001Do we have any public comments? No, no one gave me. Seeing none, let's move on to our procedural actions. At this time, um the board can sign up for which committees they would like to be on. Um which we just talked about very briefly. So the committee sign up here. Um go to town. It's pretty self-explanatory. >> They're on each round on each side. Just pass them around. >> Do I pass those around? Yeah. They went over. Everybody's got to make sure Heather sees it. Mhm. >> Is there going to be an opportunity to suggest additional committees or how do we go about that process? >> We should that would be an agenda item we can talk about. So um we can't necessarily add these com these committees are called out in their in I
002think the administration policies but from an ad hoc standpoint that would be an agenda item. Any other questions on that one? Establishment of um board meeting dates, times, and places. The chair will entertain a motion that the regular meetings of the CUSD 2011 Board of Education be held as identified on the notice schedule of regular meetings of the Board of Education of Community Unit School District 2011 as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Dr. Hoover, >> yes. >> Miss Mill, >> yes. >> Miss Franklin, >> yes. >> Mr. Norman, >> yes. >> Mr. Marin, >> yes. Miss Conover. >> Yes. Motion passes. Um, appointment of IASB representative. The chair will entertain a motion to approve the appointment. Are we doing Kevin? Kevin, are you this is that is this you? >>
003Uh, that's fine. >> Yeah. Do didn't you Yeah, you did it last year, right? >> Yeah, I did it last year. That's fine. >> Would you guys like to talk about Anybody else want to be the ISB delegate? >> It's an interesting process. >> It is super interesting. Carlos did it the year before. Great. So, um, the I'm going to restart this motion. Then the chair will entertain a motion to approve the appointment of Kevin Marin as community unit school district 2011's Illinois Association of School Boards Delegate Representative. >> Move. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Miss Mill, >> yes. >> Miss Franklin, >> yes. >> Mr. Horman, >> yes. >> Mr. Marin, >> yes. >> Miss Conover, >> yes. >> Dr. Hoover, >> yes. >> Okay. Approval of minutes. The chair will entertain a
004motion to approve the minutes of the April 14th, 2026 regular meeting of the board of education as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. Uh April 14th, 2026 closed. The chair will entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the closed session of the April 14th, 2026 regular meeting of the board of education as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. Um, consent agenda. The chair will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Personnel recommendations. Caitlyn Moser, social worker. Amelia Bera, elementary teacher. William McGee, summer temporary help. Resignation, retirement, leave of absence. Approval of the May 2026 expenditure report. Ratification of the March 2026 regular payroll approval of the SASID lease agreement. >> So move
005second. >> Roll call. >> Miss Franklin. >> Yes. >> Mr. Horman. >> Mr. Marin. >> Yes. >> Miss Conover. >> Yes. >> Mr. Aia. >> I'm sorry. Dr. Hoover. >> Yes. >> Miss Mill. >> Yes. Motion passes. Okay. Information and discussion. Summer school. Carla, come on down. It's that time of year. >> It is. >> Okay. I can be pretty brief here because it is the exact same as last year. So, um I for elementary, the programming we have for elementary, it's June boost, which is your traditional summer school math and ELA focus invitation only, incoming 1st through 5th. Um the initial invites have been sent out to families. Another round of invites will be sent again soon um to make sure that we have we're aiming for up to 90 students in that program.
