00130 seconds. >> Yes. face. >> Ready? >> Okay. Okay. Let's get started. Board of Education has been in closed executive session to discuss collective negotiating matters between the board and [snorts] representatives of its employees. No action was taken during closed executive session. I'll now ask everyone to join me in the pledgece of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Do we have a recommendation for tonight's agenda? >> Yes, we do. So, I recommend the board approve tonight's October 28, 2025 open session board meeting agenda as presented. >> A motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed? Motions carried. Okay, we'll now move on to our district
002highlights. Um Dr. Clark, >> we have Franklin Grove here tonight. if we would ask them to come on up to the podium. Have Heather England as the principal and she is going to be um talking a little bit about some of the great things going on at Franklin Grove. >> Good evening members of the board, President Clevenger, Miss Bradford, and Dr. Clark. I'm Heather England, president at Franklin Grove. >> I'm Stephanie Strying, assistant principal at Franklin Grove. So we have approximately 437 students. Um we're a K through six building and we have three of each grade level. Um we wanted to our theme was the whole child and how we support that. So one of our academic highlights that we have um Orton Gillingham this year um all of our kindergarten um teachers were trained
003in Orton Gillingham. It was a week-long training this summer um that they have done and had follow-up training. Um it's researchbased. It aligns with the science of reading and it really supports a foundation and groundwork for reading for as the students move up in grades. And then we have many student supports and we wanted to highlight two of them. One is our student interventionist Natasha Young. She helps students with those behaviors and managing emotions. Um, creating plans to help students be successful, putting things in place like check-in, checkout, giving students breaks, um, helping mediate when students need to work through issues, having restorative conversations. She also helps teachers if there are classroom management issues and um can give them strategies to utilize and help families um link to community resources that can benefit the student.
004And another um important person that we have helping us out is our instructional specialist Julie Turner. She um knows all about best practices. She supports the teachers with different strategies they can use within the classroom. She's also able to um help teachers analyze data and make those good instructional decisions um such as small groupoup instruction, helping with differentiation. Um she builds relationships with students. And both of these people are just so integral to our building and we are lucky and our students are lucky that we have them full-time. And then we also know it takes everyone to help our students to be successful and to work together. So we have family events and community supports. Um so one of our big annual events that we have is our grandparents day which we had September this
005year. Um grandparents come in, they have breakfast with their student, they do a craft, there's um a photo drop with props that they can use, and it's just a fun time to get other family in the building with their students as well. Um we have our bingo night coming up in November. We started this last year um and hope to make it an annual event. Um but it's an evening to bring the family in to play games, to play bingo. They get to win prizes. I did not touch it. [laughter] I don't know what happened. Oh, okay. >> Perfect. >> So, we're looking forward to that coming up. >> Um, we have our buddy bench in honor of Noah Edwards. This was donated to us from Green Tree Plastics, Paul's retired recyclers, and the Garden
006Club of Decatur. Um, it's a bench made from bottle caps. Our school actually collected bottle caps last year and we were fortunate enough to have two benches made. Um, so this one was donated to us. Um, it's wonderful to go outside, see the kids sitting on it and we just did a dedication ceremony with the family to Noah last week. We have our WSOI food drive with donations from students. We try to encourage us with dress up days during that week. And we have community partners. Um we have several different community partners that we've been partners with for several years. Our newest one this year was Mueller Company. Um they did a school supply drive for us at the beginning of the school year and we're looking um to partner up with them for some
007other events throughout the school year this year too. And that's all we got. >> Thank you. >> Can I ask you a question please? Miss Gillian, how how do you think your students are doing in reading? >> Um, so our kindergarten students, we've done one benchmark testing in the fall. Um, they did fairly well on their scores for that. Um, so we're hoping to provide those foundational phamic awareness, phonics skills for them to continue to grow and build their reading scores. Is that something that you're looking to do for the other teachers like to train them in Orton Gillingham for other grade levels as well or just >> Yes, we do hope. We have some other bu teachers throughout the building that have the Orton Gillingham training, but as far as a whole grade level,
