DeKalb CUSD 428 Board Meeting 2/3/2026

001eight and we will call this meeting back to order. Jackie, roll call. >> Kristen, she said your name. >> Here >> Jose Jquz >> here. >> Christopher Boyce >> here. >> Marvat >> here. >> Vante Binham >> here. >> Maria Bellow Rodriguez. And now for the pledge. >> I aliance 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. >> All right, we'll now move into public comment. Members of the public who wish to speak to the board should complete a request card prior to the start of the meeting. This section of the meeting will be reserved for public from the comment. All comments should be limited to three minutes. Jackie, you said we do not have

002any public comment. >> Nope. >> All right, then we'll move into board correspondence. Two things from me real quick. First one is if you guys didn't have a chance to go out on Friday, we the Barbs had a resounding victory over Sycamore again. So, it's great to have the trophy back in our hands. less exciting thing, our March 17th board meeting has been moved to March 18th because in the state of Illinois, you cannot have a public meeting on an election day. So, one, remember to go out and vote. Two, just know you need to show up on Wednesday, not Tuesday, or else no one will be here. That is everything from me. Does any Mark >> uh real quick uh some constituents have asked me about the sign out in front of the administration

003center? Just letting you know that was approved by the last board. So I'll >> and paid for by a grant. [laughter] >> Anyone else? Hearing no other comments, we will move into the consent agenda. It is recommended the board of education approve the consent agenda items 5B through 5e. Board amends from January 13, 2026. Purchase order requisitions, personnel action items, and sunb belt staffing service agreement for registered nurse as presented and or amended. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right, Jackie. Roll call. >> Nick Atwood, >> yes. >> Jose Jquz, >> yes. >> Christopher Boyce, >> yes. >> Mark Sherat, >> yes. >> Dante Bum, yes. >> Kristen Bailey, >> yes. >> All right, moving into presentations. We've got presentation vision 428 business and that will be presented by

004Billy and whoever else is coming up with Billy. [clears throat] >> Tiffany. >> So Kyle just had a birthday and I think he thought we were all here to celebrate his birthday >> and we're doing a little bit of that too. >> You hit the big four. Oh, >> I love how it came in black and orange. >> Yeah. >> All right. Good evening everyone. So, we are going to give you an update of where we are with vision 428. If you all remember back in October, November, we did a vision 428 uh presentation to the board um to the community that was here um present. Uh we had a couple community members who expressed is that the only idea or can we have other ideas? So, we got a vision 42A committee um together.

005We met in December and a couple times in January and we I don't want to give everything away, but we we looked at um a couple things and um I'm going to tell you I'm not going to tell you everything. Let me [laughter] um let me tell you really what vision 428 is because then they're going to be like why did I even come? [laughter] Um so really we looked at a long-term plan out of FFC. Um when we were talking early learning development center and the construction of early learning development center, we didn't think it was coming that quick. It did. Um thank you to the board um for committing to that. >> Yeah. >> So we're already doing some great work and starting to plan that out. And with that, we know that

006we need to have renovation over at Holly Middle School. So in that renovation, does it make sense to renovate it and keep it a 678 or does something else make sense? So this is what we are going to cover today. So just kind of to add on a little bit to what Billy had talked about, um our first checklist point here was that creation of the new ELDC. So again, thank you to the board for approving that one. Um, and then everything kind of falls in line with pulling the ELDC out of Huntley. So, we would have extra classrooms there that we would need to renovate. If we are going to renovate them, then let's make that back into that 78 building. And then let's look at restoring founders back to that middle school um

007center because it is not appropriate for a K5 building. and then looking at that of how can we then make sure that Clinton Rosette is back to that 56 building an appropriate size and then also returning then to that K4 model across the elementary schools and we'll talk a little bit more about that in just a little bit and so what that would look like this is just a visual to kind of see so we would start with that early learning developmental center that will be our younger students and then moving into our K4 buildings so we would go from nine elementary school buildings to eight K4 buildings and then we would have two buildings at the 56 level being Clinton Rosette and Founders. Huntley then would be our 78 building and then Clinton Rosette

008and Founders would be roughly the same size to then fill in to Huntley and then going into um DHS and then again into that Beyond One Bark Center. Can >> I ask a question really quick? Um, for each of you that come up and speak, would you mind just saying your name and your role, like your position, relationship to the district? >> Sure. Uh, my name is Laura Young. I am the principal at Little John Elementary. >> Well, good evening. My name is Amanda McCarthy and I'm here tonight as a parent who volunteered to serve on vision for the 428 committee. I've got two students in the district and this is my first time presenting to the board. So, please pardon my nerves tonight here. Um, so how did I get involved? I got involved

009because I was watching a schoolboard meeting towards the end of 2025 where this was being discussed and the superintendent said, um, if there's anyone out there that wants to be part of the committee, just email Billy. And so that's what I did. Um, and then I'll let Katherine introduce herself. >> Yes. Hello. I'm Katherine Mclofflin. I work for the Decal County Convention and Visitors Bureau. I'm a trustee for the Decal Township and then I'm also part of the founders PTO. I have um a second grader, a kindergartener, and a 2-year-old. And so, uh same situation here as a community member um and part of that founders group that was a little apprehensive at the beginning. Excellent. So, we just want to share our our observations of the process and really speak to what happened. And

010we thought that was important that everybody knew kind of what happened and and um how things went. And so um so and I'm I'm also following along on the slides here. So you've got that. But our committee brought together 58 people. Um it was staff, district leaders, board members, um some community representatives. And what I found um is starting from the first meeting, I found that the environment just of the of the group was very collaborative and transparent. And I'll give some examples as as we go through here of that. Um, we started by establishing norms, making sure everyone had a shared understanding of what the goals were. Um, that the original concept, as Billy said, was one idea kind of under consideration, but that the committee would have the opportunity to generate more ideas

011for consideration. So, all that was explained. There was Q&A at that first meeting and everybody got to ask questions if they had them, which I thought was good. it. Oh, go ahead. >> No, I was going to say um during this process u all the questions were answered, all opinions were appreciated and valued and put into place and there was so much research done behind each plan. >> Yeah, exactly. And I think just you know between between meetings as well so like between the first and second meeting we were invited to submit alternative ideas to the original vision or ideas that kind of complemented the the vision. I everyone was invited to submit even if you couldn't make the meeting originally and I found that it was really straightforward and easy to submit an idea.

012So I think that was really was really good. And then at the second meeting on January 6th at the founders library we reviewed all the ideas that had been submitted. I really appreciated that the leaders were really transparent about what ideas had been submitted. Like they were straightforward and let us know. and hide anything from from us. Um, they were also very professional. Like when you show up to a meeting and there's packets of information and ideas with pros and cons and um and and data. One one member I I won't name them uh but they did a deep dive into the u grade reconfiguration just in general like what's the research say and we got a summary of that u in in the packet. at this at this meeting, we were encouraged to talk

013to each other, get up, move around. I got to meet all sorts of cool educators. Um, which was really really good. So, very collaborative. Um, and then between the second and third meeting, we rated each idea. Um, the survey was laid out really easy, easy to access, and again, even people who weren't at the meeting could respond to that. And then um at the January 14th meeting, we reviewed the survey results together, which was a really important step because we got to see as a committee patterns versus just kind of individual um perspectives, which I thought was good. So, um if you want to add anything else and then we'll hand it over to Dr. Null. >> Um no, again, I just want to commend them with all the research that they did and everything

