5/14/24 Board of Education Open Meeting

001e e e tonight oh no sound they disagree with oh there it is are we ready to go now testing okay board of education has been enclosed executive session to conduct student discipline expulsion hearings an employee discipline hearing and to discuss the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body and Collective negotiating matters between the board and representatives of its employees no action was taken during this closed executive session I would now ask everyone to join me in the pledge flag of the United States of Amer and to the stands Nation God indivisible andice for all am I want to say our students did a simply outstanding job with the pledge tonight yes do we have a recommendation for tonight's agenda yes we do I recommend the board approved

002tonight's May 14 2024 Open Session board meeting agenda as presented I have a motion so move second any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion is carried we'll now move on to District highlights Maria good evening president clevinger superintendent Clark Melissa and members of the board tonight we have two highlights to share with you our first one um is coming from Eisenhower it's the life skills teaching staff and they are going to talk about this amazing event that they have put on for two years now um coming up to the podium is Barb Hower sorry hler Stephanie Bowman and Becca Massie hello good evening I'm Barb howler and like she said I'm here with Stephanie and Becca and and um we are the team that put together the panther paloa this

003was our second year uh putting on this event uh this picture here I just kind of we got a group shot of our students and our staff it takes all of us to put on this event um basically this event what we the reason we decided to do this was we wanted to focus on our special education population um mostly our moderator severe population uh we wanted to focus on uh learning through sensory and uh just have a day that was all focused on them uh this year we also extended it out so these these schools here all attended so last year we had all of our life and essential skills almost in the district attend this year we had um almost all of the same schools and then we also added um SED room

004from bomb and our CA program we had uh three classrooms from their join uh we're actually hoping next year to expand to even reach more special needs kids in the district and we even talked about in the counties bringing in so that way we're reaching more students um this shot here is just the aerial kind of view of the event setup uh we use the teacher parking lot at Eisenhower um Eisenhower uh admin men and teachers are very supportive of the event so they all park over in the St Mary's lot so that we could set this up for our students um this is a big the the event is important because it brings together not only our special education students it also brings together our gen ed students and our community and community volunteers

005and sponsors and that is so so important especially for our population because we really are trying to focus on acceptance and inclusion through this uh event also so the next few pictures here are and slides are just pictures of some of the main focus of things we have there so that kid place we had the sensory Museum and the foam machine this is a big hit we had it two years in a row now the kids absolutely love this and the museum is actually fully accessible so wheelchairs can go inside so everybody from life and essential skills can enjoy it yes and everything we have at the event is um accessible for all of our students so and this gentleman actually out of Bloomington he built this for his own son with special needs and

006that's how he got into this and started this for his own kids sensory needs and built this because he felt that this Central Illinois area needed something for this population so he goes around all sorts of events so um this is another Community partner we have we we partner with the decator art console um this is their second year coming out with us they do awesome job they plan their activity and they come out with the kid and do the projects with the kids um this year new we added fun on the Run Inflatables this was a big hit too uh we also had a photo booth so that the kids could take home little memory strip of the day so and this is really this was all wheelchair accessible except the middle picture there

007our Hungry Hippo thing they kind of had to climb up inside that so they're human Hungry Hippos um another one of our wonderful decater businesses we partner with is a Scoville Mobile Zoo they bring out animals um along with the art and just the moving animals is really good for sensory and learning too so they bring them out they talk to the kids about the animals they're allowed to pet them interact with them um Starbucks we partner with them not only for this event but um for our vocational coffee shop so Maggie comes out and she brings treats and um every year and supports us and then our own students run a popcorn station so they're part of helping we tell them it's part of Hosting is they have to work though to put the

008event on too so they there you see them along with the Gen kids volunteering to pass out popcorn um making resources was new this year with us they had a karaoke music station this was a huge hit everybody loved the music uh we have our face paint our gened kids and our art students come out and they volunteer and do the face painting with the students um and just a kind of touch base we had over 60 general education students that volunteered for the event and helped um multiple Community um sponsors and volunteers uh the Lambda State teacher sority we had them they're a huge uh sponsor and supporter and they come out and volunteer some of their people um another one of our big sponsors is Zack Shields and the decator public schools Foundation

009along with everyone else listed here there's so many I mean over 25 uh area businesses help volunteer either they time their money or support in some way for us to put on this amazing event for our kids and then it's brought to you by us for the three teachers we're not the only ones though it takes our Tas our kids all these people that are involved to put this huge day on but it's it's so great and we just absolutely love doing it for the kids in the district and it brings a lot of joy to them and it's just special for us to be able to do that so so job wow I heard the oo and A's from the students behind me ooh Inflatables It's a Wonderful event and if you have not

010gone you definitely need to go see it because it is a really great um schoolwide event and it looks like they're sending it to the whole District to be involved so yes check that out um our last and second highlight of the evening is our school Spotlight tonight is Steven decer middle school and here to present the great things happening at Steven decer is assistant principal Matt Gman all right good evening School Board um so yeah so I'm here to talk about great things happening at Stephen decor and there are a lot of great things that have happened throughout this year uh at Steph decer so um you know I went around over the past couple weeks when I was volen told that I was doing this and um I just wanted to you know

011just kind of highlight the things going on in the classroom so you know Spanish um there's some activities going on in the Spanish classes Tech en coding they're always working on robots and and programming and coding things science they were doing a uh experiment with the slinky um pbl we've been out in the The Gardens the raised gardens that we have out there getting those weeded and ready to plant some things that perhaps could be harvested in the fall um we've had a number of Academy challenges throughout the year on our half dayss um this particular one was building a Mars Rover um out of graham crackers and marshmallows and things um you know our math classes getting up on the board doing that board work and as you know I have a personal connection

012with that so uh and then our Ela classes we're doing some group reading uh just so happened over the past week so so you know it's a lot of active uh student involvement in in these classrooms so um just a kind of a highlight on some of our better um Rec our better scores that we've had with our fast Bridge our seventh grade math automaticity um our exceed scores are up which has been our RTI Focus this year and our eighth grade reading scores um have been stable as far as our red and yellows go and our exceeds have gone up a little bit too so definitely something we've been focusing on um getting our math and reading scores up um some of our extracurriculars that our students have been able to do this year

013um you know about a month ago we had a number of kids go down to Southern Illinois um to do the solar eclipse trip uh down there at Carbondale which was pretty awesome for them to be able to do um we had a very successful uh Sports uh schedule this year with our wrestling teams um our 7th grade uh basketball boys basketball plays second in the city tournament um our cross country track and then we've had a number of school dances in fact we've got one more um that the kids really enjoy um they are uh there's incentives to be able to go to this so they have to earn their right to go to these dances but you know I think I made a post on it on Facebook like you know we're doing

014some great things that stepen deer and don't let you know a few bad eggs ruin it for everybody else so you know something I've been trying to highlight personally um with my own my own stuff um and then of course the big thing that's going on right now cators are building improvements and it looks amazing um pretty sure this building was built sometime in the 60s and a lot of the same materials are still there and it is a night and day difference when you go into our classrooms how awesome it looks so much natural light coming in um we have now new secure doors um going into the building that will help our building become a lot safer so um and then something I haven't put in here but another thing to highlight is

015we uh have welcomed a new principal to our building Mr Lindsay who I've had the pleasure of working with for about a year a week so far and he's amazing and I'm really looking forward to uh working with him next year so got some some bright bright points coming ahead for us next year at Stephen deor so thank you very [Applause] much okay thank you we'll now move on to our public participation Board of Education would like to note the following during public public participation please identify oneself be brief comments should be limited to 3 minutes any public comments submitted to the board secretary will be included in the record we have one okay please note that during any Board of Education meeting in public participation board members do not respond Andor comment to public

016comments All comments are referred to Administration furthermore the board refrains from referring to specific students or staff members by name and requests that public commenters refrain from doing so as well the request that you omit names is made to protect you from allegations of LI or slander or from violations of Illinois school student records act it is not intended to Shield an employee from criticism Miss Bradford do we have anyone wishing to address the board this evening yes Keith Cron good evening superintendent Dr Clark president cger and members of the board my name is Keith kraton and I'm the assistant principal at Dennis lab school we are here tonight to invite you to a very exciting event on Thursday May 23rd from 5:30 to 7 o'clock we will be hosting our project-based learning showcase we

