Regular Board of Education Meeting June 17th, 2025

001All right. Good evening. I'd like to welcome everybody to the regular board of education meeting tonight, June 17th, 2025. Upon approval of the agenda, the board will immediately move into close session. At approximately 7 p.m., the board will reconvene to open session. We will hold a reception to honor Dr. Eileen Brett's retirement. Then the regular meeting will commence. It will be streaming on DPS 109 YouTube channel at that time. Uh I'd like to call the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. Um can I get a uh motion to approve the meeting agenda? So moved. All in favor? I I All right. I'd like to um adjourn to adjurnn to do I have to do a motion on this one? Yes. Yeah. May I have a motion to adjurnn to close session? So moved. We and

002we have to say why. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Can I get a motion? Yeah. Can I get a motion to adjourn the closed session for the purpose of the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees, specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park, recreational or educational setting or specific volunteers of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on complaint a complaint lodges lodged against an employee, a specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park, recreational, or educational setting, or a volunteer of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine and its validity. However, a meeting to consider an increase in compensation to a specific employee of a public body that is subject to the local government wage

003increase transparency act may not be closed and shall be open to the public and posted and held in accordance with this act 5CS120/2C1 as well as collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules or for one or more classes of employees. 5 ALCS120C2. May I have a motion to adjourn to close session? Roll call, please. Miss Bonner, hi. Dr. Dornfeld. Hi. Miss Jakamu. Hi. Miss Joyce. Hi. Mr. Mirab. Hi. And President Qu. Hi. Motion carries at 6:35. All right, welcome everybody to the regular board of education meeting June 17, 2025. Um, we convened into open session at 6:30 p.m. and immediately moved into close session. We are now reconvening into open session. Uh, next on the agenda is a retirement reception for Dr. Eileen Brett.

004Um we anticipate re um coming back to open session or to the regular meeting at 7:30m approximately. Um until then we will be um on mute and pausing the stream. So we'll see you guys at 7:30. All right, welcome back everybody. Um, so we had an opportunity to all gather and celebrate the retirement of doc Dr. Een Brett. Um before we move on to the next set of agenda, um I'd like to make some comments and I know Mike does as well and we'll hopefully give Eileen an opportunity to speak if she would like to say something. So um you know obviously losing a legend in our district is always a tough um a tough thing, but we're so happy for you and your retirement. We hope you have amazing plans, you know, ready to

005go. And if you haven't, take the time and just do nothing for a little bit, right? Um, so but I know the parents of the community and the community as a whole, um, appreciate your service. Um, you know, to all the children that you've had that has gone through your classes and your school building. Um, it's just, you know, it's an incredible legacy to have and the fact that, you know, it is um, such an event, right? And it's been, you know, I know the kids are going to miss you a horrible amount. So, we just I just wanted to take the time to thank you for that, for that time that you've put in, the love, right, and the passion into it. And um I hope you have an amazing retirement. There are some

006people that have really worked incredibly, incredibly hard and deserve to savor a long and healthy and in uh joyous retirement. And Dr. Charlene Brett is absolutely one of those after 23 years of service with us and an incredibly proud mom. It's wonderful to have uh folks bring their their children and a a sidekick of a husband that recognizes that he's married a rock star. uh to be able to go out at the top of your game uh as a having been a a mentor and a guide for I know for uh our administrators, we hear it all the time uh our teachers, our families. Uh, one of the things that uh has always struck me over and over again is that uh Eileen has has been such an incredible model of what it is to

007uh be a public servant and to serve every child and to genuinely irrespective of how a kid happens to be in the moment uh seeing them for who she would love them to be in that moment rather than and who they're actually being in that moment and demonstrating love and compassion. Uh what a wonderful wonderful role model uh for for people generally and certainly the good graces of uh the the folks that have been able to to be around you all this time. Eileen, I hope you have some words to share and your final board meeting as an administrator. be very brief. What I've been speaking a lot lately um today I was saying to some of the others coincidentally um rowing who I follow called me today uh asking if he and his wife

008and I could go for lunch and I was like wow when I remember when he retired and it was um he was tough act to follow big shoes and I remember his last day he walked out the door that sits in our assistant principal Stephanie's office and he held up his hand he put on a fleece coat I don't know why it was summer and he couldn't speak and he just walked out the door and now I know why he felt that way. Today I packed my last box, loaded up my car for the third time and we'll wrap things up in the next few weeks. But after 23 years at Wilmont and 36 years in education, it's hard to imagine not coming to Deerfield each and every day and leading alongside the will amazing

009Wilmont and Deerfield community. It's hard for me to put into words what these years have meant, but I'll try. First and foremost today, I want to express my deepest gratitude to this board of education and all the other boards, uh, past and present. I remember the board that hired me. It was not easy. Down in the basement, grilling me, asking me a million questions. Um, they did not just put me from assistant principal to principal. I had to earn that. Um, and it was hard, but they really helped me along the way. Your constant support, the vision of this board, um, and the dedication of the entire Dearfield community have made it possible for me and my entire Wilmont team to do what we love to do each and every day, which is to help

010children grow, learn, explore, take risks, and feel safe and loved. Wilmont has been more than a school to me. It's a second home and a second family. Over the years, I have worked with incredible educators, committed families, and most importantly, thousands and thousands of bright, curious, funny, and lovable children. I stayed in this role for all of these years because I genuinely love the kids. And I've held on to the belief that a great educator, whether that's a teacher, a teaching assistant, a specialist, or an administrator, can change the life of a child in ways that is truly immeasurable. Their excitement, their resilience, their endless questions have kept me learning and laughing every single day. I can only hope that I have changed the lives of students dozens, hundreds, possibly thousands over my 36 years

011as an educator. But I did not do it alone. Uh you've put a lot of trust in me and supported me and given the entire Wilmont community tremendous, tremendous support over all these years. Being a principal is a really hard job. I had no idea when I went into that and it takes a village to care for a school. I could not have done it without my amazing family. I share with the Wilmont staff and parent community a few weeks ago that next year my daughter Haley will be a senior. It'll be the very first time I ever see her off to school on opening day. So, I'm excited to wake up, make breakfast, pack her bag, fill her water bottle, and send her off as a mom. She may not want that, but it's

012my plan. You as a board of education have empowered me as a leader and all of the other leaders in this district to be innovative, to be inclusive, and above all to constantly focus on students. And for this, I am truly and deeply grateful. Thank you all for the honor of serving this community, for believing in the work that we do, and for reminding me year after year after year that teaching is not a job, it is a calling. I will miss Wilmont, DPS 109, and all of you. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Brett. We'll miss you. All right. Next on the agenda is a superintendent report. You do not have to stay, Dr. Brett, for the balance of the meeting. It's like Thank you for not having me. All right, superintendent report. I'd like

013to first uh say thank you to our referendum task force. We had two schoolboard members. We had a number of our staff, a wide range of community partners and parents and family. Uh the role of the task force was varied. It was to represent the community. It was to evaluate uh planning efforts and proposals from us, provide thoughts and recommendations and also what to share and test districtwide. Uh we reviewed uh with the task force public opinion research and other community input. And then there was a final recommendation regarding the timing and composition of a bond referendum if pursued. So the referendum task force, we had three meetings. There's a lot of information and a great deal of deep discussion. The first meeting was on April 17th. We toured Walden. Uh got an overview of

014the facilities and our district finances. Our second meeting was on May 7th where we toured Wilmont, reviewed a range of possible solutions and funding. And in June 4th, the final meeting, the task force considered operational, educational, and tax impacts of various approaches which were do nothing, a referendum for renovation only and the pros and cons of that, a referendum for construction and renovation options. And after a good deal of small group and full group discussions, the task force uh came up with a recommendation to the superintendent uh on an option to share with the community and survey and poll uh this coming fall. And that recommendation is what we call plan A or 2 plus two which is the construction of two new elementary buildings replacing Walmart of Walmart Walden and Wilmont and two fully