014that was put into this. Um and they just did a fantastic job. Thank you, ladies. >> Okay, so the next several slides are really um just verbatim copied straight from the information that we went over in that third meeting. So, first we just reviewed all of the different um plans, the ideas that had come forward, including maintain the current building configuration. So, the purple plan number six would be do nothing um keep things just as they are. The red plan is um the plan that was originally presented to the board, the vision 428. Um and then just for context, plan number seven was brought forward at the second meeting, which meant we didn't have time to list the pros and cons for that particular plan, which um may you may want to reference that in

015your thinking when you look at the data. Maybe you won't. Um, and the reason it's rainbow colored is so that when you look at the next slides, it is somewhat easier to follow along with what you're looking at. So, this chart details the preferred plan votes. So, if we looked across the 30 submissions of um committee members, what plan did they rate the highest on a scale of 0 to 10? So that original plan um the grade reconfiguration the 5678 um 26 of the members of the committee that of the 30 that voted gave that the most points. So that was the number one plan for most people uh which we thought was really significant. You'll see that these numbers add up to more than 30 because if anyone gave plans the same score, we

016gave them the benefit of the doubt and gave each of those plans a first place vote. As always, please feel free to stop and ask any questions you have as they come up. This is the average rating for the proposed plans. Zero was described as this will not fit our district in any way. And 10 is this is the very best thing I can imagine happening in our district essentially. So you can see that our original vision 428 plan had a score of 8.3 which was significantly higher than any of the other plans. The one on the far right did score 4.8, eight, but it is um not a viable plan without spending uh a lot of money and reconfiguring and adding on to a number of our buildings and or doing things that are

017um not palatable to the community. So, we didn't have a chance to explain in greater detail all of the cons of that plan because it came forward relatively last minute, but we still wanted a chance for the committee to have to vote on that. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. Okay. So also um just to note that the 4.8 is actually far closer to 3.7 and 2.6 than it is um all the way up to 8.3. So 4.8 is still below the halfway point. So it is it is rated as worse than medium. Can you Jessica just go up that one slide to seven back to seven and [snorts] highlight >> number five? >> The or maintaining the current building configuration on slide seven. >> So that's a six >> right here. So sure um

018I think Billy what you're referencing is the fact that um given the option to do exactly what we're doing now only one person thought that that was the best idea which we were very encouraged by. it is difficult to get people to agree to change. Change is hard. Um and agreeing to do something different than what you're immediately familiar with is um challenging. So the fact that this very disperate group of people all said we know we can do better than this we thought was very encouraging and um and gave us a lot of optimism that whatever challenges we encounter making the plan a reality. We know that we will have um the momentum of people who recognize that there is a better future that lies beyond the changes that we're going to make. So,

019u we found that really encouraging. Did you get that? Okay. Um I'm sorry. Yes. >> I'm old, so I was writing down my question before I forgot and I missed what you were talking about with number seven. >> Okay, you got it. Um so, [clears throat] if you look back up here, number six, the option number six was to just keep things as they are. >> So, essentially renovate Huntley, but keep 678 in two buildings, leave the elementary schools alone. And if you look at the preferred plan votes, only one person thought that the best possible option was to leave things exactly as they are. >> What's the difference between seven and one? >> Seven and one. >> Okay. So, this the dark purple that says five. >> Yeah. >> The dark purple that says

020five is reconfiguring with um four I'm gonna get the number. Five K3 buildings. five, four, five, six buildings >> and then a seven eight building in the high school. And the reason that that is [snorts] >> um do you want me to go into the reason why that Okay, >> it's my [laughter] >> Thank you. >> All right, we'll keep that to myself. >> So, there's that's there's your data. And since it's words and not numbers, I'm going to turn it back over to somebody else. [laughter] and I are gonna bookend you here, I think. >> Um, so again, just to reiterate, so after after all of that what I would call due diligence, all that work, some might call it, um, 95% of the committee agreed that continuing the development of the original vision

021428 idea is the most student centered for the district. Um and the the committee really saw this as an option with the most potential, the strongest viability while still which I think this is important while still recognizing that further planning and exploration are needed. I think that's an important point. Um so overall again very limited support for what is the current configuration. Um so there was a lot of open openness to change. Uh yes. And so we were even supposed to have one more meeting and at that January 14th meeting then um everyone in the group decided to go ahead and vote then to move forward with this plan. >> Yes. So I think this slide does a really nice job of explaining kind of what this means for next steps, but I'm going to

022reiterate it just because I think it's really important that the public hears it and that we're kind of all on the same page. Um so what this means for next step is if the board does not approve the continued development of um vision 428 then the architect would work on designs for Huntley Middle School as a 67 and 8 which is what it currently is. Right. Um if the board does approve um the continued development of the vision 428 the architect would work on designs for Huntley Middle School as a 78 which would be new. Um and then further planning from the the uh subcommittee would would commence. So with the ELDC move, as has already been talked about tonight, renovations are needed no matter what. So starting the design work now really keeps things

023moving, avoids unnecessary disruptions. Um which is which is important. Um any any other any other thoughts? >> Nope. >> I just have one question really quick. Um you mentioned this, Katherine. um a bit of skepticism at the beginning and I was just wondering if you both since you're both parents and community members if you wouldn't mind like telling us kind of where you started and where you ended up with all of this. >> Sure. Um so going into it um being part of the founders PTO uh we were scared the teachers were scared. I remember walking into the office when the first day and teachers were approaching me and staff was approaching me being like did you know about this? What is going on? And so I don't know if just at first it was

024it was just scary and I don't know like how it was presented to them. Um and then obviously you were here for the first initial for that board meeting where everyone came in and I think there was um just a lack of understanding because I was the same way. And then once I understood and once I actually was able to dive into this information and see that we're cutting down the classroom size for the middle schoolers because again like everyone that was scared too like the parents that were scared um we're speaking on their kids that are in Founders Elementary School and we're thinking of like losing our school. were thinking of losing our staff and all the work too that we've put in to grow this PTO and it was nerve-wracking and we didn't

025want to see it go. But then learning that yes, this is better for our students um in the long run because we're cutting down on that classroom size. We are keeping the K through four together and then putting the minds of fifth and sixth graders together as opposed to the fifth graders and kindergarteners. And then also being a founders's parent, just hearing um about the building more from our staff and how it's not conducive to being a elementary school and um about how my first grader goes has to go so far to go to the bathroom and it's wild because there's so many accidents in this one first grade classroom because they cannot make it to the bathroom. Um so with that and learning all the and hearing about all this research, it I full

026support Yeah. And I I was similar. I think my big question at the beginning was is this necessary? Like why not just build the new ELDC and land the plane there and move on, right? Um, but a after spending several hours with professional educators and looking at the information, um, I I I was reassured by this constant theme that I heard in our conversations was, well, what we're doing now is not best for kids. It's not best. We can do better. And that's reassuring as a as a parent. and and for me to think about my third grader, you know, and and going to a building with five six, that's reassuring as a parent. Um and and I I think also just to kind of address this idea that um as I was talking to

027parents, I in general heard a lot of support for the reconfiguration. Some uh parents were, you know, mentioning that, well, we just went through the redrawing the boundaries last year and do we really need to do that again? But, you know, I I think the the benefits outweigh the shortterm discomfort that might come from change. Uh and so that's my experience. So, um, when we met as a committee, um, we kind of had this group of objectives that really hit on every single, um, grade level and had the view and the voice of all the way from the preschool through that high school. And so, um, these were really our objectives when we started to look at all of those different options. which of those options would really hit these objectives. So, our number one

028um really was to reduce the class sizes at that secondary level. Having 35 students in a middle school um in a middle school classroom just is not best for our students. You were able to um help us as a board to open Mitchell to reduce our elementary class sizes down to 25. And that's our next step then is to let's move that up to our secondary level. So, that was the first one. The next one is to have those equitable access to programs across our middle schools. Right now we have one middle school of a thousand students and one of 500. And so how can we try to um balance that out to make it more equitable? And by doing the five six buildings, having two five six buildings that are similar in size, moving