017would love to invite you to stop by and see all of the amazing projects our students have been working on I have with me some students who would like to share about the projects that they've been working on hi my name is Ruby and my project is C hi my name is Isaac and my project is par they have six grad and again they go to far R go to fire get pick up B and G get spart around to help plants grow hello my name is Adam and I'm in fourth grade and my pbl project is making maps to show kids in the community fun locations in the area we are going on different field trips around the community to explore it hi my name is marua and my name is Dublin did you

018know that you use 365 plastic bags per year and the world uses 5 trillion plastic bags per year and we want to decrease single use plastic and we use any color any size t-shirts to to make reusable plastic bags we have been working on our project for one month now and we accomplished 110 t-shirts we really hope you can come thank you so much for your time tonight we we hope to see you on Thursday May 23rd from 5:30 to 7 o' for our pbl showcase monarchs that's funny thank you for that great presentation uh we'll now move on to board committee reports are there any reports this evening no there are no reports this evening we will now move on to Junior board member reports and I see we do have one tonight good

019afternoon board and Dr Clark um over the past couple weeks uh yep weeks at Eisenhower we've had the opportunity to do a bunch of things the first thing I was a part of was the inspired uh internships we had with both high schools so if basically if you're a senior you got a bunch of credits built up to uh on track to graduate uh within those last couple of classes you don't have nothing to do to put you in the internship that you're interested in so miss lesb risby had to took the time and with the teachers at both high schools helped us both get uh into internships that that we like I had the pleasure of being with Mr tally in his boot camp for some weeks that was a pleasure got to learn

020a bunch of things with him for Safety and Security for the K public schools to make sure our students are safe um another thing we had was prom that also was at dedicator club with the inspired Ed um internship uh luncheon uh we had a nice time I prom the students had a lovely time coming out and their dresses and suits and just having a good time with each other uh senior prank uh recently Friday was pretty fun uh I hope Dr arguez wasn't mad at us but we enjoyed not destructing the school but just putting things out of out of place for a little bit uh we we foiled her her class her uh office up and just we had some fun Sydney put a uh bouncy house in the main comons then we

021filled up balloons all over the um it was it was just crazy and then another thing is uh graduation is this Saturday uh came wa to see you all there um our graduation rehearsals is this at 12:00 at eisenh Howard for eisenh Howard students I'm not sure what time it is for Marthur and then my last thing is I just want to say thank you because this is my last board meeting before I graduate Saturday I had the pleasure of being and and building a relationship with everybody here in the col building uh it was just a lovely the last two years I I've learned a lot of things and it just it's going to prepare me for my future so I will come back and see you guys whenever I get out of basic

022train in AIT when I get out the military to come see you guys and peek my head and I will be in the schools to make sure our students are do what they're supposed to do thank you I I did have a question for a you want to go back to Podium sorry so so so three questions for you first thanks so much for doing this thank you it's been great to sit next to you and get to know you a little bit um so what are you doing after high school so uh I Ain listening to the Army uh active duty so with the active duty I will be military police so I will be a little bit of comback a little bit the civilian side like dpd and Sheriff's Office uh with that

023I uh I have my my contract is five years so what the Army has so if you want to infantry or whatever you want to do they'll accredit you for what you do in the Army until your uh college credit so uh when me be in the Army for what the time I will be in I should be have my bachelors before I'm that's awesome and just take some classes for whatever College because most of the uh like state colleges like ufi ISU accredit what the military does really smoothly so that should work y good job on being on state trooper when I come back in Illinois I'm I'm considering DEC the police department I I just I'm just weighing my options but most likely I was just to see some familiar faces but definitely

024be a police officer when I get out the Army that's awesome I love it and uh and and I I guess two questions since you are in your way out you're graduating on Saturday so uh the first is what's been your favorite part about being a DPS just the interaction with my peers I just love it uh it's funny when I'm walking down the hallway and I meet kids say my name and I never met them before and then we get a correlation over sometime and then we get to seeing each other more and then we get to talk and they ask me for help I help much as possible and information so I feel like it it'll work long ways because as I get older uh they'll come reach out to see if they

025need help or just have a good relation in general and then you never know they might have kids and they tell them a told me you speeding or something I love it and and you don't have to answer this here because I'm putting you on the spot but what's something that we as a board can do better uh for our students you if you're not comfortable answer and you can uh send us an email uh I would say [Music] just dang I don't know I would just say just keep getting a big bigger bond with our students just so they can know who everybody is by name and stuff so they don't get like scared when they see somebody in the suit come in the classroom but other than that because they know who you

026guys are but I feel like just like a relationship a little bit so they could talk to you easier I feel like it's easier to talk to somebody when you know them a little personal a little bit just to see familiar faces thank you so much and congratulations I would just like to note before you leave yes sir Jason and I have been here for three years and I don't think there's any question that you have been the most active student ambassador and we really appreciate you being here so many times and making so many good thank you actually with that at our uh senior Awards night I was uh I was honored to get presented with The Peacemaker award and they br this upon me being the best uh student ambassador of Eisenhower and

027I that's why they select me for th award so I want to say thank you again and I will'll come back to see you guys okay thank you thank you thank you for your willingness to serve our country thank you and the Army is not a bad career either I just had a son retire after 20 years so keep that one in the back of your mind too it's a good [Laughter] career okay we'll move on to board discussion is there any board member who'd like to bring anything up tonight for discussion seeing none we will move on to our reports from Clinger and Associates Dr curry good evening uh Kent meker couldn't be here so I get the honor of introducing an lucens from kinger and Associates and following AZ which is never easy

028so Allan it's all yours thank you board let me see if I can okay PowerPoint you got a you got a lot of great students to follow here so thank you thank you so I'm here to um present seven buildings that I looked at um this year and uh three schools and then the rest are more administrative buildings m you mind if we go with Z shield and then come back okay figure that all right it's fine does does Zach have a I too but I can make it up with okay okay here we go L's up it's there let's see if I can remember how to operate it Melissa she also runs a very tight ship so usually I put the timer on but I left my phone at my seat so you're going

029to have to yell at me or throw rock or something so for those who don't everybody knows me I think um those who are back here that might not I'm Zach Shields I'm the director of the decator public schools foundation so this is my 11th year I was reminded recently by LinkedIn I had no idea time went really quickly and people were saying congratulations and I said For What and they said we've been here a while uh and so it feels really great though because I got the best job in the district I think I have the best job in the city I just get to do fun things every day with teachers that are motivated to do extra stuff uh and kids like the ones you saw today I'm glad I know they bolted

030here but um kids are the best adults we can be very so so but kids are the best and uh so reminds us of that every time we see them so um this is our role we're here to encourage uh and help every kid and every teacher find a little bit of spark that maybe they were missing um that's that's why we exist our mission statement is to acquire resources that enhance and enrich the educational experience for our kids um I always stick a couple slides in here in the spring just to remind everybody who's who's not aware of the structure the foundation is a completely independent nonprofit 501c3 all the donations come into us so that we can use them on your behalf at the district there are no governmental or taxpayer dollars it's

031all privately generated even my salary operating expenses everything comes from private donors who want to contribute and to invest in our kids and we do we always talk about it as an investment and not charity uh you're investing in what's going to happen in our community uh today tomorrow well into the future so established in 1997 since that time uh We've generated over 25 million in uh Revenue either cash revenue or facilities improvements again all private dollars no taxpayer funding um I always put this kid in this kid is going to be in my slideshow until the cows come home because to me that kid is where it's at that's what this is about the teacher is Will pittz who's in social studies he Boomerang back he's at Steven Decor now again uh but there's

032a picture there of the taekwon doe Academy that they established at Steven decer uh and that was one of my first or second years and that was a really great thing and it was about getting kids to understand how to control their emotions how to interact with one another how to respect themselves and respect their peers and um it was really something that our trustees sort of raised their eyebrows at they said we really want to teach kids to fight and we said no no no that's not it it's about self-discipline and in fact just a month or two ago we um approved a boxing Grant from muffley elementary and had that same discussion again and Rodney Walker is actually helping conduct that but um everything that we do is supposed to be outside the