015completely renovated schools Kipling and South Park with targeted renovations for the middle school. need to say uh quite clearly that the amenities of all of the buildings for all four elementaryaries irrespective of new construction or renovation will be very very similar. Okay, that's one of the goals of our work. So, the board will be considering a referendum and our next steps are going to be discussion on July 14th in a committee of the whole meeting which will include and then following that a comprehensive presentation at our July 24th regular board of education meeting where we will share details of our master facility planning and task task force processes in great detail, our facility challenges, our proposed solution to that the potential tax impact of that construction timelines and then community engagement plans to share information

016and gather feedback. These are genuine listening sessions with the community information sessions and building tours. We have a website with presentations, details, videos and FAQs, mailers, and then polling as well. And that completes the superintendent's report. Any questions for Mike? All right. Next on agenda is community participation relative to matters on the meeting agenda. District 109 has two opportunities for public comment. Many organizations offer one opportunity. 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 isn't a back and forth, but instead an opportunity for the board to listen, please know that we listen very 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

017of 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. She's seated right over there in the jean jacket. Um, we will call you up one at a time to the podium to speak. Please limit the length of all comments to no more than three minutes. Oh, apologize. Sorry. The the first jean jacket. Pick a jean jacket. All right. Seeing none. Next on the agenda isformational items. So, a uh teaching and learning presentation math curriculum review. All right, good evening. So, we stand before you today uh with the math curriculum review. I announced that last month when I was here presenting with a team around our STEM and CMA review. Um, concurrent with the STEM and

018CMA review, we've been reviewing math in the district throughout the scope of the year. So, I'm going to go quickly through some of the information that was also shared in the memo presented to the board that was part of the public packet. Um, but then we're going to give you a little bit of a learning experience this evening as well, just because that's what I love to do. Um, so you saw you've seen this uh before. So, this tells you again that we have been in math and STEM and CMA curriculum review this year. We have art and music coming up next year, but we're on an ongoing six-year cycle now in the district. Math was actually our first curriculum review in the district in 2019 that I actually think I stood before the board

019of education and presented back then. So, it's really refreshing to be back in round two in the same curriculum and we are now completely up to date. Um, we had an extensive team that met with us throughout the scope of this year. So, what you're seeing here is representation from across the district and all six schools. We had 22 people on our curriculum committee that met for every single meeting with us that have walked through this entire process with us. That is not the extent of the pilots, however, which I'll point out later, we had 60 people across the district um participate in piloting materials to help us come to a decision. So, our last meeting, this room was full because all of those people are here to um help formulate the recommendation. I explained

020as in all in all curriculum reviews that it is a comprehensive process. So we engaged the committee back in September. We always start with doing some data analysis um some research really trying to set our departmental vision. What are the outcomes we want for kids when they leave the system after nine years with us? And in this case we're looking at what we want for them as a mathematician but also as a learner and a problem solver. And so we do that first and then we finally start engaging with vendors to learn more about the curricular resources. It is about finding the right fit for Deerfield 109. That's not necessarily the right fit for our neighbors down the road. We're looking for what's best for our kids in this community. And then we started piloting

021in February and really did not finish piloting until the very end of the school year at which we had the final meeting um to come to the conclusion that I'm here to present today. quickly say this. Um, this is the vision that was established by those 22 people that met throughout the course of the year in terms of what we want for our kids. So, I won't read it to you, but I just want to point out those bold words like strong number sense and fact fluency. We want kids communicating their thinking through mathematical discourse. We want them to know there are multiple paths to get to the same solution. We want them modeling, doing real world problem solving, and collaborating with confidence. So some of those the interesting thing about some of those words

022is that they also show up in our mission and vision for the district. So first we'll start with the elementary school update. We had 48 pilot classrooms throughout the district that were K5 and we get feedback from our pilot teachers who are also some of our committee members but an extension beyond that. and 410 students were also surveyed who participated in those pilot classrooms and gave us the best feedback. The kids are the most honest providers of feedback. Um so we definitely take that into account and do that as part of our analysis. When we were in this room together um in May, late May to talk about the pilots, we had two great options. We had actually piloted curriculums that people felt strongly about were going to move us in the right district or

023the right direction as a district. But we also walked out of that room with cons not just consensus but unanimous consensus that this was the right decision for the district. There are key benefits there but I'm going to just focus on one and that's the second to last bullet that says students res report significantly increased engagement. the number of stories we heard throughout this process about kids saying that they were excited about math learning. Um we heard stories from teachers about you know a child who had to sort of be prompted and reminded to participate in math with regular basis. They were doing some things to help that child focus in particular and they were seeing like the need to prompt 18 times. Once they started engaging in this work, it was down to under

024two just because the engagement for that child increased significantly. And I think that really is because of the hands-on interactivity of the curriculum. It is embedded in everything they do and the thinking processes and routines that we're going to show you this evening. So, I was not going to ask anyone to be here this evening because it's summer. Um, we do have some people that I'll point out that are featured in this video, but we wanted to have some teachers and students tell you a little bit more about their thoughts regarding this particular recommendation. So, we'll play this video in a mixed order. I said like two triangles. [Music] Math should be taught in a handson engaging format and Amplified Desmos does just that. There are student games that increase that handson conceptual understanding as

025well as increasing mathematical discourse amongst kids. I also think it's so refreshing to allow students to discover math in an inquirybased way and help them, you know, lead to their mathematical understanding rather than just standing at the front of the classroom and teaching them the skills. I think that they're coming away with such strong mathematical understanding and I just can't wait to this program next year. [Music] Can you tell me why do you think that learning math is important? To see what's next and um to like get your mind again. So, do you use it like every day? Like if you're at a baseball game and you're in the outfield, like you're taking the correct angles on the hip hard to the outfield and like like you're if you're trying to count money, you need

026the math first and then you need a great education first to go then do whatever you want to be. Learning math is important because you need to be educated and grow up to be smart and also you use math like in like an everyday basis. For example, like when you're at like the grocery store and like you need to count up like the money for like the prices of like your food, um that's when you use math. The district is kind of shifting to more of a productive struggle mindset and I think this is the perfect curriculum for that. It exposes kids every single day, multiple times a day to various problems that include productive struggle. And this was a big shift both for my students and for me at the start of trying Amplify.

027Um it's a little uncomfortable sometimes to just let kids struggle. Um but as they have tried more problems and gotten more into the swing of Amplify, it has been so great for my students and for me. They do most of the knowledge construction now in math instead of me telling it to them and I think it's more meaningful that way. Is there anything you have done in math recently that has made you feel really proud? Everything makes me feel really proud and amplified. Like just one simple math problem. It makes me feel so good inside. Even if I make do it wrong, um it just gives you little hints to say that's almost right. So, one thing I learned new since my teacher was teaching me for amplifying is like when we were doing shapes

028like I didn't know that we had to like count each uh like space between each dot. And then it it was hard at first, but then um I liked it because it was a good challenge. If we put it in a fun way like Amplify does, then we'll be able to make it funner for the kids as well as giving them an an education. And if you have make let the kids have fun, they have a higher chance of remembering it. Before it was a lot of teacher do most of the work and the students do some of the work. And this um through amplify we're able to review some old skills in the beginning, dive into the lesson, have the kids exploring first and then while they're exploring we can like clarify things for

029them individually or in small groups and then we can also um verify what they're doing is correct which has been a big change. And then coming at the end of the lesson is where I bring it all together and make sure that the students have learned the um expected objective. What impact have you seen while using amplify on productive struggle in the classroom? So they struggle a lot and even if the computation for some kids is easy, I'm noticing that they struggle with the discourse and the level of questioning that the teacher manual gives us really stretches their thinking. And I've noticed like even you know the kids for the ultation comes like that, they have a harder time discussing and thinking about it. One thing I've done in math that makes me feel proud

