2025-12-16 Community Unit School District 201 Regular School Board Meeting

001Heat up here. Order the December 16th, 2025 regular meeting of the CUSD 2011 Board of Education. Uh, roll call. Leah Conover here. >> Carlos Aia >> here. >> Alexandria Mill >> here. >> Adena Hoover. >> Kevin Marin >> here. Stand for the pledge, please. >> 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. >> Okay, we are going to move into the approval of minutes. Uh the chair will entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the November 18th, 2025 regular meeting of the board of education as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion passes. Uh the chair will entertain a motion to approve the

002minutes of the closed session of the November 18th, 2025 regular meeting of the board of education as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh all in favor? I >> I opposed. >> Motion passes. The chair will entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the December 2nd, 2025 special meeting of the board of education as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Okay. The chair will entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the close session of the December 2nd, 2025 special meeting of the board of education as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I >> opposed. >> Okay, motion passes. Okay, and we are on to our procedural items. Uh, the chair will entertain a motion for the appointment of Timothy

003Horman to the board of education of community unit school district 2011 to fill the vacancy of Jessica Rodono until the April 2027 consolidated election. and Heather Franklin to the board of education of community unit school district 2011 to fill the vacancy of Lauren Zakiri until the April 2027 consolidate election. >> So move second. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Aia, >> yes. >> Mr. Marin, >> yes. >> Miss Mill, >> yes. >> Miss Conover, >> yes. >> Motion passes. If I could have you guys stand up then like come right over here. Okay. So, we're going to do the oath of office. Repeat after me. Uh, I state your name. do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the board of education of community unit school

004district 2011 in accordance with the constitution of the United States the constitution of the state of Illinois and the laws of the state of Illinois to the best of my a ability >> I do solemnly solemnly swear that I will faithfully discharge the duties of office of the members of the board of education of community unit school district 2011 in accordance with the constit Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and the laws of state of the laws of the state of Illinois to the best of my ability. I, Heather Franklin, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the board of education, Community Unit School District 2011 in accordance with the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State

005of Illinois, and the laws of the state of Illinois to the best of my ability. I further swear or affirm that. >> Further swear or affirm that >> I further swear or affirm that >> I shall respect taxpayer interests by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets. >> I shall respect taxpayer interest by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets. >> I shall respect taxpayer interest by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets. I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my fellow board members and others who seek a hearing before the board while respecting the privacy of students and employees. I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my fellow board members and others who seek a hearing before

006the board while respecting the privacy of students and employees. I shall encourage and respect the free expression of my opinion by my of opinion by my fellow board members and others who seek a hearing before the board while respecting the privacy of students and employees. >> I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority as an individual and that decisions can be made only by majority vote at a public board meeting. I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority as an individual and that decisions can be made only by a majority vote. >> I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority as an individual and that decisions can be made only by a majority vote at a public board meeting. >> I shall abide by majority decisions

007of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels. I shall abide by majority decision of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels. >> I shall abide by majority decisions of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels. >> As part of the board of education, I shall accept the responsibility for my role in the equitable and quality education of every student in the school district. As part of the board of education, I I shall accept the responsibility of my role in equitable and quality education of every student in the school district. >> As part of the board of education, I shall accept the responsibility for my role

008in the equitable and quality education of every student in the school district. I shall foster with the board extensive participation of the community, formulate goals, define outcomes, and set the course for community unit school district 2011. >> I shall foster with the board extensive participation in the community or of the community, formulate goals, define outcomes, and set the course for communities in a district. I shall foster with the board extensive participation of the community, formulate goals, define outcomes, and set the course for community unit school district one. I shall assist in establishing a structure and an environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework. that shall assist in establishing a structure and an environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain

009their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework. >> I shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compliance with state law. >> I shall strive to ensure continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compliance with state law. >> I shall assist in establishing a structure and an environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework. I shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compliance with state law. I shall serve as education's key advocate on behalf of students and our community schools to advance the vision of community unit school district 2011. >> I

010shall serve as education's key advocate on behalf of students and our community schools to advance the vision of community school district. I shall serve as education's key advocate on behalf of students in our community schools to advance the vision for community unit school district 2011 and and I shall strive to work together with the district superintendent to lead the school district toward fulfilling the vision the board has created fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills knowledge citizenship and personal development >> and I shall strive to work together with the district superintendent to lead school district for fulfilling the vision the board has created fostering excellent excellence for student every student in the area of academic skills knowledge citizenship and personal development. I shall strive to work together with the district superintendent

011to lead the school district forward fulfilling the vision of the board. The board has created fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship, and personal development. >> WELCOME. Can we get a picture, Shannon? >> Yeah, we can do that. >> Jack, >> yeah, Jack wore a suit today. And then if we can get one of the whole boards here. >> You guys should have just expected that. >> We'll take another one in January. >> I'm surviving. Not right now. >> Take another team photo in January. >> Okay, sounds good. >> We'll be all dressed up for that one. >> I'm barely making it center. Go with our tuna. >> See that with your monster at 8:00 in the evening or 6:40? >> 6:40. Give me a little credit. >> Still

012>> and I'll still fall asleep by >> Are they centered to W? Oh yeah, >> that's what's sick. >> It's not ours. We do need to get a 20. Oh, like a magnetic one to like toss it out every night. >> You just made her heart stop. It's >> exciting. >> You did. I saw it. >> All right. >> Okay. Put all this together. You want all >> Everybody. Everybody. >> Oh, is not here yet. No. Let's go. >> Adena's coming. >> Yes, she is. Oh. Oh. Let's wait for >> Let's do We'll do it after. >> Yep. >> She will be here tonight. >> Now you guys can have a seat. You can put your name tags up. >> Have a seat. >> How you doing? Good. How are you? >> Hey. After all

013that excitement, >> yeah, the chair will entertain a motion to enter close session to discuss specific employees, student discipline, and potential litigation. >> So moved. >> Second. Roll call. >> Mr. Aia, >> yes. >> Mr. Marin, >> yes. >> Miss Mill, >> yes. >> Mr. Horman, >> yes. >> Miss Franklin, >> yes. >> Miss Count, yes. We'll be back. All right. closed. We're going to move on to the public hearing on the tentative tax levy. And what do I say for this one? Calling to order. Okay. Uh, I call to order the public hearing uh regarding the proposed 2025 tax levy at 7:17 p.m. >> Wonderful. Dr. Baldman, Board of Education, thanks for having me once again. Like every other day, uh, today's the preliminary tax levby presentation that we're hoping to approve. Um, I

014just want to walk through some scenarios and discuss what we're looking at for this given year. Okay, the TV is going faster than the computer. That's crazy. Okay, so here we go. So, levy calendar is as seen. I have to stress again how archaic the state of Illinois can be with its tax levy and how we determine how much money comes into the school districts. So, for example, you're looking at January 15th of earlier this year. We get to find out how much the increase was over the prior year's extension, January 15th. So, it's that means it's a December CPI for 2024. Why is it that date? It's just been put and codified. So, that's just kind of how it goes. I wish I had had a simpler answer. Uh in November 18th, we had

015the public hearing on the levy. Today, we're having action on it and with the potential reduction of levies if need be, which we'll discuss. And then by the end of the month, the levy must be filed with the county by the last Tuesday in December or the district will never see its money for that particular levy. So if you look at definitions again, the equalized value is property wealth. The property tax extension limitation law is as follows. which you receive what it's extended to you in the prior year. If it's 5% or more, you have to go to a public hearing. However, we do it out of the spirit of transparency. The property tax levy is the amount that we're asking for. We're levying for it. We're asking So, I know that this is going

016to be another boring story, but I did mention my son Ronnie the other day with the board stating he always used to ask me for money before he got a job at McDonald's. Actually, he still asks for money. So, for example, he'll say, "Hey, Dad, I need five bucks." All right, I'll give you the $5. I'll give you, you know, hey, 15. Sure. There you go. 25. I'm like, eh, okay, 20. He ask me for 50. Still giving you 20. I've extended him the money. I know how much I'm going to give him. He has no idea. So, it's a guessing game for him. This is us right now as a school district that we are in the guessing game to try and predict how much. If we don't ask for enough, we lose it.