033ordinary um for kids and and these two things certainly are um just quick reminder on our board structure we do have an independent board 13 elected trustees from the community and then we have two advisory seats one's the superintendent one happens to be Mr Dion uh the school board designated to make sure that we don't get off the rails and that we stay on track with the district strategic Direction and where you want us going um I always just update you guys on on where the board is right now really strong board at the moment uh we've had both Hospital CEOs on the board the last two years um our board president Adrien Walker is a MacArthur grad he was an All-American at U ofi um wonderful young person uh Shandra Lynch is our vice

034chair deer graduate from Eisenhower um our treasur sister teachers in the district a lot of really close District ties um and then we do also have you know Community Financial folks and we've got people like uh Nola Wilkinson who's retired I think she worked 25 years at Stephen or at uh Hope Academy so really good mix of board members um and they are very very active in the community in lots of ways and Jason so thank you uh yeah just just our roles again we have our officer team that that runs everything um but the superintendent schools and the board of AD rep are very important to us to make sure that we're aligning uh and then confidentiality I always just remind everyone that that's the most important thing that I do is make sure

035that I have our donors confidence and they understand that the dollars they give us are going in the direction that they want to direct them so that's really my whole job um a lot of our donors the reason that we do that they have specific interests we call them designated programs so a couple of um examples that I tossed up there so the student instrument loan Library if you're if you're unfamiliar with that um a lot of our kids in our district can't afford to buy or rent an instrument so we have several hundred a year that we loan out for free uh to students and they pay a deposit uh security deposit on the repairs but but they can have that instrument you know for the use of their their career um Bob Jones

036music fund we do scholarships from it we help to fund like the musicals at Eisenhower and at MacArthur that way kids plus books equals ESS that's our book distribution program twice a year um we distribute books for free to kids K through sixth grade they could self- select the thought being that by the time they get through sixth grade they've got 12 or 15 books of their own and have their own library and they've been reading with siblings and and taking them home and expressing that to their parents uh the Fenson fund uh uh supports professional development for teachers science and math we sent them to the national conferences uh this fall and that's a pretty significant line item there's about 10,000 that we put in to send those teachers um over two schools and

037seven or eight different teachers went and then this last one I throw on here because this is a new project the feeding Futures uh it's a pilot nutrition program with a group in Chicago and then with the Jackie Joiner Cy foundation in St Louis and then us so there were three sites Chancellor of the University of Illinois reached out to us and said Zack the EG program has been really active you know would you consider adding us as a component of that uh so we're waiting on some of the finality there but that's a really neat thing and that's going to bring um you know the stem piece into to the classroom as far as the horiculture but then also the mathematics behind nutrition and things of that nature so pretty cool stuff um and

038then the thing with the foundation I always want people to realize it's about actively engaging and meeting the times uh two years ago we established the diversity equity and inclusion fund and granted multiple projects out of that but the idea is how do we actively pursue these issues that we're talking about and how do we get the kids to understand that if you want to change something you have to buy in and you have to have an active project and we actually had a bridge reenactment um project Kim Carver from Dennis lab school actually did a a March during black history month and then a sit in at a restaurant that um cooperated with us and that was a really neat thing we had not done anything like that before so 2024 grants programming year

039to date we have 36 approved classroom projects about 20,000 total directly for those um and those would be individual teacher projects I think they averaged about uh 500 bucks you know up plus or minus per classroom but this year premiant sponsored them uh formerly Tate and ly but premian has stepped in they want to own that academic uh classroom Grant piece so they've committed 25,000 for the coming year just to go directly to teachers uh this year we've done about 10,930 in additional projects those include like first year teacher grants uh we do 25 Ellen Spicer classroom Awards each year um we have an outstanding educator award uh which we'll talk about in just a minute um then additionally we had 636,000 in Donor advised programs uh and then another 290 in additional projects like

040kids plus books that we mentioned so total funding year to date from the foundation to the district $954,000 are the cash and then we have some other things coming up like we've got an electric vehicle that'll be donated so the kids can start to learn to work on electric cars and we can also use it for driver ed out at our agriculture building so so fun things coming we still got a month and a half left in the year um but giving wise the print's small but I think we're at 765 of uh an income goal of 775,000 this year uh so very proud of that our donors have been just wonderful this year um and you know in light of a lot of the stuff that happens and we only see the challenges they

041only see the good stuff I think we lose lose track of that sometimes our donors look at it and they see the kids um and and that's really where we want them to focus so and again just an example of one of the um traditional classroom grants we do there there's an earthquake building design natural disasters unit um and so it's relating directly to a science standard we really try and have a lot of our grant making and our activities tied directly into the the state standards at whatever grade level it is so that'll be the traditional grants and then I'll Whip through because most of you are very familiar I gave an update on the a Academy this fall uh we open our new Agriculture Center uh I think everybody's been out there except

042conveniently Mark and Will are sitting next to each other and we can do it's like the arc we can do two by two so you guys can legally come together as two board members to see the egg Center so let's get that on on the agenda when we can love to show it to you it's been great tomorrow we're hosting a cookout for all the buildings and grounds cuz the guys have been so helpful so if you want to stop out 11 to 12:30 uh very very welcome to do that so uh Dawson Civic Leadership Institute this is one of our other big programs um Dr Wanita Morris will give you an update on that in the fall coming up in October um but very proud of the progress that she's made you can see

043the four pillars that she really has focused on Public Safety uh Health Professions Civic internships out in the community and then education and college Scholars um got a lot of people going into pre-education programs the one the thing that I wanted to make sure and tell you about is we're at 41 for 41 as far as kids going through the CNA program and coming out of our six we program in the Summer with the CNA certification and walking into a job at dmh or St Mary's and our two board members uh from the hospitals have been just great about going hey here's a career we want to equip you for it and there's a lot of room for growth uh you know crnas are making $150,000 a year and our kids need to know that

044uh going in and I know that strategically certification starting to understand what we're putting kids in in place to do uh as they're in school and as they walk out of it that's really a point of emphasis for us and Dr Robinson is going to be really great to work with in this regard um you know he's come in with with tons of ideas from Memphis and already is talking my ear off about what we can do uh to implement those out at the a center and elsewhere so very excited about that um just a quick heads up that John's Hill um we're working on alumni walk project we've rolled that out softly uh but we did an alumni walk at Eisenhower and MacArthur High School those were really really um very well um well

045received by the community and they're a really tight-knit group at at John Sal so we've had a lot of people that are interested in this and we'll be looking at a dedication probably next spring maybe next fall depends on how the campaign goes and then the last thing I want to draw your attention to um our Legacy of learning banquet is our outstanding alumni Awards uh night it will be on November 8th for the reception at the beach house this year and November 9th is actually the outstanding alumni Awards uh you see a couple of them around here Dr Baker uh Ed German Jesse Rising um just really interesting graduates from deada public schools we've had a number of people through the years that you just wouldn't even believe that Dr or Ed German is

046the world's leading fingerprint analyst up here on the wall and uh just an amazing person uh and so I would encourage you I know most everybody's been to one of those but keep those dates on your calendar um Dr Dr Hawkins yvon Hawkins was our just immediate passport shair she will be there to help us host again this year I met her actually as an outstanding Alum uh she really to me is what education is all about out she started she was a young mother she started uh got her associates degree then worked her way as a mother all the way through uh her bachelor's degree and then into her PhD eventually and taught uh just retired recently from um Richland Community College so look to her as a mentor and a friend and just

047the sort of person that I have the privilege to work with um at the foundation so lastly speaking of that um our outstanding educator for 2024 is Mary lanker uh for those who got to come uh to our Kentucky Derby party two Saturdays ago it was a great time was a good time wasn't it Jason it was you had a good time I never would have guessed Mystic Dan yes Mystic Dan who knew so uh yeah from out of the clouds but uh it was a wonderful event and uh we'll be honoring Mary again in in uh at the fall in November at the event so um wonderful person her Harlem Renaissance exhibit is not to be missed if you haven't been to see it at stepen deor but uh just very emblematic of the

