Regular Board Meeting May 21, 2026

001We're also streaming on the DPS 109 YouTube channel. Like to call the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. Can I get a can I have a motion to approve the meeting agenda? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I All right. First on the agenda, stronger together in 109. Kathy, >> first we are going to honor our young authors winners. So if you are a young author, please come up. And I think Debbie Cohen is going to give us some background about the young authors program. Uh good evening. Um I am the um young author sponsor um at Caruso and it is a wonderful program that's been going on for many years in our district. It basically gives students the opportunity to uh write a story about anything they want, be as creative as they

002want. They can illustrate their stories. They can write a collection of poetry. Um, and all the stories we get every year amaze us. They're wonderful. Um, I know by the time they reach the middle school level, it is an honor and a privilege to read the stories. They're truly incredible. Um, and hopefully kids will keep writing. Sometimes they'll continue to share after they go to high school, share their writing with us. And, um, we're just very proud that we have this program. And every school, um, the sponsor and staff members, uh, select a winner who represents the school. So, we have several here tonight. Thank you. >> So, we have I know we have some who couldn't be here, but when I call your name, come grab a certificate, but don't leave because we're going

003to want to get your picture. Um, I think TMA could not make it. Is that right? Or is Tama here? >> You're right here. Okay. And Tema, what school are you from? >> Okay. And Sophia Gabbau, did I pronounce that right? And you're from Walden. Melanie Zubakina. >> Not here today. >> Okay. We're from Wilmont. Riley Mendelson. >> Hi Riley. And you're from South Park. >> South Park. And Lucy Bor couldn't make it. Is that right? Can you get that to give that to her? >> That would be great. >> Okay. Um, do you want to talk about your experience and your stories? Anybody? If that movie I could write about. >> Do you want to tell us the title of your stories? Would that be okay? >> Give us some insight into maybe what

004they were about. come up to the Riley. >> Are you all right? >> Um, my story was called The Lost Curse. >> What was it about? Um it was about this girl who like moved a lot because of her mom's job and she found that she had a connection um to like this spiritual kind of guy um when she moved to Italy. And I kind of got the inspiration because back in October I went to Italy with my mom to visit my aunt who uh lived there and it was kind of very inspiring. So that's what mine was about. >> Does anyone else want to share what their stories were? >> Um, my story was called The Queen of Ocean. It was about like this girl who was on vacation once and her grandparents disappeared

005like long ago. Um the so she finds this dragon underwater and the dragon takes her underwater and she finds her grandparents but there's like this evil person who's like trying to take away all like everything from the underwater kingdom. So like in the end they like stop the person and yeah So my excuse me so my story was called the the missing jacket and so basically my story was about a girl and she was a princess and so basically her very expensive jacket went missing and like this took place in in the super elite school and so like there were like two suspects a quiet girl and also like this and also this boy who like was like untouchable and so like and so like towards the end um everyone thought it was like either

006the boy or the girl the boy or the girl but like everyone just thought like oh we'll just vote on the girl because like it's like easier to do that than like actually exploring. So then that's when the detective was called in. And so basically during the end like um how do I say this? Um, so like basically during the end the girl she like put in the jacket in the donation box with the boy because she thought that she had like too much power and too much like um stuff to her. So yeah, that was basically my story and it shows um my story was called Not Invisible Anymore. Um, it was about a girl in middle school who had autism and she like messed up on a school project and somebody in her

007class took a video of it and posted it on social media and it was about like her navigating that and like Yeah. back right to the table so you can get all >> Thank you. And we have another honor. Um, this year, District 109 had two students who placed as state wrestlers in the state wrestling meet. Um, one of them could not be here tonight, but Drew Becker um, took first place. And we have Matteo D'Angelo who placed fifth in state. >> There you go. >> Do you want to talk about your experience going to the state meet? >> Yeah. >> But sure. >> Um, it was just cuz I've been there three times. I really know what it is. Uh um what weight class are you? >> I'm at I went 85. >> Yeah.

008>> How many matches was it until you were >> six all in one day or two days? >> Uh two days. >> What was your favorite take down? >> Uh I I don't really have one. Can we get a picture of you? >> Sure. >> And thanks to coach D'Angelo, too. And next we have a presentation from Walden about their cultural fair. >> All right. Good evening. Uh >> oh. I am thrilled to introduce two of our inclusive practices committee team members who um worked on our cultural celebration that was held at Walden a few weeks ago. I'd like to introduce Chris Frank and Kayn Zimmerman who are going to share a little bit more about our event. Hi there. I'm Chris Frank. On May 6th, we hosted one of the most spectacular events that

009I think Walden has ever had happen. We hosted well and let me say I've been to a lot and they've been and there's and they've all been special but this one was extra extra special. We hosted our first ever Walden cultural celebration on May 6th. Um we have um as part of our strategic plan we have four different committees. Kaylin and I are on our inclusive practices committee and way back in August, we kind of hatched this idea of having a cultural night where everybody can feel included. And we wanted our goals for the event to align with our objective four of our strategic plan, which is to cultivate culturally responsible um schools and classrooms. So you can see specifically the three goals of our cultural fair were were to create a welcoming and inclusive

010space where all of our families could feel valued um to help students our Walden Wildcats learn about diversity, build respect and understanding um and strengthen the connections between families and that was one of the most important things that we saw happening. families who didn't realize there were other Walden families of their cultures that went to the went to Walden got together and um made that connection. And then our third goal was to support students in developing empathy and cultural awareness to prepare them for what's to come the world, you know, to come for them. So, um I was just one of the worker bees on the committee. We had three lead uh team members and Kayn was one of the team members and she can give you a little more of the specifics of the

011event. >> All right. Um we are so proud of the turnout of the event we had. We had 15 different countries and cultures represented. Um we like Chris mentioned this all started in August if not the year before where we just started generating the idea and we really wanted it to make it happen this year. Um, we started with getting information out to families, gauging interest of who would like to host events, what cultures are even in Walden, the Walden community, uh, and who's willing to share. So, 14 cultures represented. They all shared um different artifacts, history, photos. There was so much delicious food. Um, and every family we had make a trifold and we just had a few requirements of including the country's name, the flag, and a little bit of background. And it

012was truly amazing to see all of what they came up with where you can see up there. We were so proud of how many people came. Over 200 staff, students, and families in the community came to the event, and it was so busy it felt like you could barely move in there. sometimes. Um, we just have some pictures of we had games. Kids um, uh, presented like little craft demonstrations and had others doing crafts. Um, like Kaitlin said, there was food, there were puzzles, there were fun facts about the different countries. Um, you'll see >> we had >> Deerfield Public Library showcased their books. Yeah, >> it was mentioned on the last slide, but we um we also printed, if anybody wants to see these, we printed out passports for students for every um every

013table they went to. They collected a sticker for the country that they saw of the flag. So, they earned and filled their passports of 15 different places that they visited. >> I think everybody that attended went to all 15 tables. >> Yes. Yes, they did. >> And there's a few more slides of some of the We do. We have two two wonderful Walden families are here. Maybe want to share a little bit about their experience. Girl, you want to share? Would you like this? >> Yeah. >> Here, I can start if you want to start. >> Hi everyone. I'm Pria Collic. Um, and this is Katarina. And we have Sami as my daughter. She's a second grader at Walden. I also have at home, uh, Hayden Collic, and he's an incoming kindergartener. They were both

014in attendance at the cultural celebration. They had a great time. I think everyone had a great time. I mean, as Kayn and Chris mentioned, there was wonderful food and I think they really enjoyed going around and, you know, sampling food from all different countries. Um, I think we can all agree how important it is for our kids to be exposed to different cultures and traditions beyond their own. I think it truly fosters a sense of curiosity about the world and just empathy for others and uh, you know, wanting to understand different perspectives and now they can come to school and realize that you know, everyone shows up at Walden with a different lived experience and they can understand that a little bit more now. I also personally I met families like they were saying I

015met families and I had no idea there were families at Walden that are from Morocco, South Africa, Kyrgyzstan like I had I truly had no idea and I never would have been able to meet those families if it were not for this event. So it was truly a success. I mentioned this to other families at South Park and Wilmont and they were so interested and uh are hoping to bring something like that to their schools. So, do you want to add anything Karina? >> No. As you said, like I was so surprised how many different cultures we have at Walden and actually um so I was at the Indian stand, but I'm actually German, so I can't wait next year to have my German stand next to the Indian stand. And there were other families

016coming up to me like, "Oh, I'm from Bise. I'm going to have a stand next time." Like, so there's even more like and and really everybody was so thrilled with the experience. It was so much fun. The kids had so much fun. They also had so much fun preparing the board like to think about their own culture, what they want to say about their culture, how they want to present their culture, wearing their their dresses, right, their grandmas gave them. So, it was like a it was a wonderful experience. We hope it's going to happen again next year. It's going to be even bigger. That was the one thing we heard when it was all over and families were walking out and just came to see what it was like. They're like, "We're doing it.

