001All right, everybody. If I could please have your attention, we're going to be getting started here. This is the regular board of education meeting, September 17th, 2025, calling to order at 6:09 p.m. Could I please have a roll call? Sure. David Shepard, >> present. >> Lauren Dowin, >> present. >> Dr. Michael Thomas, >> present. >> Rachel Maroquin, present. Denise Jones, >> yes. >> Present. O'Neal. Great. >> On his way. Tardy. >> Teachers love their tardies. >> Tardy. >> Excellent. Uh, if everyone could please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> If the board could please review the agenda in front of them
002and if I could have a motion to approve the agenda. >> Motion to approve. >> Excellent. >> Second. Thank you. Could I have a roll call, please? >> Lauren Dowin, >> yay. >> Dr. Michael Thomas, >> yes. >> David Shepard, >> yes. >> Rachel Maroquin, yes. Denise Jones, >> yes. >> Michael, >> yay. >> Beautiful. Okay. So, staff reports. Dr. Woodland, please take us away. Of >> course. So, our first update from this evening is from our DA architect firm and FH Passion, which is our construction manager. So, we have been having a number of meetings to talk about our updated renderings that I'm so excited to share publicly that I know they've been working very hard at as well as to give the board of education updates regarding cost associated with their recommended projects.
003And so, I'm going to invite them up this time. >> I guess I'll throw everybody. Good evening everyone. Ed Wright with the LA. Um, as Dr. Woodland said, we've been pretty busy since you last seen us. uh passionate come on board and I'll let Josh talk a little bit about the process and what they've been doing. But part of that process is they kind of work through and and look at the project and we make refinements. So we'll be sharing some updated plans with you as well and then yes some exciting rendering. So Josh, I'll let you talk a little bit about what you guys have been up to and then we'll get into the plans. >> Oh, we we shuffled the slides a little bit. >> That's all right. Uh but yeah, I can
004just kind of set. So we came on board as a construction manager in June. Um so happy to happy to be, you know, plugged in and working on the project. Um we started really diving right in with DA um and getting into the concepts that they had put together um and had been working to address the space needs. Um, we really just started looking at, you know, from a constructibility standpoint, material selection, um, phasing, and just starting to try to put, you know, pen to paper on on quantifying the cost for these. Um, really making sure that we're as the design is progressing that we're really managing towards a budget. Um, you know, using our uh, kind of real-time market pricing from the from the other projects that we're managing as a CM and a
005GC. Um, breaking out site work, looking at the different buildings. So really trying to get a granular approach um to quantify the the scope on the drawings. Um trying to you know make sure we're accounting for any unforeseen items that may come up between now and when these jobs are actually going to be constructed. You know late 26 into 27. So trying to quantify escalation um any potential material uh impacts that we see but at the same time you know not be overly conservative really really try to have a granular targeted approach um so that you're covered. You know there's one there's one chance to to put that number out there and and you know you need to have the the confidence to stand behind that but at the same time not overshoot it um
006and so that there's credibility that with with the number that you're presenting to the uh community. So we we really took some time to do that. There was some back and forth with DA tweaking some designs, making sure all these buildings are kind of right sized um for the budget and the scope. Um so there's a few iterations of that and working with um feedback from the administration here. So um I think we've kind of come to a good good spot where the teams feel confident with uh with the budget numbers that we're going to present to you tonight. So thanks. So Heather's going to walk through the plans in a moment, but just want to stress that that that is a back and forth process. This is kind of normal. They they give us
007feedback. We go through and look for efficiencies within the plan where we can make and trim things and rightize things as Josh said without sacrificing program. That that's the the biggest message we want to convey is we've made some adjustments to find those efficiencies, but all the programmatic needs that we've discussed with the administration and with you guys previously are still contained within the project just in a more efficient manner to try and maintain as closely to the budget that we've looked at previously. So with that, Heather's going to kind of walk through the changes and kind of show you where the efficiencies are. Predominantly, they're at the middle school, so that's really what we're focused on. We can look at the elementaryaries. We have them here, too, but nothing's really changed in those buildings.
008I'll turn it over to Heather. >> All right. So, I believe all of you have have seen these plans before. Uh I'm going to give you a quick overview in case you forgot kind of what's going on. Um as Ed mentioned, we have, you know, reduced the square footage a little bit. So, I'll point out in what way we have done that. Um, but starting with the site plan here, uh, we pull parent drop off off of the main street. So, we're not queuing up parents on the street. Um, so we're approving in that way. Uh, we pull the entrance kind of off there uh, to the left. That's that'll be the main entrance to the building. Um, we've got some kind of planters there as a buffer. I know there there's a concern of
009cars driving close to where students are walking, so we're thinking about that. we know accounting for maintaining as much green space as possible. So we have that outdoor learning area and then we have some green space for um you know student physical fitness with that track area there. Um and then the middle school itself it's flipped from where it was on the site um facing uh the opposite direction kind of um opening into the site rather than facing the street. Um you see it's it's shown here as a three-story school uh with the storm shelter. It does is required to have a storm shelter component. So that's that DAT area with the horizontal lines. Um that would be a second phase. And then the area in red you see that's the outline of the ex
010existing school. So it's being built quite close to the existing school on the first floor plan. Um, so I'm going to point out, you know, this has all the elements that it that programmatically required before. So we have science classrooms, we have a competition gym, we have a stage, uh we have a kitchen, a full service kitchen that would also serve uh making all the food for the elementary school. So that's still there. That's one of the pieces that's been made more efficient. Right now the existing um kitchen is is really large and not very efficient. So we think that can be a little bit more efficient. So, we were able to cut out some square footage there. There, um had been on each floor something called a hub space. Uh we do have enough
011kind of commons area that we felt comfortable cutting that out. So, that was able to save a lot of square footage um and shrink that down. Uh we still have the cafeteria space there. We still have a learning stair component. Um admin, we still have the bed areas there green. Um and then the area in blue we're showing a little space that we were asked to include uh include for um a historical society component. So that's still shown there. Um I'm going to move to the second here. Um this is quite similar to what it was just removing the hub space um kind of shrinking everything in to make it a little bit more efficient. We have um the library there in orange looks down into the cafeteria space and we will show you images
012of this. So, we do actually have renderings of what this looks like. So, that that'll be the exciting part when you get to see how this is all coming together. Um, more classrooms on this area. We're trying to bring lot light into the building. You see that open tolow area will be, you know, bring light in. Um, from the right it'll it'll be kind of the core of the school. Um, very different feel from what it is right now. Uh, so like even you walk in the main entry, you see that area that says open below it will be a twotory lobby space. So bringing lots of light um light into the building as much as possible. Um onto the third floor. This is actually really where uh the biggest change um is so we
013originally had kind of a circulation loop. Uh we were able to pull all of that back, make everything more efficient by removing those hub spaces and and really save a lot of square footage without really sacrificing program at all. Um, it also gives us the opportunity, that area in blue is actually an opportunity for a a rooftop outdoor learning area as well. So, we have that space if that's something that you would like to do. Um, one thing I would add to that, just you can see some of those areas in tan that are in between classrooms. One of the reasons we felt comfortable eliminating the hub as a whole, which were just sort of big open gathering spaces. So there still are opportunities like that for kids to be able to pull out of
014classrooms and have common areas. It's just less of them and a little bit smaller. Those are always kind of the spaces that are the really nice to have, but those are the square foot eaters, if you will. So tightening those up, but not sacrificing them entirely. I think I hit on this off the cup. I hope I covered all of these items. It looks like I did. But this was just the approach kind of that I was summarizing um where we're at today. So we can go to the next one here. Um made it really small I guess intentionally. So um this this is kind of the breakdown of uh the budget numbers for each of the buildings. So the middle school, each of the elementary schools broken out there. Um and again this is
