001[music] >> Mhm. >> [music] [music] >> Mhm. >> [music] [music] >> Mhm. >> [music] [music] >> Mhm. >> [music] [music] >> Mhm. >> [music] [music] >> Mhm. >> [music] [music] >> Mhm. >> [clears throat] >> What is this one doing? Oh. No, I see No, it was up like this and it was all creepy. >> reach that hour. Board of Education has been in closed executive session to conduct an employee discipline hearing, discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body, pending litigation and collective negotiating matters between the board and representatives of its employees. No action was taken during closed executive session. Uh, would everyone please join me in the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for
002which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Do we have a recommendation for tonight's agenda? Yes, we do. I recommend the board approve tonight's May 26th, 2026 open session board meeting agenda as presented. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed? Motions carried. Okay, we'll move on to public participation. Ms. Bradford, do we have I have a card. Good afternoon, board. I'm here for some positive. I think we always need some positive, and I want to talk about John's Hill Magnet School's track team, who was just awesome this this year, but they had one uh one young man who participated in the state track meet for 3A. Now, Johns Hill is a small has a small population
003of eighth, seventh, and eighth graders, and yet they compete at the 3A level, which includes much larger schools than Johns Hill. But, because their total population is over five or whatever, they are in the larger um ISA um category. So, they're in 3A. But, I want you to know that my grandson, Gabriel Waller, was a participant for Johns Hill Magnet School and in the in the long jump. And so, he's been leading all all season long. We didn't have the outcome that we expected, but because they do have podiums for first through 10th place, out of 20 students, he did place eighth. So, WE ARE PROUD. SO, DISTRICT 61 HAD A WINNER. YES. One student and a winner. >> ALL RIGHT. FOR LORETTA MURRAY. GOOD EVENING, Superintendent and the board. Thank you for the opportunity
004to speak tonight. I'm here to express concern about Illinois' proposed mega projects legislation and the potential impact it could have on DPS, our students, and our community. This bill has already passed the Illinois House and could be voted on in the Senate later this week. While much of the public conversation has focused on Chicago and the Bears stadium, the legislation applies to projects throughout the entire state and could have major consequences for local school funding. As written, the bill would allow certain large developments to receive long-term property tax assessment freezes lasting up to 40 years. That means major corporations and developers could pay taxes based on artificially reduced property values for decades, even as surrounding property values continue to rise. For communities like ours, that matters. DPS already operates in a state that funds many
005school districts below adequacy targets under Illinois' own evidence-based funding formula. We're only funded at 75% of our adequacy target. Schools across Illinois continue to face serious pressures while trying to meet growing student needs. Local property taxes remain one of the many primary ways public schools are funded. Here, local property taxes make up more than a quarter of district revenue and remain critically important to long-term school funding stability. When large developments are removed from normal property tax growth for decades, it can reduce the local revenue available to schools and shift greater pressure onto homeowners and working families to make up the difference. That is a concern every community should take seriously. If a major warehouse, corporate headquarters, or industrial development were built in our area under this legislation, our community could see significant economic activity without
006schools receiv- receiving the level of long-term tax support those developments would normally generate. At a time when districts are already struggling with staffing shortages, student support needs, rising costs, and increasing academic demands, we should be strengthening public education funding, not creating policies that can further limit future revenue growth. I urge this board and community leaders to closely examine the long-term impact this legislation could have on local school funding and to advocate for protections that ensure economic development does not undermine public education. Thank you. Thank you. Last name is Bird. Thank you. I cannot read the first name. >> Hello to the DPS board and our educational community here. My name is Ada Bird. I have been a library media specialist at SDMS since 2019 and I'm currently the most senior certified librarian in our district.
007I'm here tonight because our school libraries are in a state of quiet crisis and our staff's being locked out of the solutions. Decades of research proves a simple fact. A well-supported school library directly drives student achievement. Yet right now, our libraries are being limited by our own district. Consider the data. Our collections are aging. The average age of a book in our district is 19 years old and our shelves are thinning. At SDMS, we only have 10 books per student, well below the recommended 15 to 20. And our budgets are evaporating. This year, our building all of our buildings book budgets was slashed from $2,500 to $1,000. Once you factor in placing lost and damaged copies, we are left with roughly $500 for the year. Uh at at least $12 a book, that buys fewer
008than 40 new books. That's not even one new book for 10% of my student population. We talk constantly about improving the literacy here in DPS, but how can we build a print-rich environment when we're starving our libraries of actual print? Our community partners, like the educational foundation and their success books program, are doing incredible work to put books in students' homes, provided we have someone to coordinate that effort. But within our own walls, leadership is entirely missing. The position of district library media coordinator has sat vacant for nearly 3 years. School librarianship is a highly specialized instructional subfield with a master's degree required for the endorsement. We do far more than just stamp books in a quiet room. Our elementary libraries are staffed by dedicated teaching assistants who go above and beyond. But they've gone
009years without the specialized professional development that they deserve. And that is in line with their contract and past practice. Knowing this, I stepped up. I reached out at the start of the school year and repeatedly throughout it to volunteer my time. I offered to coordinate district-wide professional development. I offered to coordinate the success success books program. I'm well qualified to do both of those things. And I've asked to be on the interview committee for any candidates for the library coordinator position. Most of my emails and attempts to connect fell deaf ears and were met with silence. This lack of response is The response is actively hurting hurting I can't talk anymore. Our morale. I know at least of one library staff member currently considering leaving the library because they have felt abandoned by our leadership.
010Ms. Lorelei Heiser. That's me. Mhm. You want me to continue where you were? >> Sure. Okay. Right there. Okay. They know, as I do, that at least one qualified candidate has applied for the coordinator position only to hear nothing for months. My library colleagues come from different backgrounds and we have different perspectives, but we share one undeniable truth. We love our students. And we see the immense potential for DPS to have truly great library programs. We all strive to go above and beyond. I want to Miss Byrd wants to apply for grants and win awards, but we can't even meet the basic professional standards because the district lacks the required material selection policies and professional development. Our colleagues and our students deserve more. We cannot keep repeating the same patterns of neglect and expecting different
011results. It is time to do things differently. Library staff do not want to be an afterthought. We want to be a partner. We are asking for a seat at the table. Thank you for your time and we have other library media assistants here like myself. Um so appreciate you all listening. Thank you. Carlotta Taylor Thank you. Hello, my name again is Carlotta Witherspoon Taylor. I am here as the founder of a not-for-profit called World Service Enterprise Organization. Speaking on the topic about the summer vouchers. We are here at WSEO we are not pointing fingers only wanted to help with a solution. Can other organizations such as WSEO help and assist in this? The summer vouchers well-needed um summer program for the youth and if so, what are the next steps for us to assist the
012families and youth right here in our community, Macon County. That's all I wanted to say. Oh, thank you. Dr. Mike Curry So, I'm going to go real fast. As this is my last board meeting, I want to take a few minutes to acknowledge my team, my colleagues, and those who have made the greatest impact on me during my time at DPS. And I may miss someone, and that's not on purpose. Most of my team works behind the scenes. Um some of you don't know who they are or what they do. So, tonight I wanted to give them the thanks that they are due. Joni Watson and Vicki Kelschimer in purchasing, and Roman in accounts payable, Jadon aka Coach Bryant in grants, April Cleary in the mail room, Kameisha Bryson, Crystal Lockwood, Michelle Sturgis, Stephanie Harrington,
013Kim Holva, and Debbie Reagan payroll and benefits. Debbie is retiring after 50 years in the district, which is amazing. My claims and transportation teams of Kimmy, Tammy, Sherry, and Michelle. My buildings and grounds team led by Floyd Bolt, Aaron Peter, Scott Johnson, Ray Fry, and Caleb Allen, as well as Bruce on boots on the ground employees like Chris Barnett way back in the back, Chris Tennyson, Dave Campbell, and Ryan Atwater. My food service team of Amy Wagner, Ashley Waynewright, and Chef David. My security team led by Chief Val Tally and Adam Banner. The growth I've seen from both Mr. Banner and other leads like Mr. Dawson, who's back there, is a testament to Chief Tally's belief in growing his officers. Craig Bundy, retiring district athletic coordinator, has been one of my all-time best hires. He's
014implemented several positive changes in elementary and junior high athletics and mentored numerous athletic directors and generally cares about our coaches and our student athletes. I chose to cater in December of 2021 before Dr. Clark was hired. I accepted after asking to meet every person that worked in the Kyle. I was interviewing them to determine if this was a good fit for me. Not everyone is still here, but those who were part of that decision, Neola Briggs, CB Jared, Keisha Holiday, Jody Gerard, and Ms. Brenda DeBerry. It's been a great place to learn how a large district cabinet model works when you're a stand-alone superintendent, you're your own cabinet. Um the people have come and gone, but the OGs that changed positive things for me in my time here, Ashley Grainer, Maria Robertson, Diane Hillman, Kent
015Metzger, Jason Fox, and Dr. Larry Gray. All instrumental in my growth. I would be remiss to not acknowledge Dan Oaks and Superintendent Bobby Williams for having faith in my skill set so long ago. I want to thank Mrs. Bradford. I got it right this time. Um, for your support and your attention to my details. I'm not married. Ah, you know I'm always going to get something wrong. I don't even know why I try, but your attention to my details has made me a lot cleaner with all my reports, so I appreciate that. And I promise I'm getting close, um, but there are a few more people to thank. First, Dr. Sarah Neuple and the staff at Pershing Pre-K. It's no secret if I'm not in the office, you will likely find me at Pershing doing
