001[music] order. >> Dr. Crom, >> present. >> Mr. Onosur, >> present. >> Mrs. Py, >> present. >> Dr. Cross, >> I'm present. >> Mrs. Layman, >> here. >> Mr. Bra >> present >> and Mr. Red >> here. >> All right. Join me in the pledge of allegiance. [cough] >> I pledge allegiance 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. Audience presentations. Are there none? There are none. I am not going to read all that. Then um we will move on to uh administrative reports. >> Our first um Lisa Kowalsski here. >> She just stepped out. [laughter] Sorry, >> she ran away. >> We're we're getting the presentation loaded up. So, um Yep. You're going to
002be first up. >> Okay. [clears throat] >> Technology. >> It's not working. Oh, okay. It's not going to work, Lisa. So, you just look anxious and I'll forward the I'll forward the slide for you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, so, as you know, I do this same report every year. Um, I try to keep consistent so that you can always refer back to previous years if you ever want to know what's going on. And this is our look back at what FY25 ended up looking like and what we are looking at for our 26 budget. These are preliminary numbers. When I say that they're not going to be far off from this, however, I can't say they're official because our auditors are currently in our offices this week and next week finishing up
003making sure that everything, you know, tees are crossed and the eyes are dotted, the whole thing, right? Um so but these are very very close if not actual numbers that you will see um on our AFR when the auditors do end up presenting it. So the top section is what we had budgeted for for FY25. The bottom portion is what our actuals ended up looking like. So, for the most part, you can see most of the funds um end up being right on what we thought they were being were going to be. Like the a bond in interest, we thought it was going to be 13,000, ended up 17,000. That's due to interest income, that kind of thing. Um some of the the categories did much better. So, in the ED fund, we actually thought
004and we had budgeted to utilize 431,000 of our reserves, but we only had to use 175,000, which is fantastic. um in our building fund, our operation and maintenance, that is the fund that every year I stand before you and I have to say we budget for it because if it does does happen, I have to have that money available, right? But carryover always happens with construction no matter what. Um because of our fiscal year ending June 30th, summer projects are usually our biggest projects, right? Um so we're never spending all the money that that we're anticipating. So that money will be carried over. So, as you can see, I thought we were going to utilize 1.6 million in our O andM fund. We actually ended up adding um the 3 million to it. Okay. Um
005in uh the capital projects fund. So, that's another one. That is our bond money that we had issued a year and a half ago. I think it was specifically for the high school project. Um I thought we would utilize 6.2 million. Um but we ended up only doing 5.6. again carryover. We haven't spent all the money for that project that is currently going on. So that 580,000 is just going to roll over to FY26. Okay. [clears throat] So this tells us what do our fund balances look like at the end of FY25 after all that happened. What do we look like? As you know, our bare minimum we have to have is that 180 180 days in reserves. As you can see um in the four categories listed we are well above that. We are
006doing okay. Um in the O andM fund obviously that's going to look huge right because we have all those funds that we're going to spend on the project. So it's always misleading when you look at the on and m when you're doing what we're doing and that is upgrading our facilities the way that we're doing it. Um but obviously we're going to be spending a lot of that reserve down. So that number is going to continue to go down in the next year or two. So, um, kind of took the numbers. Oh, it does not look good there. I apologize. That's not what it looks on my sheet. Um, it should be actuals to rejected, right? So, 431, as I mentioned, in the ED fund was my projected. My actual is 175. Um, I just
007like to put it side by side so that there's no question on how we thought we were going to do versus our actuals. Um but our ultimate bottom net change in all fund balances that's not just the ones listed but all of them um is was projected to be a negative 7.8 million but actually it was -2.4 million. Again we're eating into the reserves specifically uh and intentionally. Okay. So what does our new year look like? Um I was actually just talking about this. This is my um best guess right now. So, one of the issues that we have is that as a district, we don't always get the final numbers before we do our budget. We're expected to file our budget by September 30th. Well, before I do that, I have to present it
008to you. Then you have to approve it. We have to give a hearing. There's there's all these steps. And in the meantime, I have to come up with what I think my best numbers are going to look like. In the next week or two, it could come back. I might find out more information on CPBRT specifically. That was one of those numbers I've spoken to you in the past years. It went way up for a few years and now it's come back down. I'm taking a stab at a guess when I when I factored it in here and it's conservative guess, but maybe it'll come in a little higher, maybe it'll come in a little lower. I don't know. But right now, I'm doing [clears throat] my best guess in in that respect. Um, but
009other than that, um, for the most part, I think these are our spot-on numbers. So, uh, one of one of the things too is that, um, depending on transportation reimbursement. So, I do a transportation claim every year. If we get the 82% that the state is currently estimating that we will get, my transportation revenue might be higher than that. Um, and it could be an additional 135,000. If that's the case, I might have to toot this a little bit before I brought it before you um for that final, but it's it's only because I don't have those numbers yet. I can't guarantee anything. Um the working cash, you'll note the 2.61 million. So 2.5 million is going to go to capital projects as I've talked about. Again, having the money there so that we can