006ESY is still finalizing enrollment and that there's enrollment determined by IEP eligibility criteria for that one. Um that is pre-K through fifth grade math and ELA focus. Um STEM is a really cool one. Um Steve Ritz does this program and it is open to all incoming second through fifth grade students. There will be a second and third grade group of 25 kids and then a fourth and fifth grade group of 25 kids. Um invites have been sent, registration is open. Um and it's open until the first week of May or until all slots are filled. So 25 for each group. Um and the question always comes up, can my child do STEM and June boost? And we usually work around that. So, we don't want children to miss out on STEM because it's such a
007cool opportunity. Um, so if that happens to anyone, we'll we can talk through it. So, um, Jump Start to Kindergarten has been really successful the last couple of years. It's a couple of days in July and it's for incoming kindergarten students. It's open to all of them and it's really just gets them a jump start into kindergarten. Exactly what it says, focus on academic readiness, kind of talking about school rules, how to be in school. Um, and it's really helpful for the start of the year. And then Saladilante is a super fun program as well. It runs through July 20th through the 30th. Um this program is really fun and um they do a lot of work with the community and um they do songs and it's just a really fun time and it's open
008to current kindergarten through fourth grade students. There are 33 students in there. Um and then registration has been extended to May 8th. So, it's already out there, um, but it's just been extended for junior high, uh, reading and math rising 6 through 8, which is, um, the same as the June boost for elementary. Essentially, it's a math and ELA focus, and it's for students who are in math and reading intervention. Invites went out on Monday, so yesterday. Step up for incoming sixth grade, two days in July for our incoming sixth grade students. The date has been shared, but signups have not happened yet. And then compact 8cc math is an online learning program um for students to make the jump from seventh grade common core math to math 1 for their eighth grade year. Um
009invites have been sent for that one as well. >> And just to clarify, math one is a high school class. So they they're essentially starting high school math in eighth grade. So just >> just to just to put it in normal terms. >> And then summer programming for the high school is the same as it was last year as well. a lot of really cool options. Credit recovery. Um, and this is this gives kids the opportunity to recover credit from failed classes for incoming 10th through 12th grade students. Um, invites usually are typically sent after final exams in spring. Jump to AP Geography is so much fun. Everyone raves about this. There's a classroom session and then a field trip session. And those field trips, I hear, are some of the best things ever. Um,
010and it's for any students enrolled to take AP human geography. Invites haven't happened on that yet. That's coming soon as well. Team transitions in English and math. It's held for any student with literacy and math skills enrolled in literacy workshop and or math 1A. Um, invites again haven't been sent yet. Those are coming soon. High school usually waits until after a lot of their grades and stuff are in before they they share this. Freshman orientation, the date has been shared with families. that will be August 13th and it's for all freshman and students new to 2011 um high school students new to 2011 and then the summer bump honors math pre-calc calculus um it's flexible scheduling and it's really for kids to um so they can enter in and participate in more rigorous coursework for
0119th through 12th grade students looking for enrichment and again the invites they're coming soon. So, what's really cool that we we love is that we're able to offer a variety of programs at in our small district. Um, so for kids who need additional support in math and ELA for enrichment, science programming. So, that's always fun for us. Does anyone have any questions? >> Before you leave, Dr. Bronn, can you go back to those three slides that outline the program? >> Sure. Which one? >> The that first one there. >> Mhm. >> If we just scroll through, this is what we offer. Like Carla just said, from the kids who are most in need to give them academic boost and get them ready to enrichment programs and everything in between. In the summer of 2012, 2011
012had no summer school >> as in none. Now, if we go through this and I'm going to be done with the statement, these are all the options as Carla said for a small district encompassing everything from supports to enrichment. But this is the once life to the next one, please. once again to this junior high program into the high school program. It's pretty incredible and it's I'm just saying the history of this is from nothing >> as in nothing to all the hardworking teachers like Brian and Anna who are here today who are willing to ma uh you know work this and it's incredible opportunity for our kids that the district provides. >> Thank you. And then Carla, what you've done in the past, you're you're you plan to do again with usually in September,
013you kind of give us like a feedback on what's happened over the summer. Um a a board report. Um but what for the community? >> Absolutely. >> What our program is doing, who enrolled, that kind of thing. >> I will definitely do that. >> You set the bar high. So >> Uhhuh. >> make sure there's a note on Oh yeah. for that board agenda. Yeah. Whenever it knows. And to to your point, Carlo, to your point as well, that piece of like I can remember growing up summer school was not it was like, oh, you're going to summer school. >> Yeah. >> You know, and like that is not the case here. Like there it is. You continue your education through summer. Like the beauty of this is that there's something for every kid. We