016bus duty. The staff at Pershing see the light in every single kiddo that gets off those buses. Dr. Mary Ann Sloat, without her, I would have never applied to this place. She was the best number two while she was here, and she taught me the Decatur way, and participated in more than one Taco Bell run. Cheyenne Patterson, directing director of accounting. The single best hire I have ever made in 20 plus years of school business. Lucky for you, she's turned me down the last 2,033 times I have asked her to join me, but 2,034 will come soon. Jennifer Summer has been the calm in the con- in the constant chaos of the operations world. She has kept me on time, on schedule, and sane through chaotic times. She's the best. And lastly, I want to
017thank the best boss I've ever had. I stayed here, several of us stayed here, um, through multiple external offers because of your leadership. I would follow you anywhere. I've told you that before. But since we both said we were going together in '28, and you're leaving early, uh, I think it's just right time for me as well. I can't name everyone who's had a positive influence, but I can tell you this, there are a bunch of people, many in this room behind me, that are doing great things for our staff and our students every day. And thank you for the last 5 years. THANK YOU. >> [applause] [laughter] >> THANK YOU. GREAT PEOPLE. OKAY, THAT'S IT. Board thanks each and every one for their comments. We truly appreciate those. Uh we'll move on to board
018discussion. Um Dr. Clark before and after. Uh yes, so last time we was here the board asked me to kind of like give you guys an update of how we got here. So, um one of the things that I did was kind of went back and looked at um everything that unfolded. So, in March we made a recommendation that we were no longer going to be utilizing extended day and all things were put in motion to uh end extended day. As I was going out to uh professional development and my speaking engagements, I came across two individuals uh two, I'm sorry, vendors that approached me and said, "Hey, we would like to come into your schools. We think that we would be able to help." And I said, "Okay, show me what you have." So,
019one of them was Right At School who basically had um a formula that was going to cost us just as much if not more to run uh their program in our schools and since we don't have the money to operate our own, that was a no. The other one was um Champions. Champions decided that they would be able to come into the schools and operate uh a similar program, but yes, we knew that it was going to be a little to no cost um effort to the families. And it was also going to be based off of uh state-approved subsidies. So, for me, the conversation was about okay, having some type of familiarity for our families because they will still get the opportunity to drop students off, leave them for an extended amount of time,
020and pick them back up. Understanding that it is going to cost uh money. I also took the time to just go online and just did a quick 5-minute search of the local um vendors that were um in our community. And came across Love Learning and Laughter Daycare, Fundamentals Early Learning, Skyrise School of North Decatur Daycare, Kids and Fitness, Decatur Family YMCA, Skyrise Schools of East Decatur, Creative Kids Daycare, ABC Preschool, St. Paul's Early Learning, Anna Waters Head Start, Lulah Company Daycare, Kids and Fitness North, Kids Castle Learning Center, and we also have uh well, we used to have the Boys and Girls Club along with our churches. So, in addition to what I am trying to do for our families, um it's not about helping them go to Champions, it's about providing choice. I do
021not want us to make a decision based on feelings. I want to give options. To me, Champions was the best options outside of what Decatur already has that families have an opportunity to choose from. If they choose Champions, so be it. What may not be right for you may be perfect for several others. I am not pushing anyone towards any one program. That is the choice of the families. You asked about um doing a form of scale. That still leaves a cost to the district. And who is going to determine what that scale is? That is not for us to decide who makes a certain amount of money as to what they pay. We will be doing the exact same thing that everybody else is doing, which is utilizing a state format. Meaning, families would
022have to pay first and then we would be able to provide a service. Also, keeping in mind, your employees is your biggest um cost factor in all of this. So, when it was all said and done, the recommendation came in March. It the recommendation was accepted and we moved forward. At this time, my recommendation has not changed. We cannot continue to operate a $2 million deficit. If the board decides that you are not going to allow Champions to at least try to support the majority of our families that could be spending anywhere from $5 to $55 or even more. I don't know because I didn't I didn't have to go out there and put any information in, but my last contact with Champions, based on prior districts that they are in, the families that are
023making the the gains or that would get the most gains or those families that we want to be able to help, which would be in that $5 to $55 range. But, I am not the provider. I am not the one that approves their CC SR is it? CC CCRS CCRS, thank you. Um and it's got to be based off their income, uh family size, and whatever the formula that the state is giving. And that's for every vendor that I came across doing the exact same thing in our district, Champions, and anyone else that's actually utilizing these subsidies to help families. The only thing that I'm going to continue to fight for is not to take choice away. But, in the end, I'm still telling you we cannot operate that deficit spending. Questions or thoughts? So,
024we'll we'll have a contract coming uh hopefully in the next couple meetings. That is what I'm hoping to have something before um the end of the June meeting. >> So, and if there are further comments or thoughts on this, probably need to be articulated to Dr. Clark um so that when that contract does come, if we need to have further discussion [clears throat] or methodology, um we'll need to put that on the table here as soon as we can. Can I ask one question, huh? Is any of the other like surrounding schools have a before and after care program that's completely free? That's completely free? No. No. I just wondered if other school districts do that. No, and I'm I do remember someone mentioning um Springfield, and I did check, and they do charge, and
025if they're even going up in their price, and when families are not able to pay, they are removed. Okay. That was just my question. Mhm. And again, this is not us saying you must go to Champions. I don't know how to make it any clearer. They are basically giving me a contract to utilize our space. Families have to choose them. We're not choosing for families. I just want to put that out there. Well, there's still still a little bit of bit of time to think. Uh and if you have further comments, like I say, call call Dr. Clark directly and articulate those thoughts, and uh we'll look forward to seeing what Luke comes up with uh with Champions legal counsel um at the next meeting. Thank you. >> Or some subsequent meeting when it's all
026put together. Uh is there anything else the board would like to discuss at this point time? >> Yeah, I I would I just been looking at the roadmap 2030 and um they've got a final balance scorecard which we've all received and we've got strategies. And this final page where it talks about the five goals, I like to recommend that we as a board do a study session to try and whittle down what we believe to be the priorities as far as reaching these goals. I I find this to be terrific information, but I am a little bit overwhelmed with it. And I'd like I'd like to see us whittle things down to where we can say as a board this these are exactly what we're going to do. So, do you mean like the implementation
027strategic plan or you talking about the strategic actual goals? The actual goals and this the the [clears throat] strategy that that we we would adopt to say this is how we're going to get to these areas, to get to these goals. And I I mean, you're you're looking at improved student achievement, goal number one. Okay, well there's 10 measures there. Okay? And I would I don't I don't know where I want to go as far as what's what's specifically the most important thing under improved student achievement. And as a board, I think it's our responsibility to say, "Hey, this is how we envision student achievement happening." I'm trying to follow you, but can I ask one thing first? Can we allow them to present the information so that you can ask specific questions and then
028if you still have some concerns, we go from there? Sure, if if the presentation is going to highlight recommendations to the board about what what what we should specifically be aiming at? I think and correct me if I'm wrong, I think the presentation is going to talk about where they are, how they got here, and what they will need from the board moving forward. Am I correct? Okay. Okay. So, I think if we can just wait for the presentation, maybe it can answer some of your questions, and if not, we can continue to discuss. Okay. If that's okay with everybody. Okay. All right. Any any additional? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to reports from administration. I would ask Craig Bondy, district athletic coordinator, to join us at the podium to present a first read
029on the athletic review plan and guides for middle and high schools. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here again for my annual report and PowerPoint, thanks to Maria Robertson. PowerPoint 2005 with Times New Roman that I would have done would have gotten a little boring. So, thank you for her for doing this uh every year. So, uh is Do I do the clicker or do you mind? Okay, good. Green. Arrow? Okay. Uh the athletic guides, the past three or four years, we have made changes to them. This year, there was no changes that needed to be made on either level, high school or middle school. The board approved four-year uniform rotation process. Uh what's coming up starting this fall, the '26 '27 school year would be high school athletic uniforms uh for football will
030be uh purchased. Baseball and softball will be purchased. Um middle school, after discussion with uh Dr. Curry and our uh middle school ADs, we've decided to put the uniform rotation on pause, uh waiting for the outcome of some facility planning, and it would be, you know, not real smart to order uniforms with a school name on it, and then that school no longer have that team. So, uh if if we consolidate or whatever happens with our middle schools, I know there's been discussion in that area. Uh the element elementary school uh uniform rotation, the girls volleyball is uh receiving new shirts this fall. Elementary school participation numbers and highlights, we uh our numbers continue to be very strong. Uh most of our teams uh per sport average anywhere from from 12 to 20 kids on
031a team. Uh primarily, when it says elementary, it's primarily fifth and sixth grade. Cross country, we do involve third and fourth graders, so those numbers get a little higher. Um but uh for the most part, it's fifth and sixth graders. So, as you can see, cross country, we had 321 uh participate, and that's uh that's our largest sport numbers-wise. Uh Mono Sora was our city champ. Winter sports, basketball with Johns Hill uh being the city champ. Girls basketball, 103, uh Robertson Charter was our champion. And volleyball, we had 181, Parsons was the champion. And our uh wrestling pilot program uh that Mark Galaus runs, and I I've sung Mark's praises here a couple times. Uh he he does a wonderful job of uh recruiting and getting kids out, and that number was 66 this year.