010do the projects that we've been talking about. um 110,000 of interest income from that fund is going to go um into the ED fund. Okay. Um then you look at the tort fund. Normally you don't see a negative number in our tort fund, but this year we are specifically paying the SRO payment to uh the village or I'm sorry to Morton Police Department um for the FY25 um service that they provided. We also have an FY26 payment in there. Um, but that's going to continue here going forward. [cough and clears throat] But then we also have the crosswalk payment to the village thrown in there. So that's why we're intentionally using some of the reserves and that's why that number is negative 234,000. Next year it won't look like that. It'll be pretty much break
011even once we've removed those two pieces that I just mentioned. Okay. Our timeline. So, um I have already um put the notice of the public hearing and that [clears throat] the budget will be on display here at the district office in the paper that was published on August 1st kind of to make the timeline work. You know, I'm always especially since we only have one board meeting a month. Um now, um so kind of uh fitting it in. So, I did that on on the first. Um today I'm presenting you the budget. Then on the second, the plan would be we'd have the hearing, you would discuss it and approve it in that day. If for some reason something drastic happened, then we might have to have an alternate board meeting in the middle of
012September in order to get this done. I don't anticipate that as I mentioned. Um, but we do have that as backup if we needed to. So, where is our revenue coming from? This is no different than previous years. The majority of our revenue comes from our property tax. Um, so 72.4% 4% of all of our budgeted revenue comes from that evidence-based funding, which is the state money that we receive. It used to be called general state aid. Now it's called evidence-based funding. Um, we receive about 5.2% of our revenue from there. And I listed where I am budgeting. That is an area that we just got those numbers anticipated a little bit um less than we are actually [clears throat] receiving because we are getting some tier funding. never know what that number is going
013to look like and I literally just got that yesterday. Um, so we do have a little bit more in there. Um, CPBRT is 3.5%. And then federal sources is 3.2. Other state revenue is 3.2. So very comparable between um those two and then all the other local revenue equates to about 12.5%. That's interest earnings. Now that number is going to fluctuate in years. you you won't always say exceed 12.5 because right now we're still doing okay on our interest income because rates are higher for my investments. Um when I first came here, you know, I was lucky if I was getting 8% [clears throat and laughter] on something. Um today we're right around fourish depending on um who I'm going with, how long a term, that kind of thing. So that number can fluctuate quite
014a bit. Okay, where does our money go? As we know, most of the ED fund goes to salaries and benefits. It's 81%. [cough] Um, as far as all of our fund expenditures, it's 55.4. Keep in mind, we have huge expenditures this year in our onm fund. So, that why that's why that number is so much lower. In an average year, I want to say it's closer to the 6570 mark. Um but because of all those expenditures in the O and M that kind of um dilutes that a little bit. So health insurance um we are um budgeting an 18% increase um from last year. We were at 2.8 million now [cough and clears throat] 3.3 million. Um we are seeking um and not to exceed [clears throat] of 19% for next year. doesn't impact this
015year's budget, but it's something to keep in mind as we're going forward. Um, so when I say that, it's planning accordingly, making sure that we aren't looking at as, oh, if we have a surplus here this year, we have all this money. That's not necessarily the case because next year another 19% on top of our 3.3 million is, you know, half a million dollars. So keep that in mind as we're we're looking at our numbers. The operation is a maintenance fund contains 10.8 million for the capital project and that includes $2 million carryover from FY25. Um and then as I had mentioned the 2.5 um new dollars that's transfer from the working cash fund is going to go into the new projects that we're doing as well. And then I always like to break it
016down so you know exactly what projects are we doing. If somebody asks you, you know exactly what's going on here at the district on this page. This onepage summary tells you. We have a $2 million carryover. We're still working on the Grandundy room renovation. Still working on the Lincoln restroom, although I think these projects are coming close to an end on those. They're looking looking good. Um we have the junior high roof in this as well as the high school gym renovation. And that is the east gym, right? Yes. Thank you. [laughter] Um then we have the capital projects for this um fiscal year. Obviously the big one is that wait room addition that we've been talking about. We are currently out to bid for that um and we'll receive bids at the end of
017August here um to move forward potentially with that and I have budgeted a total of 7 million um within that and again four and a half million budgeted in on&m another two and a half budget in that capital project fund that I told you about then I have um and again these are ballpark numbers because we don't know exactly what anything's going to come in at they could come in much lower. Fingers crossed. I hope that's what happens. Um they could potentially come in a little higher. We don't know, but this is what we're budgeting based on the architect's um best [clears throat] guess at this point. Um Grundy and Early Childhood um you know talking about adding on to that space. We budgeted a little bit for that. And then we have that maintenance.