014have such a high turnout for it, which is like just fills me up, right? because we're always talking about, you know, that education is a lifelong thing and we're trying to teach kids to be learners for life and I think that it's such a important part of this. I the community loves it. It's something super special that we do. So, I want to thank you. I want to thank the administration for continuing to focus on this stuff and um continuing to make things interesting and exciting. So, please thank you all. Can I just ask are these programs provided at no cost or is there >> um >> It depends on the program. STEM is a a minimal cost. So that STEM program um but the June boost is covered by the district. So yeah, it
015depends on the program. >> Also Valente maybe. >> No, I think that's why it's a co that's a low cost. >> Yeah, >> I know the math there's a cost. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. It's dependent on the program. >> Mhm. >> Can you put the next uh slideshow up? It's three slides. >> Great. Thanks everybody. Um >> thank you Dr. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Okie dokie. Our next discussion item, Dr. Balderman's professional development. this presentation. >> I only have three slides and I'll be quick about it. It's the first board meeting I missed in three years and I just want to be very clear. I think the board knows this for certain and so the taxpayers there was no cost at the district except for I being at this learning event. So it
016was 3 days in Puerto Rico. At first I really didn't know that I wanted to go. Um I want to thank uh Mary Cassir and Edith Corrington for getting me connected to Dr. Maria Armstrong who ran this incredible conference. There were about 500 people there uh dignitaries from throughout Puerto Rico uh and seven other countries. And it was truly an incredible experience. It was and I was a panelist. Uh I don't know that they vetted my resume before they asked me to be a panelist because I was talking on AI and anybody who knows me like why the heck did they pick this guy for AI? But I did a lot of learning there. So but it was really a great learning experience. They picked up the cost of the registration in my hotel and
017I paid for my own airfare and I will just say very briefly it was so worth the investment of time and I'll tell you why in a moment. The most memorable quote that I came away with and it really helped me to develop a greater ass uh sense of urgency that we have to address this was an a I will not replace you but somebody using AI will and I think we have to continuously look at if we're providing our students with the learning opportunities to be very AI savvy and knowledgeable. It's a place that all districts need to work on but including us. So it really I won't give you all the details of all the sessions I attended but that really was um my takeaway and in lighting that fire within me. So
018I just reduced 2 days to 30 seconds. So now the best part for me personally was this amazing experience. The first speaker at the conference and to me the most valuable session that I attended was to uh Javier Aguo amazing person. He's going to come visit our district in miday. I would like all you to meet him. I would love for any parents who are interested to come and meet with him. We've talked about some of our parents have met with Edith and Carla and talked about to all of us the need for more training in neurodeiversity uh and neurode divergent learners. Javier uh was born in Nicaragua. He uh his family lost everything in a civil war. He moved to the United States to the Bethesda Maryland area. Fascinating story. He went to school.
019His words and his teachers words, not mine. They said they they considered him to be mildly Uh he struggled in school. He ended up dropping out of junior college, going back and getting this degree from uh George Washington University, then getting graduate degrees from Yale and Harvard. And he also taught at MIT. and he started this company called COGX which is really about helping people understand the science of learning and brain research and I was just very taken by him not only his personal story and who he is but u what he offers. So, I'm going to personally take his online course that includes things like developing uh sophisticated learners, capturing student attention, addressing processing speed, leverage working memory, uh support executive functioning, teaching for mastery, foster metacognition, uh provide effective feedback, teach for belonging,
020emotional and rate relationships, engagement, and motivation and understanding cognitive diversity for equity purposes. And I would invite he's going to be out here on the 15th. We'll have a session for leaders to meet with him. We'll have a session for parents to meet with him. And I really would like to explore more about what he could potentially officer offer us in training. But I want to personally take the training first and then invite others through invitation because it's a 38 hour course um and it's not for free to people who are interested to learn more about this. But he's an amazing individual. I think what he's talking about is part of what we need to address in our district and that was the best part of the conference. So >> questions. >> Yeah, it sounds
021exciting. Um I think it's great. Be a lifelong learner. Continue to learn. Don't be stagnant. Um I'm impressed that you strive for that. Um, regarding AI, I attended a session at the tri conference and I agree with you that urgency to learn as a tool, you know, not to not to supplement people but to as a tool. You know, I use it at work to kind of refine my writing and it's helpful. So I like that idea, the urgency to bring it into the schools to use >> appropriate use of AI to bring them back because cuz I think that truly is I utilize AI quite often, but it is a tool. I don't ever use it as a final anything. >> No, it doesn't tool. It's an ideation. Yeah. Blind spots. It's >> Yep.