017If we do ask for enough, we're good. He could have asked me for a million dollars. I would have laughed at him. He'd still get $20. That's how the state of Illinois does its tax levy. It's just ufully how it is. Um the extension then, as we've seen, it's given after we figure out our final property values and new construction. that it's not exactly a science that we know of right away because that hasn't been released just yet. So the steps are as follows. The county is the one that gives us the money. The school district doesn't necessarily tax it's the county, right? So the county assessor will look at the property, evaluate it. Then in the meantime, municipalities such as like let's say we have another brother or sister, the fire department, the police

018department, the school district, they're asking for their amount. They're levying for it. The assessor in the meantime is going to determine that. They're going to extend how much they're going to do. We just don't know it yet. We're trying to figure that out. Uh collections then occur in 2026 once they figure it out and they say, "Okay, actually you're you're going to be able to get this." and then the municipalities received the money from the county. So, this is kind of a interesting little picture of it. Um, there's the original levy. Cook County does what's called the loss percentage. I know we don't really have to know about it, but it just kind of goes to show you how transparent DUP page is. Cook County typically gives you a 3% loss. So, if you're not

019levying, we say say 0%, you're actually levying for three. They give you like a sort of freedom there. Uh, no, no other county does that. Go figure. That's at the time we don't even know how much the value of the property is. So once we know what it is, then everything kind of comes into play. Again, it's it's archaic. So how the property taxes work, when your value of your homes go down, typically your tax rates going to go up and vice versa. So when you see a more wealthier area such as a Bington, they have a lot of highv value houses out there, but the rates are so much lower. When you see some of the south suburban districts, like I grew up in Dalton, they have really low property values. Their tax rates

020are through the roof because the extension is what matters. It's what you've gotten prior year. So, in these two instances, even though the values changed over time, the rate makes up for it to make sure that the district gets its $1,49,400. It's just it's simple math. Uh again, it's based off a CPI. So there's the December CPI over the past couple years. You look at the 2015, you went down to 7/10en of a percent. So that's what school districts were entitled to. 2.1, 2.1, 1.9 once COVID hit and the state through the feds actually uh flushed the money into the the system, you see 7%, 6 and a half. why we so 2.9% is what we see here for our given year. There's a reason though why we're going beyond 2.9. It includes new property.

021It includes anything that could particularly happen with industrial commercial. So that's why you'll see us go above 2.9 because we do potentially get over 2.9% even though the consumer price index says that. So last year's extension, you'll see it was approximately 29,910,77. Um that also includes the bond and interest. Bond and interest is what you owe, right? We don't necessarily say, "Hey, could we unless you talk to the county, there's other buckets though there if you can see." And some of them are already capped. Operations and maintenance is 55 cents. Working cash is a nickel in uh fire prevention and life safety is 10 cents. special ed's 40 cents. So those you can you can't go above. They they cap that for a reason so that you can't over overdraw. But an ed fund transportation

022those two in particular you can increase if need be. So this year's levy we're looking discussing based on the bonds as well as the education fund operation and maintenance to play it safe because we don't know the property values just yet. We don't know what's happening with just a lot of unknown variables. It was a 4.72% uh increase of an ask. Doesn't mean we're getting it. That's just us saying if taxes from the extension from the prior year go up to 4.72% we can capture it. If it goes 4.75 we lose money. If we go as it goes up to 5% we left money on the table. So we are asking right now for the 4.72 so that can cover the bond and interest it can cover the ED fund operations and maintenance transportation um

023it just bunch of what we need um is in the side there are districts who I've I've seen who've underlevied in the past I never recommend that I think there are other ways to go about it but it's about being careful because the minute you do that and then the district needs some sort of funding for, let's just say, structural operations and maintenance building, but you left money on the table years ago and that compounds. Therefore, you'd never get that money back and now you're going to So, that's just something to think about. There's a presentation. Any questions, please? Again, we didn't go over 5%. We didn't even need a truth in taxation, but it's about transparency, and that's what we're bringing. Can you speak a little bit Ron about kind of the different methods

024behind loving because in the in previous years we've typically kind of overasked in order to make sure that we didn't leave any money on the table essentially. Can you just kind of talk a little bit about like some of the different methods that are used and why you prefer to use a more kind of exacting method if you will? >> Yeah, definitely. So, uh, when I was, for example, when I was in district 300 doing my internship, we were balloon levying. It was 20% 30% of an ask because this it was such a large square footage and there was so much construction happening that we couldn't tell you what was happening and why. Um, there is a district up north that the business manager just resigned actually on. uh he was asking for 46% levy

025uh without any rhyme or reason. To me to be more precise means we're actually kind of looking and seeing and doing our homework. This is my first five six months here and I'm not trying to make any excuses because I always expect me to do the best that that that exists. But um for me this was not just a safe number but it was also able to capture whatever I couldn't tell with the property values that have going on over time. The other thing to keep in mind is I I'm still trying to get a pulse on the industrial and commercial piece that can play a role in how much we receive because the more they generate the less of a tax burden is on the residents and that is something to keep in mind

026with Westmont. 90% of his of the funds in general for the district is local and within that 90% an exorbitant amount of it is on the resident but the commercial and industrial isn't as strong as it could be in other places. So that's something I do like that the community keeps in mind because that does play a role in how taxes are going. And the 5% cap is the 5% CPI, but that's not inclusive of new property growth, right? >> It would be. So if you >> that's why people levy over the 5% so they could capture the new property if there is a lot of it. Mhm. >> Uh >> but we don't have >> right >> we don't have any new property growth because of our um tiff >> the tiff and the

027fact that the district is pretty landlocked. I mean, I I think I think the thing we'll see next is some of the McMansions coming in here that might actually generate some revenues over time, but yeah, the tiff has frozen. What we can >> biggest area that we would have the biggest property growth is the tiff. >> Correct. >> So, essentially, it's like whatever new new it has to be new homes that are built. >> Correct. And that would be a huge influx of >> outside of the tiff. Yeah. >> But the tiff is Yeah. That's not for another I mean, there's a lot of time still on that. >> Okay. Are there any additional comments from members of the board of education? >> No. Are there any public comments concerning the proposed 2025 tax levy?

028>> Okay. I declare that the public hearing on the proposed 2025 tax levy is closed at 7:29. Thank you, Ron. Thanks, Ron. Thanks, Ron. >> Thank you. >> Okay, back to our regularly scheduled meeting. Uh, do we have any normal public comment? Okay, great. So, then we're going to move on to the consent agenda. The chair will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Personnel recommendations. Garrett Wit, teaching assistant. Robert Slowick, junior high volunteer. John Sleeper, Junior High volunteer, resignations and retirement. Number two, approval of additional November and December 2025 expenditure report. Number three, ratification of the November 2025 regular payroll. Number four, student tours Westmont High School and >> Westmont Junior High. Number five, approval of the 2025 2026 concussion oversight team. And number six, approval of concussion protocols. So >>

029moved. Second. >> Roll call. Mr. Aia, >> yes. >> Mr. Maron, yes. >> Miss Mill, >> yes. >> Mr. Orman, >> abstain. >> Miss Franklin, >> yes. >> Miss Conover, >> yes. >> No, Dr. Cooper. Okay. Motion passes. Information and discussion. The high school sign is up. >> So, before you tonight, we have a team of leaders from the high school to present information about a new sign board at Westmont High School. Um, the board was provided information in their packet, some background info. I don't want to steal their thunder, but the one thing I would keep in mind is the sign is more than adequated antiquated. It's 40 years old or older. It still has to be changed by hand. And this is the first thing that people see as they enter into our

030building for the next 25 or 30 years. So, I'll let them make their presentation and then it's time for the board, of course, to discuss and ask questions. Thank you for being here. >> Could everybody introduce themselves? >> Absolutely. My name is Lissa Zaliscoco. I'm a school counselor at Westmont High School and I've worked in the district now for 20 years. >> My name is Jamie Mahmood. I've uh been with the high school for 20 years and Lori and I are serving as the Hackbrush Grant Committee. >> I'm Lori Rasmus. I'm a science teacher at the high school. This is my 26th year uh as a teacher at the high school. I along with Jamie um also graduated from Westmont High School and I serve on the HackFrush committee as well. >> My name is

031Courtney Templeton. I've been teaching at the high school for 5 years. I have two sons who are Weston High School graduates all the way through CSD 2011 and I um have lived in the Oakwood subdivision and so have been passing by said antiquated sun for 23 years. Um, I'll go first. Um, just as an as a graduate of Westmont and uh a former student of Mrs. Hack Rushes, um, Jerry, it's so weird for me to refer to her as Jerry since she was my teacher for all those years. Um, she was a Westmont uh, high school science teacher also for a very long time. Um, and was really an ardent supporter of all things Westmont High School. Um she not only taught multiple science classes, she was a sponsor of National Honor Society, she was