018That's that carryover amount I referenced on the left side. And then the junior high STEM labs. We've been talking about that for a while now and it's finally made its way into our FY26 budget. Okay. So, um I always budget 99% of our actual taxes that I'm hoping to um collect and that is because there's no guarantees. As we saw a few years ago, things happen sometimes. We're not always promised everything. We usually come in around 99.3 99.4%. Um, but I I like to to stay a little bit more conservative just in case. Um, our property tax revenue this year is increasing by 1.4 million in the ED fund and 290,000 in the O andM fund over last year's levels. Then our expenditures um so our total salary cost in the ED fund the onm
019fund and the transportation funds will increase by 1.9 million or 7.1%. This includes our annual increases as you know along with lane adjustments and additional positions or any other adjustments. Okay. So that's it. It encompasses a lot of things in there. So if our raises are 5% that doesn't take into account the other things that I was mentioning. So [clears throat] I contra employer contribution remains about the same. [cough] Um [clears throat] but it goes by calendar year. So this year right now it's 6.2ish%. It's going to go down a little bit. That doesn't really fluctuate very much but I just always mention it. our bond payment schedule. So these are all the payments that we have remaining and the amount that is due this year. So this is a nice little picture um reiterates
020some of the information on the previous pages um but in a in a pretty little um format for you so you can take a quick glance to see where all of our money is coming from. big blue is the property taxes and then the breakdowns um that I had on that other page are the other areas and I had just mentioned that CPBRT I don't have that final number but this is my best guess as of right now of what we're going to be able to allocate to the fund again a nice picture of our expenditures same information but just in a little bit of a different format so you can see um as you can see when you add the salaries and benefits where that number I was mentioning earlier. Um, it really does
021take up a large part of our expenditures in the ed fund. Um, I don't really have too much else to say about that. It's pretty in this next page you'll see the what does that mean? So, just because I tell you numbers, you always want to know what did last year look like? What did two years look a year ago look like? So, this is that picture for you. Obviously, the salaries are the salaries. The benefits are semi out of our control, right? That's health insurance. If we have an 18% increase, I can't control that. It is what it is. Um, our people are doing the best they can to negotiate the best pricing that we can get. Um, but that's continues to to go up a consider a considerable amount. Um, I'm trying to
022think if there's anything else. I don't think so. Okay, next one. Same thing in the O andM fund. I'm giving you that picture of the revenue. We really don't have a lot of sources of revenue in the O andM fund. Um, we have property taxes. The interest on investments, which again, you can see that's a very large number. In previous years, that might that number might be 50,000. You know, it it's we're in good times. if you have money to invest as we do in reserves and we're being able to add a little bit more to our our dollars because of it other local revenues like rentals that kind of thing just so you know um expenditures um that's there's that cap capital outlay that I mentioned $1 million lots of projects fall within that
023okay um the wait room the junior high STEM labs all those on the previous page are within that number. Then the next one um so I even specifically labeled here 10 million [clears throat] of that are the capital projects. That remainder includes like non-building improvements and equipment. So that might be upgrades to a parking lot. Maybe we need to resurface it or [clears throat] we might need some equipment of some sort. So that falls in that's what the difference is between those numbers just so you know [laughter] fund balances. Um so I always bring this to you at the levy time as well. Um in recent years it's been a very um big topic of how much money does a school district have on reserve? Um because our job is not to accumulate and pile
024up all the money. our job is to be resourceful and responsible with the money that we have um and try to limit the increase in taxes as much as we can, right? Um that being said, when you look at these numbers, as you know, we have that $16.8 million in the um fund on&m fund right now. Okay, that being said, it shows we have 376 [laughter] days in reserve. We don't have that, right? because we're going to spend that money and it's a an intentional spend. It was an intentional allocation of funds to that fund so that we wouldn't have to raise taxes and do go out for a referendum and do all of that. Um so that is why that number is so large. Next year when we spend it down, you can see
025then our we're bringing that number down quite a bit. Okay. Um, every year is going to look a little different for the next couple years until we get these projects under our belt. So, I can't tell you what that number is actually going to be every year. I'm only guesstimating right now based on what I am projecting our expenditures to be as well as our revenue. So, always keep that in mind when you're when you're looking at this page. And then here I just broke it down again um at the top so you can keep in mind our total O andM budget is 15.4 million and that sounds like such a huge number. It is a huge number. It really is what we than what we typically spend but again that 11 million of it
026is all the projects that is listed um that I explained and then you've got the few million for the salaries and benefits and then some other routine bills and equipment under that. You've got electricity, you've got water, you've got gas, you've got internet, you've got you name it, right? Well, maybe not internet. I say that's but everything else kind of falls under the the O andM budget for all of that. And then um I wanted to also put it very clearly what the capital capital projects fund will look like. that total of 13.3 million. Um, how much of it's going to come out of the capital projects fund? It's going to be that 2.5 million that I told you we're going to transfer from the working cash to the onm as well as that leftover
027amount that I mentioned earlier. Okay? So, that's why that total comes up to be what it is. Then the next page, um, so after all that said, we have our budget, we know what we're doing, we have a good plan. This is our page that tells us what do our fund fund balances look like at the end of next year. Okay, so June 30th next year, this is my proposal of what I think everything will look like. So here you can see in the O andM fund it's actually shown 177 days but again as I mentioned that is based on the expenditures of this year which is not a typical year. We're not really going to be 177 days. It's going to be the 300 that I had mentioned right um more so in that
028that because we're still going to have some money to carry over right for some other projects. Um, another thing to make note of, our transportation fund is still um, doing okay at 188 days in reserves. Now, that is a fund we don't get a lot of funding. And I kind of mentioned earlier how our transportation depends on what we actually end up getting from the state and what kind of revenue that's going to bring into that fund. Well, we also are allocating some uh additional funding that we're now getting for Medicaid to that fund and that's intentional as well. And the reason is is because we have to have specific vehicles for some students for transportation purposes means that they have to actually be altered for that student and we use it for that purpose.