029into a 78 building um would just help us with that um equitable access to things. Um, and then we've kind of talked a little bit about the kindergarteners being with the fifth graders. Um, but fifth and sixth graders being together makes more sense than having kindergarten with fifth grade just socially, um, emotionally, academically. Um, the next thing would be um, talking about um, supports and specialized programs across the buildings. Right now, we have students that are going across the district every single day for a specialized program. If we were to make our elementary schools K4 buildings, that would open up space to host specialized programs at different buildings. So it wouldn't be we have one solo classroom here, we have one intensive here. We'd be able to spread those programs out. So students would be

030closer if not at their home school. The next one would be kind of going handinhand with that is the elimination of the need for mobile classrooms. So right now we have mobiles across multiple elementary schools, Little John being one of them. Um by reducing down to a K4, we would not need our mobile classroom anymore and everything would be housed in our building. Um the next thing then too is that idea of growth and what town is not looking for growth that by moving to the K4, the five six and then the 78 at all grade levels we would have room for growth. Right now, our two middle schools, um, Clinton Rosette is solidly sitting over 500 students. And so, by making those grade level centers, we would be able to, um, to sit with

031with room to grow. We'd have a little bit more space for all of those things. Um, and then again, reconfiguring those would allow our populations to be closer to their home school. So, we'd be able to kind of rebalance everything um so that we don't have as many um classrooms that are much smaller than other ones that are u much more overcrowded. [snorts] And then again, like Katherine had said, with Founders being an elementary school, moving it back to a more appropriate middle school compared to being that K5 building that's just not appropriate for those students. >> You right, >> Brian Boyer, principal at Clinton Rosat Middle School. Sorry, partly sorry that I'm coming back to you a third time in this fiscal year to talk about middle school class sizes, [laughter] but I I

032I say we are extremely passionate. We are extremely passionate about what can happen at the middle school level. We've seen what happened at the elementary level with opening Mitchell. Now we have this chance to do this. Many [clears throat] of my colleagues here have talked, you know, about these concepts and so have I. So talking about re uh we're going to repurpose those 10 classrooms right at Huntley anyway which will approximately be able allow us to add 100 students there. Then also for Clinton Rosette taking down between approximately 80 80 to 100 students would bring us down so we are not sitting at 32 to 35 kids at Clinton Rosette in each of our classrooms. Okay. So to get us down to that threshold, I don't want to jump down to the bottom. MOU, it's

033kind of memorized from all this timing, but um talking about theou from 2019 that we have um that we want to lower our middle school class sizes from 35 down to 30. Doing this will take them down to that mean at at Clinton Rosette right around that 28 to 30. Um but that mean that's what we're looking for in that. Um same thing there. Found your student count would approximately be the same as they are today. um around that 500. And then we know reducing class size of middle schools um will lead to improved academic outcomes. Um it does fulfill that MOU that I just talked about um that is attached to DCDA contract um to get the middle schools from 35 down to 30. Um and then we know we can see it. I've

034been through a couple elementaryaries now. is amazing to me to see a classroom of kids learning when there are literally 16 to 24 or five kids in these classrooms to you walk in stop by Clinton Rose anytime you want I'll take you in a class at 34 35 sitting in a math class and we can see how that you know when our focus is on you know student engagement student conversation you know and and the rigor to what they get in our instructional practice to bring that down to that 26 to 30 that's what I'd like to say at least 30 or less would be just an amazing thing. Thank you. >> So, I guess one quick question with reconfiguration. Obviously, we're not changing the number of students in the district, but by reconfiguring the

035buildings, and this might be more of a Sarah and Billy question. [clears throat] What does that mean for some of our teachers that are going to shift buildings where, hey, I've always been an elementary school teacher, but I don't know how certification for primary versus secondary works in that role. like are they going to be eligible to still teach at both of those levels? Is that something that oh no, I don't have the certifications to move buildings or how will that work? >> Yeah. So, that's a great question. Um, and I think that's one of the biggest worries probably of our teachers as we're talking about this and and going to ask to continue to explore it. That's what one of the one of our subcommittees is going to focus on working with probably Dietra

036leading that um on and it's really going to depend on do we have a fifth sixth grade like a [snorts] middle school model where maybe because all our K through five teachers can obviously teach K through five right so do we still keep like a kind of fifth grade model where maybe you and I are um [snorts] kind of like co-teers and I teach the math science you teach the language arts and the social studies and we flip cuz we do that now in elementary at some of our elementaryaries and that's fine. So then you would need not you wouldn't need any reertification but if we did it like kind of where we do our seven 78 buildings or six seven eight right now then we would have to look at that but that's all

037something in that we have to explore with these subcommittees. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yep. I apologize for not introducing myself earlier, but I don't think I need to do that. >> Maybe for the public. [laughter] >> Sorry. Um I'm sorry. [clears throat] >> Maybe for the public. >> Sure. I'm Jessica Null and I am the coordinator of assessments. And this is the information that um relates to the census in our buildings if we went with this reconfiguration for our 56 and 78 buildings. So Huntley, as you can see, I'm starting on the right, which is unusual for me. um Huntley would go up. These numbers reflect what would happen if we waved a magic wand and put the students that we have in these grades today in these buildings tomorrow. So this does

038not reflect the number of students that will be in fifth, 6th, 7th, and eighth grade in the fall of 2028. Does that make sense? Okay. So if we were to wave a magic wand and move all of our seventh, eighth graders in the district to Huntley, we would have 938 students at Huntley. That is an increase, but keep in mind we would have 10 additional classrooms. So if you look at adding roughly 80, not roughly 86 students across 10 classrooms, you can see where we wouldn't be in an overcrowding situation given the additional space um with that additional number of students. At Founders, we would have almost exactly the same number of students. Founders is not currently experiencing overcrowding. The concerns we have with founders as a building aren't that there isn't enough space there

039and Clinton Rosette would reduce the number of students by 75 which is a much more manageable number for that building. Um any questions about this slide. Excellent. >> I just have one sorry really quickly. Um why why do this now instead of like projecting who's going to be in those buildings? >> Oh that's a good question. Um, we take our cues from our mirror and we like to present the most conservative estimates possible because we would never want to overpromise and underdel. These classes are larger than the classes that are currently in kindergarten and first grade and our first graders would be the first group of students to spend fifth grade in um in this reconfiguration. I don't want to base our estimates on those numbers because we seem to pick up additional students as

040we go and I don't know that we have any evidence that that would change in the future. So, it seems like the best possible estimate would be to use the numbers of kids we have right now. >> Does that seem reasonable? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Hi, I am Alyssa Campbell, also first-time board um presenter and attender. Um I have spent the last decade teaching at Clinton Rosette Middle School math and just recently switched to Mitchell Elementary as their math interventionist. I also have a third grader and a second grader at Lincoln Elementary. So, I'm also a parent. Um, I'm very passionate about this design because as a sixth grade teacher and now as a fifth grade um, math interventionist, I see that fifth and sixth grade math, that's my specialty, is like part one and

041part two. The things that they learn in math and fifth grade just get reinforced and reestablished and taken that next step higher in sixth grade. And there's a real disadvantage for sixth grade teachers to have one day where we collaborate with fifth grade teachers in May at the end of the year when we're all exhausted. So having fifth and sixth grade teachers share a building and being able to collaborate daily would not only benefit their teaching um but students in fifth grade who are ready for the challenge would have the expertise of sixth grade teachers and students in sixth grade who maybe are struggling a little bit with what they didn't quite master in fifth grade would have that ability for maybe some switching or some just differentiation that's more at their level. Um it