022It's somebody to talk to when I'm not quite sure what I'm doing and I'm too embarrassed to ask somebody else. I can ask AI, right? Like, >> and it it does it helps me elevate my own work. But teaching our students how to use it responsibly and appropriately because frankly it is here. >> It's not going away. So, let's teach them how to use it appropriately and be responsible users of it. I think that's wonderful. Yeah. Okay, as always, Jack, thank you. >> Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for letting me go. >> Yeah, thanks for going and you're It's very cool that you're invited. It's super Okay. Um, moving along to our action items. Uh, approval of the summer school plans for summer 2026. The chair will entertain a motion to approve the 2026 summer
023school plan as presented. So moved. >> Second. Roll call. >> Mr. Horman, >> yes. >> Mr. Marin, >> yes. >> Miss Conover, >> yes. >> Mr. Aia, >> sorry. Dr. Hoover, >> yes. >> Miss Mill, >> yes. >> Miss Franklin, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Uh, board action on close session minutes. So, this is a standard practice that we go through um every 3 months or so, we'll we'll see this on here. So, just to reiterate that, the chair will entertain a motion to approve the board action on close session minutes as presented. So, >> moved. Second. Roll call. >> Mr. Marin, >> yes. >> Miss Conover, >> yes. >> Dr. Hoover, >> yes. >> Miss Mill, >> yes. >> Miss Franklin, >> yes. >> Mr. Horman, >> yes. >> Number three, the destruction of
024verbatim close session minutes. Again, this these two um come together always. So, and it's a standard process that we go through. The chair will entertain a motion to approve the destruction of the verbatim close session minutes from March 1st, 2024 through August 30th, 2024. So move. Second. Roll call. >> Miss Conover. >> Yes. >> Mr. A Mr. uh Dr. Hoover. >> Yes. >> Miss Mill. >> Yes. >> Miss Franklin. >> Yes. >> Mr. Horman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Marin. >> Yes. >> Number four. The approval of administrator contracts. The chair will change a motion to approve the administrator contracts for the following individuals for the 2027 fiscal year. Mary Casier, Adam Cordalooski, Samantha Cinovich, and Tiffany Teresi as presented. So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call. Dr. Hoover, >> yes. >> Miss Mill, >> yes.
025>> Miss Franklin, >> yes. >> Mr. Orman, >> yes. >> Mr. Marin, >> yes. Miss Conover, >> yes. Approval of multi-year contract for administrator. The chair will The chair will recommend a motion to approve the multi-year contract for the assistant superintendent of finance and human resources, Ronald Okconor, from July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2030 as presented. >> So moved. >> Second application. Wait. >> H it is. Yeah. 20 26 27 27 28 28 29. So it should be 29. >> Okay. >> So we'll make a correction or do we >> four? Three or four? >> Three. >> Mhm. >> Oh >> yeah. >> Okay. Since we >> So we'll push this to the We're not going to take action on that. It would be June 30th of 30. Not that following fiscal year. >>
026No, it would be 29 then >> if it's three years. Let's do 29. >> Doing three. >> Oh. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. So, we'll push it to the next. >> There's also some typos that I think need to be corrected in the agreement like 1.4. >> Well, like 1.4 says by the year 260. >> Okay. Look at >> make corrections table. >> I hope you're around that long. >> We're gonna come back to this one. >> Approval of multi-year contract for Manning Elementary assistant principal principal. Yes. Um the chair will entertain a motion to approve the multi-year contract for Stephanie as follows. 2026 2027 school year as Manning assistant principal and the 2027 to 2029 school years as Manning principal as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Miss Mill. >> Yes.