017We're doing >> Exactly." >> I I didn't do the passport. I I tried all kinds of things that I'd never tried before, though. Um, so Chris, you're really really proud and uh thrilled with this event. Can you talk a little bit more about why it had such an impact on you? >> You know, I think that people feel like there's a lot of people in the community that feel like uh Deerfield isn't that diverse >> and Walden isn't that diverse. And this just I mean shocked me because at first I was a little reluctant when we started planning. I'm like I don't think anybody's gonna do this or I'm gonna show up and do this. And I it brought it literally brought me to tears at one point when I was in that gym. I

018could not believe all the people who came all everybody when you presented you just went all out thinking about every detail, every fact that you thought would made your c country like important and special and you wanted to share that. It was really I mean it was one of the most special moments I've I've had here in 109. So >> no I think that's amazing. I mean I I would agree with you. I think you know I'm jealous. I'm I'm a Wilmont dad and I wish you know I think like you know I got a you know a third grader and an exiting fifth grader. So I got a couple more years to hopefully get this at Wilmont. But um I think you're absolutely right. I think you know there is a sense of maybe

019lack of diversity. Well, when in reality we have quite a bit of diversity, right? And I think showcasing that and highlighting that is absolutely welltimed and something we need to do more of and absolutely well placed. So, nice job. >> Um, I just want to say I attended the event and I loved it. Um, and I definitely felt guilty that my husband who's Irish and myself who's Bleian did not have a table. So, next year if you have it for sure. Um, I come from a very colorful culture, hence why I'm always so bright. Um, and winters are so hard for me. Um, so it was really nice for me to walk into that gym and it was just like a burst of color. Um, I grew up with a cultural fair in school, so

020this was really reminiscent of my school. Um, I found it really interesting like walking around and reading about the cultures. I don't remember which one it was but there was one that um the first birthday is so important >> right and so you so you know reading about it is just so interesting because you don't know unless you go to some place like that or unless you know somebody from that culture personally like what what are like really important milestones for people. So that was really really important um and really interesting to see and people were thankful when you stopped and like read their what because they really put a lot of work into it. It was really amazing and just really bright um and really good food. >> Um yeah just >> and drinks

021hot I actually went out and I went and I went to buy the hot chocolate afterwards. I'm like I really love the hot chocolate. So the family that had the hot chocolate. >> Yes. So I went out and now I have a bolita hot chocolate in my kitchen. Um so yeah, thank you so much for putting it on. It was really it was really good. It was crowded too. >> It was at first 67 people are speaking and I was excited about that and then by the next morning when I looked the day of the event there were 200 and I could not. Um, so Katarina and our neighbors and we used to, you know, we we've known each other for a while and we'd always say like our little neighborhood is very diverse because

022we have >> from many different countries there. So, it was really nice to see it on a wider scale just how diverse it was. So, thank you so much. >> And just looking at the pictures, I didn't have the privilege of attending. I'm will definitely do next year. Seeing the family orientated nature of this, like having the parents work with their children and work with their neighbors children, like that's really special. It's a really unique opportunity for families to come together and do a project. >> I love it. >> So cool. >> That's right. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. So, I'll give my traditional transition here. Uh, we're going to move on to the superintendent report, but if you would like to stay, feel free. >> Otherwise, we'll give you guys a second.

023>> Thank you guys. Mike, I know it's >> clear. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. Thank you. >> All right, Mike. >> Oh, I cleared them out again. >> I think it's a I think it's a talent. >> They got vendors and presenting staff. That's it. And a couple tech folks in the back. So, and maybe my mom is watching out there. I don't know. So, uh so superintendence report. I have three things to talk about. The first of those is something that we've been working on for a very very long time. We hear from parents uh on a regular basis how nice it would be to have a calendar way in advance and the new administration at district 113 has placed a significant priority on ensuring that there's collaboration at all levels and on one

024of those uh levels is uh the work on the calendar. We actually tonight will be approving uh not the coming year's calendar but the following year's calendar. So uh for families planning vacations uh all of the you know people in in this town are planners, excuse me. So ability to look uh well over a year out and think about what kind of tickets they want to get or what kind of plans they might want to make. So thanks to Dr. Fiser and our other partners in the 440 group for uh that work that the board will be approving later on uh tonight. Uh we also have our middle school graduations on June 1st and 2nd coming up. Uh looking forward to that. And then there is one other important celebration and I think we have

025some pictures from that. So, we have eight students from each of our middle schools that are headed to the state track meet and they leave. >> They're gone now, right? >> Saturday. >> Tomorrow and Saturday. So, uh both schools great that we've got eight from each of them and I suspect that we might wind up seeing some of them back here. So, uh that completes the superintendent report. There's a lot of what I would like to talk about that would be redundant if I did because so much of the work that is being done in the district has to do with redefine 109 uh all of our facility work and all of the various components of that and so we uh don't share that twice. Want to just move along and um get on with

026the rest of the meeting. >> Thank you. >> Question. >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Mike, if parents want to see those calendars, where would they go to find them? Uh the calendar. >> Yeah, the calendar. >> The calendar. Uh it's right on our website. So it'll be posted after the meeting tonight. We'll public uh we'll p publish or post that publicly so everybody can see that >> in boards. We'll have >> we'll have a link in board briefs as well. So >> the principles ever emailed I think principles emailed them out as well too or no maybe not. I don't >> we can ask them to. We'll put it in the final um family newsletter of the year and probably put a news item on the homepage of the website. >> And I think if

027you're a super planner, you're on there anyway looking for it. >> But given that this is the first time we've released two years, right? No, >> this is the second time that we've done it. >> For those of us that haven't caught on yet, might be a good friendly reminder to families that they have access to lots of calendars. A >> slap in Dale's face right So sorry, D. >> I am not apparently a planner. So, >> all right. Anything else? All right. Next on the agenda is the first community participation relative to matters on the meeting agenda. Our first period of community participation is solely for items related to the meeting's agenda. Second period of community participation near the end of the meeting is open for all matters. If you wish to comment, please

028fill out a community participation form located on the podium. Hand it to Rebecca Redd. We'll call you up one at a time at the podium to speak. Is there any qu any comments? Seeing none, first on theformational items, redefine 109, >> John, Mike, >> we'll start with some finance and funding updates. >> Yeah, just a bit of positive news. Um, we uh went through a ratings call uh with S&P and received a AAA credit rating. Um we were AAA rated by Moody's uh and they affirmed our rating but we went through a full ratings review with S&P and we were pleased to get that AAA rating. Um what is uh unique about this ratings call is that they were uh specifically looking at this bond issue but also looking at our financial condition and our

029overall capital plan and our plan to issue sizable alternate bonds as well and felt very good about the trajectory that the district was on. So, that was uh excellent news for the district. And what that means is that we were selling these bonds with the best possible rating. Um, and the good news to report is when the board heard from Raymond James at the April meeting, we were anticipating an all-in true cost on the issue of those bonds of 4.43%. Um, and the final all-in cost uh was 4.28%. So, a very favorable bond sale. And that means that we made good uh and did uh better than uh the promise to the taxpayers as was community communicated throughout the information campaign. Um we were uh communicating a tax impact of $525 on a $500,000 home

030and that uh true impact now that the bonds have been sold is $483. And we have some updates from planning. And did you have questions for John? Did anyone um a lot of community engagement um coming up including through the village review process. We had our pre-filing conference um in conjunction. I was at that while we had the board meeting here. Um and there was community participation as part of that. Um, in June, we'll be sending legal notice of the public hearing to the newspaper and certified return receipt mails to any um we're required to send those to um any residents within 500 ft of Walden. Um but we've expanded that to make sure we're capturing um more of the Walden neighborhood. So, we're setting it um to 755 ft, I think. Um and we

031did that for the Walden Good Neighbor meeting to make sure that they knew that that was happening. Um so, the plan commission public hearing is July 9th and then um they will make their recommendation July 23rd to go to the village board and the village board will consider the Walden plan on August 3rd and um read the ordinance and make a decision on August 17th. If all goes well, they have some backup dates as well if needed. >> And sorry, one question. Last time we saw the dates that there was like Walden and Wilmont and they were a little offset. Is that still >> Wilmont's to be determined? Got it. Um so we did have those dates and um we pulled that back because it's based on some changes in the Walden plan and the

032village will get us those dates. >> Oh, because of the because the shift that we Okay, got it. Yes, that's a little pushed back. Um, so we expect that um, you know, we had the good neighbor open house for people to give feedback for us to share that initial draft information on May 7th. We had about 60 people there. Um, and the Wilmont version of that event will be um, in August and we'll again do a mailing to those neighbors to make sure they know it's happening. we'll put it in our newsletters. Um, so we'll get that word out about that. Um, we've also had a lot of staff input. We've had numerous focus groups with the architects for staff to give input, for leadership, building level leaders to give input. You can see Dr.

033Faustst and Mrs. Stringanger really happy about what they were seeing. Um staff members did a site visit to get some ideas about what furniture could look like and Danielle um set up a demonstration with interactive flat panels. So a lot happening in the background. So, just a quick question. Um, when things become firmed or finalized, then they will land back on the Redefine 109 website or will there be a new website? It's all going to be on Redefine 109. We've archived kind of the referendum campaign stuff. It's still there. Got it. >> Um, so we'll start sharing what we can. We've already put those finance updates um on that website, but that's we want everyone to go to dps109.org/redefined for any updates that we want to share publicly. It's hard to share that draft information.