029So Medicaid now has an annual report. We never had this before, but we do now. And I have completed that. And because of that, we're getting some additional funding for those vehicles that are specifically modified for those special need students. Okay. So, that looks like it's getting close. I But because of that, we're we're ending [clears throat] up okay. And I anticipate being able to use those funds in years to come because that that's an annual report that I will be getting funds from. Um, the next one is just that pretty picture. This always looks worse than it ends up being. Um, but I can't get excited and I can't be too optimistic and think, oh, next year interest rates are going to be fantastic on my interest investments or on my investments. And I
030can't also say, next year we're going to get a bump in CPPRT. I have no idea. it could go down. I also don't know what evidence-based spending really is going to look like. So, I always have to um do it on a very conservative outlook. It's not too conservative. It's just right there in the middle. So, I'm not fooling ourselves and getting ourselves into a bad situation. [cough] [clears throat] So, the trail goes down, but it might not look like that next year when I present the actual FY26 numbers to you. Maybe maybe it'll be a little bit like it was this year. I told you I was going to spend 430 of the ED fund reserve. I only ended up spending 175,000, right? [cough] So, it [clears throat] wasn't as bad as we thought
031it was going to be. But, and it sounds like, well, how can you not know that? There are so many factors. There's no way for me to know exactly down to the penny, especially when you're talking about a $36 million fund, right? [clears throat] So, that's kind of where we are. And you can see I put at the bottom of there O andM fund reflects zero dollars in CPRT. So we were intentional. We moved those funds to the O and M on& and M fund for the past few years. We're not doing that anymore. It's now back to the ED fund um so that we are um contributing that where it needs it right now. Okay, I think that is it. Any questions? Thank you, Lisa. It's awesome as always. I um it's impressive the
032detail and the time you put into it. It's super helpful. I know it's the first time you sit through it. It's kind of like, wow, that's a lot of numbers and a lot of abbreviations, but it all makes sense in the end. [laughter] >> It does. And it and it is really hard. I try to point out the things that I think are notable, things that you wouldn't specifically know or realize why they look like they look like. Um, but it it's very hard to explain in detail every step of what I do over there when I'm doing the budget. If you sat over there with me when I actually do the actual budget, I I submit to the Isby, it would not be fun. [laughter] It's it's a little challenging sometimes making sure every
033single thing because it's every single um salary, every single benefit and which account that that goes to and we have we have many many many accounts that we do. So this is just that putting it all together trying to tie it into a little bow so that you can understand it. >> Thanks. Appreciate it. >> Sure. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, for the administrative report, I'm going to stick with the finance here. Um, I'm I'm going to just reiterate, you heard uh Lisa mention that the audit team from Clifton, Larson, and Allen arrived on site yesterday morning uh bright and early to start a week-long audit. Um, so that that provides a little extra stress as you're getting prepared to deliver a uh your FY26 budget, but uh Lisa and her team with
034Katie and Amy have done a great job and and at the same time they brought on a new uh staff member, Hannah Rudolfphie, and she's joined the team and hit the ground running and really helped us out. So uh special thanks go out to um Lisa and her team for for their work. Uh in a few seconds here I'm going to turn uh the floor on over to Dr. Teter to talk about a special event that we just had here that was our new staff orientation. Uh but as far as uh you can go on to the next slide. Um you know as far as gratitude I I just want to thank Dr. Teter and Mrs. Wyman, um Valerie Smith, uh all the district office staff that uh did a lot of work planning this
035event. It's it's evolved over time and it's solid. And with that, I'm going to turn the floor on over to Dr. Teter. So, I am um you'd think being here this long, you would have realized more goes on than goes on, but a lot goes on to get, as I said at the dinner, all those people in that room that we can be introduced to. and it has just been an incredible feat. Uh I know the work that the principles and administrators go through to get the name submitted to us and then once it gets here, all the paperwork and organization and um our new staff showed up Monday morning and the IT staff had them all set up and ready to go. I think with uh one exception because I misspelled a young man's
036name incorrectly, everyone was able to get into everything and once I learned how to spell his name, he could get into everything. Uh it has just been an incred uh the office staff, the administration uh and all the pieces that go into it. Um you know, put together this new staff orientation. Susan Piles did a presentation. She does one every year on Morton. I've never listened to it. I was ready to buy a second house. This place sounds that cool. So it was just it was great. Ashley Bolero was here from the library. It is amazing the resources that the library partners with us uh to make happens. And I I will say we are very fortunate to live in a community where uh we have such great relationships with the other entities from the
037park district to the library to the city uh to the police department. Uh we're just very fortunate and uh I know that because I've been here for a very long time. But um uh as I said, Susan Piles has a very infectious nature for Morton and it was it was pretty cool to see. [clears throat] Uh so I am glad that this is something that has been a tradition here. Uh I always love to eat. I love the dinner as a part of the tradition, but the orientation itself is just been a great experience from this new perspective and I'm thankful that that's what we do and that the staff members that we have joining us. >> Thank you, Dr. Tier. and and and I just want to recognize all of you, the board that