008we were focusing on kindergarten this year. >> Perfect. >> Other questions? >> Thank you. Thank you. Okay, moving on to public participation, Miss Bradford. Uh, seeing no no one wishing to address the board tonight, we will move on to board discussion. There any items that any board member would like to bring up right now? >> Yeah, I have I have one. I just Hey, Mark. I just noticed under personnel items that uh we we now have three teach three teachers hired for wrestling and there's a Mr. gloss that's been working really hard on wrestling and this program has just kind of exploded and I just want to do a shout out to him for doing a great job and getting all these kids involved in wrestling. It's pretty amazing. >> Yeah, you're right. Mark Glouse
009has done a really amazing job with that program. So, he is to be commended. >> Any other >> Can I add to that? >> Sure. Thanks for bringing that up. Um, he be came with the program or joined the program. I think it was three years ago and we were getting six to 10 kids a session and now it's last year it was 60 kids a session because he recruits his tail off and he's so positive and his wife is one of the assistants that does a wonderful job and he he thinks this year because it's so popular with boys and girls now the wrestling program that on the elementary level he thinks we're going to have probably 40 to 50 boys and 40 to 50 girls now. So again, he's doing a great job
010and thanks for noting that. >> That's amazing. >> Kevin, Dr. Clark, I have a question for you. >> Um I was thinking about this the other day and I'm not talking about starting road map, okay? I don't want anybody, but h have have you thought about maybe and I maybe talked to Will, you might have some input here and maybe Dr. Marina does at least starting to contact the team so whenever we decide to launch it, we know who's on board and who's not on board. Have Have you has that ever have you discussed that? >> Yeah, we're all in discussions about all of that right now. >> Okay. Okay. That's I was just wondering because whenever we decide to >> we're going to be ready. >> Uh thank you. So, I guess on that
011note, uh, two weeks ago when we met on that Thursday, uh, I had handed out a, uh, draft calendar that, uh, Miss Bradford put together for us about looking at board business over the next year. And it really looks uh, we have two meetings. We have one in November and one in December. And then we're in into the new year. And in that time frame, we're reviewing our legal services. We are hiring a new superintendent. We're also talking about where roadmap is going to go. And so we really as a board need to set our schedule and to understand like how much work is coming up for all of us. And I know that we all have our own lives and this is a volunteer place even though that we're elected but we have a
012ton of work that we have to get done. And so as we begin to talk about restarting roadmap as uh as we are also looking at interviewing uh superintendent candidates, I I just want to know I guess from administration side when do you need us to come on a come to a decision of when we need to restart? Um I think if everybody would just look at the documentation that was shared um you really need to look at and determine like priorities first like what's first second and third and then that would kind of set that pace for us. My my that was my thought was at least well the last time the presentation was made for roadmap everybody talked about how difficult when the meetings took place you had less and less people you
013said you were checking in on the meetings and it went from I don't know seven just for argument 75 people down to 25. Yeah. I just thought it might be good to see who's on board and who's g, you know, right, reach out, you know, maybe challenge, you know, your staff to start, >> you know, selecting who's going to be in and who's going to be out. I just because whenever we decide to launch, it'd be nice to have a launch pad. Yes. >> And that's that's really all that that that was my only concern. >> No, I don't disagree with you. Um, I think what is what is hard is like what you know will just said, you have so much going and we really are like we're taking your lead to be honest.
014So we don't want to start three different things and then what you really wanted to do is and I'm making this totally up. What you really want to do is get your superintendent search up and going and get down to your final selections. You have that out the way. Uh you mentioned you were looking at firms. you have to figure out who that person is going to be because you're going to need that individual to help you with your superintendent contracts and then you have roadmap. So, there's a lot that goes into all of it. >> And and as we're trying to do this over the uh coming holiday season, uh Miss Bradford, would it be uh helpful for us board members to send you if we have extended time out of uh uh out
015of state or uh extended vacation coming up if we're not going to be available to be proactive? That would be wonderful. >> Yes. >> Would everybody be okay with that? >> Yeah. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> No, thank you. >> Okay. Anything else? Okay. Okay, we'll move on to reports from administration and um this is in response to um Kevin and Mark have um been I think really engaged in the Eisenhower baseball situation for the spring and the spring sports and uh Craig Bundy will be here tonight to walk us through um the information that's necessary to make that decision. Yes, I was asked to research and I actually called the IHSA to just to confirm that the handbook was up to date and I was doing everything we were supposed to
016do to to if we are interested and decide to go ahead with the uh baseball co-op. So, um as you can see up there and I I've got some notes that I'm written down here. I don't know if I'm going to follow that in order, but uh it's u it is allowable in baseball. It's interestingly not allowable in football or basketball for bigger schools. Um the official enrollment figure that our uh team if if uh we in fact do co-op would be the combined enrollments of both Eisenhower which is listed as 860 right now for the football enrollment and uh MacArthur's is 1009. That would give us a combined uh enrollment of 1,869 which would put us in class 4A in baseball. It is a two-year agreement. It lasts, you can't cut it off after