032Um spring sports, track and field, we had 189, and Dansby won our track, uh which was a first for the in the time that I've been here for for to win the uh track and field. so I I feel really good about our our elementary sports that the the goal is participation and then hopefully grade and you know, they enjoy their time and then they participate in middle school and hopefully that carries on to high school. So, I do feel really good. We've got so many wonderful coaches and administrators in in in our schools that that do a great job and I feel really positive about our elementary programs. We did move volleyball from that used to be a spring sport and basketball was a winter sport. We moved those down at the disk and
033I thought that really worked out great for us and it worked better for uh the way things are working at the disk for us. As a new duty this year, I took over the tournament directorship of the Turkey Tournament. We had five new tournament sponsors, which was awesome. We did a record revenue at the gate after three sessions. It was very well attended. Things were going great. We implemented wristbands this year instead of a actual ticket. Um that worked really well. What didn't work really well is when we got the blizzard of 25 and for the first time in the history of the Turkey Tournament, 53 years, we had to cancel a session, which was our championship game, which would have been MacArthur against Bolingbrook, which would have been a fantastic game that I am
034very confident MacArthur would have won. Yeah, but >> Uh so, so we're going to put their name up there as a champion on the board. [laughter] So, uh this coming fall uh when we get to the uh Turkey Tournament, the IHSA is implementing a shot clock, so we're going to that needs to be you know, thought about as far as the cost is concerned to implement those at Stephen Decatur, which is our venue for the Turkey Tournament. So, just wanted to bring that up ahead of time. Uh I did want to mention that and I know they've been mentioned before, but I did did want to talk a little bit about MacArthur boys and girls basketball. MacArthur coach Bryson at MacArthur just works his tail off, is an unbelievable coach. He's a He's a beacon
035for an example of of how to do things right, how hard he works at it, and he's had some great players and he's developed them. And he They had 34 wins this year. That's the number two all time in the history of Decatur, and that's a pretty impressive history. 1944, I think Dr. Curry was born that year. The Stephen Decatur basketball team won 39 games and won the state title. You cannot play that many games now, so that record will never be broken unless the IHSA changes their rules. Tyrese and the the Generals have averaged 28 wins a year over the last 5 years, again a Decatur record. And I think probably more impressive than all of that is the IHSA awarded three awards at the conclusion of the basketball season, and the sportsmanship award
036for team sportsmanship, coaches and players, and fans was awarded to MacArthur High School. So, very very proud of them. The MacArthur girls also uh set records this year and coached by coach Genon Bryant, who has done a wonderful job in her cut first 3 years, I believe, at the helm. They won their first sectional championship in school history and back-to-back regional championships and finished undefeated at home. So, shout out to them and and what a great job that THEY HAVE DONE. >> [applause] >> THIS IS MY LAST UH BOARD meeting as well. Uh what he said about everybody, I won't go through every single name, but it has been an absolute pleasure working with and for Dr. Curry. Uh and Jennifer Summer has been a godsend for me. She has been so wonderful to work
037with and uh I wish she was here right now that I could thank her, but I have thanked her numerous times. So, thank you to her and everybody The board has been so supportive. I do have a a successor who is here tonight, Ben Davis, will take over. Ben will do a wonderful job. Ben's been the athletic director for not only Mount Zion High School, but Mount Zion Middle School as well, so he has that experience for many, many years and he will step into this role and do a wonderful job. Uh probably much better than I did. So, I appreciate that he was hired. So, thank you. Does anybody have a question? Uh how do you feel we're doing about coaches? Do Are we set up well there? One one of the things about
038our elementary programs, why I feel so good about them moving forward, is we have had uh coaches that have stayed. And the longer they stay, and good coaches, and the longer they stay, I see fundamentals getting better. I see attitudes and and actions improving. Um so, I do I The change in volleyball in particular uh and girls basketball has been dramatic in in my four years in this role. Uh so, I feel really good. Uh now, is every coach in the district doing a wonderful job? I wish I could say that, but unfortunately not, but uh that's any school district. Uh but I do feel like we've we've in in a lot of sports, we've got some great coaches that are doing a good job. It takes a lot of work. Any other? Yes. Uh
039First of all, on behalf of I think I can speak for all of us, thank you for your hard work, your ingenuity in bringing everything you brought to the table. Looking at the elementary numbers, you made our district better in that area immensely. I'm proud to say girls athletics in this sports has risen to an all new level under your tutelage and I wanted to make sure we commended you for that because what I see down at the desk is is light years ahead of what it where it was at when I first started coaching in this district and you all need to be commended for that. You, Coach Davis, all your athletic directors, all your coaches, I can't say enough about the growth I've seen. I also want to say I attended many baseball
040games and I think the high school co-op was a huge success. Um, they actually won some games and had good numbers and it looks like they have a program and that took place under you and I want to commend you for that. >> Thank you and I'm glad you brought that up because I did mean to put that slide in. I told Maria I was just going to bring it up and I forgot all about it. >> always Maria's fault. The No, it was my too. I blame It was my fault. The The baseball co-op, they won 10 games this year. They They have won. Hopefully they'll win in the region. I don't I don't think that's been played or maybe it was today. But anyway, to for them to win 10 games, it's been
041over 20 years >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. since they've won 10 games. So, that's pretty monumental >> they would win two and we they would carry me off the field. Yeah, so So, you you need to be commended. >> Well, I appreciate that. Thank you. I don't deserve much credit, but I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for all your hard work. Thank you. Thank you. >> YOU'LL BE MISSED. UH, OUR NEXT REPORT WILL COME FROM DR. LESBY. She's Director of Student Services and she will present the first read on the student code of conduct and parent handbook for the 2026-2027 school year. Good evening. Superintendent Clark, members of the board, we're presenting changes to our student code of conduct for the upcoming school year. >> [snorts] >> It's not working. Nope. I was going to
042blame Maria, but no need. All right. As our summary of changes are listed here, the majority of them were in response to some of the credit requirement changes that we made. The others at the very top included school mission procedures just to ensure that residency information list specifically current and valid documents, so there is no discrepancy around that language. And then again, the rest were in response to the credit changes that we've had, the course changes as a result of that, as well as the classification levels for changes. Additionally, just the change of address for our student services location and the addition of smart eyewear under electronic devices. And then the last was some lettering on subsections of our parent-teacher advisory committee. After this step, we will have an additional read from our code or
043from all of our administrators for the what we have now put together to ensure everything is accurate. We'll also give our discipline action committee an opportunity to review the final recommendations. And then lastly, parents are notified once we have that approval from all of our stakeholders. Certainly want to take the time to thank the discipline action committee members. This was my first year participating with this group. It was an awesome group to work with. Special thanks to Mr. Hale for making sure to be very supportive from the board's perspective. Definitely appreciate all of our administrative input. I am also happy to share with you all our very first inaugural discipline action student committee members. Uh we thank you. Yes, please give them a hand. A huge shout-out to our principals for partnering with me on
044confirming the recommendations and making sure that these students received all of their communication as well as the parent correspondence. Um big shout-out to transportation for supporting our students when we had our initial meeting as well as to Sam Mills specifically for making sure we had a great place to host and to Ms. Melissa Bradford for ensuring that all of the additionals as far as um the the meals and just that communication with our Aramark department went seamlessly. So, thank you to all of the support and thank you to these students. Look forward to working with them in the coming school year. Any questions? I I one thing I'd like to say, uh this is to the board. Uh it's been a great working with you, Dr. Lesby. I've really appreciated your creativity and your open
045mind. I just want to bring one thing to everybody's attention and there's been several discussions about technology and its use in the classroom and the I've spoken about the kids carrying the iPads. I just want to let you know through the process us sitting down and working together, I'd like to talk about uh page 50 where uh says internet and technology use policy, but we can do that another time. >> Absolutely. And I just wanted to make sure I let everybody know. If you look at those pages, um I'd like to see some changes to that. Okay. Like one thing I've asked for is that like the students not carry the iPads. They be held inside the chargers and left there for the day and then the students use them as directed by the teachers,
046but I want to go through the proper procedure. So, I I just wanted to talk to you about that and Dr. Moody and Dr. Clark, I didn't want to leave you without knowing where I was coming from. Okay. Thank you for sharing. >> Thank [clears throat] you. Thank you. One more thing for you, um just because I I always like to bring it up front. When you're done [clears throat] with the student code of conduct, do you send it to legal? Yes. And tell me what legal does. Legal reviews it to make sure that we are in compliance with the Illinois school code, making sure that everything or for example, the addition to the eyewear documentation, making sure that we fall under SOAPA uh correctly and just making sure that all of the legal eyes
047and tees are eyes are dotted and tees are crossed. Perfect. Thank you for that. Dr. Clark, I can vouch for that cuz we we wanted to make changes to it and every time we did the legal went uh-uh, >> [laughter] >> state does not allow. Uh-uh, does this does not allow. So, you cannot do that. So, yeah, we we make the committee has made sure all of eyes dotted. Perfect. Thank you for that. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you. Okay, our next report will come from Ashley Grennan and Dr. Jay Marino, facilitators for Roadmap 2030, and they will introduce others who will assist them in presenting phase two of Roadmap 2030. I agree. Okay. Make sure you guys are speaking into the mic. Okay. Right here? All right. Good evening, Superintendent Clark, members of