015the these are the budget numbers for total cost all in the construction, the site work. um you know those those contingencies that we have to to carry those dollars into uh 20 27 $28 the hard cost soft cost everything all in. So option one is basically everything um all the sites and option two is is just the uh the middle school itself broken out. So just want to present those two one thing I guess Josh and you can speak more to this to add in about the contingencies. So they are for things like unforeseen, market escalation, you have something in there to cover tariff costs potentially. Um those are all things that could be but we need to plan for those right. Uh one of the strategies when if we do move forward and go
016out to bid is to include some things which we call alternates for some of the thing you know maybe we can scale in some of those hub spaces up again if we want to as an alternate and if we don't meet all those contingencies then we're able to do them but it allows us that flexibility and we're making sure that we're being conserv as you know as the process moves forward right it just continues to be iterative as the design gets more detailed we continue to update this budget, we continue to make it more more granular. Um, and and yeah, for for those that aren't familiar, bid alternates are essentially options. So, when this gets put out, it gets, you know, slice and diced into a lot of different packages that get put out to
017bid separately. Um, so that you're getting, you know, dozens of contractors that are bidding these individual projects. all of those packages can have different options to say, hey, if we upgraded finishes, if we added square footage to this room, um then you see that real pricing, then then it's not a budget number. Now you're getting competitive market pricing for each of those numbers. If certain if certain packages are coming in under budget, there's room to then reallocate that money and apply it to some of the some of the wants if if all the needs are kind of coming in under the budget. So there there's still a lot of flexibility, a lot of iterations that we can go through um as the process continues. All right, the fun part. Um, so as a caveat before
018we walk through these, these are very conceptual. So the building isn't really designed yet. This is just to give you an idea of the scale of it. Um, what it looks like on the street, some possible materials that we might use, um, just kind of the feel of it and what the spaces feel like. So it's not it's by no means final. It could be if you said make this the building >> um some elements could be final. Uh so what you're looking at now is the main entry. So that's that you know that you drop off would happen to the right there. You know students would have a nice safe way of walking right up to the building. Um and in the building kind of I like to think of it as sort of
019like welcoming you in. And so you'll see in the next rendering the outdoor learning space is the next one. Um so this is that that what we're calling the outdoor learning space. It's kind of like a a plaza or a commons area that's like a kind of a protected area if you think about right now you kind of see the street. Um, but this, you know, provides that that space that's very like student scale, safe for students to be, safe for them to hang out before and after school or for learning to happen. Um, so the the windows that you see there are looking into the cafeteria. So, the cafeteria looks right out onto the space. There's an opportunity for outdoor dining if that would be desired. And then um the big brick box there
020is a storm shelter which won't unfortunately be able to have a lot of windows but um you know we can do a little bit of windows in there just a view looking back up the street along with uh some kind of 3D views of the floor plan just to give you an idea of you know the flow how things are coming together um how the spaces are relating to each other um with that kind of twotory uh cafeteria space in the heart and how that's connecting up to the library through that learning stair. So that's kind of flowing into one uh large space as we have it right now. And moving on, we have some interior views as well. Uh just just a view in the cafeteria. Looking off to the left there is the
021serving. Um and then you know seeing that connection with the the learning stair can be used for presentations. that could use for students to um hang out on. It has a lot of different possibilities, but it's also that one of the stairs that gets you upstairs. So, it's it's doing that as well. And then that the light that that you don't have right now. So, it's a 180 from what you have currently. This is the gymnatorium. So you don't currently have a stage I believe anywhere. Uh so this is an opportunity for you to have that within this gym space. So it's a dual use space. Um you can do performances there as well as you know the athletics that would happen. The glass that you see behind that would be that the student fitness
022area looks down into the gym space. And then this is just the library looking down the stair would take you through questions about anything you want to see. >> You say get pink. >> What did they say? The cafeteria has been upgraded. >> It's been Looks like >> It looks like a place where food could be, >> right? >> This is really great. Uh blueprints are informative, but there's no like sense of space or feel to it. And obviously, you know, this is subject to change like you said, but this really starts to make it feel like it's something we're working toward instead of just images on a paper. So, really appreciate the renderings. Right. >> Yes. >> I might have cried when I originally just slightly because I think mainly we keep talking about
023the fact that our kids deserve this opportunity. And so that is just what I'm going to keep saying is our kids deserve it and so we're going to do the hard work to get us there and um communicating that out to our community and continue to work with all you wonderful people. So thank you. I know it was a lot of time a lot a lot of time. When you mentioned the square footage was reduced, you're not talking about the square footage of the building itself. It was just those little hub pieces. >> The square footage was reduced. Um, and it was mainly because we needed to do an additional assessment and we wanted to make sure that we were correlating cost to what we originally shared with our community task force. Um, so obviously
024there's additional contributing factors that we have to take into consideration. Um, and when you're you're really making projections that are so far out, what we don't want to do to the public and to our community is give them a dollar amount that we know is not going to cover the cost of a building. Um, but I am am super confident working with DA and FH Passion that we haven't cut any programming and that we're still giving our students everything that they need to be successful. Um, and ironically, the square footage is 124,000 square feet, which Eric pointed out to me today and I said that might be irony or luck. >> Done it on purpose. >> Okay, thanks. I mean, he might have done that on purpose. >> It It was 124,000 before it was
025reduced. >> That's wondering in case anyone should have been honest. >> We're only in in those hub spaces, not in classrooms. >> Not in classrooms. Yeah. >> Not in the classrooms. Just those hub spaces that we're talking about. But are we still talk about the size of the building being reduced >> which you it it reduced by nature reducing those hubs but what you're seeing here is what it where we're at. >> Okay. >> Currently when you say reducing the hubs are you reducing the amount of hubs or the size of hubs? >> A little both. >> Little bit of both. Yes, >> we got to dance with that a little bit because I remember doing uh the student and the teachers and and all those meetings we had and you know that was one
026of the things that we were getting away from the institutionalized kind of like field we have now versus to that area out uh separate little area where they can go study be independent and things of that nature. So just don't want to lose too much of the hub space. >> And that's the hubs I think previously were sized around the size of a classroom or larger quite large. >> Okay. >> And that they're small. What's there now is for smaller group. >> Oh yeah. >> We still have the same number of classrooms and the same number of science labs that administration originally recommended as well which I think is the most critical aspect. um the size of the gym is still at the same capacity if I recall. Um we do have a lot of
027additional space and food service and it's again just due to efficiency that I think with updated um technology and flow can just really be structured more appropriately as well. Um, but again, I think our high priority is also sticking to the messaging that we've shared with our community, which I think is really accept essential to the success of, you know, putting something potentially on the ballot in March. >> We have the elementarymentaries. Nothing's changed here. I don't know. You guys look like you have a long agenda, so we don't need to run through them unless you want us to. >> I mean, if you've got the the slides for it. I think it's informative to everybody. It helps keep enthusiasm high. >> Sure. >> Um, starting at Northeast here, this is the one that is
028getting early childhood edition. So, the kindergarten is moving into this edition piece in yellow and then additional pre-k rooms. Um, all of them are getting um additional playgrounds as well. So, you'll see that. I know that's a big piece of what you're missing now. And then uh steam labs are being added to. And then the other areas in blue are additional spaces that you know because the kindergarten is moving some additional spaces that are moving around to make things more efficient. just a perspective of these aren't as exciting as the other ones, but just to give you a feel for uh what you know that looks like with the existing building white. Um at Southeast um the same thing every single one of these also I should mention is getting a music and art room.