038has supported this new staff orientation over the years. I I'd like to say it's second to none. Um we we Here's a picture of of the new staff we heard tonight the diverse backgrounds that they're coming to us from. And so uh those that have worked in other districts, they're they're shocked at uh how well this uh program is run. So, thank you to the board of education for um for supporting that. So, we'll go on to the next. Uh so, I've got a handful of slides on facilities. Uh the first one is uh the Morton High School phase 2. As Lisa mentioned, officially went out for bid on Thursday, July 31st. There is a bid opening scheduled for Wednesday, August 27th at 2 p.m. I need to thank uh Lee Garretts and Ronnie Shuck
039and the MHS administration. I I know that Kirk and his team did a lot of uh last minute work to make sure that that bid got out um on the 31st. And so we're we're excited about seeing where the bids come in. Hopefully we get a lot of uh interest in the project and I hope that we have some good results to share after the bid opening and sticking with the high school. Um the East Gym project is progressing well. Rodney shared that they started on the four-week long process of installing the new gym floor. So that that's everything from the concrete up. So, we've got a couple multiple layers, a subfloor, and then they come on in and and do the rest of the hardwood. And so, we're excited about that. So, uh, space
040bar. Next, moving on to Jefferson. Wow, [clears throat] I cannot believe. I mean, this looks amazing. Okay. Um, and so the team that put together the color schemes, if you look at the picture on the left, that is stained wood, not painted. and whoever whoever came up with that, they get an A+ on this on this uh effort here. And then the center logo. So, thank you Jamie for sending over a couple pictures. Um we're missing some doors, but you'll see a common uh theme throughout the rest of our facilities update. So, moving on to Grundy. Uh got two things to report out on. The related services offices are almost done, but they're missing doors. Okay, that for some reason doors are on back order and so uh [clears throat] Miss Higgus and Miss Franklin
041and her team are going to make do because these doors will not be in for the start of school. So they're working on a plan to to be able to maybe do [clears throat] some partitions or something in there. Um but next step is we got to get some office furniture installed, but it's coming along. Um that is a great uh space that the related services is going to be using. And then uh to the left um you'll take a look brand new cafeteria tables. And so I know Ell is excited. The students are going to I I know that they're going to walk on in. But wow, we've got new tables and that will uh that'll be utilized next week. Um moving on. Morton Academy uh was out there today. I wanted to share
042this information with the board. um the administrative spaces. This is in the uh the center for youth and family services building which is adjacent to the Morton Academy building. I want to give you a picture of what that looks like. So you see these offices on the left uh account 1234 that go around. This is the additional 1300 square ft uh that we engaged in in extending or expanding our lease agreement for this space. So, as far as that goes, uh what we're looking at is an admin office, uh school site, social worker, sensory space, OTP, and speech are all going to be occupied in that as well as a break room. But this is just going to be such a nice relief. Um years prior I in the Morton Academy the instructional site it
043was a scramble to find usable space um that didn't have either uh lunch going on or um uh PE activities or the other specials taking place or class. And so this is uh going to be really nice. In addition to this, uh we have met um with Lee Garretts, the architect, given him some guidance as to putting together a 30,000 ft, uh plan of what an expansion at the instructional side of Morton Academy would look like. So, uh we hope to have that back in the next week or so that I can then forward to the uh the CY FS admin. um they have a board meeting coming up the third week in August. And so our hope is is that they can present that um a 30,000 foot view to keep the conversation u
044moving in the right direction as a possible uh expansion there. And that was included in Lisa's budget, the $ 1.5 million that uh she put in there, that is to account for the um a possible project. [cough] Now, [clears throat] what is the reality of spending all those funds this year? H probably minimal that we'd be able to spend all those funds, but it would carry on over into the next year. Okay. Uh moving on, Lincoln. I just going to spend a few moments on this. This is the uh restroom and the rise class uh classroom uh remodel. Uh what's missing in this picture? Come on, you all can say it. Floors. Very good. Uh you're a good student. Um, but I this is looking really nice. As a military guy, I am fond of
045highly polished floors and the custodial staff this summer. I mean, when you look at that floor on the right and it's just as bright in the floor, the reflection of the lights, that is good work. So, uh, I I want to give a shout out to uh that group as well for their work this summer. And they had to do that in around contractors and a lot of dust. So, uh, I've got a few other items. Um, there was a group of us, uh, Miss Smith, Valerie, uh, Mr. Carter, Miss Higgus, Miss Wyman, Miss McCclure, and I attended the standard reunification method training that took place out at, uh, Crossro, no, not Crossroads, Northwoods Church, um, way out in North Poria. Dunlap hosted the event and there were a number of schools that participated in
046it. a full day training that was excellent. It focused from the standard response protocol which we adopted as a district about uh a year and a half, two years ago. Um and and the standard response protocol is all the stuff on you know the front end trying to deal with um in the event that we would need to change a status in our building from regular operations to a hold to a secure or a lockdown. that is founded on and it emphasizes building relationships, okay, with our police, our fire, our EMTs, all of our first responders. And so just having common language and sharing resources along that way. And it also focuses on situational awareness in emergency management. Those are my two favorite words, situational awareness. So this training focused on uh walking through all