034>> Correct. I'm saying things are finalized. And then is there still a portal for questions? >> There will be. Okay. Yeah. >> Yes. >> Any other questions? All right. Freedom of information requests. John, >> there are 11 this month. I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions on the POS? All right. Next on the agenda, instrumental music, general music, and art curriculum review update. >> So, I have most of the rest of the room. >> All right. So, I have >> stuck around for the superintendent report. Don't let him kid you. >> All right. I have the pleasure of just continuing to introduce to you all this evening the rest of our fine arts curriculum review. So last month we brought the instrumental music team before the board of education to prep to share with

035you the updates that were happening in their program and the work that we had done throughout the scope of the year. And this evening you'll get to hear from our art and general music teams. Um, one of the things I didn't mention last month that I think is important, I put that in the uh the board memo memo, but nine I think it's nine of our 19 staff members that are part of our fine arts programs across the schools are new to Deerfield Public Schools in the last couple of years. So this curriculum review actually provided a really unique opportunity in that it allowed for intensive levels of collaboration of the team that they wouldn't typically get. So they've had that opportunity, I think, to work very closely together. Some of them in their first

036or second year in our district, which I think is probably no better form of mentoring. All right, Kathy, I'm struggling with it, too. Yeah, >> I won't repeat this. I shared the same slide with you all last month, but I just want to remind you that we start every curriculum review with the same thing. Actually, we had all three teams in the room together the very first day that we would launch the curriculum review and we started with the same scope. So, the staff was asked to um communicate with us about what they felt their needs were within the department. We talked to students as part of it. They did visioning work. We reviewed their standards. They assess their current programming. But we also always look for opportunities to improve the programming on behalf of

037our students. And then they get to planning. So 30 plus hours, probably way more than that has gone into what they're ready to share with you this evening. I am going to turn it over to our art department. Hello. Um I'm Amber Bergman. I am the art teacher over at South Park and part-time at Wilmont. I'm Elizabeth Foren. I'm the art teacher at Kipling. I'm Allison Shioone. I'm the art teacher at Shepard. >> Hi, I'm Katie Han. I'm the art teacher at Wilmont Elementary. >> I'm Taylor Mayhoffer and I'm the art teacher at Walden. >> And then Fawn's not here, but >> she's at >> Oh, that's me. We practiced too. Um I don't want to read it off this slide, but basically like um to reiterate what Danielle was saying, this really let us

038all come together and kind of create a shared vision about what art could look like and what we think it should look like for DPS 109. Um and really like ultimately we want to like foster a community of creative kids. And to do that, you know, we want them to be able to explore new ideas and passions and develop their technical skills and their expressive skills and have um do that through a lot of hands-on experiences, whether that's clay um or painting um and building. Um so, we just want them to build their confidence and their pride and a personal connection to the world around them. >> I'm going to do my best to read this. Um so for the instructional updates at the K5 level, we really are the foundational basis of the these

039children's um skills and arts. So for grades K um two, we wanted to focus on building technical skills and exploring a variety of materials and media. for grades 3 through 5, focusing more on taking those early year skills and kind of bringing those into more of their personal choice, interest, their personal ideas, really giving them more opportunities to use different materials, different um avenues to express themselves. And then all grades will use sketchbooks to explore ideas and skill building activities. Sketchbooks are just a great way for our students to plan their work and have an opportunity to really think through what they're going to do and how they're going to make it. And you're next. Okay. >> Um, so some of the changes we made at the middle school level with the curriculum review, we

040were able to build on what the students were already learning at elementary. um in middle school, we wanted to really give them an opportunity to survey a variety of different materials over the quarter that we have them in art. Um we also want to help them build a foundational skills in art and build upon what they learned in elementary school. And then also encouraging and allowing more um agency and creativity in their own artwork. um creating projects that allow for more student choice and challenge students to be able to think more creatively and express themsel through their projects. Sorry. So, here's a long list of the supplies and materials that we think are essential in our classroom. Um, I won't borrow you of going through every single thing, but I mean, if I were to

041say what I'm personally most excited about is probably having the um, like the panels for our art shows that will make it more functionable for us and really awesome. Yeah. >> Um, something else that we are very excited and grateful for is getting new kil kils installed in our classroom. Um, so we have some older kils that we're using right now. So, it'll be really cool to see and get to use um newer versions. Um, yeah. Um the elementary schools will get new kils when the buildings are replaced. So we're also looking forward to that. Um and then all art classrooms are going to have a set of iPads. So that will allow for them to explore digital art um document projects that they're doing and also um kind of share um the opportunities for

042them to have a consistent device because right now we have K2 on one device, 35 on another. So that will allow them to grow with that device as well. >> So um like Danielle said, four of our team were new this year. So this curriculum review gave us a hu an awesome opportunity to work together to collaborate. So um this curriculum review really established a seamless K8 progression. We really feel that we've created something that from kindergarten through 8th grade, our students year after year will build on what they've learned and by the time that they graduate 8th grade, they will have had a full art experience in our district. Um, it cultivated a unified instructional vision and um, we just are super grateful we had the opportunity to do this. It was a really

043awesome experience. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> I'll turn it over to you. >> Sure. I am Christine Prince. I am the teacher, music teacher at Shephard Middle School. >> I'm Taylor Woods. I'm the music teacher at South Park and part-time at Wilmont. >> Hi, I'm short. I'm Cara Bombra. I'm the music teacher at Caruso. >> Um, I'm Lily Hull. I'm the music teacher across the street at Kipling. >> Oh, we're missing two of our members, Alison. So, one of the first things that we did was we came together to create a new and improved um vision statement. And what we come up came up with was in district 101 109, we cultivate inclusive and creative music learning environments that encourage exploration, collaboration, and personal growth. Students gain confidence to express their

044individual voices, expand their worldviews, and develop lifelong connections to music. Um, and this statement sort of became like our guiding light throughout the entire process. Like we came back to it, um, when we were feeling lost or confused. Um, yeah. All right. So, here's some of our instructional updates. We have that growing musicians will experience the following benefits of this uh through this curriculum renewal process. So, at the elementary music level, we now have standards aligned lessons, up-to-date resources and learning materials, interactive technology- based music activities, a wide variety of culturally relevant repertoire, as well as equity and access to quality classroom in qu high quality classroom instruments. And then at the middle school level, there's some similarities, but a little bit of some extra things, too. So, um, we same thing, standards aligned lessons,

045up-to-date resources and learning materials. But in addition at the middle school level, we have interactive cloud-based music composition software, new digital audio workstations and piano keyboards and resources to support projectbased learning. So, we added a whole lot of stuff. I know I can speak at the elementary level. We're adding some new um curriculum platforms to our level. And I know middle school has got is the new the new keyboards as well, >> keyboards, new computers, new everything. >> Yeah. So, it's just all very exciting. Lots of new instruments, so there's a little bit more equity in that sense. So, it's all very very exciting. So, building off of what Taylor was talking about, uh, some of the specific instruments and resources that we are that we collaborated on, it was such a beneficial process to

046get everybody, all of our new teachers and, uh, relatively new teachers and experienced teachers on board for uh, for the new uh, resources that they would have access to. So, in elementary that includes a really wide array of digital um databases for building music program shows um and allowing for more creativity, more customization, and really meeting students where they are. Uh this also includes continued use of our quaver music uh program that we have for K through 5 with that has a lot of really interactive resources, a lot of uh interactive resources that get students playing, get students using instruments and the the new equipment that we will have for them to use. Uh and this also includes a lot of the new high-quality xylophones, drums, classroom instruments um that we and we were felt

047really trusted to um to use our professional development and opinions in this process. For the middle school uh where Cara and I are uh we're really excited to bring a flat.io for education. It's kind of like uh Google Docs and Google Suite but for writing music. So you can be on different multiple scores and uh seeing students use this um just like you know free versions in the past or just entertain these ideas. Seeing their music creations come to life, seeing them play them on their band or orchestra instruments or on piano or on some of the instruments that we have in the room really brings all of those connections uh together. We also are bringing back iMacs to the music classroom, digital audio workstations where our students can create GarageBand creations. They can score

048films. They can explore um making movie trailers and all using all of the elements that they used in those foundational years in elementary to explore a lot of choice-based and project-based learning opportunities. I'm gonna move this out. Um uh we had tons of benefits for this review um both with the teachers and the students. So in terms of teacher benefits, first of all, we're very grateful for the opportunity. Thank you so much. Um the curriculum review process provided structured time for collaboration, curriculum alignment and reflection on best practices and standards. Uh it strengthened consistency across all of our classrooms and all of our schools. Uh it deepened understanding for each program strengths and also supported all of our professional learning which was amazing. We really appreciated the time because we don't actually get as much

049time to be able to develop that as a as a big group. Uh the process also led to some important updates and resources as Christine mentioned and Taylor mentioned as well. Uh resources, instruments, materials and technology to create a more uh cohesive vision across our whole entire district and also um an equitable music instruction. Uh in terms of the student benefit, there are also a lot of benefits as well. Uh students benefit from access to up-to-date curriculum, reliable technology, and consistent resources from across the whole entire district. Um they also have expanded opportunities to explore a wider variety of instruments, repertoire, materials, different things in our classroom. And um our curriculum now supports differentiation. Uh it really focuses and incorporates student interests, which student choice is big in our district and and we like to

050foster that as much as possible. um and creates more engaging, meaningful, and high-quality music learning experiences for all of our students, no matter what age they are at. And we did have one more slide in here, but before we say our thank you, uh I I wanted to point out that um a couple of things. Music is an opportunity to um explore a lot of creative possibilities and a lot of the equipment, resources, technology, development that we did here supports vertical alignment across K through eight, not only K through 8, but in up into the high school because we do uh have partnerships between elementary, middle and middle and high school, including choir concerts, uh things like the cultural fair that you saw this se that you saw this evening, a presentation for, variety shows,

