001Welcome everybody. Um, we'll reconvene back into open session at 7:01 p.m. I'd like to welcome everybody to the regular meeting of the school board DPS 109. Um, I'm guess are we uh streaming as well? Yep. Well, if you're at home and watching us, welcome to the meeting virtually. All right. So, first on the open agenda, um, is, uh, conduct of the public hearing concerning the intent of the board of education to sell 87,780,000 building bonds for the purpose of funding projects approved by repion. >> Oh, sorry. Million. Wow. Sorry. Apologize. 87,780,000. and I've been working at work too long, I guess. Um, building bonds for the purpose of funding projects approved by referendum at the March 17th, 2026 general primary election. Um, so the next agenda item, I have to read the the script here,
002so it'll be a little bit. Um, the next agenda item for the board of education is an order to calling a public hearing concerning the intent of the board of education of school district number 109, Lake County, Illinois to sell 87,780,000 building bonds. I will call the hearing to order at 7:02 p.m. May I have a roll call for the purpose of recording attendance for the members of the board of education? >> Yes. Um, if you're present, please just state present when I read your name. Mr. Abraham, >> present. >> Miss Bonner, >> present. >> Dr. Dornfeld, >> present. >> I'll record Miss Jacamu is absent. Miss Joyce, >> present. >> Mr. Mir, >> present. >> And President Quo, >> present. >> Thank you. The purpose of this public hearing is to receive public comments
003on the proposal to sell $87,780,000 building bonds referred simply to is simply as bonds moving forward for the purpose of building and equipping additions to and altering, repairing and equipping the Kipling and South Park school buildings, including installing safety and security improvements, updating plumbing, electrical, fire protection and HVAC systems, constructing accessibility improvements under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and renovating classrooms. student support spaces and common areas. Building and equipping two school buildings to replace the Walden and Wilmont school buildings. Altering, repairing, and equipping the Caruso and Shepard school buildings, including installing safety and security improvements and updating plumbing, electrical, and fire protection systems and improving sites. The reasons for the proposed issuance of the bonds are as follows. To fund the immortion the sorry to fund the aforementioned projects approved by referendum at the March
00417th, 2026 general primary election. All persons desiring to be heard have an opportunity to present written or oral testimony with respect to there too. I will now open the community open the opportunity for comments. Are there any comments from the members of the board of education? Hearing none, we will now move on to the next item. Is there any written testimony from anyone concerning the proposed issuance of the bonds? Seeing no written testimony, we will now move on to the next item. Is there any oral testimony concerning the proposed issuance of the bonds? Hearing none, we will now move on to the next item. Are there any public comments concerning the proposed issuance of the bonds? Hearing none, we will now close the hearing. I announce that all persons desiring to be heard have been
005given an opportunity to present oral or written testimony and public comments with the respect to the proposed issuance of the bonds and will be recorded in tonight's minutes. At this time, I need a motion to adjourn the public hearing. >> So move. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Bonner, >> I. >> Dr. Dornfeld, >> I miss Jacamu is absent. Miss Joyce, >> hi. >> Mr. Mir, >> hi. >> Mr. Abraham, >> I. >> And President W. >> I. >> Motion carries. I declare the motion carried and the public hearing is adjourned at 7:05 p.m. >> All right. Next on the agenda, stronger together in 109. Billy, >> I invite Dr. Lombardo up to uh introduce Kipling's uh presentation. >> Hi, good evening everyone. Thank you for being here and allowing us to present
006for you guys. Um really excited to talk about our student council here this evening. I prepared uh notes to introduce them and then I soon learned that they are going to be introducing themselves. So that's the way our student council runs. Um they are leaders in our building. They really exemplify leadership throughout our school. And so I'm going to turn it over to one of our moderators, Miss Tierney here who helps student council. I'll turn it over to her and then our kids will give the presentation tonight. So, thank you all for being here and listening to it. And thank you to our student council for being here and all our families. >> Well, thank you for having us. Um really the kids are presenting. Um we're so proud of them. They've really worked so
007hard. This is just one of the um service projects that we've done throughout the year, but definitely our biggest. So guys, you want to come on up? Is there someone doing slide this >> Oh, got it. Okay. >> Hi, I'm Mia Katz and I'm the Kipling Student Council President. >> And I'm Micah Johnson. I'm the student council vice president. >> Hi, I'm Addie Shandling and I'm the student council co- secretary. Hi, I'm Logan Cosner and I'm the student council co- secretary. >> Hi, I'm Levi Asner and I'm the student council co-ambassador. >> Hi, I'm Natalia Aguilar and I'm also a Kipling co-ambassador. >> Hi, I'm Sophie Sachs and I'm the Kipling co- philanthropy chair. Hi, I'm Ivan Deriski and I'm also one of the Kling CO philanthropic chairs. We're so excited to share our most
008recent schoolwide service project with you. Our goal was to accomplish three things. We wanted to work together as a school to help others and promote schoolwide culture. We also wanted everyone to have some fun while doing it. Our philanthropy chairs are going to tell you more about it. For this project, we partnered with our local Deerfield organization called Gratitude Generation. The first thing that we did was to run a schoolwide drive to collect plastic grocery bags. Once the bags came in, student council members sorted them and grouped them to get ready for our schoolwide service project. Next came the schoolwide project. One Wednesday afternoon during all our all school time, the entire school participated in making porn from the plastic bags. Plurin is plastic yarn. During the schoolwide project, representatives from gratitude generation came to
009show us examples of what porn is used for and explain how it helps people. The PTO helped us organize parent volunteers to help with the cutting and assembling the porn. Everyone had a great time working together. >> We started the bag drive with a goal of collecting 5,000 bags to use to make porn during our service project. We kept track of our progress on the bulletin board on Main Street, which is what you see in this picture. We collected over 5,000 bags. After we met our goal, we earned a we earned a schoolwide reward assembly. The assembly was a minute to win it competition where the teachers volunteered to play minute to win it games on teams. Student council members also got to compete. It was a great time for the entire school to come
010together and celebrate. We had so much fun watching the teachers stack cups, have a ping pong ball race, be blindfolded for the cotton ball game, and shake it off at the end of the assembly. One final note about the organization we partnered with. It is Gratitude Generation and Deerfield. Their mission is to help create more happy healthy children and to improve the lives of the people around them. Here's a closer look closer look at the type of mats that all of the PL will be woven into. It was also helpful of the classes to get to see the mats and hear about how they help people who are unhoused. >> Thank you for the opportunity to present tonight. We love sharing with you. >> Thank you. You guys want to come? >> There you go.
011Maya, thank you. You guys can go stand right in front of the board right there. Sophie, here you go. Thank you so much. Don't run away yet, though. >> Oh, we got questions. >> So, who wants to answer this one? I'll just leave it open. Like, how So, what's the process from taking the bag into the like does any can anybody walk us through the process of how that worked? question. >> What's the process? Like, how did you guys go from the bag to the mat? >> So, we cut the bags. We folded them up and we cut the ends off. And then we cut each bag into like four four to six sections. And then those were like big loops. And then we tied them all together to make a big yarn. back. >>
012And then once we got the bags, we started we straightened them and then put them into groups of a hundred and then gave it to each class. >> About a 100 bags or 200. >> Wow. Must have been a lot of bags. A >> lot. Did you Did you use any math strategies to count all those bags? That's 5,400. How did you do that? We we counted we counted by tens in groups of tens and then we put it then we put them in big bags of 100. >> Smart. >> We had like daily meets and schedules for everyone so we could get all the bags counted in time. >> Oh, so you had quotas like so if like classrooms didn't meet quotas then like what happened? >> No, then nobody everybody got there. >>
013Can you say the question again? >> Did like was there any punishment for not making enough bags like in a day? Well, there was a time where we had to give the bags to graduate generation and that would have taken at least a day. So, we had to get the schoolwise assembly and all of that done in time. >> Ah, okay. So, positive reinforcement. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions? >> Yeah, I've I've got I've got a couple. So, how much did you guys know about philanthropy before you got involved in student council? Was that even a word before or is that like a totally new thing? >> Can you please repeat the question? >> Yeah, that's so what how much did you know about philanthropy? Like did you know the word? Did you know
014the concept? Had you been involved before you got involved in student council or is that a totally new thing? >> Um I knew the concept and I also knew the meaning. So I kind of knew what it meant. So when I when it when I wanted to get into student council, like I knew what I was getting myself into and what I would be doing. So yeah. What about you, Sophie? >> Um I also like I knew what it meant and like I thought like I liked the position for it like >> So and how how do you guys come up with the idea for the the mats? I mean there must be a process that you guys came up with a bunch of ideas and you selected something. Walk us through that. How did
015that go? >> Um so every month we have a meeting of student council and we talk about like what events we want to do or like we help like more organize what we have planned. And during that time we sometimes think of like new philanthropy events that we can do. And the way we decide, we try to pick like a fun topic that everybody can do and everybody has fun doing, but also like helps people. So that's how we like get our event. >> Yeah. And like um we also like we some of like the stuff we do we do like local for like Deerfield like most of the stuff we do. Um so like it helps our community. And do you have to find something that only works for certain grades or you try
016to find something that all the kids in the whole school can participate in? >> Yeah. >> Is that hard to do to find a topic that everybody can participate in? >> Um like >> it's not that hard. >> Okay. But it it like it like depends what you're doing cuz some grades like it just depends what you're doing mostly because I mean some grades maybe they're too young for this or they can't do this because of their age or something. Um so it's not that hard because there are a lot of things that all grades can do. So it's pretty easy. >> Yeah. Good. Well, thanks. Well, thank you guys so much. I mean, it's it's pretty impressive to see you guys volunteer, right? Volunteer your time and take extra work on in the middle
017of all your schoolwork and homework, right? And take leadership positions within your school and um serve the community, right? Do things that better the community. It's pretty impressive thing um for kids your age. So, thank you guys for coming. I really appreciate it. >> So, this is the obligatory. You're more than welcome to stick around and listen to the rest of the board meeting, but uh we we can pause for a second if you guys want to go home and eat dinner. >> All right. Next on the agenda is the superintendence report. >> Okay, we've got a chaka block full agenda. So, this is going to be pretty brief. So, the final results are in from the election and so you can round up to a 64 uh 36 uh win. So, just about 2
018to one. It's a wonderful thing. Now, the process, as John likes to say, all that's left is everything. And so, uh, first up is the plan commission process that is actually taking place tonight at 7:30. It's the pre-filing meeting on May 7th. Uh, we're going to be holding a good neighbor openhouse and this is an opportunity for any and all residents to come and ask questions. It'll be a gallery walk where they can ask questions of the architect. There'll be all sorts of different folks there. water detention, retention, uh water abatement, uh the construction managers. It'll be a whole host of uh different folks that people can talk to, including the administrators, and we're going to be asking board members to join as listeners in that experience as well. On June 25th, it gets really
019serious. Now, we have a presentation to the planning commission. and then uh July or August, a date yet to be determined. The village board will then hear the presentation and uh that's the the next step in moving forward. Then we'll recommence with Wilmont. We'll be doing one school at a time because the two school plans wind up being somewhat different. We have a May 28th pre-filing. The pre-filing, just to be clear, was uh it's taking place uh tonight uh for uh Walden. We'll have a pre-filing similar to that for Wilmont on the 23rd, another uh good neighbor open house there. July 23rd will be the presentation to the plan commission. And then sometime in September or October, another big meeting where the village board uh we will present and then uh they'll take whatever action
020is necessary there. So lots and lots of really significant activities and also really important opportunities for the community to weigh in. They can see more detailed plans and then ask whatever specific questions they might have. is to be clear, we respond to every single email, phone call that we get and we've had a lot of them. And so we really want to continue to encourage people to weigh in because it helps us get better in the course of this generational project that we're in the middle of. And then to close out, we have a couple important aspects. Now we're back on the same page. There we go. The board just received uh the uh Illinois Association of School Board Governance Award and like to say thanks to Rosie and Kate for being present uh for