048the Board of Education and and our listening audience audience. I stand before you tonight I'm excited to present on phase two of Roadmap 2030. Um, the overall goal of this presentation is to um walk you through our precise um delivery I'm sorry, our precise um process we use to get to the delivery of the um documents that we are going to talk about. Um All All So, my name is Ashley Grennan as you all know. We have Dr. Jay Moreno. You all will not have to listen to me for this entire presentation. I know you're so sad. We have a wonderful presentation team. Miss Susie Neeseman, Miss Sonya Chargois, Dr. Priscilla Palmer, and Dr. Caitlin Gloss. All of these ladies started with us in phase one and have continued on with us throughout the process
049in phase two. So, we are happy to have them assist with this presentation tonight. That came kind of quick. >> [laughter] >> Uh as Ashley said, Sonya Chargois. I have the pleasure of serving as the community health consultant for Decatur Memorial Hospital. Just want to take a quick moment to just acknowledge the the need for the hospital to be invited to this space. So grateful we were. You all hold our future workforce as health care leaders. And so it's so critical to be here. As I speak about the community the committee members, very diverse group of people from all sectors of our community. From parents to business partners. Important that we had a very robust team come together to talk through this process. Okay. And then also just speaking to the transparency of the information
050shared. Very well thought out phases that we went through. Honest conversation. Some of the conversation wasn't always easy, but definitely an opportunity for the community just really to hear about what's happening within our school district and how do we be a part of helping move forward with this next strategic plan. So, great work from those that put this together and invited community partners to the table. All right, you've heard us talk about um all the different moving parts here um from facilitation to um our wonderful steering committee through phase one, which started back in October of 2024, uh into phase two, which uh just culminated here last month. Um but that has been our driving force. It has representation. Uh as Sonia mentioned, all of the different groups that come to the table. This is
051the group that we relied on to be the voice, the perspective. Um but in addition to that, we wanted to get beyond just the steering committee. And that's where we offered multiple forums. Um Susie's going to talk about that in just a minute. Um we wanted to make sure that we gave our community a voice. What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that this district faces? Um and how do we make sure we have lots of opportunity for input? On the output side of that is in full transparency, every document, every feedback, every survey, every sticky note. Um we wanted to make sure to gain the trust of this community, of our staff, our stakeholders, and our community that everything that we were doing was based on some collective feedback that we were gathering
052and the ability to post that back to the website. We have content experts. That's our executive cabinet team, who are experts within their field of expertise. Um and finally, uh here's where you come in. You are, of course, the decision makers. We were fortunate to have Mr. Wetzel and Mrs. Thies serving as board representatives on this committee. So there was a board voice throughout the process. Um and opportunities to make sure that uh we didn't get too far off of um what would be the direction that the board was hoping uh that that this would fall in line with. And I'm pleased to say that uh throughout the process, um all of those aspects um were were introduced at some point in time. So, I want to bring up just high-level, where where have we
053been? Phase one, as I stated, uh was done October 24th through April 25th. Uh we had a pause as we transitioned our board members. We came back and and unpaused in January through May. And the concept was not to throw everything out from phase one, but to simply build upon it. Do a check and say it's been 8 months, 10 months, what have we missed? What changed from the first time we went through the process? So, we actually refreshed the community input in those forums in order to determine that the work and the heavy lift done by phase one was was honored, but as well as verified in phase two. And you can see uh phases three and four are in purple. Those run simultaneous. Um we'll talk about those a little more toward the
054end. Um but those will begin here as soon as next week. Um and then of course, complete and full implementation will be in the 27 28 school year. But for tonight, these were the deliverables outlined in the process that you approved. The first is a strategic plan on a page. That includes mission, vision, values, goals, and as an added bonus, we offered the opportunity for anyone to suggest how would they go about making improvements in these goal areas. And so, we collected high-leverage strategies. We'll talk about those in a minute. Uh the balanced scorecard, uh as Mr. Reynolds uh talked about that, we're going to explain that a little bit um uh as we go through the process. I will say this, the balanced scorecard and the board approval is for you to have oversight
055as to all of the different measures that are going to be seen throughout the system. Not all of these are going to be board measures. Some of them are at a board level, some are at a department or school level, others are at the classroom level, and some are even at the individual student level. So, you're seeing a rather large collection of key performance indicators, but not all of them will be constantly in front of the board. There will be a prioritization based on the level of focus that we have as far as looking at results. Um so, the last thing deliverable was that SWOT analysis. Have we identified the strengths? What do we do well in Decatur Public Schools? What are the weaknesses, the things that we've not been very strong at? Um what
056are the opportunities that we could capitalize on but haven't yet to date? And lastly, what are the threats, the things that if we don't address them, we are likely going to struggle in our improvement efforts? So, you're going to see all of these finished products. Tonight, we will not be reading them to you. Um they've been works in progress over the last couple years, but what you're seeing tonight are um final versions that came from our writing team. We'll also touch base about that briefly. Susie? Good evening. Um for the first time, I feel like we are creating a plan for the district with the community involved at the beginning. I think in the past, we've created a plan for students, for the community, but not with the students and with the community, and I
057feel like for the first time, and this will be my 40th year, we're actually involving everyone up front to make sure that what we create will be a benefit for everyone in the district. And these slides just kind of talk about all the forums that we had. We had a staff forum, we had two community forums, we had several things where people had opportunities, and this this page right here is really cool because when when came to look at what we had planned out, they actually got to give input on each of these phases right then and there. And those sticky notes show input from community members, from business leaders, from university leaders, from students, from parents, from staff members. And so everybody has this plan ahead of time and together we can shape something
058for this district for the long run and in hopes that we do what is right for the students and our future. And since we've all been picking on Maria, I thought we would show you the billboard that was out among our community inviting our public and community members as they went down the road they might get a reminder of our forums. Ashley. All right, as we went through the process in both phase one and phase two, as we collected data from our community forums, our staff forums, from our electronic versions, myself and a writing team then went back through all of the collected information and we started reviewing and revising our current mission and vision and those types of things within the strategic plan on the page. We collected drafts, we were able to collectively
059kind of word smith based on the feedback to now provide our strategic plan on a page for Roadmap 2030. As you can see here on the screen, it's a nice one page document that really highlights the mission, the vision, the values, and the goals. Keep in mind that these things will result in the smart goals and the action plans, the high level strategies, and those timelines that I will lead in phase three as Dr. Moreno said as early as um beginning next week. Hello, I'm Dr. Caitlin Glass. I'm a dentist, parent, and staff member, and I'm also in the School of Education at Millikin University, if I haven't had the opportunity to meet you yet. I'm going to talk quickly about the SWOT analysis. So, this is one of the documents that we were able
060to make some revisions to with many, many pages of feedback from community and staff members. Many, many, many many pages of feedback. And these have also been really helpful in helping us think through what we want to prioritize in terms of the high-leverage strategies and make sure that we are accounting for in next steps. Some of the things that got the most conversation were that we are appreciative of all of the um different opportunities that students have for engaging in kind of a wide range of um curricular activities. And we are, you know, still highly concerned with high degrees of student absenteeism and relatively low academic achievement. Um these have also helped us think about how we are going to work with the balanced scorecard. So, the balanced scorecard shows the five goals from the
061first document that actually showed us. And it also shows a wide range of measures. And one of the reasons that I think these measures are so important is that these are large concepts that are difficult to track progress, but by having multiple measures across a range of areas, we'll be able to get a much clearer picture of where we're having success and where we need to continue spending our time and energy to drive success moving forward. So, on if you look in the lower right, you can kind of see the sample format. We were waiting for board approval before we take it to the next level, but what you're going to see is each one of those goal areas will have a collection of key performance indicators. We're going to display a three-year historic trend
062on any uh, any of these measures that we have. We're going to have a current data as well as projections so that uh, and then to the right you'll see the uh, kind of the stoplight, the red, yellow, green. And each measure will show you when you look at the historical trend as well as current performance, uh, green would be consistent and steady improvement, yellow might be some up, some downs, fairly flat, and red would be we're not trending in the right direction. But what this will allow the reader to do is look at the scorecard down the right column looking for red, green, yellow, and getting a sense of visually, um, what are we what are we doing well at, what are the areas of caution, and where the areas that, um, need to
063be brought to our attention because we're not trending in the right direction. So, a whole lot more to come on the scorecard. The goal tonight was to give the board, um, a look at all the different collection methods that we plan to use, but they will all be used at different places. Some will be district, some will be school, some will be in the classroom, and some will be down to the individual student level. So, we will certainly have more conversation as we get, uh, further into the process. I'm shocked Jay gave me this slide cuz I actually think it's his favorite. Um, if you always do what you've always done, you're always going to get what you've always had. Um, and I think this has been a a big thing for us in Roadmap