047of the steps to initiate reunification operations. So this means everyone has been relocated from a building. Now what how are we going to go through that process? As you can imagine, I hope we never ever ever have to engage in that. But it was good training. It really makes you think um about all the steps that [clears throat] go through it. But the biggest takeaway is that uh this is an extension of the SRP and complements the mutual aid agreement that we have with the ROE's 48 and 53. Um new administrator orientation. We're copying and pasting what we have done with the new staff orientation. And this year we really formalized a full day. And I got to give credit to uh Dr. Teter um a and just uh Stephanie Brown, Kate Wyman who did
048a lot of the heavy uh lifting with the new administrator orientation. These are the people that attended Mrs. Adolfson, Mrs. Vastine, Miss McCclure, Miss Ericson, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Tennel. It was a full day. We covered everything from goals pillars, being a leader, everything in human resources and evaluations. Kate and Stephanie let out a great session on um on uh personal growth and self-care as administrator because that's a a change for some of our uh new admin. Um Lindsay hit the student support services. Uh Kate circled back and hit uh school safety and curriculum. Um we covered the full spectrum of technology and resources that we use here in 709. And then Dr. Teter finished up with managing fiscal resources. So Alisa is proud that we even hit the fiscal side of the house. Had
049great feedback on that. Uh I mentioned crosswalks. If you've been out and about in Morton, you can see that the village has made uh some progress with the concrete work. So they're ahead of the game. I'm almost done with my report. I don't know how many people are going to like this next thing. the first days staff report on uh Monday August 11th and then the students I'm sorry students uh your first day it's a half day is on Tuesday August 12th the extension [clears throat] to the board on the 11th um we serve breakfast from 7:30 to 8:30 at the at the cafeteria at the high school you're more than welcome to attend help out if you just want to walk around and drink coffee and share some good stories you're invited just let
050Valerie known. Um, and then we'll have a kickoff assembly uh from about 8 starting hopefully about 8:45 to about 9:15 and then get everything sent on off uh everyone sent out to start the school year. Um, last thing here in the administrative report is the policy review. Our homework was to go through um section two, which is school board policies. And we had a handful of policies going from 210 to 2100. That's my report. Do you have any questions about the policy review or anything that uh I shared with you? >> Any updates on when the doors are going to be in? >> Uh the steel doors are coming sooner than the wooden [cough] doors. [clears throat] And so the steel doors should be in pos possibly next week sometime. The wooden doors it we
051may be a couple weeks into the school year. How about I say this? Two weeks after the school year. >> I don't hold me to that. >> No, I'm with you. You just said it. >> It's from the line the money pit. How much longer until we're done? Two weeks. Two weeks. So, [laughter] any other questions? Okay. Oh, we're not to discussion items yet. All right. So, uh board reports. Um, I do I want to reiterate uh thank everyone for all the work that goes into the new teacher dinner. It's pretty great to get to sit down, have a good meal, share stories, um joke around, be [snorts] human and connected with people. It's super, I think, worthwhile for us to be in there and do that with them. So, thanks um everybody for showing
052up. Um, we had talked a little bit last time about the board and building meetings last time and this says that Mr. Cherry R is going to talk about that. Is that true? >> Yes. >> Okay. Would you like to give us an update? >> I will. So, first off, thanks for everybody that sent your wishes for what the new um meeting with the teachers are going to be. I uh I got it like 30 seconds before the meeting. So, I did the best I could to explain to the the committee um what the board wishes. Um so, I thought I did a good job with that. The board the the committee was fantastic. It was I couldn't have had a better experience with that committee. I didn't know what to expect going into it.
053When I left, it's like, hey, I feel pretty good about what the future is now. Is it 100% official and what the what we're going to do? No, because we need to come back here. But, uh, Dr. Sanders sent out an email to everybody that had a very good, um, uh, m minutes. And really the biggest thing that I'm going to share with you guys is between the committee members and what the board wished and the district office, I think the best way forward, we had three action items, right? Um, one was MPTB would take a video or whatever they want to do. the principles would get a hold of them uh one school per month, right? So MPTB would then highlight I think we used Lety Brown and for October they would highlight Letty
054Brown. That's what would happen during that month. The board at that point the board members could go in and visit Letty Brown at your time because you have a different schedule than I have than you know me and so on and so forth. we get to go see it, but we just need to let the principal know, in that case be Mrs. Waterfield know, hey, we can be here at such and such time so they could set up something for us to do. And then finally, somebody um from the board said, "Hey, let's still do the 5:30 things, but not on a on a on a board meeting night." So that meant I suggested this is a suggestion not knowing who wanted what the alternate meeting that we're supposed to have that we no longer
055have. Maybe we go visit the school of the month at 5:30. And we didn't say how long we were going to be there. Mrs. Waterfield said, "Hey, let's have something a little bit more um uh organized at that point in time so we can show you what we want to show you, but not real long." So maybe it's 30 minutes, maybe it's 60 minutes. Um, so that's kind of where we're at. We never decided on what school was going to be on what uh month. Uh, but anyway, the committee members were really good to work with. There was a lot of brainstorming, but that was the three big action items that came out of it. One, MPTB does their thing. Two, we get to go visit the school at what's convenient for us and the