042would also just be better for seventh and eighth graders to be in their own building for that same exact reason. Um trying to collaborate across town um is just difficult when you're doing it virtually or even when you're in person um at the end of a day of teaching. So having people that teach your same grade level in the same building um going to staff meetings together and PE PLC's together is just a much more collaborative environment. Um, and when you put the teachers together, then that only benefits the students and what they're learning. Um, and then again, same thing. Students that needed that um, advancement would have that expertise and then students that need a little bit more remediation could maybe um, get that a little bit better. Um, lastly, just the unification of

043being one barb sooner. Students would spend half of their education as um, as a barb. So from 7th grade through 12th grade, they would be unified. They would come together. they would um have school spirit um and that would take them all the way through to graduation. >> Thank you. >> My name is Tammy Carson. I'm the director of facility and safety operations for the district. And I'm just going to touch on the space issues that we have in the district. We did a great job as with opening Mitchell that we were able to free up some space throughout the elementary level, but now we need to focus on that middle school level. Like it's already been addressed by my amazing colleagues, this is just something that we need to move forward with and look

044at across the entire district, the K through uh 8th grade. If we are able to do that, the fifth grade classrooms that are in those uh eight elementary schools will have at least two classrooms freed up to be able to redistribute students across the K4s. And it will also with a proposal of we eliminate our mobiles. Um mobiles are something that are thorn in my side ever since the first one has come onto the district. And to be able to eliminate all of our mobiles the presentation that we're putting forth which doesn't include it does include an addition at Lincoln would eliminate the use of all of our mobiles across the district. So that to me is a huge step in what we are looking to do. questions. It's a bar graph, so it means

045I get to talk again. Um, this is uh we've had a lot of questions about whether our elementary students will still fit if we go with this reconfiguration. So, this is our current distribution of elementary students with their census in each building as a percentage of the capacity. not the capacity based on square footage, but based on a cap of 25 students per classroom. So, you can see that we are currently um at 81% across the district in terms of how full our elementary buildings are, but that there is a great deal of variance between buildings. We don't have the future looking slide for this one because we haven't determined where specialized programs will be or where our dual language program would land. So again, in uh in an attempt to not present information that

046we know doesn't isn't necessarily 100% accurate um or a very close approximation, I don't have that slide. So instead, what I have is the next two slides which are the current distribution of elementary students um which is just the census as a percentage of the grade level capacity. So right now we have 24 sections of each K5 grade. So there are 24 kindergartens in Decal and there are 24 first grades all the way up through fifth grade. And this is how full they are. If you take the number of students we have and you multiply 24 by 25, 78% of the kindergarten seats are accounted for. This includes our dual language students. It also includes our students who um participate in special education services in a self-contained classroom. So again, it's the most conservative estimate.

047So, some of those 78, well, not in kindergarten so much, but some of those 87% of third graders aren't in um a gened classroom most of the day, but we've included them in the number because they are assigned to a seat and also to make sure that should that um placement change, they have a place to go. Okay, so this is where we're at right now. If we shifted in the way that vision 428 originally laid out, we would have 22 sections of each grade, K4, 22 kindergartens, 22 first grades. we would be 88% full. So we would still have 12% room for growth. And again, this isn't distributed by building because we don't know exactly where those programs would land. So we didn't want to go down that road and predetermine anything until that

048subcommittee has a chance to meet. These are today's grades. So today's third grade would be 95% full. And today's first grade would be 82% full for 88% across the district. You might ask yourself, what happens if we have 12% growth? Then where are we? So we I took a look at the um the population over the last seven years. We are very consistent in 2025. Right now we have 6,584 students which is 14 students less than we had in 2018. So that's a decrease in 2% overall. the chance that we go up 12% without time to prepare for that and make the adjustments necessary to fit all of our kids is very very unlikely. I don't like to say anything isn't is non zero, but um we will fit. >> So the the third graders

049on your chart are going to be in what grade? >> Blue or green? The blue one. So if we reconfigured, they would be in sixth grade. >> So they won't be in the elementary building. Right. Okay. Thank you. >> But again, we know that people will be moving to town. >> Thank Dr. Sha. >> Good evening. Dr. Shvita Shaw, principal at Huntley Middle School. um coming up to just say um we have the opportunity to do something amazing for all of our students in district 428 providing them with a tailor fit school for their developmental needs. We do understand that fifth grade and kindergarteners not appropriate for their developmental needs as well as if you've ever been at the middle school when sixth graders come into middle school it is a lot going on. So

050the sixth graders and eighth graders do not mit mix. So we have the opportunity right now to make sure that we are creating uh grade schools schools um that are tailor fit for all of our students in D428. >> All right. Good evening. uh Kyle Gertis, director of student and family services and a parent of a kindergartenner, an incoming kindergarten next year and then another one coming after that. So um we got a few coming up through the pipeline [laughter] which is why this is really exciting. So I just really want to touch on specialized programs and I know uh Miss Young talked about it earlier and a few others. What this is going to give us the opportunity to do is to look at our special education programs across our elementary schools and to

051provide more equity on where some of those specialized programs are housed. So it not only helps with equity of where our programs are, thus helping with accessibility to students in their home school. Um it helps with continuum of students that have to move between programs throughout their elementary career. Um likelihood of them staying in their home school would be um higher. What it also does is it brings a little more equity accum to our staff in buildings as well. So when we think about one specialized program that comes with a teacher, a minimum of four assistants, and then additional support staff. So when you have a building, I'm just going to say Founders Elementary School that has five sections of soul currently. Additional resources and support also head to those buildings. So one of the

052things that we think we can do through this shift is bring more equity to resources across schools which will help students, staff, and our administrators I know uh Dr. Null just shared our um just that look back over student enrollment. Although our enrollment has stayed um relatively consistent, what we have seen an increase of our student needs and this is percentages of students that qualify for an IEP or special education. Uh there are many variables that go into this. Um one of which is our student needs are higher. We've consistently seen more kids needing access to our ELDC and then ultimately needing our uh programming in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. That has caused us to have to um open up sections to accommodate that increase. Um we also have a reputation in this

053county that we provide services to students and we have families that do relocate here, which is a wonderful thing. Um but it does bring um challenges that we then have to solve when it comes to space. Um, so although this percentage doesn't look like a big increase, when you think about the number of students and then the programming needs that they have, this is a pretty significant shift for us as a district over the last five to six years. >> Kyle, >> yeah, I'm the one [clears throat] who's answering all the questions. I apologize, but that's just the way I am. Um you mentioned that like you have there so many sections at founders of soul and now we might distributing them more throughout the district if we're going to have more sections smaller sections

054and more schools that's also increasing more staff right >> we well if we have to add sections so like if we go like we have to add another section of soul another section of intensive that is more staff coming in um just like we did with our boundary shifts this year. If a program was moving from, let's say, Jefferson to Mitchell, the staff that was assigned to that program had really moved with that if they so chose. So, it wasn't that we were hiring new staff to replace, it was a shift. So, our new staff would be new programs that we would add on. >> Okay? So, essentially, the number of classrooms that would fulfill the need isn't really going to change. We might just add >> bigger and better. um self-contained programs, we would

055have more equity. What I didn't really touch on here is students that really get special education support in the general education classroom the majority of their day. That's a little bit harder to predict um in terms of like where students are at, where they go, but because they typically get assigned to their home school, >> but we're not building we're not making more self-contained rooms per se. They might just be moving closer to their home. The goal of this um vision 428 is to move to bring equity. While we look at that, we are going to have to have conversation around additional sections year-over-year given our our previous few years. >> Okay. So, it's both >> but [clears throat] not specifically because the vision 42 are we increasing. >> Correct. Good clarification. It really is