048teachers I get to work with every day so yep I stayed under look at that kept it at N9 minutes well that's because he had a microphone this time true I did have so any question questions from anybody I know everybody's pretty familiar with what we do but great appreciate the chance to visit and catch up and ordinarily I would stay and watch the rest of the show but I get it my kid who's had a great experience in the kider public schools so he wants to give a thumbs up all right thank Dr Curry asked me to reintroduce our next presenter so I'm going to do a really really good job and also to give Matt back there a little opportunity to download the PowerPoint so next presenter is Alan lucens oh yeah there

049it is he is a senior project manager and structural engineer here to present another round of our building updates I'm going to present um seven buildings that I looked at this year um these are the seven buildings Harris first one is is Harris Elementary um it it was originally constructed in about 1951 and then there was an ADD added in about 1956 so these are pretty some pretty old buildings um it is one story building U with no basement uh so so I'm just purpose of my talk is just kind of highlight some of the kind of the main issues and generally just up front on all the buildings I looked at there's they're all structurally pretty sound um so a lot of these issues are are kind of still minor to a certain degree

050but but since this this is an old masonary building and we you get a lot of masonary cracking um basically all around there's there's um Planters um on the front of this building that are pretty well deteriorated um the stone caps the foundations the Planters about had it um this building has a lot of original windows and they're they're just a lot of glazing cocking that just just pretty pretty bad um there's on the this one side of the building you see a lot several gopher holes some of the rins that are taken over and then then under the building is there's a series of utility tunnels under the original building and this picture on the right um is looking up at the at the roof of that tunnel and you're seeing some spalled concrete

051now that's under an isolated spot in the tunnel which goes from the boiler building into the main building so it's it's under uh some pavement here so it's gets lot of moisture and salt from the pavement so that's why it's that's why it's uh uh looks that way so but overall Harris and then oh one more issue um the the gymnasium has these uh cracks at the corners of almost all four corners um in the uh uh you can see them on the inside and outside of the the building a lot of that has to do with there's there's just no joints to take thermal movement and eventually just it just cracks so the the masoner is showing the age on this building um but the but the structure inside the masoner is pretty solid

052uh the next building is is is eisenh har High School this is a big building it was built 1958 originally and then it had it's had multiple reconstructions additions and uh that's what you see on the right um so it's it has it has it's a it's a one to three story building um so some of some of its issues um uh it has a brick veneer uh generally the brick vanera looks pretty good um here you can see just there's just a I think there's a what they call a shelf angle where the brick is supported the up up high the brick is supported on a I believe it what I believe is a shelf angle and you see a little bit of horizontal crack on some of the very taller walls and then

053a lot of the problems with the Eisenhower it's really not with the building itself but it's with with the site and uh so this is this is uh a retaining wall on one of the docks that that the that you know everywhere you have a handrail post the concrete's just spalling off and then then here's another older retaining wall where the handrail you know concrete's spalling off the retaining wall and then um this building also has these These Old tunnels and generally these tunnels are are are structurally sound and and most of the tunnels are dry but occasionally get some some wet tunnels and U and that which causes issues with some of the pipe supports you can see the corroded pipe support it was fixed at one time and now still corroding again so

054that's been wet for a long time and then um also an Eisenhower um just happened to look at it after it rained um so it uh has a really flat roof so a lot of the water does not drain away very well and one of the issues that that that the school wanted me to look at is is in is in the the the original gymnasium um it has a fiberboard roof that spans from roof joist to roof joist and they there was a gap between the fiberboard and exterior wall and they're covered with this metal that's kind of like you know bent metal and um structurally I don't this is really not an issue because because it's this fiber board is actually supported on the joist that Gap is really meant to be there

055the Wall's not moving or the joist aren't moving um but uh that that's just something we looked at it's not really a problem and then uh we looked I looked at one of the newest buildings um John's Hills magnet school uh this building is in in really in great shape I mean it's brand should be it's brand new and um so it has it does have a few roof leaks I mean you can see some ponding water on the roof there and just some um uh just some stained ceiling tiles and then um then probably I search for a structural problem there's a few cracks in the floor that's about that's about structurally that's about all I can find is a few cracks in the floor which which um which I don't concrete cracks and

056these it's the separation is more horizontally not vertically so there's really no recommendation to fix this at all um so that concludes the kind of the schools and now the next four buildings are more of the admin buildings maintenance buildings so this is a the buildings and ground office office and repair garage so the office is was built in the in the 1920s um it consists of uh you know uh you know uh one to twostory um brick buildings um with full basements and um and then then the then detached on the same side as a as a garage it was built back in the 1960s it's it's a m it's a concrete block structure so this The Office Buildings uh has a lot of um exterior issues um a lot of a lot of

057a lot of cracks um in in in the brick um over a lot of the window and door heads there's there's uh still beams or lentils that support the brick over the window openings um those those um lentils that steel is is pack rusting when when when still rust it expands it just pushes the brick up and causes cracks and um so um this this building um on the on the left is kind of the main entrance into the office um it has a lot of a that that concrete old concrete stair has a lot of spalling corrosion um it got to the point where they needed to build a a wood step with it um um there's a there's a there's a mat on top of that l Landing that actually covers up some

058spalled concrete so so that probably needs to be replaced at some point in time uh the foundation around this building is concrete uh generally the concrete foundation basement walls are are pretty really solid but but they just have you know some some spalled concrete you can see some exposed rebar above that one window um um probably the some of the bigger issues with this is it has these um concrete docks outside um this is this is um there's like three of these I call them can lever docks that can lever off the building and you can see the underneath side of that dock is really um corroded pretty bad a lot of a lot of rebar um in the concrete's corroded so that's probably not not I wouldn't I'd say that's probably a structurally unsound

059condition um and then there's another dock um on the left in the back of the building it's it's a similar condition um far as framing in in the office building the framing generally is very good a lot of lot of concrete floors but the roof is framed with wood and there's just like two areas where we've had moisture issues in the past um but those are isolated issues um another issue it's not a major issue but but on the rear of this building there's a still canopy there's a lot of rust on that canopy the rust doesn't bother me so much because it's just surface rust but there's one connection that you can see a close-up view of that has a threaded Rod that threaded Rod's not engaged in that connection really well so that

060probably needs to be fixed and then and then there's a tower on this top of the office building the tower itself looks good um but they've got all these guy wires coming off the tower and this is an example of one of the connections on the right of those guy wires it's just not adequate so it needs the tower e needs to come down if it's not used or the GU wires need to be reconnected to the parapets we couldn't find any R bands that yeah that's it it it didn't look good um and then the then the um the Repair Garage which is detached from the main office building is a single white concrete block structure and uh on one side concrete walls on the other side um generally it's a pretty sound building

061it's got some looks like some impact damage to the concrete block it's got one concrete has one one pretty good Siz crack that goes all the way through on this these two pictures on the outside and inside um the next building is across the street it's a um the warehouse and Annex um the the warehouse is is probably built back in the I'm it's unknown but it's probably 20s 30s and then the annex is a newer building it's to the north um these are these two buildings are on story um um again these buildings are a lot of the issues on these buildings are with the outside masonry um notice on on this picture on the right um uh they've got all this red orange fencing um because they the School District closed the sidewalk

062because the because the the the West Wall of this building is is actually unstable and um I got some pictures to kind of demonstrate that so so what's happening is is we got some excessively um pack rusted steel over these openings that that still is expanded almost with with in a quarter inch it's probably expanded to you know an inch and a half and it's really caused a lot of cracking through these walls and and uh to the point where where some of these walls are getting um unstable because of these um essentially these this these this steel that's that's causing these cracks uh so so um you know I think this is one that you might want to fix sooner than later some of these exterior it's repairable but the the exterior walls of

063this of this this old um building um it's more than just this wall by the uh that's closed on the sidewalk the wall opposite on the eid's similar condition um and then another issue with that the old part of this building is is built with these um what they call them bow tie trusses they have a they have an arch top and a flat bottom and um and one truss um Far East truss um failed not sure why um but but but you can kind of see on the picture on the right it's kind of hard to see but but there's a vertical strut in that truss or web that's that buckled and and and the school sistered that web with some new Lumber and then then on the on the left you can see