030is when I push through challenging things. Like if I didn't know something before and I've kept trying and it's really hard and I got upset, then my teacher, she'd help us push through and retach it to us to so we can like figure it out. And it's made me feel accomplished because now I know how to do it. [Applause] [Music] identify all the time. [Music] Okay, so this one goes in none. No sidelines are the same. R goes in no side links for the same. Y goes in. No sidelines are the same. So R and Y [Music] notice I noticed that the top right triangle is how do you know it's acute? It has three. Thumbs up if you have thumbs down. I agree and there are three acute angles. I like that you used

031what we worked on yesterday. So we're going to come back to that. So good thinking. What do you wonder? Before I call on people, I'd like you to talk to your partner about something you wonder. If you'd like to share, what do you wonder about what we're seeing on the board? I wonder why. I wonder. What excites you most about where math instruction is headed in Deerfield 109? I'm just really excited for the new way of teaching math because it's inquiry and discovery based. The kids are just more excited about what they're learning. I'm more excited about teaching them what they're learning. And so I think just having the teachers on board, the kids on board, I feel like it's just going to show amazing growth in Deerfield. All right. So the key difference in

032this curriculum which we want you to experience is that it's very much inquiry based. You heard some things mentioned in the video that the knowledge construction starts with the kids. Math has often been taught in a very traditional way where you show you show students how to do something and then they reproduce it and then they practice it. But this has them doing the thinking first and then the instruction comes in at the end. So, I'm going to turn it over to Sarah Hogan, our math curriculum specialist, and she is going to illustrate what that looks like. Hi everybody. Um, so I'm going to preview a lesson with you guys so that you can kind of just experience the model that Amplify uses. Um, I'm going to make it really brief. Can you? Yeah, you

033can hand those out. Um, so this sample activity comes from fifth grade from the third unit. So, prior to this lesson, students have learned about multiplying fractions, fraction by fraction, fraction by whole number, fraction by mixed number, so on and so forth. Um, the goal of this particular lesson is for students to use their pri prior knowledge of fraction multiplication to reason about the size of the products, but not actually perform the multiplication itself. So this is like an application of um understanding multiplication of fractions to kind of be able to understand the resizing or scaling of things using fractions. Um and so like it was mentioned in the video rather than just explicitly teaching this topic the way that Amplify approaches this is it allows students to take a problem based um activity and

034then later there's some um direct instruction a little bit at the end. So, um, students will usually spend on this particular activity, they'll spend like 15 to 20 minutes working with a partner, but we're just going to keep it really short. We'll do like a two-minute timer. So, if you were my fifth grade student, um, engaging in this lesson, we'll uh we would do a warm-up problem that Amplify provides that gets kids thinking critically, some prior skills for this particular activity, and it facilitates um some student discourse in the class. and then it would be um this activity next up. So, I'm gonna read these directions and then I'll start the timer. So, you'll be given a series of cards. Some cards have clues and others have the names of different rooms to help you

035organize your thinking. Complete problem one with your partner, then join another pair to complete problem two together. So, you guys can just do the first part, which is try to organize um the cards from least to greatest. 10 seconds. answer themselves. We should or they could do the second part. It seems like they're almost done. Should we have them go with a go with a pair? Pair with a pair. Yeah. Actually, tell them that 30 seconds. Okay. You've got you've got about 30 seconds left. We're going to really briefly do what students would do, and that is your pair is going to pair up with another pair to talk through what the answer was. So, go ahead and find another pair and see if you agree. storage. Perfect. took the most. Go ahead. Okay, so

036um we're gonna pause you guys right here and um like I said, this was just to kind of get you a sneak peek into how Amplify approaches things. Typically, it's a warm-up like I mentioned, then an activity like this one. Um next comes a second activity. Typically, the activities you're working with a partner and then sometimes partners pair up like you just did um right now. And then after the second activity comes the synthesis. So it kind of brings the lesson in full circle. At the synthesis part is where the teacher will do some type of direct instruction to make sure students fully grasped all of the topics that were that were taught. Um students will do like a brief formative assessment and then it's kind of off you go time where students might be

037doing small group or independent work or or partner work or so on and so forth. So um a little bit of a different approach from what we were doing from traditional you know big ideas. these students are kind of discovering themselves and then confirming with the teacher at the end at the synthesis. So, um I was actually lucky enough to see this activity in action at Walden. Um I was pushing into Miss Lai's fifth grade class for a couple weeks at the end of the school year once a week just to really get a front uh front row view of Amplify and it was totally incredible to see the way the students minds were working. Um, for those of you who weren't able to see the cards up here, um, there was it was tricky

038because there was an unknown. There was actually no, you didn't see anyone doing any math, so to speak, like calculations, because there was an unknown. And that's part of this math standard. Um, but the students came up with so many great different ways to solve this. I saw students who were drawing a picture of the bonding room and then comparing all of the others. I saw students doing number lines. I saw students plugging in fake numbers, like the bonding room was 1 hour, so what would all of these be? It was really incredible to see um all of those different strategies. And then just really briefly, I wanted to give everyone um an idea of like the progression of learning here. I was personally really impressed with this lesson when I was in Mrs. Lai's

039room because um this is like the perfect execution of the Common Core standard 5NF 5. Um and that standard, like I said before, it's not about the actual multiplying. It's more about like the reasoning of the size of the products. And all I could think about when I was in Miss Lally's room was, "Wow, I can't I can't wait until these students get into seventh grade, because all of this math is going to travel with them. They're going to be using what you saw as clues to kind of reorganize and use any strategy. They're going to be using variables to solve for unknowns, write um expressions, write equations um and things like that. And then obviously later on that translates into systems and so on and so forth. So, I'm just really impressed personally with

040the foundation that Amplify is going to set for us. And thanks for um playing along here with me. All right. We we also just want to give one quick update about middle school because we're we are proposing a course adoption for K5, but pausing slightly or slowing down a little bit for middle school. It's not uncommon actually that curriculum vendors are a little um slower to produce products for secondary schools that mirror kind of current research and um more innovative approaches in classrooms because traditional mathematics instruction is more typical in secondary schools. With that said, we did pilot a couple of resources across our middle schools and there was consensus as well with our middle school educators that the things that we were piloting did not match the vision that we had established for students

041in our district. And if we were to choose one of those things, we did not see that creating um more improvement. We did not see that resulting in improvement in the learning opportunities for kids in 109 classrooms. So with that what we've decided is to pause for one year. We've recontracted with big ideas which is our current curriculum for one year only. We're going to engage in u professional development with building thinking classrooms which has this similar approach. Um you see on the image that is not our classroom on the screen but building thinking classrooms really has kids working in partnerships similar to what you do and they do it on vertical surfaces. So they're not sitting at a seat and trai in a traditional way. They're up around the room problem solving and partnerships.