056due to the number of students that are either enrolling in our district that have needs or are being found eligible as we go. >> Thanks. Yep. Billy Wood, director of teaching and learning for pre-K through fifth grade. Um, >> so >> I'm gonna wrap it all up for for everybody. So, there are subcommittees. Obviously, we don't have the answers to everything yet because we don't want to make any predetermined um not choices, but decisions um without getting feedback from from our staff and from from people who we really think need to be around the table. So, um we have a comprehensive plan. We know that we are going to need to be making some decisions coming up soon. So, we're going to be getting these subcommittees together and um scheduling these um depending on the

057feeling tonight. So, um, to see how the board's feeling about moving forward with this, um, we will start scheduling some meetings in hopes that at our next board meeting, you all for action say yes, we give you all permission to continue to explore vision 428. So, for tonight, this is information and for the next board meeting, we are asking for action. Um, but we will, and I'm just being transparent and letting you know because our schedules fill up, we will start um scheduling those meetings. And if for some reason the board says, "Nope, absolutely not. You can't continue with it," then we will just cancel those meetings. But we need to get those um scheduled sooner rather than later. my pardon. And of course, they put me at the end, which is okay. I am

058Rita Elliot. I'm the district communications manager. Um, obviously reaching out to our community, you you've heard some of the input that we've had here. That has to continue. It's critically important that folks understand what direction we're going and why. Um, we have several uh options to do that and these will evolve, too, as as the project um es and flows and and grows. So, right off the bat, um, we have a shell of a website sitting or a web page ready to go. Um, that can be very robust. Um, similar to how we developed our superintendent search page, we can continue to add timelines into that, committee structures into that. We can add um and plan to add what does the funding structures look like for this so that at any given time people can

059access that information accessible from the homepage of the site. Um, you know, the subcommittee progress I think is important too as as it's reported out here. those summaries can come in and then again be shared publicly on our site. And that's not to say that we expect everyone to just, you know, bookmark that page and love it forever and ever. But that is our home base. So that we have that information as a as a repository as we continue to grow and as we reach out. Uh we will have to have community meetings absolutely for sure. And some of that will depend again on the subcommittee work. So, as it's appropriate, as it's timely, we'll sit down with our community, invite them to come in, share a lot of what this group has already been

060researching so that they can understand too what what that looks like, ask questions, and perhaps there's things that we don't know yet. I'm sure there is things that we don't know yet that we need to consider. So, that kind of feedback will be very important as the subcommittees continue to develop that work. Um, and it transparency is key. So, that will be our focus. uh from a comm communication standpoint, it's evolving. Uh it'll change with needs, but we will make sure that we have that structure in place that um we have a home base, folks can get what they need, and we can continue to grow that presence. So, how do we get from here to that end result? And why is it why are we here two and a half years ahead of schedule?

061This there's a lot of dates on here. There's a lot of work that happens between April 26th, which is when we would like to start the design process, all the way till completion in August of 28th of 2028, which is um along with when ELDC would be opening. We would propose this timeline if we can meet the uh approval in the next at the next board meeting to start that design process in the regards of just putting numbers and ideas together so we can get some more hard budget numbers from the architect and so that we can get the okay to move forward with the more intricate design involved with the design development and the schematic design. So again, there's a lot different bid dates, not just the ones that are sitting in front of

062you, because some projects will start as early as uh April of 2027. Some may not start until May of 2028. It just depends on the complexity of each of the projects. But the end goal is that we're ready to go in August of 2028 for all of these moves to happen. That's what we have for you. What questions do you have? Um after I thank the team for um coming in and presenting because you all did an amazing job. Thank you. >> All right. >> Yes. >> When will as far as a timeline goes, when will [clears throat] we see numbers for as far as construction and also numbers for staffing and a staffing plan for this? Do we have a approximate timeline? because I' I'd like to see all that at the same time

063if at all possible. >> Yeah. So really, [snorts] we're going to be sticking to Tammy's timeline here. Um and that design development that um or know the start design process that April 26. That really gives us about a month to be meeting with our subcommittees to figure out what design we want to go with and then cost those numbers out. Will we come with you with different options? Most likely, yes. Um because we might want to grain like everything, right? Um and the school board might say, "Well, we're just not ready for that yet." Um but with knowing that there's some flexibility within our plan, just like we did with Mitchell and knowing that we left it built to be able to add a couple more sections if ever needed. Um so that that's really

064going to we we have to follow this timeline to be able to meet all those deadlines. So hoping that by April 26 we can come to you with some numbers um and then see what everybody what the board thinks about that. >> Will the numbers also include staffing numbers as well in addition to construction? >> Uh if we have new staffing, >> right? If we're going to need new staffing. >> Yeah, if we need new staffing. Yes. Um >> I'm not foreseeing in this plan that we do, but I don't want to speak. >> No, no, I just if if need be. All right. At this point, there's no seeking of anything from us. Correct. [clears throat] >> Asking for a consensus to come back for action to be able to continue to explore vision

065428 um and hold those subcommittees and come back to be able to give you all some numbers on what we have. >> Do we have consensus to bring this back? >> Yes. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Just want to say thank you guys so much truly from the board. We [applause] we asked you guys to make it transparent. We asked you guys to bring us a full [clears throat] plan and you guys truly have done a phenomenal job on meeting those expectations. So, thank you. >> And for anyone who's never been to a board meeting before, if you've done your presentation, you can leave now. You don't have to stay for the rest. >> All right. Moving on to the next section will be an old business. First item is item A 2026

066D428 summer programming. It is recommended the board of education approve the 2026 summer programming. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Jackie, roll call. >> Yes. >> Christopher Boyce. >> Yes. >> March. >> Yes. >> Binham. >> Yes. >> Kristen Bailey. >> Yes. >> Atwood. >> Yes. >> Next item is item B, which is the DCTA program course approval salary schedule. It is recommended the board of education approve the DCTA program course salary schedule as attached. Do I have a motion? >> So move. >> Second. >> Jackie, roll call. >> Jose, >> yes. >> Christopher Boyce, >> yes. >> Mark Sherbot, >> yes. >> Antib, >> yes. >> Kristen Bailey, >> yes. >> Hi Catwood, >> yes. >> Now moving into new business. The first item is item A, DHS acappella

067choir trip request. Is this presented by Dr. Donna Larson? Good evening everyone. I'll keep this short and sweet. So this is information um if we make it to the semifinals. It is held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Um so the our AC capella group will be competing at Lockport High School. If they place first or second on March 7th, then they qualify. So we wanted to bring this to the board because it would be an overnight trip. So this isformational more to more to come. Um, but we wanted to get this on the on the agenda with hopefully that we qualify for that. >> Any questions? >> Yeah. Any questions? >> Consensus to bring this back. >> Thank you. >> Next item will be item B, National Pyramid Model Conference. This is presented to us by >>

068the team from ELDC. That's why. [clears throat] >> Hi, this is Shannet Armstrong, um, principal of the ELC. I have um some members of our team here to present to you um some information regarding a conference that we are looking at going um to in April um 7th through the 10th. So >> Oh, thank you so much. Um so I will have the team here to present and they'll introduce themselves as they come up. >> Thanks Billy. Technical difficulties. >> Does she need to sign in? >> Do I Let me just see if I Oh, I guess >> on that don't work. >> Does she need to sign in? >> Doesn't sign. Sebastian, what did you sign it in on? >> I didn't sign. [laughter] >> Good to sign in. >> Yes. Okay, perfect. just