064some Shoring post that they Ed to support that truss that that truss dropped about three Ines um um the other trusses look okay um there's what the attic looks like um then the the roof over that that um those bow TI trusses is arched there is some ponding water that that that probably needs to be taken care of too at some point in time uh the next building is the professional development Institute uh which is just just less than a block from here uh it consists of two buildings that were built back in the probably 1920s um they're they're they're they're solid um brick wall buildings and and there's a connecting a newer connecting building between the two buildings um there's there's two stories uh with full basements um so so on the South Side

065on the left picture you got a you got a A brick Arch that has a pretty good Siz crack in it that's something that you should take care of soon before the crack grows and then then on the right side again it's kind of a repeat myself you get these these still lentils or beams over these openings that that that roughs expand and and crack the wall there's there's it's cracking a concrete block wall on a on a rear garage on the North side and then you can see cracks of of um due to this expanding steel lentils uh next to these openings here too on these two pictures um and then then the brick on this building um not in super good shape um you got a lot of um areas where the brick

066is really spalling and the brick was painted and this picture on the right kind of De demonstrates why you should not paint brick buildings and um unless it's a special type of paint and I I don't know what type of paint this was but I believe it was not what I call a vapor a type of paint that allows water vapor to escape and here here you can see the paint is peeling off this is on the south side of the south building and um and behind that the the mortar is just really soft uh so this the paint's not you're not painting these buildings you didn't do a favor to these buildings um on the inside um you got some other you got moisture ises on the inside this is a on the left

067is inside of a an old stairwell that's not used um you get a lot of um bricks and bricks spalling and and a lot of what called efflorescence that's that white stuff it's this kind of salt that's being coming to the surface this moisture migrates that salt to the surface and on the on the right picture is the basement and you're getting a lot of moisture coming into the basement wall the basements look dry but you're just getting moisture coming into the walls and that's with bunch of peeling paint on that that picture over there um the last building I looked at is Kyle administrative is this building right here um I mean overall this is a solid building it has a concrete floors concrete roof um masonary walls um is built in the in

068the N about 1928 um um but you're but a building that age you're going to get similar problems that we've already talked about so you're going to see a repeat myself repeat here a little bit this is building is three stories with a full basement so so on the outside we we again we get some um some of these expanding pack rust lentils causing the brick to push up on the outside so so so on the on the south side of the building is probably the worst about about three Windows those lentils are are probably pushed up quite a bit in fact the the the Brick just below the roof is it appears that it's actually kind of bowing out a little bit just on this just on the South Side um around the rest

069of the building it it looks okay um you still have you still have some expanding pack lentils but they're kind of minor they were cocked on on the left and then um then on the back of the building you've got these um uh these H these HVAC units inside a chain link fence which not a problem but you got this really light um wood framing over those and um and that that framing um is not good so I would highly recommend you take that framing down you get a good snow drift on that it'll it'll just collapse right on top of your units and and you cause problems um the uh probably the biggest issue with this building is um is on the on the front side of the building um you can see on

070the exterior photo is a is a is a conc next ior concrete slab that's over part of the basement so so the left is is outside above um the right is what it looks like below um the basement that this is over is not being used or occupied but this laab is in pretty sorry shape it really needs to be uh taken out um so right now you've got these parking bumpers to prevent people from parking on that which is a great idea you shouldn't have any uh Vehicles parked on here um but but at some point in time uh this it'll the deterioration is going to continue until the till till the slap eventually collapses um but but like I said overall this building is solid as um very solid um another issue it's

071not a super big issue but but the there's a there's a flag on top of the building um the the flag is is is anchored with three like a tension rods well the bolts on these tension rods are pretty rusted really needs to be replaced I don't want the you don't want the flag to to fall over um so that's that concludes the uh the structures is there any questions about anything particular I showed you um going back to John's Hill yes not to flog a dead horse but uh on a three-year-old building what's I mean looking at three-year-old buildings how often do roofs leak um the I'm there's not widespread leak in the roof um that picture I showed you with a ceiling tile that that that's that's I think I I think I

072remember seeing that in one area Okay um and when you're on the roof the roof generally slopes pretty well and you see some what I call kind of I think I saw about three maybe four minor areas where the the the um where the water was ponding um but I think I mean generally I think the roof is in good condition um um my experience is that these leaks is not really due to where it's ponding on the roof because the membrane's going to keep that from going it's probably probably some flashing somewhere there's a lot of there are a lot of rooftop units on that roof and um and every every time you have a a rooftop unit you introduce a hole in the roof that has to be flashed and um and it's

073just a it's it's it's always a maintenance headache on all building buildings with rooftop units they invariably are going to leak at some point in time I wouldn't say that the leaks are major at John's Hill so I'm not really I don't want to I don't want to overstate that because because it's not a it's not a the roof's in really good shape generally speaking but it does leak but it's minor have the leaks into the auditorium at Johns Hill been has that been corrected You Did You observe that I didn't see anything in the auditorium the auditorium um well yeah the auditorium I didn't see any leaks in the auditorium but but that but it's hard to for me to spot all the leaks because I was only out there for one day and

074uh and in the auditorium there wasn't a lot of seiling tile to to to get stained either so um that that leak I saw I believe was probably in a in a upstairs hallway Corridor um so you've heard of leaks but it maybe I I don't know what what the warranties on those roofs are the roofs may be warrantied and you probably get the contractor back out you may want to talk to your District architect about that yeah and then uh not to jump buildings on you but on the buildings and grounds Warehouse the annex with the bow tie roof um that space in between the drop ceiling and the actual roof ceiling is there are there sprinklers in there or is that just open to fire Ingress that's a good question I I bet

075you we can see them in a picture how do I go back on this oh that's okay um here I have to have my thing I bet you I can see them in the picture here there are fire sprinklers okay in the attic I see them on the picture okay that's what I thought those were I just want to clarify yeah they're they're they they're they're there Sorry's kind of slow um yeah as long as they're there I'm actually almost there so there's the building there it is but too far sorry yeah there you can see the you can see a kind of a dark line yeah there's there's actually two lines there those are those are fire sprinklers okay thank so the attic is sprink but that is a fire trap you're you're right

076if that sprinkler system wasn't there that could be a risk question for staff too have we as we move through this planning process uh will this document this will be the first document in will we have an opportunity to review this document in its entirety as well is that a do Curry question yeah Dr Curry question U I have them all printed out upstairs in draft form so far are um once we get all the reports in we'll work with cleaner to make sure that we have everything cleaned up as far as you know just the presentation of the documents and then we'll have a finished version but I have currently have two three- ring binders um completely full and we still have four or five next next next meeting and then we're done so

077yes there'll be a document open to everyone okay other questions thoughts okay thank you okay we'll look forward to the next series of reports here coming up I'm assume at the next meeting um K Kyle hannel my cohort is going to be here for that good deal okay thank you thank you so much I think we'll move on to our next report would be Mr Khan with a first read of the 2425 code of conduct and parent handbook wait a minute you're going to read the the whole thing sir thank God I did superintendent Clark president clevinger board Madam Secretary I am not going to read you right now all right good good I'm not even going to read you all of the updates because I'm assuming you don't want me to but I am

078going to highlight some that I think um you know stand out and just talk next steps um so there's there's about five pages five pages of a summary of changes and I'll tell you 90% of them are just verbiage there are things that as the attorneys read through they recommended we change there are some things that I added um from different departments it um for the so you know the process it goes out to all of um Central administration building principles we asked them to review it um not principles to start central Administration specifically their departments HR reviews HR Dr Curry reviews Finance Etc um I look at the the behavior um expulsion language stuff like that so we start there U make any updates that they recommend and then it goes to the attorneys

079um and they do a first read for us and keep us current as far as laws like one of the things we updated was a language for Faith's law um we updated some verbiage when it comes to expulsions and suspensions just to make sure we're in compliance with some new bills that are coming out stuff like that so um we did add a section oh yeah got my Clicker um we added a section here um named programs for students at risk of academic failure and or dropping out of school there's graduation incentive programs so um we are trying to put in proactive steps for all students even those that are struggling um I know that we you guys have put a focus on that as a board even when we look at expulsions and making

080sure students have options that allow them an Avenue for success and to complete their education so um that is something that's now U been added to the the code of conduct again these are wording changes um I want to point out the the last two bullets on this slide um in the section titled administrative procedures a section named hold in place was added um historically in our code of conduct and at schools we have soft lockdowns and hard lockdowns well when we do those specifically in an elementary school it makes parents nervous right because for example if we have a a student who's upset and we put the building on a soft lock down just to help keep him or her safe in the hallway if they're moving through the hallways uh maybe they're tipping