042And so our middle school educators are all going to get professional learning with building thinking classrooms in the fall. They're very excited about it. We're actually doing um we're reading the book together right now. And then we will re-examine curricular resources after the professional development probably in December with then the potential for piloting other alternatives in the spring. That's why we've only contracted with big ideas for one more year because we want to see what else is out there that more closely mirrors the vision that we've established through this process. So our next steps really is just that. We're acquiring materials for elementary. Sarah is working with the coaches and they're updating curriculum maps. We've actually had math teachers in this room every day this week um working in partnerships to do some of that

043updating. Our elementary teachers will also be getting professional development because as you heard Katherine Rogers, the fourth grade teacher who's in the room and featured in the video say is that this is a different instructional approach, too. So, it's not only a change for students, but a change for teachers. and they'll have some PD opportunities in August and then at the early start of the school year and then as we go throughout the fall in addition to the things that I mentioned for 68. So that is the math curriculum review and I think am I okay to Katherine or you come up come? So Katherine Rogers was one of our pilot teachers. She's a fourth grade teacher at Wilmont and she has two of our students here today. Um if you have any questions I

044think we are all open to taking any questions. Just two. I get two. Uh, thank you guys for helping make the video. It was really helpful for us to hear how you guys have enjoyed piloting this. We take that. Thank you for the time. And then Danielle and staff, thank you for this pilot cycle and the really important work that has gone into ensuring that all these different curricular areas have a scope and sequence of auditing. It's been a gift. So, thank you. Um, and for the kids, you mentioned the baseball thing with the trajectory. When you're when you were piloting this math curriculum, were you able at times to see the shapes and in your head almost be like, "Oh my goodness, I could almost see that angle on a field." Were you able

045to make that connection? Yeah. Yeah. Do you find that when you did math in the past, were you able to make that connection as well? Not really. No. Cool. Thank you. We appreciate that analogy. I got one again. I think you guys also kids, what did you guys notice that was different uh from kind of when you were learning one math and then learning this new curriculum? Um, before like we did Amplify, it was like kind of different. Like Miss Rogers just like taught us and then we went to go do it. But then when we did Amplify, she like we got to like work on it and then she came back and like we came back and like she like kind of like reexplained it and then we went to go work on it

046again. So I have a question for you. So, it's summer and there's a board meeting. Okay. And not only are you here, but you want to be here. Tell us why you were excited about coming to the schoolboard meeting to talk about Amplify. Um, I was excited because I've never been here before and um, I just wanted to like tell everybody like about Amplify. And what did you want to What did you want to make sure that we knew about Amplify? I wanted to make sure that you knew that it's new and different and it's I think it's better than our old curriculum. And why do you think it's better than your old one? I think it's better because like I said before like it's different in in like ways and I just like it

047better. Okay, good. Thank you for coming. Yeah, you have something to add. Okay, I have uh one question. Thank you so much for coming especially in the summer night. Um I have one question for the students. What was it like working um with your peers that you probably wouldn't normally work with? Like what was that like? They did give you that opportunity to sort of branch out of like a normal like your normal math day versus working with your peers first versus your teacher. So it was like going out to hang out with friends but learn more stuff and it was more a little more easier than working with the other curriculum. Did you like working with a variety of different kids? Yes. I got one more. Um, sorry. Was there was there any part

048of the learning the new curriculum that was frustrating or difficult for you guys? You can be honest. Pro. Yes. Because like when like we went to go work on it and I didn't get it at first, that was frustrating. But since we went back to like when Miss Rogers went to go retach it to us then that and then I went to go try it again, that made sense to me. So, at first it was frustrating, but then when I like like got it more because she like helped me, then I like it was not frustrating. How cool is that, right? You started with something that was frustrating and then figured it out and work together. That's really neat. This might be for all three of you. So, Miss Rogers talked about productive struggle and

049talked about the the part of what we're working on is having students struggle more. Did you uh Miss Rogers, why did you make sure and mention that? And students, maybe you can chime in if you want to. Also, um I think this curriculum embodies the idea of productive struggle. Uh, and it was hard for me to watch at first, just letting them go off and watching them struggle with math problems and I had to stop myself from intervening at times. But after just trusting it and letting it happen for a couple weeks, I think we were all less frustrated and saw the benefit in having them figure it out on their own and then I kind of tie it all together. so that no one's left floundering, but it was cool to watch them create

050the knowledge. Were you guys the classroom where uh the first couple days it was like, "Oh, I don't know about this." And then at some point somebody said, "I think we did it." Was that your classroom? I don't think that was I think it was third grade it went. Okay. Do you have anything to add? I have a question that might be for Danielle. Is there homework associated with this curriculum age appropriate wise or is that not something parents would like would I still be part of something parents should anticipate at home? Yeah, I didn't see they said they'd have additional practice. Yeah, so there are like we are we will still have the supplementary tools that you mentioned like STMath those will still be available. There are like extension problems and things like that.

051I don't know that there is a daily requirement of homework, but certainly some additional practice problems and things like that if um students want to continue working on their own. Okay. I think I only asked because it seems like this curriculum takes a really different approach. It does. So my guess would be is if you sent this home from homework, the parents would go, I I don't know what you're talking about. So sounds like it's going to be an inclassroom based experience scope and sequence wise. And should any individual student need more support, that would be kind of an individual. there are embedded support scaffolds. So, one of the things similar to what we talked about with ELA, the math curriculum is also that way. It's about scaffolding up to grade level standards and beyond

052rather than sort of lowering expectations for students. That's where the rigor and the productive struggle also comes in. Um, but that there are scaffolds embedded in it. So for students who need additional supports as well as extensions for kids who need additional challenge and this curriculum will line up with any advanced math work that would be going on in fourth or fifth grade. Yes. Yeah. So we were working on that today actually. They were here today. Our advanced learning specialists were here today. Question three for me. Uh sorry. Um I noticed a lot of paper and pencil which I like to see. um how much of this is electronic on our kind of uh Chromebooks versus what you guys are doing on the kids can answer or you guys around kind of what is actually

053with paper and pencil and other materials. So the way the curriculum's built for kindergarten through fifth grade is that about 20% of the lessons are meant to be digital but actually all of the lessons can be paper pencil. So, um, the digital, all of the digital lessons that I've seen are greatly enhanced by the digital features. Um, there's a lot of things like, um, there was one question I was looking at today and it was like, you only have a half cup scooper and you need six cups of flour. How many scoops is it going to take? And you type in your answer and it actually scoops the flour for you to check your answer. It's really neat with like check it and then see it happen in real life. Um, so 20% for that.

054And then there are some options to do like assignments or assessments both digital and paper. So it kind of depends on the teacher. Students like some of the digital I think. Right. Do you what do you think of the digital? I really like the digital lessons because like once a week we do them and they're like fun cuz they're like you get to like look up to them every week and like they're just like exciting cuz like you don't do it a lot. So like it's different than doing it on pencil and paper. Yeah. The digital also takes a different approach, right? It's not wrote instruction where here's the question and and here's the answer or solution that you're doing data entry for. It's very different than that. It's interactive and explorative so that they

055can see trial and error in real time. Are there any elements that cause you angst that you'll be monitoring more heavily out of the gate with this? Yeah, I I think it's really the instructional approach, which is why we're going to layer in lots of um professional discourse for our educators, letting them collaborate and work together to understand it. Um I'm not speaking out of turn because Katherine said it in the video, but she said this is a different approach for educators as well, like watching kids try to think and and they sometimes get frustrated in that initial phase. We did have a third grade classroom that for the first four days the teacher said when she was asking them to engage in that discourse around mathematics they sat silently. They sat they did not

056know how to talk using math vocabulary and to explore in their thinking. They were just waiting for the adult to tell them how to do something. And then it was on the fourth day when they finally started opening up and talking and sharing their thinking out loud. and a and a child she reported like a child in the classroom says I think we did it. I think we did it. And then another piece of student feedback on one of the surveys, we asked the students, "What did you like about it?" And the student said, one student said, "I liked that it was hard." Or sorry, the first question is, "Is there anything you would change about the program?" And the student said, "It's too hard." And then you ask them, "What did you like about

057it? It's hard." Right? So that is that is the message of productive struggle that we're trying to grow in our students that they are the ones doing the thinking. You heard our educators say that. We had some really great educators that are piloting. We have great educators across the district. I have no doubt that they're going to be able to take this challenge on, but it is a different approach than the way we've been teaching mathematics. The best part of every meeting is when we have kids or when we have uh teachers who are doing the teaching, doing the work with our kids come and we get to hear directly from you. So, thank you very much for taking part of your summer out to come to a meeting to share with us why you

058think this is so important for us to hear about what you're doing in school. Thank you. [Applause] And thanks parents for making sure they got here. All right. Next on the agenda, freedom of information requests. John. Yep. There are four in your packet. I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions? All right. Uh, next resolution for DPS 109 withdrawal from True North Educational Cooperative 804. Yeah, we have with us our legal counsel Laura Canid who may uh want to either chime in uh on this or field questions that the board might have. Uh before the board both in terms of an information and an action item on this agenda is a recommendation from the administration uh to uh petition uh the cooperative uh for withdrawal in the 2026 July 1 of 2026. Uh we do