021that. And this is something the Deerfield board really does work hard at. You have to attend meetings. You have to go to trainings and and uh annually they spend a lot of time outside of just the the board meetings that we have here learning and developing have a self-evaluation annually and trying to be a good board and they're always evaluating themselves and this is something that is a wonderful thing to be able to say. It's an incredibly pure form of the American democracy where taxes are raised locally and spent on the things that people care the most about and that is their children. Um so congratulations to the board. Also like to say congratulations to our board president uh Ryan Quo. He established an award for the esta he received an award for the established
022board member recognitions. >> Time. Put your time in. And that concludes the superintendent's report. >> And I'll ask um Melanie's going to ask you guys to grab a picture with the plaque that was awarded at the dinner if you don't mind taking one more photo. >> Oh, we're doing it now. Okay. >> We're going to need a new one soon. >> Reflect off my forehead. That's right. All right. Any questions for Mike? >> What happened at the village meetings? Is that more Q&A or what is what's accomplished at those? >> To be honest, I have never been through that. So, I don't know exactly what how how that's going to roll out. I know there's a presentation. John, do you have insight into how that that rolls? >> Yeah, I've been through a couple of
023these. I mean, tonight is a pre-filing conference, so it's an opportunity for the village plan commission to ask questions um of uh the architects, the engineers, the construction manager. Um and then the the district will put forward a a formal presentation uh to the plan commission. Um and ultimately the plan commission will, you know, render whatever decisions and recommendations that they have before it's advanced to the village board. So, >> but I mean, is it just like modifications to fit certain >> uh that we're focused on? >> I think it probably be better if I get a written description of the process because I'm going to butcher it here. Um, but you know, they're looking at, you know, issues related to village ordinances and zoning and, you know, those pieces. >> Thanks. >> Any other
024questions? All right. Next on the agenda is the first opportunity for community participation relative to matters on the meeting agenda. District 109 has two opportunities for public comment where most organizations offer only one. Our policy stems from the community's long-standing commitment to public discourse and representation, we take all public comment very seriously. And while public comment is not a back and forth, but instead an opportunity for the board to listen. Please know that we listen carefully. Our first period of community participation is solely for items related to the meeting's agenda. And the second period of community participation near the end of the meeting is open for all matters. If you wish to comment, please fill out a community participation form located on the podium and hand it to Rebecca Rudd. Um we will call you
025up one at a time to the podium to speak and please limit the length of all comments to no more than 3 minutes. There any comments? Okay. All right. Next on the agenda, informationational items, freedom of information request. John. >> Yeah, there's 11 in your packet. Happy to answer any questions. >> Any questions on foyers? All right, seeing none. Uh, next on the agenda, middle school math update. >> We never get a round of applause. >> Just a round of questions. >> That's right. We're ready for that. No, thank you uh for allowing us to come and update you about the middle school math um curriculum review. As you know, last spring we came and we shared the updates that occurred with K5 curriculum to the math programming in the district. At the same time,
026we had shared with you that the middle school math team had done the same comprehensive curriculum review that the elementary teams had done. We looked at a substantial number of resources. We did a vast amount of research. Um what we were finding in the resources that we were reviewing last year was that they did not often hold the same sort of rigor that was in our current programming or they did not match the instructional goals that we were looking for in our math classrooms at the middle school. It is very common that curriculums roll up so they are developed at K5 and then they move into the secondary settings. Um so when we started looking at changing our curriculum to something we had some uncertainty around that because we don't want to just change for
027the sake of change. We want to make sure that we're doing the right sorts of change for our kids. And so we did not we took a pause on looking at curriculum resources and instead we started diving into professional learning. And so our professional learning um really helped us decide to focus on building thinking classrooms which is a pedagogical shift. It's an instructional shift that you see in classrooms and we're going to put you through a little bit of that tonight but I'm going to explain the research in just a minute. We also decided to extend our contract with big ideas which is the current curriculum that we use in the middle school for three years so that we could really hone in and focus on this instructional shift. Building thinking classrooms is a shift
028that has really great alignment actually with amplify Desmos which is the tool that we selected for K5 curriculum. They are both problembased instructional approaches and we also use the supplemental tool that Amplify Desmos has at our middle school and many of our middle school classrooms as part of our curriculum. So there is alignment that occurs currently already from K5 to 68 programming. So, here's a little bit about um the research behind building thinking classrooms. It's based on Dr. Peter. I never say his last name because I always mess it up, but he did 15 years of research, 400 teachers, went into classrooms and worked with a thousand thousands of students over two week cycles for 15 years. And what he found in that research and reported on is what you see on the right, which
029is shocking. Um what he found is that 20% of students were doing the thinking in math classrooms and 80% of the students really weren't doing much thinking. They were sitting and being passive receivers of the information instead of actively pursuing mathematical agency in their learning. Um what were they doing then if they weren't thinking is what you what you might ask. But then if you think about it and you read into his research, like the vast majority of them were mimicking. They were watching what the teacher was teaching, showing them on the board, and then just replicating it in their own work. They weren't digesting it, really understanding it, consuming it for production that would allow them to retain the material and then take it forward in their learning. So they would learn it essentially
030to pass the test and then they might move forward and and dump it. So, what I'm going to do now is turn it over to three amazing educators in our middle school systems or or our math curriculum specialist, Sarah Hogan. So, Jake Kelzer is an eighth grade teacher at Shephard and Hannah Baris is an eighth grade teacher at Caruso. And Sarah, of course, I just said, is math curriculum specialist. And they're going to tell you a little bit more about a thinking classroom, what it entails, and actually make you do some thinking. >> Okay. So building thinking classrooms is an instructional model that really increases student engagement and collaboration and thinking. So it's not a curriculum, but instead it's a set of practices that really transforms how we learn in math classrooms. Um so if
031you were to read the book, there are actually 14 pillars to um a building thinking classroom. Of course, we're not going to go through all 14 tonight, but you can see some of the key ones up on the screen. So when you see the word uh the words vertical non-permanent surfaces, what that really means is if you were to walk into a building thinking classroom, you would see groups of students standing and working at whiteboards. So um the purpose of that is to make the thinking and the learning visible. Um the next pillar that you'll see up there is the visible random grouping. So the grouping itself helps with the collaboration of course and then the random randomization piece really helps to kind of eliminate social barriers. Um, so it's randomized groups at the whiteboard
032is what you would see when you walk in. And then of course the thinking tasks are really rich math tasks. So think like low floor, high ceiling, things that really promote um actual thinking versus like recall or memorization or things like that. And then the last part that you'll see up there is really the student autonomy piece. So in this instructional practice, teachers are really moving away from being like the source of the answer key and um they're actually focusing on supporting students with questioning techniques. So ultimately um building thinking classrooms just kind of shifts the classroom culture away from memorization or mimicking and it shifts it towards um you know problem solving and persevering and having students actually see themselves as mathematicians. So, um, myself and the middle school math teachers as well as
033the advanced learning specialists from the elementary schools were lucky enough to engage in some professional development with a consultant named Jared. You'll see him in like the bright colored shirt in the back there. um he's a consultant with Building Thinking Classrooms and he was super helpful with giving us not only just a broad overview of how building thinking classrooms work, but as you can see um he was able to model lessons at both Shephard and Caruso. So that little video clip that just showed was him modeling at Caruso and the teachers were able to all watch him um model the lesson which was super helpful. And then another piece of the professional development was we were able to start building our lessons with him there to kind of guide us and coach us and answer
034any questions that we might have. So you can see the list of dates up there. We had both in person and virtual with him. And um that'll likely continue into next year as well. factors of 12. Do you guys know what the factors of 12 are? You want to share them? >> Uh, would that be anything like 12? Anything that goes into 12. So, it's like 24 30. >> Those are your multiples. So, the factors would be the >> Oh, so it's an even number. So, it's like a two, four, a three, >> four. I I just learned something. >> Six and >> 12. is already taken by you. >> We took 12. So the number that factor four numbers that go multiply into that number you choose. >> There you go. Go ahead and
035pick another envelope. >> Seven. All right. So sad. Unfortunately, the game is over because there are no other numbers that go into seven. So the tax collector gets five, seven, eight, nine, >> 10, and 11. So the rule is the tax collector has to get something because he's a tax collector. So if you choose something that there's no factors of that number, then the tax collector didn't get anything. >> I would have chose that. >> And we didn't want to tell you that. >> We want you to do the most of the thinking here, right? So we wanted you to purposely do that. So thank you for right. And so you the tax collector has to get at least one envelope for every number you pick. So, our challenge for you is to try to
036beat the tax collector. And if you can do that in four minutes, how much are you going to get and how much is the tax collector going to get? >> All right. And >> numbers. >> Yep. Uh, and so you're you're trying to you're trying to get more money than tax collector is your ultimate goal. Uh, what is Do I have to stand in a certain spot? What is uh what we are here uh who we have here to help you along the way is we actually do have four uh middle school students to here that are going to join your groups. Um and so they're going to come up here uh and we are going to split you into your randomized groups. So we use cards to do that. So you're going to pick
037a card. Your card's going to have a two, three, four, or five. You're going to go to your group. There's going to be two members at each. Dr. Dr. Philippy, do you mind standing in for our missing board member today? Is that okay? Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Philippy. Um, and here is what we want you to do. So, at your board, how we get started, you have your banner. So, you'll see that the line at the very top. I forgot one at four. So, whoever's at four, go ahead and do that for me. But in your banner, what you're going to do is you're going to um uh trade off with your marker and you're going to um ask someone their name and you're going to write their name at the top of that banner
038so that everyone knows who's in their group with you. And you're going to ask the most important question of what is your favorite candy. So you also need to answer. So you need to say your name and your favorite candy. You are not allowed to write your own name. So someone else has to write your name for you. So that we're trading off of that marker. Um and something that we do in our classrooms um that we're not going to do tonight is sometimes we use that banner as a little um collaboration test for our kids too of saying, "Hey, uh are we turn taking or are we teamwork?" And our goal is to do that teamwork. Um, so we're not going to do that tonight, but that's another way we use that banner. We
039also disseminate problems in that banner. We use that banner in a lot of different ways. Today is just going to be name and favorite candy. Sound good? >> Okay. >> Pick one of the four or five. All right. Head to your group. Thank you. And then you'll have a student in your group as well. >> Oh, no. Is it All right. You ready? You want to be around? You want to give That one's another one. They want to know what's like 12 plus a lot. Everything else is good. the same goal. I remember I remember I love it. I love this. Oh yeah. >> We're going to give you one more minute to get as far as you can. One more minute. You got it. You can do it. I've got confidence in you. I
040put on I know. I remember Another Come on. >> You put 789 in the right column. Add it up. Okay. Is this on? >> Okay. Um, board members and students, if we could kind of come closer to this board over here, >> this board or this board, but let's kind of come closer over this board. As long as you can see it, you're fine. So can someone who's not in this group tell me looking at their board what might their strategy have been? What might one strategy have been with this group? >> So they started first paycheck was 11 and tax collector was one. >> Started with the number that didn't have a lot of factors. >> Okay. We started with the greatest prime number. Super. And so that allowed you to get a large
041paycheck and then the tax collector to get a small one. Um so in a building thinking classrooms, what we'll do periodically during the class period is pause the students to look at someone's board. Um and then the rule kind of is that if you're at that board that we're highlighting, you can't do the talking. Everyone else has to kind of explain the thinking, which is part of the visible thinking part. Um, and then I mentioned to this group over here too because they got it a minute or two ago that if this was the real classroom and we were doing this, then we would pose another question such as, okay, now let's say the game is the same game, but you have the paychecks ranging from a dollar to $18. So, it kind of changes