029Um so something that's in the mobiles now. All of these are replacing the functions that are in the mobile. So there's a lot of additional student support services that are now getting their own space that will be in these additions. So um that's you know all the different spaces some spat spaces and uh small group rooms and staff support spaces are are what make this up. This one uh northwest did not really have room for an addition. So some of the spaces, the pre-k spaces are getting pulled out of here and they're going to northeast. So it does open up some opportunity for renovation of spaces and to make up, you know, that band music space and some of the other spaces. And then southwest on this plan that it is missing the the kind
030or the play area, but it exists in the 3D. So we this one will have a play area and then you know the our music spaces and additional support spaces as well. >> Um so in terms of process just as a reminder to the board and the community we do have ourformational sessions that will occur this fall and we'll continue to promote them. So those will be conducted in both October and November. So plenty of opportunities for community members, parents, um even students to come and share and ask questions. And then from here, the board will then ultimately make a decision come December on whether or not you determine if you're going to put something on the ballot of March of 2026. Are there any questions for me? >> When's the date of our firstformational
031session? >> I knew you were going to ask me that. Uh October 8th. Yes. >> Yes. And we will continue to send reminders to the community as well. >> That one's at central, correct? >> Yes. The first one is at central >> exciting, right? >> Absolutely. >> Well overdue. >> All right, that's all we have. >> Thank you everyone. Thank you so much. >> See you all around. >> Hey All right. Next up on the agenda, we have National Custodial Workers Day. Hi, Jim. How are you? We want to appreciate you and all of your staff members. And I have something typed, so I'd like to just refer to it and read it. Did And we of course have cupcakes and handouts. So we have the privilege of celebrating an incredible group of people. Our
032custodial team custodian appreciation week gives us a special moment to pause, reflect, and thank the individuals who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make our schools safe, clean, and welcoming places for learning. Every day, our custodial team shows remarkable dedication. They respond to emergencies with calm professionalism. They take pride in keeping our schools looking their very best. And most importantly, they do it all with care and compassion, offering greeting students by name, offering a friendly smile, or lending a helping hand when no one else is around. So today and every day, we want to say thank you. Thank you for your hard work, your reliability, and your pride to making our schools shine. and thank you for reminding us that every role in education matters deeply. So, thank you so much to all of our
033custodians. And of course, we want to thank Jim who is our fearless leader who leaves them all out with fidelity and gratitude and appreciation. So, thank you so much. We do have um certificates for all of our custodians. Um and I I don't think we have any here tonight, which is okay. I totally understand. Um, but we'd like to give you yours, Jim. [Applause] >> I can take all of them. >> You can take all of them. That would be great. >> And do we we buy them lunch? Correct. We buy your staff lunch. >> Okay, great. I just want to make sure. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you for all you do. >> Thank you. [Applause] Okay, next our is update is for on our elementary clubs and that's coming from Miss
034Britney Vienna and Laura Selvin. >> Thanks ladies. Our two new APs jumping right into clubs, right? Yes. >> All right, I'm up first. Um, hi. My name is Laura Sullivan and I'm the vice principal for both Southeast and Southwest elementary schools. Um, before I share information about our clubs this year, I would like to take a minute to thank Haley Verir and Scott Lisa for their incredible support um, as I transitioned into this position. Um, I'm grateful for their willingness to include me in the decision-making process and for being open to my ideas. Working alongside them has been an incredible learning experience. Um we currently at South um east uh and it is a quick turnaround when you are um when you're sending out those hey teachers who want to do this and then you
035got to put it all together and you got to send it out to parents then you're sending it back it's just bananas. So so many so many pieces of paper have gone into this. Um we are excited we have six um teacher sponsored clubs at Southeast and one outside sponsor Worry Taekwondo. Um 140 students will be participating in clubs at Southeast this year or this fall. um four teacher sponsored clubs at Southwest and Rory Taekwondo will also be an outside sponsor for us and we have 127 students participating. Um the reason Southeast has the privilege of having six clubs is because um Mrs. Everheart offers chorus and music at Southeast the first half of year and then she will do the same we she will provide those same exciting opportunities the second half of the
036year. So at Southeast we have taekwond do for kindergarten through 5ifth. Lego club 1 through 2nd. History club second through fourth. Drawing club third through fifth graders. Um board game club 1st through fifth. Music club 1st through 2nd and chorus 3rd through fifth. And then at Southwest uh taekwondo is um K to five. Our newspaper club is second through fifth grade. and they will be publishing some newspapers um which they then go around and sell to teachers like me and they say hey do you have um a dollar um art club third through 5ifth and your murals fourth through fifth grade students will participate in kindness club K through three. Um I would like to point out that both the board game club at Southeast and the newspaper club at Southwest were over capacity and
037club sponsors Amanda Eart and Joanne Riley found other staff members to help so no child would be turned away. That's awesome. Um the most popular clubs at Southeast, it was it was a close uh pairing, Lego and board game clubs. We've got 36 in one club and 34 in the other, which I love. Um these are hands-on club uh that they allow for critical thinking and to me they are just oldfashioned fun. Um Southwest Kindness Club was a big winner with 37 students. Um who doesn't want the world to be a kinder place? And for the price of $10, students receive 12 sessions to learn something new, work as a team, and use their imagination and have fun. Um, our clubs start next week and I know all the kids are looking forward to them.