059not make this recommendation lightly. There's been extraordinary amount of conversation among member districts over uh the past many months with a whole host of different meetings. What is noteworthy about uh our petition is that it comes at the same time as I believe every single member of the cooperative is going to submit or has already submitted a similar uh petition. So the the cooperative may exist in some future form yet to be determined. Uh in our case uh because of the diligent work of our staff led by uh Joanna Ford and Danielle Arnold, uh we are uh in among the districts of the cooperative in a uh unusual and uh advantageous position of already educating virtually every single child in our district within uh within uh the walls of of our district already and so

060we can make a very straightfaced argument that our exit is going to be a smooth one for our families. We'll be able to service our students uh within within the district and should a student need a more restrictive environment, we will uh find that environment and work with the family uh to secure that and ensure their uh their continued success um as a 109 student. So, uh, I'd be happy to entertain any questions that the board might have on this. The reason that this is an information and an action item in the same meeting is because there is a deadline for the cooperative that if we submit uh before uh July 1, our uh if we if we should submit after July 1, we would be committed for a further year. One of the major

061considerations for us is whether uh our uh our timeline for uh our uh uh uh what it's the word I'm looking for, not removal, but the departure uh from the co-op would be in 2026 or 2027. We can always extend the timeline out. If we uh put the 2027 timeline on this resolution as many uh member districts have, we won't have the latitude to move that timeline up to 2026. And so, uh in order to keep as many options open as possible, we think July 1, 2026 is the preferable date. And then we will see what happens. If the board is okay, I'd like to have Kelly give her update real quick before they we open up for questions. Yeah, I think it just might be helpful to give it now before the end of

062the meeting when the vote would have already happened. So, we had a True North board meeting the other week. Um, one general item to update and share safety security wise, just like we did in our district, um, it became abundantly clear that the True North campus needed a repeater system. uh the police, they did an audit of all the buildings on the True North campus and I think percentage- wise maybe less than 3% of the entire space was uh where radios could work for first respondents and that was not safe for students and staff. And so the both the finance committee and the full board agreed that that was a priority. So that will be installed um for the fall school and I think we all agree that safety and security is completely paramount. Um

063there were two different proposals that were presented by two different groups of superintendent. So the first one was uh the proposal to amend the true north articles of agreement and uh basically the request is to limit the scope of the evaluation that a district would need to do. Uh the articles of agreement spelled out a much more robust thorough evaluation. And so a district contemplating withdrawal would have to uh get approval by True North to hire a outside thirdparty consultant at cost to your own district to come in and do a full audit and scope of all of the special ed services in your district. And then that would have to be reviewed by True North staff, sort of given a blessing and signed off by True North and then presented back to the region.

064Um in recognizing the simultaneous nature of all districts withdrawing at the same time uh the presenters of this uh amendment update um came to the realization that that would just be cumbersome and expensive and inefficient for all the districts. So the uh proposed amendment is going to just limit the scope of the evaluation to focus on the capacity of the district to meet the needs of the students currently served by True North. So, if your district currently sends one student to Northshore Academy, you would need to evaluate your district's ability to serve that child within your own district. Um, that uh amendment is going to be voted on in a special meeting that is being scheduled for the end of June. So, I will update this board should that amendment pass. Um and the second

065would be there were two superintendent um who uh brought a resolution forth to the board about exploring orderly dissolution of the cooperative uh in recognition of all the districts simultaneously submitting withdrawals. At the same time, the request was made to get more information from the True North administration as to what an orderly dissolution could look like for the staff and the students to ensure that the staff are uh contemplated in all conversations and then of course the learning of children is prioritized. um that resolution passed by a vote during the board meeting and the expectation is that there'll be a framework presentation brought back to the leadership council for their August meeting. So those were the two big things at the meeting. Any questions? I got one. Um so 2026 a year from nowish. Um,

066how is that timeline to I get we were talking 26 27. What why even 26? What what's the process to get us to 26 to the year? Give Laura a chance to speak here. No problem. Okay. So that's statutory. In order that you always have to withdraw on July 1st or whatever year that's the effective date of with of the withdrawal. So in order to withdraw by 2026, the statute requires a 12-month notice period. Um, True North requires an 18-month notice period. Um, there's at least one other district who is given notice less than 18 months in advance of their intended withdrawal. Um, and they're they're citing the site the statute. Um, so I think we view this as an abil, you know, exercising our ability to preserve the right to um, withdraw by July

0671st, 2026. kind of seeing how all these other discussions around dissolution and other withdrawing districts go. Um, you know, I think that there it sounds like there's very much a um open line of communication about that amongst the superintendents and True North. And so I anticipate that the next 12 months will consist of that while simultaneously pursuing um the withdrawal and the required information for ISBY. Thanks. You're welcome. And I just want to make sure that I've clarified what I said because I hope I said it in the correct way. The resolution that the second two sets of superintendents was not a resolution to dissolve. That was not what was requested or voted on. The superintendents were simply asking for the administration to contemplate what a dissolution could look like should that be the uh

068decision that the board would ever come to. So that was the only thing discussed. I just want to be abundantly clear on that. To follow up on that, once there are 12 districts who have initiated the withdrawal process, there can be a movement a move to to dissolve. So 12 districts total. I know that there's a large block of 11 districts being represented by one firm at this time. Um and they haven't yet submitted their petitions for withdrawal, but I'm under the impression that they will this this month. So, um, once there are 12, we may be having a different conversation or or just a supplemental conversation. Yeah. And I think the timeline that we have with the 2026 date is in recognition of all these moving pieces that are happening, right? So, ensuring that

069while it doesn't follow necessarily the bylaws, but it complies with sto school code, right? It allows our district to have the optionality should a um framework for dissolution, which looks likely to potentially happen or likely to happen. Um that, you know, it allows us to say, hey, you know, we're willing to stay for x amount of time beyond that time period in order to allow for that orderly transition to occur. I think we all recognize that as a district we have a a responsibility to our taxpayers, but we also have I think a general responsibility to, you know, to students and not just students in our district, but I think philosophically we don't want to be necessarily exacerbating negative outcomes to any student if we can at all um avoid that in a reasonable manner.

070And so I think this optionality is super important for us all. So it's not an intent I think to accelerate or to push, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's intended just for that optionality purpose. In the event, you know, there is ongoing discussion about dissolution and that were to fall apart, right? Like you know, we can always resubmit in the 18-month time period if that's what we have to do, which would be December for July 2027. But um again, the statute requires 12 months and and we're following the lead of at least one other district who's submitted intent for July 1st, 2026. I have a question from a from a district standpoint. Um how does that look for us for like what we lean on True North for professional development um as we go

071through this very interesting time with them? And um and then I'll comment. Thank you for mentioning the students that they're servicing because that's one of the first things I thought of was just, you know, there's a there's a population of children that certainly need the service and um I would hope that as school districts we can all consider that population and their needs first. So but then how do we then professionally development wise? Yeah, that's a great question. So, you know, I know you've seen historically there's like indirect costs, which is a significant amount of money that comes out of our budget that goes to True North as set costs and then the direct costs which are, you know, based on what services we're contracting or students who we have placed at True North or

072professional development that we're customizing. So, some professional development, there's a a set PD amount that we pay every year and then you can access a menu of PD, which we have a large number of staff accessing. Um and then we've done some customized PD in my department alongside with Danielle. Um so we for the PD route we would continue to seek whatever is needed. This year a little bit different or this upcoming school year we are contracting directly with MCIE on some of our inclusive practices. So we're you know kind of setting the stage for contracting directly with some of the folks delivering the professional development and we would seek those opportunities elsewhere if that was not available. Um we very are very limited. we contract some of our vision services currently through True North.