042the parameters and you have to really rethink your strategy there a little bit. So, um, that's just kind of a little snippet of building thinking classrooms. >> What was the answer? >> Uh, Dr. Philippy's group did get the correct answer for the 1 through 12. >> Do you want the cards back? >> They definitely want those cards. >> Sorry. >> Don't go anywhere in case. I'm going >> Okay. So, really what we wanted to do was just give you a glimpse into what a building thinking classroom experience looks like. This doesn't occur in their classrooms every single day. it would be nearly impossible to plan these sort of task every day, but it's it's happening more and more as we build out lessons. The important part that we're trying to emphasize in math instruction in
043Deerfield 109 is that we allow kids to approach the mathematical understanding from a problembased place first. So, they're trying to be problem solvers before we come in and give the explicit teaching. The important message is though that we're still providing explicit teaching, right? It just we are allowing kids to try. Sarah mentioned the word persevere and we've talked a lot in the last year about productive struggle and this is one example of how it shows up in instruction because kids have to try. Sometimes they go to the board just like you did and they're talking out loud trying to figure out exactly what the task is before they even get started. And then you watch other groups go to the board and they have no idea exactly what's happening and they just go they just
044start trying and they trial and error and it's really fun to watch the buzz in that kind of classroom. And that's that's what we're trying to do. Bring back engagement, a little bit of problem solving, lots of perseverance and then at the end of the day we're still ensuring that all kids are mastering the same content and standards and being ready for high levels of mathematics in their curriculum. So with that, any questions? Any questions for these any questions for the students? >> Danielle, you said that we can't do BTC every day all day long because it's not practical, right? It does provide that productive struggle that you referenced and we're kind of moving away from just the non-thinking memorization to really jumping into the problem, getting physical, you know, moving around. >> How do
045we how do we do more of this if we can't do it all? And what are the outcomes that we're seeing with BTC and practice in our schools as far as better student learning? I I would say increased engagement and then I'll turn it over and maybe even to students. I will tell you that when they first started this approach instructional approach in classrooms, it was really complicated for for some of our students to enter into learning like this. They some of our students have grown really used to being the recipients of the information, right? And so when you ask them to go to the board and work through a problem and they don't have depth of familiarity with it, it is really hard for some of our learners to like give it a shot
046without knowing that they're going to get the right answer. Um, so I think what what is most important to me is that we're still graduating kids with the same skills in mathematics, but what we're gaining by taking these kinds of approaches or some of those social emotional um skills that we've talked about like just being really really deep learners that they're able to use those critical thinking skills and they're they're learning to be independent in that process or lean on their peers instead of always looking to the adult to provide the answer. >> Um I I think um to continue just to answer your question um I I think this is a slow process for teachers too to then to change is hard as well right and it takes us a chunk of time to
047plan these activities as well. So we do something called thin slicing with this because when this is a non non-curricular activity but when we do curricular activities we have to try to um get a starting point of a starting problem where we feel that kids can be successful and then slowly slice that into harder and harder and harder and harder and harder so that we're not just saying hey throw you into the pool and see if you can swim right so like it takes us a lot of planning to do that and to incorporate that so we're still learning how to get better at that I would say So, and I think the better we get at that, the more we practice that, the more we learn and get um professional development on that, uh
048I think the more we can incorporate this into our classrooms. Um and that's our goal. Like that's what we want to do. Um and so we're trying. Um and I think for um our students, like I know in some of my classes, I have students that come in at the beginning of class and they're like, "Are we doing boards today?" And and they're getting excited about it, right? It's getting them out of their seats and they are enjoying that and they want to do that too and it breaks my heart sometimes when I'm like nah no like I can't do it today. Um but I'm trying to do it as much as I can for those classes that are just thriving in it and and doing it. So um it's a slow process like you
049said and and our goal is to get more and and do it more so that those kids are are are able to thrive in that environment and learn better. Um uh and and I I want to reiterate what Danielle was saying too is like some this is hard for some kids. Failure is hard for some kids. Some of you failed today and that's okay, right? But for our kids sometimes that's really hard, right? And that's a that's a different I know. I know. I I know. Um but but but we uh I think the way that we've been teaching is is like we're just going to make sure you succeed rather than letting them sit in that failure for a little bit to learn from that and then grow even higher than us just letting
050them succeed. So um we're getting better and it's a slow process but we're getting there. So >> yeah. >> Thanks. >> I got a question for the students um whoever wants to answer school. Have you guys noticed any difference? like has it felt different the learning is the the way the teachers are approaching stuff and what's it been like for you guys? >> I definitely think that I've had like an easier time learning when I like work with other students at the boards because sometimes it helps to hear how like the learning process is for other people and different perspectives. So if somebody's having trouble, they could seek help from another student if for example our teachers are busy. And it helps also sometimes to be the teacher because it reinforces the learning. I also
051think that it prevents like exclusion with the random drawings cuz sometimes people have a tendency to go into their groups with their friends. And since it's always even and it's random, you get partnered with new people and also you get to see like different ways of how people are understanding it. I think it has been very helpful personally. >> Put you in a flyer. >> Yeah. >> First off, that's a great answer. And my question now is going to not be that great. But um so sometimes you go into these things from a curriculum standpoint and you have a goal and you have challenges that you want to solve with whatever you know curriculum or program or vendor that you're going to use associated with it. Um but sometimes as you go through this you
052identify things that you weren't anticipating. Was there anything out of this process that you learned that came out of this that you weren't anticipating or weren't thinking about ahead of time? >> Yeah. I I personally I've had some classes thrive in this and I've had some classes implode on this and and it's been a learning process for for a lot of my kids. Um and so I would say one of those um uh some of those issues were that I didn't anticipate were some of those social emotional needs of my students that coming into it I just wasn't prepared and had the tools to to help those students in the moment. Um and so we've been working on that. We've had those um MCIE um meetings where I literally sat down with the presenter. I
053was like, "This is what happened. Can you help me?" And she was like, "Yes." Uh and so then we were I just tried new things, right? I just needed more tools in my toolbox. And um so we're again still working on that. But yeah, the social emotional aspect of this is really hard for some of our students that have high needs. And um it's scary to be in groups like this and to be pushed in these ways. And so I did not anticipate that. Um, but again, something that we're growing through. So, um, I I would also say just like the time to plan it. When our first our first time doing it, we're like, "Cool." And then it's like I think our first time we sat down, the three of us sat down to
054plan a lesson and it took an hour and a half, two hours plus where we were like, is this good enough? And then even after we did it, we're like, oh, that was rough. you know, so that time frame has shortened, but that's still an issue where we're spending a lot of time doing for for one one hour class period to to get that done. So, yeah, >> this may be a little related to the your first response, but randomness in groups, you can have some kids who are going to be, you know, stronger voiced and more opinionated and some that might really know what they're doing, but are a little softer spoken. How do you how do you get that out of them to speak up and share ideas in these settings? >> Yeah.
055So, um, something we alluded to, but we didn't have time to fully unpack today was, um, so like the we have one marker per group, and it's the expectation is that we're we're changing that marker every problem or every so often or every line or whatever that is. Um, and then what we what we like to do too is um there's a there's like a there's an arrow at the top of your banner at times where we put I put um turn taking on one side, which turn taking is not bad. We're taking turns, but our goal is teamwork. So, I put teamwork on the other side of that banner. And so, I'll have we'll go to a group and I'll just say, "Hey, fingers up." And this is something that Jared taught us of
056fingers up. We're going to vote on the count of three. Where do you feel like your group is at right now? Are you just turn taking and one person's doing the work while two people are just watching? Or are we teamwork and we're all collaborating together? And the students will vote and I'll average it. I'll put a little slice on their spectrum and say, "Okay, how can we now get further to the right? How can we get further towards that teamwork? What do you need to do as a group and put on the kids? What do you need to do to get further over?" They come up with an idea. Great. I move on to the next group, right? And so then and I'll circle back. Hey, let's vote again. Did we make progress? Doesn't
057have to be perfect, but did we make progress? Yeah. >> Um, and so that's just a way to keep those students engaged of like this is the expectation and you're when we vote like you're your partners are holding you accountable as well of we want you to be a part of this. So that's been a great strategy to use along the way. >> Thanks. >> Yeah. >> One more question. And so you've been practicing this in eighth grade. >> How has this been playing out for the sixth grade and seventh grade students? I mean, you know, it's been challenging at the eighth grade level. And so what have you seen there? I don't know if you want to talk more. Okay. >> We're Yeah, we're actually doing this in all grades six through eight and
058then also our advanced learning specialists um are implement are implementing it in their rooms as well from time to time. Um, so you know, one of the questions was about curricular resources. And one thing that came to mind was, um, recently when I was working with sixth grade on doing some of what Jake called thin slicing, we found that big ideas, which is the resource we're going to use for the next three years, it's a really good resource to like pull some of those problems from. But then as Danielle mentioned earlier, we actually found that Desmos um which is used as a supplement in the middle school actually really lends itself a lot closer to some of the building thinking classroom practices. So we've been kind of like weaving in more Desmos, especially at the
059sixth grade level um because it just like goes handinhand with it more. But yeah, all of the grade levels are working at um increasing the amount of building thinking classroom lessons that they're doing. Any more questions? All right. >> Somebody's got to ask Hannah. >> Yeah. Hannah. Hannah. Can I get off the hook here so easily? >> All right. Thank you guys for Yeah. Thank you for helping us. >> Nice job. Thank you. Thank you. And now I get to invite another group up to join me. >> All right. Yeah. Next on the agenda, fine arts curriculum review. >> Sorry. Next time. >> All right. So, >> they're kind of wanting a picture with the board. >> Oh, yes. >> Yeah. Come in. Can we get a picture with the students and the board of
060education? >> And the teachers, I guess, too. Sarah, why don't you? >> Great job, guys. >> Yep. >> No, you're good. >> Find a gap. >> I'm good. Thanks for coming. >> Thank you all. >> Nice job. >> What's that? >> That's a That's a ask. You're not going to pass. Okay. Um Okay. We We have actually been engaged in our fine arts curriculum review this year. So, we've been doing instrumental music, general music, and art. Next month, I'll be here with general music and art teams. And uh this evening, I have the pleasure of introducing our instrumental music team that is all here this evening except for two people who are actually working this evening because what are they? Where are they at? Where >> jazz? >> High school jazz night. So, we're missing
061Emily and Matt this evening because they're there. But I have with us this evening Carrie, Amy, Ann, Mike, and Sally. Um, and they're going to walk you through what the curriculum review processes look like for us in instrumental music. Really quickly, I'm just going to introduce the same thing that I share with you every time we do a curriculum review is that we start with the district mission and vision as our guiding practices. We always do a staff needs assessment. We survey the students to get their feedback. We take all of that information into the initial meetings where we start with departmental visioning. And that visioning is what will drive every decision we make throughout the course course of the year. We also look at any standards that that are related to the program. We
062examine what the current programming looks like, what opportunities we have for improvement, and then planning starts. So this team that stands behind me that's about to present has spent 30 or more hours this year just working on preparing this presentation uh for you this evening and for preparing for really engaging opportunities for students in the classroom. I am just going to point out that their vision which was included in your board packet doesn't just focus on musicianship but it also focuses on developing the social emotional aspects of our students and engaging them in our community. that was really really critical to this team and so you're going to see that layered in the conversation and the proposals that they are sharing with you this evening and I'll turn it over to them. >> All right.