027>> Miss Franklin. >> Yes. >> Mr. Foreman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Marin. >> Yes. >> Miss Conover. >> Yes. >> Dr. Hoover. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. Superintendent report. Are we going to what are we going to do about the Iran contract right now? >> It'll come back at our next board meeting. >> Okay. >> All right. We'll talk. >> Yep. It'll be on the next agenda. >> It up. Um just uh two major items, if you will. One is we had the April 28th uh today, the meeting with the uh to talk to the community about potential options for building the building. And um we have a and we have a Zoom meeting tomorrow night that we invite everybody in the community to and then we have a May 13th meeting. So I would
028welcome any feedback from the board about tonight's meeting or how we're going to proceed. But I think it's we really we had a good turnout tonight and we'd love to have a great turnout on Zoom tomorrow. Uh how can people get that website? Is that on our website to get the link? >> Yep. >> For the Zoom meeting tomorrow night. And then we have scheduled another session on May 13th. >> Can we add that link to like the popup or something for tomorrow? >> I think it is on there. >> Well, it's the I think the message is on the popup, but specifically the like to join, click here. >> Mhm. >> I I think it was a great turnout tonight. Actually, >> more than 50 people. >> Yeah. Given >> um where it was.
029I also think that at the next meeting I and and I know this has to be an agenda item, but I hope that we can structure it a little bit differently than the uh than the town hall format that we had today so that we could have some more back and forth between um members who might want to talk but can't talk at a meeting like that. So, I know that we need to schedule that and put that as an agenda item uh on how that May 13th meeting will be structured, but I would like to see if there's someone we could figure out how to structure it as a committee meeting instead of a town hall meeting. >> So, I would can I just speak to that? I would >> actually push back on
030that. >> Well, as a >> we can't discuss it tonight because it's not on our agenda tonight. So, but what Tim is asking for is that it's an agenda item on our next meeting for us to discuss >> and and we will add it to the next agenda. Tim, if you can send Jack and I what you want it titled and a description for the board and then when we get there, you'll it's on the 28th. >> Can I clarify that the next meeting is on May 19th in >> Sorry. >> Yeah. No, >> wait. >> Which next meeting? The next um in-person town hall listening and presentation will be on May 9th. >> Thank you for correcting me. You're right. >> Not here. Is that correct? >> We have it was tenatively scheduled to
031be here because it's the same night as a board meeting. >> Okay, perfect. >> It the admin It's the administration's meeting and so if they decide >> that >> we were we were packed in here. So that might need to be something that the administration can but >> okay >> if they're going to adjust the location for it then we'll adjust our board meeting location. >> We're not going to have I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> No, I was just asking uh part of our ask as a board to have these meetings. Um, I guess it's too hard to do that for that follow meeting, but the ask from the board is to gather information and and bring back feedback from those meetings. I know we're talking about timing. So, I guess it's something maybe not
032an answer now, but uh to propose how and when we do that so the board can receive that and then discuss. >> You're talking about when the board receives the feedback from the administration, >> right? for at least like so just I'm asking um that we think about or um propose also like when um administration will be prepared to say this is what we've gathered uh the the outcome from all of this. So >> yeah, >> can we add that? How about if we add that to the next agenda as well and if you guys can be prepared to answer that piece. >> Will it Will you be prepared though cuz you just had the meeting? Not no I'm not saying be prepared to deliver but to tell us when >> you can deliver it
033and recommend next steps. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So is this next >> meeting that's scheduled going to be right before the next board meeting >> so >> same same situation as we did tonight. >> So then our next opportunity to put some I mean we're going to have to agenda this after that meeting. go >> to we we do not have the time to change these scheduled meetings that are the administration meetings. They're following the direction from the board previously. The conversation that you want to have still valid because this is very this is almost certainly not the last of these and so it's still so it's still fair to for us to discuss a do we have more and maybe that is at the next board meeting and then b the structural piece.