051opportunities for students to take all of those creative things that they're learning um that that showcase even art. I'm we're showcasing art at uh Shepard over at the variety show tomorrow. Uh we have the opportunity to, you know, use these skills and students can take the those things that they're learning inside our classrooms and bring them beyond the classroom and build community across our district. And it's just a wonderful thing to be able to support. And now more than ever, it seems so important to support um arts where we are helping students understand and create and think creatively in a world that we don't know what it's going to look like even in a couple of years, right? It's changing so fast before our eyes and before our students eyes. And this allows them and

052empowers them to uh to learn and to grow and to create meaningfully. No, I think it's I think it's a unique opportunity again to bring uh these educators together. They're they're singletons in their school, right? So, they don't often have this opportunity to come together across the district and have lots of time for collaboration and planning. You saw in the vision statements and then you heard this evening a lot of talk about agency, project-based learning, choice. I think we had a lot of collaboration at the beginning of the year about how our students have an opportunity to experience nine years of visual arts and general music and how can we just grow that opportunity experience for them as they progress throughout our system. And I feel confident that like the group behind me and the

053ones that weren't able to join us tonight took that challenge very seriously and that we're going to see some progress and growth for our programs in the upcoming year. Any questions? Um, first class. Thank you. Um, first of all, these are the best slides I've ever seen, but I would expect nothing less from an art music department. Um, thank you guys also for coming tonight to present in person and Danielle to compliment you as well. Like all these audits year after year, it's so amazing to see how many staff members come to present. >> You know, it just it speaks of the process and it speaks of the collaboration. And I think that's meaningful for us to see. Um I just have two things. One is I was on the PTO president's Zoom this week

054and I was giving just a quick board update on what we that happened at the last meeting and one of the PTO presidents chimed in and just said how amazingly cool it is that district 109 incorporates the fine arts as part of their curricular review. It's not just math. It's not just reading. They the parents felt that this was as important as reading and math. So they were really complimentary of your process and the entire fine arts arm of 109. Um and then the only other thing it's not necessarily a question more of just an observation. Um for maybe especially those at the middle school you might be aware that the high school is moving away from advisories that are containing fine arts. >> And I think it provides a really unique opportunity for our

055district and our children as they get into 113 because they aren't pigeonholed into well I have to take advisory choir or advisory. They can take ceramics, they can take photography, they can take guitar. And I'm really hopeful for our incoming kiddos that they're going to take advantage of some really cool because you don't know what you're good at or what you love until you try it. And for some of these kids, they might find their identity and their voice in the ceramics world. So, I think it's really cool that you're giving them opportunities for all these things because as they go into the high school, I really hope they latch on and and find their voice in these areas. So, thank you. >> I don't have a question so much as appreciation for you guys.

056Um, we try and reflect with our kids kind of how school's going and the stuff that ends up being talked about at home is what you all are doing, which is it was just so cool. Like yesterday, I saw a pinch pot come home from from South Park. It was it was awesome. She loved showing me what she worked on in the kiln and how smooth it was and it was beautiful colors. It's awesome. and then the musicals and trying out for those and just putting work into practicing and it was just been so cool to see the work that they've been doing with you guys. So, just thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And I just want to echo the same thing. I think Danielle, I think your process to this universal kind

057of curriculum design that you're going through, I think it's, you know, it's highly beneficial to our children and to our community. So really commend you on on building that and really excited to see how everybody buys into it and really drives it forward for you. So I think that's great. Um I'm I was really excited to hear about how we're going to build our curriculum to really stretch our kids more within arts and music. I think we do a really great job at stretching our kids in ELA and math, but you know, I don't know. I think we just kind of did art and music. I don't know if we stretched necessarily. Um, and you know, I think again like my kid Alex exiting Walmart, you know, he loves art and music. And I think,

058look, I think as we really build our curriculum to match your passion, uh, and give you the ability to really kind of drive that. I think it's great. So, I'm glad we're making this investment. You know, I think, you know, you would agree this is probably a little late and so glad we could get this in the cycle of the breast. So, I think it's great. >> Yeah. I I talked to superintendents from other parts of the country and one of the things that I hear regularly is how the curriculum has narrowed since No Child Left Behind which was a long time ago. Um but that same narrowing has continued over the years and there are many schools that don't have music, don't have art within their curriculum at the elementary, middle or even at

059the high school. And so this is really a reflection of the values of the community and like to say thank you for what you do. I also uh one of my early bosses said when you change the assessment you get a whole new set of stars and that's one of the beauties of the arts is kids get to shine and thrive in places that they might not otherwise. I was an English teacher. Remember having a senior come in and he's a really talented academic kid and he's like, "It's going to ruin my GPA, man. It's going to ruin my GPA." And what's going on? He said, "I can't throw a pot. I just can't do it. I took it as a blowoff class and it's going to be the end of me." And he's like,

060"This is like making a pot on a ceramic on a pottery wheel is like one of the hardest." He said, "This is one of the hardest I play varsity everything. This is one of the hardest things I have ever done in my entire life." He's super proud of it by the end of it. But he had to work really, really hard and discovered different parts of himself. And that's the thing of, you know, new set of stars when you change the assessment. And this was an area that was really a place that stretched him. So, thank you for all you do and uh really appreciate seeing each of you in in uh uh in your in your respective areas and welcome on board for the four new art folks on the right there. >> Okay.

061>> And I think we can speak I can speak on behalf of all of us. We're really excited about this. This is a game changer for us. So, we're pumped. This is like going to make our opportunities in our classrooms just the sky's is the limit. So, we're really excited and we really appreciate it. >> We're really excited. >> And also the timing with new buildings. I think that was the other piece is like we really got to think about like we're moving into different spaces and all of the opportunities that that will bring and like what do we need to take that new space and really transform it as well. >> And the music side, I know Christine kind of like touched on this a little bit, but um I know our our slide

062for didn't come up on the board, but which is totally fine. Um but no I truly it's fine but um I just think that something that I I know art does it as well like what you've provided us does not just happen in our classroom like it has expanded so far and wide whether it's community members that are you know attending events that we're showcas showcasing you know elementary music concerts or whatever like at Caruso we have a digital music club so you know providing new iMacs and and keyboards and stations and everything is only going to help grow that program there. Um, variety shows, talent shows, like Taylor got a new, uh, big piano at Wilmont, so she doesn't have to roll the piano up a scary ramp every single time. So, I mean,

063I've been there. I worked there my first year here, so I know I know that situation. It's It's scary. So, um, but at the same time, we just we're so grateful. Um, and it expands way beyond our classroom. Um, and we're we're just really grateful. >> And I mean, just to add on, I feel like the kids can already just tell like how much they feel supported here. Like I just remember the day that the they brought in the deliveries for the instruments. I had I think it was either kindergarten or second grade and they were looking in the back like whoa what are the big boxes and so it was so exciting to be able to tell all of them. We've already started using some of the instruments in our classes and they've been

064just like really really excited about it. So I know the kids appreciate it and we appreciate it. So just thank you so much for just all the support you've given us throughout this curriculum renewal process. Mhm. >> I I don't know how I just wanted to add, but that was amazing. You I'm blown away by this. I just want to thank you guys for what you do. Um because like to me there's like no greater sound than kids singing and like no better artwork than their artwork. So, thank you so much. And I want to say that today I saw art and math in motion right at Walden because we were at Walden for their game day. And what was amazing is like these kids took a math uh you know a math lesson and

065they had to build these game boards and it was so artistic and they were all different game boards and so to see them really become creative and just make these create and some of the game boards were amazing like they made a slide and they did this all on paper. So it was just really nice to see them thinking about math while you know using art skills. So, um, as you said, it does trickle over to other areas and you know, we we do see it. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you guys. >> I got one. Sorry, I got I got to get on my last. Yeah, I was waiting for all you guys. I was waiting for you guys. >> I I what I love about this is that how

066how deep the connection and the the um permutation or the permeating of the strategic plan is all the way down, right? and across subjects. I know there's a lot of focus on on you know math and and English and like in typically in schools but like the fact that this is there because this fits within I think the vision that we've been working on um in terms of project based experiential learning right um communication um you know especially is a huge focus for us and this is to me at the core of of what it is I mean when I think about the future I was reading something the other day about you know obviously the impact of AI which we all think about quite a bit. One of the biggest things is we lose

067the muscle to be able to go from zero to one, right? Is to start from scratch, blank piece of paper, come up with a new idea. Um, and before you have to start solving problems and doing math or writing anything down to communicate, you got to come up with the idea. And I think that's a very um I think it's it's critical for our kids to have that capability and have that muscle as they go forward, especially as they're introduced to these tools that can help them unfortunately do a lot. Well, fortunately and unfortunately do things right that that um that really builds that muscle of zero to one, right? So, um I want to thank you guys. I think personally I have, you know, kids that are are are, you know, kneedeep in in

068art projects and and I think Mitch hits it on the head is that this is what we talk about when the kids come home. So, um my when we were at the game day, it wasn't the math problems he was talking about. He was talking about like look at this, you know, gorilla that I drove on, you know, or or gnome. There's a couple of things. So, yeah. >> Was it a gnome or a gorilla? >> It was both. It was both. And then there was a gnome gorilla. Yeah. A gnome gorilla. Yeah. So, so thank you. >> Amazing. >> Yeah. >> Now, can we clap? >> Yes. Now you can clap. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you so much. >> Stay for the is >> Yeah. This is the Yeah. >> Yeah.