069use your >> I have to actually >> Okay. Well, I think we can just Can we just wing it? I think [laughter] >> um my name is Jen Young. I am one of the blended prek teachers at the ULDC. Um I've attended a lot of board meetings, but this is first my first time presenting. Um so we are really hoping to go to the national pyramid model convention um in April this year. It is in Tampa, Florida. Um one of our biggest things that we are working on at the ELDC is supporting our social emotional needs of all students. Um we are doing a lot of work that's already above the level of what is presented locally. Um, we are working so hard with our students on really creating that strong foundation of social emotional

070success and skills so that when they go to kindergarten and further on that they're able to have those skills that they need um for future school success. Um, it's really hard because I feel like we people don't often realize how much our little preschoolers go through. like it's a side push for a full-time social worker, [laughter] but um they they experience things already at the age of three, four, and five of like [snorts] they're already dealing with parents who are incarcerated, exposure, domestic violence, physical, mental abuse, um foster care, poverty, homelessness, trauma, like young parents who are already struggling themselves. and they are struggling, their parents are struggling. So, we're doing a lot to really support that. And the pyramid model is kind of like an MTSS support system. Um, we already have a lot

071of MTSS supports in place, but it really um provides a universal support to all children to promote wellness, targeted services to those who need support and intensive services to those who need them. So, there's three levels of support. Um the universal support, it's kind of like, you know, building a strong house, you have to have a strong foundation. And then the tier one, so the tier one is universal supports for everyone. Um warm relationships, um you know, making those connections with children and families, consistent routines, clear expectations, teaching classroom expectations and rules for everyone. Tier two is those targeted social emotional supports for some children. Um teaching feeling words, emotional regulation, small groupoup instruction, visual supports, role play. And then tier three is for the kids who really need it the most like functional behavior

072assessments, um individualized behavior plans and ongoing like collaboration with support services. So, we've already had Ron Royel um come present to us like as a whole. Um but so this will be like an opportunity for us to really connect on a deeper level to get more intensive training over a couple days. Um so we can really [clears throat] support our students. >> Sarah Mack prek teacher. And just to kind of add on to what Jen said, it'll also help us collaborate with other professionals from around the world as well that work with children the same age and kind of bounce ideas ideas off each other because yes, as a group we do that um collectively um with our colleagues, but it's nice to get more input and um from from others that are doing the

073same thing. Um and then I'm just going to touch on the fiscal impact. Uh registration is 640 per person. So total um 3,840. Our flights total for all six um around 2,300. Hotel um around 6,000 and then the meals about close to 1500. Um parking ground transportation is estimated at 630. But it's important to note this all comes from our grant. None of it is coming from any of you. We are not asking for anything from the district um to support us in going on this professional development. It is all covered by our wonderful grants. So, we are just asking for um support and permission [clears throat] to go out of state to this. >> I hate to let a little water out of your your class half full. Um the subs for the six.

074>> Yes, I am currently working on that. Um as of right now, I have four subs lined up. Uh and we'll continue to work on that um over the next couple months. So, >> but the grant won't cover the cost of the subs, right? Um, as of right now, no. >> Okay. >> But something that we could look into. >> What percentage of of your staff would it then be gone? >> We have we would have six out of our 11 teachers going. >> So almost half. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> This is however this is something that >> Yes, we do have um PAR support within our program too um that can help facilitate that as well. Um, but this will be something that our team has been looking into doing for many years.

075And I feel like I can't speak for them, um, just coming into this role, but this is something that I really wanted to work on for them p per se because this is something that we are looking forward to moving forward when we look at that pyramid model, as we look into the new building. um being able to really bring back the knowledge that they've learned at this conference and pass that on to as professional >> and Illinois is a pyramid model state. So in [clears throat] the early childhood level um they are working to push that out to all >> Oh, sorry. So Illinois is an early pyramid model state. So at the early childhood level, they are pushing um to really get that pyramid model support um across the state um to support

076our earliest learners and then kind of build upon that as they go. >> This is the second week out of spring break, right? So we come back for spring break, they're in school for a week and then this is the following again to that. Okay. >> Yes. April 7th through the 10th. >> Where does it take place? >> I'm sorry. >> Where does it take place? >> Tampa, Florida. Okay. >> I'm sorry you'd have to go there. I know I'm not attending. I will be back. I will be back um supporting the team that is in the building. They will bring me all of this information. Um however, I began early childhood my entire career. This is a fantastic conference for them to be able to attend. So, >> can you tell me the dates

077again? Just >> April 7th through the 10th. >> Thank you. >> Right after Easter. >> Friday. >> Yes. >> All right. Do we have any further questions? Hearing no further questions, we have consensus to bring this back. >> Yes. >> All right. On to the next agenda item. Item C, DHS Barbass overnight travel IHC state wrestling. This is info in action presented to us by Dr. Donald Larson and two of our students. >> Yay. >> Our wrestlers [clears throat] appreciate it. >> All right. Good evening. I won't speak very much because then our students behind me will say, "Why did you invite us, Dr. Larson?" So, this is information and action. Though I do want to let you guys know uh this was a very last minute very great opportunity for our students to attend.

078So this is information in action. Gentlemen. >> All righty. So uh my name is Victor Jordan and I am a camera operator and video editor for Barcats which is a high school club and we um I joined my freshman year when it just started off and I've seen it grow so much. Seen a lot of people join. It's a very very um great club where a lot of people like learn about camera and stuff like that. And so we just cover like a whole bunch of like school activities, make video content off of it. Um, >> hello. I'm Elvis Moira and uh we are here because we have been asked some make a video for the Illinois wrestling state finals and we want to request an overnight field trip to be able take the them

079up on the opportunity to gain more experience in this field that we are very passionate about. >> Do you have any questions? [laughter] >> I have a question. Um, was Barb Cast responsible for making the video at the beginning of the basketball game Friday night? >> Yes, >> it was awesome. [laughter] >> That is some of their work and you guys will email the board some of your work. >> Yes, >> we would love to see it. >> Right. [cough] >> This isn't [clears throat] a question. It's more of a statement. Um, so like a week and a half ago, the wrestling meet that was going on, we were sick in bed and we got to watch it and we got to watch my grandson wrestle. So, thank you guys. It makes it good. It

080makes it much better and you guys do a great job of like getting the right angle to watch the wrestlers. Wrestling is not the easiest thing to videotape. >> Yeah. >> So, um I I applaud the opportunity for you guys to go. That's awesome. >> Thank you. >> And this one is information and action. So, do I have a motion? >> Second, >> Jackie. Roll call. >> Yes. Antibum. >> Yes. >> Kristen Bailey. Yes. >> Nick Atwood. >> Yes. [clears throat] >> Jose. >> Yes. >> All right. And again, you guys are not required to stay. You can feel free to leave. >> They have homework. >> Exactly. [laughter] Item D, bid results for summer projects presented to us by director of facilities, Tammy Carson. >> Thank you. It is that time of year where

081uh we have been collecting bid results for our summer 2026 projects. Um there's a lot of information in the packet. I'll go over it briefly and then go over some of the numbers. It isformational and then it'll be coming back to the next meeting for approval. So, the first project we're looking at is steel coating and striping. We have a three-year rotation on that. And uh the buildings that are getting look to get done this year are Brooks, Courtland, Jefferson, Little John, and Founders. Um wrapped into that same bid is are the site improvements for this year. That's concrete and asphalt improvements. Um Tyler parking lot is the largest one that we're looking at this year. And then just some smaller ones at Little John, Lincoln, Jefferson, Huntley, Founders, Courtland, and Rosette. Uh to go