032very involved in uh multiple extracurricular activities. Um she was very supportive of all activities even if she wasn't the direct uh faculty sponsor of them. You would see her very often at football games, basketball games, um even outside at, you know, I remember seeing her on the finish line of some track meets out there with the stopwatch in the cold and the rain, at every play, at every musical, and then of course in her role as the National Honor Society sponsor. Um was very involved in a lot of the events that we ran at the school. Um she was very generous upon her unfortunate passing that left um a portion of her estate to Westmont High School for the betterment of students and staff at Westmont High School. Um Dr. Balderman at that time was

033our principal and um asked if Jamie and I as we were alumni and familiar with Mrs. Hackbrush and had been students of hers. I also was a colleague of hers for a short time if we would kind of head up and spearhead the efforts to serve on the committee and help kind of direct the types of projects that we thought Mrs. Hackbrush um would appreciate at the high school and kind of keeping in the spirit of Mrs. Hackbrush and also in the in the spirit of her gift. Um, and so I I will be happy to turn it over to Jamie who'll talk a little bit about our application process, but I will also echo what Dr. Balderman said a couple minutes ago with just a a personal anecdote that I had the pleasure of

034being in the National Honor Society when Mrs. Hackbrush was the sponsor. Um, I didn't say my graduation year. I'd prefer not to but um but I will say that it was over 30 years ago and I will say that even then she was lamenting the the quality of the sign board and how there was only the opportunity to display one event and some of our NHS events didn't get on the sign board because there were kind of other events that needed to be prioritized and I don't want to use colorful language in present company but she was not a fan of that and um I I truly honestly think having heard her opinions 30 years ago on the sign board which is still the board that we're using that she would be uh very pleased

035that to see this updated and upgraded for students and staff and the community quite frankly. >> Thanks Lori. >> Sure. >> As Lori mentioned and I forgot I don't know how I forgot to mention that. Yes, we are proud alums of Westmont um schools. I uh started at Miller School and graduated from Westmont High School. Um, and that's, you know, the reason why we come back. We love this place. We love this community. We love the people of Westmont. We love the staff members that we get to work with every single day. We love our board of education. We love our administration. And in the spirit of that support that we have for this community and the time we've given to the community and intend to give, we really feel that we were blessed um

036in receiving this gift from Jerry Hackbrush. She was a champion for all students. She pushed students. My anecdote is I was placed into biology freshman year of high school. That wasn't something that typically happened back then. And I had this concern that I would be picked on as a as a nerd. And so I attempted to underachieve in order to avoid being labeled a nerd. Jerry really um took much time. She worked with my parents. She sat with me. She sat with administration and really pushed me to achieve everything that I was capable of achieving and really helped to foster that self-confidence that I feel I have today. So, I'm very grateful to Jerry and Lori and I. This is our second year. Um, we did start the work before COVID and we had to

037put everything on hold, but um, Jack really wanted to get the ball rolling last year. So, we were able to, um, award grants. We awarded a grant for the piano that we're currently using in the auditorium. we were able to award a grant for a printer for um the art department's uh students to be able to print large uh format artwork. We were also able to award a grant for the creation of a sensory room that is currently being used on um on the student services side of the building. This year we received applications and were able to approve three more projects. Lori and I approved a project for a portable sound system for the music department. We approved um new kitchen some new kitchen equipment for the family and consumer sciences department. And lastly,

038we were able to approve this project, the sign board. We feel very passionately about the need for us to showcase our accomplishments, to showcase the events that we are, you know, using all of the students wonderful talents um for and we really need to get word out there. It will really help us to to make the community aware and again to bring the community in and to keep them involved in what we're doing and aware of what we're doing because I know the community is proud of us and proud of our students. Lissa is going to talk more about her proposal and um her application that she submitted in conjunction with Courtney. >> Thank you. Thank you so much Dr. Balderman, members of the board. I was so happy to submit this application because it

039is something that we have been talking about for quite a while as you've heard at Westmont High School. Um, as part of the um, packet information that you have in front of you today, we've Courtney and I drafted a letter that I do want to make sure I read very briefly portions of that. Um, Westmont High School is an award-winning institution. Our students are accomplished, intelligent, compassionate. We started this electronic sign board, Courtney and I, in August 2024 to do what's best for our students, our school community. We have so much to celebrate and our current sign only allows for two very short messages. Our goal is to highlight more of our accomplishments, share more import share important information, and also create a monument in front of our building that will evoke pride in our

040school community. We also appreciate our school district's commitment to being fiscally responsible. We share this commitment and pursued this funding through a donation to the high school. Since Westmont Junior High School sign board was purchased in 2021, the cost of electronic sign boards has increased. The high school, both as a school and a highly utilized building, has more information to share, which is why we proposed a slightly larger sign than the junior high school for broader, more inclusive, and varied visibility. To clarify, it's slightly smaller still than our existing sign board. Finally, we plan to publicly document on the sign board that it was donated by Jerry Hack Brush so that our community understands that this former Westmont High School teacher donated part of her estate to benefit our students and staff and community. In

041her me memory, we want to do what is best for Westmont High School. When we started this project, we collected a lot of information and that is also documented in the information we've shared with you today. in your board docs if you could find the Halfbrush staff presentation. This is something that Jamie and Lorie shared out with our staff for the last two years. Um our specific Hackbrush grant application is included as well. So that's information that Courtney and I put together as part of this application. Um there is also information about local um schools. So we we reviewed many of the local sign boards in DuPage County. There's a total of 22 of them. And those schools um having had electronic sign board, we tried reaching out to those districts. Some of them don't

042remember when they received electronic sign boards. Some of them I knew, for example, um having been in the DuPage County for a while, I remember in 1999 when Hinsdale Central received their electronic sign board because this was a big thing and it was in the newspaper quite a bit in 1999 that they were getting this modern age um board. Um there are only two districts again comparing ourselves to the great school ratings that um two high schools that do not have an electronic sign board. They're the Downers Grove North and Downer's Grove South schools and they are not allowed to have electronic sign boards because of village ordinances. So they're too close to the main streets to be able to have that. So that information is something we collected as part of this project. We

043also have um written confirmation from a number of different organizations in Westmont that are in support of this new electronic sign board. Um our high school administration and I'm very grateful to Dr. Wack for his um support um also being fiscally responsible. He's somebody that we spoke to as part of this project and he encouraged us to explore avenues of revenue to support this project so that it isn't a burden to our school district. The Jerry Hackbrush grant was the perfect place for us to do that. Um, our Westmont High School department coordinators, our athletic department, our athletic band boosters organization, um, our band boosters, our, um, Westmont High School alumni support, our Westmont High School teachers association is in support of this, and finally, the Oakwood Homeowners Association is in support of that. And

044one of the other documents that we've included is the um letter of support from the Oakwood Homeowners Association um that they are in support of this project as well. Finally, we have a list, a short list in no particular order of different groups, organizations, events that the sign could support. High school events that we advertise on an annual basis. also district events that we advertise since many of the elementary and junior high school events are housed at the um high school as well as local Westmont events. People who come to Westmont High School for their events as well. So those are additional documents. Um the specs of the sign board are included in there as well. Um I have learned so much personally about what sign boards are about. Um, this is not my area

045of expertise, but now I know things like um what hex colors are and what PMS colors are, and these are not things that I've ever known. Um, I've also learned that this new sign board because of the changes in technology even since the junior high school board was enacted, they they have really cool things that they do where they dim the lights, for example. So, another thing we spoke about with the Oakwood um um homeowners association is that the the lights can be dimmed so that it it does not cause a disruption to residents in the area and also that in spirit of Jerry Hackbrush who is a science teacher um could help prevent issues with um bird migration. So, when our sandill cranes are flying overhead at a certain time, we can dim the

046lights so as not to disrupt them. So, there's a lot of thought that went into this and all of that is again included here. The next two documents are actual pictures of the Westmont High School current sign board and you can see how it is not representative of who we are, I don't think, as a high school. Um, the lights broke this year, so that's something else to consider. We're not talking about repairs at this point. The lights are broken on it. There are letters and numbers starting to crack and break. So we have been very creative in how we have had to put up some of the sign U messages now. So we've for example used the number seven to turn it around and make it into an L. So I think we're definitely

047at the point that this signboard project was very timely. Um and those are all of the information points that I wanted to share. Um >> your handout. >> Oh, and then the last handout I have is this one. Thank you very much, Courtney. Um and this highlights what the sizes look like. I know that was a question that we were asked by the um Oakwood Homeowners Assoc Association. The current sign at the high school is 9.4 ft. The proposed one is 9 ft. So slightly smaller but similar in size. And then the junior high school sign is a 7 foot height. So that's where we stand as far as signs go. Um, as part of our application, we did also talk a lot about Jerry Hatbrush, and we learned a lot from Jamie and from