0642030. Um, we have some things that have been going well, but we have a lot of things that we need to make some pretty substantive changes on. Um, for the benefit all of all of our students in the the And so, um, I think we've we've gotten a lot of community feedback. Um people know what's going on, and I would encourage all of us to start taking those recommendations and and really moving forward with them um in a in a timely and efficient process. Okay, meeting one. Uh phase one meeting one about uh 23 slides in, this came up to our first group, and we said, "This is the model of strategic planning that we are trying to incorporate." And and this is not an eye test or reading test, so I'm going to highlight
065just a couple things. One thing I want you to take away from this model is everybody has a place in this. This is not a strategic plan that's driven by an executive cabinet once a week during a meeting. This is something that every person will contribute to. If you notice in this uh red rectangle here, these are documents and goals that we're using. The district strategic plan on the page is going to cascade down throughout every support service department, every school with an aligned plan on a page, um classrooms connected back to those school improvement plans, and then individual students tracking progress within their own data folders tied back to classroom goals, but differentiated for the individual ability level. If you look to the right, you'll see the scorecard. How does that fit in? So,
066as you're approving these high-level documents, what's most important is the cascading effect as these trickle all the way down throughout the organization connecting all departments, all schools, all classrooms, and all students ultimately to the work of the district strategic plan. And then that little gray box is smart goals aligned to the plan, and that's really the core work in phase three that Ashley will lead while I'm leading phase four facility related. Hello, Dr. Palmer here again. Former first second grade teacher here in the district. I was the principal of John Adams for 4 years. I don't care what you call it, it'll always be John Adams. All right about that. Okay. But I've I've been lifelong educator here in the district and this is of great importance to me because it's where the rubber meets
067the road. I agree with you on what are we actually doing? When we look at student achievement, we're also talking about learning, student learning. And we know that when we improve student learning, we also improve student achievement. But we had many areas that we were looking at with our high-level strategies. First of all, looking at just the fundam- fundamentals and frequencies. As we look at what is the daily routine? You know, what do how do we start our day with our kids? You know, what activities and what and what types of techniques will teachers use as they are working with our students? And that's And then we look at the high impact. How do we maximize student learning and engagement? And we're examining different instructional techniques, unique which will be unique based on the students
068in the classroom. We know that one size does not fit all. Okay? So you really have to look at it and I know as an educator, as a principal, as as just my roles that I've served over the over the years and also as an instructor, an educational instructor at Richland Community College and teaching education classes, we look at different methods of teaching students. You're looking at differentia- ation differentiated education. We're looking at strategies. What are the different strategies? We look at ability grouping. What can we do within that amount of time that we have those students in our classrooms. And then we look at what kinds of curriculums are out there. We know that the pendulum I always tell my students the pendulum the pendulum of education swings back and forth. You know, sometimes
069they want you know, go back to the basics and then here we are here then back to the basics and then here we are back again. And so that pendulum is swinging but we want to have the type of curriculum that we know that will really meet the needs of the students here in District 61. And it may not look we don't want to just jump on the bandwagon of trends but we really want to look at that evidence what evidence-based research is out there that supports whatever method whatever program you buy or or that you have for the children making sure that the that the research supports that and that students are learning. And we know that if you're really looking at this you're going to start with with early childhood. I always believe
070that it starts young and then you go from there and then you build a foundation but it it's not going to start in third grade it's not going to start in middle school. It's got to start in the early years and you build that foundation and we know that since COVID a lot of our learning was disrupted but we have an opportunity now with the students coming in. We have an opportunity to start [snorts] to build that that block of students who are starting here preschool and then we build and we build and we build until they get to where we really want them to be. So that's totally important and then even looking at the assessment what what are we assessing? How are we going to assess it? And how are we going to
071let our let our parents know? You know, we have to bring our parents in. Too many times our parents are not we have to to them where they are and we have to make sure that they understand what assessment is all about. It's hard enough for educators to know what assessment is all about, let alone the parents. But I think when we bring our parents in and we get them involved so that they understand what we're doing, why are we doing that, and what does that mean to their student. And I think once you get the parents on board, I think it's going to make a great difference. And so some of our other high-level strategies, we look at our professional learning communities, and even looking at CTEs, the career technical education. We know that
072all students are not going may not go to college, but we have you've got some really wonderful things in place right now for our students, and it can only get better. You've got that cooperative with Richland Community College. You know, I work with those students also with with tech prep with a test prep with them, and a lot of good things are going on. But even looking at summer school, what kind of summer learning is needed for those students? And you might need that in order to bring those students up to where they what they need to be. But just the expansion of alt ed, looking at that, and then just implementing again the pre-K program and implementation of structured literacy. Those are all important. I know the librarians were talking about the books, but
073I'm telling you you've got to really look at where what materials you're using, and what can we use to maximize learning of students in the school district. All right. Uh we're going to bring some closure to our time and then of course open it up for questions, but I I hope we've emphasized um what you see on the screen here. The The words of a of a mission and vision aren't worth the paper they're written on unless it gets us doing something different. And so this is only the very early first step of the board approving the general direction we want ahead so we can get into the real details of the strategies, the measures, the smart goals, the action plans, the time frames, all of it to actually start to make some progress on
074this. So, I want to bring back in front of us where where have we been? Phase one and two is now officially complete. Um you are approving this evening basically those those deliverables that we've been promoting for for phases one and two. Um as we get into phases three and four, these are parallel tracks. Meaning we're going to hit the ground running. Next week, Ashley and I are starting on what does it look like now for all departments and administrators to take that plan on the page and actually make it happen within their department and their school. And Ashley will be the primary lead on that with my support. Um I will be carrying the weight of the master facility planning process. And that is how do we look at our facilities and align the
075facilities to the real direction of the strategic plan. Um and I put some other bullets in there that are likely possible school configuration changes. Maybe we don't have K8s and K6s. We're looking at some different um attendance uh centers, boundary changes, those kinds of things that will be tackled here in phase four. Um with that is going to become a whole new collection of forums, feedback, transparency, and opportunities to listen to our parents and families as we're considering um some of these um potential improvements coming out of the strategic plan. Um basically then in the 27-28 school year, um we hope to roll into whatever that implementation cycle looks like. And please notice the asterisk, maybe multiple implementation steps over several years. And I'll give you one quick scenario. If we're looking at shifting to
076maybe attendance centers, where where instead of a neighborhood school, we're looking at a K-5 structure, something like that. Um that means looking at our all of our existing facilities and along with our architects asking the question, strategically, what facility would we look at to serve in that capacity? And with that comes, are there modifications needed? Are there um anything structurally that we would want to do to those buildings in order to move into that new state designated for that particular facility. Some of these might be easier than others. Some of them might take a summer to do some minor modifications, others might be we need a year. We need a summer. We need a few uh spring and Christmas breaks. We need some things before we're actually ready to move into that. So, this will
077not be as clean as in the 2027-28 school year, we have we've arrived at our ideal long-term state. We will move to implement as quickly as we can, but not before fully vetting what all of those uh scenarios look like in in the pace at which we can implement them. So, just know more to come on that. It's too early to even have much conversation about the facility side of this, but um I know the board soon will be um entertaining an architect contract in in which will be able to dig deeper into that process. But those are the next phases in in what's coming. Matt, I'm going to ask you to just play that video. It's no sound. This is our open Q&A, but I just wanted the visual. We call this the phase
078one and two greatest hits. It kind of captures visually um all the work that was done and and um I would be remiss if Ashley and I didn't thank uh our presentation team. Not only are they here presenting, >> [music] >> but they have been slugging it out with us from the very beginning. Through pauses, through unpauses, through a lot of hectic [music] times, uh some turmoil, some tough discussions, um but I just want to share my our appreciation for our presentation team and and also for Roadmap 2030 phase one committee and phase two committee. There was an awful lot of blood, sweat, and tears that went in to bring you the culmination of those deliverable documents >> [music] >> um this evening. With that, just going to let that play, but we will entertain
079any questions. And if any of our team members [music] can answer them, they will. Uh if not, Ashley and I will will answer them. So, this is a an open floor for our board, for comments, [music] questions, and anything else that you'd like to add. This will be an action item that you will see >> [music] >> um in the agenda. Can I go back to you, Mr. Reynolds, um because you started off Candy? [music] Is there Now that you've seen this, do you still have questions? >> [music] >> I guess just certain thinkings of the group I I think my my concerns was a little premature. It It's helped a lot. You know, we all have agendas. You know. And I don't know if this is premature or not, but I I'm really anti-technology.