082over those bid results, uh the site improvements, which include the Tyler parking lot, Brooks, and Jefferson, Brooks, Jefferson, and Little John, they were the base bid and then our alternate bids were for some other separation of of buildings. I do want to explain that there's an alternate bid on that for the Little John pathway, the sidewalk from the school to Oak Drive, which is a neighborhood. It was separated out into an alternate bid only because we were not sure we were going to have approval from the city with that because there were some ADA questions in regards to the current design and then needed design. Uh we have obtained that. So there was no concerns brought forth from the city. So we can wrap that into our bid approval. The other uh base bid in

083this was a seal coating and striping at those buildings I've already listed. The total amount for all of those projects including the architect engineering 10% contingency is still under our budgeted amount by $135,000. So based on our projected budget and the actual results for all of that, we are still coming in under budget by $135,000. The next one, oh, and that and those are to two separate companies. Elliot and Wood Indic and then Dler Inc. Denmler does our seal coating or would be doing the seal coating part of it. The next bid is our floor replacement. We are looking at rotating now throughout our district getting flooring replacement done. The first one we're looking at is our Huntley building. Um it is mostly original flooring across which is requires waxing and burnishing and buffing and

084a lot of work and it's starting to crumble in many of the spaces because of its age. Uh we are recommending moving forward with uh the bid results for base bid one and base bid two uh I'm sorry base bid one and alternate one that is for the corridors on the main floor first floor and the corridors on the second floor. The first floor would be done at in summer of 26 the second floor would be done in summer of 27 but you're approving the request is to approve both at the same time so that we can guarantee we can have the same product from one year to the next year because if you don't commit to now. No, no, no idea if it's even going to be available next year and then our floors,

085our corridors won't match. Um the the other alternate in here is for the um band room. And the band room is broken out because one of the ideas that has been put forth that is still just up for consideration involves some renovations that could be done in the band room in the vision 428. So, at this point, we are not recommending doing that. Want to make sure I'm stating this right. Correct. Not recommending moving forward with that at this time. We can if we do decide to move forward with some of the ideas we have in division 428 that impact the band room and it means that we we won't be touching it then we can accept this bid at a later date but at this time we're recommending not approving the band room. Uh

086that bid is currently um the total amount which also there is asbestous abatement that has to be done in this project because the floors have asbestous. So between the construction bid uh for base bid one and two and uh would go to carpet land USA and then the asbestous abatement the the carpet land bid is coming in $135,000 under our budget. That is if we do the band room. So I'm just going to say if just because if we don't it's just even more savings obviously at this time. And the asbestous bid is coming in actually 439,000 under budget. So, um, my contractor felt that we were going to have much higher bids and they did not come in higher. We had, I believe it was 10 or 11 biders. [clears throat] So, fortunately, we

087had quite a range of bids, but we are coming in significantly under budget on that. So, that really is helping our numbers for the next two summers. Um, renovations, there were uh, five bids submitted for renovations. They include a base fit of some of the toilet rooms, the larger toilet rooms at Founders, some smaller toilet rooms at Founders are the alternate, a copy room renovation at the high school, and a sole room renovation at Huntley Middle School that says the high school should be Huntley Middle School. [snorts and clears throat] Um recommending moving forward with the large bathrooms at Founders, the copy room at the high school, and not moving forward with the smaller toilet rooms at Founders at this time, and also not the sole room at Huntley. We're holding off for the same

088reasons at the band room at Huntley because some of the ideas that are kind of being thrown around do impact the soul room at Huntley. If we do move forward with some ideas on vision 428, we can always come back if we need to. Uh but we're we are recommending not moving forward with that at this time. With those projects, including the all of the bids, it is still 237,000 under budget. So again, another underbudget number. And last, and all of those projects that I've gone over are all out of operations and maintenance. So that is a budget that is included in what remains of the 2526 budget for operation operations and maintenance and will be included and planned for in the 2627 budget, still being under what we typically do in projects. We usually

089average about $3 million in operations and maintenance budgets or projects each summer. We're looking at being closer to the 2 million mark, uh 2.1 million with with these projects we're recommending. Um so we are going to be actually coming a little lower than than anticipated partly because the budgets the bids came in lower than our projections. >> So the when you were talking about the large toilet rooms and the small to you're talking about the larger group. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. Groupings. I guess the only one that I really have a question on is obviously if you can support local over an out of town group you want to. Do we know why Decal Mechanical is such an astronomically higher number than Beliner for boiler? >> Yes, actually uh Decal Mechanical is still

090I haven't gotten to that one. It still is under budget what our budget number was and is actually closer to what we obviously what we projected. Beliner withdrew their bid after the bids were open because when they went back to review their numbers, they have so many like I don't know if it's one or two days to with review and withdraw their bid. Their bid wouldn't have even cost cover the cost of the equipment. >> So obviously somebody's >> oops >> and math didn't math. >> So that that was why it withdrew. So, the recommendation um which I go over right now, the Huntley boiler project does require a boiler replacement as well because those are the original Kiwani boilers from when the building opened. As best of asbestous abatement is involved. I don't have

091those bid results yet, but we're anticipating based on results we've seen that those will be less than our budgeted amount, but we budgeted at 150,000 just in case. And that will come out of life safety. And again, we have that funding available between the current balance in life safety and then what is allocated in November into life safety budget. So we were able to move forward and that is our last major HVAC project that needs to be done in the district because of all that we've been able to complete. So and it will give us some tremendous energy savings as well as some rebates that are available. So, uh, with that project, um, even with the asbestous abatement, if it came in at the budgeted 150,000, it's still coming in about 220,000 under budget. So,

092um, based on all of this, we are looking at about a 2.1 for operations and maintenance, a 1.7 million for uh, life safety, and um, I'll open up to any questions at this point. >> All right. I'm not hearing any questions. Do we have consensus to bring this back? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Item E, 2026 reading and rigor conference. >> Hi, I'm Betsy Zimmerman. I'm the secondary humanities manager. >> And I am Jill Springer. I am the elementary humanities manager. >> And we are asking to take two teachers and ourselves to San Diego for the reading and rigor conference. When we think of conferences, usually we think they're really large things where people go to like 40 50 minute sessions, right? And you learn and then you

093leave and you do another thing. This is really more of a workshop intensive with Doug Fischer and Nancy Fry who are [snorts] two practitioner researchers. Um, and they had created the rigor framework for teaching and we went to that conference last year and learned about that framework then brought it back and worked with principles and other instructional leaders to help that really form the basis of our instructional walks and um sort of our formative learning from teachers during the school year and that has been incredibly successful. We've been be able we've been able to provide really good PD to the principles as well as um good feedback to the teachers. So we've been very happy with our knowledge of the rigor framework. This year they are adding reading which is actually Doug Fischer and Nancy

094Fry's background. It's what they started researching in. Um they're adding that to the rigor framework. So instead of just looking at teaching and instruction on this broad lens, we're looking at it specifically within the context of literacy instruction. So this week-long um intensive will provide rigor certification for the two teachers. There will be our first two teachers to get rigor certification which is fantastic. One elementary, one middle school teacher. And then it also will provide a really um in-depth look at best practices and literacy and then combining those two. So all three of those things will happen during this week. >> Yes. So we're very excited to be able to offer um teachers the opportunity to go. We're always looking to collaborate more deeply with uh those educators who are in the trenches uh currently.