069Almost. Almost. Thank you guys. >> All right. So, >> thank you. >> Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. >> All right. is the ISBE consolidated plan. >> Okay, so this is annual. Um, congratulations to anyone who made it through that document with tiny font and it's very long. Um, so just a reminder, >> we have tried >> we don't do it on purpose. I promise there's no other way to print from that system. But um, this is the first step before we start applying and submitting our federal grants. Um, this is a few years old where it's now kind of just an overview of how we intend to use all of our grant money. Um, so huge thank you to Christy Hoffman and my department. We've had a lot of consistency um, in terms of what we

070intend to use our IDA funding for inclusive practices. Um, and kudos to Danielle, Jason, and Patty and her department because they got thrown a bunch of new requirements this year. So that was a lot of additional work on the title grants. So, if you uh pending your approval tonight, probably tomorrow, we'll start um completing and submitting our other grants. Any questions? I believe you that you read it, Rosie. You don't have to >> I'm just I'm waiting for the day on these where we use AI to write it and then they use AI to read it and then it's just AI to AI. >> There's a lot of back and forth with the Isby team. So, we look forward to that. >> Thank you for doing that work because it is important, right? that that

071document is used to get federal funding to our school district and year-over-year consistently we've seen just under a million dollars in funding. A million dollars is a million dollars and we use that funding wisely. So, I know it's a lot of work, >> but it's really important that we do it right and thank you for the updates this year. >> Thank you for the updates. >> Thank you for reading it. We appreciate it. Well, and I think just year over year, you're seeing that inclusiveness um really trickle down, especially I mean, just look at like tonight's presentation. So, I think thank you so much. I mean, you know, and even going to like music shows and like the band concert, it's just you see it and so I just want to thank you both. Like

072there's a you know, there's collaboration happening in the background for it to to be, you know, real. So, thank you so much. Of course. And you know again I think the the amount of detail in here was is is amazing. And I think what to me was the layers of whether processes or systems or support that we have built in to achieve whatever and what our end goals but also like you know the end goals of these specific questions and and like I I understand it right like these are processes in place that we're saying to this we're proving that we can accomplish this because of these process we have in place right so I think it's it's commendable And when you see that, you can understand the resources that are available to our families

073to really drive in and accomplish what we want. So, really great job. And again, I think something that stood out to me was the area for bullying and the amount of resources that we >> have around that or how we try to identify and and get to a root cause to eliminate. Right. So, nice. Yeah. Nice. Great work. All right. Next on the agenda, St. Gregory's Deerfield Park District Deerfield 109 parking lot agreement. >> Yeah. So, before the board is a lease agreement uh associated with a parking lot to the north of Wilmont Elementary School. Um, interestingly, the school district and the park district uh probably account for about 98% of the traffic that occurs on that lot. Um we uh have families in that lot in the morning and in the afternoon on a

074daily basis and the park district has uh cars there when they're having athletic events in the evenings and on the weekends. That parking lot is uh very much uh in need of replacement. Um and the park district has been leading uh conversations with the church for quite some time and we have arrived at a lease agreement uh that we recommend the board uh approve. Uh, and that would include uh it would be a 15-year lease agreement. It would include uh the district paying for twothirds of the cost to replace the parking lot and the parking uh the park district uh covering the other third. That is consistent with how we treat all of our shared lots in our annual IGA um with the park district. Um the park district would then be responsible for uh

075snow plowing in that lot and we would add that parking lot to our annual seal coating and striping schedule. Uh so again it will keep that lot available for uh when our parents uh need to traffic it but importantly as well when we move through the construction phase that will be a site that we can use for some off-site parking. >> An approval will come to the next board meeting. >> Correct. >> Can I ask a question? You mentioned a 15-year. Did I hear that correctly? So obviously now through the entirety of the construction and I firmly appreciate understand the amount of usage when our construction's complete and we have our new parking lot and new traffic pattern. Do you foresee parents continuing to use that parking lot or do you see that changing? Uh

076I think the hope is that we can create um a traffic pattern uh that would discourage from families from wanting to do that because what that does create right now is a lot of pedestrian traffic that's going across Deerfield Road. Um I think it's important to the church uh that there is a long runway on a maintenance agreement. Um and that is how we got to 15. Um and there was some back and forth between the parties on that. And I appreciate the meat in the middle. Do you think you do you think it's sending a mixed message if we are inherently responsible for this parking lot and simultaneously telling our families that we discourage them from using it, let's say, when the construction's finished? >> Um, do you see my question? >> I think

077that yes, I do. Um, and I understand uh and respect that point of view. I think um I think this is a bit backwardlooking as much as it is forward looking as well. Um, and Yeah, I think >> that feels fair. >> Yeah. >> Um I still think it despite the agreement, despite our ongoing commitment, I think it would be great when everything's done and dusted that we do have some communication encouragement that you know >> we want pedestrians to be as safe as possible and dropping them off across the street is not as safe as dropping them off in the parent circle. >> Yep. Agree. >> All right. Next on the agenda, investment management advisor. John, >> I'm going to invite Tim and Brian to come up. Um, and while they are coming up,

078I will just kind of uh give a little bit of context to their presentation. Uh, back in February, the finance committee heard a presentation from PTMA about exploring different investment avenues. Uh, historically, the district has been very conservative. um essentially purchasing just CDs, treasuries, and some term products through uh two different deposiitories, PTMA and uh PFM. Um in the past, there was a little bit of commercial paper that my predecessor would purchase. Um but there are many other investment opportunities uh that are available to the district uh under board policy and uh Illinois statute. Uh so we wanted to look at them to see if we could generate additional yield. And the other piece of this is on June 2nd, uh, we're going to have about $90 million deposited in the bank. Um, and there

079are a few opportunities there to, uh, earn some interest that can help our capital projects, but also some work that needs to be done that these guys have a whole lot of expertise in in terms of tracking arbitrage. So, we did um, issue an RFP for these services. PTMA and PFM responded, and PTMA uh, has the better proposal for 109. So, I'm gonna turn it over to you guys. >> Great. >> Well, thank you very much for having us. And again, I'm Tim Flity. With me is Brian Hexel. We're from PTMA. And tonight's presentation is an abbreviated version of the one we gave at the finance committee in February. So, we'll try to be respectful of your time, but if there's questions, anything you want to dig further into, just let us know and we

080can uh go through it further. Um, first, just a quick little snapshot on who we are. So our company was founded about 40 years ago in Neighborville and we have served Illinois school districts since that time. So we're still headquartered in Neighborville. We work with about 450 school districts, community colleges, co-ops in Illinois. Um but then we also work nationally as well. So we cover about 28 states currently. Is that the sound right? I think last I checked. Um and we work with municipalities as well. So, in addition to school districts, um, and in the state, we work with municipalities, too. Um, so what we're hoping to do with the proposed investment strategy is really to take some of that administrative burden off of the business office while also taking advantage of all of the

081investment options that are available to the district and optimizing that return, right? especially as revenues continue to get smaller, try to make the most of the district's fund balance and um the ability to earn interest there. So, this first or this slide is going over really just what we're going to talk about. So, a quick snapshot of our approach and really that's all going to start with the cash flow. Um so, whenever we're looking at a district's portfolio, first we want to go through and do the analysis to look at your cash flow throughout the year. So, what this chart's showing is really similar for a lot of school districts in Illinois, right? It's very cyclical. So, that top line, it's all different shades of blue, and I'm color blind. So, I'll just kind of

082point top to bottom, but at the top, you can see the district's fund balance. So, throughout the year, you're going to receive revenues, and then you're going to get to your low point. So, right now, you're about at your low point. You're going to receive Lake County taxes next week. So, we're about as low as you're going to get. Um, but what this cash flow helps us do is a couple things. First, it allows us to identify your high point throughout the year and your low point. And what that low point is going to help us do is identify how much long-term investment potential you have. And that's where you're going to see those two bars at the bottom. So the the larger one that should be about 25 million. That would be what we

083would say could be invested long-term. So dollars we don't think will be needed in the next let's say 3 to 5 years. Above that would be midterm investments. Again, still not needed for operating funds in the near-term future. But then above that, those would be investments that we would try to optimize to say when you receive taxes, let's make sure we're having investments come due to help fund your payroll, your AP, your debt service payments throughout the year. So, we categorize those because each one of those different buckets can be invested different um with the type of investments you're placing with the type of returns you can find as well. Um and just like John mentioned, important to note this cash flow does not include include the bond proceeds, right? So, it it's not showing

084going up $90 million in June. those are going to be managed separately because of the IRS considerations with arbitrage spend down. So that would be a separate investment bucket that you would be investing to help fund your expenses for those projects. Um when I go to the next page, another thing that's important to take note of for any of these different buckets is all of them were still investing based off of Illinois state statute and the district's investment policy. So anything that's being placed, just because the district hasn't done it in the past, doesn't mean it's not allowable. So we're just looking at more of the options that you have at your disposal, too. Especially when you look at that custom portfolio or the the midterm fixed rate investments, those would be the options that

085Brian's groups would manage. And he'll go through in a little bit more detail here as well. Um but what you can see historically right the longer you invest the longer term duration you have the higher the returns are going to be. So by being able to segment these you can really extend your portfolio and get additional return by doing that. Um a note on the short-term investments. So that would be managed by myself and my colleague Jake who wasn't able to make it here tonight. But what those are going to be doing, those would be similar to the CDs, treasuries, term series that we'll place, we'll invest based off the cash flow to just in time fund those operating expenses throughout the year. Um, and now just a quick snapshot of some of who we