081over chairs desks we don't want them to get hurt we don't want anybody else we put a building in soft lock down well if kids leave school and that rooc call like that happened at the end of the day the robo call hasn't went home before them parents immediately start calling rightfully so they want to know what happened their building was on lock down they didn't know um so we put a hold in place um in specifically for situations like that situations where there's no imminent threat or danger for the building but we need students to remain in their classroom for two minutes or five minutes or until it's it's lifted so it's just a just another tool for our administrators um to utilize in the buildings and then um the bigger one of the

082bigger updates from my department um was just the alt dead piece it hadn't been updated in a couple years it still referenced some committees that don't exist um it still said Garfield learning so um we just um Dr Curry was kind enough to point some of that out to me and we went through it and updated all of it so it is current with our current program current name um expectations and the last page again mainly just verbes um or sorry second to last the last page there is a couple if you look at the third bullet um there was I I referenced this already old language was removed and new language added under face law and then the last bullet um we added some very specific items under the illegal drug section um we

083were pretty broad with um Vapes and things like that um but you know I think Dr Clark and talking to legal and attending some different conferences that the states offered we made sure we put in any specific THC and THC a Vapes um because they're all very dangerous and they didn't necessarily fall under one of the other categories that we might have had so we just went ahead and made sure we included those so after the first read what's going to happen is um central office we'll check with them one more time to make sure there's no more updates relative their their Department um we have caught one Dr Grant I've already talked about um we want to make sure the course guide and the code of conduct aligns for certain things with graduation there

084may be some discrepancy so we'll clean that up but that's just a perfect example of why we do more than one read um um legals already viewed the document but they will see it again before we finalize it all um and then of course um the discipline action committee um that conversation occurs throughout the year um Alana Banks was was there for multiple meetings this year um so those are the people that kind of lay eyes on it and of course you know before we do a a final submission you guys see it it sounds like Mr Reynolds has already read it so it's pretty lengthy yeah um I was able to stay awake most of the time so that's kind of where we are um after tonight it'll it'll go back um just for

085cleanups you know um and we'll make sure it's nice and tight before we put it out for registration next year uh one quick question um what type of representation do you have on the discipline action committee um it's it's actually right here so um I'm there we have Elementary principal we we have high school representation Middle School representation um board representation there is um we did have magnet I don't think there's currently anybody on it but again we have Elementary Middle School and High School um and we do have the benefit of having like Mr Raina who was at elementary now but spent several years in high school so um one of the other things that we've put out this year um is to create a parent committee we do have applicants um Maria's Department

086Department helped us do that um so I've reached out to those families we have some parents who are ready and willing to serve next year so what it'll look like as we meet monthly from four to uh 4 to 5 as a discipline action committee the parents will come in from like 5 to 5:30 or 5 to 5:45 that way we can get that Community input um we were pretty strategic with parents that we chose and we're still reaching out to some um we chose families that had multiple representations so um maybe um Elementary students middle school students high school students we had some families that had kids in up to three different buildings um we had some people who had really really strong um knowledge of just our district um have had kids go

087throughout some were even previous employees so so we do have that aspect coming in too which will give us a different angle some more insight um hopefully you know just continue to help our broaden our view and clean you know help help clean things up a little bit is this handbook a an appropriate place to have a cell phone policy yeah so we do have a cell phone policy um in the handbook it's written out there I believe it's 7190 um and it does talk about when you should and should not be using your cell phone yep where is that in here uh it's in the code of conduct I can't give you the specific page number but it's in one of our policies as well that exact policy is in the code of conduct

088I can find it for you if you want an email you Mr Reynolds there's actually one that um for kids and staff it is in there okay yeah I'd like to see it because I looked real hard for it and I didn't I didn't see it okay and are we doing are are we are we looking with this policy to keep the cell phones out of the classroom so that's kind of why I defer to to Dr Clark on it so we do have the policy in there buildings do still have some autonomy though right um and I think that's where so like when I was at Stephenie CER we said no cell phones we don't want to see them in the hallway we even cut them out at lunch um and the building just

089functioned better middle schoolers had a hard time controlling their themselves when they had access to those phones we do have some classrooms I know where or buildings where kids check them for the day if they bring them um so I don't think we don't have a districtwide policy saying you cannot have a phone but we do address cell phone usage appropriate usage um and we discuss students and um staff so so our policy would be I would have to find it for you in order for you to to to tell you all of it verbatim so let me find that and give it to you because it will just be easier to find a policy and then have you look at what we have written I uh page 76 thank you I'm I'm uncomfortable with

090with the Public's lack of perception about what exactly our policy is on cell phones if if we blanketly say cell phones aren't allowed in the classroom that that's black and white okay I'm I'm not interested in a policy where the teachers have to enforce this I I really think it's an Administration issue for us but I have not read a study anywhere that says cell phones uh are positive for our children in school not one and and I think as as part of a real considered effort to raise our test scores and to really be sincere about making changes that are positive for our kids we really need a strong policy about cell phones I I I can't say enough how strongly I feel about that and I I understand that part of it but

091it will take more than just Administration is going to take all staff so if we say absolutely no cell phones and no one should be having cell phones utilizing cell phones in the classroom right yes then we can't have a kid using the cell phone to do multiplication facts and it's okay in the classroom we have iPad we have iPads I'm making an I'm just talking this as an example okay um but we all do have to get on the same page and so and that's where the struggle is you have some that will say absolutely no you know you're not supposed to have cell phones and then you have some that will allow it so that's the hard part and I'm just just being honest I I would like us to struggle with that

092challenge I would like us to really say to our to our parents and to our teachers and to our our students these are Big distractions teachers have a have a tough enough time keeping the attention of children without worrying about them taking a cell phone and I I've heard some people say we actually have too much technology in the classrooms we got iPads and computers okay now and with we're allowing cell phones taking the cell phone out will bless the kids as far as their attention is concerned and I hate to be on a high horse but I just I just want us as a district in my feelings are that we really need to concentrate on this because it's one of the keys to raising our scores it's one of the keys to getting

093the kids attention that you know this is what we're about some of these fights that we've that we've been disciplining our kids with are because of cell phones because of social media that people see that kids see and they get these rumors and they get these taunts that I'm going to fight you or I'm going to meet you after school from cell phones let's eliminate that yeah let's make everybody's life easier I'm done well I think those are conversations very legitimate conversations and I I Mark I I agree with you um and I think the research out there validates that position very strongly and I think we as a district um I would propose that we can't have school a doing one thing and school B doing something else this has to be a unified

094districtwide policy uh that we've talked about staff our administrative staff has talked about and we've had conversations with our staff from top to bottom about the validity of control of the cell phone usage and where they can and can't be and once that's all agreed upon and we set a course of action then we have to stay the course so I think a big problem is I think we can make these decisions we can say these things right but I think that was kind of alluded to that we need more than staff I think we need Community buyin um you need some what I didn't Community Buy in you know support families and you know um what if this question were added to part of like the strategic planning stuff that we're talking about I

095me part of that is to engage Community um I mean is that a is that a possibility is a good idea I mean I've not done it maybe it's a horrible idea I don't know what what we think it's funny you ask that because um a while back and I don't remember how long ago it could have been a year or so ago we actually pulled and to get that same response and believe it or not it wasn't overwhelming yes or overwhelming no you had some that felt yeah you should you have some that felt no you shouldn't and when you have that divide it's hard to be consistent everybody's too close to the middle yeah and we we did and I remember having these conversations um and there's definitely two different views right and

096I've dealt with it at elementary and middle school um but we did we even had some families who just said I'm not uh I'm not sending my kid to school without their phone but these are all things again that are addressed and we are just you know this is the first read so it's a great time to bring it up and and I'll let Dr Clark and and the board determine how we move forward but this is a time for it so let me just give you a couple of Statistics the chances of a child dying in a shooting death in a school is one in one million the chances of a of a student in grades in age 5 to 12 committing suicide is three in 1 million the idea of a 13 to