073So, if that was not an option, we would go to one of the other co-ops to see if we could contract that service or look to bring that FTE inhouse or share it with another district. Um, we are projected to have two students placed at True North next year. One already has a kind of set uh path of bridging or transitioning back in the fall. um you know for the other student who at this point in time the needs warrant that outplacement we could come up with a customized plan within district or we would look at other um placements you know and work with that family because I I keep saying True North has been wonderful in terms of NSE Arbor um NSAE for our students but there are other outplacements we typically want a

074family to see multiple options anyway if we are at that point that the team is recommending that more restrictive setting and more clarification because I keep forgetting to say things. Um, next school year, the 2526 school year will remain unchanged for True North. All programs, services, budget, and 18 member districts, everything's business as usual for that. After that school year is where the contemplation comes in, but current students being served next year, we'll have all of their programs. I appreciate the True North team because they've been copied on those emails or forwarded them. They've done a nice job communicating that to families, which I think has been really important that families know, you know, for the upcoming school year there's no changes for their students. Yeah. Any other questions? And just as a reminder, we'll

075be uh voting on that action at the end of this meeting. So, next on the agenda is the memorandum of understanding with DESA. Yeah, this is aou between the board and the support staff association uh to adjust the hourly rate for several staff members who will be transitioning from the LAA role to a standard teaching assistant or ITA role. Any questions? All right. Uh FY26 crossing garden services. Uh did we skip one? Oh, sorry. uh extension of IG the IGA between DPS 109 and Deerfield Parks District. Yeah. So um the Deerfield Park District and the District 109 have a longstanding partnership uh where we share a number of resources that are mutually beneficial to both organizations. Um and approximately every 5 years the parties come together and talk about um if there are any um

076needs uh that that need to be addressed in the cost shared. Uh so the the last agreement was in 2019. Um and it laid out a number of um capital projects that were shared between the two entities. Parking lots um uh playgrounds are traditional items that the two entities would share. And the the uh big item from the last agreement was uh cost sharing for the upgraded Caruso auditorium. Um and uh we have uh some new folks uh at the park district. Um, and uh, we need a little bit more time to work through what that extension will look like. Um, so we're proposing a one-year extension here that is material the same as as the IGAs in the past. Any questions? Um, considering our upcoming task force is is completed for the master facilities

077plan, is there anything that would impact the IG if we were to move forward with option A recommended by the task force that would need to get updated again in an IG or the IG we're working on is just the coverage and then we can add to it. I think the the the goal was to extend the the IGA that both parties were accustomed to in material the same way for one year so that the parties had additional time to come together and to talk about what a longer term extension would look like and to work through any any any items and make sure that that uh that IGA remains in in good balance. Okay. So let's say um there are new items to be addressed within that year time frame. any any adjustment would

078happen at the at the conclusion of this one-year extension. So, we'll be working together over the next year to develop a longer term IGA. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Uh, next on the agenda, FY26 Crossing Guard Services. This is a bit of happy news um since prices only seem to go up over time, but here they are going down. Um so about 5 years ago uh we transitioned from having uh crossing guard services supported by uh the police department in town to uh a private uh company. And at the at that point in time we had bid and only received uh one responsive bidder for crossing guard services across the district. And unfortunately that uh responder uh failed to post guards across the district. and uh Andy Frain um which is a local company that uh

079in addition to doing uh crossing guard services provides event security for large you know events like um Soldier Field etc. Um they were able to come in and pick up that agreement and support the district over the last 5 years. We had previously negotiated an extension of that agreement um with a modest 3% increase to those uh rates. Uh but Andy Fra has quite the presence in the region and in discussions with them we were able to negotiate a lowerly hourly rate that is more reflective of what school districts around us are paying. So very happy to bring that forward. Any question? I have one question. Um do we do we ever evaluate where we have crossing guards throughout this renewal process? Um we have uh intergovernmental agreement with the police department when we transitioned

080crossing guard services. Um there were seven posts uh that the police had historically been supporting uh where they determined that they were needed. Um and uh should there ever be uh you know discussion about where we would need an additional post if at all in the future, we would work with the police who have expertise in traffic and you know vehicular traffic etc. All right. Uh, next on the agenda, resolution to appoint treasurer and assistant treasure. And now begins housekeeping. Kelly's favorite time of year, summer housekeeping. Annual housekeeping items. The first of which is to appoint uh myself as treasurer and Ben Casti as assistant treasurer unless a board member would like to do it, which is permissible by board policy. Seeing none. Seeing none. Sing. All right. All right. Next. um annual uh annual

081bank depository information. This is another annual exercise where the board has to approve the banks with whom we uh transact. Okay. And then resolution to designate interest. Again, an annual exercise where uh the board is designating interest to maintain inter fund transfer flexibility in the future. And annual resolution to approve serious safety hazards. And we do this each year. Um, the Illinois Department of Transportation is the entity that approves a serious safety hazard. It has been many years since we've had a new serious safety hazard uh approved. Um, from time to time, families will come forward and believe that their uh address uh constitutes a serious safety hazard. If uh a family does share that with us, we will evaluate it using the Department of Transportation guidelines. Um there is at least one instance where

082I thought an address uh qualified and I was promptly rejected by the Department of Transportation. Um but approving this um uh uh makes the district eligible for some reimbursement from the state for transportation funds. Just a really quick question. I'm pretty confident any new construction and I don't mean tear downs and rebuilds, but I mean actual new sub not subdivision but property. I think it's all bust anyways because it's far enough away from schools. Okay. Correct. Okay. You know which ones? I'm like the one the Walgreens one and then Yeah, the Walgreens one would be within 1.5 miles. Uh but the where where it's situated would be consistent with how homes that are on the other side of that road. But as a new but as a new subdivision were to come online, we'd evaluate

083it. Okay, cool. Thank you. Now, can you just briefly define what a serious safety hazard? Yeah, they have. Uh, so the Department of Transportation has a publication. It has not been updated since 2001, but if you Google it, you can find it. Um, know this. It comes up uh from time to time. Um, but it looks at things like uh age of the student, uh, distance from the school. It looks at things like is there is a sidewalk present? If the sidewalk is present, how many feet is it set back from the road? Um, is there a crossing? Do they have to cross the road? Are there train tracks? Is there a crossing guard? Is there a light? Those kinds of things. And they score it on a matrix of points. And if they get

084over a certain threshold, then it would qualify. Yeah, I bet you weren't expecting that answer. That was a that's that's detailed. All right. Uh, no. Go ahead. I have a question. Um, more details. Um, so this is just just my knowledge now. Um, I I know there's certain roads within Deerfield that actually don't have that the sidewalk. So, would we then strategically place our bus stops in different places? Um like I'm thinking, you know, when I lived on RGO, we didn't have like a bus stop. So, the bus like do we take that into consideration with our bus stops? The actual location of a bus stop. Yeah, we will. Okay. Okay. All right. Uh last on theformational items resolution to set a public hearing education fund to operations and maintenance fund interfund transfer. We've done

085this the last several years. This sets in motion uh the requirements to uh um complete an interfund transfer u from the education fund to the operations and maintenance fund. Any questions? All right. Action items. Uh 9.1 consent agenda. 9.1.1 Approval of meeting minutes 15, 2025 regular meeting minutes and closed meetings close session meeting minutes and May 19th 2025 IASB close session board governance workshop minutes per policy 2220 9.1.2 personnel 9.1.2.1 Resignations and retirements 9.1.2.2 leaves of absence 9.1.2.3 employment of certified staff 9.1.2.4 4 employment of educational support staff 9.1.2.5 employment of at will staff 9.1.3 bills for payment and before I ask for a motion I didn't need to read the uh policy is correct on that okay good all right may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved roll call