063Again, Mike Schwarz. I uh teach fourth and fifth grade band Kipling and Walden. I think it's really hard to uh showcase what growth looks like and what our students go through in our program. the closest we can get without bringing in all of our students um was spotlighting what some of our music looks like from the beginning of the journey to when we say goodbye to them in the spring. So, this is a small snapshot of a portrait of a musician. Uh top left corner is my life in November. It is very simple. It is there's so much going on in these musicians brains. Not only is it making these notes, but it's how am I sitting? Did I put it together right? What am I missing? There's so many pieces they're putting together on
064their own and so much of it is led by us the instructor at first because this is starting from scratch. Uh so few students have any education in this ahead of uh joining our programs and it's really gratifying to begin this journey with them like a language. We're starting from from square one and we go from there. As they go on through their journeys we enrich the music we provide them. we enrich the abilities uh that they develop and through their work as well we grow to then fifth grade through sixth grade through 8ighth grade and I think one of the really gratifying things is watching students who tackle that progression on their own with energy. I now have students at the end of fifth grade who can probably see that clarinet parts uh in
065sixth grade and tackle that and some who are taking private lessons who can do that in eighth grade. So, it's really cool to see a starter journey with them and then see where they take themselves on uh with with their excitement, with their energy and guidance from us as well. Okay. Uh Amy did a great job putting together a outcome slide of uh the connections we make within ourselves as musicians, within the classroom, within the ensemble, as well as the connections within our community. I'll spotlight a couple of these. Uh but if you were ever coming into any of our classrooms, you would see these happening on a regular basis. We talked a lot about productive struggle, about failure, grit, and a lot of that is present and necessary in instrumental music education. Uh beginning
066of the year, our classroom looks and sounds a lot different than uh it does at the end of the year. And those students have developed, put a lot of time and effort in. So we go through a lot of uh resilience building, growth mindset. Failure is a part of our learning process that does lead to confidence. That confidence leads to a really successful uh outcome with with concerts uh within our classmates, within our ensembles. It does matter. Every single student's uh participation does matter in our performances. I had a a huge amount of posters in my spaces, but there's one that has a whole grid of of squares, and there's one that's slightly turned off to the side. And of course, that's the first one that you see. So, we work really really hard on
067making sure that everyone is is developing their skills as much as we can and that it truly does matter for every student when they are performing uh their their efforts are are seen, are needed, and are valued. And we look to extend that connection beyond within our community here in Deerfield uh throughout the uh the states uh country at large. We love collaborating on performances throughout different grade levels between elementary, middle school. I I know that we've got some performances that take place in the community uh within community centers as well. So building those connections within um community groups in Deerfield. And most recently on Monday, we had a chance with Kipling Walden and Shepherd Band program to invite a Virginia composer whose pieces were performing in both uh elementary and middle school programs and
068have her work with the students and have them get to meet someone who wrote their music and have that tangible connection to the music they're performing this spring. And a lot of my kids were in line to get like autographs. It was like, you know, someone famous came by. So whenever we can expand the the walls uh a little bit farther than our own classroom and bring in so many of these resources and and uh faces and voices, we we seek to do that to enrich our students um outcomes. Okay. >> I'm Carrie and Salma and I teach at Caruso. So it's nice to see all of you. I actually like to have a microphone in my hand. I don't know why. I think it's just part of the job of what we do when
069we're at concerts and it's so nice to actually it's like okay it's our time this is when we have concerts let's go. So, as part of our curriculum review, we did a big conductive evaluation on instrument inventory, the usage of long-term program needs. And so while most families provide or rent their own instruments, certain and large less large instruments such as tubas, baritones, cellos, bases, and all of the percussion are schoolowned to ensure equitable access for practical use for students and for us also as teachers to model proper position, intonation, tone so that students are really able to see us also model and give examples for them. So since 2014 and why I bring up 2014 that is the longest someone has been in the district that is myself and before this there was a
070formal curriculum review in 2002. So in 2014 many of our repair efforts focused on maintaining instruments that were just in playable condition which was essentially just putting band-aids on the instruments. In many cases, this just meant applying short-term fixes to then extend extend the usability. With the recent increase in the funding, we've been able then to move beyond those temporary solutions and begin then investing in higher quality instruments and provide greater durability over time. It also allows a shift for us to be more strategic for learn long-term planning for three years, for six years, for nine years, and just extensively where we want to go and then to also reduce all of the emergency repairs that we've been doing for such a long time. is also a part of this process. We went and did
071repair costs with placements and found that in sever several cases purchasing new instruments was actually more sustainable for us than just repairing some of the other instruments to further support support some of our student growth which I'll get to the next slide. Perfect. We went to look at subscriptions called make music smart music and site reading factory. These resources extend beyond our classrooms, providing at home guidance, at home practice, allowing to have targeted feedback and monitoring students at all different levels. This makes it more consistent and skill-developed to improve some of our performance outcomes. It's so funny. We always sometimes I personally write things and then I'm like, wait, I'm going to say something totally different. Our department has strengthened this collaboration across six schools and our seven directors and we've also been sharing instruments
072and we've been sharing materials and so we were able then to extend our curriculum with materials and we have several teachers that travel to different buildings and so we are able to have books methods method books we are al also hosting solo and ensemble at Caruso next year in February of 2027 which means we have then 1,500 additional families coming to our district to support and play. And so we also will then have extra materials for those students and directors in any kind of emergency case. So it's really nice that we're able then to support our immediate and then also with the outreach for us. I think this really has us strengthen the consistency and quality of our musical experience with also our student growth around the school district. And the best way we can
073thank you and show everything is everything we do in our concerts, our day-to-day life. And so it's really nice for us to be so appreciative. And it's really great to see the growth this program has gone even from 2014. We also did an informal we personally as a department wanted to do a to do a curriculum review in 2018, but it's been so nice this year especially that we've been able to really sustain and help grow our programs. So, thank you. >> I'll say first off, as a parent of two kids that have gone through the or one that's already gone through the programs now high school, another one that's just starting in fourth grade, right? Um really appreciate I've gone to all the concerts for years and I was just at a the percussion
074fest I think at at the high school. pretty amazing, right? To hear the level of skill that those guys have and then especially having the short-term memory of being able to reflect on what it was in fourth grade, right? And seeing that growth of those students and then hearing professional, they had actually some professionals there and then they had a student ensemble right after that was like I thought was like on the same level. Maybe it's my ears, right? But it was it was pretty incredible to see the skill sets and it all starts with you guys um here and I think it's the passion that my oldest has for percussion now that like I never I mean it can be a little annoying I'll be honest but um but the amount of like banging
075around that he does is this all comes from you know his his love of it and that all stems from from you guys and actually you specifically starting off with in fourth grade right so um and I know my kids aren't the only ones that have have benefited from that. So, I wanted to thank you guys for for that work. >> Yeah, I'll I'll pile on. I've told I think most of you, maybe all of you, uh, individually, just how much I love going to the concerts and the earliest, the youngest kids that you work with and the progression going through. It's like one of the best things I do in the entire year. And the fact that your November is hot cross buns, I actually love that. And then as as you go through,
076I don't think there is a clear example in the school system of the value of educators contributing to kids. It's just so tangible when you see the kids play like that. And hats off to you every single time. And I also really appreciate the fact that you guys support each other that that when one group, the band is having a concert, then I I see you guys, you know, doing crowd control out there for kids that want to act out or whatever they want to whenever they want to socialize or whatever. And just really respect the work that all of the music teachers do. And so, thank you. Oh, I just want to comment um just listening to this presentation and the math presentation, the word confidence coming up so often. I think it just
077it's it's speaks to our, you know, commitment to social emotional learning. So, I just want to comment on that. That's great. And I think in an age where you know our kids are so used to instant gratification and having a teenager in high school now who went through um you know uh band with Mr. Schwarz. Yep. They our boys made a pact in like third grade and then co happened and they couldn't do band in fourth grade so they they started in fifth grade. And I always remind him especially when he is you know expecting that result so instantaneously that you ended ban in 8th grade but just please remember where you started. So it's not instant gratification. This is one thing that I could as a parent you know remind him that it takes
078work and it takes practice. It doesn't just happen. So I just want to thank you guys for that. It >> it's interesting with the two curriculum reviews back toback right? you know, and I'm probably intentional, right? Maybe um it it there's a lot here, I think, within the fine arts curriculum that actually is reverse applicable to the academics where you guys are so far further ahead in terms of practical instruction of um the social emotional the things that we're trying as a board to push the district in the direction of that. I think the academic side had is trying now to figure out how to implement those same tactics and those same approaches, right? Um and you could see it with with this, right? Um I think you know and I'm sure you guys are
079having those conversations about how do we take those concepts and apply them right to the rest of the rest of the student experience. I mean just it's really it's really striking how you know I didn't even really make to be honest make that connection until you just did that right >> I mean >> there's a huge connection between historically music learning and instruction and math in particular right so if one of you'd like to talk about that because what Ryan's talking about is high levels of engagement across the board right struggle progress ress, frustration, regression, growth, all those things are all part of what you guys do on a daily basis, right? But that's not just, you know, if anybody wants to talk about the connection between music and math, be happy to hear about
080>> I mean, I I I teach music. So when I when I saw the slide of the uh the the pie chart for the math and how many students were 0% um giving much of any substance in those lessons. Uh it's I mean there are probably students who do it but it's really hard to kind of like fake on the trombone uh when I it's just me and three of you and then we got the full band together. So I I think it's really neat that what we ask of our students is is is that that effort. It's it's failing with confidence. It's making mistakes large enough that we can know how to fix them. And it's it's about learning with others and making it so in your face that that it's so apparent when
081mistakes are made. It's also so apparent when we're doing the thing. And it it sounds like, you know, that the high school group sounds like, you know, professionals or the fifth graders sound like eighth graders. and it just kind of all comes into place. So, it it's really cool to to guide them on the process and then see them take ownership of that, too, where it's it's less of us leading them, but them coming into class one day and they're like, I just learned this thing from YouTube or the talks or whatever. And uh it's it's just so cool to see them taking a run with it. >> I also for like anyone who learns differently, I think that music is a really safe space. I think music is what do they say? It's like
082one of the only activities that utilizes all seven of Gardner's theory of intelligences. So you've got like linguistic, spatial, um mathematical, musical is one of them. Uh interpersonal, intrapersonal. So when people come up to me and say that they're a terrible musician, like adults like, "Oh, I used to play. I was terrible." I'm like, "No, no, no. You were great at one of them. We all excel at one of them." So even if like um kinesesthetically maybe is challenging to coordinate even though music is really good for your hand eye coordination and all that um maybe your you exude empathy so you can connect with the people and you sense when the notes going to change like maybe that is like that that deep feeling is in there for you um maybe uh maybe you
083have a spatial intelligence so I think that it's just a place where we get to see all learners really really come alive in act. Um I I am just thinking about seeing that happen today in my classroom. It's just really cool. >> Yeah, it's it's really the integration. I mean, this is where we've been trying to go, I think, with our curriculum and is it's once the kids start to make connections between subjects, right? And start to integrate concepts that like, hey, I learned this over here and I can apply it over here and it helps me understand this better because I learned this over here, right? and whether it's a topic subject or a um a skill set or just a way of thinking right that's I think that's the nirvana that we're trying
084to achieve right and so I think it it starts to a certain extent I think with programs like this right it's the one place where again I keep coming back I think it's it's gone it's it's at a level in terms of how we instruct our kids right and how we are teaching them that it's not a straight line sometimes you hit a ceiling and then you regress a little bit and you go back and and you have to work through it and that productive struggle that's there. That's not something that traditionally in academics was kind of t it was more of a straight line. You move from this step to this step to this step, right? Kind of thing. So really excited to see where this goes in terms of how we take lessons
085from one to the other, right? And apply those and make those connections and help our kids not make those connections but how help them make those connections for themselves, right? >> But it's great. I love I love the concerts. I do. >> Before Before they get away, I just want to say like working with this team, they're one of the hardest working groups of people and the most collaborative groups that we have in the district. And so I remember when I was meeting with Carrie and Emily when we got to the point of, you know, talking about the purchases, the diversifying of the music, the adding instruments uh to all of their inventories and putting them in their spaces and uh Carrie said to me in one of the calls like, "Is this really happening?
086Is this really happening?" And that's that is the sort of gratitude that they come to in this space um of working in this district. And it's just really been it's a pleasure to watch them work. Um they do great things for our kids. >> I would just say let's not wait another 10 or 15 years to review. >> Nope. >> Right. Yeah. And I hope I hope also your new spaces will match the effort that you're putting in and the you know the new effort that we're getting to purchase new things. >> They're excited. >> Thank you guys. I appreciate >> All right. Next on the agenda, construction manager of record. Yeah. So, um, up until this point, the board, uh, has always, uh, well, I don't want to say always, but, at least in
087my 15-year tenure, been approving projects, uh, for capital work done with a general contractor. Um, and when we award a contract uh for summer work under a general contractor, uh, that general contractor is bidding the entirety of the project and managing it. Uh, but it's kind of one price that's coming in. Uh but given the complexity and the scope of the work that is before us, um it is a smart move for us to select a construction manager of record. Um so we've got Graham from CCS, our owners rep here with us tonight. Um but I would just share quickly that we issued a request for qualifications for a CM. Uh and we had 13 firms uh submit their qualifications to the district. the administration took the first uh round at it and narrowed that
088group down to six finalists. Uh and then we held uh qualitative interviews with those firms and thank you to Kelly and Kate for being a part of those interviews as well as our architects, our administrative team, uh Graham's team as part of that. And then uh after the interview phase, we narrowed it down to three finalists and then we forced those finalists to compete financially uh by responding to a request for Yeah. Uh, request for proposals. So, I will let Graham summarize uh that uh information that came back and answer any questions that you have. >> Okay. >> Can you hear me? >> Yep. Yep. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I'm just amazed at the programs and the teachers and everything. It's just unbelievable. Um, long way from where I came from. So, so congratulations for
089that. Um, yep. You've John's outlined the process. It's been a very detailed and complex review of the proposals. We went through the qualification process and we found three that were uh very much in line with what we wanted. Their staff was excellent. They had good records. They had experience. So, we finally decided, hey, let's let's put a price to it and see where we are. Uh we went through that and we got proposals in from three uh and they were three different proposals. Um we've got a list in the um recommendation that shows that in in fee bear with the lowest in bond bear with the lowest in insurance bear we're pretty much in the middle. But the big one, the pre-construction services, which is all the management that goes towards the design and looking