034>> Okay. Ju I I anticipate just like the last couple of years um we had kind of rounds of town halls. >> Okay. >> Second part of my I'm going to turn over to Brian and and Anna Brian Roach and Anna Jagabowski who are English teachers at Westmont High School. I normally during my superintendent report I try to highlight some of the great things that are happening in our district and I just want to say that there's been some uh issues raised that I think are important about making sure that we are addressing the needs of all students and we are definitely all of our kids are sacred to us. We're compassion first. All means all. That's partly why we have the success we have. And I'm not going to talk about all the numbers
035and the quantitative data and all the rankings and all the awards and achievements. I really want to address that our district, including these incredible two professionals who represent many great teachers in this district, we are just, if not more dedicated to the kids who have the greatest challenges in learning. And it's a continuous improvement process. We always have to get better. And I know Tiffany is working with Dr. Destiny Huff to talk about training for teachers and neurodeivergent thinking and learning. I talked about Harvey Javier Aguo and how he could address these through training. But I just want to make clear that in addition to all the great accomplishments, including in my estimation, the students with IEPs and their growth sometimes is greater than the scores of some very high power schools in the area.
036And that should that's not typical. But what I really want to talk about is the qualitative piece for a minute and not just all the accomplishments, the awards, the scores, the stuff that you can put into quantitative data. I want you to hear the stories just briefly from Brian and Anna as the rest of my superintendent report because they really exemplify the heart of what we do that doesn't I think it shows up in the scores, but I want them to just talk for a couple minutes about the work they do with some of our kids who face the greatest learning challenges. So, I'm going to just turn over the rest of the time to Brian and Anna. They're going to take just a couple minutes and share some information with you. >> Hi, I
037am Anna. It's nice to see all of you. Um, I teach English at the high school and I'm instructional coach in the building as well. >> Use my scale. >> Uh, Brian Roach, uh, freshman English, sophomore English, and then our literacy workshop class that we co-e together. >> So, um, thank you for having us to discuss all of this. We appreciate everything that you all do. Um and thank you Jack for all the support always through the years. So we were asked to talk a little bit about literacy workshop and this is a class that we teach together that is structured to support students with reading and writing and fluency difficulty in high school. Um you'd be surprised to learn that even in high school we have we are teaching discrete fluency skills to our
038students because there's difficulty in reading in a fluid way. And so we spend a lot of our time you know doing those things and give the kids what they need. in our class is 100% made up of atypical learners. So, students with IEPs, 504s, um, and students who are ELLL or English language learners. Um, so just a couple of stories though. I mean, you know, we do always hear about the numbers and how, you know, great our scores are and all that and it's all very true, but the more important thing is like some of the transitions that the kids are making in our classes are huge. I mean, we've had students who come to us like they hate English, they hate reading, I'm not doing this, not, you know, a lot of that kind
039of behavior. And I have one story from this year with a student. Um, and he was like, I'm not going to read any of this. Like, you guys, whatever. But, you know, now he absolutely loves us and whatever. But, so we had this really great moment though that I like I nearly teared up, but I didn't show him cuz I was so excited. He came in in school, he missed a day, and he came back the next day and he was like, "Wait, you guys finished the book without me?" like so upset with us and I was like wait you care what oh my gosh this is like amazing you know so I said well yeah cuz you weren't here and he's like what happened I said do you want to come at lunch and
040we can like read the book together like at the end he's like yeah and then I didn't have to like hunt him down in the comments and be like where are you at lunch like come read with me you know he came he had his book and he's like let's go I have to see what happens and then he's like you know it's kind of nice this author is like tying up loose ends but I'm not really sure what happened with the brother and like that level of critical thinking for a difficult and a person who has a hard time reading, who is a reluctant reader who hates English, um but now tells us English is his favorite class, whatever. Um you know, that is like the change. Like that's what we see. We continue