09716y old doing suicide is 70 to 1 million so we have a problem with our youth a lot more serious than worrying about somebody doing a shooting in school and we probably need to give more attention to the mental side of our of our students upbringing and and and what they get exposed to than worrying about them having a cell phone so that they can work that their parents can feel safe about a shooting in the school and parents if if they if the parents understand that the cell phones are not a benefit they're they're not bringing anything positive to the table to for their children at least in school okay we need to fight that fight about those type of those type of parents and help educate them as far as what the what

098the real world is all about and as a district we're doing a lot of work on the social emotional piece and the mental well-being of students and staff so it's a good time to integrate that conversation I agree I um would like to I I personally don't have um a position on cell phone policy I I'd like to hear from a lot of people we talked about this a year ago um but we were told that the administration uh felt that the policy was the best I know dozens of Staff members in the school district who would like to see a change in the cell phone policy um Mary Brady had a wonderful month ago she brought it to us the math curiculum proposal and she had a wonderful task force that really investigated it

099thoroughly using staff from various um grade levels um and so it was really a thorough input from the people who were working on these things every day I think we should do the same thing to look at the cell phone policy we need a task force that involves the people who are working in the schools uh they're the ones that have to deal with this um and they have various opinions it won't be it won't be unified I'm sure um but I think we need that input so I would like us to really work towards getting a task force set up because I agree with what you guys are saying that we need to look at it but I think we can't know fully what's the best way to go until we get input from

100our staff and I I mean we can I'm sure that you guys will discuss what that looks like moving forward I'd be happy to start it with that committee um the downfall to that committee is they won't start meeting again until we come back to school so I'm talking about a whole different task force not using any current committee setting up a task force of people you've got everyone who works in this school district is involved um if they are working with students they're involved with the handling cell phones so I'm not saying the committee would be every person who works in the district but getting representatives of every grade level of every school into a task force um how that would work I don't have any exact solution for that but if we keep

101putting this off we're just ignoring our staff as if they have no opinions and I think they do have some very good opinions because they're the ones who have to deal with it all the time how do you other board members feel about this I think if we did a survey of high school or or any of the teachers and said do you do you agree with the idea that cell phones are a distraction in the school I think the vast majority would say yes it's a distraction we don't know that until we ask them trust me the studies that are out there well that's not the studies aren't about our particular staff though we need to ask our staff what they think well you you're looking at if you're looking at other states that

102are following this Indiana is excluded cell phones from their all their schools I know but Florida Florida's done the same I don't want to go by what other states and schools are doing I want to go by what our people are working with that's you know that's part of I mean part of that I think would also be just what we need to do more often anyway is is make the staff of our school feel like their opinions are important and I think that would be a useful step this is one of the most important issues and I agree Mark that it's a national thing that it gets discussed all over the place um but I don't want to make a decision based on what other states and other schools are doing I want to

103hear from our staff and I can include research but I wouldn't want to go just by that that's my personal feelings will yeah and I'm not going to jump right into into this issue right now because I need a lot more information specifically but but on the policy front is what I need clarification on because we have our board policy that has information about cell phones we have our acceptable use policy that has information about cell phones and then our student handbook and the question I have are are those aligned I'm going to get uh half and pool uh policy 7190 for you because I believe that's where it is so at least let us start looking there and then we can get you all your answers and then have a question that I don't

104want answered but I do want you to think about because when we get this information for for you and it comes back the same way it did before are you then going to make a decision that if these people are not following and parents are not following that we're going to take measures that may result in more suspensions and I'm not asking for you to answer me tonight but I do need for you to start thinking about this because this is is the path that we're getting ready to take so we're talking about suspensions from students and write ups from staff from Administration on down I am not talking about that I'm talking about finding out what people think would be a good way to go I think you're making decisions assuming that you know

105what people are going to say no I didn't I said here's my question I don't want to answer this is what I want you to think about assuming that's how I started that it comes back the way that did before or are we going to mandate these things and when they don't follow it or are we going to then start doing a b and c when you say it comes back if it comes back like it did before from where from who when we did our last survey of who from the staff when was that I I don't remember the exact time but I think it's about a year or so ago when we did this yes we did CU I remember reading it when did we get the results of that survey we talked

106about it but I couldn't tell you when no we never got this board never got results of a survey it was never even mentioned I talked to Bill about this in the summer he talked about having a task force perhaps we have never received a survey results I'll look for it because I'm pretty sure it was one of those questions it be nice if we would have received the results we did not receive any such results I'm pretty sure you did so do you guys have any more questions for me something I would have noticed that any more questions for me TK Force yes okay okay I back to back to the overall policy manual okay this is I I guess the two pieces are that I wanted to bring up are we derive the

107student policy manual from our board policies correct from the board our our overarching board policy from the for the stent large conduct yes and then these changes are largely reading through these are things that are uh coming from at law change and then things that are put forward by isbe so this is a a very standard policy manual I wouldn't say cookie cutter but for matching our policy as far as the the overarching guidelines right it's specific to our district but we definitely follow all of the the bills and laws you know from the state of Illinois and is um but yeah you know we we continue to update it every year based on what we see in our district what we're experiencing um make the appropriate changes to make it fit our our staff

108and our or our student population okay thank you so much no problem anything else guys thank you okay thank you okay any other thoughts questions I think we have some uh work ahead of us to to take a look at this I I guess I would U let us leave the this uh with a thought if we're going to have policies and we're going to have policy in place we either enforce the policy or we don't have the policy and I don't think that's too difficult to do I think it's the hard work is getting to the policy that works for us in District 61 based on and as we hear and here and here out there today we want to be data driven well we want to be research-based and data driven as far

109as what the results are going to be for our kids and we want to put our kids in the best position possible to be successful academically and with that I want to add to that so data driven can mean many things now a change that creates a 1% increase in test scores that's a change that increases test scores and I think that that's one thing we need to think about when we're talking about cell phones what kind of change are we expecting that to make are we creating discipline issues are we we creating an environment where we can have a discipline issue that we've created for a small gain in academic performance in other words I think that we need to make sure that [Music] we're and put it simply choosing our battles um if

110banning cell phones if the data shows that we're going to create this 20% gain in in academic performance I think it's worth pursuing but if if there are other choices that we can make to create better gains in academic performance and we're just doing this because of studies that we read that might be viewed within our own personal bubbles or vacuums or uh through the lens through which we individually see life um and you know appeasing those wants and needs rather than focusing on the student and the large gains that we can make I think that we need to re-evaluate what we're doing and how we're doing it that makes sense like small gains versus big gains and choosing your battles well I think we have a good start here and we know we have

111some work ahead of us so with that Dr Clark that um will end our reports from Administration okay we'll now move on to consent items does any does anybody have an item that they'd like to pull from the consent agenda okay hearing none Dr Clark I recommend the Board of Education approve the consent items as presented which includes a minutes open close meetings April 23rd 2024 B Freedom of Information report C bills D account provisioning software renewal e ratification of the Mak P special education District payment to embrace education for IEP and 504 management software please note the Mak pay special education board executive board approved the purchase at the April 18 2024 board meeting have a motion so moved second discussion Miss Bradford Mr Wetzel I Mr shider hi Mr Clevenger hi Mr Dion

112hi and Mr Reynolds Hi 5 i0 n to absent motion carried thank you uh we'll now move on to our roll call Action items do we have a recommendation on student 0040 expulsion case yes I recommend the Board of Education authorize the issuance of a decision in the exposion case for student number 2324 d004 consistent with the findings from the hearing officer's report and that student number 23244 be expelled from the decor Public School District all events property and activities of the district for the remainder of the 20123 2024 school year and all of the 2024 2025 school year through the first semester of the 2025 2026 school year with no stay for alternative education please note student number 23244 can return on the first day of the second semester of the 2025 2026 school

113year parents will be notified the first day of the second semester for the 2025 2026 school year once the calendar for the 25 26 school year is approved parents will also be notified of other educational options available for student number 23 24-4 during the expulsion period do I have a motion so move second discussion M Bradford Mr Reynolds hi Mr Dion hi Mr shider I Mr Clevenger I and Mr Wetzel I five i08 to absent motion carried do we have a recommendation on student 2324 d41 one expulsion case yes I recommend the Board of Education authorize the issuance of a decision excuse me in the expulsion case for student number 2324 d41 consistent with the findings from the hearing officer's report and that student number 23 24- 0041 be expelled from the decor Public School