048Lori, and I do appreciate the stories that they have shared as former students. Um, I also personally reached out to other members of our faculty that had retired in the last 13 years, 15 years, and 17 years to get their anecdotal stories about Jerry Hackbrush to find out a little bit more because I did not know her. I didn't work with her and I wanted to find out a little bit more about her, who she was and if this project would be in her spirit. And I learned as one example that she would carpool many times with another staff member every day to school so that they could talk about strategies and ways to improve the school. Also, they wanted to save on gas. Um, so and she wanted to be environmentally friendly. There were

049so many things about her that I learned that just really made me respect her even more. And again, to do this in her memory, I think is honorable. And I appreciate having the opportunity to put that on our sign board to be able to say that this was donated by Jerry Hackbrush because I think that's really a wonderful thing for us to do as a high school. And I'm going to turn it over to Courtney if you have anything else to add. >> I'm just here to answer questions. >> Perfect. So, I think that >> I'll say this is just sort of anecdotal. The only time that this antiquated sign benefited me was that my my son who graduated last year was um the student of the year and so he was up there for

050like 3 months. Otherwise, >> uh yes, I think that's that's the only good thing that's come out of that sign in the 23 years in West. >> Thank you. Okay. >> Yeah. The only time. >> Yes, it's still there. >> Are there any questions? >> So, after the grant, >> does the grant cover everything, I guess, is what I'm asking. So, there's no financial >> electricity. >> Yeah. Sorry. Oh, >> okay. >> That was my only question. >> Sounds great. >> Just the electricity. >> No. Yeah. My only question was does the does the grant cover the cost of the sign? Yes, absolutely. Fully >> fully including permits and >> take down. >> Yeah. Removal of the old one and installation of the new one. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I'm I'm really in

051favor. I think the sign needs to go, you know, for sure. Um has anybody reached out to the junior high because they recently past couple years they put their sign in. So any kind of difficulties they had maybe an idea. >> I remember some of that and I Yeah. Um I was the PTO president when that was happening. Um the we did not finance that sign at all. Um we did finance the sign that went on the side of the building and um Joe was Joe helped with there was a lot there the permitting such but um I think once it was there people were thrilled. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I have not heard of any negative remarks. I mean, I think some at first Oakwood was a little hesitant at first when they heard

052that this flashing thing was going to go up, but >> I was thinking more of just any difficulties they had like lessons learned, >> technical stuff, you mean? Or >> I think Sabrina Ryman was she was like this is not hard at all. I remember >> I think definitely in terms of of comparing it to, you know, because it's all computer based and somebody can stay indoors in the warm >> in the nice heated building and rather than handle box with all the letters and numbers is giant. And to hand pull and make sure it's in the right order because I know I've called Dr. Wick on my way out of school and been like, >> "Dr. W, it's spelled wrong. You got to get you got to get somebody out there and change it."

053So I think in terms of that I think the the friendliness to the user that's programming it is going to be >> a much a lot of time saved and a lot of headache saved as well. I think there yeah the the students who put up the stuff for the craft fair initially this year they had all these numbers and I think they had it on the correct date but the the time was like 3 to 900 p.m. Yes. >> Because they had they had nine, they had three, and they had six >> in their pile >> to take out. >> And then you had to send somebody back out in the snow to >> I saw that and I went into school that day because I knew I'd be at the craft fair um

054selling old yearbooks and I said, "Oh no, I didn't realize I'd be there until 9:00 p.m. on Saturday." So I did go in and have to check. So you're absolutely right. I remember like as as far as like difficulties, I remember like the school being fine and the financing, but it was the permits and it was like always it was like a hiccup that delayed it. >> Mr. Smith, it's all >> the level we had originally was bus allow you to put a digital sign in residential area. >> Okay. >> So, we had to get a special zoning a variance permit to their zoning rules about the sign. So we had to get that and then we had an issue because the community didn't have a plot survey. >> Oh. >> And for a while

055the village was blocking it because of that. Didn't have the plot of survey to go with the application. >> So do we have a plat of survey on the high school? >> The high school we do uh when they put in the lights for the football field. >> Okay. >> US Cellular paid to have one done. >> Okay. And then on the zoning, the village has since updated some zoning. Do we are we going to have the same >> zoning challenges? >> The junior high application knew then that eventually the high school one. >> Someone someone wanted their children at the high school to have a sign. >> Yes. Originally, originally the village actually wanted us to put one sign up, >> which we did not want to do because the water. >> So, we

056worked with the village on their zoning rules. We worked with them with the HOA because they wanted to make sure the residents that were right there weren't going to be affected by crisis. There's a lot of hoops to jump through originally. Now that we've done this the first time and they know that we have attention the second issue. >> Their big rule is the size of the digital screen in comparison to the overall size of the sign. So it's limited to 40%. You have to kind of ratio that out with making the work of the sign big enough. >> So this shows it here. That percentage is um we abide by those rules. Okay. >> And then the other thing that they're very that you spoke on a little bit is it does automatically adjust

057the brightness which is a big thing for light pollution. >> I get that. >> Joel cares about bird migration. >> Yeah. Well, there and there's the dark sky initiative that there's some grant money there from the village too that >> um so I would my only ask is just on is just that we've check with them on the zoning side of things so that we can just before moving forward so we know what we're rocking into >> fully. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Anything else? >> So the next steps to repeat like what what how do we move from here or what's the next step? Well, and to that point, Ron, can you speak to why why this is coming to us? Because it's not technically it's over 35,000, which is any spend

058needs to come to the board table. And also, it's not actually a US spend. It's a donation. So, like, can you kind of just explain why it is still kind of coming through the board? We're not Yeah, >> absolutely. So just because it is a donation once it's in the district's possession the finances we are held under certain laws right Illinois school code in this case after talking with attorneys even though this was over the $35,000 threshold there is an exemption under the bidding process about technology this falls under a technological purchase. Additionally, this company has worked with the district with the previous board lights. >> Mhm. >> So, we've already vetted them. They already know what to expect. >> Okay. So, it's coming to us as a bit of a courtesy. It's not a

059requirement for it to come through us, if I'm understanding that right. >> Wow. >> Even though it's not taxpayer dollars, it's still district funds. >> Yeah. >> Because it was channeled through. >> Yeah. >> So, it has any expenditure has to still go through the board. Right. >> Okay. So, to be ultra clear, it's not coming out of taxpayer funds. >> Correct. >> It is an expenditure by the board though, but not of taxpayer funds, which is why it is coming to us. Okay. >> We would have wanted to present this anyway because we're so excited about it. >> And and to that point, what was nice is that when Lissa and the team discussed this, they also had two other grants that they awarded. So, Hackbrush has actually been doing a lot of great

060things for the school. Yeah, >> it's just another highlight >> which was an ask last year. It was a little bit later in the year, but because of the the time constraints and the anticipation that >> cost of materials will be going up after the first of the year on certain raw materials, um, you know, we're happy to come back at at the same time we did last year with all the proposals and and highlight those, but we did want to make sure that we were able to secure this project with the original price and the original quote. >> Um, so that we weren't paying more just because of a timeline, >> right? And so back to the question, what's the what where do you go from here? What's the next step? >> The next

061step, >> can we get a jackhammer and like >> you're approved for >> have the day? >> Um, no. We we're all set to go. Lissa is in contact with the company and Ron's got all the financial paperwork. So, we're >> working on it from his end. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> It is not on tonight's action items. So, it will be on >> Okay. >> This is Yeah, it's >> We can move ahead. It'll be on the next >> Mhm. >> Okay. In January. >> Yeah. >> But then and then after that they can move on construction. They call it >> demo first. >> Demo. >> We're going to preserve the um the top and hang it somewhere in the school and date it just so that people remember what it what once >>

062what it looks like. >> Like the rotary telephone. >> Yes. >> We'll use it as a prop. >> There you go. auction off the letters. So, >> I want that seven. That looks like an L. >> That doesn't really look like an L, but I mean squint. >> Keep your eye. >> Um, last piece. Can we make all of the parts all of the items on here in public comment? Because they're in admin content. >> They were. Okay. Okay. So, they're in public now. Great. Awesome. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. Thank you for your time. >> Appreciate it. Okay. Policy. >> Who's taking on policy? >> Say for this one. Policy first reading. >> Oh, we're all looking at you. >> Oh boy. Uh, >> I should have taken better notes. Uh, we discussed Uh