038>> Thank you very much. >> Can the board get a copy of that student newspaper? >> Um, it's going to be really good to read. >> Oh, abs. As soon as it's ready, it's probably going to be about 10 weeks. >> I'm confident. >> It's going to be a little outdated. So, we're gonna, you know, >> Absolutely. >> We have our We'll have our dollars waiting. >> Yeah. I love it. >> I can get some kids here. >> Hello, I'm Britney Vienna. I'm the assistant principal at Northeast and Northwest. Um, I'm also new into this role just like Miss Sullivan and definitely have to thank Matt and Carrie for all their patience as we're getting clubs up and running. Um, it's definitely a team effort between teachers, families, kids. Start of the year. teachers are
039also just getting into their curriculum into uh routines and here they're putting together clubs for our community which is amazing. So at Northeast we have friendship friendship bracelet club which provides the opportunity for students to interact with each other um and to make bracelets for loved ones and friends and even for the school very into it. That also hit a capacity of 40 students that we have. Um there is a wait list for that. Um so it's very popular. Board game club uh for third through fifth grade and running club second through 5th which was also a very high demanding club as well which is also another weight list for that. And again it's based on teachers um putting together uh these clubs as well. We have choir um by Andy Garcia who is our
040new music teacher and he is wonderful. Um I've seen him at Northeast with students and he's up and running with choir. This new for him as well. So it's great to communicate with him. Um Taekwond do as well student council kindness club. We also have in fly which stands for first love you. It's an afterchool social and emotional club that meets and discusses um self- advocacy and self-image, self-confidence and self-worth. So far, we currently have about 132 students signed up. Um, tomorrow is when clubs are closed, but they're currently all filled. >> Wow. >> So, it is very kids are excited. Um, wish we could, you know, have more for them, but it's definitely great to see that we have these many options and a little bit of both for all grade levels, too. At
041Northwest, we have digital newspaper club, which um for fourth and fifth grade, they'll be using some more. So, just like how we've been putting out information. Um hopefully maybe that'll be less than 10 weeks. I don't know. We'll see. Um we have ramped up reading club for our first grade that is going to be specifically for first grade content and doing crafts with that. and um our um she's a brand new teacher to our district and she is fully going with it. So, we've never had that before. So, it's great to see her enthusiasm um for this club. We have art club which also has maxed out um so which is wonderful. We have student council I lead drama club. In the past, our drama club has had about 45 students between grades four through
042five. So talking about stage and just thinking about central and how we our production some of the photos are below. Um Dr. Banick does a great job with lighting. He's in charge of that. Uh but the kids and what's amazing about that too is the parents build and help build the set. So it's a huge community involvement and they're fifth graders, fourth graders. So when they're going to Central, having somewhere to perform still would be an amazing um opportunity for them. And then we also have taekwond do as well um for K through five and that holds we have about currently 130 students still have room to take um Northwest students till tomorrow is when our deadline cuto off is and we also will be up and running on Monday with our clubs and we
043have a lot of students excited uh to get going and having some fun after school. So that's an update on elementary clubs. >> Awesome. >> Any questions? Oh, this is great. >> What's I lead? >> I lead. Yeah, >> I lead. It helps uh with student council of student voice, student leadership. So, they help make decisions um along student council side by side. Um that's also they're part of the third, fifth grade, fifth graders as well. And um they're representatives for their classes. >> Drama club, will that be ahead? No, >> the drama club, would that be >> performing arts on the stage and also like maybe behind the scenes? >> Oh, yes. No, they we have they have crew that works moving. I mean, the kids do it completely all. Um, it is shout
044out to um Oh my goodness, Siobhan Siobhan Brewer. So, fifth grade teacher. She is incredible. Uh, Louise Baldwin had helped her in the past who retired and um They do an amazing job. >> An amazing job. And it's fully like it is round the clock work. And these kids are committed and so are the families. But like between rehearsals, costumes, we had um a community member for Finding Nemo actually make like the costumes. So, it's all hands- on deck with that, which is really neat. >> I only ask because not trying to be funny, but grade school uh seventh grade I performed in the play and I was like Santa Claus and I was on vacation. I refuse to deliver toys. I remember to to this day everything. So just just how impression that that
045is. That's really cool. >> So true. >> Yes. No, it's great. >> I hope we'll be kept a breast of when the the show is because >> Oh, yes. >> Seems like something we need to go see. >> Yeah, definitely. >> Day and >> might need another dollar. >> Yep. Uh we have a day performance, an evening performance. Um so yeah. No, it's great. and they do a different um uh Siobhan uh Brewer picks like her what she's gonna do for the year like months like she had actually I don't even know what the the one is coming up but she she's already in the plans of it before Nemo was done so she's amazing. >> Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Right. Next up, we have our Central Middle School
046deans that are presenting out on clubs and activities. >> Thank you. All right. Good evening. I am Danielle Weston, the new dean for A through L, and I will be going over our clubs and activities. We started off the school year really strong when we had our first ever activity fair. Um it was during our PE classes. The fair showcased our clubs, activities and sports and it's it followed a entry survey that they completed during advisory. So did a selection to see what they were interested in and then they took that with them and they did a bingo where they had a challenge just to see and explore different clubs, different sports, kind of just see where they fit in. Um, sixth grade had fun doing it the most because they were excited just to
047see all the different activities that was at CMS. Our seventh and eighth graders, we kind of had to force them to go to new things, but it kind of worked. We were like, "Don't just go to this sport." Um, crochet was there, so they were able to get like over 50 signups for that activity. That was like the most Yeah. It was just just going to see Yeah. Crochet had a great turnout. So it was high student engagement and they were excited the whole period that they were able just to kind of just learn and it's like the first week of school so it was kind of a introduction. Um we have four spans of how we do clubs and activities. So it's leadership and service, creative arts, academic enrichment and culture wellness. Some of
048these clubs have already started. So, student leadership has started, newspaper started, choir band, jazz band, crochet like I said, as well as chess club and our harvest as well. We're looking to start back our fitness club because the sponsor retired last year. So, we're looking into that because some of the students are they want to get their wellness together as well as we're introducing a new one for the service clubs just to go over climate and culture, safety, and security at school and have the kids participate in the community as well as in the school. >> And then looking forward to next year, we have some goals that we just want to implement. Um, increase student engagements that all students are involved in at least one activity. This will help connect and grow outside of
049just in the classroom. Create a consistent sign system for signup sheets and participation tracking. So help with rosters. It might be digital on Google forms. So we're just looking to see how we can make that an easy process for all. Organize service projects to build community and leadership skills. So this will provide hands-on experience and responsibility and teamwork. plan and implement a college and career spirit wear spirit week to promote um student readiness and this will help get them ready for college career fair as well as host a career fair to connect students with future opportunities and host the end of the year recognition event to celebrate achievements across all activities. The goals will help to make a commitment to increasing particip participation, consistency, activities, and just lifelong goals. >> Toss it to me for
050sports. So, I'm John Jensen. I'm the other dean at Central in charge of sports. Uh, just a quick review of what we do. Uh, we have fall, which is what we're currently in. You can see the pictures in there. We have boys and girls softball. Those are both separately played. And then we have cross country, which is a co-ed team. So, they both are part of that. We go into early winter, uh, which is girls basketball and boys volleyball. I do want to highlight the girls basketball team just last year again because they were able to win the conference and the tournament for the first time in school history >> ever. So, that was an awesome achievement by them. They did a really good job. [Applause] And then you own winner, which then just basically
051reverses. Now you have boys basketball and girls volleyball. Those are actually a little bit longers of seasons too because they play everyone in conference and then in their half of the conference they play everyone again. So they'll play them two times. >> Um to highlight again six and seven great boys last year they did win uh the tournament in the conference as well. So they both executed very well. [Applause] >> And then the spring we finished with boys and girls soccer and then track and field which is co-ed as well. Uh just I had goals up here last year, so kind of updated on the goals, so we kind of know where we're at. Uh esports did complete a successful season last year. We were able to purchase all the equipment that was needed. We