086please Miss Bonner I Dr. Dornfeld hi Miss Jakamu hi choice hi Mr. Mvi Mr. Abraham and President Quo I. Motion carries. All right. 9.2 treasures report. I get a motion to approve. So move. Second. Roll call, please. Dr. Dornfeld. Hi. Miss Jakamu. Hi. Miss Joyce. Hi. Mr. Murv. Hi. Mr. Abraham. Hi. Miss Bonner. Hi. And President Quo. I. Motion carries. 9.3 by annual review of close closed session minutes in accordance with the opens meeting act open meetings act. The board president andor secretary reviews minutes of closed session meetings. CMA annually. Close session minutes recorded from December 12th, 2024 through April 10th, 2025 were reviewed. The recommendation is for the board to open the following close session minutes with reductions if required for public inspection December 12th, 2024 and January 16th, 2025. May I have a

087motion to approve? So move. Roll call, please. Miss Jakamu, I. Miss Joyce, hi. Mr. Mir, hi. Mr. Abraham, hi. Miss Bonner, hi. Dr. Dornfeld, hi. And President Quo, I. Motion carries. All right. 9.4 District 109 True North withdrawal. May I have a motion to approve the resolution authorizing the petition for Deerfield Public School District 109 to withdraw from the True North Educational Cooperative 804. So moved. Second. Yep. Before roll call. Um before roll call. The uh the DPS 109 school board president has assigned me to represent our district on the True North Leadership Council. In that representation, I have been voted to serve as the True North Leadership Council board president. Given that specific role and my desire to balance the best interests of District 109 with the delicacy of leading 18 member districts in

088board work, I plan to abstain from this evening's vote. Roll call, please. Miss Joyce, I. Mr. Mir, I Mr. Abraham. Hi. Miss Bonner. I Dr. Dornfeld. I miss Jakamu. Abstain. And President Cole, I motion carries. All right. 9.5 instructional technology purpose or purchase. May I have a motion to approve? So moved. That was very roll call, please. Mr. Murv, hi. Mr. Abraham. Hi. Miss Bonner. I. Dr. Dornfeld. I. Miss Jakamu. I. Miss. Joyce. Hi. And President Quo. I. Motion carries. 9.6 fleet vehicle purchase. May I have a motion to approve? So moved. Roll call, please. Mr. Abraham. I. Miss Miss Bunner. Hi. Dr. Dornfeld. Hi. Miss Jackamu. Oh, wait. I think we did something wrong there. What was the first one? What? What did I do? I think I was the first one. Did I

089mishare that? I'm so sorry. I was not even close to Jakamu. Let's start over. We'll start over. Start again. That's on me. It's okay. No problem. Mr. Abraham, hi. Miss Bonner, it's not even close. Dr. Dornfeld. Hi, Miss Jakam. Hi, Miss Joyce. Hi, Mr. Mir. Hi, and President Co. I Motion carries. Don't whisper. All right. 9.7U with Tessa. May I have a motion to approve? So moved. Oh, did I miss What? We just did. We did the twist. We We did it. We did. You want to do it a third time? This is the summer meetings, man. Summer meetings. Awesome. All right. Um, so we had a motion. So moved. And we had a second. Second. All right. Roll call, please. Miss Bonner, I. Dr. Dornfeld. Hi. Miss Jakamu. Hi. Miss Joyce. Hi. Mr. Mirav.

090Hi. Mr. Abraham. Hi. And President Quell. Hi. Motion carries. 9.8 FY26 Crossing Guard Services. May I have a motion to approve? So move. Roll call, please. Dr. Dornfeld. Hi. Miss Jakamu. Hi. Miss Joyce. Hi. Mr. Mirev. Hi. Mr. Abraham. Hi. Miss Bonner. Hi. President Quo. Hi. Motion carries. 9.9. Resolution to appoint treasur and assistant treasur. May I have a motion to approve? So move. Roll call, please. Miss Jakamu. Hi. Miss Joyce. Hi. Mr. Mir. Hi. Mr. Abraham. Hi. Miss Bonner. Hi. Dr. Dornfeld. Hi. And President Qu. Hi. Motion carries. 9.10 resolution to approve shity bonds for treasur and assistant treasurer. May I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Roll call, please. Miss Joyce. Hi. Mr. Mir. Hi. Mr. Abraham. I. Miss Bonner. I. Dr. Dornfeld. Hi. Miss Jakamu. I. And President Quo. Hi.

091Motion carries. 9.11 annual bank depository approval. May I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Murv. I. Mr. Abraham. I. Miss Bonner. Hi, Dr. Dornfeld. Hi, Miss Jakamu. Hi, Miss Joyce. Hi, and President Quo. Hi. Motion carries. 9.12 resolution to designate interest. May I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Ibraham, I. Miss Bonner. Hi, Dr. Dornfeld. Hi, Miss Jakamu. Hi, Miss Joyce. Hi, Mr. Murv. Hi, and President Cole. Hi. Motion carries. 9.13 approval for of annual resolution to approve serious safety hazards. May I have a motion to approve? So move. Second roll call, please. Miss Bonner, hi. Dr. Dornfeld, hi. Miss Jacamu, hi. Miss Joyce, hi. Mr. Murv, hi. Mr. Abraham, I and President Cole, I. Motion carries. 9.14 resolution to set public hearing

092education fund to operations and maintenance fund to capital projects in our fund transfer. May I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Roll call, please. Dr. Dornfeld. Hi. Miss Jakamu. Hi, Miss Joyce. Hi, Mr. Murv. Hi, Mr. Abraham. Hi, Miss Bonner. Hi. And President, call I almost seconded that one. It's like second nature, right? Um all right. Uh committee reports. Um I already gave mine, but I just want to comment that um what Becky just did with all the roll calls for True North, we have to do across 21 board members. So if you're looking for a long evening, come to our board meetings and listen to roll calls across 21 people. Um okay. Tonight we had uh our finance committee meeting met um where we met with John and our uh internal control

093auditor um for our 2025 2024 25 internal control audit um where we discussed the findings at that audit. Um I want to mention that uh the audit firm commended our district on our dedication to enhancing financial control. I think we see that month after month with John's very detailed reports and um so I think it's been really good for me being on the board for two years seeing um how our taxpayer dollars work. I think if you are sitting at home you have nothing to worry about. We have so many audits so many checkpoints. So it is really you know it's it's great to work with John and his team and all the work that they do because they do put in a lot of work. So I want to commend them on that. Um,

094we also discussed our 2025 tentative budget which will be presented to the board next month. Um, and John went over our timeline with our new newest committee member here, David and Kate. So, um, it was a very informative meeting, very positive, especially when numbers. Um, and then for me, um, Mike, Kate and I attended the, uh, Ed Red Lake RE mini summit last, was it Thursday? Thursday. Um they offer like a wide range of breakout sessions on many different topics. I attended the road to referendum top uh breakout session which is very informative considering where we are right now in our master facility planning and um going to these events is really great because you see so many familiar faces and um partnering with like the 113 like seeing so many of those board members,

095the superintendent there and just really having some of these nice community conversations is a very um very positive considering Um, we're all trying to educate our kids, but the wide range of topics that they offer, you want to go to all of them, but you just can't. So, and I don't know which one you went to, Kate. Yes. Um, I attended the art of advocacy, which was really neat. And how do we partner with legislators and how do we get to know what is on their desk and how does that impact Deerfield and the district? Um, so some good best practices were learned around, you know, reaching out to our legislators, not when house is on fire, but really building the relationship and getting them into the schools. And um, really neat takeaways there. And

096then we also um I went to a schoolboard legislation um onehour session that was kind of wow because there is a lot of things in Springfield um in the Senate that are looking to be passed and signed off by our governor. Um one of the things that I noted um on that was Deerfield and 109 is already doing a lot of it. So while while it might become a policy, right, we are already doing a lot of the advocacy for social emotional learning and um you know some of it was like very common sensical and it just made me realize that um all the districts are very very different and we are lucky to be in a spot where we are cutting edge. we are on top of best practices and you know some of