090at estimates and things of that nature before you get to construction. Uh Burr said that's included in our fee. Uh the other two were looking for money for that service and it's not unreasonable but I think the bottom line is Burr really wanted it and they were enthused by it. We like their staff. Um they've worked with Archon. They've done a number of schools. Um we check their references. We got highly regarded. We got highly recommended. uh and they are basically the right size company to do a project like this. Um Pepper and FH Passion were bigger than Bear. Um but we felt that with Bear, a middlesized company, this is a really important project to them and that it would mean a lot to them and we'd get their A team. Whereas with a
091couple of the others, maybe it wouldn't be the A team, maybe with the B team because this project is not a huge project to them. So, um, in every which way we looked at it, we considered Bear gave us the best value, which I I think is pretty incredible. Uh, they've been in business 40 years. They've got 213 full-time staff. They're based in Rolling Meadows. Um, when I spoke to them and told them that we were looking at recommending them, um, the president said, "You've made my year. Thank you." That told me everything right there. So, um, the team looked at it and I I I have no qualms about recommending Bear for the construction management. I think they'll do a very good job. They're very responsible and they will treat it with a great
092deal of um respect and enthusiasm. Any questions? >> Did they provide um other projects like that are similar in scope? So, and that was the reference feedback that you received on that. >> Yeah, they their references were more than pleased with what they were doing and they hadn't just been dealing with them for a year. They've been constantly renewing it. So that also confirmed. >> So and Archon uh the architect they worked with Archon. Archon was very supportive of Burr's recommendation as well. So it it seems like the right choice. >> Who was the other board member that was part of it? >> Uh we had Kate and Kelly >> and Kate. Okay. Did you do you have any comments on that or? Um, it was an interesting process to hear from very large companies
093how they would look at our referendum and what they would do with our schools that I mean we had >> two days, two full days >> of meeting after meeting. I think it was an hour at least each presentation. >> Um, I think what for me what set Vera apart was just their likability factor. They were very down to earth. They were very open and transparent. It reminded me a lot of kind of our values of Deerfield where you know we're very proud and you know we're happy to collaborate which was another big thing that there really stood out for me is a lot of the community outreach that they're going to plan for the community whether it's um doing programming within our schools to explain what is construction and what are these signs that
094I see and what are these that was a a neat thing to also outreach with neighbors and the other entities within our village. um to host sessions with them. Just the collaboration was for me what set them apart and and the likability factor and um you know we asked them some tough questions. I don't think they they were prepared but they also were like oh that's a great question. We'll get back to you. It wasn't like they were spitting out something that they they thought would work for us if they weren't sure. So overall, it was a very fascinating experience and uh we're very lucky that Bear is the construction manager if if we decide that. >> Is there anything that the other companies were offering that we are not getting because we're going with
095a more mediumsized company? I get that they're more expensive, too, but I'm just wondering what that how we decide. Um I I I I think it's not what we're not getting. I think it's what we are getting. We're we're getting a lot more attention. I think um you know to bear this is a huge project to Peppa and FH Passion. It it's one of those in line. It's not one of the biggest so you maybe won't get that attention but in terms of what we've done and going through the process qualifications. Everybody submitted their qualifications um and the proposal from the three. It was very structured so that we looked at what we got uh and what what the estimate was and how it came together and we were able to do a comparison. So
096I I don't think we're missing anything. Um in fact, I think we're probably gaining something by going with probably the smaller of the three. And um they they their whole approach was one of this means a lot to us and we want it and um that's reflected when I spoke to Pepper and I I you know Peppa's a big company do a lot of schools and I said to them look we've got some clarification to do on your fee on who's working on the project what the rates are how it all comes together. Um they said, "Yeah, we we can we can do, you know, we we'll look at it and and we'll get back to you to clarify it." They reduced their fee from 2.5 to 1.95 and they said, "We've never done a
097project under 2% for the last 10 years." Uh and we would not, you know, we're prepared to do this in this one instance, but bear fee is 1.5. So, we're already ahead of the game and um you know, so I I think we're getting a lot and I think we're getting a fair price and I think we're getting best value. Um I've seen nothing that would give me any qualms uh about not using B. >> One one clar from an insight standpoint like is there a reason why they're not here? >> Did they know they were going to be okay? They're uh across town at the plan commission right now. Ah, >> they got the short straw. >> Got it. >> Okay. All right. It makes more sense. Thank you. >> Yeah. They they were
098due to come, but because of the >> Got it. >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Otherwise, they would have been here. >> Okay. >> So, Graham, also known as Gordon, what I hear you saying is that that if there's one word that describes bearer for you, it sounds like that's hungry. >> Hungry. Best value. I I've got more than one word because um but yeah, I I think you've got you got them at a very good time uh when they were looking to fill out their order book and and they were hungry and and you know to be pre-construction services a part of their fee. That that's a huge commitment. >> It reminds me a little bit of some of our new teachers that we on board to the district where some parents are like we got
099the new teacher. What's going to happen? Whereas I and others, it's great to get the new teacher because they are so open and hungry and want to learn and don't have any preconceived notions about how this should go and >> they want to succeed and we want them to succeed. So it reminds me a lot of >> and I wouldn't call Bear an underdog. I was just saying Bear is exactly where they need to be to meet the needs of our community. These are the guys that we're going to be holding accountable for the timeline, right? So, is there I mean, I'm just trying to think about this. I mean, this is a big thing for us obviously that you know, this timeline is short. There's not really any wiggle room in here because obviously
100the student impact could be large, right? Um, is there anything I mean is there any fees at risk? Like, what's the commercials look like within the contract on a on a construction manager? Was there fees at risk? Is there timeline penalties? Is there anything that aligns them to our our needs? >> In in the qualification documents, uh we asked for a schedule. >> Mhm. >> And um in in each case, we got a schedule that said 18 months, which is what we were saying. Um and then I further quizzed them on, well, just because we said it's 18 months, is it 18 months? Um, and they said, "Well, if we hit the design dates, which are coming up in pre-construction, and if we've got everything in line, which we think we will, and we're going
101to be a part of helping you to do that, um, then we should hit the deadline dates." So, we got a commitment in that regard. Um, but at the moment, um, we we've got a fee from them. uh we don't have a cost of the work because the design has to be done the trades have to be bid all all of that has to come >> um but I think if we put bear in place I think we've got the foundation block that we can build on to get there at the end >> yeah it's just it's one thing so this is a fixed fee contract for the life of the project or now what how >> it it's it's a fixed fee it's 1.5% >> okay >> that's it so Um, in that sense
102it's a fixed fee, but the general conditions, which is all the staffing and everybody else that's going to be a part of getting the work done, all of that has to be finalized and and discussed, even though we've got an estimate for doing it here. It it's not definitive because we don't know the fullest extent of what we're going to be looking at. Graham, can you explain for the board uh the difference between proceeding with a general contractor for a project and a construction manager at risk and where does the bidding occur when you move forward with a CM at risk? >> Okay. Um a general contractor would price a project on a lump sum. So for doing all the drawings and he prices it when all the drawings are complete, you would get a
103project for whatever he bids. uh a construction manager not at risk which is kind of where we are at the moment. Um you get a fee from him. Sometimes you get a general conditions locked in. You get them involved much earlier so that they can help with the design uh and look at it and say well you know that type of window and the way it works is going to be more expensive um than doing a storefront which is a a more reasonable price. So you get all of that input. You get input on the schedule as well looking at it and and saying, you know, hey, if we can do this change to the design, we can probably get it a little quicker and a little better and we're going to arrange the logistics
104a little easier. Um, so that's that's what we've got. Every one of the trades has to be bid out. So we've got an estimate. Um CCS did an estimate. We got estimates from each of these CMS. Um we got one that was higher than the 100. We got one that was 100 which was bare and we got one that was lower. There is no guarantee price to that. They're purely indicative and and there are drawings was based I mean there was about five drawings. So you you don't have a good feel as to what it's going to be but you've got a guideline. So that kind of confirmed our pricing. Um, but at this point in time, as we go further down the path and get the drawings more complete, we'll be looking at bidding
105out publicly bidding each trade. That means excavation, concrete, uh, all of those trades will be bid individually and the construction manager will put together the documents to help put that out to bid. So the intent is the investment that we make on the CM is to offset potential future costs by being more efficient in the design upfront. Is that the way to think about this? >> Yeah. >> And do who do they report to you? You you too like who holds them accountable to you guys do? >> Yeah. Tim Ryan and his work. >> Okay. I always struggle with like it's a percent of fees. So you have to have faith that they're not incentivized to just spend more. And then bear manages all the trades once they've been bidded. >> Mhm. >> Right. >>
106Yes. They when when you get down to site and and you're managing the trades, they manage the work, the safety, the sequence, the schedule. They are um means and methods is what we typically call it. Um but they manage the trades. Yes. >> Big hire. >> All right. Any more questions? All right, thanks. I >> I think somebody had a lot of fun when we were interviewing. >> I think we picked the right person for that meeting. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> All right. Thanks, Gra. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> All right. Next on the agenda is municipal advisor presentation. We're going to turn it over to Liz Hennessy. Thank you, Liz. >> Good evening. Thanks so much. Um, are we doing this on the screen? >> Is it working? >> Okay, >> thank you. >>
107Melanie will drive for you. >> Thank you so much. Okay, drive away. Um, we're I'm here to kind of summarize our discussion at finance committee and have this presentation to three sections. Market update, district debt profile, and the refunding. And then the referendum plan update. So, uh, the market, uh, is very volatile. Um, let's go one more. Thank you. One more. There we go. Perfect. Um, since the war in Iran, we've seen interest rates go up pretty dramatically. Really pushed by the higher price of gas, which is inflationary, and uh, Treasury bonds have responded at their height going up at the 10-year mark about 40 basis points. Municipals followed. Um, every day is a different story. We think the war is over and rates come down a little bit and go up, but um, we've
108really, uh, had some volatility. So, that's the bad news. The good news is demand for municipal bonds has still been fairly strong. And if we look at that graph on the bottom part there, every time you see green bars going up, that means there's more demand for municipal bonds than um people selling municipal bonds. So that's the good news. Let's go to the next page. This is the uh 10 the historical AAA rated municipal market data index. On the x-axis it shows the year of maturity. On the y ais it's the yield. The dark line is the 30-year average for each point on that curve. The light blue line shows the min and max. And so the red line is where we are now. So we're really kind of right at that 30-year average for
109municipal interest rates, tax-free interest rates. We're a little lower. You can see kind of in the belly of the curve from 5-year point through 19-year point. So that's kind of where we're at. Let's go to the next section, outstanding debt, uh, and debt limit. Um, earlier tonight, you had a public hearing that accepted the referendum approved bonds from the debt limit. This is a relatively new public act passed in June of 24. So really, that leaves your entire debt limit less the outstanding limited bonds you have of 12.8 8 million to give you a net debt limit that's still very large at 121.4 million. Let's go to the next slide. I'm just reviewing the three bond issues you have outstanding here, the 2013,5 and 2019 non-referendum bonds because tonight uh when you look at the
110resolutions, there will be one to refund the series 2015 bonds. They were callable 121524. Um, so we can still refund them, but it's tight. Uh, when John and I started talking about this, we kind of went in the money. Last year, we were out of the money as rates were really ramping up and then kind of coming down pre-Iran war. We had a nice saver. Let's go to the next page, please. >> Yes. I'm sorry. I should use the word refinancing. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I'm sorry. I use refunding. refinancing like a mortgage. >> So we we would refinance these to the current rates and then pay them off longer. Is that the >> keeping it the exact same maturity? So what we're looking at, for example, if you have a 20-year mortgage, you're
111refunding it and doing another 20 refinancing it doing another 20 year. In this case, our bonds go out from 2015 to the year 2034. So we're keeping it that same final maturity 125 2034 >> because the rates are currently better. Is that why we refinance? I'm sorry. >> That's right. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Lower. At least they were as of March 5th. >> Okay. >> That's our conundrum. >> You guys were talking about when to do that. Okay. So, we thought it made a lot of sense to bundle this refund refinancing with the referendum bonds so we don't have separate costs of issuance for every time we do it. So, that's kind of the plan. Um, so this was the savings on March 15th. Estimated gross savings 379,000. Present value of that 320,000. The ratio
112I'm speaking to the green box on the screen. Total estimated percent present value savings divided by the bonds re refinanced is 4.65%. That's a ratio we pay close attention to. It represents those net present value savings after all costs. Uh and we like to see that ratio over 3%. So we care about that a lot because you kind of have one bite at the apple. These bonds only go out 9 years. Call provisions on bonds in the municipal market are you typically 9 to 10 years. So the new bond issue that we would propose after refinancing would not be callable. So these would then be locked in for the next 9 years till maturity. So if you look at the chart on the right, you kind of see the annual savings and these are savings
113to the district, savings to the taxpayer, the 379,000. So over 3% PV savings, good savings ratio, ready to go. Then I ran war. So let's go to the next slide. So it was worse than this a couple days ago when I was at finance committee. Now, it's a little better, but we're still not at that 3% threshold. We're getting there. So, we're at about 225,000 savings um over the life of the bonds, present value of 189,000. Um the resolution you'll consider tonight on this refinancing bond, it's a separate resolution, has a minimum savings target of 3%. Again, that is the industry standard. So, we won't be refunding these bonds unless we can get 3% present value savings as a percent of the bonds refunded or greater. >> So, does that mean that you guys are
114looking every throughout every day to see when that like how does that >> weekly and then if it hits that three like if it's lower and then it hits three is that when you guys jump on it or is that >> Well, we want to jump on it at the same time we issue the referendum bonds. Uh-huh. >> So, that date, which you'll find out later in the presentation, is projected to be May 12th. >> So, we're hoping >> that things settle down, you know, and if they don't, guess what? That parameters resolution you're considering tonight is good for six months. So, um, we're suggesting we move ahead with the referendum bonds for a couple reasons. I'll just quickly summarize and then show you why. We're within the promise better than the promise to the
115taxpayers on the impact. You need the money now based on your construction schedule. And issuing the money now allows you also to maximize your interest earnings. So you meet your promise to the taxpayer. You maximize your interest earnings over the life of the bonds and you need them to spend start spending the money now. Hence the middle schools this summer. >> Yeah. Basically, if it doesn't hit that 3% at the same time as the referendum bonds, there's six a six-month window from the approval. So, they could say, "We're not going to go and refinance now, but we have five more months basically to be looking at it and see if we can get to 3%." That's the idea. >> And if it doesn't, >> then it just expires and then >> expires or it could
116repass the resolution after 6 months. >> Still looks like a good idea. with within the six month. Would you tell us before you're going to do it or just you have the free reign to do it then because it's been approved? >> Well, the parameters resolutions including the ones you're passing tonight authorize uh us to go forward with a sale of both series subject to the final approval of the board president and Dr. Philippi. So, uh, and it's also got to be within the parameters set forth in the resolution, which of course have that minimum 3% savings target. >> And if we can't do it at the same time, is there still a I know we had the six-month window, but at that point, we lost this cost savings benefit. So, is there a better?