052set them up in the library. They had a spot. They had a really good turnout for uh athletes to come out and participate in that. I believe we actually did have one uh tournament winner. I think we won uh Super Smash Bros. So >> uh fundraising, we've been able to increase fundraising for each sport. Um I have a person that I've worked with like historically. So he's came in and helped us. We were able to last year actually uh between the boys and girls team raised just over 5,000ish dollars between the two and they reinvested that right away into a shooting machine um that they're going to use in practice and actually they opened up a shooting club. So then the athletes if they're on the sport or not on the sport, Coach Hannenburg runs
053it. He is able to to work with them throughout the year too with that shooting machine. It's pretty cool. >> You usually only see that in high school. So, it's really cool to see it at a bounce school level. Uh, looking at our operations, just we were able to create last year different forms of documentation um to make sure that we're able to track who is purchasing what, when, and where. Um, I worked with Eric uh last year and part of this year to create an athletic budget so we know how much is being allocated into each sport and what we can spend. Uh, we also created a uniform rotation. Uh so now that the teams when I talked with some of the teams when you you would ask about the uniforms they couldn't even
054tell me when the last time they purchased a new one was um so last year we had cross country track purchase them. Um boys and girls softball this season both also started with them. Um soccer and esports are currently in finalizing them. So even esports is going to get a cool esports jersey they're going to use when they go compete. Um and then we're putting them on a four-year cycle. So now we're able to kind of circle through that. The idea behind that is once we have these jerseys in four years, those will be handed down to the sixth, seventh graders and then the eighth graders now can have a nicer even jersey and they just kind of rotate through every four years into the nicer uniforms. Um, participation. So last year my goal is
055to get more boys in boys softball. Uh, which we were able to do it, but they were able to field the team this year and not have to forfeoot any games because of uh participation. Coach Hannenburg did not have to catch any of the games. So that's good. but still a priority. Uh definitely something that him and I are working on for next year uh to get more participation in that. Uh coaching development, we launched a coach's playbook this year. So uh something that each coach can have that will uh go in detail what the expectations are for pre-season, during season, postseason kind of problem solve some situations that might come up. So if we have a newer coach or even a veteran coach that just needs some reminders that it's there for them to
056fall back on. Um, and also we're providing professional development opportunities for the coaches uh throughout the year. If if they find anything, if I find anything, uh, we'll have them go. And then just for recognition to kind of build more buyin capacity from the coaches, we added a coach of the year award, which congratulations to to Tim Hannenburg. You know, that last year he won it. Um, but he was able he was the coach of that girls team that won. He was coach of the boys team that won. They fundraised the money. Um, and he he also coaches softball on top of it. So, he did an awesome job. If we had to look at coach buyin, definitely he's one of the the main guys that participating in that. And then the goals for this
057year, so strengthening consistency across all athletic programs to make sure participation buying is easier for students and families. Uh establish a centralized landing page where athletes can access and submit the required forms. So just an easier way for that to get done because right now they do it on paper, they take it home. I know at the high school they use like SNAP and all these different things where you can easily just click quick click click and everything's documented track you forms are paid and it's done easier. So looking at something like that um just increase the family communication by giving just timely updates about upcoming sporting events opportunities for kids to try out just making sure that communication is there more. Um continuing the fund raise and make sure athletes just have the best
058experience possible while they're here. We're going to host and this is working with uh Dean Weston here that we're going to do an end of the year celebration to honor all athletes and not just the eighth graders because they do get the highlights a lot. If they win or lose at the end of the year they get the recognition but sixth and seventh graders don't. So making sure that that is done. Um I would like to get at least one home game where we have a photographer go out and take pictures of them. So the students do have the ability to look back at their time and say, "Hey, this is what we did." And it kind of helps us out too with posting pictures on social media and different things like that. Um, so
059we get more more action of them actually in the game and not just someone's iPhone or Android out there taking the picture. And then just uh a big thing is to be based on community feedback and consultation with the business office. We're able to provide busing for athletics starting in the winter season now. So after this fall season, all sports will have buses. [Applause] >> Any questions for you? >> CPR. Yes. So to get everyone on cycle this year, um even if they did CPR last year, they're going through training this year, all the coaches, just to make sure that everyone is on cycle, we have it tracked. And then going forward, we know who needs it. And even if someone new would come in, unless they had CPR done that like that year, they're
060still going to have to redo it when they first come in. So we know exactly when it's been done. >> What about the students? Are the students being trained how to do CPR? Any other? >> Uh no. So typically you just have coaches would do it. I mean that that is something maybe if that's a topic that we could look into. I know they do classes and there's online forms but uh right now it's just the coaches that do get the training and then admin and everyone else is there. So teachers and everything that are involved would be CPR training that would be involved with athletics. >> Do you want it to be a club? Is that what you're >> Yeah, a club. >> That could be interesting. >> Sure. >> Put them elementary and
061um uh middle school. >> I don't know how young you have to be, but I don't think it I don't think it'll hurt to practice >> speaking from 35 years. It doesn't make >> no time. >> Yeah. My daughter um she I think she was like six. She could recite the whole thing back and forth. >> All right. All right. I got I got you. >> Daddy's not working right now. >> So yeah, >> I think maybe a club member can go to some of the sporting events and just be on scene just in case, you know, that you know shows leadership responsibility, you know. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's been numerous events where six, seven, eight year olds have taken charge of situations where uh emergency events have had women amazingly you know you'll
062be amazed in so many cases and stepped up and you know sustained the person to advanced life support right >> that would definitely be a good idea I think for sure and then one thing I didn't add to this and just hit me uh is that I am working with uh my Tulio uh in charge of band and we're going to look into getting some like pep band going on during uh basketball games, volleyball games, but not not too crazy, but just something to get uh the kids that that do play instruments a little more into everything and not just have their concert but actually participate >> that idea. That's great. >> Should be fun. We're working on that right now. >> Football games. >> Yeah, it's kind of that that concept. just give them
063a spot in the stands when they're playing and have a couple songs geared up and ready to go that they can bust out at times or things like that. >> It's like so cool like like college basketball. >> Yeah, definitely that idea we're going >> graduation when we had the live singing. Remember they were singing live and I'm like where's the music? I'm singing live. >> It was kind of cool. >> Great. >> Awesome. >> Thank you for all of your work on this. [Applause] Next up, we have an update from Amanda regarding our cultural celebrations for the 2526 school year. >> Hi everyone. >> Um so just for transparency on the districtwide events that are happening this school year, we wanted to share out the dates and the times. Um, so our first one
064is going to be Hispanic Heritage Month, which is happening in two weeks, two weeks in a day. Uh, on October 2nd at 6 PM. This is the flyer that's been put out in the district newsletter. Uh, staff, families have been getting text messages um, reminding them of the event, but it's really important for us to celebrate and represent our students and our families in these events. So, that's our first one. Our next one is going to be culture night and that's going to be Thursday, December 2nd at 6 PM at Central. Uh then Black History Month is Thursday, February 19th at 6 p.m. exactly four months before Junth. And then Special Olympics is going to be Tuesday, May 26th at 10:00 a.m. at the EP Sports Complex. So these um celebrations are going to be
065happening at a quarterly level. In regards to monthly level, um, DELT, the district equity leadership team has created monthly grade level cultural celebrations so that there's consistency across the district. So, for example, like kindergarten is all going to have like a minimum expectation of doing this to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. First grade is going to do this, second grade is going to do this, third grade, and so on. Um and they're going to re rotate with through different buckets to celebrate that you know culture whatever that celebration is for that uh for that month. So the buckets are going to be music, art, language, meditation, dance and sports. And for example like Hispanic Heritage Month, the grade levels will rotate through learning about um those through that cultural lens. That's awesome. >> All right. Nice.