086work with in the area. So, um, Lake County school districts, we do the casual analysis for 33 school districts currently in Lake County. We do about 200 throughout the state. um LTD, which would that would be where we'd recommend the the midterm investments that maybe that was the green bar right in the middle. There's about 15 who currently utilize that program. And then we have four school districts and three community colleges um utilizing the separately managed account or SMA and that's what Brian's group is going to manage. So with that, I will pass it over to Brian to talk more about that process. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Brian Hexel. Um, I'm a member of the portfolio management team at PTMA. And I just wanted to begin by saying the first hour of

087uh, this evening was probably the most inspiring hour of my week. And >> that's the part those young authors were nice, but it had nothing on. Is this recorded? Gosh. Okay. I I apologize. I I bit on your joke and I um what I was going to say in all seriousness is that it is not lost on us that the work that we do as a company that's focused almost entirely on public entities is the importance of preserving the principle uh uh you know the proceeds that we are investing but also the value that that extra additional income can provide and the additional services that it can provide. So anyways um We've got a great team of of folks who are a company, you know, quite large folks all over the country, but there's about

08824 of us that are focused on the specific part of the business that we're talking about here tonight. And that is managing accounts like uh the long-term reserves, that 25 million that Tim spoke to, as well as bond proceeds. And while you know a lot of similarities across those, it's all the same bucket of allowable investments under statute. There's definitely nuances and differences in terms of how we manage that. And I think we've got a team that really understands this extremely extremely well and you know is going to be working every single day to make sure that we are maximizing both the safety piece as well as the the income piece. um you know our investment strategy we I talked about this for a long time and I mean it always starts with with research

089this is absolutely foundational that safety piece we need to understand every single security we're putting in the portfolio we're thinking across the different allowable sectors to make sure that as we're making those investments um you know what what sectors do we think what securities should we be including ultimately portfolio strategy is about conversations with staff. We started that that conversation in February. We'll certainly continue that conversation as we move forward here. But ultimately, we are going to put together something that is very much so customized for 109. Implementation is about getting best execution. As an adviser, we work with well over 50 of the largest broker dealers you can think of, the JP Morgans, Goldman Sachs. So every time we buy and I always say occasionally sell a security, we're making sure we're getting the

090very best price on that available in the market. And finally, we measure that because we know our clients want to see, you know, how well we're doing, but we we look at that very closely as well, and that feeds right back into our research. So this is something we live and breathe every single day. Um, and I really think it it adds value for for our clients. This is just a real high level view of um the type of portfolio that we would build. This would be that long-term reserves piece. High quality securities, US Treasury securities, US government agency securities, um maybe a small amount of taxable municipal securities. So, we wouldn't necessarily be buying tax exempt bonds. So, a non-t taxable entity that that wouldn't um work. And then also an allocation to corporates,

091corporate bonds and notes. So, definitely not stocks. I want to remind this is uh very high quality corporate bonds as allowed under state statute. So um you know in today's market we can build a portfolio that yields well above a money market fund type rate or maybe the rate that you would get in an overnight savings deposit at a bank. Uh um and and really do that all with a very very high quality well-diversified portfolio that um we know serves many other clients around the state as Tim shared. uh um we believe would serve the district well. Also, um you know, speaking of that performance, we've um this portion of the business has been around since 2013. So, a little bit newer than the 1984 when the firm firm began, but you know, a pretty

092long long history of results at this point. And we're something called a GIPS verified firm. It's the global investment performance standards. And it basically means when we put out information like that, we can't cherrypick the best, you know, clients and the best performance, we have to show everybody that is within this investment strategy. So, it's um over a over a billion dollars in assets. And we've consistently generated results well in excess of the the benchmark in that bottom bottom row. And you know, we believe that that process that we have that I talked about that we employ each and every day is really the reason we feel um you know, like we're going to be able to continue to sustain uh the strong strong performance for our clients. Um finally on on reporting, highly transparent

093reporting is obviously very important to the public sector. We use a reporting and accounting platform that I think is probably bestin-class around the industry. It's a company called Clearwater Analytics. uh um you know breaks down it's it's solid accounting it's it's risk management it's un really understanding the portfolio in detail uh um so we'll provide monthly statements we'll put together other investment reports if there's a dashboard or something that makes sense for the for the board or a finance committee to review um we can help put something like that together um using this uh this reporting package as well um and really all of the systems in our company where uh you know $150 billion dollars in assets. A lot of the work we do is on Bloomberg. I already mentioned Clearwater Analytics. You know,

094trade compliance, making sure that we're following all of the policy rules, the statutory rules, that is all hardcoded into our systems, lots of investment in that to make sure that um you know, we're operating on the very best platforms available to the market. Um we're sharing here um the fee schedule. again, I think very very competitive um and you know, a list of um a list of services and really what we want to do is partner with the district and I I believe that we'll be able to continue to do that as we've done um in years past just in a slightly different slightly different manner. I'm >> sorry, real quick on the fee schedule too, you'll see um the bonds on they're not separate buckets either. So the bond proceeds for the fees, anything

095over is at those le lower fee schedule as well, those lower tiers. So it's not you don't start over with the bond proceeds. It's everything managed by PTMA. >> And this is really just my wrap-up slide. I'm probably not going to read it to you, but um if you know with that, are there any questions for us here? >> I have a quick question. whether it's for you guys or the finance committee or for John. Um our philosophy, the investment philosophy, it sounds like we had done something a little different and it's changing. Can we speak a little bit so I can understand a little bit more about why the change and what the wisdom was for the last philosophy and you know what we're doing, you know, why we're Yeah. that all that. >>

096Yeah. I it it's it's a history, right? And it goes back a couple decades. Ryan, you may know more than I do on this front. Um but it it's a pretty conservative investment strategy. really not tapping into all of the uh investment options that are available to the district which you know by statute are extremely conservative in and of itself. Um so you know felt like it was the right time to revisit you know do we do we feel like this is the right strategy for the district? Do we want to seek additional yield as we know we have a lot of needs and competing interests across the district. So Ryan, >> uh, I would say two things. I think one, obviously Greg when he was in John's seat, I think, um, felt some level

097of control related to that investment, right? But part of it was philosophically the board was um, didn't see itself in a position where we were in the business of of investing, right? So it was much more conservative and being in that conservative face um space it became a lot simpler which meant that Greg could pretty much manage it right the way we wanted to because it was a very minimal return it was almost like found money let's put it that way right um I think what's changed significantly is the amount of money that we're going to have available to us is one right um the cost of that money as well right um because of the debt that we're taking on um and so the opportunity to reduce that cost I think is is much

098bigger and much greater right in the time period in which we find ourselves in now right um interest rates were also significantly lower during that time period right for a long period of time from 2008 on right in a deal so I think there was just uh a philosophy that hey found money keep it keep it simple very uh very uh low returns were expected if any right and it was is kind of we don't need anybody really to manage this if we're going to do that strategy, right? Um now it's a lot we're in a different environment. >> Great. Super. Thank you. >> I wouldn't say that that's the complete story. I'm sure it's initiated with, you know, post the bond uh referendum that happened 20 something years ago, right? Um it was also

099uh there was a little bit of shyness as well to be any more aggressive with the um promises that we had made to the community. >> So, thank you. understanding you're saying that you know the constraints are already built very conservatively. What what is the risk of moving from this ultraconservative you know stance we're in currently to opening ourselves up to what's allowed within the state. I mean I didn't hear of what the risk is. I understand investments are investments. There's also risk always risk attached to it. But what's the downside for us? You know >> Yeah. I mean >> is there a loss of money or is that still >> right I mean as you indicate there are always always risks in in investing even in the current strategy I should I should highlight

100and there's there's really three major risks whenever you're investing again any any funds there's a liquidity risk piece so how do we do that we start with cash flow we make sure that we have under all reasonable you know circumstances plenty of cash to meet liquidity liquidity needs the second piece is interest rate risk. You know, we saw a period 3 or four years ago where interest rates moved up sharply and districts and cities and counties all over the country had to show in their audited financial statements unrealized losses. And I think that caused heartburn and a lot of um tables like this all all around the country. And there was a lot of people like me that were talking a whole lot about these are highquality securities. They will invest at par, you know,

101the price that you bought them at plus acred interest. But you know that's always something to consider here. And obviously there is some credit risk. We are investing in corporate bonds. But we're doing everything in our power to mitigate that as well. And again that starts with the research. It's diversifying the portfolio by individual holding by individual sector by time to maturity. You know we talk about a 1 to fiveyear portfolio here. I always want to remind people that doesn't mean everything's being invested at five years. That's laded out. A lot of those investments in fact mature in one and two years. So, you know, it's diversification, it's doing your research. Um, but, you know, I think those are the, you know, the risks that do do exist. I think for any, you know, reasonable,

102uh, constituent voter, right, in our area, I mean, we live in an area that I think we have some pretty informed um, voters in terms of investment strategies. Um, and from that perspective, if we were just to leave money sitting, we're losing money, right? Um, and so I I think it's is a prudent way, a prudent approach, right, to to ensure that we're managing them. I that's why I say it is managing the voters money in the in the smartest way possible. Now, and we have a philosophy related to a reserve percentage that continues to grow, right? Um, and but that doesn't necessarily mean that we should forego other sources of revenue or offsetting of costs because we're sitting on a big a big bounce. In fact, I think it it's the opposite, right? Because