041to have experiences like that even though we're number 13 in the state out of 665 high schools, but whatever. Um that's beside the point for proficiency. Um but we really appreciate like all the support we get. We get a lot of independent reading books and things like that that we know our kids want to read. You know, we've been really Naen has been super great. Carla has been super great by trying to provide us with those kinds of resources that we have to have to have stories like this take place. And we're super lucky to have Kevin Wack. He's such a great instructional leader. But this is the kind of stuff that changes readers that changes the trajectory of their life and if they're going to spend time or weigh the opportunity cost that they
042don't want to do something. >> Yeah. We had uh one story that comes to mind. We had a student early in the year um we do a round of a lot of pre-assessments and uh one of the preassessments was a fluency assessment um and it's called the multi-dimensional fluency scale. A lot of it comes from this researcher named Timothy Rosinski if you're interested. I got a bunch of information. I can email it to you. Um anyways, we sit down with students. We have them read a little passage and then we uh can kind of evaluate their reading comprehension as well as their fluency. Um and we're going through students. We're going through students and then uh we get to one student and he's looking at it, you know, and we have to time it. So,
043we start the timer and he's looking at it and we're kind of looking at each other, oh boy, what's going on? And then he just kind of breaks down in tears. Um, and we're like, you know, then we just start talking to him like, "What's going on? What's running through your mind?" And he uh just kind of teared you looked at us a little teareyed and he said, "I don't know what I'm looking at. I can't read it." you know, and just it was one of those moments and you're like, okay, let's look at it and let's just kind of chunk it and do like a word by word. So, at this point, we weren't even trying to get data. We're just trying to like, okay, let's stop that and let's just talk human to
044human for a second. Um, and eventually he got through it. Okay, did okay. And then, uh, now, not that he's, you know, super fluent now. I wish I could say my amazing teaching, you know, he's so fluent now. Um but I will say the confidence has grown enough to the point where he is volunteering to read McBTH in class which is huge. Okay. So I think without that support class these kind of interventions and stories and and successes would never happen. This is the other part of the story and it's I present so much quantitative data. I think that's important. And this team with their teammates is responsible to be in the top 1% in the state for growth in Illinois for literacy. And as Anna mentioned, top 2 and 1.5% or 2% for proficiency,
045but the kids who don't pass the state exam get as much love and attention from these incredible teachers. We have been pulling in students for our interventions way before anybody ever like wanted us to because these students are definitely like our lowest performing kids, you know. And when I became department coordinator, I don't know like 8 years ago or something. I there was this like focus and and all the even all the research is like, oh, make sure you're focusing all here and we have this intervention class, so we don't need to do all these interventions. But like we changed the whole game. We pulled in all of our students. the kids who were the lowest. We, you know, even had to spread ourselves thin sometimes with the resources, but we wanted that growth and
046we do track the growth for literacy workshop classes. We're super lucky that we teach English one and English 2 so that when we take this course and we have the time with the kids, it's like an extension of what we're doing and we know the best the best way to go about it is to make sure the tier one teachers are delivering the tier 2 intervention at that level. >> Yes. That's not typical in some schools. It makes it a legit tier 2 intervention. Correct. >> And now the accountability metrics being what they are, how they're changing, this growth I think will will help us even more because it wasn't considered, you know, before it was just proficient, who's proficient, who's not. And now it's not just proficiency, but also how many of our students