117>> Well, the 3%'s net of the of the fees, correct? >> Correct. >> Right. So, the 3% we would still get the fees. No, I'm saying that you wanted to issue it with the referendum to save issuance costs, I believe, is what you said. So, yeah, if if we don't we can't, we're at 2.6%, we can't do it. We go forward with referendum uh and then 3 months later we get above three. Like you guys will decide at that point, but there could be a case where you think rates will be much better in a year and we could save >> 600 grand if we didn't. Maybe that is maybe you just take the burden. >> I think it's I mean we'll have a discussion. Obviously, it'll come to us and there's going to be
118a short trigger on it, right? Um I think the reality is is that we're not really in the business trying to >> game the market to a certain extent. So, it's like if we get to 3% >> take what you can take it and get it run. >> Exactly. Yeah. >> Thanks. >> Sure. Sorry, I'm throwing a lot at you tonight. So, thanks for your questions. I appreciate it. All right. So, we're close. Let's keep going now to the referendum side of the coin. Um very exciting. We've got these uh construction projects, the new Welden Wilmont, the full renovations of the other two elementaryaries, and then the middle schools. And then let's go to the next page. The sources uh estimated amounts between fiscal year 26 and 2030. It's going to be Whoops. Go back.
11953 million of district funds, 87,780 of referendum bonds, and then 83,785 of alternate bonds that are paid from the operating funds for a total of 224,660. Tonight, I'm really focusing on the referendum bonds. The alternate bonds are scheduled to be issued in summer of 28, July of 28, based on your cash flow. Um, and that would be in your fiscal year 2029. Okay. >> Okay. >> Remind me, John, the operating funds are the last, right, bucket. Is that correct? >> Yeah. So, we hold on to those as long as possible because the uh interest earnings on those dollars are unrestricted. Right now, when we're looking at interest earnings on our referendum bonds, um we're not projecting that will trigger any arbitrage rebate. Um but there are specific rules around it that would cap us out
120uh unlike our district funds. >> Exactly right. Yep. Okay. Next page. This I always go back to this is the promise. Um, so what we told the taxpayers about a 33 cent increase, uh, $525 on a $500,000 home or $359 uh, per 10,000 of taxes paid property taxes. And at that time, we had a cushion. We did this in December. We put a cushion. We're looking at a all-in interest cost 4.52%. So let's go to the next slide. And here's the update today. Um, we have the 25 EAV. Lake County is on the ball. So, you got a 5.7% increase on your EAV this year. Um, 5.26 of that increase was due to reassessment. The other part was due to new property. So, the $500,000 home from the 24 valuation is now worth $526,300. It
121got a little bit inflated in general. Not everybody's house is impacted exactly the same, but that's that's what the EAV is telling us with that growth rate, but you have a little new growth. So, now that $500,000 home from 24, the tax impact is $1 less because of that new growth. Okay? So that's good. Take every dollar. Um the interest rates that we updated uh yesterday. Yesterday um we're at 443 now. Remember the prior slide was at 452. So directionally we're good. I don't want to get my heart set because it's all very tied to what's going on in the global economy, especially with Iran war. So, um, bottom line here though, issuing all the bonds now meets the district's promise to the taxpayer and is actually less than the tax impact we we showed
122them. So, I think that's good news. Next, um, I want to talk about how you're going to spend this money. Now, I just kind of cut this off in 28. this schedule does go out and incorporates the the rest of the uh the alternate bonds as well, but tonight we're talking about the referendum bond portion. Uh so there are in general you have to expect to spend the bonds money in three years. You're spending this in two years based on this construction schedule. Um and that's great that you're ready to go by moving forward. you're getting uh getting a jump on cost escalation. So given the spending schedule, issuing all the bonds now maximizes the time you can invest and earn interest. And at uh today's rates, we assumed 3.82% based on the average life
123of this spendown schedule. That's your investment. Now remember, you can invest the bond proceeds at taxable rates, but they're restricted to your investment policy, which is essentially US Treasury securities and obligations. So, this is just an estimate. Right now, we're looking at earnings in the short term less than the yield on the bonds, which is going to be around 4.27% based on today's market. So, you can keep all that money. um if uh according to the federal government arbitrage rebate. So um getting that's great getting the money in the bank investing and starting the clock on earning interest is important to maximize your interest earnings and we're assuming based on this schedule and this draw down about three and a half million of interest earnings which is going to extend your project and go into
124your construction fund. Okay. So let's So that's why we think you know you can spend the money. Let's issue it now and start earning interest. So to that end, we have been busy. Poor John. We have been keeping him very busy. Uh we had finance committee on April 13th. Um we posted the notice of public hearing which you had earlier tonight. Yesterday we met with the rating agencies. We spent a good hour plus and then John was sending emails late into the night last night with all the information for standard and pores. Feeling good about the rating. It's going to come back next week. We'll let you know as soon as we hear just uh coincidentally Moody's also updated their rating on the district of double AAA. So they just did that as part of
125their surveillance. So, what good timing. We now have two ratings. One which we did not have to pay for. So, um we plan to sell the bonds on May 12th and then close on June 2nd. >> Any questions? >> We get an update prior to the May 12th issuance. Um even if it's by email of like kind of this is where we're going to land on that because I don't think we have we don't have our meeting I think until what the week after. Is that correct? Yeah. And the other piece uh that will come along is we've um issued a request for proposals for um qualified firms to manage investments on the bond proceeds. Um and we'll treat that kind of as its own bucket of investing separate and apart from the uh uh
126investment strategy for the district. and we'll bring that um firm forward for a recommendation uh information and action at the May meeting so that they can manage those funds when they're received at the >> when are the proceeds. So if the issuance is on May 12th, when are the proceeds actually in our account? >> June 2nd. Okay. So we have time then. >> All right. >> But we don't have time to do traditional info and action spread out over the same meeting. >> It's going to need to be Yeah. And these are all the same players that we're accustomed to that uh many of whom we already work with. So, >> right, >> any questions? >> If we end up before the May 12th issuance where we see interest rates, you know, Lord knows h
127what happens, right? >> Yeah. If we have a very unstable market and we're not and you know like we talked at the finance committee, we're recommending a com competitive sale given your AAA rating. >> Um so if we see that uh things are crazy, the dis the board delegates, John and and you Ryan can reject all the bids. >> Okay. if we get into a bad day, you know, if uh we know beforehand, we can try to pull the deal, but it gets a little tricky in competitive bids, you want to uh you don't want to discourage people from bidding the next time. So, but you certainly don't have to take them if we get a crazy day and have something strange happen. So, I would say that for the rest of the board, um,
128you know, obviously we're going to take action tonight related to this, but um, we'll I mean, as we come up to the May 12th date, just expect all you know, we'll update where we are so everybody's fully aware, right? Um, should anything go differently than the plan that we have here tonight, let's put it that way. >> Yeah. and I can come to your May meeting and and give you the update on the results. >> Actually, I might be out of time, but somebody can. Sorry. >> Any other questions? Okay, that's all I have. >> Thanks, Liz. >> That was a really good concise version of what we did. So, thank you. >> All right. Next on the list is the 2027 2028 school calendar. It's our favorite topic, Dale. >> Every year, >> I
129would expect nothing less. Um, I have really good news and good news. So, the really good news is for the second year in a row, we have really collaborated with Township 113 and Northshore 112. Um, we went a long time with uh having to play file the leader on being told what the calendar was versus collaborating on certain needs in those districts. So, my colleagues in 113 and 112 really appreciate the efforts. We're all able to sit down and banter back and forth on what the individual needs are of the systems because even though we are somewhat sister school districts, we still have unique collective bargaining agreements. We have different numbers of total days that uh students are in the classroom that teachers are in the district. So all that plays into this, but at
130least we're collaborating and really producing something that I'm proud of way ahead of time. So again, we're this is not next year's calendar. This is the calendar for the year after. So that's the really good news. Um that being said, there's some points that I want to clarify. So, if you have access to the uh agenda and are looking at the cover page, I listed some of those things. And um I want to share why some of the events line up on the calendar the way they do because we often forget since we do this once a year and someone will ask me like, Dale, why don't we do this? I said, good question. Let me look into that. I remember this is why we do it the way we do it. So, let me
131explain some of those things. The most important thing is we have 183 days in the teacher contract that we have to build into a calendar. We also have to factor in other contractual obligations. So I'm going to jump to the last bullet because I get this question a lot. Like we all think we have the hack to make things better. Like do we have to do Cashmir Palaski Day? Do we have to do Columbus Day? There are clauses in school code where you don't. But where we're stuck and many districts are stuck is it's contractual and we have to honor the contract. So we would love at at some point in the future when we get to bargaining to rethink some of those things, but right now we are locked into since you have many
13212-month employees um um through the sports staff, through some of your administrators where those days are paid holidays and so we cannot deviate from that. Even if we wanted to, we will then cycle through problem number two associated with that, which is we try our best to match where some of our students have siblings in 113. And so if we fix the problem, I assure you 113 has the same problem. And our contracts are not in sync. So when we go to bargain our next contract, we could be setting something up that 113 can't resolve. And now we're stuck with, well, they're going to have to go to school on those days and we're not going to school on those days. or vice versa. So we have a cyclical problem built into that. There are
133a number of days that we look at where this issue comes up. The big three for Palaski Day, Columbus Day, President's Day, um Veterans Day can also fit into that spectrum. Martin Luther King Day can fit into it, but um the clauses that code allows you to deviate from that. You're locked in because of the contract. So I just want to lay that out as like we all want to find easier ways. not always perfect. I said we do our best to match township 113, but again, their contract dictates certain number of days that don't exactly match ours or teacher inservice days or parent teacher conferences. Like all those things come into conflict. Um, and so I laid out what those things are on the cover sheet here and really got to where you're going
134to see the differences that pop into this calendar. So if you get past the cover sheet, you have the proposed calendar for 109 and the proposed calendar for 113. Um, which look very similar. And as far as um, uh, the my team ELT is concerned, we're like 95% in sync on what those days are. Where we jump out of sync is we now have contractual language on parent teacher conferences built into a specific week of the calendar twice in the year. 113 doesn't have that obligation. So, they're now at the mercy of do we do our best to match 109 because of the family thing and they are and I give them credit for that. There's also other days that don't really jive in where um they're they have a different set of inservice days
135that sometimes don't match ours. We do our best to find those matches and say let's be in sync when we can. But if you look at that comparison document that looks like ours but is loaded with some green cells and yellow cells. The green cells were in sync. The yellow cells are where things are slightly off. Um parent teacher conferences as I mentioned beginning and end date of the school year. High schools have a strong position and desire to start earlier in August than we as an elementary school do. And to that end, 113 has always started at least a week earlier than us, which means they will end a week earlier than us to this uh uh uh to the extent that they're actually done before Memorial Day where we're coming back after Memorial
136Day for a full week there. So that's why you see some changes in the yellow colors there. Um, you'll see it in April, you'll see it a little bit in August where we have half days to start the year and they have full days or they have inservices. And then I noticed this question. It's 50/50 on how the year starts off for us. Go to any of our elementary buildings. We'll get the same push each year that we the elementary buildings don't necessarily like a full week to start the year. They like to phase the kids in. So some years we can do that. This year it doesn't well not this year coming up. the year after it doesn't look like we'll be able to do it. They're starting later in the week. Giving that
137half day on a Thursday, a full day on a Friday phases the kids in. And then there's a community expectation that's come to our attention for all the years I've been a part of Deerfield 109 and that is making sure that we're out on time so that kids can go enjoy their camp experience in the summer and that they get back at a certain date so that families can enjoy time with their kids before they get back into school. So, I lay all those things out. You can see why the dates are set the way they are. I'd love to tell you I've got a slew of flexibility on changing dates. We really don't. When we look at trying to match up with our sister school 113, I'll entertain any questions you have. >> When
138is the next time to bargain? >> What's that? >> When is the next time to bargain? Is that >> two more years after this contract? >> Okay. >> After this school year. So, John, what is that? 2029 is the next when the next contract will kick in. >> Yeah. Because although I agree with your points that we want to align, I also think if we feel strongly about something, we shouldn't let we shouldn't be holden to another group. They can align to us if we feel strongly about something. >> I think there might be um you know this is this comes up every year, right? Is this is the reason why you go through this, right? Every year. Um I wonder whether or not there's some community feedback related to the importance of how I
139mean which do you prefer? Does that make sense? >> Yep. Right. Um it's a thought but we have time to I think to consider that >> absolutely >> and if the direct you should the direction change in the future where we're the primary goal is to not match 113 then provide that direction. >> Yeah I think that's been the historical right philosophy. >> It's absolutely been the historical >> philosopher parents is is that still the same philosophy? Yep. >> Right. I know our parents are getting are struggling a lot with the Mondays. I mean, it's brutal for working families to try and figure out a lot of these these holidays that it just it's these kids are not in school for full weeks and parents are trying to make it work and it's it's very
140very challenging for a lot of people. And >> I I totally get the other side of it too. I just want to represent what people are saying and it's it's super frustrating. That's that's probably the biggest feedback I get from being on the board >> and I understand that but remember there's two sides of the coin that is impact bargaining which is when you open up the contract there's give and take on that >> totally right that's absolutely I think that's a discussion to be had down the road when we have to do that >> it's not that day it's another day that's the other side swaps >> absolutely I agree with that but I just that is >> I I agree with Mitch there but I do have a fourth grader who thanks you
