001[Music] w oh oh [Applause] [Music] e the board of education has presented move second all those in favor any opposed a motion carries okay at this time um we'll move to public comment receive okay um and so welcome our presenters um I'm going to go over this briefly we have a um a statement that we usually read for public comment um is basically to uh keep uh comments within five minutes for each speaker allowing others time to speak because our public comment time we try to limit to 30 minutes um and it's a time of Engagement the board will consider your comments and its decisions for those comments or questions requiring a follow-up response the board president or superintendent will follow up so first we have Tom McDow [Music] thank you guys uh I appreciate
002you guys having us here and I appreciate some of the baseball families for showing up in support and I this is my first school board meeting and I just want to say that I've watched several of the school board meetings over the years especially during the covid time and I just want to say God bless you all and thank you for your service I know there was many of nights my wife and I sat there with popcorn in the comfort of Our Own home and enjoyed those meetings so I appreciate you all um I'm here tonight just to talk about the potential of a junior high baseball team I know this has been a discussion previously and I know other families have tried to advocate for this in the past and I feel grateful that
003I just happened to kind of ask the question to uh a person over at the junior high recently and she was like well actually we're discussing it right now and so she encouraged me to come speak and so that's why I'm here um I have two boys in District 2011 and I've lived in the district since 2012 um thanks to Facebook today I was reminded that 6 years ago today my son went to his first baseball practice here in Westmont 6 years ago and boy he has grown uh since that time and also I've spent a lot of money on baseball since that time um so my son both my sons one is in sixth grade and one is in fourth grade both are Avid baseball players players um and Both have expressed that they
004would love the opportunity to represent um District 2011 and Westmont schools on the baseball field as of right now it looks like that opportunity wouldn't happen until high school but it seems like there's a potential for this to start in sixth grade at the Junior High um the reason why uh I love my kids being in sports in Westmont is both of my kids well I'll just speak about my older kid you know he's not the most uh he's not in love with school I would say you know he's not one that comes home and asks what extra homework he can work on and if there's anything he can study but last year he played on the basketball team for the junior high and I had told my son that he would not be eligible
005to play for the basketball team because they have requirements with grades now I I told him that the requirement is you must have a c or hire to be able to play well and that might not be true but he believed me and for the first time ever my son was coming home from school and he was doing homework on his own without me harassing him and he was also going to school early and getting extra help from teachers and I was very proud that his report card came home and he had you know one C and he had a couple B's and an A and that really motivated him to invest more into his school workor so any opportunity I can find for my son to play sports at the school and be motivated
006to get good grades I'm all in um the other thing I want to mention really quickly is Westmont has a really expanded baseball program here through the park district there are so many families and kids playing baseball in Westmont and actually you know I can personally say that the the level of baseball is getting better and better just this past weekend we had four teams from Westmont travel to Iowa to play in a tournament against teams from three different states and the Westmont teams went 13 and four with uh two teams getting second place one team winning the championship and we really had a great showing um I personally know a lot of the kids that are playing uh on this that are in sixth grade currently and we have a really talented group um
007and I know all those families would love the opportunity to play baseball here at the junior high I know there's potential cost issues and stiens and stuff like that and I want to let you know that our Westmont families would be willing to fundraise to help support this team and as far as coaching I know there could be a cost with coaching and I personally along with a few other gentlemen one might be in this room now would be willing to coach this team for free um I have a schedule at work where I can be flexible to be there for practices and games and um I also could commit for the next four years to do this if needed so um I just appreciate you guys considering this and that's all I got thank
008you thank you thank you and next um on our list is kapow so guys looking for a name yay okay hello thank you so much for having us here tonight um I'm really excited to talk about the success of kapow and Ascend since March um 2nd where we held our first um student heeld conference for asian-americans and other people of color at um Westmont high school we had a lot of good feedback and encouragement from our community members volunteers high schools and those who decided to Keynote for us um high schools that include um ta high schools Vietnamese Club um Neighborville Central and Downers Grove North all shared their excitement for a sun and their willingness to come back for 2015 as me and Haley are seniors we are leaving kapow however we don't want
009our culture and our strive to expand what we have here today to end we are giving it off to Ria and Zoe who will be the next Kapa presidents and I am so excited for their future plans with ascending kapow so I'm going to give it over to them now um hi I'm Zoe um okay so um we're very interested in continuing this conference next year I think it's very important that we are able to have this at Westmont as we are a smaller school it's important that we Branch out to more than just inside of our community but also to other schools and to be able to connect with each other um one of the things that we're um very interested in continuing next year is expanding this overarching theme of networking and community
010that we had um this year our um theme was Building Bridges which I think was very it was really refreshing to be able to talk to so many students that had a very similar mindset and shared similar backgrounds and um we just like to continue that next year and also we would just like to put a big emphasis on building student relationships as like youth it's very important to get together and unite for a common cause yeah I I know we plan to start earlier because we want to make sure everyone that we can have involved is involved and because we realized that like even though it was a smaller group than we want but this year we realized that like it had really important impact on everybody and everybody realized that this such a
011fun event and we can talk to each other and communicate and really as the theme suggests build Bridges um and for next year I know we want to build on the foundation that we've laid down and we're so glad that our previous leaders did such a good job um and we want to build upon that and we want to get more people involved and we want to keep some things the same but we want to get more people involved and we want to slightly change the themes to maybe get some of their clubs also involved in our project so yeah that's all we have thank thank you thank you thank you for your leadership and um and thank you so much for your support uh with permission I'd like to hand you guys just a
012little piece of information from it and a small gift from us that's okay and these are our pins from oh awesome thank you thank you very much thank you awesome thank you can you yes okay very welcome key note speaker was amazing thank you Jeremy awesome thank you thanks one more yeah thank you thank you next we'll have Norma Martinez yeah I went MH amazing Jeremy good evening uh thank you for to the board for everything you do for the school district um I'm here to support the baseball team at the Weston junior high school as well I have two boys there one of them is leaving and he last year wanted to sign a petition to do this and he's kind of sad that it's happening now that he's leaving and going to the
013high school but he's got more opportunities here but I think it is it's helpful for them to like he said to keep their grades up and do better in school it motivates some of the kids that don't have a lot of interest in studying so I just wanted to say I'm fully supportive of that hopefully happening in the junior high thank thank you and Kelly schil thank you clearly I am here to support the Westmont baseball team having one in junior high myself personally I have grown up in Westmont I went to Miller myself for a few years I currently have two boys in the 2011 District both play baseball my boys have played baseball with some of your kids as well and for me I have a lot of passion behind this because I
014believe especially with the world nowadays everybody's stuck on their phones and their video games and with baseball I mean I coach myself my husband coaches and it gets these kids away from the screens and it builds that confidence and the discipline for the future I know when I went to middle school I played softball for westf and we played westbond Junior High back in the early '90s so it's quite a long time ago but I just really appreciate everybody taking the time and listening to us and hopefully we'll be able to have this for the boys this coming fall and my boys are now currently first grade and fourth grade so they'll be looking forward to hopefully playing Westmont Junior High baseball along with staying with the Westmont Youth Baseball league in Westmont thank you
015thank you I we really appreciate you guys coming in speak with us and sharing this it's it's really useful and helpful um and so I we really thank you for taking your time out today okay I am going to proceed with the consent agenda um the chair will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda agenda as presented personnel recommendations Rebecca Bard Westmont Junior High School elll teacher Emily Huntley coordinator of student services Paul Sean Westmont high school Spanish teacher Christopher jouri Westmont Junior High School sped teacher approval of April 2024 expenditure report ratification of March 2024 regular payroll so move second um Miss Hoover yes M Rogers yes Mr Marin yes M Conover yes M Dey yes Mr Avia yes uh quick point of order I think that we they weren't fully done with
016public comment or if we would we have to wait until the very endrow oh I have four yeah I only have four sorry about that then don't have it here they put under here okay we can can okay should we have them yeah oh yes if you can just you can speak now and then if if you can fill out a card for this information or another one well I appreciate uh coming up here obviously I'm here to support the Junior High baseball effort um I've been coaching in Westmont for about 5 years now ever since my son Tommy has been able to swing a bat uh currently the uh head coach for the 12u express team uh I coach one of the majors teams I coach the All-Star team and I will probably be
017coaching a fall ball team when that comes around um what everybody has said is is very accurate I'd like to add just one part of this that I think is beneficial um you know we get separated by age group baseball and I think it would be a great thing to have the Junior High kids playing together grades 6 through 8 because it's not an opportunity that they normally get um my 12u group is primarily made up of Westmont Junior High School sixth graders um that would probably be the majority of the team um we do have some seventh graders moving into eth that would be on there and a lot of the boys coming into the junior high they've never had a chance to play together this would be a great opportunity for them to
018do that and I hope you take that into consideration also thank you thank you thank you right thank you thank you again um we'll move to our information discussion um and we're on order number one RFQ for our group a presentation for construction manager yeah the district um posted uh RFQ for a construction manager for future larger um construction work um we had 13 submit rfqs and administration is Pres presenting two um incredible uh CMS to present to the board and the community so uh the first one is pepper construction who is here [Music] tonight uh good evening um we really appreciate the opportunity to come in and present to the board it's an exciting time in the district and you know this team's amped up and you know we prepared about a 10 to
01915 15 minute presentation um we're going to try to keep it as short and sweet as possible we know you folks have a lot of things on your agenda get you out of your as quickly as we can um my name is Lance trit um I'd be the officer in charge uh if we were fortunate enough to be um selected as your construction manager um a little bit about pepper construction I'm going to focus really more on the team um just in the sense of time so this team um super excited we we sat in a room for the last couple days and kind of went through our um you know format and we realized you know this team alone has been involved in um you know we have 83 combined years of K12 experience