066>> Good evening. So, I'm sharing on a couple of things tonight. Um the first being our opening day institutes. Um so, we had three days once again this year, which is um really kind of proved to be kind of a sweet start sweet spot for us. We have the day where they um where teachers and staff really have time within their buildings to focus on building level things. We have the second day which generally is like our training day districtwide and then the third day where we have come together and kind of kick off the year. So um for our day one we had a soft start in the buildings. So usually our buildings kind of have breakfast together do something like that. They have their staff meetings, do some team building things, and then
067um teachers in the afternoon have time to prepare in their classrooms. So um that always proves to be a nice first day. Uh day two this year we got together um we had a lot of work that we we accomplished on that day. We did curriculum work. Um actually that should be K5. So K5 um all worked on curriculum. Remember we had some some grading things that we began to implement um last year. So, our teachers came together and really kind of fleshed out some of our curriculum maps and started some of that work for the year. Um, identifying what are some of these common formative assessments that we're going to be using. We we really have done the work on the common summitive assessments. Um, but really began to to flush out some of
068that. And then they also had um equip training which is a tier 2 math program that um runs along the side of our um our Eureka sorry Eureka math squared. Um and it is kind of a preassessment that our students do before the um before the modules. They then kind of um gives you an idea of what skills or what gaps are identified for each of those students and then what lesson that's going to come in. So it helps them to teacher the teachers to say your these students need this skill before we get to lesson six to really try to prefill those gaps so that they um are not lacking after. So they also received that training on that day. Um 6 to 8 did a lot of the similar work when it comes
069to um grading. They also worked on identifying what are they doing for um across the world uh board for their reassessments and what will those reassessments look like in the math department and what will the reassessments look like in um English and so on. Um so they did a lot of that work on that day and then we also had special education articulation meetings um at CMS specifically on that day too. And then day three we got together I don't Dan does that link work I wanted to share with you. So we had Chris Singleton um came to us on this day. He did an excellent keynote. Um I wanted to share with you a little bit of what his story was. If that link will work the >> which one is the >> it's
070on I'm sorry it's linked in the August Institute where it's underlined at the top. So this was his story. >> June 18th, 2015, Charleston, South Carolina. Chris Singleton, an outfielder for Charleston Southern University, steps onto this baseball field like he has so many times before. But tonight is different. >> First of all, I just want to say thanks to everybody that that looked out for me, that tried to contact me. Honestly, my baseball family has been amazing. They've reached out to me. Almost every single player that I've ever played with have reached out to me, and that's been really big for to help me get through this. >> Just 24 hours earlier in this church in downtown Charleston, nine people were shot and killed. victims of a hate crime. >> Street at least four medic.
071>> The city of Charleston and a nation were listening and Chris had a message. >> I just say love is always stronger than hate. So if we just love the way my mom would, the hate won't be anywhere close to what love is. That was Chris Singleton's message and the holy city responded. >> I feel inspired. This showing here should be contagious and infectious across the nation. We're not going to tolerate this kind of violence anymore. >> It was amazing. There's so many people coming together, black, white, Mexican, Asian. If he was trying to start a racial war, he didn't accomplish that at all. He just brought us together even more than we were before. Stand. So that was his um story that we shared with the staff on that day. And one of his
072slides that really struck me, life is um 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it. And he took this horrible tragedy and he did what he felt his mom would have wanted him to do and that is to teach love. Um and he said repeatedly that he felt like if the person who had done this uh horrible act if someone had loved him, if a teacher had had come in and really taught him that that message, then he may have saved his mom. So his goal is to share that message with as many people as he possibly can um to try to do what he can to prevent um further tragedies. And we felt so strongly from the staff and the feedback that we got from the staff was
073this was when we brought some pretty heavy hitters. I would say and for our keynotes and this by far I think was was one of the most wellreceived. Um he has a number of books he had those books up front and so we had to like pause for quite some time because so many people were wanting to come up and meet to meet him and speak to him and and to get his book. So um his message was just really powerful and I would say emotional for everyone. So he helped us to kick off then day three. So, um, the next update that I have for you, um, is our update on our grow your own program. We call it hashtag, uh, be or I'm sorry, hashtag, where's my brain tonight? Grow in evergreen. Um,
074so this is the program that we started last year. We're really looking um to recruit and train teachers from within our community and within our school district. Um we have three different um paths that we are looking um to fill here and our program goals are to create and maintain a pipeline of highly qualified teachers to fill difficult positions. Um we want to support our current par professionals and really we need to call that our non-certified staff because we have more than paras that are participating in this which is great. um we want to help them to pursue careers in education and pursue teaching. And then we want to diversify our teaching staff um to help to close that teacher student diversity gap. And then we want to strengthen district connections with area universities and
075help to really um have a solid path for pre-ervice teachers who are not yet um connected with school because if we can connect with them first then the chances of them then staying with us really improve. Um, so we have had access to the teacher vacancy grant and knock on wood, we have it this year, too. Um, but Eric has assured us that we've really kind of designed this program in a way that we'll be able to continue it even if those funds go away. So that's excellent. Um, so I'll just update you on the three that we have. So teachers that are seeking additional endorsements. So we bring in two of those a year. So, currently in the program, we have two teachers that are getting their ESL or English as a second language
076endorsement, which is wonderful and helps us to support those students. We have one teacher who is um finishing up his middle school science, and then we also have a special education teacher that is getting their endorsement in special ed. So, that's exciting. And then non-certified staff members. So, these are staff members that are not teachers yet, but have decided that they want to be. Um, we have two that are currently paraprofessionals that are going back and getting their degree. One that is a media aid and then also a building secretary. So, that is very cool. They're all in the program as well. And then our pre-ervice program um we have these are teachers that we connect with up to a year ahead of time. Some depending on when they're student teaching it might be a
077semester. We connect them with a mentor within the district and they that person is just there to help to support them as they finish up their program. If they have any additional observation hours that they need to do, we bring them in. We invite them to all of our um all of our professional development opportunities. So, they just kind of become a part of us. If everything goes well during the that semester or during the the full year, we then will offer them that $10,000 stipen for student teaching with us and in return for that then they agree to teach for us. So for a minimum of three years. So that is the goal. So currently in the program we have a prek bilingual teacher which is super exciting. >> Um she's >> unheard of.