080And I I've come to the to the belief in my heart that our [music] our children, the cultural problem that that having with our children, started with the iPhone. And I I [music] feel like we have we have added to that problem by having [music] the iPads and the technology that we're having our kids do. I say this [music] only because of all the things that that we're talking about, to me that's that's [music] my agenda. I don't know how you all feel about it, but I have to let [music] you know. Um that was one of the conversations that [music] came up during the SWAT analysis, was that um we recognized that we have a lot of technology and we have good access to technology, [music] but most of us, community members and staff
081members, have concerns about how it's being used >> [music] >> and how it's probably being over utilized in ways that have not been beneficial to students. And so, while [music] having access to a wide range of technology is is really great, um >> [music] >> I think staff and community members would appreciate taking a closer look at how it's being utilized as part of um you know, [music] as part of looking at our goals and and seeing whether or not we're achieving them. >> [music] >> Dr. Palmer made a really good point about trying to get parents involved in uh getting the kids interested in learning and stuff. I wonder if parents themselves might be overwhelmed or or challenged by the technology that their kids are using. And the idea is, well, if if [music]
082the parent isn't comfortable with the technology, do they separate from their children in a unconscious way to where they're just too intimidated and they don't get involved in it. I'm guessing. I'm not I have no study, but I I just want to have to go away what doctor said here. >> [music] >> Yes, that was a huge discussion. I also just want to call out a few things and trust [music] me, me saying this is going to be uncomfortable, so you hearing it is going to be uncomfortable. I think we have to take a look at the generations that are in the room speaking toward [music] a generation of students that are coming. It's not about limiting our technology. [music] It's about how do we use it in a out-of-box way to teach our students.
083When they hear [music] that real world, they're going to have to use technology on a daily basis. [music] So, limiting it isn't the answer. It's how do our teachers become um creative in how they utilize it. [music] Students can offer Students can They should be learning how to record themselves doing public speaking. They should be learning how to take that technology and [music] use it in a way that's going to benefit them. If you look at our the generations now, being an influencer is one of the highest way people are making money. And so, [music] it's not limiting our students. It's how do we take it and make what they have at their fingertips [music] useful in a way that's going to make them more productive when they become citizens in an adult. I used
084to work for Girl Scouts of Central Illinois [music] and one of the lessons I often taught the students is you're going to be an adult longer than you are in school. And so, how are we equipping them to go out and be a part of the real world and really harness what our what our world is shaping into and that is a technology-driven world. They ought to be building robots if you ask me. Okay, so I I don't disagree with that. You You have some solid points, but our our we're challenged in getting our kids [music] to read and and do math. And so, I'm afraid that the technology is is not helping us do that. And but I I [music] I applaud your points. I mean, I have no problem with this That's a
085crisis that the entire world's facing right now, especially with on-demand information coming from AI. It definitely needs to have [music] a deeper discussion and a deeper discussion around this. And in phase three, especially when we hear from our educational experts and as we work with uh Dr. Moody and the new team and uh Mark, I I really do want to discuss this. I I do. Um but Do you have something to >> No, I I was going to say um through some wise counsel, [music] Dr. Lesby and and through the elegant words of what you said, ma'am, you said very beautifully. Um I agree. Technology needs to [music] be used, but I also believe um there's a process in place. And I talked about it earlier >> [music] >> through the student code of conduct
086handbook, I think we can really make some changes as far [music] as how our kids access technology. Put it in the hands of the teacher, let them use it as a tool. Don't let them carry it around and take it to the restroom >> [music] >> and get it broken in their locker rooms. If any of you have ever been to a middle school and uh Ms. Deason, please tell me if I'm wrong, okay? Okay. It is like a wreck [music] in turn four of the Daytona 500, okay? They jammed it the device [music] in there and they break it. And I think the teachers need to use it use technology to help our students use it. [music] Not just let it be carte blanche, do what you want to do. When I'm done with
087something, you can get on your device because I found when I was teaching, the kids would get done with the project I was doing in a hurry just so they could get back on their iPads. If we [music] keep, you know, if we can have the discussion about technology like Mr. Wetzel said and like you said, but let's use the process. I mean, there's a committee in place >> [music] >> where I asked you guys to look at that. Please look at it. It's on page 50 in the student code of conduct. And I would like to sit down with Dr. Leslie and our committee and bring a recommendation to you guys that deals [music] with that. And then let these guys take the the big perspective to try and get our educational system well-founded.
088There's some great ideas in here. [music] And I want to commend you guys for the hard work you've done. But I also want to let you guys know that there's also a process to fix this. And And [music] Miss Rulledge, you beautifully have stated on many occasions, as have I, our concerns about the use of technology and how our students are So, didn't we pilot this at Stephen Decatur? The end station iPads. [music] I can't I don't know. Did we? Can Can I It was. What happened with that? It was awful. I heard teachers I heard teachers say it went really well. That they would [music] stay. >> I did, too. But what That's a discussion. And if we don't if we don't bring you up a proposal, there's really nothing [music] we can do.
089And then we can have the discussion. And I I look forward to doing that. But we got to use the process and make a recommendation to the >> [music] >> to to you guys. And I want to bring this back. We're talking about and I don't want to go off on more of a tangent, but let's talk about strategic versus tactical. Strategic is our mission and vision, who we are and what we do, okay? >> [music] >> What we're talking about when we get into technology is tactical things, okay? Those are things that usually fall out from under the board level. Yes, we'll we'll do [music] policy, we'll do procedure as it uh policies that comes up. There'll be admini- administration procedure that uh the superintendent and their designees will do. But what we're asking
090now is to start to plot the course in a higher in a higher brain >> [music] >> uh to who we're going to be in the next 5 years and what we're going to do. And this is part of that conversation. But to bring it back to what's being presented tonight and what we've worked on now for the past 2 years, is to say, [music] "For the next 5 years, we are focusing on these things, and it will be our the seven of us, and [music] we'll have two elected by the time that this gets done, so who knows who's going to be on this board. It will be their job to continuously push and say, 'Where are you coming back to the to our strategic priorities?' Because if we get we will we will
091lose this process very quickly if we get down into tactical decisions. And the bigger conversation is yes about technology, how it is utilized within schools, that's something that definitely falls in to the people that are running it day to day by day. And if we if we keep ourselves in the strategic, we can go out to the community and say, 'We are moving things forward, and here here right here on this website is red, yellow, green. Here's exactly where we are.' And that's how we can continue to basically evaluate our single employee who will be our new superintendent. So, it's an absolute valid conversation to have, but right now we're asked to plot the direction for the next 5 years. And as a quick comment, um your continuous improvement systemic alignment model, that that's really
092the way I the way this all aligns, if you guys stay on this course, I think a wonderful product can be produced. I mean, from te- I mean, you have in here teachers being grade-based and PLC PLC taking the initiative to direct it themselves. At least if I'm reading this right, that's the way it reads. I think that's to let the teachers have ownership of what's going into the classroom, I think it's going to have a wonderful effect on not only staff morale, but the education of our students, and I think that's fantastic. Any other questions? I just have one comment. Um I've been on this committee since the beginning, and I did a little bit of talking but a lot more listening. And it is incredible uh the commitment that everyone that in both
093phase one and phase two uh offered. It was amazing to hear from everybody. It definitely pushed a lot of times when I wanted to open my mouth and talk and say something, I forced myself to listen because there's a lot of things that I did not know and was either deaf to or didn't understand that I learned through this process. These people put an incredible amount of work in this. And even when we not this specific board but the board before couldn't figure out how to how to get the four votes to make it happen, they stood by us and they are expecting us to enforce this. They are expecting us to make a change because these people a lot of them told me in both community forums, staff forums, privately that this is our
094last chance. This is the last chance to turn this around that they will keep their kids in this district. This is the last chance that they will actually continue work for us. And in fact, Cassie Mann who was part of the writing team who was one of the biggest cheerleaders for this is not here tonight because she took a job in another district. So, we we are starting to lose even our biggest cheerleaders. And I know that we have all seen this, but it is the job of the seven seven of us to be incredibly engaged and to make sure that this happens. So, thank you to everybody that took part and for the seven of us, the work begins now. Thank you, Mr. Whistle. Any other questions for the team? So, before we move
095forward, um I know there is something coming up for the board to decide. Can you do be very clear as to what you're asking them to do when the time comes? Uh basically, just approve the deliverable documents as presented. Uh tonight was about sharing with you the process of how we got there um and our team standing behind that recommendation to you this evening. So, when you see that board action item, it will be to approve those deliverable documents that we present tonight. Thank you so much. That will >> Thank you all. Thanks for all the effort. We truly appreciate that. That will end our report from administration. Okay, we'll now move on to our consent items. I recommend the Board of Education approve the consent items as presented, which includes A, minutes open closed
096meetings May 12th, 2026. B, financial conditions report. C, treasurer's report. A motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Ms. Bradford? >> Mr. Wetzel? I. Mr. Joiner? I. >> Mr. Reynolds? >> I. Dr. Lorenzen? >> I. Mr. Clevenger? >> I. Mrs. Tice? I. And Mr. Hale? I. Seven eyes, zero nays, motion carried. Okay, we'll move on to our roll call action items. Do we have a recommendation to ratify a termination of a Meridian Pyatt Special Education District paraprofessional? Yes, I recommend the Board of Education ratify and approve a termination for Meridian Pyatt Special Education District paraprofessional Krista Hort effective Wednesday, May 27th, 2026 as presented. Please note the Meridian Pyatt Special Education District Executive Board approved this item during their May 21st, 2026 Board meeting. Have a motion? So moved. Second. Discussion? Ms. Bradford? Dr. Lorenzen? I.