020um we've built you know 15 significant additions um we've been involved in this team alone has been involved in 11 referendums successful referendums majority of them are passed and and been constructed over the last uh six years but we still have a couple that that we're working on and Kirk and and Jeff will talk about those we and you folks want to know how many schools we built um this team alone has built U three brand new schools in the last six years so we're really proud you can see on our chart you know which team members were involved in each one of those projects hi good evening I'm uh Nick kak I'll be I would be your day-to-day contact through the whole process from pre- referend om uh to construction and to that closeout
021process uh to when we turn over those keys I'll be there to help keep those communication lines open between the design team us the district and ultimately the board to help you make those right decisions at the right times to keep things flowing appropriately I'm KT Bui I'd be the project manager on the job uh in charge of day-to-day operations um coordinating schedules procurement uh coordination amongst the trade partners and communication with your uh School staffs and District staffs and I couldn't be more excited to be a part of this project or potentially be a part of this project while I don't have a West mine address uh I am just a few blocks outside of your western border here uh in Downers Grove so I do consider this area part of my community uh
022we frequent all of these areas um my family and I so to be able to contribute to this project and this community uh would be a tremendous honor and I'm looking forward to and hopefully we can work together I'm Jeff Doric I'd be the site superintendent uh basically boots on the ground guy uh day-to-day operations making sure that we're working with the District staff and enforcing the schedule uh most importantly is the safety piece um my wife is a teacher I've got two kids in school so I know for fact that they're not thinking about construction when they leave in the morning they're not thinking I can't wait to see what Pepper's doing at the job today but not thinking about that that's my job to make sure they don't have to so we want
023to make sure we eliminate those risks we get a plan we execute the plan we make sure we work through those uh processes so that when the kids do come to school the teachers they can do their job and and learn and teach um I had the liberty of working here about eight years ago working with Jack and and a on uh the uh High School job big Renovations at the high school worked at the junior high and both elementary schools so just love the dynamic you guys have in this district and would love to also be a part of maybe trying to do this again so thank you I'm Thomas Anderson vice president of preconstruction so I'll be the lead providing uh estimating information to you guys uh anything you need dollars and cents
024wise it'll be my job along with my team back at the office to get that to you guys I work with 14 other estimators back at the office so whatever Pace you guys decide to work at whether it's expedited and pushed through to get it done this year or a little bit slower more deliberate uh we can supply you with plenty of bench strength or be small and Nimble whatever you guys need to fit your referendum Pace you want to work at little hard to see but we also have some support staff um back at U in our office uh we have Susan hkin who handles our sustainability and she also handles our grant programs for you know chasing grants for for K12 programs Cory zusman we'll talk a little bit more about later in
025the presentation um our virtual construction uh safety we'll talk about later in our presentation um Ashley Stapleton heads up our diversity equity and inclusion group um we can customize a a plan specific spefically for this District um to try to help you know get some local trades uh local contractors I should say involved in this project um and then our last one was our MEP coordinators we have those in house as well as you know I'm sure you have a lot of mechanical upgrades that are going to be need to be done and we have those Services inhouse you know it's it's all what the district needs so we don't use all those services on every projects but we have those at our fingertips which is an advantage to all the clients that we work
026with um again the referendum projects so these are the projects that we we wanted to highlight um you know we consider ourselves you know experts in in the referendum process we've done so many of them um we'd love to come in and jump you know jump into this program with you folks um you know with regardless of which architect it is we're ready to hit the ground run and and uh you know dive in and and see what what needs this District needs and see how we can be a great partner and and making sure you get what you're looking for you know hearing on the screens and in your packets we're showing you a referendum plan that we've used previously on a successful project along with EO Sullivan to make sure that that stays
027on track uh you could see uh a potential schedule that uh Gets You Through to the August uh ballot Sport and then a November referendum uh the second row of information shows you you know steps along the way um and what teams are involved to help making those decisions and then in the bottom of the gray boxes we're showing what deliverables we can present to the board to help keep that on track for those proper decisions at the right times you know in this approach we could see you know a scenario where we could have you know half of Tom's estimating team working on an addition and renovation approach and the other half the team's working on a new building approach cuz you're going to want to see pros and cons you're going to want
028to understand is it more economical to to do an addition on one of our schools and and demo one of the existing ones or do we build new and consolidate you know those are all factors um that this District's going to have to take into account and you want all the information and you know we frankly have the the horsepower to pull that information together whether it's for you know a November referendum or an April referendum or referendum um we're ready the next one is just another example of the same thing just showing another way to get to uh fruit schedule and to that April referendum if that's a board's choice so depending on how much time um we're we're hopefully blessed with to uh help you guys with your referendum process um one of
029the things we like to do during precon is um go a little bit deeper to show you exactly where the dollars are might be spent on any one of your individual projects so on on the pie chart you're seeing here with the circles on the inner circle is uh just kind of Trades uh construction dollars where they might be spent for at different aspects of the building it could be the steel it could be the glass it could be mechanical it could be electrical but then the Outer Circle with matching colors is where your long-term operational maintenance cost might be applied to over maybe 10 or 15 years if you decided to invest in certain systems so at a moment's um analysis during the referendum you guys are deciding where you want to allocate your
030dollars you can see long term if we spend a little bit more on LED lighting or we spend a little bit more on the mechanical system on day one we'll start seeing benefits and cost Savings in year seven already by cheaper more economical um energy usage at that point so um just one of the things we like to show and make sure we're diving deeper into and we would do this for new construction we can do it for renovation for whatever you guys decide to do including a referendum so along with that you know there's one analysis but we always need to be prepared to present you guys with the total price for what's going on and what you guys are asking for so every time we would be asked to come to report to
031you guys at a summary level we're going to tell you where the total budget is for each individual school and there's lots of decisions that's going to go into how those numbers get pulled together and what's included but at a summary level we just want to make sure you guys are always on track overall at 30,000 foot perspective where the project sitting at um and the back of the screen that's up there is just starting the the process of kind of breaking down down the dollars and cents um there could be we we break them up at pre-referendum into different levels so at level one you guys might choose for certain school or overall not to do anything and you need to know what's the operational and maintenance costs for the next 10 years CU
032that's not free to keep these buildings running the way they are so maybe that's a $10 million investment over 10 years but you're going to start comparing that potentially to if we do some renovations if we do some modernizations which means maybe you're moving some walls around changing curriculum changing functionality of spaces you might do some additions you might decide we need a whole new building we're going to get through we're going to combine a couple of the smaller schools into one you know one new addition school that's going to eat up a lot of your referendum dollars but in order to make the decisions any part of this you're going to need to see the total picture as Lance said we've got the horsepower to bring you guys all the pricing information you need
033so that you can make informed decisions it's going to bring the most value to your your referendum effort so another value we bring uh is our extensive quality program um led by our forensic in-house forensic architect Cory zusman um so we get involved in the project very early on with your design team uh and then eventually your trade partners and we work through constructibility reviews try to identify potential issues that could come up down the road uh and to make sure that we're building these buildings uh in a manner that prevents us from having to come back and fix things later because that no one wants that um so we do constru ability reviews up front we do pre-installation meetings with all the subcontractors to make sure that that uh flow gets down to their
034hands actually putting the work in place um and then that continues right into construction where our quality team is on site at a minimum on a weekly basis uh reviewing the work that's being put in place so that we can ensure that what we're turning over to you is a quality product um and we've got a proven track record uh our our industry average is is much higher than our competitors uh because we take and put so much effort into this this program so when we we were working at uh Manning we did a uh security vestle there in addition on the school and like Kirk was saying there's things in these older buildings you're going to find stuff that maybe isn't for the drawing something didn't look right something doesn't somebody built something differently
035100 years ago whatever it may be uh we come across a structural uh item in that addition when we went to open up the wall the wall was supposed to come down we realized it was a bearing wall which basically is holding up the roof obviously can't do that we need to figure out what to do next so we talk we communicate with the architect structural engineer the school district we came up with a plan bunch of different ways obviously cost is number one figuring out how to get that plan to be cost effective but also keep the project moving so you guys are ready to use that addition at the beginning of the school year it's done so working on all those things kind of ties into what Kirk was talking about but all
036those things getting an early looking at these areas getting a a chance to dissect some of these areas uh maybe open ceiling tiles that kind of stuff saves a lot of time later if we can find some stuff like that so always able to work through difficult situations and Haven come across one that we can't handle so can you explain at rework rate what does that mean what do you you like less rework or what do you mean by our rework rate yeah that means that means that you had to come back and rework something that you already put in place Kirk actually said our rework rate's higher it's actually lower I didn't want to correct so our rework rate's like 10 times I think times lower than industry average because we have a dedicated
037quality guy didn't say quality guy a qu quality department and a director and and you know he looks at the drawings like I said you know before we even bid him he's looking for constructibility issues so we feel that that's one of the you know one of the differentiators between us and our competition um at the end of the day it saves you money and gives you a better building you know and communication being the utmost importance I think I just want to stress that here we have numerous ways to communicate out to you guys the progress that where we're at all the way through the process um you know we could be here at every board meeting to present monthly reports provide those update photos show you where we're at um we can weekly
038owner meetings phone calls uh on the screen you can see one tool that we use is a project dashboard uh we we can tailor this uh not only just for the board and internal but we could also tailor it for a community aspect as well cool sorry the cool part about it is it's it's interactive and it's live so it ties to our systems that that we use so it's it's constantly updated so it's a live document it's not static so so on that picture on the bottom leftand corner that's actually me in my acting career um so that's that's actually a video that we did for a neighboring District over in Hinsdale I like doing videos like this this basically was a video it was a a monthly update schedule we able to walk
039the project um take photos and your community can see these photos so instead of just seeing construction fences and trucks driving around they get to see behind behind the construction walls and understand this referendum that they said yes they can see how how we're working on it if we're on schedule how things are looking really gets them more engaged and involved in the process we like that because it makes everybody more involved it makes for a fun project than everybody really enjoys seeing where their dollars are going so um again we like doing stuff like that there's a lot of different options in that regard that they could also do yourself and that's uh included on the there's a QR code on the on the place mat um he'd appreciate if you looked that up
040he's trying to get his likes up but it is something they put on YouTube so everybody can see like even if they don't live in the district and we can you guys can pick what people see and what they don't see that's a ni about the dasboard yeah we can do multiple layers you could have a different information for you guys different information for the school staff different information for the community so what it's something that you like we can work with make you a platform that works for you guys communication obviously is key these days yes um so with that thatd like to open it up to any questions we went we tried to go as Qui as we could could have gone for another half hour given us the opportunity I appreciate I
041think that was one of my questions is about the communication piece and with that and so I'm happy that you included that my question so are you guys seeing any issues with getting construction materials any delays or is it has the supply chain kind of eased up or yeah it has a little bit for sure I mean during during Co and after Co for the couple years it was it was real bad it's but you know it just requires more pre-planning now I mean literally we're pre- purchas our biggest problem is is hvc equipment and electrical equipment really you had heard of figure that I mean if you're going to build a new building you better order the Transformer like a year and a half before you need it um we're going through that right
042now at Manhattan it took us a year to get our yeah they switch gear your Transformers the big equipment that brain building right but those are things that you know no matter what you're your floor plan as usually our Engineers can identify the equipment that we need so at least we can get that purchased and then you know we can tweak design around it but you know identifying those long lead items early on and working that into our plan is is something we just become Habit to us now yeah you just you just have to you just have to be more you just got to work harder or work smarter be cogn of those items and at least though the the regular materials are not so bad anymore it's really down to really the hvc
043and electric roll are the two worst things you're going to have some you know maybe some high-end material that's not common but like KT said you're going to you're going to plan for that that's a great question though thank you are you guys involved with um and for this may not be for you so you cor but do you get involved in like spaces like you're planning like giving different options on um new construction versus renovating do you also help with spacing and planning for uh students and where um so what spaces we can use and how that planning process goes yeah that's really more of the architect the architect's really the one that does more of the space planning and then from there we're the ones that'll I mean we definitely have we have
044input on it we can tell them where you know what's more cost effective this scenario versus this scenario but we are by no means designers we we're Builders we'll bring lessons learned from our other jobs um and definitely I'll be providing the financial side of those decisions so as they're working with options a through b or C or D for you guys working through that stuff I'll have a corresponding price that'll go with each one of those U you guys will work up schedule impacts things like that uh Logistics safety all the stuff you guys need to make a complete holistic decision not just what's the best for the dollars what's just best for the teachers you guys have to be responsible for everything so we'll come prepare to give you all that information we
045included some slides on the in the back of our presentation that we just knew we wouldn't have time to get to but we wanted to put them in there just in the event that um you get a chance to proove some that I have a question about one of those slides actually so you are going to get to one of them it works um what is the what do you mean by maximize participation what is the participation part so when you're when you're trying to um establish Dei goals oh yeah it's right pull it up on your project um there's multiple ways that that you can do that one is by hiring you know MBE wbe firms and then the other part is the participation and that's the actual Crews that are working on the
046job so we look at both um to try to achieve because you know it's it's really all part of it I mean not necessarily just you know the who you know who the owner of the company is but you know we're putting the trades to work and and that's the intent of the program is getting people you know is is increasing our diversity amongst our projects so I mean as at pepper we we pretty much do that on all of our projects anymore it's just kind of standard we have a we have a database that we work with um all the local contractors we put out all of our bids uh you know on a weekly basis so they know what's coming up and we bring them in we talk them through the jobs get
047them comfortable but so it's really kind of two parts I guess to answer your question one is you you know the goals that you establish for your your purchasing of contracts like hbac electrical concrete and then the other one is the field participation does that make sense it does and the reason I'm asking the question is because I I I latched on to some one of you said something about um about this the concept of trying to work wherever possible with local contractors and just thinking about how that looks looks and how that works um or I we're a pretty small community but I'm sure we have people in the trades that are local how go ahead sorry I didn't mean to cut you off no pleas I say one one of those tools we
048can use is uh we can set a radius from our database to find all those local contractors and make sure that you know we're targeting them we're contacting them making them aware of your projects so that we try to keep that participation up and and that's honestly one of the programs of our you know our DEA plan is we'd have engagements sessions where we'd come to you know either one of the schools district office whatever right and and we'd have information sessions we'd invite everybody in because half the battle is you know the contractors just need to get comfortable with the job so if we walk them through the job and then they start to feel comfortable with it they're more apt to bid it versus just us sending them a set of drawings and
049knowing nothing about it so we've had really good success that way we're trying to get local contractors to bid the work what when speaking about the the bidding process for that is is it common to award points on the bid for local or wbe or something like that or is that independent yeah unfortunately you know we're governed by the Illinois procurement law So You Know A District would have to try to mandate that as their own protocol within their within their District um and we've had a couple districts talk about it but I mean that's not the common practice no it's not that's yeah it's a lumpsum sealed bid you know kind of what they call it essentially rib and read you and low qualified bit but but there's ways to you know I mean
050we did it we did it at Oak Park River Forest I mean we made you can see what we did there it's significant but a fair amount of it in all honesty was the field component but we did we had we had MBE wbe firms that bid that work and it was all because of you know the engagement of getting them involved on the front end right and our database has actually grown significantly in the last few years we have we have uh Dei lunch and learns probably once is it once a month I feel I feel like it was more than that um so we we're constantly bringing in new contractors and meeting new contractors thank you Leah you got to have something actually not a lot of talk tonight you guys have been
051watching our meetings put together that summary just for you I have been pointed out um I'd love to know called out um what's what is your impression of our current buildings based on what you know of them I we've remodeled a lot in the high school right we've remodeled quite a bit in the Junior High um I think they're great buildings I think everything needs to be updated over time so um you know you guys have already done the security vestibules started getting that ahead of that game but some districts we go into they don't have any of that yet so you guys are already ahead of the game on a lot of that stuff so it's really just what you're looking to do more um we you know without getting above the ceiling in
052more of the areas uh but older buildings have their challenges but that's that's the point of the remodels over over time so yeah I think they're great buildings think you got a lot of potential to do to do more more right that's what that's the point of this this exercise so we're excited to be be a part of that hopefully Jeff and I have recent experience at neighboring dist U 86 Hinsdale uh if you're familiar Central Hinsdale Central High School when we first stepped foot in that high school it was shocking how uh completed it was for where it sat you know the community it sat in so um you know you could take an old building and make it really look nice you can change spaces You' be shocked at what we can do
053uh to take these old spaces and and quickly turn them into modern learning facilities and the the way we can add on to these buildings and make them flow you know seamlessly throughout your your existing building you know totally change your your layout on your building I mean nothing's off the table we dream big and we can we can pull it off sure I think obviously I think Manning's the oldest of your elementary schools that's probably the one that needs the hardest look at to see if it's if it's really worth you know the renovation component um and then Miller is the one I mean it's got some land so I mean that one could be you know could be primed for an addition renovation uh option M I have a quick question about this
054is I'm sorry to put it on you because it's you're here um but I'm I'm a little confused about roles in this whole process when I think about the architect construction manager and the consultant and who does what when and where and everyone everyone has shown us a planning that looks pretty darn similar um and so and obviously you can't all do everything right and you got each each component of of that Trant has a role is is your part so one of the things I saw in your presentation was um being able to to talk about like the dollar invested and then the long the lifetime value of of of that whether it's energy efficiencies or or other things right um in my mind you all would get your a company like yours would
055get involved um um once we know that construction is going to happen but this has a a component of thinking through and um explain not explaining but but rationalizing maybe um decisions early on and how they play out over time is that the role of you or the architect that would do that or is it in conjunction or how does how does that look it's both it's both we'd be working hand inand with the architect so I mean obviously we you know we've heard it before you want to dream big so I mean that's the architect's job is to come in and look at and his job is to tell us what it's going to cost yeah and build it and build quickly tell you accurately how much it's going to cost but at the
056same time you know in in like even for pre-referendum services you still need a construction manager to work with the architect CU The Architects you know they're focused on providing you design options we're focused on you know what's it going to cost how long is it going to take to build is it efficient you know we provide a lot of back and forth feedback do you sorry to interrupt you do you do you also cost out the longterm um cost of status quo yes as part of the analysis for what you guys need to make a decisions okay thank you it's our job to to to challenge and to um get feedback to the architect and everybody else to make sure if we need to stretch dollars instead of um wowing with dollars um for
057certain design aspects but that's your decisions to make and we're just here to support you guys with the information that you need to make your decisions thank you the other thing too is there there are services that you know that we've talked about and services we provide that the architect can provide as well so there's definitely some overlap so I can understand your question you know we kind of I we we do a lot so as long as we have you here I just like an expert's opinion if you had to build a building for approximately 600 kids I know there's a range what do you think that range is a build a new building for 600 kids what's a range not asking for exact dollar amount all the wheel so yeah Jeff and I
058are actually building brand new junior high school for Manhattan Illinois down by Juliet and it's about 600 kids so uh our construction contra contract for that is 45 million roughly right for that so um and that's what 129,000 123,000 square feet so it's it's in Manhattan so it's a little more spread out you don't have the open acreage you know for for that type of a building here would probably be a little more vertical so you know it might cost a little bit more than that but you know we are building very similar type building and that's the range we're at now for a brand new construction if without putting words in your mouth can we say 40 60 is a number I think that's a fair number yeah oh is a range on a
059number that's two numbers actually it's a big range there any more questions and any other um I won't call anybody else comments I have all your names memorized I could um I'm sure we'll reach out if we have any um more questions for you but we appreciate great thank Youk you guys appreciate itate you coming out oh it's that's anything to get in between [Applause] or thank you thanks do you can't do the handbook that's what I was going to ask let's do the way to do the handbook let's do the handbook reading let's do the handbook so we get these guys out out of here Adam your look your star down come on come on uh thank you very much Adam caloi assistant principal at West M High School chairman of the handbook committee
060I just want to take this time to kind of review our proposed amendments for the 2024 2025 handbooks uh from the elementary junior high and high school levels um a little bit about the process that we did um earlier this month the principal sent out uh requests for any amendments that staff would have to the handbooks and sought their input uh collected it all um we then met as a committee uh the committee composed of representation from every level of the district um we had um principles from each school um and we had parent representation we had student representation from the junior high and the high schools uh as well as teacher representation from the district as well and a district office so um we met earlier um last week and reviewed the handbook and
061made any adjustments that we need to make and now we are proposing the first reading for review to the board and administration okay I would like to start at the elementary level you should have a link in your um doc um for Manning and Miller um couple notes uh that I'd like to mention on page three uh Miller and Manning would like to adjust the wording on their beginning of the day uh to eliminate confusion and make sure that students are arriving on time uh for instruction so they um adjusted some of the language over there uh to support um uh beginning of the school day then page six we would um like to make an amendment that students arriving late to school must be accompanied by a parent or guarded into the building and
062be signed in to be allowed to class multiple unexcused tardies will result in parent student intervention meeting with the School's attendance team um our medical staff has also added uh pertinent language that they feel necessary for the handbooks at all levels um and that'll be a majority of that right there and then a couple Corrections that we need to make from year to year are there any questions on the elementary handbook just to confirm the times that are on the elementary one are applicable for Miller not Manning Miller and Manning yeah I know it says on there same verbage is applied to Manning but just because we've changed the arrival time at Manning Manning for like 3 years in a row it's yeah it's for Manning's arrival times they'll put that in there I just
063wanted to confirm it thank you any questions for a Miller man no as I looking through right we can go to that he if we continue to Junior High uh the junior high on page 22 would like um information about The Homework Club that's available for students uh it's available Monday Tuesday and Thursday and Friday from 3:15 to 4:15 and this is assist students in completing their homework and there will be a bus at 4:15 um to provide transportation home want to make sure that that was available and informing the parents and students there help on page 16 uh I'm not going to review the whole thing but there's a a schoolwide progressive discipline policy that's being put in place um for consistency amongst uh students and staff also on your junior high you'll see
064that the medical staff the nursing the uh team has added a language to support um their needs and then uh minor Corrections were needed up to dates uh staff and dates are applied any questions D Juni sry no okay if we carry on to the high school um our media center staff has updated their language to represent all the um that the media staff has to offer uh in instead of just books um I think they'll change the language to items and generalized to the many things that they do lend our students uh calculators Chromebook uh art supplies things like that so that's updated there for you on page 18 uh we kind of altered our detention schedules to be able to suit the individual needs for our students so how we made some adjustments
065over there on page 72 uh we addressed absences from school and participation in after school activities uh it was the language was specific to Athletics and now it includes all activities in clubs uh so students that are uh competing in any event after school whether it be academic or athletic will now be H to an attendance standard so that was updated those are some of the key highlights are there any questions regarding the high school handbook feel free to reach out anytime if there's any questions that you have I'd be happy to answer them for you um and if you have anything then I'll be available at the second reading as well thank you thank you thank you I want to thank Adam and Mike I do want to say one thing to the board
066we I would like you just to know so you're not surprised by this there's one attendance policy that we're considering creating that we would of course bring to the board but that would impact um the policy for next year so it's still in the creation phase so tendance policy I'm sorry go ahead yeah no no just is there any more on like um to I think address uh chronic absenteeism and uh unexcused absences like different levels of Engagement and everything so is that something that will be added for this it could for this handbook not perhaps but not by the time we're going to approve this handbook what I'm saying it might be an additional Amendment after the fact yeah I got it just don't want to surprise you that's what I'm saying like right
067now yeah okay so Adam and Mike have done a great job of steering this but we may have one additional amendment that will come about for attendance okay okay cool I'm sorry I wanted to add also there are um State mandates that will be added as well and that language comes directly from the state right and will be put in the handbooks regularly yearly yeah thank you thank you both again I I'd like to thank our community and the board for bearing with uh the changes in the agenda but just like to um just uh appreciate our presenters and people that come so just working around our timing so should we we're basically going to our discussion item number eight the RFQ for construction manager presentation Group [Music] B that's a way to win ready
068for this ready is this USP still have business cards all right you're just trying to get rid of them right I'll put it at the hotel fish okay nice to meet you thank you thank Leo good to meet you Kevin nice to meet you thank you thank you thank you so much thank you oh night Whitney Rogers Carlos you want to get rid of these thank you pretty cool don't cut Corners [Laughter] can it prom it prompted you to say that marketing department no expens thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you oh look at this book how are you ready ready oh wait no I mean my kids these things are all over the place thank you thanks a lot thank you thank you yeah definitely a little
069more I promise this is the last one you good evening uh my name is Bill Farley with Nicholas and Associates with me tonight is Joe Papa Nicholas vice president and uh Chief K12 operator for the school uh for the uh for the company and Dave Torres who is also our senior project manager uh want to run over just a little bit of background about who Nicholas is but first just want to thank you for the opportunity to come here tonight to talk to the board appreciate the board and the administration having us in uh we also appreciate the opportunity for the community to uh watch us as well and hear about Nicholas and Associates uh Nicholas and Associates is a second generation company started 45 years ago by Joe's father um second generation has now
070uh taken over the organization as you can see all four siblings are part of Nicholas and Associates um been in business over 45 years uh do have done about $2.5 billion worth of school construction work since 2010 uh we do about $150 million annually and more importantly and most importantly uh affected the learning environments of over 190,000 students uh during that time uh we we pride ourselves on uh the work we do because it enhances the instructional and educational environment for students uh throughout uh suburban Chicago and uh it's a big part of what we do so uh going to turn it over to Dave next he's going to talk a little bit about some of the work we've done recently uh referendum work and pre-referendum work thanks Bill again my name is Dave Torres
071I'm a senior project manager at Nicholas Associates I've I've been with Nicholas for the last 10 years and really focused solely on K2 and public construction um I also want to thank you for your time this evening and uh just for giving us the opportunity to present and share a little bit about ourselves and our experience as construction managers and talk specifically tonight about our pre-referendum experience um we've got a few slides here that I'm going to kind of just Cruise right through because I've left all the good stuff for Joe to talk through the nuts and bolts are we linked up to this few slides behind jumped uh yeah so basically uh as Bill kind of explained uh k12 and public construction really is our bread and butter it's what we love to do
072and we've provided you know just a a general Client List for you on page four and took the opportunity to highlight uh several of the districts in which we've completed or facilitated the pre-referendum work um I'm not going to go into all of these specifically because that would save a long time uh but these projects have ranged uh anywhere from 30 to $150 million uh we're recently coming off some rather large referendum efforts for Glen m34 as well as palatin 15 and Arlington Heights 25 uh those are those have been very complex multiphase projects so we do have experience uh across the board as it relates to new construction new schools additions uh infrastructure overhauls hbac system replacement ments as well as outdoor Turf and uh classroom fit and finish uh overhauls as well on
073this next slide I want to take just a couple of minutes to highlight something that's important to us uh we firmly believe that you know communication is obviously key across the board uh but part of our success has been bringing the right team to the table uh we understand you know in your selection of a CM that you have to feel comfortable with the team and uh over the years we've built great relationships with clients and uh as such we've had the opportunity to bring a few of them on board over the years and so the few that are listed here uh have come essentially from District administrations uh and each of them have also been actively involved in referendums at their respective districts so they just bring a unique perspective uh and resource that
074we can use and we have used not only on the pre-referendum side but as we go through pre construction and even in construction uh having that insight has just been so helpful for us uh as we manage projects across the board so just that's a very high level of of some of our experience I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Joe here kind of give you the nuts and bolts of our pre-referendum sure um I'll quickly kind of go through uh what pre-referendum services are um I could spend an hour or two on it but I'll make it brief um basically we're the check and balance for the T team so um we're sort of the captain of the ship uh we're going to collaborate with the team we're going to assess
075the district needs um we're ultimately going to play a big part in determining what the ask is so it all starts with a preliminary Baseline budget assessment and understanding the design criteria um Palatine 15 is a good example that Dave just mentioned so we're in the process of implementing that right now so that's 12 additions um 16 months 115 million uh so The Upfront work that was involved in establishing that you have to understand the phasing site Logistics uh when are we going to bid the work how are we going to bid all these things play into the cost of the project and it's just such a critical component to determining what the ask is working with the referendum consultant the design team how's it being designed what time of year are we going to
076start for starting in the fall are we going to implement structural steel versus base reload in there's all these different nuances that go into the cost of construction so that's one of the big things um Community engagement Outreach that's another one um we're there we're a partner of the team um any questions that come up with regards to uh what's the impact to the community what's the impact to the site students staff um all of those different types of things um but with that I I'll sort of open it up and Q&A um we're here to we're here to help clarify anything or any questions you may have a lot of information we also got into the actual construction phase and pre-construction phase sort of some of the deliverables um just to kind of paint
077the picture post referendum what that would look like can you speak to like from your experience the timing you've had like from your time of involvement that pre U referendum phase to um I guess post referend um what's the span of time you dealt with from the shortest to Long been a couple months of pre-referendum and uh 7080 Million worth of work is delivered 14 months later um others go years some have gone four years so two three years of planning uh go off referendum and then implement the game plan so that's what all it just takes time to plan to to just you have to put the game plan together I always people are sick of me saying this but it's stick to the process we have a process we have a structure we've
078done it and implemented it dozens and dozens of time when you skip steps that's when districts are exposed and things have a tendency to not go as planned so create a Timeline Design uh design Milestones budget Milestones all of that and just stick to the plan CU it works it's a commonly Mis step in the process when people I'm not what's a common misstep misstep is allowing design to allowing the design to progress without raising your hand to say I think we should talk about this and sometimes it well if you stick to the process this won't happen but if you don't question the design as it's happening and you just kind of go along with it and you allow it job to go out to bid and then you have the bid opening and
079expectations are met that that's that's probably one of the bigger mistakes who makes that misstep it's the CM instruction manager absolutely yeah I mean every team member has a role and responsibility to the school district every one of us we have a contractual obligation to the district and ours is to maintain the budget and establish a final control estimate so as we establish these design issuances so from um preliminary design criteria that goes into a referendum okay that's that's sort of that's one phase to it and then post referendum there's uh design development stage there's schematic design there's construction documents and then ultimately a final control estimate so there's six or seven budget checks along the way that a CM your CM should be issuing a formal Budget Check for everybody to review and then
080accept before before the design continues but if you skip those steps and and your CM doesn't do the proper assessment then then there's more risk so mhm so like who would we deal or I guess our team or who is there a person that you have in mind that it's like our main contact like who they would be the senior project manager um and then my I'm I'm involved uh all the way through uh pitting so and then I'm always here for for support as well I mean I think that's one of the things that kind of separates our company from others there's direct ownership involved in all of our projects so decisions need to be made in real time to keep things moving so how do you go sorry go ahead go ahead I
081just was going to say that I mean the two of us would be actively involved from the very beginning in the process you know attending uh design me meetings and just being involved and engaged as quickly as possible because the sooner that we understand you know the full extent to the scope and we can you know get to know your design team and understand kind of what we're going to be looking at you know to establish that initial budget assessment you know that's something that we're going to be actively involved on from the very beginning and that's a big part of it is if you don't start out with the appropriate Baseline budget assessment M you're going to be fighting it the whole way so it really starts with this early planning understand the need
082make sure the design criteria that's being developed satisfies the need and establish cost establish those early expectations and if they're the CM does their job early on the rest of it enjoyable so that's that's the way it should be um how does the communication process work with a project depending on however long it takes sure I mean there's a there's a couple of of different ways that we can look at it uh from a communication standpoint uh when when construction starts or after we've completed you know the pre-referendum it passes we've gone through pre-construction we bid you know we facilitate weekly construction meetings uh and that's our way of keeping the administration up to date with this is where we're at real time providing Outlook schedules uh updates on any lead times for materials it's
083just a way to keep everyone accountable us design team you know you all and as far as Communications go you know I mentioned earlier that we've got some unique members on staff uh specifically we've got a couple that are our Communications people and so you know we've handled it a couple different ways um you know we've had them Reach Out directly to districts themselves to make a a point of contact with whoever you have in charge of your Communications uh to develop any board reports you know we'll be here to present if you need uh for updates along the way uh we've done Communications in the form of subcommittee meetings uh in some districts um which has been very helpful because it just keeps the board informed of you know where we're at so there's
084a lot of different possibilities and we've got options but it really has has come down to the district preference you know in terms of how the communication uh is either put out to the public or just keeping the board informed we we've got a lot of of op options thank you here as much as you want us to yeah well I don't know yeah um I don't I don't want to go all night um the um just directionally what is like the percentage of work that you guys do that is focus on School District versus other types of construction management uh 97% public K12 okay so we're the CM of record for 30 plus school districts um many have been clients for 20 plus years before anybody even knew what construction management was so now
085the last 10 12 years has become a popular delivery method as everybody's kind of sick of just ripping up ripping open an envelope and seeing who the low GC is they you know there's value to to relationships there's value to all of that there's value to having a CM on board at the early onset of a project uh before the design commences to get that to get that feedback um and um just it's a it's a huge component the more the more eyes on a set of drawings during the design the less unforeseen types of situations arise post post bit opening during construction so and speaking of like the bid the bidding process how do you how do you I mean getting into too much detail how do you how do you make sure that
086the pool of biders is as big as possible well we've been doing this now 40 45 years somewhere in there and um automatically we have a massive pool of contractors I mean we've been doing the right thing for so many years in the public Arena um we get great competitive coverage um so we'll take a project we'll break it up into Prime bid packages um all the way from excavation through electrical um so our our pool of contractors that have been doing K12 work for all these years they're they help with the budgeting all the way through which is another big Advantage where you know we just don't square foot things we utilize their their expertise through the budget process and then ultimately they all bid it so you're talking 70 80 contractors automatically that
087will submit on all the projects that we manag and then we'll work with the district if there's some uh contractors that have success in the in the area or in the district we definitely reach out and and uh when you take all those things into consideration you look at our bid tab we have all these multiple prime bid packages and we have 50 60 70 contractors so many bids so and that's just the proven track record so thank you but you have to put effort in you have to reach out okay okay uh you can give me ranges on this uh for a building of 600 a brand new building what's the range what you think uh well I mean right now we just budgeted 25% CDs uh two brand new schools are going to
088go concurrently we break ground in September we're going to bid them this Summer right now ground up brand new sites and then we also have to go back and evate and knock down the existing school on the same property yeah those are at uh 5 560 all in a foot those are for middle schools okay for 600 kids approximation well 600 well how many square feet I mean it's right now new construction based on 3 weeks ago and recently open bids it's around that 560 for for new construction how many square feet do we are we talking we'll do some that's 300 between the two they're going to B to get 300,000 sare ft so it's 72 million those two 168 yeah so I mean the last the last new school was right right at
089the right in 2020 right before the pandemic came and that was just under 400 a square foot Allin so the cost of construction since 2020 it's just uh well it's 30 40% more so can you if what's the approximate and there's different variables but could you you break ground let's say there's a building you have to take down and build a building could you start the project in May and have it doors open uh a year and a half later like 100% yep 100% new Lincoln School in skoki 69 was that exact schedule we broke ground in April May it was delivered the following August and then we went back Abad existing Lincoln tore it down and there's some new parking lot area in that footprint of the existing and that naturally followed but the
090new school was up and running the following August and then the district moved in that summer the following Summer from existing to know you know the two architects who are our finalists you work with both of them or just one of them both of them yep on new new facilities Renovations additions everything is there an is there a big advantage to having work with architectural firm from your perspective as a CM 100% yeah there's no learning curve there's no learning curve it's not just us it's all these contractors so the 7080 contractors that you know move around with us as well as others they they they know the details um every architect has kind of their thing and how they present things how they show things in the drawings um so all that matters so
091when you open up a set of drawings you know exactly what the intent is you know what they're trying to show all of that so yes there's a huge advantage and even on the construction side like they know how we build and they understand how we manage jobs too so it just helps the process overall so that like Joe said it's it's more enjoyable than combative because it it could be combative but the importance of they know how we operate so the structure I keep referring to in the process they know our process so there's high expectations everybody has their role and we're going to stick to the process and we're going to you know hit hit hit hit dates that have been established and you know if there has if there has to be
092hard conversations we're going to have them but there's a professional respect that we all have so you can't overc communicate that's the big thing right everybody you know everybody has to get together work together and and talk and communicate and usually it's successful so we're all about real- time communication with all these Architects I mean they've got all their cell phones we're up late at night with them sometimes having conversations so we know the importance of schedule and just you know getting these jobs done just the just the support when you get into the construction phase and there's questions that come up or whatever it is if there's a change time is of the essence we're not going to be waiting for weeks and weeks and weeks you know there just needs to be some
093focus and some attention and and keep it moving so thank you that was a long response no so are you familiar with our buildings or kind of still in a question I was going to ask go go do it do it going to ask it better go ahead what is your general impression of our current facilities well um from listening to board meetings I know your south building your uh prek and uh early childhood and uh ad building are over there and you've had to move add over to over there because of the work or because of enrollment uh at man and um and then you have the other Elementary School um name just went right out of my head Miller Miller Miller excuse me thank you Miller and then the two uh the two
094the junior high and the high school I know your Elementary School is as big as your high school which is unique um I know that from listening to your conversations that there are there's a lot of dated uh equipment and uh there's a desire to upgrade mechanical and and a lot of the finishes in the building and you're weighing the options of whether a new school is is necessary or not so having not been through them uh sometimes when we do these we do there are walkthroughs we haven't had that opportunity yet obviously schools in session uh but uh we could answer that question even better you know if we got to peek under the hood a lot of the questions that are being asked are a lot of the similar type of questions that
095we've dealt with with some of our other clients as they're considering you know the overall scope of work and how to approach the projects you know do you replace or do you model and that's always the big question and construction costs being what they are now you know sometimes it makes more sense to renovate and to remodel and sometimes it just makes more sense to to build new so you know we love being a part of those conversations and evaluating facilities you know with the design team just to help make the best decision or help you make the best decision I'm a retired School business official so I held the same role Anthony did Anthony probably does it very much better than I do uh but I went through the same same thing you went
096through I had seven referendums our school district went through in 26 years so I I understand the what you're wrestling with I understand when you start you know a good question for your architect will be you know sometimes when you are renovating more than 50% of a building you have to start looking at those costs about whether a new building is in order or not and uh you definitely what you know the cost to upgrade older buildings obviously can can increase as well uh just because of the the state of the building so I know you're you're all wrestling with all those with those options right now and I've been there so I can appreciate it you good any other questions all right questions I think that's it I just have to ask this and
097give your approxim approximation yes but let's just say that you built four new science labs what would that cost approximately give me a do dollar number please because I'm not going to I could do the math maybe but science Standalone like Science Center four Labs so actually this is another referendum uh Buffalo Grove District 102 um we're actually implementing nine n n nine science uh existing existing building full gut full gut yeah full gut um and basically just create nine brand new science rooms um we do have a link in there yeah there's a link it's like it ends it was a $9 million job so yeah you said 9 million hard cost yeah so say uh I don't know for the sake of conversation it's a th000 square feet of classroom they're probably a
098little bigger than that but um I it's probably 600 a foot all in I mean somewhere in there by the time you're done I mean mechanical the whole nine yards so all right so you're pushing my math here so you're saying if it's $600 a foot $600,000 new space new Mechanicals new everything the whole N9 yards I mean it's at you know it's basically you know you're looking at M 900,000 a class you know potentially somewhere in there how many sinks there's a lot of science are unique obviously we have science labs that were have not really been touched since the 1970s so I mean the general rule of thumb for heavy renovation meaning all new mechanical new new electrical 100% new you know you could assume a hard cost to start out is 4
099to 450 a square foot okay then you have you should probably carry a little bit of contingency for something you might come across then you have the CM Fe structure then you have the AE fee so you have all these other costs above and beyond the hard cost and by the time you add it all up you know you're you know you could be at 600 a foot for everything all in that's another I mean I always like to present things from the very from the onset of the planning pre ref I always present things as an all-in look hard cost no matter how many sites how many schools whatever the scope of work is it comes to a hard cost value and then we apply the CM fee structure AE fee other other costs
100associated with the project whether it be new utilities whatever it is any and all cost maybe a Furniture maybe technology whatever it is and it's an all-in look and then you manage and it's a living d doent you manage that Allin picture all the way through the bit opening all the way through should never change you should always it should be transparent you should always have previous stocks to reference just to see how things are tracking so sounds like a lot of money I mean it is but you know you have to be realistic as well I mean so we I mean we're literally building them right now it bid a few months ago so thank you are there no other questions thank you and well we appreciate the opportunity thank you very much thank
101you thank [Applause] you I forgot this question what's 78 the year they were established the sneak peek we do that's an annual like some some people not in that one was playing the guitar last all right you do that too okay thank Youk thank you are we going back in order now right yes all right full circle you are you going back back so you're going to go do discussion later okay I can do whatever you guys we can finish our discussions and then go back you think I I can I can speed through these I was going say yeah let's finish the discussions before we do the board because it's a lot of voting and procedural okay number three working cash interest so historically the uh district and Board of Education approves uh working
102cash interest transfer from working cash fund to education fund um generally again it's just interest generated throughout the year and you can't do any expenditures in the working cash fund so historically the district's always transfer it over to the education fund which is the largest uh fund that does the expenditures uh this was already factored into the budget so this is just essentially just transferring funds but that's all again already factored into the budget that was approved and the dollar month is as of April 23rd the working cash fund generated $ 33,541 sounds good any questions about that great next capital projects transfer so our districts on a cash basis which means and I explained this a little bit more in September where revenue is you know generated and received in one fiscal year and
103some of the time expenditures are the following year and that's really based on many factors but the Auditors determine that again depending on manufacturers such as when bills are paid when items are arrived when construction worked or finish it's determined by the Auditors and their policies and and and law so last year or a couple years ago an transferred over $2 million of from the onm fund to Capal projects that would cover any excess dollars that the uh working cash bonds wouldn't have paid for the h HVAC project um the Auditors this past year uh factored in the uh High School roof project as some of that cost which was taken from the onm fund and not Capital project so again the revenue is in one year but taken out the second year so um
104I factored that into this year's budget um I was off $88,000 in our favor um but again we just need to transfer over to offset that cost but again it's already factored into the budget and also the AFR from prior year so you'll see a a a revenue stream last year and the expenditures for this year so it's just offsetting that um something to note now that we have new Auditors it is you know a conversation will come up to see if you know we want to continue this as you know one year revenues come in and the next year expenditures come out and there needs to be transfers back and forth or you know Revenue expenditures and June 30th and that is it so anything after June 30th is the next fiscal year um
105there's and cons to it um but right now I don't see a sense of uh changing anything it's just again this is just a procedure that all districts have to face so again this is factored into the budget for this fiscal year so in order to actually do the transfer there would need to be a resolution and then the Auditors approved it they're fully aware of it and the rough cost is and also in in conjunction with the expenditures I'm also transferring over uh interest that was generated in capital Pro projects fund to onf um roughly last year the capital projects fund generated a little over $200,000 of interest and as of April 23rd the capital projects fund generated $63,000 of interest and again it's past practice and best practice to transfer those funds out
106of capital projects into onm um if you're not doing major construction work out of the Capal projects plan which we're not and we isolated the working cash bonds to fund 61 so this excludes that interest so we cannot touch that 61 interest this is solely fund 60 kepo projects so in total um at roughly 1.4 million from Capital to omm again everything has been budgeted and the Auditors approved um last fiscal year and this year's budget any questions so the resolution for the both transfers will be uh May 14th mhm okay there are no other questions we'll move to the 2024 2025 student fees uh any update and any questions from last uh board meeting again there will be no increase in student fees um we are the only fee that we would be increasing
107is lunch by 25 cents per meal and milk and that was dictated by ISB um that isn't the decision from the district that's just a recommendation from ISB that has a threshold of this is the recommendation to increase rates that uh that increase um but overall no increase for other student fees um there won't be any payment plans next year but again just have family just I want families to be aware just we're here to answer any questions any calls we'll make time for families to come in if they have any questions or concern about their fees any questions or comments from right and we'll move to number six crown castle contract any further questions regarding crown castle and the contract no sounds like a good plan so uh just so quick you said the
108next escalation is 2025 but the expiration is for for the current one or the the new one the new contract right right yeah so the so this contract would run to uh 2061 sorry and then again we would have a you know once the board approves it tonight there would be a $10,000 signing bonus um given to the district and then um we negotiated 15% uh Revenue share which wasn't in the old contract and then also um any additional again any additional tenants the district will will get that share and that wasn't the case um last contract um the monthly uh Revenue that we will receive if nothing changes and there's no additional tenants will be the same at uh 2553 so $2,553 every month all right and we'll move along to number seven verant
109any further question about verant again this is um in place of Faith's law um this is a um software that almost every other District's using to um help with the process of Faith la for the district office and administration but also the new employee I don't think any new questions and the cost of that um is $500 per year no other comments sounds good all right now going back um so going back to um kind the beginning of our agenda agenda uh letter c um it's something that previous boards have um elected to do um to I guess it it's a check on a board and it's uh sort of speak on officers and allowing for new officers or just making the decision to continue or change positions um and giving I I see a
110big part of it is giv uh board members Grace and this is a lot of work we don't get paid for this but willing to help each other out and change um if we need to yearly um it's something that we uh would not discuss now but I'll ask the board um if uh they are in agreement to discussing at um the next agenda me I mean the next school board meeting about changing the terms though because I think it's a little halfhazard but I would want a discussion on our agenda about changing our terms for officers um for two years so we can discuss that is not we're not making decision now or next um next meeting but um just have some pros and cons for that so you want to discuss that tonight
111or you want to discuss that at the next meeting uh if it's okay I want to add that to discussion item for the next meeting um so with that being said um uh we'll start with our election of officers um and um at this time the chair entertain nominations for the Board of Education um members president I nominate go Adena Hoover second any other nominations the chair entertained a motion to name Adena Hoover as the Board of Education president for a one-year term so moved second roll call Mr Marin yes Miss canover yes Miss Dey yes Mr Avia yes Miss Hoover yes M Rogers yes motion carries the chair entertained nominations for the Board of Education vice president I nominate Leah Conover second um roll call oh sorry no um you don't have the second
112yet the chair entertained a motion to name Leah Conover as vice president of the board of education for a one-year term some second roll call um Miss Dey yes Miss canover yes am I supposed to abstain you can or not Mr Avia yes Miss Hoover yes Miss Rogers yes Mr Marin yes I so badly wanted to abstain after that comment the chair entertain a um nomination for the board of education secretary I nominate an for secretary I second that nomination any other nominations the chair entertain a motion to name Angela sty as secretary for a one-year term so moved second roll call Miss canover yes Miss Dey yes Mr Avia yes Miss Hoover yes Miss Rogers yes Mr bar yes motion carries congratulations so um at this time we'll move to appointment of board committees
113and we have a list of um where we are what we signed up for but I'll read our um um comment section for many years the board of education has maintained committees to work with the administration examining certain key elements in the cusd 2011 operation the Committees have been Finance policy strategic planning facilities and public relations as designed the Committees have been actively involved in several important areas the Administration has appreciated this type of board involvement it has been custom of the new board of education to rearrange the committee structures and seating arrangements Etc at this time so is this something that has to be said we can pass this around okay so I'll pass this around as we go any questions or comments about this I'll do this so we'll move to number three
114um establishment of board meeting dates times and places which so I'll uh start at this point with any questions or statements we've been considering um board meeting uh dates and this is a time we usually set um our calendar and um before um we vote on which I just would like in board members comments or um feedback on the times and basically setting up we've uh are trying to be a little bit more deliberate in our meetings um and setting times and expectations um we have work to be done we're trying to Endeavor on basically you know things that we talked about and considered today construction management basically looking at our facilities so there's a lot of planning with that that's coming ahead um so I'll just start I'll open the floor just with comments
115regarding timing the number of meetings we have um going from our standard of what we have now which is about 17 17 a year to uh a proposal to have 12 12 thank you you so jumping and then should we talk about time first feel easier my my question on time is if we start the 6:30 time will we be adjusting letting the public know that we will start Open Session later or so we can fulfill all our closed session time before the meeting starts like saying right now it's we start no later than what is it 7:00 6:30 currently it's 6:30 6:30 or 6:45 something like so would we push it to like 7:15 we currently Say it'll imediately follow right but I thought we established at some point start as early as 6:30
116as early as 6:30 correct like that the statement like that will we be moving the time like that um with the same window I think so yes to 7 so start open session start as early 7.m as early as 700 p.m. correct me if I'm wrong but we have been trying to consolidate the meetings so people can meet on one night with like the 5:30 meeting we had tonight yes we anticipate we'll need more of those and starting them at 5: is too early right so we move close back to 6:30 so we could do some 5:30 to 6:30 meetings and consolidate um the other our other consideration is to try to re we have not had a second Clos session this year so let's say we would do our very best to complete close
117from 6:30 to 7:00 and start the meetings at 7:00 on an occasion where something was really pressing and we needed an additional Clos session we could come back for the second Clos session that's not our uh goal but let's just say that there was something very pressing that we needed to do we could exercise the option of having the closed session that we haven't used this year so ideally there would be the opportunity for a 5:30 to 6:30 committee meeting which we're anticipating that we're going to need some of those for certain number one number two it consolidates the number of meeting times for the board members we're trying to be considered a board member time so if you have instead of having an additional Monday or Tuesday or another meeting time it's clean by
118just saying you know that those days we have potential 5:30 to 6:30 6:30 to 7 closed 7:00 meeting only if needed an additional Clos session there's the possibility we might need a couple of those but we'll try to not have that happen it's so that's the one thing about the meeting time if I just say this to the board we serve at your discretion on this I mean I'm not saying this I mean it it's good to see everybody it's good to be in contact the 17 meetings is fine from an administrative standpoint if that's what the board's preferences most districts that we've examined do 12 meetings a year and we think we can get the business done in 12 meetings but that is a board uh decision e 17 12 what's the best going
119to serve our board and our needs at this time like I said seeing you more often on mean this is a good thing we can get the business done in 12 it's up to the board to decide I think one I've gone you know back and forth with this one one of my questions with the 12 is that um like have well I'll say with having seven the 17 board me it's a Tuesday and I think there's um I'm comfortable in having like those set like a question especially this year um which is sometimes um a little little um like Hazard for me is the need to have special meetings so are we going to in turn insert meetings that need to be special and then get back essentially get back to 17 meetings um
120we have that need and I know it's like asking you to bring out your Crystal Ball but I just I think about that cat like if you know we saying we're going to commit to 12 and get business done like oh no another special meeting and and then we're trying to pull each other back in well to that point we had 17 meetings scheduled this year but how many IB meetings did we have how many we planned another three special meetings I think probably so we really did 20 meetings right yes but I don't I think when we like what we were saying Adena I don't know that we had any like emergency or you can correct me but the only special meetings we had were like retreat or evaluation meetings we didn't have to
121have like to my knowledge this year a special meeting to get some people approved of you know that's one of the reasons in the past we had well and and here's here's where that goes to right if we have if we do calendar e which is the 17 meetings at 6:30 uh we don't is at B I think yeah that's b b is 170 sorry 17 at 6:30 um we have all of those meetings booked on our calendars on Tuesdays we don't do any doodle polls we don't do any meetings on any other day of the week if we have an IB we do it on that day thing right we send out to Arana these are the four days that we have available make one of them work instead of a Monday night randomly
122that we might miss but we also I think this this facilities thing happening right before the board meeting has been working out really well but we also do that for the for the committee meetings are on those Tuesdays so it's like probably more likely that we actually have 5:30 to 6:30 committee meetings and then maybe if we have to have a board meeting that night it's a consent agenda situation it's like a it's a quick approve on those extra like five meetings does that make sense I would rather have those meetings on my calendar and know that that's like my that's my policy meeting night that's my facility meeting night combine it with the board meetings the way that we've done these last couple of times which in my opinion's worked super well and has
123been super easy and has not required any doodle polls um but then it's also on the calendar and if some of those meetings end up being super super short wonderful and I in my head I thought about um um you andless getting feedback and timing that that um earlier time those typee of things so just um like with the the times I could always be flexible on it I would have to adjust you know outside of the board um scheduling you know but it's not a problem there's some flexibility with that um in regards to the set days of course you know I think like Leah mentioned you know I think that's something you know that works for everybody I think just being able to access it knowing in addition to if we do go
124to down to the 12 having anything additional on our calendars is beneficial or aligning with um you know like this evening you know beforehand um and then individuals could just essentially you know plan as needed at least I know you know speaking from my perspective you know like tonight was I was able to just kind of you know readjust my schedule today and it worked out so so my point on that is we book the 17 with the um with the 6:30 start time 6:30 start time and if we have to do any other and and we commit or try to commit our committees to be on Tuesdays right prior to board meetings and we operate is if we are having one meeting a month so yeah so if there's any trainings for a year
125right we operate as if we're having one meeting a month we figure this out okay we have one agenda meeting a month okay so we figure it out for one year and we essentially make next year's calendar to be 12 to be the 12 year okay and it allows us this Freedom this year with what we have going on to have some more meetings scheduled on everybody's calendar for the whole year at least that day is like if we got to do a thing on a Tuesday and it's every other Tuesday I know my board members have that on their calendars right right so with the intention that next year it's the 12 we're at 12 with the committee meeting still align M so just we work toward we actively work towards it over the
126next year so just a caveat with her so with setting these we're setting and telling the community that we are meeting even though in our head whs in we're having 12 main meetings right we still telling the public that your board members will be here meeting M regardless on those days even though we're not well but so and right if it's a if it's a board retreat we tell the community that we're meeting anyway right so if we swap one of those meetings I'm saying swap it's not a swap it's still if weeting if one of the if the agenda of one of those meetings is a board retreat that's not any different than what we're doing now it's just not a special meeting it's or it's not we have we don't have to call
127it a special meeting because it's scheduled and on our agenda tonight is a board retreat so it sounds like if we're successful with what you're saying there should be at least one of those other five board meetings I did my math right I know we all like um the one of those five meetings should last 30 minutes seconds right 30 minutes Pledge of Allegiance approval of minutes any Pur at least one of those five meetings before the end of the year better be that way yes right better be that President which me which which I want to point out is better than we can say for this year no for sure we had one we had one meeting that was that was yeah yeah it wasn't that long ago in fact but we've had special
128meeting it's allowing for almost like a transition it is essentially trans that's what that is essentially what I'm saying that's what I'm trying to drive at as long as we are TR truly working towards getting this cuz one of the things that really caught my attention in the memo was was that I don't know if I heard most but many other school districts like us do 12 meetings a year and that really got my attention only because not because I I want to be like other school districts but I do want us in everything that we do to not be the special NE for just because this is the way we've already always done it you know our school district is different not for this it doesn't need to be and so I I mean
129I would like us working hard towards yes towards 12 meetings just let me go back um I um Jess was in contact with me so yes she's also in favor of more Consolidated meetings like 12 the 12 meetings that's where she lean she's um wanted it stated that she um would not be like upset if the board didn't do that but she's um in favor of getting to that and I I feel like this board toting our horn but I um use the analogy of Anthony and streamlining and cleaning up yes that's what we're doing with our board and our board work and getting to a streamlined um workflow superintendent valuations you know all these different things we're doing our um um our the way that we evaluate and look at data for schools we're
130we're getting this a line where it's a a sustained um working um working group so um like you said reiterate we've done a ton of work over the years we've done a ton of work the reality of the situation is next year we have a big year there's no world where next year is not a big year there just isn't it doesn't exist and if I get a doodle poll every other week I'm gonna lose my mind okay I'm going to lose my mind if we get a doodle pole and I got to fill it out for the next two and a half months to find the one day that four and a half of us can come to okay I realize I'm like that I'm making that big but but as opposed to it's
131just scheduled and it happens on one of these nights so what I hear you saying Leah correct me if I'm wrong but that we try to stick to those 17 dates and we uh connect any additional committee meetings to those dates committee meeting special meetings every extra we have to do the things that have caused the doodle polls yes and then uh if that would happen let's say we have like a strategic meeting or some kind of a retreat or something of that nature we would just truncate the regular meeting and use that time for Comm it ideally is already truncated ideally what we've done is we've already pulled out the five dates the five extra dates yeah and those are our five options for the year those on the calendar are board or five
132board meetings that are by Design 30 minute meetings unless it's a retreat unless it's I'm saying no not unless it they are by design a 30-minute meeting and then when something comes up and we go oh you know we're going to need a special meeting we're going to need an we say well that 30 minute meeting now just became an hour and a half it just became 2 hours it just became whatever it needs I I but so yeah that's a 30 minute meeting means we start at 6:30 with what an open meeting possibly we start the same we we do any closed session truly in I say 30 minutes so it's probably an hour we do any right um um close session business U cuz things are going to come up it's it's a
133district school district that we have to discuss some things and then um we have our uh and we have space so you know talked about just amongst ourselves that what can we do to consolidate um financials and approvals and things like that to if we did pick the 12 meeting calendar well now we do have we don't have to we're not so um um Tied by that because we have these short meetings that hey this is a date it's on a calendar we have it done it gives ourselves Grace I want to say too that yes four people can come and um we're allowed to miss meetings so those are the ones that if you can control it those are the ones you know that we would in an ideal situation that every all seven
134of us are not necessarily here um but I think it's going to as a reminder to me that this is going to take the work of planning with Shannon who's done a lot thank you for all the work you've done with looking at dates but saying like these are meetings that we know um we're going to plan to do what's coming up what do we have to do this is done we have to do our audit this happens in this month it happens on that day that we know it's the 12th that is a little bit longer approve 17 operate as if we approve 12 right organize just I think you guys would see behind the scenes the five that are going to be just short minimal meetings and then when it comes up you're
135like yes tell whoever's training that you have the choice of this month on this day this month on this day so it's not for everyone to see that it's actually only 12 do you see us enveloping the pr meetings into those States yes yeah oh okay yeah I think a commit I think I think a committee meeting should happen prior to like I'm sold committee meeting at 5:30 prior to a board meeting it was harder when we started at 6:00 but if we start at 6:30 it's easier we are going to do our best with to try to keep it to 17 times next year where the board meets M total instead of that includes Comm yes everything there could be a possibility as Carlos said that a meeting or two could be a very