078>> Was that unheard of? >> Yes. Yes. Um we sweeped her up. She's kind of doing a special program through her um through her university where she's working for us as a parah. Then she'll take a break um and and student teach with us and then she'll complete the year as a parah and then hopefully work as a prek bilingual teacher for us. We have a social worker. So she's currently doing a social work internship. we have an elementary education teacher and then last semester um and so teaching for us this year we have a CMS English teacher and she's doing a great job. So really excited this is working so >> yeah any questions? All right. Thanks, Statement of expenditures last month. Nothing really crazy happened with expenditures. Pretty on path with how we
079were as of August of 2024. Revenue wise is a little different. Um revenue this year we have only received $1.1 million. Uh tax payments are delayed. It just really tells you how powerful the state is and how important that tax revenue is for the district. So far, our revenues that so far revenues that we received were CPPRT, evidence-based funding, just like our portion, and then also random grant revenues. And then you will notice that last year we did receive a majority of our tax revenues by this time. And there's a large difference in the revenues received at this time, but we are expecting to receive all the revenues still. As a result, the fund balance has dropped. One specific item that you may notice that's dropped is the capital projects. The capital projects is negative
080as a fund right now, but also you might notice the working cash fund balance is up there as well. So, one item that I'm going to do this year is I'm going to transfer over working cash uh from the bond over to capital projects. Now, presentation of the budget. Most of this stuff is very similar to last month's presentation. There's just a few changes. Some major factors affecting fiscal year 2026 budget. The real estate tax revenues will decrease roughly $2.6 million due to timing of payments, plus our property tax relief grant grant abatement. A projected decrease of $1.3 million in grant revenues is expected resulting from the expiration of one-time grants and the elimination of several federal grants. Um transportation is to increase by $250,000 as a result of increased transportation costs. Expense-wise, salaries increased
081by roughly 5% on average. Insurance increased by roughly 10% on average, and construction payments from summer 2025 will dip into this school year's budget. this. The only difference from last year uh month to this month, there was some minor adjustments to the revenue side. I believe it's $4,000 less than it was last month. You will notice that we are budgeting a total revenue of $36 million, $239,000. Budgeted expenditures, there's a couple adjustments as well on this end. Nothing crazy. Um, the budget is projected to go up $721,000 expenditure-wise to $38.6 billion. The education fund balance uh started off very healthy at the beginning of the fiscal year. It is projected to have a $497,000 deficit this year. The operations and maintenance fund balance is also at a very healthy amount at the moment. And the
082revenues are supposed to be about $500,000 less. Oh, sorry, $176,000 less than expenses. And then here's a breakdown of the budget by fund. And you may notice that we still are projecting to see a surplus for the non capital of $112,000. And then this is the historical and budgeted fund balances for all funds. Uh this is what the fund balances are at the beginning of each fiscal year. And the red line is the sixth month reserve goal. Does anyone have any questions? All right. So, because we are voting on our budget for the year, we are going to be holding a public hearing that's going to start now. >> Do I gamble that in? >> Sure. >> I want to. >> All right. >> He just wants to use the >> I get to use
083it once per month. >> All right. So, now is the time if anybody has any thoughts on the budget for this coming year. I'm not seeing anybody with thoughts worth sharing. And so at this time we'll be closing the floor >> double g 300% increase on my gable use. >> That's okay. Great hearing everybody. Next public comments. Do I have any public comments? I have no public comments. Per board of education policy 2230. A few reminders specifically about the logistics for the public comment portion of every meeting, including this evening. As is posted on our agenda publicly for every meeting, to respect all of our stakeholders, our commenters, our board, our public, we adhere very closely to the three-minute limit for comments for everyone. We set a timer and we expect everyone to respect their
084three minutes. In addition, we do not respond to public comments at board meetings, but we hear them. We respect, listen, and take into account all community member concerns. If there's a specific question that comes up that either we or a relevant staff member can answer, we will endeavor to do so in a timely manner. Moving on, board reports. Mr. Sheepard, if you could please share out on your Arrow governing board meeting, please. >> Sure. I attended the meeting just or so ago. Nice meeting. It was uh nice attendance. Um it opened up. went over the agenda as usual. Um, there was an award that was given. It is the Heather Binden Aviator Award of Excellence which was given to Melissa Far very. She received 19 out of 19 votes for it. Um, she's believe been
085with Arrol for six years I think in the system like 11. I kid you not, she didn't look her age. We were all shocked, you know, but uh she was really thankful and it was it was really nice. So, um they'll continue that on yearly. Uh then there was a um naming of the gymnasium. It went to the Weirden Brothers. Weird. Quite sure I got that right. It's Michael and Daniel. Uh they did a lot a lot. I'm not going to bore you all with everything they did. They did a lot. uh they all were they also were instrumental in getting uh up to like $25 million for the arrow you know construction and all the stuff. So uh they named it after the two brothers. Their father was there which was kind of cool
086you know everybody was in tears but um it's going to be known as the weird and gym. Uh they brought us up to breast that they're going to replace three of a vehicles as usual. That is something that's normally budgeted in. So, it's nothing, you know. Um, they did mention that during, uh, CO it kind of that was hard to get vehicles replaced because there was parts, no vehicles available. So, they playing catch-up now. So, three going to be replaced. And if you're curious of how they replace vehicles, they go out to the local districts first and they ask any of the the partners in the co-op, do they want them? And if not, then they go out to um there's um dealership that they're using right now. Then they'll go out like as a
087bid package. So that's good. There was something called the fund code S that is related to public act 103-0644. Basically what it did is um there was a law that was passed that kind of level the playing field when it comes to co-ops and how they're seen versus when it comes to funding for private facilities. So it's a good thing. That's what I got from the logistics of it. I mean it was a little complicated but it it's pretty good. Um there was a lot of reports from the assistant directors on just basic things. Um however the star program is at a pause right now for enrollment um due to room. There's no more room. Um they're sad because they now have to turn away anyone who is not part of the co-op if they
088come because there's just no more room left. None. Um again they wanted us to stress if anyone has any room anywhere could you please like help them out because the school is full. They satellite sites are full and they just don't have any more room. So um it is what it is right now. Uh Bill wanted to make sure you all knew that the kitchen repair is still going on. It's almost done. Uh but rest assure all the children are definitely receiving a meal. So, it's uh 6 to 8 weeks he feel that they'll probably be finished. It's kind of some things going on with the insurance company and uh some equipment that needs to be replaced or more efficient equipment that needs to be brought in. Uh and pretty much that was it. We
089went to close session, discussed some things, came out, took a couple of votes, that was me. >> All right. Thank you. >> And Mrs. Jones, could you please provide us with your Kazba update? >> Yes. So I had the privilege to attend um COSBA federal federal federal advocacy uh conference. COSBA is the consortium of state school board association. Um it serves 25 states. Um it has 6,700 um uh local school boards, 42,000 school board members uh serving over 1 85 million students. Um along under Cosby is the Illinois Associated School Board and it has 848 out of 849 school districts in which it serves. Um that is me. We had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people there in um Washington DC. I was able to meet um some Alabama um residents um for the