141for every day that he can stay home Um, I will say that yes, I as a working parent when I first moved to the district, I couldn't understand why we had so many days off and um, I didn't even have a high schooler back then. Um, so yes, it's so easy to look at this and say you could change this and change that. So, thank you for giving us such a lengthy explanation um, as to why we have these days off. And I think, you know, especially, you know, when we have a lot of people moving to Deerfield from like different states and different countries who might not be used to some of these days off. So, I think it's really beneficial to me, you know, as a community member to know to sort of
142answer some of these questions because I would love to see some things align more. Um, but even when you do that, it also may not align more with, you know, parents schedules as well. So, it's really hard. there's no like perfect solution. Um I am though a little curious about especially the last week. Um do we see larger absences in our attendance with school with that gap between high school and and our calendar? >> I can look but offhand I would say not typically. No, you know um because I think the close turnaround for camp as well um I don't think it's impacted us that much. So we're not aligning and it's still okay is what I'm hearing that >> Yeah. And I mean the other thing well those of us with high schoolers now
143experience this is you know there's lots of days where they're in session but the kids might be home like there were two days just last week for ACT test. You know there's other factors that you don't necessarily realize until you have >> kiddos in high school how much additional time they seem to be home. >> Correct. >> All right. Any other questions? >> No question just a comment. Thank you, Dale. This is a bear of a piece of work to do and we ask every time it comes up and every time you're well prepared and when we're looking at it initially, you have some questions, but you have the answers and you've it's really thought out. So, thank you for all your efforts. >> I appreciate that. that I I just in defense of all
144districts that create the calendars, I I wish there was more consideration at the state level when they say we're going to create another holiday or another day off because I think it was Ryan that said it perfectly like you may give another day, but we have 183 days we have to be in session. So, you take that day off, it's just going to put it one day at the front or one day at the back or shortening a break. So, all that gets factored in. >> Yep. I also think that the park district really does play a large part in this in offering those, you know, camps, those one-day camps, and I think they do a really good job of outreaching to the community. Um, so, you know, I just like to thank that partnership,
145but I think I know you as the administration work really hard on fostering. So, thank you for that. >> Very good point, Rosie. Especially now that we're so far ahead in creating calendars. It used to be one year out, now we're 19, 20 months. That's outstanding. >> Final question. uh 5 years ago, 10 years ago, would you have imagined that we'd have this level of cooperation among the districts? >> No. We were often said, "Here's our calendar. Do whatever you need to do to match it." So, I give a lot of credit to the leadership in those other two districts and the trust that they're putting in the HR leaders in each one to say, "Let's band together to see what we can do to keep things consistent." So, that's the real again, really, really
146good news. >> Y >> and it'll come back next month for approval. So, thank you. >> Okay. Thanks, Dale. All right, next on the agenda, fiscal year 27 fees and facility rental rates. Just as a reminder, we called an amendment upon approval of the agenda the beginning of the meeting to correct a typo in the fee um amount for early learners tuition, which is reflected in the board book as an additional amended document. Ben. All righty. I'll good evening members of the board. I'll keep this short and sweet. Uh on March 12th, the policy committee met to review the 2627 school year fees which are included in your packet for review. Additionally, the committee met to discuss the uh facility rental agreements for the 2627 school year. Uh board policy requires that we the administration
147prepares and the board approves this on an annual basis. So that is included in your packet as well. Um but I'm going to just leave it as do you have any questions? Um, keep it simple. >> Any questions on the fees? All right, seeing none. Thank you, Ben. >> Thank you. >> Good job. >> Yeah, that's amazing. >> All right, have a good look at >> a new model for all presentations. >> Yeah, there you go. >> Yeah, >> you may come for that. >> All right, John, good luck following that one. uh recommendation for student and staff device purchases. Uh we skipped one. Oh, did I skip one? Oh, middle school construction bid results. Sorry. 2026. Uh yeah. So, uh now begins the construction and we uh bid uh the middle school work uh
148some to occur at Caruso, but the majority of which to occur this summer at Shepard. Um and we received very strong interest. We received eight bids. So, we can confuse everyone tonight. This is not a construction manager project. This is general uh contractor. And I would expect that next summer, even though we have the construction manager working on the elementary schools, we would bundle and bid middle school work under a GC. Again, um we receive very favorable pricing and uh the low responsible bidder is HAP builders. Um HAP has done a number of projects in the district. most recently the auditorium at Caruso. Well, not most recently, but the largest recent project they did was the auditorium at Caruso Middle School. We also pre- purchased just over a half million dollars worth of uh mechanical
149equipment from train. Uh so we would recommend that the board approve a contract with halfbuilders this evening so that they can get cracking. >> So would this cover would this cover the full scope of the middle school um >> renovations? There will be more work to be completed in 2027. Um, all of the main office areas and including adjacent uh uh spaces like nurses offices, uh, teacher workspaces will be completely renovated. Um, chiefly for security, but those spaces are also due for renovation. They're quite tired out. And then there will be more security work that's done within the uh, both buildings, specifically swipe card access on interior doors. Um, and there will be a few ancillary classrooms here and there. And we'll take a look at how we're trending budget to actual on whether or
150not we want to renovate some additional washrooms at the middle schools as well. Uh, but we anticipate being done at the middle schools in summer of 27. >> Is the is the thought process? So, they're coming in favorable right now. So, any kind of positive delta that we get is the idea that there's additional scope within the middle schools that would be executed. We'll consider that. But really our focus is on getting that third space at the elementary campuses. That is what we're really driving towards. Um and uh this is a good start. Uh but these things can turn around quickly because it's construction. So we're off to a good start. Let's hope we stay on that path. Okay. >> And and these could this could change too as they're sending things out to bid,
151right? This is just their best. >> No, this is this is a fixed price. >> They got bids in. >> We we we took bids in for this project back in December. Um and so these are fixed costs. We know we have cost certainty on this. This includes an allowance for change orders that might be necessary. Um but uh you know owing to past projects, we typically do not eat up all of that allowance. Uh so we feel very confident that for summer 26, we're trending very favorably. >> Great. >> Thank you, John. >> All right. Any other questions? >> All right. Next on the agenda, a recommendation for student and staff device purchase. >> Yeah, shared a memo from Danielle and I. I will defer to Danielle on questions of shifting uh the device
152for second grade because that has more of a curricular component, but really um Danielle and I and Denise Murphy from Net 56 worked together to come up with a more predictable device refresh schedule. We were seeing we had devices that were in service four and five years and those are very challenging uh to you know keep in service for our students. Uh so we are uh recommending a shift where a device will be purchased new for students in kindergarten, third and sixth grade and they'll keep that device for three years at which point it'll become a loaner for one year and then it is off to being uh sold to the maximum minimum I think usually we get. >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh but in this conversation we did talk about shifting and and uh moving
153from uh iPads only at K2 or at K1 to iPads K2. >> Yeah. And we actually have two classrooms that are currently piloting with iPads. One of those is at South Park and one is at Kipling in the second grade. We had collected feedback from all of the teachers um when we were when we began considering this decision and they did not see like any big consequence to making a shift. In fact, many of them reported there would be some benefits in workflow um for students. Just the app workflow on an iPad is much more easy to manage. You can like move kids directly into learning environments pretty easily. um rather than some of the the distractability that can come on some of the other devices. So the ecosystem itself is just developmentally appropriate for
154that grade. Um but in addition to that, some other benefits that we talked about is that we can actually house the iPad in our classroom. So we do not send K1 iPads home. And this means that when students roll into grade two, we'll be keeping the iPads in the classroom. So devices will not be going home which um is also an added benefit given the conversation we've had about screen time students not being able not needing to access that device at home and we can help parents reinforce that as well. So the iPad is just a stable device really. The >> didn't we used to have it K2 or I remember that we moved Chromebooks earlier at one point and now we're going kind of backwards, right? Is that the >> I don't know. I
155think >> misremembering. >> I think it's been two plus Chromebooks since my arrival in the district, but there's probably a point in time you are starting to see um some systems roll up the iPad even, you know, beyond the primary grades. Um but there are some benefits obviously from you know a production standpoint of them transitioning to the Chromebook. Um we start to teach typing skills for example that tends to start in second grade and then we really develop those skills in third. We are going to purchase along with the iPads um a set of keyboards for each of the second grade classrooms so we can still sort of tackle those skills beginning in second grade but they don't really immerse themselves in it. better to our literacy program then too in terms of because
156I'm sure keyboard and interaction Chromebook, >> right? I mean really in those primary grades, we're we're trying to do the best we can to keep kids away from the device and really just actively learning in the classroom. So this makes sense for several reasons. >> When you were talking about John, you were talking about the regular purchases that you as I know we've been talking about that it used to be just like these massive device purchases like every few years. Yeah, this is going to be more of a smooth >> steady cadence um predictable. We wouldn't expect unless the board wished uh to do a separate info item each year. We would just include this in our annual budget. It would be budget authority that the board is approving um to keep to keep these
157devices flowing. Um and I think the the real benefit is not holding on to them as long as we have. So >> yeah, I think that's the I think that's the smart. It's like one of the few things that I think when I mean now from a technology standpoint, it's it's it's included as like buying books or curriculum, right? So I I never really understood why we were approving that separately from that. Anyways, other than the fact that they were massive expenditures because they were so irregular. >> So okay, I got two questions. Kelly's not here, so I'll take two questions. Um, you mentioned I don't like that the iPads uh can stay at school. The Chromebooks have to go home. With the new buildings, >> we'll be working that. >> I don't know. I
158mean, I don't know what the difference is. I mean, we don't we don't have capacity for charging stations electrically in all of our rooms. I don't know if there's a workaround with the iPads because they've got longer battery life. Um but certainly one of our goals in reconstructing these facilities is to have the amp uh right amperage in every classroom to be able to sustain charging. So >> Okay. >> Yeah. And that is certainly the goal. We heard that come up from the elementary principles K5. >> And one more question. I just saw in the news the other day, so we can talk about this if later if it makes more sense. There's a push in some districts around the country to actually limit technology a lot. I saw LA um >> yeah said no
159technology kindergarten first grade >> and then trying to are we looking at something similar I mean I know I ask every time about how and you mentioned it just now like we're getting kids off the technology >> but how much is not technology versus kind of trying to figure out how we get away from these kids learning more tactile and more writing and stuff like that or are we just the end yes are we doing that >> no I I think that's been a conversation or point conversation in every curriculum review. They still have the devices, but the vast majority we're we're trying to get kids up doing hands-on, really engaged in their learning. So, I would and and away from even more traditional instructional approaches, too, away from the device. Like, I don't want
160to walk into a primary classroom and see kids like always working pen to paper. Like, they need to be exploring and actively learning. So, I think that has been a focal point in our primary grades. I think we still do utilize right now because some of our some of our tools do remain digital and there it it is fascinating. I've had a lot of um opportunity as of late to be in the edtech world and there is this ongoing debate between you know even industry specialist in that about the benefits and um also some of the inhibiting factors but everything comes with balance is kind of the the endgame. So instead of doing away with it alto together is like teaching them how to use it to scale and responsibly. >> Awesome. Yeah. I mean
161I can attest to the fact that my kindergarter brings home pages and pages of papers. So they are definitely doing lots of papers. >> Yeah. So thank you for looking into that. >> I have two questions. Um one is when are we going to get typewriters? >> Never. >> Um those >> I love typewriters. Um, and I have another question that is probably one that you can answer or maybe not. When you uh when we think of repairs um of these devices, >> um I'd imagine keeping uh Chromebooks out of tiny hands. Second graders, I mean, these things drop all the time. They fall all the time. I mean, do we see a heavier repair on the Chromebooks versus the iPads? We moved away from sorry we moved away from um paying for repairs to
162purchasing um a warranty insurance plan all all of these devices so that we can uh avoid some of that downtime and some of those costs that are associated with them. >> I was going to say I was just looking at quotes today actually for the iPads which include the Apple Care which does give us a you know really good quality of service when those instances happen. we don't have to worry about it in the same way. >> It makes our, you know, our our technology spend more predictable. Um, one of the big var variables that we were seeing when we weren't purchasing those plans was just astronomical repair bills that we couldn't reasonably forecast. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any other questions? All right. Next on the agenda, >> FY27 crossing guard agreement. >>
163Yep. one-year renewal um with Andy Frra, our current vendor, doing a great job for us. This is essentially a CPI increase, 2.98% for next year. So, we recommend the board uh approve uh a one-year renewal with Andy Fra at the May 21st meeting. >> Why one year versus more? Just curious. >> So, when we originally bid this project, um this goes back six years now. Um, we issued a bid and it was a an RFP and we got one provider that responded from North Carolina. Um, they took the project on and failed miserably >> and Andy Frame came in and took on um that contract. Um, we were paying a rate that was much elevated compared to area peers who were working with Andy Frame. So, if you'll recall, it was last summer, we had
164approved a three-year extension, kind of extending some of those rates. Um, and we did a little bit of homework and pulled all of the uh rates, uh, particularly Northshore 112 next door and said, can you do us right and make sure that we're paying what our neighbor to the east is paying? And they agreed to do that. Um, but that is on a one-year basis where they look at the hourly cost for the guards and then propose an increase. Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, this is going to be kind of an every year thing until we decide to RFP again. >> Correct. And I wouldn't recommend that you RFP because Andy Fra is really the only player in the region. Um, and they do a great job for the district. >> All right. Any questions?