097Mr. Hale? I. >> Mr. Reynolds? I. Mr. Joiner? I. Mr. Clevenger? >> I. Mrs. Tice? I. And Mr. Wetzel? I. Seven eyes, zero nays, motion carried. Do we have a recommendation for a termination of a custodial employee? Yes, I recommend the Board of Education approve the termination of custodial employee Selena Scott effective Wednesday, May 27, 2026 as presented. Have a motion? So moved. Second. Discussion? Ms. Bradford. >> Mr. Reynolds. Aye. Mr. Hale. Aye. Mrs. Tyes. Aye. Mr. Wetzel. Aye. Mr. Clevenger. Aye. Mr. Joiner. Aye. And Dr. Lorenzen. Aye. Seven aye, zero nay. Motion carried. Do you have a recommendation for the personnel action items? Yes, I recommend the Board of Education approve the personnel action items as I'm sorry. I recommend the Board of Education approve the personnel action items listed in the memo from
098Monica Wilks, Director of Human Resources in the Human Resources Department as presented. Have a motion? So moved. Second. Is there any discussion? Ms. Bradford. Mr. Clevenger. Aye. Dr. Lorenzen. Aye. Mr. Wetzel. Aye. Mr. Joiner. Aye. Mr. Hale. Aye. Mr. Reynolds. Aye. And Mrs. Tyes. Aye. Seven aye, zero nay. Motion carried. Do you have a recommendation for the July 1, July or June 30, 2029 collective bargaining agreement between the Decatur Public School District 61 Board of Education and the Decatur Education Association? Yes, I recommend the Board approve the July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029 collective bargaining agreement between Decatur Public School District 61 Board of Education and the Decatur Education Association, DEA, as presented. After the motion and second, Monica Wilks, District Chair, and Michelle Klein will present information on this item. Have a motion?
099So moved. Second. Ms. Bradford. There is going to be a presentation by Monica and Michelle. Okay, so we're going to have the discussion before we have the roll below. >> Okay, that'll be fine. Welcome ladies. Good evening board, Ms. Bradford, and Dr. Clark. Um, I'm here with uh Michelle Klein, who is the chair of the DEA bargaining team. Both of us would rather be sitting at the bargaining table than to have to stand up and do the presentation. >> [laughter] >> But bear with us, we'll try to move through this um as quickly as possible. Um, we're going to provide an overview of the changes and the major points that were a part of the bargain. Um, but we will start out by introducing our bargaining teams. Okay. Um, I'm Michelle Klein. I work at
100Dennis Parsons McArthur. Um, Jennifer Rawley is at MAP. Jeff Tucker is also at MAP. Ashley Smith is from Stephen Decatur. Sammy Stark um is at Eisenhower. Carrie Seger from Parsons. Sam Mills is our DEA president. And Andrew Matthews is our unit serve director from IEA. For the district team, um I served as the chair as the director of HR. Uh Mr. Clevenger and Mr. Wetzel were our board members uh representatives. Uh Mary Brady, our director of teaching and learning, um uh served as not only just a committee member, but she was also my writing partner. And thanks to Seven Brew for getting us through a lot of writing sessions, but a special shout out to Mary for all of her hard work. Uh Rita Ellis from uh Dansby, Sergio Reina from Bomb, Dr. Rodriguez from
101Eisenhower, Dr. Robinson also from T&L, director T&L. Uh Dr. Lesby, our director of student services. Liz Lang from MacKen Piot. And then David Brown was our attorney. Okay. So, uh we're going to highlight some of the changes. If it's yellow text, it was old language. Green text will represent new language. And then anything that just is in white, um that's just uh new language only. So, we're going to move through as quickly as we can. Okay, first slide is just the salary schedule. This is a 3-year contract. Year 1 with an average increase of 4.78% year 2 4.49% and year 3 is 4.36% average increase. Um regarding insurance, there were no changes made in the percentage paid by employee. Um insurance committee discusses the changes in premiums and coverages. So, that was not something that
102was bargained. Uh plan time changes. Uh really it was just clarifying some of the language that that was in the existing contract. Um it clarifies that planning time is for teachers who provide instruction. It does not include psychologists, social workers, um those type of support staff as they can build um time into their schedules for planning. Um also allows for some flexibility in case of state testing, drills, emergency situations, um regarding plan time. Time changes regarding um meetings after school. We reduced from 24 hours to 20 hours um in a year and 30-day notice for a changed meeting has been changed to a 10-day notice. Evening events uh changed from 2 hours up to 4 hours. Those include family nights and things like that. Uh professional development, this was in a few places in the
103contract already. We just clarified that attendance at professional development is mandatory for staff. Um teaching load and assignments. Again, this was just kind of updating language around support that teachers may need um regarding numbers of students they have in their class that have behavioral um behavior plans, IEPs, 504 plans, things like that. Room movement pay, teacher who relocates room during the summer, the stipend for that has changed from $150 to $200. Um speech language therapist caseload has gone from a cap of 60 to 55, and that's on a weighted workload. So, not just the number of students they see, but it also factors in the number of the intensity of the services that they provide for students. Um special ed committee, this is cleaning up some language who is a part of the committee. This
104committee in our current contract says to meet every 2 years, that has not been the practice. Um but now we will meet every semester. Is that you or me? Me? No. You? Um Okay. Um dual credit, this is just incorporating a current um MOU that we already have. Um the real changes were regarding the tuition reimbursement pool has gone from 40,000 to 80,000. Um master tuition reimbursement changed from $1,500 a year up to $400 a credit up to six credits. Okay. Um and then surveillance equipment, again, this is just incorporating an MOU where we already have um operate have been operating under. Defines what the surveillance equipment is used for and employee rights in regard to video evidence. Okay. Um voluntary transfers, um we updated the language to set some parameter dates for voluntary transfers.