063sorry, I'm going um just basic changes that there was a lot of changes that were made um that press recommends. Um got I don't know where to go from there. Um, >> well, we we employ a company >> that uses attorneys to scour all the policy changes from the state and then they're all outlined. And so that's what we pay for that service, >> right? >> And so there was a policy meeting held tonight where those changes were reviewed. Um, and so now we're moving forward with >> with those recommended changes from our from press that are reviewed by their lawyers basically. So >> yeah, I mean it's not realistic for a school board member to be searching out all the policy changes. So we hire >> Press Plus to to do that work. Their

064attorneys make a presentation. They have a document with a series of changes. There were literally probably close to 40 and some of them are just a word change or a >> a footnote >> phrase. So >> to keep the to keep our policies updated. >> So just one quick question. We're just going down the line with their recommendations. Is that correct? >> That's what we pay them for. >> No, no, I get it. I I'm not suggesting that is a bad thing. I'm I'm asking the question point blank. I'm just saying we're we're we're not going to deviate from what they've recommended. Not at this time. >> Yeah. Not and I don't think we historically really have deviated from what they have they would put out. So >> that would be the only comment I

065would even expect in this in this, you know, honestly. >> Are there any comments on the policy reading because your question does lead into the next press plus conversation. >> I have none. >> No. Cool. So, leading into the next into Press Plus, we currently pay for Press and Shannon did some research into we've talked about Press Plus, upgrading essentially to press plus. I think it's come up a couple times in the last year or two. Um, and so Shannon has done some research and has reached out to them to understand what that is, right, from a all the perspectives. And um essentially the press plus is a is a process to go through. Um and so what it would entail if we upgraded to press plus is a likely year-long process looking into all

066of our policies. So we would go into all of our policies. I hesitate to use the word customize but make tweaks. We can make some language adjustments. we could um you know do essentially what we would whatever we'd like to do with our policies from a board um perspective. So originally we had thought that upgrading to press plus was more of an administration choice that we that we would support but it is actually a board choice because the board members would need to do that work. So go through all of the policies that we currently have um and align them with how how we would like them to look, right? If we would like to use certain language, if we would like to um adjust them all, all those things. Me personally, I came to

067the policy meeting tonight because after doing my mandatory training, discipline training, it mentioned that good policy is a is one of the first steps and one of the things that board members do. And it reminded me that like we haven't really like >> dug into our policies >> and that maybe especially from an equity standpoint and and from a board um from a from a board um goal standpoint, we haven't really done that that work. So this is essentially like a 12-month process. There'd be a number of meetings in between. Um it certainly does have a cost although the cost is more than what we're paying right now. It's not it is it is a cost increase. Um but the process to go through all the policies is um managed by press plus and not

068us which for me is >> yeah we'd get guidance on on going through it. Yeah. >> But it is an undertaking >> for the board. it does require commitment from the board. There's meetings in between all of those things. So, >> and it's did our topic >> um for our next one, but we were able to get I was able to get some feedback from other boards that use this in our tri conference. M >> boy, aren't we tied together really beautifully? >> This actually this year, but it was just we had a policy um >> it was a policy just learning more about it. So, not to say I'm an expert on that, but it there are some things and benefits of like our goals that we set that we want to be um

069clear with our policies and know you know going through it and it's a heavy feat for a board member to do alone. So, >> so I actually went to um one of the sessions at the conference on this on press and press plus um and I thought the the way that they explained press plus and the they really talked about how like we review our policies. Um Press Plus helps us like look at that, give suggestions and then we work as a team. Like they laid it all out I thought really nicely and um I was going to bring it up at a meeting. do we have the the press plus? So I think for me uh going to that meeting at the conference it confirmed that like that's what we maybe should be doing

070especially with so many new members and just kind of the goal of any board should be to assess and evaluate and then and then kind of go from there if we make change yeah make changes. So and this seemed like that was going to be the way to help us cuz we are not >> none of us are policy experts and that's what that's what this is. Yeah, but we all but we all have good intention behind it, right? But good intention doesn't that's like a piece. >> I I like I like the idea with this press plus that it's a searchable database for terms for the admins, you know, to quickly be able to find, >> you know, policies on that subject, you know, >> and the attached this was the other thing Carla

071that we that Carla mentioned the administrative procedures. Yes. >> Are linked to it, right? So you look up a policy, the admin team gets the linked admin. So it like in a similar way to what Adam and Shannon and the team did with um our handbooks >> like getting our and that took a year. It took a little bit longer than a year even, right? Like taking all of our school handbooks and aligning them and getting them online in a way that's much more user friendly. It's very it's from what I understand tonight that's very very similar to what the process with press plus is >> I have a few a few questions about this one is is this um something that we can do and then turn off right I mean once we do

072it >> once we once we do like the process >> or is it is it also part of the online access and you got to keep it on >> I don't understand your question >> I'm sorry >> you mean turn on >> so we're going from one license to another license. That other license allows us to do things with with in terms of updating and streamlining our policies, but it also I I understand is part of that is providing like an an online access to those policies. That's part of the the license itself. Is that correct? >> Yes. They'll put it together and like create a web page. I'm not a tech person, right? >> They'll put it together and it'll be easy where you can just click on click on the links or search

073it. It'll replace what we currently have. >> Correct. And then if we decide we no longer want that subscription, what happens to all to all of that? >> So is it >> we go back to the olden days like now and then we just update them all and put them all on create our own web page again like it is displayed now if you were to go back. I mean but we would we would have the policy we have done the work with the policy. That's what I'm >> And the cost is all inclusive of that of the the cost is all inclusive of the process >> to go to Press Plus, the year process to go to Press Plus and then the hosting and the other like once Press Plus is live. >> So

074if you canled though, we'd go back to the way we're doing it today. You would get the sheet, we'd go through every policy, I'd go back, I'd type up all the policies and I would repost them on the website. it's not searchable for >> and then Kevin would come to the meeting and tell us it all looks good. >> Yeah. From a from a cost perspective also and another thing that was brought up as a potential savings is that right now right when we've got questions, legal questions, we go to the lawyers because policy may not be wildly clear or it may not have the attached administrative policies processes behind it for whatever reason. Every single time we go to the lawyers has a cost. Lawyers are not inexpensive. So this very likely aligning everything

075and doing these and making sure that the administrative procedures are updated and aligned with the policies and doing all of this work very likely would decrease the number of times that we would need to go to the lawyers. So paying for itself and just so you know you would still have policy committee meetings. These updates would come out. They would just be presented to you on a computer differently. You would see the changes and then they would go back and update them. So you would still have policy committee meetings for the public. >> Makes sense. Can you talk a little bit about I I didn't understand how much of the administrator administ administrative I think is the right word policies of the district are tied into this >> procedures >> can Jack can you speak

076to the admin procedures piece of it or Shannon >> so for every policy or most policies there's an administrative procedure behind it so if there's a student discipline suspension they have an administrative proced procedure and Carla's seen the other side of it too. But um if um I'm trying to think of they're they're listed in here too. Um most policies they have procedures like com acceptable use policy. They write up a procedure on the back end and we use that um and then we could go in. So if we had a student do something or a staff member do something we can just type in a keyword and it would pull the procedure up for other admin district. Right now, we go in, I go, I find the procedure for them, I pull it up,

077and then I send it to them. And then we all scour through or we search cuz it's not as easy to search. We search through policy and flip through a book, and >> we're manually aligning them. >> Yeah. But the procedures are in there. The board doesn't approve procedures because we've approved the policy. So, the procedure just goes with it, >> right? And Carla could tell you more maybe about how admin would use it in a building or run, but they would just type in, you know, AI and every policy that has AI and every administrative procedure that has AI would come up for them. >> Okay. All right. That's that was all my questions. And the cost right now that we're paying just for the basic subscription is $1,000 and it would go up

078to around after all the work was done to about $6,400. >> Uh yes, per year we would pay the subscription cost for that one here. Um yeah, because then if we subscribe there's different options too. schoolboard policy online for them to do it and put it online. There's an additional cost. Um and then administrative procedures online there's an additional be about 60 300 a year. And you said there's that with that cost is monetary but it's also time for board or the board the policy committee time to like >> well so the the work on the policies is board work >> on board. Okay. So the admin team would have to update their admin procedures which they do regularly anyway. So but the specific policy work has to be board work. So it would be

079it it would be like within policy committee meetings but >> the whole board >> the whole the board would really need to commit to doing this work. So beyond the um beyond the kind of our yearly um like board review, it'll be a little bit more. >> Yeah. And we can also talk, right? So we do we're finalizing the board retreat for the end of January. We can is there a rush to make this decision or no? So we have some time, right? So we can talk about this um in our board retreat as we think about our goals as a board. um as well. So >> yeah, correct me if I'm wrong, but like from the meeting I went to, it really was the the the plus option that they were talking about really