103we are sitting on a large reserve that we should be prudently trying to grow that if we can, right, while still trying to mitigate the tax impact to our to our voters. So, um, this is by no means an aggressive investment approach, right? This is not >> because there's laws. >> Yeah, we're we're not Yeah, exactly. There's laws, but we're not like saying go invest in AI, right? Right. Now, I mean, not directly. Let's put it that way. Right. So, >> um I want to thank the finance committee in the business office for this lift. Thank you. I love listening to presentations when people are so skilled in their field. I mean, other than the movie The Big Short, none of this makes sense to me. Yeah. Um I do what I do have a

104question on is Raymond James and CCS that we right we work with them in different financial capacities. Is there integration amongst those parties? Is there like connected conversations? How does this work to make sure that because obviously CCS has our liquidity? >> Yeah. So >> you know what I mean? >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh so Raymond James No. Uh Raymond James is bonds is yeah they they were involved in the bond sale. >> Um CCS functions as our owners rep. Um and so they are keeping uh a close eye on cash flow related to these capital projects as are we in the business office. And so we have already communicated our anticipated uh draw down schedule to PTMA. that will undoubtedly be revised about a hundred times before construction begins and thereafter. Um and we'll keep

105in touch with their team so they know what our liquidity needs are as they place investments. >> So there's like a in real time CCS district. Yeah. Great. Thank you. So I think from a board perspective and finance committee standpoint I think you know obviously as we make this transition initially I think a more frequent update and I'm not saying every month right kind of deal but something that's a little bit more frequent initially in the implementation um get kind of in that rhythm and then from there right I mean that those that $90 million doesn't go pretty quickly right in our construction plan. So, um, from there then getting to the what the one thing that we didn't do as a board, I think historically is look at the investment strategy and the return.

106I think Greg would come to us like every 3 years or something, right? And just bring it up, right? So, I I think it may be something to put in the cadence, let's put it that way. I don't know what the frequency is that. Leave that to you guys to figure out what that looks like. So, but at least initially we should probably have a little bit of a finger p a pulse on that. So, >> um I have a question and maybe even a comment here. So, um kind of on what Kelly said. So, I mean Raymond James, if we're kind of, you know, if anybody's listening and sort of understanding all the different, you know, parties involved. I mean, we're using them to borrow the money and we're using them to invest the

107money is a simple way to put it. Yeah, that's a fair way that the Raymond James managed the sale of the bonds. Um, and that PTMA would be managing the investment of those bond proceeds as well as our investment of uh cash until it's needed until >> we hit our payroll and our accounts payable needs. >> Okay. the the assumptions that that Raymond James had in terms of the cost because she was showing us, you know, the cash flow in terms of what we could potentially return get as a return before we hit the the regulatory, you know, the refunds that we would have to provide. Was that aligned with the returns that we're expecting from PMA or >> uh their assessment will be different? >> Okay. So, you're getting two different views to see

108what that number is going to be. Okay. >> Sorry. And so much has even changed probably since that what we've seen in the last two months has been a sharp increase in future longer term rates just with everything going on overseas with the inflation numbers coming out. >> So on an investment side it should be advantageous right because you will be seeing some of those returns that >> maybe when that calculation came out a month or two ago was not there. >> Mhm. Okay. So like that means that this slide will change quite a bit, right? This cash flow slide. >> So that cash flow slide is looking at your operating dollars only. So that that separates out the bond proceeds. >> Okay. So now my next question off that is um in the treasurer's

109report, I mean I see that we have our investments staggered and when you know they're coming to maturity, this is $47 million. >> Correct. So would we see then another report similar to this? >> Yeah, you'll probably get a a more robust report. Um but on an like on an operating basis, we have about $2.5 million maturing every 14 days, right? And those are meeting our accounts payable and our payroll obligations. Um this would give us another layer of sophistication looking at can we take some of our core investments you know that are not associated with those immediate liquidity needs and stretch those out and and see some better rates of return um as well as doing some investing on the bond proceed sides being mindful of when those bills from you know uh construction

110manager are going to come due >> that's and that's actually the primary change here in the strategy right is that right now we're very we're very short term and I think the one expansion we did give Greg authority over was to go from treasury bills to to corporate bonds, right? And then that was the that was bit about it. But the time frame was still short-term to ensure that it was a laded so we were getting cash flow like consistently. This is more timed out I think more towards when we need the cash flow not a consistent kind of even right sweep to use your term of what we were taking right >> do sweeps or not >> like do does do was any of our bank accounts overnight sweep >> just our accounts payable

111>> so that's kind of the change here is that what we're doing one of the aggressiveness is moving that time frame out >> right and going longer and saying hey we don't need this this tranch of cash here, right? As consistently as this other. So, we we're willing to take a little bit more risk. And that when we say a little bit more risk, I'm still kind of like not very risk risky, but still more, right? >> Okay. >> So, >> perfect. All right. Thank you. >> Sorry, we didn't have any questions for you. I think it was all internal, but that's great. I think the only other piece is um on uh the action item tonight, you will hear uh in Ryan's script uh giving myself and Kevin Gordon from F3 Law the authority

112to um negotiate and execute uh an agreement with UMB bank to act as the custodial uh bank account for these funds. Um so we will work on that uh should the board give us the authority to do that. >> Okay, any more questions? Thank you guys for coming. >> Yeah, thank you and for hanging out. >> Appreciate it. >> Thank you very Thanks. >> All right, next on the uh agenda is the 2026 site work and concrete replacement at Caruso and Shepard Middle Schools. >> Yeah, a lot of new construction talk, but this is all maintenance. So, over the next several years at Caruso and Shepard, we have a lot of pavement work to be done. And this is um uh kind of the first bite at the apple. And this is also going to

113be tied to our $50,000 school maintenance grant. >> Okay, any questions? All right, next on the agenda, FY27 copier replacement and printer maintenance RFP. >> Yeah, and we just completed a 4-year agreement with Kanuka. Um, and uh kudos goes to Ben who spent uh all of the work and time on putting together a new RFP for uh manage print services and copy machines. Um, and we are recommending a three-year agreement um with um I'm blanking on the name of the firm right now. Um >> Technologist. >> That's That's a first right here. Anything else? >> I don't think I've ever heard that. >> I'm happy to answer any questions as long as >> Are we the only people printing stuff out anymore? Is are schools the last place where like copier contracts >> alone? policy.

114>> No, in in all seriousness to Ryan's question, in one of my children's parent teacher conferences that we just recently had, the teacher was referencing how he's been finding that they're reverting a little more to some of the paper and pencil activities because the kids are just more focused and engaged when they have paper instead of their Chromebook. So, the answer is yes. There's still a lot of copying going on. >> I just had a question. I think I asked a question before, but I'm still confused by the bids. Um, we're talking about the copers. Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. Good. Um, so for Kanuka, I think that's the one we're using now, right? Um, in the first two, the first two columns, it says everything is it says included, but what is included? I

115mean, is that what you said that there's a specific number? It's not >> Yeah, there were all inclusive everything. >> Yeah, there were several questions about this. I think the um the way that these uh again and I this is the my third go around bidding copy machines and the markup in this industry must be like enormous because every time we bid them it seems like we pay less than we did. Um and that is the case again here this year in this bid. Um uh it has to do with the projected total of uh um black and white copies and color copies uh that we would expect to make. Um, so when they put the bid together, they looked at our historical data and they put that bid out. And then you have some

116firms that bid at that total and then included an overage amount and then Kanuka bid and said, "We're not even going to do an overage amount. Here's the price no matter how many that you go ahead and you know how many color copies and black and white copies you make." Ben went and did the analysis that Marco Technologies, even though they're not like an uncapped limit, still represents the better cost because you're not really going to trigger that um overage cost >> except for in one month. Uh so it was about an $11,000 savings to go with Marco versus Kanuka. >> So we are not doing $2,200 in overage on average every month. >> Correct. >> Great. Thank you. >> Non-intuitive. >> Yeah. No, I just want to make because this this month I'm just

117talking this because this month's was very high but the last ones have been minimal. So yeah, just >> it's it's just because they they over the prior bid they increased that like base number of copies. >> Thank you savings on copies. >> All right, any more questions on the copier machines? >> I'm looking forward to the day that Walden is fully reconstructed and they have a room for their copy machine. That is going to be a day for celebration. >> All right. Next on the agenda, 6.9 interim administrator agreement. >> Dale, >> uh just a request for based off a consultation with Mike and some of our elementary principles getting some support for uh leadership at in our elementary buildings. So Heidi has been our go-to administrator for years and she does an outstanding job

118and this will help us uh uh tie some loose ends up at our elementary buildings. Okay, >> any questions? All right. And next on the agenda, school treasurers construction bond covering special bond issue. >> Yeah, we do this every year in June and we'll actually do it uh next month for uh our annual treasurers bonds. Uh but we also have to get a special treasurer's bond uh that's related to the referendum bond issuance. So that is here before you this evening for uh info and action. >> Any questions? All right. action items. Uh 7.1 consent agenda. Um 7.1.1 personnel. 7.1.1 resignations retirements. 7.1.1.2 leaves of absence. 7.1 uh 7.1.13 um employment of certified staff 7.1.1.4 employment of educational support staff 7.1.1.5 employment of at will staff 7.2 bills for payment. May I have a motion