114District all events property and activities of the district for the remainder of the 2324 school year and all of the 2425 school year through the first semester of the 2526 school year with no stfe or return of Education please note student number d41 can return on the first day of the second semester of the 2526 school year parents will be notified of the first day of the second semester for the 2526 school year once the calendar for the 2526 school year is approved parents will also be notified of other educational options available for student number number 23 24- 0041 during the expulsion period do I have a motion so move second discussion M Bradford Mr shider I Mr Reynolds I Mr wetle I Mr cleer hi and Mr Dion Hi Five i z n motion

115carried do we have a recommendation on student 23 24-42 expulsion case yes I recommend the Board of Education authorize the issuance of a decision in the exposion case for student number 23 24-42 consistent with the findings from the hearing officer report and that student number 2324 d42 be expelled from the cater Public School District all events property and activities of the district for the remainder of the 2324 school year and all of the 2425 school year through first semester of the 2526 school year year with no stay for alternative education please note student number d42 can return on the first day of the second semester for the 25 26 school year parents will be notified that the first day of the second semester for the 2526 school year once the calendar for the 2526 school

116year is approved parents will also be notified of other educational options available for student number 2324 d42 During the exposion period do I have a motion move second discussion M Bradford Mr cleer hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr Dion hi Mr shider hi and Mr Wetzel Hi Five I zero name motion Carri thank you do we have a recommendation for the consideration and action on a possible suspension without pay for a teamster employe yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the suspension without pay for Teamster employee Derek Brown effective May 15 2024 May 16th 2024 May 17th 2024 May 20th 2024 May 21st 2024 May 22nd 2024 and May 23rd 2024 as presented do I have motion so moved second discussion Miss Bradford Mr shider I Mr wetel hi Mr cleer hi Mr Reynolds hi

117and Mr Dion Hi 5 i0 n motion carried and two absent thank you do we have a recommendation for the Personnel action items yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the Personnel action items listed in the memo from Monica wils Director of Human Resources deian Hillman interim Director of Human Resources and the human resources department as presented do I have a motion so move second second discussion I do have a question on the payments to um many staff members for the DPS Mentor program on April 30th 2024 is that a one day thing or is that the culmination of the whole year of the mentor program this is the culmination for the whole year they get a payment in December and then they get one just seemed kind of high for one day yeah

118no it's it's a culmination of all of the hours that they've done any other discussion questions M Bradford Mr cleer hi Mr Dion Mr Reynolds Mr Wetzel hi and Mr shider Hi 5 I 082 absent motion carried to doe we have a recommendation for the ratification of the Mak Patt special education District salary schedules for administration and administrative support yes I recommend the Board of Education ratify the Mak pay special education District salary schedules for administration and administrative support staff as presented please note the Mak pay special education executive board approved this item during their April 18th 2024 board meeting do we have a motion so mve second discussion M Bradford Mr Dion hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr cleer hi Mr shider and Mr Wetzel I five i z n to absent motion carried thank

119you do we have a recommendation for the intergovernmental agreement for futures unlimited and Milligan Academy between the Mak P Regional Office of Education 39 and decater Public School District 61 for the 2425 school year yes I recommend a board of education approved the intergovernmental agreement for futures Unlimited in Milligan Academy between the Mak and pay regional office of education 39 indicator Public School District 61 for the 2024 2025 school year as presented do I have a motion I'll move second discussion um for this new program for uh stud I was gonna ask uh students with uh high anxiety um do we have kids that we've already identified that will go students that will go to that program or is just something new that we still have to work out with with the or are we

120um I don't know about that new Pro program just yet I do know that uh Miss Rey is working through some things but this is our continued program with them for our all Ed when we can house them in ours and then for our kids that are overage um under credit that can work through their program to graduate so we still don't know too much about that anxiety pie okay thank you further discussion M Bradford Mr Reynolds hi Mr Dion hi Mr shider hi Mr Clevenger hi and Mr Wetzel Hi Five i0 n to absent motion carried do we have a recommendation for the iPad carts for extended day yes I recommend the Board of Education approved the iPad carts for extended dat as presented motion so moved second discussion Miss Bradford Mr cleer Mr

121Reynolds hi Mr Dion hi Mr shider hi and Mr Wetzel Hi Five i z n two absent motion carried thank you do we have a recommendation for the bloom headphone headsets yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the bloom headphone headset as presented do I have a motion to move second discussion M Bradford Mr cleer hi Mr Dion hi Mr Mr Reynolds Mr Wetzel hi and Mr shider I five i0 n two absent motion carried do we have a recommendation for the Gopher spark PE curriculum yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the Gopher spark PE curriculum as presented do I have a motion second we can pick our second there uh discussion Miss Bradford Mr shider hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr Wetzel hi Mr cleer hi and Mr Dion five i0 a

122to absent motion carried do we have a recommendation for the Lakeshore Learning for bomb Elementary School yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the Lakeshore Learning for bomb elementary school as presented motion so move second discussion Miss Bradford Mr Wetzel hi Mr shider hi Mr clev I Mr Dion and Mr Reynolds 5 i0 N2 absent motion carried do we have a recommendation for the Lakes Shore learning for muffley elementary school yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the Lakeshore Learning for muffley elementary school as presented motion so move second discussion M Bradford Mr shider hi Mr Wetzel hi Mr clevinger hi Mr Reynolds hi and Mr Dion 5 i z motion carry two absent do we have a recommendation for the Lakes Shore learning for South Shores Elementary School yes I recommend the

123Board of Education approve the Lakes Shore learning for South Shores Elementary School as presented motion second discussion there there's a price difference is there any big reason for that 78 versus 67 each School chose individual items for what they wanted so it kind of depended on the needs of the school so that would be the difference in the prices further discussion Miss Bradford Mr Dion hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr Clinger I Mr shider and Mr Wetzel I 5 i02 absent motion carried do we have a recommendation for the Skyward software service renewal yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the Skyward software service renewal as presented do I have a motion so move second discussion M Bradford Mr Reynolds hi Mr Wetzel hi Mr shider hi Mr cger hi and Mr Dion 5 i0

124N2 absent motion carried we have a recommendation for the first Furniture bid for the Ellsworth Dansby junor Magnet School yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the furniture bid for the Ellsworth Dansby junor magnet school as presented motion so moved second discussion M Bradford Mr shider hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr Wetzel hi Mr Clevenger hi and Mr Dion 5 i0 N2 absent motion carried thank you we've made it through all those items now um let's move on to some announcements um some particular announcements here Betty Jean Nash Shelly who passed away Monday April 29th Miss Shell was the grandmother of Timothy Shelly uh student behavioral interventionist at stud in the student services department and we had Deshawn mcneel Garcia who passed away Sunday May 5th 24 Deshawn was the a Steven Decor middle school

125student in the essential skills program through the Mak pet special education district and coach Bill Harbeck passed away on Sunday May 12th 2024 the legendary he was a legendary former track coach at MacArthur High School boys track girls track um I could go on reading but I don't think there's been a coach in decater history who's had more impact uh than Bill Harbeck had in our community over those years he was a motivator of kids he was a teacher extraordinaire and he was the guy in the hall who recruited every kid could do something and he was out there day in and day out just making it happen for kids and I personally could tell you that as an employee summer employee of the decator park district Bill Harbeck helped Drive the stalish drier program

126to it had National recognition back then so just condolences to the Harbeck family some important dates we're we're getting ready to to bring the closers in here now um May 18th uh the graduation s ceremony at MacArthur High School at 11:00 a.m. um May 18th at Eisenhower uh we have MacArthur at 11 Eisenhower at 2 uh both are on the field the football fields weather permitting Memorial Day holiday is May 27 and the last day of school for the 2324 school year is May 28th uh June 8 18th last day of school for the Dennis lab school students just remember June 18th will be that day um and on June 19th our juneth holiday our district offices uh will be closed uh public portion of our next regular meeting the Board of Education will be

127at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday May 28th 2024 Kyle administration building do have a motion to adjourn so moved okay all in favor signify by saying I I oppose same sign hearing none we are adjourned [Music]