080lended itself to as a board doing a lot of reflection because you get a lot more feedback, more intensive feedback um and and having those discussions and with your board um and then you know moving forward from there like that's what it at least what I got out of my meeting. Um >> any is there any information that the board would like to see before our before our next meeting before this is this is not on the agenda to we don't it's an approval item this is just a information item right >> so what information would we like to see >> um I guess those options is that the options come with the cost is like varying if you take certain options will it be more or less >> kind of like a menu option

081>> I guess it's something to review and I don't know if it has to be a discussion >> I can put it in the update >> um update as far as a review of those options and what is it called the >> I don't know it needs to be in the update as much as just on the next >> in the agenda >> on board docs the next time we discuss this >> the next time we discuss this right and I also I mean I think >> one of the clear takeaways is like it's not worth doing this if we're not going make it a priority as a board. >> That's what you're basically saying. I think >> it requires a lot of work on our end. >> It's very Yeah. And so I think

082it does make sense to think about this as a decision we make if we formalize after the retreat. >> Yeah. >> And I'm sure that the ISB reps at the retreat will also be able to give us >> feedback on how Yes. >> some more like detailed like really what type of commitment we're talking it sounds like it's a year process minimum. So this is not something that could begin with next school year. It would be like something that we take on next school year before it following one. Yeah. >> Hit the the year after. So >> hit 2728. >> Mhm. >> Do they have a demonstration website or something that >> they did? >> There's one in this memo. >> Yeah, I'll share it with you. >> Okay. >> You go into the in

083the memo that's in the in the >> It probably doesn't have >> the board docs. There's one for for unit school or high school school district >> press. I'll look um >> there's a memo >> with a link. >> I don't know if that's a demo environment or if that's a real school. I don't know. Probably >> that one actually is a real school. Like I found it online. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Awesome. >> I was looking at it earlier. It's it's exactly what you said. You can just kind of >> cruise through it. But I'll send you other links too that the processes >> that demonstrate what the process is on your side too. >> Make the practices part of the processes. >> Say it three times. >> I can't believe you can even

084say that. >> I can add another P to that too somehow. >> Practices, policies, and procedures. >> This one that you posted, does this have all of the options included in it or is it just >> the memo? That memo does not, but I can get all that to you. Mhm. >> But I mean this this website that you you know this demonstration website from district 128 does that have >> all the options? >> I think that's just one that that she found >> that is so so this would show board policy online administrative procedures we don't publish. So their admin might have it. We don't have it. So we can't see what they're using on the other side. Um but you know what I believe there's a link in there. I'll send it to

085you or I'll share it with the board about what the administrative procedure side looks like if I can get one. >> Great. >> Can you Yeah. Can you just add that to the next >> ISB does have information on their website about it also. >> Yeah, I'll share it out. >> Cool. >> How much does it cost? How to use it? Bunch of videos. Great. Any other needs from the press plus standpoint? Okay. IASB conference who went to a press plus thing. >> Mine was two years ago. >> I didn't know that's what I was going to, but that's what I ended up at. >> That's funny. >> Um I kind of wish I had more time. Um because I um I also went at the end of it was on the last day and

086it was like how to present to your board and great ideas. >> Should for the two new members should we tell them what we're talking about? >> Oh yes. >> Yeah. Let's go backwards. Okay. >> So every year it's part of like someone asked do you um have um um almost like somewhere where there's training and professional development for the board. Um this is one great area cuz it's live in person. Um and so every year there's a tri conference. Here's the test. There's of course the Illinois Association of School Boards. There is >> administrators and business office. They're part and that's the third. >> What are the three eyes? >> No, it's the superintendent and the CSBOs. >> Superintendent >> and CSBOs. >> Yeah. Superintendent >> triple I. >> Okay. >> And business associate.

087So um there are boards for all of those heads and then there's one conference for Illinois. um every year, same time. Uh you can try to protest if you like, but it's during the same weekend. It's usually the weekend before Thanksgiving. Um but um boards all over the state come and there is there are presentations. So there's a side of it that's just inspirational that I've found that they've done a fabulous job. Even 2020, our first year, it was online and their speaker was great. So it kind of reminds you why you're doing this. Very motivational um and gets you kind of ppped up. It's kind of the pep rally. Um and then there all kinds of subjects. So they have kind of seminars and workshops and classes on different topics. Um from policy, finance,

088um they have the for the business office, um superintendent, how to find, you know, what did other schools do um when they were searching for their next superintendent? Um referendums and experience. So we gained so much from that. Um and then sometimes uh a board may present uh the good work that they've done. >> Some might be invited to do that. >> Um so we like we were invited last year to talk about our process of developing an evaluation tool for a superintendent. So there's just um multiple things um and multiple topics that are um offered. There are also some that you have to start early is one of our things that uh if you we try to like we want to look early enough because some come with an extra cost. >> Um but

089if it's beneficial something our board's looking for you can do that. It's usually Thursday through Sunday. >> Yeah. Thursday through Sunday the weekend before Thanksgiving every year boards all across the state. It is it's our conference. It is our it's our learning conference. So um especially uh as new board members it is it is really helpful. It's a wonderful opportunity to um connect with other board members but also to see what other boards and districts are doing. Yes. Um which is one of the things that I've always it's a great learning opportunity. >> Um a lot about tiffs over the like there's always stuff. So it's a it's a great conference. marking calendars. >> Have a representative that has to be present for Illinois Association. We have delegates. >> Kevin's wearing the hat. >> There

090are recommendations. We give our input and he is our representative to vote along with the other Illinois delegates. So, a lot of work is done um at the time. >> Yes, we will talk about it in more detail as we get closer to making the reservations, but no, it's the weekend before Thanksgiving. The reason that they do it that weekend is because it is holiday. It's the celebration of lights and it's a reason for everybody who doesn't live in the Chicagoland area to come to Chicago, >> spend a weekend all >> street closings. >> Turn it turn it turn it into it's a it's a family weekend for folks that >> it was a great conference. >> Don't live here. >> Super super. I learned a lot. I met a lot of people. I got

091to meet two new board members from Maker. >> Um is that you say Maker? >> Marker. Um it it was it was a really I thought valuable conference. >> Yeah. I I would just say that as a as a new school board member or even actually even after a few years on the school board like you spend we spend all our time looking at our belly buttons and it's it's an opportunity to get out there and and see just whether it's commiserating or or whether it's learning you know how another school district tackled a problem or or just the notion that wow you know I'm in this thing and it's not just it's not just here in Westmont you Uh it's it's super helpful. Yeah, >> super helpful. In fact, I didn't go this year.

092I wasn't able to go this year >> and I didn't think I was going to miss it and I missed it. I missed it. >> Yeah. There's not there's not a lot of benefits to this job that we volunteer to do >> this convers. >> I'll get with that. >> Oh, I do want to present it better and like share some of the slides. Um, one thing I will um try to get cuz they um in in their feedback they said they they would have slides for every and I it wasn't quite that way. No, they never and it was just like, oh, just look at the slides. Don't take pictures of this or so they didn't have that for everyone even though they said that. And so I try actually I use the app

093a little bit better with my notes, but I I I don't know if there's opportunity that um their topics that I can come back and um share. But I do want to give, you know, our community a little bit of what I got. So I get a lot out of the general sessions and those are the inspirational pep rallies. find like people who have have a a message for us and they do a really good job of saying direct uh having their experience relate and to our why. Um and so there are a lot from the first mission uh the first session um was from um uh a person that was a you know I was there with you me >> that was uh she's in the armed forces she was a pilot she um

094>> that was you I can't remember I went to the next jail guy >> um but that like the things that motivated her and like some of her I thought was pertinent for us not that we'll take them Um her theme of her talk was one mission, one goal, one team. And I was like that's us. Um and I like her statement that she centered her talk around was just we acknowledge the obstacles but we don't give them power. Um so just looking at all the different things that um we go through um and how we stay motivated and not just to like trudge in like the the the negative sides of things. Um, and I like something else she said. She's like, if you want to think about your uh your contribution um or

095what uh it means um to be a part of something, she asked a question, how do people feel when you walk into the room is as like how you contribute to the board and other people you work with. Um so it was a lot uh that and a lot I think about with Mr. Balderman, Dr. Balderman, I'm sorry. Um, one thing she said at the end, it's like we're not here to do 99% of the work. We're we're we're trying to go all the way. So, while we have we're doing great things in our district, it's great, but we're not here for the 99%. We're here to get 100% of our students um successful um graduation, all of that. So, um I took that. I'll let anybody else jump in while I find my next