165>> Um, I have a question. I know this is a rate increase, but and this might not be the time to discuss this right now, but as we this year that this is for the year that we'd be going into construction. Mhm. >> Um will we be will there be a conversation about how we look at the safety and security of certain areas that are vulnerable now that would be a lot more vulnerable during construction >> that's already occurred. Uh so we've retained Ty Lynn who is currently presenting to the plan commission on the other side of town. Um they have completed full traffic studies of Walden and Wilmont. Um and actually in the case of Walden have already made a recommendation to add a guard uh based on current conditions and on interim conditions
166anticipated throughout construction. Um and then they'll re-evaluate that additional guard at finished conditions to make a recommendation to us if we should uh continue. They're going to be beginning their assessments of Kipling and South Park campuses. So, I do expect that we are going to probably add some guards throughout construction and we're utilizing the police department and Ty Lynn to advise where we should post those guards. >> And it sounds like it it sounds like Andy Fran's fairly large, but they have the capacity to >> they do their guards. >> Yeah, their their core business is like event security. Um, so they're accustomed to staffing up the United Center major concerts and we have never been short a guard. Um, and they also have a roving um, supervisory guard. So if ever there was somebody
167that's not on post, they are able to staff it. So all right, next on the agenda is the action items. 9.1 consent agenda 9.1.1 Personnel 9.1.1 Resignations and Retirements 9.1.1.2 Leave of Absence 9.1.1.3 employment of certified staff 9.1.4 Four, employment of educational support staff. 9.1.5 employment of at will staff. Just as a reminder, called an amendment upon approval of the agenda at the beginning of the meeting to amend a typo in the hourly rate for Caitlyn Plank for ESY, which is reflected in the board book as an additional amended document. 9.1.2 bills for payment. 9.1.3 discussion destruction of closed session audio from EDC meeting October 1st, 2024. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So move. >> Second. Uh, roll call, please. >> Miss Bonner, I >> Dr. Dornfeld, hi. >> Miss
168Joyce, >> hi. >> Mr. Mir, >> hi. >> Mr. Abraham, hi. >> And President Quo, >> I motion carries. >> 9.2 treasures report. May I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Dr. Dornfeld. >> Hi. >> Miss Joyce. >> Hi. >> Mr. Miraffe. Hi. >> Mr. Abraham. >> I. >> Miss Bonner. >> I. And >> President Quo. I. >> Motion carries. >> 9.3. resolution honoring staff appreciation appreciation week. I'm going to read the resolution. Uh whereas education whereas educators touch the lives of all America's children and play a crucial role in their cognitive and social development. And whereas educators motivate students to become active learners. And whereas educators meet daily challenges reaching out to every student regardless of ability, attitude, social or economic background, race, religion, and
169ethnic origin. And whereas educators off camp offer counseling and support students in their classrooms and throughout their years in school. And whereas America depends on successful school instructional programs that meet the needs of every child. And whereas educators are carrying out a major responsibility in preparing our young people to assume their role as effective citizens. And whereas district 109 educators strive to deliver to each student the highest quality of education possible for developing the mind, body, and character within a caring environment. Now therefore be it resolved that the week of May 4th, 2026 is hereby proclaimed Deerfield 109 Deerfield District 109 staff appreciation week as a time for public recognition of educators contri contributions to the development of the students and community of district 109. >> May I have a motion to approve? So moved.
170>> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Joyce. I >> Mr. Mir. Hi. >> Mr. Abraham. Hi. >> Miss Bonner. Hi. >> Dr. Dornfeld. Hi. And President Quo. Hi. >> Motion carries. 9.4 approval of regular meeting minutes from March 12th, 2026. May I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Joyce, >> hi. >> Mr. Mir, >> hi. >> Mr. Abraham, >> I. >> Miss Bonner, >> I. >> Dr. Dornfeld, >> hi. >> And President Quain. >> Motion carries. >> Uh, approval of 9.5. Approval of special meeting minutes from April 2nd, 2026. Uh, you and I were not, so we both will abstain. May I have a motion to approve? So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Merv, >> abstain. >> Mr. Abraham, >>
171I. >> Miss Bonner, >> I. >> Dr. Dornfeld, >> hi. >> Miss Joyce, >> hi. >> And President Cole, >> abstain. >> Motion carries. >> 9.6. Administrative and exempt contracts. May I have a motion to approve the contracts as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abraham. >> I. >> Miss Bonner. >> I. >> Dr. Dornfeld. >> I. >> Miss Choice. Hi. >> Mr. Merev. >> Hi. >> President Quo. >> I. >> Motion carries. 9.8 middle school construction bid results summer 2026. May I have a motion to approve? >> Did we skip 9.7? >> Oh, 9. Sorry, I keep marking stuff off my skip. Approve. Sorry. 9.7 approval of a resolution of the board of education of Deerfield Public School District 109 authorizing a notice of remedy to educational support
172staff and ratification of unpaid suspic suspension. We have a motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Punter. I Dr. Dornfeld. >> Hi, >> Miss Joyce. >> Hi, >> Mr. Mirab. >> Hi, >> Mr. Abraham. >> I President Quaw, >> I. >> Motion carries. >> 9.8, middle school construction bid results, summer 2026. May I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Dr. Dornfeld. >> I, >> Miss Joyce. >> I, >> Mr. Mera. >> Hi, >> Mr. Abraham. >> I, >> Miss Bonner. >> I, >> and President Qu. >> I. >> Motion carries. >> 9.9. Construction manager of record may have a motion to approve the contract with Bear Construction subject to final review and approval by the board attorney and assistant
173superintendent for finance and operations for all terms with authority to negotiate revisions to any such terms in the best interest of the school district. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Choice, >> I. >> Mr. Mir, >> I. >> Mr. Abraham, >> I. >> Miss Bonner, >> I. >> Dr. Dornfeld, >> hi. >> President Qu. >> I. Motion carries. >> All right. The next item for consideration is the issuance of not to exceed $87,780,000 general obligation bonds approved by referendum at the March 17th, 2026 general primary election and to be issued by the district pursuant to section 19-3 of the school code to build and equip additions to and alter and repair and equip the Kipling and South Park school buildings, including installing safety and security improvements, updating plumbing, electrical, fire
174protection, and HVAC, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. constructing accessibility improvements under the Americans with Disabilities Act and renovating CLA renovating classrooms, student support spaces, and common areas. Build build and equip two school buildings to replace the Walden and Wilmont school buildings. Alter, repair, and equip the Caruso and Shepard school buildings, including installing safety and security improvements and updating plumbing, electrical, and fire protection systems to improve sites and and improve sites. and that the board of education would consider the adoption of a resolution providing for the issue of said bonds and the levy of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay the principle and interest thereon. The resolution sets forth the parameters for the issuance of said bonds and sale thereof the thereof by designated officials of the district following pertinent terms of said parameters
175including the specific parameters governing the manner of sale, length of maturity, rates of interest, purchase price and tax levy for the said bonds. Writer A. The bonds will be sold via a competitive or negotiated sale at a price no less than 98% of par, will mature no later than 2056, bear interest at a rate not exceeding 5.5%, and will be paid by a tax levy not to exce not exceeding 66 $6,600,000 per year. And now, Secretary Kate Joy Joyce will read the resolution by title. Resolution providing for the issue of not to exceed 87,780,000 general obligation school bonds series 2026A for the purpose of paying the costs of these capital projects approved by referendum at the March 17, 2026 general primary election providing for the sale of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay the
176principle and interest on said bonds and authorizing the sale of said bonds to the purchaser thereof. >> May I have a motion to approve the resolution? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Joyce. >> I. >> Mr. Mirav. >> I. >> Mr. Abraham. >> I. >> Miss. Bonner. >> I. >> Dr. Dornfeld. >> I. >> President Qu. >> I. >> Motion carries. >> I declare the motion carried and said resolution adopted and approved which we will now sign during the open meeting. The board secretary will record the same in the official minutes of the board of education of school district number 109, Lake County, Illinois. It's a big deal. >> It's been a long way to here, right? >> Congratulations. President I think you missed one here, Kate. >> Yeah, this
177one right here. >> Oh, I did. Thank you. So, I have four. >> You want to double check that real quick? Make sure we got everything. school treasurer. Um that is first one good. Second good >> there you go. >> Congratulations everybody on that one. >> Congrats. All right. The next item for consideration is the issuance of not to exceed $7,100,000 general obligation limited tax bonds to be issued by the district pursuant to article 19 of the school code for the purpose of refunding certain outstanding bonds of the district and that the and that the board of education would consider the adoption of a resolution providing for the issue of said bonds and the levy of direct of a direct annual tax to pay for the principal and interest thereon. The resolution set for sets
178forth the parameters for the issuance of said bonds and sale thereof by designated officials of the district following pertinent terms of said parameters including the specific parameters governing the manner of sale length of maturity rates of interest purchase of purchase price and tax levy for the said bonds. Writer B. The bonds will be sold via competitive or negotiated sale at a price no less than 98% of par will mature no later than 2034. bear interest at a rate not to ex not exceeding 5.5% and will be paid by a tax levy not exceeding 1,461,778 thou $78 per year. And now board secretary Kate Joyce will read the resolution by title. Resolution providing for the issue of not to exceed $7,100,000 general obligation limited tax refunding school bonds series 2026B for the purpose of refunding certain
179outstanding bonds of the district providing for the levy of a district annual tax to pay the principal and interest on said bonds and authorizing the sale of said bonds to the purchaser thereof. >> May I have a motion to approve the resolution? >> So moved. >> Second. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Mir, >> hi. >> Mr. Abraham, >> hi. >> Miss Bonner, >> I. >> Dr. Dornfeld, hi. >> Miss Joyce, >> hi. >> And President Cole, >> I declare the motion carried and said resolution adopted and approved, which we will now sign during the open meeting. The board secretary will record the same in the official minutes of the board of education of school district number 109, Lake County, Illinois. Five. Done. Good. >> All right, that's it for the action items. Next on the
180agenda are committee reports. Anybody have any committee reports? Well, we had a finance meeting, but I'm not sure how I can summarize it other than Liz did her presentation. So, um, yep, that was we had that. And then I think I don't have any there. Can't really say anything else. >> Okay. Anybody else? >> All right. Um, next on the agenda, open community participation. This period of community participation near the end of the meeting is open for all matters. If you wish to comment, please fill out a community participation form located on the podium and hand it to Rebecca Rudd. We will call you up one at a time to the podium to speak. Please limit all comments to no more than three minutes. Any comments? Okay, seeing none, board, superintendent, other >> so it
181begins. >> Congratulations everyone. >> Yeah, congratulations everybody. Um I I'd like to do one just one thank you to Becky for helping us with the IASB submission for the board recognition. That's it's in a massive packet. It's so it's a lot of work that so that's the only reason why we get recognized is the work that that Becky does and and enables us to do. So thank you so much for for your help in that. Um I mean it's just the start like we still got everything left to do, right? But uh this was a big big part of the start on this thing. So you know just a ton of work that went into getting us here just to sign these documents. So appreciate everybody's work um to get us here. >> Anything else?
182>> Exciting. >> All right. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? I