056school. So it's not, hey, I'm going to be here at 9:00. No, we have to get permission. And then the third thing is is the every other meeting the other every other Tuesday. What is it? The third Tuesday. >> Third Tuesday of the month would we would go there from 5:30 to 6:30 or whatever the time might be. And that's that's the the biggest highlights, the three big highlights. And again, you guys can go in and read the the the minutes. Um and then Mrs. Waterfield, can you want to jump in here? Um, I thought we talked about more like, you know, visiting tables like the junior high does, you know, where you could go and visit a table, but [clears throat] yep, I talked about all those things. [laughter] >> We did do the
057speed. We talked about speed, but we didn't really finalize what we're going to do at each school. That was a an item that we talked about. I don't know if we ever actually finalized that. So that was kind of left intentionally open >> and then I think each school could kind of do what they want to make it >> to they can highlight show off what they want. So between the MPT between us going and between the highlights of that uh third the third Tuesday of the month and then here's the other thing I used your quote. Hey, this is an opportunity, not an obligation, but we do want to get the teachers there as many as possible, but they're not obligated to go. And then some of the the committee members said, hey, it's
058on them if they don't want to go to kind of show off what they're doing. So, you know, and then we decided, hey, if it's going to be a if they're not going to be there and we only get 5% of the teachers showing up, then it's kind of not hitting the spot. But what we we decided what we talked about hopefully will get us back to the sweet spot and we'll have to adjust. You know, this will be this will be something new and I think if we try this and then it works say 50% then we'll adjust the other 50%. So it it's something better than what we had this past year. We tried the mornings it just didn't work. So that's where we are. Um thanks again. That was I thought I
059thought it was a good good committee and a good meeting. It was an hour long. So, and I think every the high school was there, we had elementary schools there, we had uh the district was there >> and junior high >> and the junior high was there. So, I think we hit every school and of course I was there from what you guys had sent. >> Any questions for me that I can help answer? And they they were there as well. No. >> I'm sorry. Um, so what are what should we expect then say for September? Who's the point on that? What will we be hearing as a board? >> I'm hoping that's a great question. And I talked to Dr. Sander just a little bit. I mean, maybe 30 seconds. So that's not finalized.
060[laughter] So we've got the October, November, December, January, February, March. If we start in October, oh shoot, we we're going to need and April. So that'll give us a seven seven different schools. So hopefully September we'll have more of this finalized. Oh, all of it finalized. >> Fair. >> Yeah, that's that's fair. Uh we as much as I'd love to say that we'd be prepared to roll something out in September, we still have some additional work. The good news is is that we're not asking a lot. Um you know, MPTV is going to have some tasks. [clears throat] Uh the video that we would share at a board meeting, we're looking at like, you know, those uh 3 to five minute videos of what's happening in their building and we can showcase that at a
061board meeting. And so, um, if we use December, and I know December can get really, really crazy, uh, we may have some work to to to work around. So, um, so we got to plan that. But as as we're getting back in, I met with, uh, Ben Ginsel and shared kind of where we're at. Uh, we have a a meeting coming up here in August on August 21st, uh, to to continue on with the agenda, not as a committee, but just between the MEA and the DO. so that we can start and then we need to sit down with the uh leadership team to see who would like to take what month because [clears throat] I I bet that there's a certain kind of pecking order that is really important with that. So, um we'll
062bring something back to the board, more of a structured calendar, and then we can start the work on on improving the process. But I don't know if anyone saw me, I I kind of looked over the step and we're rolling out the continuous improvement model. Um, and so I did this because it is the infinity loop. And so as as Mr. Rudd said, you know, what we're looking at is just improving upon what we did last year. It's just that simple. So, and then hopefully we'll find out because, you know, if we go there for 20 minutes, probably, sorry, the third Tuesday of the month, probably not going to hit the sweet spot. If we go there for 3 hours, that's definitely not going to hit the sweet spot. So, you know, maybe uh not
063to exceed 60 minutes while we're at the school, >> you know, so that way everybody's happy. We're not killing the teachers cuz I think that was part of the problem two years ago that they're putting together these videos and they're they were overdoing it from what we wanted and and you know that was expressed. Um so anyway, we just need to hit the sweet spot, but the sweet spot I think we're going to get closer. >> Mhm. Thank you. >> And again, I'd like to say thanks to the all the committee members that were that were on there. I I really thought it was good because everybody had everybody brought their brain to brainstorm and everybody had an open mind. That's what I like. When you don't have an open mind with a closed mind,
064you get nowhere. Everybody had an open mind there. >> Okay. >> Do we have a path forward on it? And we do. Okay. some things iron out and we'll clear out. Okay. Um and [clears throat and cough] then anything else for agenda building discussion items. >> Okay. Uh the one discussion item is the e-learning plan. I can go into whatever depth the board would like me to go into. I know it's been a long night, but our e-learning plan is up for renewal. It's a three-year plan. It was uh last done in 2022. Um Isby has some specific guidelines that we need to follow um in order to uh get that approved. Um I do want to read this statement though. This was uh on the ISBY website and it was really good and you'll
065see where I'm going with this. So here here it is. The Illinois State Board of Education recognizes and affirms the fundamental importance of in-person learning for the well-being of students, families, and communities. We know that children learn best and educators teach best when they are physically present together in the same space. I love that. I thought that was very well said and I wanted to share that with everyone because as we move into our e-learning plan, you know, renewing it, it is just another tool in the toolbox. We have emergency days and every district is allowed five emergency days. There's also up to five e-learning days and um for e-learning our we're we were not making any recommendations to change our existing e-learning plan. Um the community can look at it uh the board can