096notes because it's not >> okay. I went to I went to that same motivational session. I thought she was really inspirational. Um but that was my favorite part honestly. Uh I went to a session AI and education and it was to me exciting. It's like a tool of the future uh to see what other school districts are doing. Um I emailed superintendent of a local district that was presenting and I got the slideshow. I was going to email you. I'll do that today. Um, you know, it was like the the ethical use of AI, you know, what the students can use it for, what they shouldn't use it for. But then I got an email from our own district from Sergio Gonzalez, my son's literacy teacher. Um, they use some magic magic school AI and

097you know, I loved it. His email, it was great. I was excited to read this. Usually, I'll be honest, I'm not. This one really excited me. You know, it was what the students could use it for. You know, what they should use it for, what they shouldn't use it for. Um, it should support their thinking, not replace it. I love that idea. You know, it's it, you know, it shouldn't do the work for them. So, um, so we are to some extent using it in our district and I want to see more use of that in our district. Um, you know, I think we shouldn't shy away from it. Um, I will forward that slide deck to you, uh, Jack. You know, >> thank you. >> And then I went to the delegate assembly and

098it was just it to me it was interesting. Um, I >> heard there were no desks this year. >> Was it? >> I heard there was no table in front. >> There was no tables. No. >> Not a big topic of controversy is what I heard. >> Yeah. Yeah, it was. But I I thought it was interesting. you know, there's like two lines, you know, one for opposed, you know, one for, you know, and there was members on the same school board in opposing lines. And I think they just wanted to they wanted to argue back and forth like, >> you know, just, >> you know, it's like it's nice that we're kind of cohesive, you know, can be civil, you know, in our disagreements, you know, and still >> destructive. >> Yeah. Yeah. So,

099you know, it's kind of seeing in public a school board kind of going at each other, so it's not a good thing. But, um, I went to the I only went Saturday and Sunday. So, Saturday I went to Damen West um speaking his his uh big speech and it was about being the coffee bean which um he was it was a little bit long- winded his overall speech but it was a good speech. Um he basically like screwed his whole life up and went to jail. Um ended up getting out and one of the things that helped him get out um was this guy gave him advice about when you get to jail you can either be the egg, the carrot or the coffee bean. And when you put those three in boiling water, the

100carrot gets soft, the egg gets hard, and the coffee bean is the only thing that changes the surroundings. Um, and so we want you to be the coffee bean where you're changing your surroundings of, you know, your community and things like that. Um, he had much more to say obviously, but that was the summary of it. He wrote a famous book and travels and all that stuff. Um then I went to a couple conferences about like parent hat, board member hat. So kind of personal stuff. Um the policy 101 meeting. I went to another one about just like um like situational what would you do in this scenario which they somewhere it was some district from the north and they were auctioning off like they were giving away prizes of like things from their town.

101So, it was like fine china and like chocolate from their town. Like, I don't know. It was like silly stuff, but like um it was fun. It was a fun one. Um and it was all just like situational things that had actually happened to their board in years past. And how would you respond as a board member? And then I think >> are crazy. >> Yeah, some of them like >> some of them are crazy. >> Truly, every year I try to hit something where it's like situationals of like other districts and I'm like we're fine. >> We're so fine. Yeah. >> Um cuz then you had to even figure out was it an actual real life scenario? Were they making it up? Like >> um they were not. They were all real scenarios. >>

102Um and then the last one I went to, which I think is probably the most relevant is two two failed referendums. What's next? >> Um and there was a lot of good ideas I think that came from that. Um, it was from a a town in kind of central Illinois, a bigger district than ours. Um, and really like the main takeaways that I took away from them was their community was going to continue to vote no until they saw on the board and school side that they were willing to make cuts. And so both referendums failed until um they made cuts. Once those cuts were made and people were unhappy with those cuts, like they lost band. Um, and people were fe they I guess they said they were in a nine not a nine,

103they were in a I what was a 5-hour long board meeting that just discussed keeping or getting rid of middle school band. Um, >> yeah. >> And after those cuts were made, um, and the community realized, I think, the impact of those cuts, again, it wasn't immediate. It was an immediate turnaround that things got better. Um, there were things with salary. Teachers took a salary freeze in that district. Again, um, I'm not advocating for or against that. That's just what happened. Um then finally the community got together and passed a referendum. So um yeah just a you know some takeaways that I think we might want to talk about are like on our end what are the cuts we're willing to make um to show good faith and I know in the board you know

104updates and things like that we we're talking about kind of next steps and moving forward with repairs and things like that. So, um just to keep those things in mind. Um but yeah, they eventually got it passed. >> The last um few things I hope um I'll try to get more information for, but I did go to uh recruiting, hiring, retaining diverse leaders of color. Um and one thing that stood out there. So I have some slides from that just showing like percentages of um in Illinois like what um like representation as far as uh student population to admin to superintendent. But one thing they um I I took notes on that stood out right now is like um a question they asked what does your website show as you attract um diverse people? Um

105and so people like they talked about the statement that people give like oh we don't attract anyone or no one comes you know and so that's one um one thing to do to look at I guess is your website when you're showing your kids and you're showing your admin um what are you showing what is your picture and you can say you can you come up with that but think about that that it's intentional um and letting you know like prospects look at their representation when they're looking for places to So, um they talked about things that we've talked about here too, like your community and um and um give an incentive for your own students to come back. Um you know, looking at your West Line, that's a huge thing as you see your

106results of your um teaching and um all of that um education when students come back to work in the district that they're from. So um um lots of things I can give on that and share with the board. Standardizing the recruitment process. Um there was uh being transparent about compensation. A lot of things like that I felt was helpful. Um and one other thing I wanted to hit was our uh communicate financials with clarity and confidence. So um I attended that and or they do have a handout with that. There was I know something I wanted to ask uh Ron is something that they one of the districts they post kind of like a I'm going to get this wrong a f um finance score or it's like something that pops up on their website

107that looks at your funds and I'll get that uh title. It looks at your fund. It's just like it's a graph or a point that shows where you are, what you're doing, but it's something that is not too difficult to to explain, but I thought it was something great that um that is IASB does or provides that they give a score to um every district and it shows how well you're doing. Um, and it's something that you can put and put on your website that says these are the three things we look look at and here's where we lie and you can do it uh yeartoear but it's something that helps with your community. I just thought it was something that was good and I was going to ask I wonder what our score was.

108So they gave different examples and I'll get the exact number so you're like what do you um what that term was. Um, and I just thought it was a communication um, piece that we always ask. People are asking how well are we doing or their claims that maybe we're not doing as well, but it's one one area. And so, will people want more information about what that means? Will they want deeper just like our facilities? Yeah. But I just it's a tool that they have for all of our all these districts in Illinois and is it something we could use? Um, um, that was it. The last thing was taking it home and kind of uh providing that feedback for everyone and a succinct way and if the board wants more details about different things

109that we saw then yeah we can we can do that. So let me get >> So that what you were just talking about was that Illinois State Board of Education was it recognition review early warning watch? >> Um no >> school district financial profile. >> Maybe that was a financial profile. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. There's like four categories. >> Yeah. I'll I'll send you a link. >> Go ahead. >> Cool. Are we good? >> Yes. >> Okay. I want to It's 8:30, so I want to be cognizant and we got some action items to roll through and close up this meeting. >> Um any other notes on the ISB conference? Okay, moving on to the action items. Uh the chair will entertain a motion uh to adopt the resolution setting the 2025 tax levy as

110presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Marin, >> yes. >> Miss Mill, >> yes. >> Mr. Horman, >> abstain. >> Miss Franklin, >> yes. >> Miss Conover, >> yes. >> Dr. Hoover, >> yes. >> Mr. Ravia, >> yes. Uh, the chair will entertain a motion to approve the suburban school cooperative insurance pool insurance renewal and cyber program in the combined amount of $185,13 as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh, roll call. >> Miss Mill, >> yes. >> Mr. Orman, >> yes. >> Miss Franklin, >> yes. >> Miss Town, >> yes. >> Dr. Hoover, >> yes. >> Mr. Aia, >> yes. >> Mr. Maron, >> yes. >> And just a reminder, that one is a standard that hits us typically every December at this time. It's just yearly renewal. Um,

111the chair will entertain a motion to authorize and direct the treasurer to pay bills received in December 2025 for the 2026 fiscal year as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Horman, >> abstain. >> Miss Franklin, >> abstain. >> Miss Conover, >> yes. >> Dr. Hoover, >> yes. >> Mr. Avia, >> yes. >> Mr. Marin, >> yes. >> Miss Mill, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Uh, Dr. Baldererman, superintendent report. That's right. >> Congratulations. >> Dr. Superintendence report. >> Hi everybody. Um, so one thing I want to share with you that Edith wanted me to present is this page that you have that is featured in West Living magazine. >> Very excited to see. >> Pardon? >> I was very excited to see from >> Yes. So, it's right up >> and