095And so um to be able to be side by side with them we feel would be very beneficial. as well as we're always looking to grow our teacher leaders and this would be another way for us to disseminate the information that we learn um to the masses. >> And I don't have it typed out in front of me, but I know it's in your board docks. The whole cost of the trip comes in just under $9,000 um for the week and it comes from grant funding title two for the administrators and then teacher vacancy grant for the teachers. >> Any questions? >> And I assume we would need substitutes since it's in June, right? >> It's in June. That's good. >> Yep. >> All right. >> Do we have consensus to bring this back? >>

096Yes. >> Thank you. >> Item F. This is info and action 2026 Black Literacy Matters Conference presented to us by Director Parker and >> friends. >> And friends. Yeah. [laughter] I'll get us started with the introduction. Um and then these beautiful young ladies will take over. So good evening. We're here to request board approval to uh for an out ofstate professional development opportunity. We would like to attend the Black Literacy Matters Conference which will take place March 11th through the 14th in Norfolk, Virginia. That is why we are coming information action because we just found out that we were invited [clears throat] to present at this conference and then when we researched the conference and found out that it is a conference that um like what uh Dr. Zimmerman said here it is a conference

097that is a workshop. It is not going to a whole bunch of different things. Um we actually get to sit with Zaretta Hammond. If you don't know who she is, look her up. We get to sit in a uh two hour and a half block um and have conversations and learn directly from um some of the best researchers in the field of literacy, specifically responsive literacy, meaning that you um help um the students that you have in front of you and not just like textbook uh approach to literacy. Um and here are some beautiful people that will introduce themselves. Um, hi I'm Quate Calvin. Um, I'm a reading specialist at Mitchell. [laughter] >> Um, >> it's their first time presenting. >> First time for the board, so bear with me. And I'm a little cold.

098Um, [laughter] >> it is cold in here. >> Um, as the board sees in the report, data shows that our black students are the furthest behind in literacy. Um, these dispar disparities are not just numbers. They represent real students um who are not yet receiving the equitable access to highquality literacy um instruction that they deserve. Addressing these gaps is urgent and this professional development provides tools and researchbased strategies that directly target these inequities. >> Thank you Dr. Calvin. Good afternoon. Good evening everyone. My name is Cherish Ola. I am a special education teacher at Mitchell Elementary School. So the attendees of this conference is Dr. Parker and then the rest of us who are working directly with students and we can see firsthand um just the the disparities that they have. So we're passionate about

099changing this reality. The knowledge we gain will be immediately applied um as early as summer PDS. Um so train to trainer model and ensuring that these strategies impact a greater number of students as quickly as possible and this we curated through professional developments from our >> thank you cherish. I am Lacy Colleen 7th grade ELA at Clinton Rosette. um alignment to our core values of the district is that this opportunity will allow us to receive evidence-based uh strategies to reduce opportunity gaps within our district and improve student outcomes. Um and the priorities as far as the strategic priorities, it allows for equitable access, ensures all students have access to high quality literacy learning, all students. um maximizes grant opportunities, strength strengthens our capacity to pursue literacy focused grants and expand that programming and then it

100helps with development and retention. It demonstrates investment in educators growth and [clears throat] it contributes then to retention and development as a whole. As far as the cost, I I think I laid out probably a mini dissertation um about why this is important. It's linked into your board docs. um the cost will be under $7,000. We have even met and decided to share a house to save on saving about $2,600 in hotel fees. Um and uh because there's a spike uh because this is a huge conference, there's a spike like people are gouging right now for uh hotels in that area for that time period. So um we we were able to uh earmark places a little cheaper. Um and um we'll share bathrooms and we'll be amazingly fine. [laughter] Um and then um that

101is coming out of a grant. And as far as subs, I got you JJ. Um we we would have one person that would need a sub and her principal is aware and would be working on it already. The other two they don't get sub coverage. >> So it's the question has nothing to do with subs. >> Okay. I just thought I was like let me hold on. when you return [snorts] because this is very interesting to me. So I' I'd like >> I'm telling you now I'd like a set time for you to tell me what you learned in there and how you're gonna implement >> 100%. All right. >> And I'm sure we're going to have plenty of things to to to share. >> I just wanted to say as somebody who's read Zaretta

102Hammond's work, she's phenomenal and the fact that you guys I am so jealous and I want to go. [laughter] It's awesome that you guys got invited to >> to go to this. So, in closing, approving this conference is an investment in our students, our educators, um, and our commitment to finally getting literacy right for black students. We are eager to attend, learn, and bring this knowledge back to the district. And as you can imagine, it's information action because the registration closes and then also you want to we don't want to pay like $900 for a flight. >> All right, then. Do I have a motion? >> So, move. Second >> Jackie. [snorts] Roll call. >> Mark Shvat. >> Yes. >> Bam. >> Yes. >> Kristen Bailey. Yes. Nick Gwood. >> Yes. >> Jose. >> Yes.

103>> Christopher Boyce. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Last item. Item G also information and action amended Barb City Steam presented to us by Sarah Montgomery. >> Thank you so much, Ben. So I come to you with exciting news that our Barb City steam team which is you I'm sure you're familiar with we've had a year's agreement with niu that's renewed annually for our middle school students to do this after school opportunity and we've been working on it for about the last yearish to expand to the high school. So we here we are finally ready to unveil it and that's why it's information action so we can get the ground running and send our students from the high school over there as well. It's an exciting opportunity. Theou the agreement that's before you is all

104of the same verbiage of the ones that you've seen in the past with the addition of the specific high school um grades which you know is 9 through 12, the specific dates in there and the start and end time. Everything else in there is identical to the previous that you've already seen for the middle school. >> All right. Does anyone have any questions? Hearing no questions. Do we have a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> Jackie, roll call. >> Anti Vinham, >> yes. >> Kristen Bailey, >> yes. >> Nwood, >> yes. >> Jquiz, yes. >> Christopher Boyce, yes. >> But yes. >> All right, then. That brings us to the end of our normal stuff. Dr. T. Sanchez, do you have anything for us? >> Oh, just a couple of things before I bid everybody

105good night. First and foremost, I wanted to bring up Shannon, our our principal over at ELC. uh her staff has asked her for more information regarding how what's going on with the ELDC. So, she is going to be uh submitting to them on a bag weekly basis uh um you know information around the ELDC where it's at the status and information. So, thank you so much for being transparent with your staff, making sure that they understand what it is that we are looking at. So, uh in the same vein, ELDC updates uh will begin in our board um meeting beginning at the next meeting. So Kyle and Teen will be uh doing that. They had a meeting today, I believe. And in this meeting today, I believe we were able to talk about some subcommittees.

106Uh so subcommittees have been determined and I can't wait to hear what those subcommittees are. But I'm looking out there to the world outside of this room. If you are interested in being a part of this or any of the subcommittees, why don't you go ahead and reach out to Kyle Gertis and here at Kyle Kyle. D428.org or so that he can uh get you on the list to be on one of the subcommittees. I think it's important as we begin to build this out what it's going to look like. It's it's to me it's going to be like the Disney World of early childhood as as I see it. Uh anyway, um please come out and help out. And I thank everybody here as they continue to give information and support and getting um

107our little itty bitty barbs the best uh academy that they will be able to have. Uh let's see. So last Friday, as Chris mentioned, uh we had the FB uh FNBO challenge and our ladies fell to Sycamore, but our young men beat them for the fifth year in a row. We're very excited about that. Uh young ladies, you keep going. You know, our uh resilience and grit is out there. You just need to keep working at it. I believe in you and I know next year it'll be a total different story. Uh then I also want to just mention the young men's wrestling. They've advanced um nine wrestlers to the Bington sectional in two weeks. And our ladies also will be competing this weekend in Belvadier. So, you know, where we can we're doing great

108things. Uh wrestling is another even though I don't like to talk about it. Y'all know about last year, so we won't go into that. But definitely wrestling is on the top of um the chain here for what children like to do and are good at. Um you know, some of our principles have their children also involved in that. uh great wrestlers here in Decal. So, I wish everybody good luck. Thank you so much. And with that, I'm going to turn it back over to our president. >> All right. At this point, we've got to the end of the meeting. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Move. Second. >> I don't roll call or do I just All those in favor say I. >> Have a great night, everyone.