090first time again. Met with U Congressman Jackson there, met Tammy Dougworth, also Sean Casten. Um we it started off really good meet and greet. Uh we um had some minor um u training or some minor some sessions. One of them included uh updates about in regards to AI Um they spoke about um there's a federal policy that's out. Um it's not every state does not have it as of yet. Um but of course Illinois is not one of them. Um it's actually a grant um that features ways to teach how AI actually works. So that was very interesting. They had a um um young man teaching in regards to uh how to engage with AI, how to create with AI, managing AI, um designing with AI again surrounding education. Um some of the questions were
091asked was one was what oh I cannot see what internal policies what are some internal policies for AI? How many teachers use AI and what are you doing to guide against AI? So we had some people that some teachers who were originally against AI but they know how it's kind of forming and it's going at a fast pace and now they trying to open up and learn more in regards to AI and they want um you know school districts and superintendent to kind of look a little bit more into it um to ensure yes that our district our teachers are using it but um are they still allowing the students to be critical thinkers? on their own. So, that was a it was a really good uh it was a really good sess session in
092regards to uh AI. Um just I'm kind of go real quick because it was so much um they had Bob Woodter there. Um he was a uh news reporter that broke open the Watergate case. So he was really really really really good >> was speaking about politics, policy u trying to help guide um school advocacy districts and the connection with Washington uh DC. He was really good with his answers. He was really cautious about not saying who his favorite president is and you know and all that good stuff. So I thought him to be very very um um what what can I say? How >> savvy? >> He gave us good information. >> I can say it like that. Teachers loved them. I loved them. Nice. Great book. Um kind of speeding it up. We
093were uh so they trained us on how to go out to speak to the congressmen, congresswoman in regards to funding because of course as you all know the uh federal government um they are still holding on support with some of the funding um that school districts are uh that's supposed to receive. One of them is IDEA. Um um I know with our district we for the 25 2025 2026 school year just for title one alone um we are not we are the budget cut was over $38,000 so funding was uh less than $38,000 if I'm getting that out correctly. Um, we were able to speak about um mental health um in regards to the school districts. Let me see. I'm going quick y'all. I'm going through um there's a mental health act actually um down
094in Springfield. Um it's called the SB1560. Um the bill was passed in Springfield, Illinois beginning um for beginning 2027 2028. Uh it will provide mental health screenings. Um this was presented to the congressman uh congresswoman to exper to further expand program services if I'm saying it right. Sorry. Uh Tammy Doug work was really influential and she was really good um um with kind of sending a message back to our local districts. Um she talked about you know pos a possible government shutdown which you know we some of us are aware of that um and Medicaid she talked about ICE and how they can go out as far as 100 miles or be considered like be knowledgeable of that is not just in Chicago land area but it can span out um at least u 100
095miles from the border. uh really Sean Casten, uh Congressman Jackson, they all uh supported idea title funding, um mental health services, screening and other programs. Um one thing that really uh caught my attention was that I'm like, this is the reason why I want to attend this event, this conference. Um, I was unaware that the one of the congressmen, Congressman Casten in particular, actually helped another district receive some funding for mental health screenings. And he asked them, "What did you all do with furthering the program?" And they said, "Oh, nothing." I'm like, "What? You all did not utilize the money to f further the uh program?" So, I invited him out to uh visit our district and to uh visit and meet our uh superintendent and um he was excited to do that. So, that's
096still to come. It was a very very very good event. Uh a very good conference. I met some really good people. Um actually I hurt I reinjured my knee. >> It was bad. So if you all know going to Capitol Hill, >> you are not driving, you're walking the entire time. >> So I sacrificed my body. I pushed myself to make sure Evergreen Park District 124 had a voice at the table. And I didn't get a chance to talk about the facilities this time, but I did um send them a thank you email asking them and for their help and their participation with um servicing and sending funds here to our district for facilities. So I sacrificed my body and I had a really nice time. >> That's great. >> Thank you. >> And you
097all are more than welcome to come. You you can go 2026. >> Yeah. >> Like Alabama had like 15 people. >> Oh wow. >> That's crazy. >> It was a lot of people there. They had teachers there, >> superintendent, >> you know. So presidents, board presidents. Yeah. So it's it's a really good thing. And one of the things I um one of the reason why I'm one of the reason I can't get it. I'm sorry. I'm nervous. Uh, one of the reasons why I really want to do this is because knowing um, if this district is in the for on the forefront of them, if they remember Evergreen Park, Evergreen Park when funding or uh, trial grants, I don't know what is, you know, the >> sure >> political term for um, and they and
098they have the opportunity to send them somewhere. I want them to think about us. I want them to consider our district. So that's one of the reasons why I'm I've been partaking in this event and I would like for you all to join me next time. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate you putting your body on the line like that. >> Bringing it home for us. >> Yeah. >> Maybe Congressman Cast will come on by. We'll get to give him a tour. >> Yes. >> I'm really hopeful that he Congressman Casten, Congressman uh Jackson >> and Congressman Tammy Duck. Senator, >> Senator, sorry. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Senator, I keep the Senator. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Okay, >> moving right along. The action items are up next. We have our consent agenda. Item
099one, approve monthly transactions report for August 2025. Item two, approve fund balance reports for August 2025. Item three, approve expenditure report and projected payroll report for September 2025. Item four, approve board minutes from the regular meeting of August 13, 2025. Item five, approve the closed session minutes from the regular meeting of August 13, 2025. Item six, approve board minutes from the special meeting of September 3, 2025. Item seven, approve destruction of closed session tapes from May 2021. Item eight, personnel recommendations. We have five additions. We have five FMLA leave of absences. We have three resignations with intent to retire and three resignations. If I could please have a first motion. >> Motion to approve consent agenda item A. >> Excellent. Is there a second? >> O'Neal. >> And a roll call, please. >> Dr. Michael
100Thomas, >> yes. >> O'Neal Gray, >> yes. >> David Shepard, >> yes. >> Rachel Maroquin, yes. Denise Jones, >> yes. >> Orin Dowin, >> yay. >> Michael Hall Miller, >> yay. Yep. Motion pass. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Item B, approve the fiscal year 26 budget. Do I have a first motion to approve the fiscal year 26 budget? >> Thank you. And is there a second? >> Wonderful. And a roll call, please. >> Dr. Michael Thomas, >> yes. >> O'Neal Gray, >> yes. >> Rachel Maroquin, yes. David Shepard, >> yes. >> Denise Jones, >> yes. >> Lauren Dowin, >> Michael, >> all Michael number two. >> Michael number two. >> The non doctor. >> It's been a long day. >> That's also what my family calls me too, by the way. >> The non. >> My
101brother is a doctor. >> Really great. >> So, it's a really really great thing when we get together. >> Okay. Perfect. >> Okay. Item C, approve second reading and adoption of revised board policies 5100, 6150, 6235, 7190, 7200, 7210, 7250, and 7270 as recommended by the Illinois Association of School Boards. Do I have a first? >> I'll make the motion. >> Thank you. And do I have a second? >> Second. >> Wonderful. Can I have a roll call, please? >> Okay. Rachel Marquin, yes. Dr. Michael Zamoth, >> yes. >> David Shepard, >> yes. >> O'Neal Gray, >> yes. >> Lauren Dow, >> yes. Denise Jones. >> Yes. >> Michael Al. >> Wonderful. >> Mister. Mister. >> Yeah. Just a mister, unfortunately. Okay. So, at this time, we're going to recess to closed session to discuss
102the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the district or legal counsel, including hearing testimony on complaint lodged against an employee or legal counsel to determine its validity. 5 ILC. Yes. 1202C1. All in favor? >> I. >> Excellent. For those streaming at home, we will not be coming back after closed session. Those of you in the room, you're welcome to stay, but we don't know when we'll be back. So, please feel free to grab a cupcake on your way out. And thank you for joining us this evening.