097the bills that were being passed in the Senate we've been doing for 10 years. So that was really kind of an eye openener for me but I have a lot to learn around legislation as your legislative liaison. So I'm open to all suggestions and um thank you for letting me attend policy meeting next month right before our next meeting. I'll report back after that one. All right. Next on the agenda, open community participation. Uh, District 109 has two opportunities for public comment. Many organizations offer offer one opportunity. Our policy stems from the community's long-standing comm commitment to public discourse and representation. We take all public comment very seriously. And while public comment isn't a back and forth, but instead an opportunity for the board to listen. Please know that we listen very carefully. This period

098of 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 Road. Um the second jean jacket from my from my standpoint. Um will we will call you up one at a time to this the podium to speak. Please limit the length of all comments to no more than three minutes. Okay, we will call I I'm sorry if I mispronounced your last name. Rusty. Is it Ria Ray? Ray. Rusty Ray, please. There we go. All right. I know. You know, like when you hear yourself talk, it's like, am I really do I sound like that? So, anyway, here we are. My name is Rusty Ray. Um, I'm a I'm a citizen. I'm

099a community in the community, and I do not have children in the district. Um, I do want to thank you guys for opening up your your time to to listen to what I have to say, and I appreciate you guys do take it seriously. Um, I graduated years ago because I'm part of the old guy club now, uh, with my degree in Bible and I was trained in in Bible and in ministry and and I went out into the workforce and I had an experience that I think every person has at some point where your your training collides with reality. And I think I think in your own ways you guys will figure out where I'm going with this story here, but my wife and I had gone out to dinner and came back, you

100know, it was a summer day. Came back and there was a note taped to my door and it sure looked like a suicide note. It was there were sentences missing verbs. It was it was a guy I hadn't been talking to and counseling and it was I'm done. Goodbye. you like it was so bizarre and all of a sudden my training collided with reality and everything that I thought like oh ministry and church and Bible like this is easy right? Well it's not because the real world is not easy it's called life. Um you know I've been I've been in ministry for over 20 years. Uh, I no longer pastor, but I work for a website called sexchangere regret.com. And I get emails from from all over the country from from people and parents and

101families and friends of people who struggle with gender identity, gender dysphoria. And what I get is help. I'm drowning. I don't know what to do. And I've gone through uh there's a gentleman named Walt Hire. He back in the 80s transitioned to a woman, lost everything, transitioned back to a man and was set free. And he had an incredibly traumatic childhood. And I've gone through his training. He's a friend of mine. And the main root behind what I see in these emails is trauma. It's not who am I? It's I know what I am, but I don't want to be that because that organ and those people with that organ hurt me and I had a traumatic experience and I don't even necessarily want to be this, but I don't want to be this because

102that organ brought pain to my life. I think what what I saw tonight when your face is lit up with this, your face is lit up. You guys love kids. I loved watching you guys. I think what happens is where your training collides with the real world, you don't want to injure these kids. You see the you see something weird's going on, but you don't want to know what to do. I want to encourage you guys to push trauma counseling, trauma therapy, not gender ideology. So, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Next up, we'll call Kelsey Ray. Good evening. I'm a concerned citizen that does not have children in the school district. Nor will I ever because this district has become a national shame with a reputation for discrimination, bullying, and victim shaming. Please

103know that this is how America sees you right now. The Title 9 violations that took place at Shephard Middle School are not just disturbing, they're unconscionable and inhumane. In a moment that should have demanded dignity, discretion, and courage, the adults in charge did not rise to protect the vulnerable. Instead, you surrendered your moral responsibility and weaponized public policy against children. Middle school girls were forced to change in the presence of a biological male with no warning, no discussion, and no regard for their safety or consent. When they expressed discomfort and had the courage to self- advocate, they weren't heard, they weren't helped, they were disciplined. How disgusting that our children were punished for defending their privacy. This isn't inclusion. It is vile institutionalized intimidation. And the ones doing the intimidating weren't their peers. It was

104the adults. What happened in that locker room was a betrayal. And what followed, the meetings, the warnings, the threats of consequences only confirmed it. This school district does not make room for all students. You make targets. What message does this send to every little girl in America? that her body is not her own, that discomfort is hate, that silence is safer than truth. This is not progress. It's pedophilia wearing the mask of virtue. We should be raising children who know how to speak boldly and set boundaries, not punishing them when they do. A school that demands children ignore their instincts in order to affirm someone else's identity is not affirming anyone. It is grooming compliance at the expense of conscience. The adults in this building have one job, protect children. Instead, you've protected yourself and

105pandered to what you think is popular. You're defending your image, your position, and your politics politics at the expense of inflicting physical, spiritual, and emotional trauma on minors. You are unworthy of the trust we've placed on you, and children are not safe in your care. The entire country will once more be watching you because we refuse to stay silent while our children are told they must be. Thank you. Next, we'll call John. I apologize if I say your name wrong. Aman Shaka. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And it means I know God. That's what it means. All right. So, your district is infamous because you all are uh finding creative ways to push perversion upon children. You have several issues going on at Shepard Middle School. Number one, you have a book entitled Queer

106the LGBTQ Guide for Teens in that school district. Um the book reads, "Genital stimulation can come from any body part. You can use your hands or your hips or your feet or you can rub your private parts on someone's thighs, arm, butt, genitals, ankles, wherever. You may stroke his penis, insert fingers into his anus, or insert fingers into her vagina. If you're inserting fingers into somewhere, you may want to consider using a rubber glove to help prevent the spread of disease like syphilis, which is on the rise amongst gay men. So, here's some advice for Pride Month. Don't put your fingers in someone's butt. All right. You also have a book entitled What Girls Are Made of at Shepherd Middle School. It reads, "Eat him and drink him and do with him what I will."

107She was talking about worshiping Jesus. But come on, she was talking about sex, right? Sex with Jesus. That was what she wanted to give Jesus head. And I totally understand it. So, this book endorses giving oral sex and sucking the penis of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You should be ashamed of yourselves for allowing this kind of smut and filth to be in the school district. And we will make sure that this nation sees you willful willful cowards who support this kind of mess. And number three, the issue of the bathrooms. Look at the men who are on this board and the superintendent. How can you all claim to be men providers and protectors and priest of your homes and you allow a boy with a penis not with a vagina? Men don't have

108vaginas. Let me get that clear. Men don't have vaginas. nor do they have breasts. Now, they can have man boobs, but they don't have breast, and men don't lactate. And men should not have the right to go into the women's restroom and defraud women of their privacy. I know we have some feminists on this board, ones that don't even want to look at me. What about the feminists in here? Don't you want to protect women? A woman's right to choose, a woman's right to do this and do that, a woman's right to have her voice. What about protecting the little girls who now have to go to school and contend with someone pushing sexual harassment upon them? That's what you're doing. But when men become neutered in our culture, they lose their voice. And this

109issue should not persist with the number of men who are on this board. I said to every man that's on this board, if you're not speaking up loudly about this, you are complicit. You are a punk. You are a coward and you are the reason why this is taking place. And God forbid because the DOJ and the DOE is coming and you better be prepared. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Sir Peggy. Okay. All right. Uh next on the agenda is board superintendent other. Yep. Good. Yep. Uh I just have a couple things. So, first uh thank you Danielle for the uh math reviews as always. It's kind of crazy that it's six years, you know, 2019. I thought we I thought it was a lot sooner than that. Um thanks to the guys back

110there. This was a complicated meeting to do the the video and audio. So, appreciate your efforts and work. Laura, thank you for coming. I know on a short meeting and then um and Kelly, thank you for your service on the True North border. I know it's a difficult position to be in at the moment. So, and all the amount of time and work that you have to put into it is not going unrecognized. Um and that leads me to the question of the day, which is going to Kelly for asking. No, no, this one's going to Kelly for asking whether or not there's still math homework. Um so, good question. All right. Um, so we'll people still want homework and there anything else? All right. Can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting? So

111moved. Second. All in favor. All right. Thank you guys. Thank you everybody.