047are actually growing and improving, which I love. >> And we've been tracking since we started teaching this class. So we care immensely. And our kids, you know, they they grow to love us. And that rapport that we build is the most important thing we have because they will do anything we ask them to do. >> That's the truth. >> And so we don't have to fight the fight >> because of the relationships and the true love they show their students. We care just as much about the kids who struggle even more so in some ways. If they can't pass the state exam, that's not what determines their success per se, but they're going to get a tremendous attention. And Brian and Anna are two remarkable examples, but they're not the only ones in this district
048who have that level of commitment. >> Absolutely not. It's not easy. I mean, there are days we are on our own phones calling students at home and telling them to get here. Like classes started and I'm need you here in 8 minutes, like right now. Let's go. You know, we've we've had moments where we've like left ourselves to go pick them up because as you might imagine, some students who are struggling are students who don't think they need to be there. So we definitely they think we're a little crazy. It's okay though. >> We're fine with that. >> We have to get better always. We have to commit to continuous improvement. These two after they won the four award and blue ribbon award and after we were exemplary every year and 10 out of 10
049and all these awards they were selected by the Illinois principal association to do training for other teachers in the state. What did they do? Literally went and read 13 books on assessment. So our that's the real hallmark of our team is they we have to do this get better, keep learning, continuous improvement. But I just really need to say beyond the awards and the scores, the dedication of so many of the teachers in this district to the kids who need the greatest support is incredible. I think it's I'm not going to say we're the only district, but there's nobody doing it better that way. And yes, we need to get better and we will through training and continuous improvement efforts, but they're examples of what we're really most proud of and that is a commitment
050that every student is sacred, including those who are struggling mightily with their learning. >> Thank you. Westmont students are the best. They are the easiest kids to work with. So, we're very lucky for that. >> Thank you for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Any board reports this evening? I just want to bring up uh I went to uh Matilda Jr. play, Westmont Junior High School. Um >> some very talented junior high students. Um very good play. I want to thank the faculty that guided the students and ran the play. Um very good play. So thank you. >> Okie dokie. Um close session. We do not have anything for second close sessions. Um, do we have any public comment? Okay. No public comment. We're going to move past that, too. Moving on
051to future meetings and events. Our preschool screening is coming up April 29th at 8:00 a.m. Um, also April 29th, it is a SIP day. Check with your building regarding your specific dismissal time because they're all a little different. Um, also April 29th, busy day. Um, the Westmont High School band and choir concert is taking place at Westmont High School at 7 p.m. And lastly, on April 29th, we've got our facilities capital planning listening session via Zoom um happening at 6:30 p.m. On May 4th, we have the Westmont High School honors recital at 6 p.m. at the high school. Uh, our next Yeah. >> There are you talking about the May 13th board meeting? That's a Wednesday. >> Down here is the 19th. Yes, the facilities capital planning. I'm talking about the next one. Well, >>
052the athletic committee. That's what I'm The athletic committee is May 13th. >> May 13. But this says there's a board meeting May 13 at Village Hall. That's incorrect. >> Oh, yeah. >> It's the AT that's the athletic meeting on May 13th. >> At the high school. >> Yes. At the high school >> at 6:00 p.m. Okay. >> Okay. Um so facilities capital planning listening sessions May 19th 5:30 p.m. scheduled for village hall. If the administration wants to adjust that we will do um appropriate notice immediately followed by the next scheduled regular meeting of the CSD 2011 board of education at 6:30 p.m. And then on May 13th at 6:30 p.m. we have our athletic meeting at the high school. It's It's calendared for 6:00 p.m., but I don't But okay. I don't >> Is that
053good or no? >> Either way, if we want to stick to that 6:30 time slot is when all our meetings are, that's I mean, >> we will clarify and update the district calendar. >> Great. Yep. >> Do you have a preference? >> No preference. Does anybody? >> We'll figure that out later. >> Wasn't it previously publicized for six, though? I think it should. I think we should. >> It's on the district calendarly at 6:00 p.m. >> Let's keep it at 6 then, just in case people planned or something. >> Go for it. Um, okay. There's no other current information. So, the chair will entertain a motion to adjourn the April 14th, 2026 regular meeting of the board of education. >> So, move. Second. Uh, all in favor? I >> I opposed. >> Motion passes. >>
054Contract.