066look at it. Anyone can go out and take a look. It's located uh on our website underneath the parent tab. Um it's a pretty comprehensive plan. Um and basically it's used in a last resort. Um and it does provide uh some options. Uh we haven't you utilized the e-learning plan over the last three years. Um but I I just want to make this point clear. uh with e-learning plans and emergency plans, you would have to exhaust all 10 of those before you could uh use active god days. And I'll give you an example. A tornado that hit a town, you know, just north of here. Um there were districts that had exhausted their five emergency days and this was time before e-learning days. And so then they just enacted act of God days. And so
067in the event that there would be something catastrophic, you know, we have the leverage of having five emergency days, five e-learning days that we can continue. And so there is that there is the advantage of doing that, but it's it's just another tool that that we have. So um there is a formal process. It we have to have a board hearing. Um and that would be scheduled for September. the September board meeting. Lisa is going to have a board budget hearing at that meeting as well. So, we'd have backtoback hearings that just allows the the community to come in and provide public comment. That's that's the whole purpose of the hearing. We also have to provide written electronic notice of the e-learning plan or all of our parents and guardians and caregivers. That would most
068likely Valerie, here's our homework assignment. We got to get that statement ready to go for next week's first edition of the Potter Post. And we'll check that box and then um I'll send something out to our employees about because that has to also go out electronic notice uh of that to the employees. And then after we check all those boxes, then there would be an action item at the September board meeting for to adopt a resolution to approve a our uh e-learning plan. So unless you have questions, comments about the e-learning plan, we're not changing anything up. It's it's been in place for the last 3 years. >> So we just can't eliminate it then. Kind of like what I said in the text >> to eliminate the e-learning plan. >> Uh I [sighs] the
069initial thought is I I would be hesitant to do that because you just don't know what could happen and if you get into the act of God days, those can just drop off your your your calendar. So, in the example I gave, students need to be in attendance 176 days. If you use your five emergency days, then you're either looking at extending contracts or you just uh use active god days and you shorten it. And that's what happened in 2013 district, you know, students only attended like we'll say 171 days. And so, um, but that's that's for the board to uh look at. My recommendation would be to move forward with maintaining the e-learning plan. >> Yeah. So I I mean so the opening statement basically tells you well e-learning is terrible but maybe it's
070better than nothing in a situation that there's no other option. And I'd say I mean we've had this plan in place for three years. I don't understand why if we're not changing it needs to be renewed every 3 years. That seems silly but um [clears throat] I would still say that's my preference like you said. Well, we don't need them because we haven't used them. Well, hopefully we never have to use them because that always whether it's I mean We're canceling because of weather and like >> not going to e-learn because of it. Like that that would be the thing that I don't want to happen. [clears throat] >> That's exactly >> exactly. And I don't I don't think right we've canceled because of weather here or there over the past three years and we've
071never used an e-learning day. So I don't think it changes it. So it's it's status quo but gives gives them a tool to break in case of emergency. >> We're all set. >> Okay. >> We just want to represent our community. Well, our community does not prefer e-learning days. >> Totally agree. >> I don't prefer them. >> You want to just get rid of it? I don't want them. But what if there is a tornado and you have to do it? But if there's a tornado, then you don't have internet. You're not going to be able to do it anyway. So, it's almost worthless to me. Now, you got more paperwork that you got to track. Do I want to get rid of it? Yes. Do I see the need? The 001% need. I mean,
072whatever. It's not hurting anything. So, I'm not going to I'm not going to go to battle on this one. I don't like it, but whatever. >> Any else have opinion on the matter? >> Okay. >> Then we'll proceed. We'll get um the notice out to the paper indicating the hearing and then we'll get a resolution drawn up for the September board meeting. That one's going to be a big agenda. Thank you. All right. Um so that ends discussion action items. Um first I have a motion for board of ed of education to accept the revisions as presented to the board from press issue 118 with recommended district edits. I move that the board of education accept the revision that's presented to the board from press issue 118 with recommended district edits >> support >> discussion
073keep keep doing the greens and the reds whoever's doing >> it makes it so much easier >> is that you appreciate it >> thank you >> thanks Valerie >> all All right. [clears throat] Please call the roll. >> Yes, sir. >> Mr. Red, >> yes. >> Mrs. Layman, >> yes. >> Dr. Cross, >> yes. >> Dr. Crawl, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pie, >> yes. >> Mr. Orus Worch. >> Yes. >> And Mr. [clears throat] Roth. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Consent agenda. >> Then consent agenda. >> Right. So, I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> [snorts] >> So move forward. >> Please call a roll. >> Do you Mr. Roth? >> Yes. >> Mr. Onus, >> yes. >> Mr. Red, >> yes. >> Mrs. Perie, >> yes. >> Mrs.
074Layman, >> yes. >> Dr. Crawl, >> yes. >> And Dr. Cross, >> yes. And do I have a motion for the board of education move into close session for the purpose of personnel and negotiations? >> Please call. >> Mr. Red, >> yes. >> Mrs. Birdie, >> yes. >> Mr. Roth, >> yes. >> Mr. Onus, >> yes. >> Dr. Cross. >> Yes. >> Dr. Craw. >> Yes. And Mrs. Liteman. >> Yes. >> Take five minutes. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> [music]