112it highlights some of the achievements, but it also uh talks about the state superintendent who visited and was very uh positive about the things we've accomplished in 2011. More work to be done, but recognized. So, there's some nice information here, Westmont Living. The other thing that I'm really excited about that it continues to be something we work on, you have a copy of this. This is a save the date. Um, and a group of our leaders in the district are working on these conferences. So, the AP conference is going to be May 18th. It'll be the 12th time we've done it. We didn't do it during the co years, but we've done it the last 12 years. It is a fantastic opportunity. We literally have about 80 different high schools come from the area. Usually

113about 450 or more teachers attend. It's free professional development for our teachers, especially as singleton teachers. They need to connect with other teachers who teach what they teach from all over the region. So, it's a lot of great learning. Um, it also, this is not the purpose of it, but it generates a little bit of revenue for the district that we use for things uh for our students and our staff. But that'll be the 12th time we're done it. May May 18th. This is something we're doing for the first time uh on June 2nd. The conference title is Expect Greatness: Empowering All Students with a Focus on Latino and Multilingual Learners. The keynote speaker is going to be uh Dr. Luis Cruz. He's a national uh presenter, uh very charismatic, highly respected and sought after.

114We'll also have the uh teacher of the year, Victor Gomez, presenting. And then some of our own people um Edith uh um Mary Cassir uh Carla Braun Dr. Braun uh Steph just from Manning uh Anna Jacobowski and some of our other teachers are going to present at this conference. So, it really should be and it'll be open to schools and the initial interest is pretty strong from other districts and it'll once again be great staff development, great professional development. Um, and it'll end up being at no cost to the district but great benefit for our people. the June 4th uh all in every role every voice leadership and action Janelle Keading who's one of the top uh superintendents in the country recently retired but now she's one of the top trainers of superintendents in in

115the in the whole nation she'll be the keynote speaker and then once again a series of our leaders will be presenting at that conference so those are going to be positive uh coming up in the near future the other thing I want to share is information that we have never presented before that just recently became available and this is the challenge that I put to our administrative team their homework over the break and I'll be pretty succinct here and I would give this to anybody in the community any board members interested there's these databases that we've obtained of the performance in multiple categories of all the schools throughout Illinois we wouldn't put them in paper but we would give anybody electronically these databases. And the challenge I put to our team was, show me a

116district that's performing at a higher level than 2011. I don't think one exists. Certainly, there's a finite number, 852 districts. Maybe there's three or four. So, that would still put us in the top 1%. But overall performance, but there's some new data that came up that Dr. Brun obtained from this group ECRA that the community has not seen that I think is the most important data we've ever uncovered. The purpose I would like to think of all of our meetings from board meetings to the weekly meetings that the teams have to our administrative meetings is student growth. What is more important than growing our students learning? That has got to be priority one. So there's some data that we have that's new that I want to share with you. We know that Miller went from

117the 51st percentile to the 93rd percentile. Amazing. One of the most improved schools in the state. We know that Manning went from the 63rd to the 98th and a half percentile. Amazing. We know the junior high went from the for the 50th percentile to the 99th percentile. This is the Illinois State Board of Education and the high school has been in the top 5% every year in the last seven to eight years that the state has ranked. But not only have we shown incredible growth through the years in ELA and math, but this is the slide that really is mind-blowing to me, and it comes from Illinois State Board of Education, but there's a group called ECRA that disagregates all the data and performance of all the schools in the state of Illinois. So, proficiency

118for ELA 3 through 12, we're in the top 9%. for math proficiency in the top 7%. Pretty impressive. That's great. But here's where it really gets exciting because proficiency, we know that these exams um are measured on a bell curve. They're normed and they have certain biases in them. But the growth is what really is most powerful. Take a look at the growth. And it's we're not competing against other schools in the state, but we have to have some kind of a context for what all these numbers mean. So our ELA from 3 to 8th was in the top 3% in Illinois. The growth for our kids proficiency important, growth more important. And this is data we had not have. The Illinois State report card does not give this kind of a comparison. But this

119company ECAR goes through all the data throughout the state and then puts these numbers together. The math growth is at the 98th percentile 3 through 8. So top 2% in the state for growth. The high school ELA is in the top 1% in Illinois. And math growth top 1% in in Illinois. That's just unprecedented. That's why I would challenge anybody. I've challenged our admit team. Find me the schools that are doing it better and then my idea is let's go to those schools, invite them to our district and we have a meeting of the minds and learn from the very best. I don't think there are many schools that can compare to this if any at all. But this is new data we have not had until recently. Dr. Braun contracted ECRA. We had to

120pay them $2,000 to get all this information. But it gives us a context for performance. Chronic absenteeism, top 1% in the state. And our these were our goals, ELA, math growth, and remember we said no more than five absences. That was something that we took on as a district. And from Sam and her team, from all the administrative assistants to the nurses to the teachers to the admin, top 1% in Illinois for chronic absenteeism. That is really powerful information. We thought we were the best. This verifies it. And this isn't our opinion or our evidence. This comes from the Illinois State Board of Education and from ECRA. So it's not just growth in learning. It's not just attendance, but also the five essentials, which is our customer satisfaction survey that is taken by teachers, students,

121and parents. For effective leaders, we're in the top 3%. For collaborative teachers, top 1%. For involved families, top 1% and ambitious instruction district-wide in the top 3%. You combine all of those things and there's other data and rankings too like Chicago magazine that says we got the best middle school in DuPage County. But whether it's growth, attendance, customer satisfaction, Universe Chicago, Illinois State Board of Education, ECRA, we are one of the top achieving districts. And it's something that is only achieved when you have from board of education to admin, teacher union, teachers, support staff, students, parents, and communities rowing together. And as I said, some of this information we're familiar with, but the new information about the growth, which I think is the most important data, puts us in the top 1, 2, 3% in

122Illinois. So, I'm very proud of what the team has accomplished. We obviously have more work to do, and that's something we focus on every day, but this is unprecedented. And I put the challenge to anybody who's interested. Scour over the data the way that we have that I have. Find a district that's doing it better. I don't think there are many. If there are, we're going to invite them to our house and learn from them. So, I'm very proud as we close out this first semester, we finished another board meeting with no uh major discipline incidents in close session. That's also important the way our students treat each other in addition to all these other markers. So, it's been a great semester. I hope everybody enjoys the holiday break and then on January 5th, we're

123going to come back and hit it hard again. So, thank you. board reports. >> Um I just want to say um great job to all of our schools and their concerts um for the holiday. No. Um you'll have something else to add, but um congratulations and great work to all of our students participating. And I do want to correct myself um for Ron as I asked for information to give um school the what the term I was talking about was the school district financial profile score and it comes from ISBY not IAS. So um there are different categories. I can present more of that and see if that's something our board wants to do but >> it was an interesting talk. So I >> wonder I wonder where we lie with those. I'm pretty confident

124that at least for the last 10 years, we've been in the highest category >> and I I just I like it as a score. That's something we can promote with that. >> Any other board reports for the evening? >> Just band concerts last week. Uh junior high, high school. Uh the students sounded great, you know. Um a lot of talented uh musicians and a lot of band and choir, excuse me. Um, choir sounded great. Also, um, shout out to, uh, Mr. Troyer, uh, Mr. Kapowski, Mrs. Beerman, and, uh, Mr. Earl. You know, the the choir and band there, they sound great. So, talented students >> and the craft show. >> Yeah. And the crash show. Yeah, craft show went well. >> I think it was another successful year. >> Yes. And I think um there

125was a report given yesterday um just as a congratulations with all the great work those parents do our our parent participation but they have 40 vendors already uh booked for >> next year. Awesome. >> So that's a testament to what they do and what their students do. >> Okay, moving on to public comment is do we have any public comment? We do not. and future meetings and events. Winter break starts December 22nd and goes through uh January 2nd of 20 26. I don't know if anybody else has received 47 text messages or not, but this Friday PLC dismissal, heads up. Might get a couple more texts. I love them. I love them. um teacher institute on January 5th, which is a no attendance day, no student attendance day. Teachers will be in attendance and our

126next CUSD 2011 regular meeting of the board of education right back here January 13th at 6:30 p.m. It'll be exciting. Be here, be square. Um any other current uh information and communications? Then the chair will entertain a motion to adjourn the December 16th regular meeting of the board of education. So moved. >> Second. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes.