001o'clock and we'll call this meeting to order. Jackie, roll call, please. >> Bailey >> here. At Gatwood >> here. >> Steve Buyers. >> Jose Quiz >> here. >> Mr. Boyce >> here. >> Bino. >> Maria Bell Rodriguez. >> And now for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Jackie, do we have any public comment? >> All right, no public comment. Do we have any board correspondence? >> A couple things uh just want to bring up. I was reviewing the board meeting from December 16th and at the board meeting on December 16th, we were talking about the property tax levy and it was reminded when I watched the video
002I was reminded of the fact that in March um we were going to bring up the subject once again for review. A couple weeks ago, I had a chance to speak to the county clerk uh who told me that the final assessment appeals before the board of review were complete as far as the uh appeals go. Um, clerk Sims also told me there was nothing major this year as far as any of the major players having their assessments lowered, which is good news for the district and all taxing bodies. That being said, with uh some of the cost savings we've achieved and uh lower costs on projects, I want to definitely make sure we look at our real needs and keep our promise to publicly revisit the levy as we promised before the end of
003March, early April because I believe the clerk told me that very early April is when any adjustments need to be sent to the county uh in terms of uh our property tax levy. So, we did make that commitment. We did make that promise. I want to make sure um it I don't know if we have an update if our our mayor had a chance to talk to the um county clerk just to get the public up to date. So, we are showing our due diligence and keeping our promise at looking at the levy once again before the deadline. >> Yes. So, that's correct. Uh we we do we are in contact with the county assessor's office and the county clerk's office. uh the assessments, the appeals are from one office that moves for to the
004county clerk for its tax extension. So, uh we've been in contact with them. Numbers have not been shared yet. So, there's a lot of elements before the tax extension actually is presented to the taxing bodies. So, but when that happens, I do share that with the board and then we always review and revisit that u and we have done so in the past few years. I know there's a very short time frame between when we get those numbers in and when we have to have those final numbers. So, just want to make sure we're covering that before the deadline. >> Correct. Yeah, there will be time. Okay. >> Okay. Very good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> One other thing I want to quickly bring up and I know we've had um some agenda items
005on this in the past and I hope we can continue to have more discussions of this as well. There's a huge interest as you know in vision 428. Um in fact, I was just asked in the store the other day about what's going on with the project, how much is this going to cost? I'm not looking for any particular numbers at this point, but I want to see if we can at least going forward have a update pretty much each and every board meeting going forward to let the public know what the status is. I mean, I'm very the thing I was asked was how much is this going to cost? Um, are there any timeline changes involved? Any updates from the committees? We have committees that are doing some great work on this project,
006but I want to make sure the public knows what's going on with this. >> Yeah. Um, first of all, I'm glad that there's community asking about it, so it sounds like they're they're listening, which is good. >> Um, we did say at a previous board meeting that when we had uh an update, we would come with an update. If we don't um really feel that we have an update, um, we won't. I will say that um, I wrote a couple things down here. So, uh, vision 42A subcommittees have been actively meeting and collaborating to define what the future of our district should look like at each school. Our renovation personnel, transportation, athletics, and activities, and curriculum subcommittees are working with their co-leads to provide detailed feedback and recommendations aligned to our vision 428 goals. Um,
007at this stage, we're still looking at prioritizing um, and identifying both our needs and our wants. Uh so financial projections um are not yet available. Um so that's what we're doing. Um and we're going to come back March 18th to give more details on that. But subcommittees have been it's been a lot of meetings. So for sure >> that's what I hear. >> So that's what we got. Billy, just to reiterate, I believe Mark also asked if we could put um on the agenda that just like we do for the ELDC that there would then be a marking as well for vision 428. >> Yes. Yeah. So that um that's on there and yeah, it's on there as ongoing if we have an update. Um so yeah. >> Okay. Mark, just for the >> I
008don't mean to interrupt what your correspondence is, but to add on to what Billy is saying, I was at a meeting last week and I was astounded that how much intersectionality the cross the um people that are on multiple committees >> so that they were able to bring information from one committee to another. So even without a formal, hey, we have to get together and compare our notes, they're getting together and comparing notes. So, it's working even better than I would have anticipated with the the size of the project. So, um it it's working and for everybody who's listening, it's working. We just got to give it his time to to go through the um steps. It's got to go. >> Very good. Thank you for that. >> Just to dovetail off that too, I'm
009on the extracurriculars committee uh with JJ and a number of other folks. I'm also on like the renovations and facilities and and like they said there's so many moving parts like all these different committees are trying to establish like you know what overlaps what the other committees are doing and and how do we coordinate with them to make sure like we're considering like every aspect of it. Like it really has been a deep dive into figuring out, you know, for extracurriculars like what are we going to offer in this new setup and and the idea that everybody's been trying to operate under is like, you know, everybody gets something out of this or something more than than what they have without offering less for the students, whatever that might entail. And so it becomes like
010with with extracurriculars, how does that impact facilities and renovations? Like what kind of spaces are we going to need for that transition? And then with those types of, you know, renovations to facilities, multiple options for like, you know, what does what do these different scenarios create? What alternatives are there? And then and that's part of what gets to like why it's been, you know, we're waiting to get the cost figured out because like there's so many things to consider. And then how does that play in with transportation, you know, and and with facilities and curriculum and and special programs like there is like a hundred people I think working on this and like trying to imagine the matrix of decisions that are happening has been really broad. But I think everybody's working really hard at
011it and I've been pleased just from the meetings I've been at just seeing like how much thought is going into all of it. So like I'm looking forward to seeing like where we land on on these different options. And I guess I'm just going to jump in. As board president, one of my jobs is to guide, direct, and set the tone for the board. And I think one thing that I need to make sure we're all putting our thinking caps on is this all comes out is this is a big project. >> Big projects are going to come with big costs. We as a board need to start figuring out what our thresholds are, what our comfort levels are, and what we're ready to commit to. because we have had a very long history in
012this district of doing what I would call bandating when we do big projects. The high school is a prime example. Yes, we spent a lot of money to build a new high school, but we already knew when we built a new high school, hey, projections by this date say you're going to need this. We still went with the smaller and cheaper project at that time because that's what they felt comfortable spending. Now, I'll tell you right now, you talk to anyone from the high school, it's not enough room. It's not enough for what we need to do and offer. So, I just want to make sure that while we absolutely need to make sure that we are being responsible in our stewardship of tax funds, I also want to make sure that we're not setting
013us up to go all guns ablazing on this project and then 10 years down the line go, "Oh, wow. We completely underdid everything and cut every corner because we wanted to save money." then and put ourselves in a position where we have to spend even more later to deal with that. Now, at the same time, we also need to make sure that we want to dream big, but we need to dream responsibly. So, I guess I also want to throw out to the committee like, please come to us with every idea that you have under the sun. I want to hear the Cadillac plans, but I also want to make it clear, we are responsible to the taxpayers. At the same time, we might end up with the Ford plan. We might not get the
014Cadillac plan right away because we do have to be responsible. So, I just want to make sure everyone, whether it's the community or the board, we're operating on that same page of we have to be responsible to everyone as we move forward on this. >> The term we used was pie in the sky. So, it's like show us the pie in the sky and then all the alternatives below that. That way, you know, we think big enough to avoid exactly what you're talking about where we have to come back in 10 years because like we didn't think about, you know, a certain element that we know we need now that we didn't have the foresight for because we didn't aim high. Whatever we end up with, you know, at least I'm confident we'll have a
015range of options from the best available to, you know, just our needs and that kind of thing. >> Very good. >> Thank you. >> All right. On my end of board correspondence, on a very happy note, I popped into ELC last week and next thing I know, I'm on a bus to go pet cows with ELC students at the high school. So, that was a lot of fun. I just want to say really great work with ELC and their handling even when there were some, oh, we needed car seats that maybe didn't show up on that first bus, but you know what? We pivoted. We made it happen. We got it done. And really great job to the high school and their students who were beyond excited when our littles got over there. They were
016super polite in the way they explained like, "Hey, we need to have quiet feet and soft voices. We don't want to scare the horses or anything." Like, it was truly just a wonderful time. And I really am just proud of our students and staff across the board for it. >> I know they were very excited to have help. Um, I'll just share then really quick that I popped in at Tyler uh this last week and had a tour with the principal and it was awesome and brought my girls and my husband actually and so that was really cool too to get to see them excited about the environment. So, more to come but it was awesome. All right. Hearing nothing else and I do not have any student board correspondents, we'll move into the consent
017agenda. It is recommended that the board of education approve consent agenda items 5B through 5G, which is board minutes for February 17th, 2026. personal action items, purchase order requisitions, mental rental agreement, district discipline improvement plan, and employment contract, and the director of teaching and learning, preK through 5 as presented or or amended. Do I have a motion? >> So, move second. >> Do we have any discussion on any of those items? >> Yes. Um, I would like to uh thank Billy and interview team, Dietra and her team. Um, I emailed Billy like as soon as the announcement came out. I'm sure that had to be hard. Um, because uh, it was hard to in the selection for superintendent. People want to work here. So, I'd be willing to bet that he had a number of
018candidates that he had to disappointedly say no to, but I'm um I know Dr. Jones. I know he's going to do a great job. Can't wait to start working um, with him. Uh, and congratulations for your choice. Any other comments? Hey, no other comments. Jackie, roll call. >> Nick Atwood, >> yes. >> Josequz, >> yes. >> Christopher Boy, >> yes. >> Mark Sherbot, >> yes. >> Nancy Bham, >> yes. >> Kristen Bailey, >> yes. >> All righty, let me find myself on community real quick. All right, moving into old business. First one will be item A, which is summer projects corrected, revised approval. Tammy, would you be able to come up real quick just to tell us what was revised or changed? So, at the February 17th board meeting, I brought forth the summer project
019bid results. And after the meeting, when I started to notify the architect and uh the contractors, I realized I made two errors in there. I apologize for the mistakes immediately. wanted to get these back in front of you. Um, one of them was in regards to the uh renovation bids. I pulled the wrong contractor with it around dollar amounts. So, I'm presenting the correct contractor, which is Irving Construction. It was the lowest responsible bidder for this and their dollar amounts are listed there. That actually was at a lower dollar amount than was originally approved. And then the second was in regards to the abatement uh the asbestous abatement for uh the flooring project at Huntley Middle School. And that one was the correct contractor, but I had presented alternate bid one to be approved instead
020of two. And uh that was related to the band room flooring that we not choosing the band room flooring. We were moving ahead with just the first and second floor. And uh that was it was an increase to the project of $43,000. So tonight I'm just presenting these to correct those before the contracts were actually u awarded to those particular contractors for the bid amounts. zone summation were $4,000 less, which is good. >> Yes. >> Very good. >> Positive way to look at it, Mark. Thank you. >> All right. It is recommended the board of education approve the summer projects corrective revised approval for 2026. Do I have a motion? >> Second, Jackie. Roll call. >> Dwez, >> yes. >> Christopher Boyce, >> yes. >> Shvat, >> yes. >> Bam. >> Yes. >> Kristen Bailey,
021>> yes. And Catwood, >> yes. All right, item B, press release 120. So, there are some questions that I have to go through real quick. Um, one question is just in regards to curriculum. A district may include in its curriculum a unit of an instruction studying the causes and effects of mass starvation in mid-9th century Ireland known as the Irish famine. 105 Illinois CS527-10 reumbered by PA 104391. If offered, the board locally determines the minimum amount of instruction time and for the resource that was originally developed by the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education. Does the board currently have, you know, something that's studying the causes and effects of the Irish famine within our curriculum? Just so you guys know, we do not, which is the default answer that ISB has for people. So, I
022essentially just need to get consensus from you guys that we do not have that within our required curriculum as a board. No, we didn't. >> Yeah, you're just confirming it's not in there. >> Correct. >> If you say so. >> That's what I've been told. So, we don't. All right. So, we have consensus that we don't have that in there, which means that we just go with the standard ISB default languaging for that section. Now, second part is, do the board feel that we need a second reading? All right. Hearing that no one wants a second reading, we get to vote on it. It is recommended the board of education approve the press plus release 120 as attached. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> Jackie, roll call. >> Jose, yes. >>
023Christopher Boy, yes. >> Mark Sherbet, >> yes. >> Dante Bum, >> Kristen Bailey, >> yes. >> Gwood, >> yes. >> All right, moving into item five, early learning development center business. Kyle, do you have an update for us? two. >> All right. Good evening. Um, so it's been a couple of board meetings since I've given an update and in that time the um schematic or the ELC design team which is currently working on the schematic design of the building has been busy with uh meetings uh with the school team with the ELC staff at large um with the architect Tammy and her team. Um but we've also been on the road doing a couple of tours just to kind of expand our um our perspective a little bit. Um we've gone out to a school
024in Bowling Brook. Um that was an exciting adventure because it was a school that was built and opened in August of 2025. So really fresh. Uh so we had the opportunity to kind of get a tour of the building but also have conversation with um some of their staff and pick their brains in terms of um not only what's working within the building itself but what did they learn through that process. Um this past Friday we had the opportunity to go out to Elmherst. Um little bit of a different tour. Uh this was a newer um early childhood prek center which had been renovated in an older uh elementary school. So, from the outside, kind of like Tyler, from the outside, it looks a little bit older and more seasoned. On the inside, it was
025really um redesigned and brand new. Um that particular center was really close in comparison to size with our current center. Uh so, it was kind of interesting again to learn a little bit of why they designed it the way they did, how they did it with intent to not only meet like some of the standards obviously that they have to follow, but also how do we bring in community, how do we bring in different uh partners that can help with the overall vision of the school. So, uh, we had a meeting earlier tonight. We're kind of right now looking at overall square footage and trying to ensure that all the things that we think we need in that building, uh, fit within kind of that schematic map. Um, and then as we kind of get
026into post spring break, um, we're hoping to come forward with a little bit more detail to the board. >> Any questions? >> Thank you, Kyle. >> Yep. Thanks. And I did hear about your trip to the LD or to the high school. >> It was a fun time. They were excited. >> And then we're on to item six, new business. And under that is a resolution appointing IMRF authorized agent to the district. This is info and that is presented to us by director of finance Armir Dogga. >> Yeah. Uh so this is procedural. The IMRF requires a resolution from the board to appoint a new IMRF authorized agent. Uh currently our IMRF agent is Beverly Gorans. uh she has worked for 20 years for a district as a payroll specialist. However, she is retiring in
027April. Uh so we are uh we need to reassign it to uh payroll coordinator Cara Florence. So uh again this is just procedural uh and it uh pretty much subsc >> No questions. We have consensus to bring this back. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Item D, two-way dual language conferences presented to us by AJ Crook and the friends with AJ Crook. >> Who are my friends? Good evening everyone. Uh last year and in years prior to last year, we sent teams of teacher to the ATDLE dual language conference. It's a association for two-way dual language education. Each year as we rolled up dual language, we sent a grade level team so that they could go to workshops and and learn more about their work. Last year, fifth grade went and so we have uh something
028that came from that experience. So I'd like to present Veronica Garcia Martinez, fifth grade dual language bilingual teacher at Little John and assistant principal. Uh Zach Price is with her who attended the conference last year. Good evening. Uh, Veronica Garcia Martinez and I are here to ask permission to for out ofstate travel to the Association of Two-Way Dual Language or ATDLE conference. Uh, this is a bilingual immersion conference. It offers keynote speakers and breakout sessions led by leaders in two-way dual language education including teachers, administrators, and multilingual coordinators. This professional development supports all stakeholders in dual language through the sharing of practices, research, and data to help build well-rounded dual language programs. So, after attending last year's conference, we realized that while many dual language programs are strong in teaching Spanish and English academically, they
029often lack opportunities for students to experience language socially. And research shows that bilingual education shows sorry research shows that in bilingual education students that regularly use language in authentic social settings will often strengthen their confidence and communication skills and ultimately this supports their academic language development. So based on that and on what we learned at the conference last year, we intentionally brought Spanish back into the entire school, the whole school community, the culture of our world. The hallways were labeled, staff modeled everyday greetings in Spanish, and students are encouraged to interact across languages throughout the day. We created spaces like Spanish lunch where staff and students practice conversational Spanish, share stories, and talk about everyday topics. These moments allow multilingual students to build confidence, invite monilingual students and teachers into the learning process, and help
030newcomers connect with peers and staff. And this goes along with Spanish and English, Spanish to English, and English to Spanish. The result is a school environment where language is not just a subject, but a shared experience that strengthens relationships and helps every student feel seen, confident, and included. Our presentation proposal has been accepted by the ATDLE board, uh, which we're super excited about. Our attendance not only allows us to continue learning from other professionals and their practices, but also to present on the schoolwide dual language practices uh that we have implemented to build an inclusive culture and promote student empowerment. Our funding uh is grant funded from the LE language instruction educational program grant. Uh and with your approval, we're excited about the opportunity to present. >> Uh since we're coming to you tonight with
031this um request for them to go, we're also requesting that the assistant principal for Founders be able to go as a new um as a new administrator in our district who needs some dual language training. So, the total cost comes out of title three funding, which is LIP, for just about $7,500. >> Are we going to be sending sixth grade teachers? >> Um, well, actually, we just sent them to NAB, which was in in state, so we didn't have to come to the school board for approval. So, this year, we're not sending anyone else besides them right now out of state. Um the National Association for Bilingual Education was held in Chicago about two weeks ago. So we sent 17 of us all together went. >> Okay. >> Seventh grade will be next year. >>
032So it two questions. One, it has a fiscal impact of 51 >> 88 >> 51.88 out of the LAP grant, >> but then the total is more. where the difference is about $2,700, >> but the total says LE >> right above the graph, >> right? I caught the same thing. >> And um I think what happened there was when we added >> the assistant principal. Sorry. >> You know better. >> Come on down, Bill. >> I think what happened there was when we added the assistant principal, we didn't add We added at the bottom but forgot to add it. Okay. that >> oh at the top you just need to correct that. >> Yeah, thanks for catching that >> proof readers administration number two. >> Yeah, that's AJ's fault. >> Team Leave that one. So
033the number on the bottom is still all >> from the Okay, correct. >> And then my first question is um >> you have one teacher and one administrator. They're the ones who are presenting. >> Yes. And then we have the additional administrator that just needs the exposure for her program >> to get some professional development. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. >> Thank you guys. Do we have consensus to bring this back? >> Yes. >> All right. Item C, get your teach on conference July 5th through July 8th. Presented to us by founders team. >> I've only got three minutes to beat my record from last meeting, guys. So, >> no pressure. All right. So, I got I have the founders team here and we're going to present uh on this day had this
034lovely Google slide, but we're good without it. We're jumping. You got a minute. Good evening board. Uh we are an overzealous group here. So, uh my name is Liz Richardy. I am the principal at Founders. And I just want to say some of you might remember me because I was at this podium exactly a year ago introducing myself to be the new principal at Founders. Um so it's my year anniversary of being in front of you. Um but behind me is the team that I have had the joy of working with all year. So a couple of weeks ago or might be months ago now time is flying. uh they came to me requesting to go to the get your teach conference um this summer in July and uh it would be completely covered by
035our 10003A grant and then upon red we're doing some research on the get your teach on conference I got really excited because a lot of what they will be learning will greatly align with our new rigor walkthrough framework that us as principles and assistant principles have been studying all year. So, my hope is by them going this year, um, and they will explain to you how it aligns with our school improvement plan, but as a principal, my hope is that when they come back, they'll have lots of professional development that they can implement with our staff that will align with that rigor framework and make it, you know, all connect for all of my teachers. So, they're going to give us give you guys some points and uh, you know, on your for your free
036time, you can look at that fun PowerPoint that they made. So before they start, I just wanted to remind the board that uh that school improvement money, our ISB coordinator for school improvement uh strongly suggested that we send our teachers to professional development. So I just wanted to remind everybody of that. >> Hi, I'm Emma Berguson. I am a kindergarten teacher at Founders. So what get your teach on is is a national professional development organization. It provides lots of hands-on research-based training for educators based on the science of reading, datadriven instruction, and student engagement along with several other things. It's taking place over the summer from July 5th to the 8th. >> I'm Claudia Ramon. I'm a second grade teacher at Founders on the Monolingual Side. One of the really unique and interesting things about
037the Get Your Teach On Conference is there is intentional track selection. So we intentionally as a team chose the four of us to go so that we can go on specific tracks and look into specific breakout rooms and choice sessions that they have for us. So we're getting a little bit of a bunch of different things. That way we can take these strategies and insights and implement them into founders by like Liz said um bring back what we learned to show our um school staff during professional developments and uh staff meetings and such. So, >> Kelly Kettson, one of the special education teachers. So, like Emma said, she's a kindergarten teacher, so she'll be going to the kindergarten track. Um, Claudia Raone would be going to the uh science of reading through the 35. I
038would be doing a special ed track. And then Emily Majuski would be doing the second grade track. >> Last one for you guys. So, I'm Emily Majuski, a second grade two dual language teacher at Founders. So I would also be bringing that multilingual perspective to the conference. Um when considering this conference, we looked at the founder sit goals and our three goals were to have 50% of students meet their projected reading rate growth goal, 50% of students to meet their projected math rate growth goal and then for behavior concerns to decrease across the building by 20% according to our CIS screener. Each of the bands that the four of us have selected to follow at the conference all have sessions that align with the current SIT goals and we can bring that information back and
039share it with the rest of the staff members at Founders. We're really just looking forward to um learning more about researchbased practices and then bringing it back and collaborating with our team. >> Any questions? >> Thank you. >> I did want to just say one more thing. >> Okay. Um, I did want to just point out one of the really unique things about this group of individuals behind me is all of them are either brand new to their profession or entering a brand new role next year. So, as we're thinking about developing our staff and creating like keeping that momentum going for their their love for learning, um, I think this is a really good opportunity for them. So, >> thank you. >> Hearing no questions. Do we have consensus to bring this back? >>
040Yes. >> All right. Thank you guys. All right, Dr. Garcia, my turn. >> All right, let's see if I can still get this done real quick, but we got some major big shout outs out there. So, Jaden Teague Nunees, who has been named the arts candidate for the 2026 US Presidential Scholars Program of um of nearly 3.8 million seniors graduating this year. Jaden is one of 6700 students to earn this distinction. So, yay. Jaden, thank you. Thank you for for representing uh DAL D428 in the way that you have. We really appreciate you. We know that Jaden has been uh showcased previously last year and the year before he's been showcased. So, it's just great things that we're getting done over there and uh thank you to that. Then, of course, my favorite sport um
041the Cal Wrestling, the girls wrestling team. So, Alexis Gregorio Perez took third place. Larissa Gomez Guara took fourth place. So good, good job, young ladies. Excellent. Excellent. The team finished in sixth place. That's fabulous. Thank you so much for for bringing it to us. The kelp middle school wrestling wins the regional by 200 points. So that's amazing. Good job to our middle schoolers who are out there. 21 of those students athletes will be going to sectionals. So, we continue to um uh show why DALB should be proud of all of our student athletes. Great job to our wrestlers and to every student that's out there representing Dalb and their family in the best way possible. Thank you. That's it for me. >> All right, that means we come to the end of the agenda. Do
042I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. >> All those in favor say I. I. >> Motion is adjourned. I didn't leave my record, guys.