I began to be concerned. I contacted the mother of the other child who was threatened on the bus, and she confirmed the threat. This past Friday evening, I received a te text from Ashley saying that there had been a fight on the school grounds during recess and the same child had said he
097was going to bring a gun on Tuesday today and called out specific children by name that he was going to shoot. I do not believe my son's name was on this list, but even so, I decided to email the principal about this. She returned my email prompt promptly and said that the school found out about this incident incident after hours on Friday and that they are taking the proper steps to ensure the safety of the kids for today. There was no description in her email of what these steps were and frankly it did nothing to make me feel confident. I sat on this for a day and then decided I would not be sending my kids to school today. I also realized I couldn't keep it to myself anymore and began messaging parents I had
098contact info for. I couldn't bear the thought of parents not having this information and potentially sending their children into a dangerous situation. Sorry. About an hour later, I received a call from Principal Adolfson. Word had traveled back to her that I was sharing with other parents. We had an open conversation about my concerns and why I felt like I should reach out to other parents. She tried to reassure me that if her kids were students at Jefferson, she would feel 100% confident in sending them today. I sent an overview of this conversation to the 10 or so moms that I had previously contacted. Despite what was a civil and somewhat reassuring conversation, I have concerns. Why should we as parents have to have to hear threats through our children or other parents and not through
099the school or district office? Why is ongoing bullying not being communicated about? I understand that the school has the responsibility to protect the privacy of the child causing concern. However, because of the extreme nature of the behaviors of this child, I feel the response from the school was lacking. We finally received a schoolwide email today, the day of the threat, at 300 p.m. after school was dismissed. It was addressing the situation somewhat, still not giving any information on what was going to be done. Meanwhile, since Friday, the families that knew about this threat have spent days hearing nothing and not being told what steps are being taken to keep our kids safe. We all know that our country has a huge problem with gun violence in schools. Morton, Illinois is not immune to this. Our
100small town bubble is not impenetrable. In Minneapolis this past week, we saw yet another example of when a shooter opened fire on school children and churchgoers attending mass at Enunciation Catholic School. Now, my kids are terrified to go back to school tomorrow. And just to clarify, I never told my kids about the sh the the gun threat. It was the kids that were threatened to their faces that told my kids what was going on. And they said, "Mom, please don't send us to school." My time's up. Thank you. Is that it? >> That's it. Do I have a motion to go into close session for student discipline uh purchase or lease of property as well as >> personnel performance >> support Mr. Red, >> yes. >> Mrs. Layman, >> yes. >> Dr. Cross, >> yes.
101>> Dr. Crawl, >> yes. >> Mrs. Perie, >> yes. >> Mr. Roth, >> yes. >> And Mr. Onus, >> yes. >> All right. Five minutes. Thank you. [Music]