119to approve the consent agenda? As long as we don't do 7.1.1. >> Yes, >> I'm good with the rest of them. >> So moved. >> All right. Second one out. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abraham, >> get controlled over this. >> Miss Bonner, >> I. >> Dr. Dornfeld, hi. >> Miss Jakamu, >> hi. >> Miss Joyce, >> hi. >> Mr. Merv, I'm sorry, is absent. And President B. >> I. >> Motion carries. >> All right. Approval of regular meeting minutes from April 23rd, 2026. May I have a motion to approve? So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Bonner, >> I. >> Dr. Dornfeld, >> hi. >> Miss Jakamu, >> abstain. >> Miss Joyce, >> I. >> Mr. Abraham, >> I. >> And President Qu. >> Hi. >> Motion carries. >> All

120right. Uh, approval of closed session meeting minutes from April 23rd, 2026. May I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Dr. Dornfeld. >> Hi. >> Miss Jakamu. >> Abstain. >> Miss Joyce. >> I. >> Mr. Abraham. >> I. >> Miss Bonner. >> I. And President Quo. >> I. >> Motion carries. Uh, treasures report. May I have a motion to approve? So move. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Jacamu. >> Hi. >> Miss Joyce. >> Hi. >> Mr. Abraham. >> I. >> Miss Bonner. >> I. >> Dr. Dornfeld. Hi. >> And President Qu. >> Hi. >> Motion carries. >> Approval of the 2027 2028 school calendar. May I have a motion to approve? So >> move. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Joyce. >>

121I. >> Mr. Abraham. >> I. >> Miss Bonner. >> Hi. >> Dr. Dornfeld. >> Hi. >> Miss Jakamu. >> Hi. >> And President Quell. >> I. >> Motion carries. >> All right. 7.6. Approval of ISBE final 2025 2026 public school calendar. May I have a motion to approve? >> So move. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abraham. >> I. >> Miss Bonner. >> Hi. >> Dr. Dornfeld. >> Hi. >> Miss Jakamu. >> I. >> Miss Joyce. >> Hi. >> And President Quell. >> I. >> Motion carries. >> All right. D, you can start working on it next year now. >> 2030 calendar. Come on, Dale. >> Yeah. All right. 7.7. Approval of interim administrator agreement. May I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr.

122Abraham. >> I. >> Miss Bonner. >> I. Dr. Durnfeld. >> Hi, >> Miss Jakamu. >> Hi, >> Miss Joyce. Hi, >> and President Qu. >> Hi. >> Motion carries. >> 7.8, approval of memorandum of understanding lead adoptive physical education teacher 2026 to 2027 and 2027 to 2028. May I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Bonner. >> I. Dr. Dornfeld. >> I. >> Miss Jakamu. >> Hi. >> Miss Joyce. >> Hi. >> Mr. Abraham. >> Hi. >> And President Qu. >> Hi. >> Motion carries. 7.9 approval of the FY202 or FY27 ISB consolidated district plan. May I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Dr. Dornfeld. >> Hi. >> Miss Jakamu. >> Hi. >> Miss Joyce. >> Hi.

123>> Mr. Abraham. >> Hi. >> Miss Bonner. >> Hi. >> And President Quell. >> Hi. >> Motion carries. >> 7.10. Approval of investment management adviser. May I have a motion to approve PTMA as the district's investment adviser and to authorize the assistant superintendent for finance and operations in consultation with the board's attorney to negotiate and execute a custo a custodial agree services agreement with UNMB bank. >> Have a motion. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Jakamu. >> Hi. >> Miss Joyce. >> Hi. >> Mr. Abraham. >> Hi. >> Miss Bonner. >> Hi. >> Dr. Dornfeld. Hi. >> And President Qu. I. >> Motion carries. >> That's a P. Yeah. Is it PLMA? >> It's PTMA. Used to be PMA. >> Oh, there you go. Okay. >> All right. 7.11. Approval

124of FY27 fees and rental rates. May I have a motion to approve? >> So move. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Joyce. >> Hi. >> Mr. Abraham. >> I. >> Miss Bonner. >> I. >> Dr. Dornfeld. >> Hi. >> Miss Jakamu. >> Hi. >> And President Quell. >> Hi. >> Motion carries. >> 7.12 approval of FY27 crossing guard contract renewal. May I have a motion to approve? >> So move to. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abraham. >> I. >> Miss. Bonner. >> Hi, >> Dr. Dornfeld. >> Hi, >> Miss Jakamu. >> Hi, >> Miss Joyce. >> Hi, >> and President Cole. >> Hi. >> Motion carries. >> 7.13, approval of 2026 site work and concrete replacement at Caruso and Shepard Middle School. May I have a motion to approve? >>

125So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abraham, >> I miss Bonner. >> Hi, >> Dr. Dornfeld. Hi, >> Miss Jakamu. >> Hi, >> Miss D. Hi, >> and President Quell. >> Hi. >> Motion carries. >> 7.14. Approval of school treasures construction bond covering special bond issue. May I have a motion to approve? >> So move. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. Miss Bonner, I >> Dr. Dornfeld, hi. >> Miss Jakamu, >> hi. >> Miss Joyce, >> hi. >> Mr. Abraham, hi. And President Qu. >> Hi. >> Motion carries. It's >> efficiency right there. >> All right. All right. Ada, committee reports. Any committee reports? We haven't had any, right? >> Um I mean, True North has a meeting what, the first week of June. Does that seem right, Mike? Something like that.

126next week. Um, you probably had an executive committee meeting in the past few weeks. Any major updates? >> Yeah, nothing of consequence to report there. >> Okay. >> Um, yeah, things have been quiet, which is good. Quite as good. >> Policies meeting Tuesday morning, >> so we'll have more to report next time. What's up? >> It's going to be awesome. >> I'm looking forward to it. >> How many policies do we have on the docket? >> 21. Good job, guys. >> Easy reading over the long weekend. There you go. >> All right. Next on the agenda, open community participation. Seeing none, um 10 board superintendent other. >> Yeah, I've got a number of things. Uh first, I'd like to say thanks to uh Joan and Danielle for the 43 pages of the Isby Consolidated Grant.

127Um, an absolute mountain of detail and work. Uh, read best with a magnifying glass. >> Um, also like to say thank you to Danielle for another example of uh the curriculum review cycle and the creation of the curriculum review cycle. That's what good districts do and it's great to walk into a district that's got that underway here. And so we're seeing the fruits of that on a regular basis. It's really gratifying to to hear our teachers uh speak so um eusively about uh their their work and their anticipation of things to come and their excitement for uh new opportunities for our kids. Um, also, uh, the AAA bond rating, uh, last time I checked, there were less than fewer than 200 districts in the nation that had a AAA bond rating, and there were fewer

128than 30 districts in the state of Illinois that had a AAA bond rating. and and uh you get those ratings because somebody has done a ton of really good work and held a a credible call with the ratings agencies. And what it translates into is really really different levels of cost to the community for especially $90 million worth of bonds that are sold. So, uh hats off there. um as well uh for the uh I it's a it's bears repeating the committee the whole meeting that we had earlier uh is a staggering amount of recent work uh and that recent work uh from uh John and Kathy uh reflects a similar amount of staggering work that preceded uh that um that what you saw tonight and in an hour uh represents just day after day

129after day of really uh caring and hard and smart work. And it's going to, as John likes to say, it's a really good quote. We're going to say it a lot. All that's left is everything. And uh this is something that um John has reminded us over and over again. It's like, hey, there going to be a lot of decisions that we're going to need to make. And a lot of those decisions uh are going to fall to a a wide range of people including teaching and learning to interact with staff on u this sort of space or that sort of space and uh that includes student services as well. And so it's really really a team effort. Um to go back to an earlier comment about uh the uh presentations that we saw, one

130of the ev one of the pieces of evidence of really effective uh school work and skilled administrators is the fact that uh your strategic plan uh is being referenced extemporaneously by staff because they actually know it. And the the mission and the vision work that the board did is being translated into phrases like uh projectbased learning and a whole host of different areas. And they're talking about stretching students and all sorts of other references. And that's just really tangible proof that uh the the the strategic direction that the board has set that the organization is taking that uh really seriously. And this is a reflection of the success that we're having in the core competence of the organization which is teaching and learning. And so uh like say there's a a lot of really great

131stuff. It's it's also wonderful to hear that the finance guys come in and say, "Hey, first hour of your meeting was incredibly inspirational, which is what it's the best part of the meeting for us is to get to hear from our families and our kids and also a reflection of the comments that staff make. Um, just a lot of good things going on in the district. So, thanks to all uh the hard work for from everybody. So I just like to second that and I would say that I think one indicator of a high performance organization is that you know we can walk and chew gum and I think in the case of here is that we're running and chewing all the gum in Illinois at this point right um so the fact that we're

132able to do this in an organized fashion low drama it feels there's no chaos is is a testament to the work that you all do and everybody I think picking up the slack in areas where they need to be picking up slack. So, I want to thank you guys for that work. Um, I think we as a board have an opportunity upcoming in the board retreat to get together and think about what our goals are going forward. And I think we have the luxury because we have such a great team here that allows us to think about the future and what we could potentially be doing to push this district in a in a um on a trajectory that most districts don't have the luxury to be able to even talk about. So, um I'm

133looking forward to to getting together and being able to talk about those things. Um, and I think my only ask would be to think about that between now and then. What your ideas may be, what you would think as goals for us going forward, right, over the next year, as well as let's try to avoid referendum and construction discussion. I think we have plenty of other times to talk about those things. This is an opportunity for us to talk about the things that actually are um are hitting the ground right now and and how we um continue to stay focused on the kids and and their outcomes. So looking forward to that conversation with everybody and is there any other comments before we close out. All right. >> All right. Thanks guys. And can I

134get a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> Second. >> All in favor? Hi. How many?