017a year and say, "This isn't working. We're going to go back." It has to go for two years. Um, we to get it going, we have to get written approval from the Central State 8 conference, which I don't believe that would be an issue. Um, we have to get a letter from uh they they need to receive a letter from DPS stating what would be our team name would be, what the colors would be, what the mascot would be. We've gone through this with our middle school softball and baseball co-ops where we've I prepared that letter and sent it out and so it would just be uh changing that to make it appropriate. Um we would need to report uh to give a report stating the expected number of players that would be uh participating
018from each school. Uh we would need to uh give a written statement expressing the reason why we want to co-op with a written assurance that the co-op would not limit student opportunities for kids from either school. And the deadline to apply for a co-op for this coming baseball season would be February 1st of 2026. Baseball officially starts practice on March 2nd of next year and the first game can be played um March 16th. So, are there any questions? >> Yes. >> Uh first of all, thanks for doing this. This is wonderful. I sure I appreciate you putting in the effort for this. Um, did I say resist baseball co-oping at all when you contacted them? >> No, >> they didn't. They didn't mind it at all. >> No, not at all. It was the first
019time I had gone through the process, so understanding that I had to get all these different signatures and all that. U, that process took a little while, but it was on my end of it, not necessarily on theirs, but no, there was no resistance. >> Yeah. And for and madam secretary, for the record, um, I want to I my motion was to co-op all spring sports. Is that would that be a problem? Mr. Mr. Bren, >> well, Dr. Curry, we can uh help assist with that discussion. >> To your question, um logistically, it would be multiple applications and processes. >> Yes. So, if we had the golf team would have a two-year deal, you'd still have to make your contacts to conference and IHSA and they would be 4A in golf. >> Yes, we do
020co-op golf. >> Yeah, we already do that. >> Okay. But if if you if you were to combine the spring sports, we would have to do a separate co-op for track softball, but you can't do it all in one package. >> Gotcha. Okay. >> Thank you. >> So, so realistically, Mr. Bundy, what's the impediments to getting this done? >> I don't believe there's any impediments uh other than once we come to that decision that we think that's the best policy moving forward. Can I clarify? >> Yes. >> We don't believe there's any impediments for baseball. >> And how many students can play on a team? >> You can generally dress 15 for a regional. Um I've been in places where you've had 25, but 10 kids had to, you know, sit in the stands >>
021and and I'm I'm not fully up on school sports. So right now MacArthur only has one varsity team. Do they have varsity and JV or >> They just have varsity. >> Okay. So, this would give an opportunity to maybe have a JV team for developmental >> potentially. >> Okay. >> And also, I don't I don't know if I'm speaking out of turn here, Mike. You tell me if I'm wrong. The IHSA has pitch counts on pitchers. They can only throw so many pitches in a week. So, by li by just having a varsity team, you're having young men and young women in softball throw an exorbitant amount of pitches. So, by having a JV team, which would help build a program, which I'm hoping this does for our for our city, um you're also allowing
022more kids to throw more pitches, which also helps in the fact that you're not hurting arms. And I always, as a as a former baseball coach, I always worry about kids hurting their arms pitching. This would have a residual effect of helping with that. 100 120 I think it's 120 pitches if you start in a week. >> What would be the other spring sports that you're talking about? >> Uh I would like to see it in softball. They already do it in golf. So tennis, whatever other spring sports there are. At least that's my motion. >> So we had a very good meeting yesterday with the athletic directors and the principles. uh the new um athletic director secretary who has uh oodles of years of experience as an athletic director, Mr. Bundy and myself. Um
023after time it was it was pretty pretty black and white that baseball fit this decision. Um very adamant from both sides of the table not to co-op track. They both have 20 in each of their boys and their girls programs. Softball, according to the athletic director at Eisenhower, most likely could field, if they wanted to run three different levels, varsity, JV, and freshman. MacArthur, on the other hand, can field a varsity team. Um, but the general consensus was see how that works this year. It's what they're used to. If those numbers don't pan out, then maybe the next year you do a softball co-op. But there was really no interest at this point in those other sports from anyone at the table. >> So the district you're you're specifying just baseball. Am I am I