136quick one right and I think there's going to be to be you know um um transparent there are going to be committee meetings that are not on Tuesdays I understand that we have so many different things happen we trying we're trying not to make it happen but it might have to happen it might have to right but at least it'll be on the calendar MH like everybody said we know in advance and we're going to and that's the work of each committee too CU they're going to take a look at those and say yeah this is enough these are when our meetings will happen and say hey we need another meeting in between this and this that has to be given to our we just had this conversation at the last um um public relations
137meeting the that we don't need to do them every month you know yeah and but there was a time when we did M and in the future there might be another time when we do right and if that means that now it's not 17 now it's 18 because there's we need an extra public relations me meeting on a Wednesday or whatever that I mean look we have goals we we have goals and it's got it's got to be at least incrementally better than the than than um I don't mean this is sound critical I think it they were all necessary I'm not saying that they weren't based on the way we've run it you know but if we run it differently then it wouldn't be so scattershot you know it feels that way I think
138one of the most appealing things would be Tuesday night is board night yep period end of story and not not some Thursday not some thing not some because you know and not just Tuesday night but these 17 yeah that's what I mean that's what exactly what I mean I mean it I know it's only 17 but it feels like every Tuesday night you know um and so I I think that yeah and and I'm not I wasn't really on board with with 17 I was I I wanted I when I first saw it I I was 12 let's you know figure it out but I I get the idea of design for 12 and then add five design for 12 design as if you were designing to to run with 12 and then where you
139have gaps add five add the other five in so Shannon did a lot of work too she's looking like being able to say every 4th Tuesday when we're trying to do 12 but essentially like you said we look at those two as we start we that's not something we do now um but we look at those 12 and hopefully like those are Main and then look at those other five to say what can be at but essentially what I'm hearing from the board is that we will go with calendar the option b MH and move accordingly all right mhm if you and if you look at um the way the village board has their like if you look at village board in their like yearly meetings all their committee meetings have the same one page
140it says village board meets like every other Tuesday or the second Tuesday of the third Tuesday of the month whatever um and committee meetings rotate before the village board meeting this one on these dates this one on these dates this one on these dates and it says with the exception of like December 28th and November whatever but it's it is one page it's not even a calendar it is just this is how we operate and it just has all the committee I was like H and I think that would help for the public because there's still people saying oh these meetings are open to the public for committee meetings yes you can show up and it's like a reminder hey it's right here yeah y Tuesday night board night and I think just a side
141note for future discussion we should send at the beginning of the school year to all the PTO and um boosters and that here's the calendar of all our board meetings with the committee meetings in front just so your your committee knows past the information right I'm going to go with the motion the chair entertain a motion that the regular meetings of the community Unit School District 2011 Board of Education be held as identified on the notice schedule of regular meeting option b of the Board of Education of community Unit School District 2011 as presented so moved second roll call Miss Dey yes M rvia yes Miss Hoover yes Miss Rogers yes Mr Marin yes Miss Conover yes motion carries going to move to item four the chair entertain a motion to approve did I have
142this right to approve the appoint appointment of Carlos Avia as the community Unit School District 2011's Illinois Association of school board delegate any questions thank you for thank you for doing two years thank you for doing this but I mean like it's taken us a while to get to this for it to be assigned ahead of time so we know what's going on pass motion and all oh so moved second call Mr Ria yes m u yes M Rogers yes Mr Marin yes Miss Conover yes M yes that's right I forgot this my um before I move on did everyone check mark and no except for J okay there you go all right now we're jumping we should take strategic plan strategic because those have just become everybody meetings which is arguably how they should
143be just future notes M all right so we are now um back on task at item um agenda item H action items the chair will entertain a motion to approve the 2024 2025 administrator annual contracts for the following administrators Jada James Lindsay P petac Michael Linsky Amy quatron Laura Lopez Adam falusi Tiffany Teresa Carla BR Edith coron Kevin wet and Samantha covich as presented so moved second roll call Miss Rogers yes Mr Marin yes M Conover yes M Dey yes Mr AIA yes Miss Hoover yes motion carries okay number two the chair will entertain a motion to approve the amendment to the 2023 2024 contract of nine Norris as presentent so so moved second right yeah M roll call Mr Maron yes Miss Conover yes Miss Dey yes Mr Ria yes Miss Hoover yes Miss
144Rogers yes motion carries number three the chair entertain a motion to approve the retirement contract of administrator na Norris as presenter so moved second roll call Miss Conover yes M Dey yes Mr Ria yes Miss Hoover yes M Rogers yes m Marin yes motion carries the chair will entertain a motion to approve the multi-year contract of Anthony RI 2025 to 2027 as presented so moved second R Miss Rogers yes Miss Dey yes Mr Avia yes Miss Hoover yes Mr Marin yes yes everybody's awake all right motion carries yes sorry you have work to do number five the chair entertain a motion to approve the non-certified salary increases for the 2024 2025 school year as presented so moved second second roll call Miss Dey yes Mr Avia yes m r Miss Hoover yes Miss Rogers yes
145Mr Marin yes Miss Conover yes Mo carries number six the chair the chair will entertain a motion to approve the board action on close session minutes as presented so move second roll call Mr Avia yes Miss Hoover yes Miss Rogers yes Mr Marin yes M canover yes M Dey yes okay motion carries number seven the chair entertain a motion to approve the destruction of verbatim Clos session minutes from March 1st 2022 through August 30th 2022 so moved second roll call Miss Hoover yes Miss Rogers yes Mr Marin yes Miss Conover yes M Dey yes Mr AIA yes motion carries number eight the chair entertained a motion to approve the student fees for the 2024 2025 school year as presented so moved second roll call Miss Rogers yes Mr Marin yes Miss Conor yes M Dey
146yes M Mr Ria yes Miss Hoover yes motion carries number nine the chair entertain a motion to approve the contract with verant as presented so moved second roll call Mr Marin yes Miss canover yes Miss Dey yes M rvia yes Miss Hoover yes Mr Miss Rogers yes motion carries number 10 the chair entertain a motion to approve the contract with crown castle as presented so moved second roll call Miss canover yes M Dey yes M Ria yes Miss Hoover yes M Rogers yes Mr Marin yes motion carries number 11 the chair will entertain a motion to approve the Westmont Junior High electives beginning with the 2024 2025 school year as presented so move second roll call Miss Dey yes Miss rvia yes Miss Hoover yes M Rogers yes Mr Marin yes M Conover yes motion
147carries and number 12 the TW the chair will entertain a motion to approve the 2024 summer school plans as presented so moved second roll call Miss Rogers yes Mr Marin yes Miss Dey yes Mr AIA yes Miss Hoover yes Miss Conover yes motion carries conratulations guys I know like a record action um next our superintendent um we just finished testing season I can't express uh how hard our students and teachers worked on this they just really uh to another level with their effort and it's much appreciated we put it in perspective right it's it's a test but it does reflect how successful we've been at trying to get students to grow their learning so uh but whatever the scores are I'll tell you this the kids worked extremely hard and the teachers worked extremely hard
148at you know so much appreciated uh overall behavior in the buildings has been excellent of course we're not perfect but people who've been around for a decade plus don't remember this level of positivity and the behavior of our students that I there's times when mistakes are made and they're young people so sometimes they don't always make the best decisions they're learning but overall the student behavior is incredible and that's a testament to our community to our staff to our families our and to our uh students very proud of them so I don't know if any students are watching the board meeting but it needs to be known and it's truly it's very special uh but we don't want to rest on our Laurels so those are are two really important things I want to express
149to everybody the last thing and just we have we have so many students we are really making a lot of progress with attendance uh but there's still we can still finish strong and we need to but overall our attendance data is strong but there's still a month left to school and we really want to just come together as a community and encourage each other to be in school cuz there's only a few more weeks and then there's a well-deserved summer break but between now and that time we need students in school every day they can possibly be there and right now we're trending for excellent attendance results but we it's the trend it's not the final result so we need to finish strong this read that you just we update the next meeting the update
150board meeting time the May 14th board meeting will have a start time of 6:30 with the facilities meeting at 5:30 both meetings will take place at Village Hall yes and and again as you see this is hopefully taking some confusion away but starting that trend of uh having our uh committee meetings before beforehand and um the community is invited um and um it's not the formal board meeting so um uh participation is encouraged and with that we'll go to board [Music] reports I don't even know what what date is anymore um thank you to everyone who helped volunteer sponsored the Junior High musical it was a blast it was amazing I didn't know what to expect from a Junior High musical but they did a great job so thank you to all that and however
151I wanted to bring up but I don't know if Kevin would want to speak to it better we received an email in support of our from our band boosters and the appreciation of um all the band uh us supporting the band because it was in a bad place after the pandemic and uh they've been doing a great job I've been watching wonderful performances I mean I went to the Fine Arts night and it was nice seeing every every school performing in that and they all performed together so it was great I know Kevin can speak more to all of it but yeah the band program is really strong it's it's running great um thank you very much because you're right after the pandemic yeah you know it was really in in a bad place and
152it's really strong now so so thank you to our leaders out there Mr costell um Mr Kowski and Miss Beerman um it's fantastic we mentioned our facilities meeting so yes something yeah uh again meeting next month so I don't know any other um any other committee meetings coming up I guess I'm going to read that soon can I put an invite out here now if anybody's watched this board meeting you saw that we essentially interviewed two construction manager groups um we want to fix these buildings we want to move into the future we don't want to put Band-Aids on anything anymore so if anybody would like to be involved on what that process looks like please reach out to us um our consulting firm will be putting a committee together soon and we need input
153from all the community whether you have children in the school or not whether you have former children in the school um they've all graduated let us know what you'd like to see going on in our buildings uh come to the meeting so you can find out what is actually going on in the building cuz everything looks good from the outside so yeah just open invite parents kids the teachers are doing wonderful things in and out of the buildings we just need to get our buildings in order yes all right um we don't have to return to close session um so I'll we um go over um known feature meetings and events I'm kind of scared about may but it's coming um our Westmont High School spring concert um will be April 24th at 7:00 p.m.
154at Westmont High School Mill grade level music concert will be April 25th 600 p.m. at Westmont High School um there's uh Westmont High School honors recital April 29th at 7:00 p.m. we have a sip Day on May 1st so it's a half day um Beek meeting May 7th 6:00 p.m. at Manning CD 2011 ele Elementary PTO meeting May 7th 7:00 p.m. at Manning uh the Manning band and chor concert will be May 9th 6:00 p.m. at Westmont High School um it stated before facility uh planning committee meeting May 14th 5:30 here at Westmont uh Village Hall and then following will be the CC 2011 board meeting at 6:30 p.m. Westmont Village Hall um congratulations okay I don't have that right now say is it the 23rd um 22nd and 23rd can you believe that conratulations
155high school is May 22nd and Junior High is May 23rd right and with that the chair will entertain a motion to adjourn the April 23rd 2024 regular meeting of the board of education so moved moved those in favor I any opposed meeting a jour