105Um we also um added that summer transfers do not count towards the one transfer a year limit. Um but there there is a limit to one summer transfer. We also incorporated language that denies voluntary transfers from August 1st through the 15th so that we have time to set up and prepare for students to to start the new year. Under the sick bank, we clarified language around what a contributor in good standing means. We changed um 150-day maximum to 90-day maximum every 3 years from 5 years for tenure teachers. For emergency leave, this is brand new. We added an up to 15-day paid leave for extreme emergency situations and this is approved or denied by the superintendent or designee. Under protection of staff, we deleted language about reporting to the police because law was changed so
106we just updated the contract language to reflect current practices and current law. For school psychologists and SLPs, we moved their stipends from the schedule B to actual contract language. For school psychs, it went from 5 hours a week to up to 10 hours a week based on a formula vacancy formula. The stipends were updated to reflect the shortage of specialized positions and to create a gap between in-person and virtual employees. We also clarified that staff instructing students will not be expected to help with virtual services. Under salary schedule placement and experience credit, we clarified that full-time credit will be given for full year private clinical settings for psychs, SLPs, social workers, and nurses. CTE positions designated hard to fill can receive can receive one step for every 2 years of experience and we added language
107for international teacher placement. We also added one-to-one placement for long-term subs that serve 170 days in a school year or longer for DPS only. And for TAs, we added one step for every 3 years as a TA Um, that's a little typo there, is actually capped at uh 10 years of experience. Also DPS. And DPS, exclusive to DPS, yes. Um, under schedule B, we changed the language around schedule B evaluations. We added language for um team consolidations um and for coaching. And then both sides agreed that the schedule B committee will make recommendations about uh the schedule B table, and those recommendations will be brought to the board by committee at a later time. This was a big one, internal substitution. So, several different um uh details here. So, on the secondary level, um internal
108substitution will be limited to three internal substitutions a week, but there is exception language with approval. No certified non-instructional position will sub without HR approval. At Alt Ed, there's language um that has been added to allow subbing for fifth and sixth grade students for middle school teachers. Um, for primary, we added language around the creation of student groups, limited to two groups of students maximum. Um, we also agreed on grade bands. Um, the grade bands will be K through 3 and 3 through 5 and 3 through 6 in some buildings. There will be an effort to include students in the instructional pattern of the day, and encore teachers can take one group per day after all classroom teachers have been assigned. Again, on primary level, teachers who decide to take one or two students will
109not be compensated. Um, teachers can keep students over their plan time voluntarily if the encore teacher is out at the rate of $33 an hour. We reworked the language um under special ed for internal substitution to fit the statutory and regulatory limits. We added language to allow the special ed director and the HR [clears throat] director to help with group size and composition as needed. Um, and we also added language to give buildings two options for internal sub system. So, we want to make sure that it's consistent across the buildings, but we noted that um there are some buildings that require a little bit different model, so up to two models will be implemented to for consistency. Okay. And that was our very, very quick overview. Um the uh members of DEA ratified the contract.
110They voted to ratify the contract on May 20th, and so now we are bringing it to the board for final approval. Uh one more quick thing, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the contribution of Dr. Mike Curry with finances. So, we thank him for putting together all those scenarios and working with the team. Any questions for us? Good job. Thank you. Any questions? >> My only question is um in the primary internal substitution, um with the uh effort to include, who oversees that? I mean, to know that it's actually being done. Well, so part of it is in the grade banding. So, um in the details, we are actually going to require that there be a plan, kind of like having sub plans, okay, so that if someone is out and their group
111has to be uh sorry, I thought you were looking for Mary. If um the class has to be split, there will actually be what's similar to lesson plans, so that the teacher who's receiving the students can actually try to include them in the instructional pattern of the day. Okay, well, usually they come go with a packet or something like that. Would that be sufficient to fulfill this? I should probably should come back. Should you come back? >> Yeah, I should should probably come back. Or down. Mary Mary's the expert in this. Yeah, my only confusion was like, are they being taught by the teacher who's getting paid or The teacher who does the class that receives the teacher to incorporate them into the lesson that they are doing in their classroom. That's what I was
112>> speaking of separate. No, that's what I was wondering. I'm I'm just saying how how are we going to be sure that that that's what's taking place. As we develop those internal subsystems, that'll be a part of what those expectations are for the teacher and for the um principal as we develop what that internal sub system looks like. Cuz if it's K through 3, that just seems a little bit difficult. Like if you're a kindergarten teacher and you're taking third It's going to look a little bit different because keep in mind they also keep those students during that student that student groups plan time. So, like you have a classroom and I am gone. We have different plan time. So, but you have to keep the students during that plan time. So, there's times where
113the teacher is going to be providing there's some time to provide some cooperation into that. This um to be honest with you, this is was a major win for us because if you remember, we had kindergarteners going to fifth grade. We had really wide-ranging groups. And so, for us to at least to be able to limit the grade band to K through 3 and 3 through 5 was pretty major um because it would allow them to at least include them as much as possible into this instructional pattern of the day, but but ultimately, I think what she's asking is who's going to be responsible to make sure that the kids are being actually taught on their level. And that's going to be the principal and the teacher. Correct. Correct. And I would I would hope
114those plans would be devised around at least you know, in goodwill and in good faith keeping it at least K1, you know, 1 2. You you what I'm saying? 2 3 because like Dr. Lawrence is saying, there's a big difference between the developmental level. I'm sure you guys know that between a kindergartner and a third grader. I mean Ideally it would be same grade to same grade, but >> I just I just know if I taught third grade and I had 12 kindergartners walk in, I as a teacher would be like, wow, where you know, where do I go? You know, what So whenever you're devising those plans, have parachutes is all I'm Absolutely. And the teachers The teachers themselves are devising the plans. So you remember the teacher who is out Yeah. is devising
115the plans for their students. So they're going to be quality plans. This is what I want my students to do if I'm out and my students have to be split and go into another classroom. Okay. But then the students would be on their own to No. Well, I mean cuz the teacher's going to teach them all the >> the class. So we don't just sit them in the class. They go into the class and they're taught by another teacher. So they incorporate them into their class. That's why they're compensated for it. Because they're expected to teach them. >> asking. >> But the teacher's teaching their own their own lesson. Right, but if they're [clears throat] So you're my fifth grade teacher, I said it the wrong way. If you're the third grade teacher, you got
116a first grader that comes into your class, I What I'm hearing you saying is that that teacher has to now differentiate, meaning yes, I do have a class that I'm teaching, but I also still have to assist you at your level. Yes. That's the way I understood it. The receiving teacher is getting the absent teacher's plan. Yes. And they're being compensated for doing it. Yeah. I'm just not sure Some students are are working on their own at some point. I'm just >> That's That's how it is now. The idea is that we're changing that system. The system is changing. The system is improving. Yeah. Trying to do something different. And are we You to have some flaws in the beginning? Absolutely. I mean, let's just be honest. And I mean, I am all getting used
117to it. >> Ideally, this is temporary. Exactly. Exactly. So, hopefully >> Right. this is temporary. Any other questions before you vote? Well, I'd like to I'd like to make an observation, too. The the bargaining sessions uh for my fellow board members, and Will, you were there as well. Bargaining sessions, people came prepared. Both sides came to the table prepared. Uh there were some difficult conversations had at those, and we worked our way through those. Um and it was it was nice to observe the back and forth, and I think both sides understood each other's issues, and tried to address those issues from both sides of the table. I know from our side of the table, uh I'd commend Monica, David, Mary for the organization. We were we were prepared organizationally at every meeting. So, thank
118you for that. Thank both sides, and we look forward to working together for ultimately to see our kids succeed. Thank you so much. Thank you. Now, Ms. Bradford? Mr. Joiner? I. Mrs. Tyus? I. Mr. Reynolds? I. Dr. Lorenzen? Abstain. Mr. Hale? I. Mr. Clevenger? I. And Mr. Wetzel? >> I. Six I, zero nay, one abstain. Motion carried. Thank you. We have a recommendation for Roadmap 2030 phase two. Yes, I recommend the Board of Education approve Roadmap phase two as follows strategic plan on the page mission vision values and goals balanced scorecard key performance indicators for each goal and the SWOT analysis as presented. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Discussion. Just one final thought. Uh one of the other things I heard was there's there's hope there. There's people ready to work with
119us. There are people that are ready to make this change happen. And so I I think that we can we can take a lot of hope into this next year. Ms. Bradford. Mrs. Tyus. >> Hi. Mr. Wetzel. >> Hi. Mr. Joiner. Hi. Mr. Clevenger. Hi. Dr. Lorenzen. >> Hi. Mr. Reynolds. >> Hi. And Mr. Hale. Hi. Seven eyes, zero nays. Motion carried. Thank you. We have a recommendation for the property casualty insurance renewal. Yes, I recommend the Board of Education approve the property casualty insurance renewal as presented. Have a motion? So moved. Second. Discussion. Ms. Bradford. >> Mr. Hale. Hi. Mr. Reynolds. >> Hi. Mr. Joiner. >> Hi. Mrs. Tyus. >> Hi. Dr. Lorenzen. >> Hi. Mr. Wetzel. Hi. And Mr. Clevenger. >> Hi. Seven eyes, zero nays. Motion carried. Thank you. I think we've
120reached that point in time now where we'll begin to see important dates on the screen. I think we have a remember June 19th is Juneteenth holiday. The district offices are closed on the 19th of June. Uh the Kyle Administration Building summer hours will be 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, June 1st through July 31st, 2026. Kyle Building will be closed to the public every Friday starting the week of June 1st through the week of July 27th. Kyle Building will reopen on Fridays to the public the week of August 3rd, 2026. The public portion of the next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 9th, 2026 to Kyle Administration Building. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed?
121We stand adjourned.