024correct in >> I need to clarify. Yeah, >> I need to clarify. So basically I'm going to just start with this little statement. We said right now we were talking about baseball spring, right? And we were going to give them till November to build their team. what I'm going to be asking of the board is going to be a little broader. Okay. But it gives them the opportunity to do what they need to do on their end and still satisfy the board at the same time. They >> and and just to build off that they feel like they've done their due diligence on the baseball side and the numbers don't pan out. So >> what are you saying about being broader? What's that mean? So when he's done, my statement to you in terms of
025consensus is going to clarify everything. >> Um, and maybe this is a question for Luke, but does this require board action or does this require consensus? >> So I think what administration is is asking for is consensus to move forward. If board action is required, that can come back before you at a later date for the formal vote before anything would be turned into HSA. Is that accurate, Dr. Clark? >> That is correct. >> And this this this deadline is accurate. February 1st. >> I made him call as well. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> He didn't enjoy that, but I said we're going to get asked. >> Any other questions from the board? So, my consensus is going to be a little broad and I'm asking the board to give consensus for us to
026proceed with a process outlined by IHSA to combine a necessary spring sports if one or both high schools do not have enough players to formulate and or complete a full roster team for that particular sport. So, I'm I'm making it very broad where it can be anything, but I'm going to lean to the experts as to when that will take place. >> But you're also leaving the option that let's say let's say one day Eisenhower has 40 baseball players after two years. >> We would we wouldn't have to have this conversation. If you want to continue it, you have to renew it. That's right. If you don't, it just goes away and then you're back to a program at each school, right? >> Okay. So, what you're saying broadly is every child would have a
027chance to play sports. >> Yes. In the spring, regardless of what it is, but I'm going to lean to them to make sure we're doing it the right way. >> And so, currently with the numbers that we have and the numbers that the athletic director principles believe they have, the only one that would fit into that consensus would be baseball at this time. at this time. If something else comes up and you giving me consensus means that we're able to move forward with that program just like we're doing right now. And then if that needs to come back to you per IHSA rules, that's what will happen. But at least we have your authority to move forward and I would need a consensus. >> I agree. >> Okay. Given that >> I think that's wondous.
028>> I appreciate you guys putting in the time. Devon, >> I'm good. I'm good. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Let's move forward with that. >> Thanks for your interest in that. >> No problem. >> That will end our reports from administration. >> Okay. Now, we'll move on to our consent items. Anyone have an item they want pulled from consent? >> Dr. Clerk, >> I recommend the board of education approve the consent items as presented, which includes a minutes open session meeting October 14th, 2025 and special open work session October 16th, 2025. B financial conditions report C. Treasurers report motion. >> So move second. Any discussion? >> Miss Bradford. >> Mr. Reynolds. Hi. >> Mr. Hail. Hi. >> Mrs. Tyus. Hi. >> Mr. Wetszel. Hi. >> Mr. Clevener. Hi. >> Dr. Laorenson. >> Hi. >> And
029Mr. Joiner. >> Hi. >> Seven. Zero. Name. Motion carried. >> Okay. We'll now move on to our roll call action items. Do we have a recommendation for the personnel action items? >> Yes. So, I recommend the board of education approve the personnel action items listed in the memo from Monica Wilks, director of human resources and the human resources department as presented. >> Do I have a motion? >> So, move second. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> Miss Bradford. >> Dr. Lorenson. >> Hi, >> Mr. Joiner. Hi, >> Mr. Wetszel. Hi, >> Mr. Reynolds. Hi, >> Mr. Hail. Hi, >> Mr. Pleer. Hi, and Mrs. Tyus. Hi. Seven eyes, zero name. Motion carried. Okay, we'll move on to upcoming dates. I think we'll see those listed on the screen in just a minute. Uh, Board of Education
030and Administration sends condolences to the families of Stella May Hill who passed away Wednesday, October 22nd. Mrs. Hill was the grandmother of Keegan Cunningham, truency alternative education uh optional program case worker at Steven Decar Middle School and William L. Bill Ross, who passed away Thursday, October 23rd. Mr. Ross was a husband of Sarah Davis, long-term substitute at Dennis Lab School. Uh, our condolences go out to all those families. Uh, important dates, we have the Veterans Day holiday coming up on November 11th. Um, full day of school for all students. The 12th is a district-wide half day for all students and check with your school on that. The 14th is interim progress reports. The 24th, 25th, no school for students. District offices are open. That's Thanksgiving. And the annual turkey tournament, Stephen Decar Middle School. The
03125th, 26th, and the 28th, 29th. 26th is the Veterans Day holiday observed in DPS 61. No school and district offices are closed. uh 27 through and 28 are the Thanksgiving holidays. No school and district offices will be closed. And also please note dut due to upcoming holidays, there's only one board of education meeting in the month of November, which is Tuesday, November 11th, 2025. The public portion of the next regular meeting of the board of education will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 11, the Kyle administration building. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Some >> move. Second. >> All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Those opposed.