001um so thank you seriously one letter only one number so you're so good uh cool all right um so if we could call the meeting to order please at 601 on this Wednesday February 15th um uh 2023 with a roll call please Denise Jones yes Michael all Miller Rachel new yorkman yes Judy Mason yes Kim Leonard yes Claudia Parker [Laughter] [Music] yes everyone is here great if we can stand for the pledge please [Music] thank you um so we have the smallest possible change of the agenda um and I need to uh there's approving the first reading there's like two numbers that we won't be approving because they apply to the high school but I have to say that publicly because it is a change to the agenda so we will not be um approving
002six three zero zero and six three ten first or second reading that's the only change to the agenda um if anyone else has a change please let me know otherwise if I can have a first to approve the agenda with that minor change policy um unholic number action item B and C is to approve first and second reading and we'll have to change uh 6.6300 and 6310 they apply to the high school gotcha thanks so if I could have a first I will uh make a motion to approve the agenda with the minor change thank you thank you and a roll call please Denise Jones yes Kim Leonard yes Claudia Parker yes Judy Mason yes Michael a Miller Rachel Marroquin yes Colleen Clemson yes the motion is passed okay we're gonna start off on a
003high note so I'd like to um welcome Dr vanic to introduce I'm going to call her a celebrity to the audience evening everyone uh so since 1970 the Illinois state board of education has sponsored that those who Excel and teacher of the year program to honor Educators who have made significant contributions to our state's public and non-public Elementary and secondary schools awards are presented in seven categories including classroom teachers early career Educators School administrators student support Personnel Educational Service Personnel community volunteers and teams so this year I'm very excited to announce that a staff member from District 124 was a winner of one of the awards Leslie Manion who won an award of meritorious service in the student support Personnel category so miss mannion does an exceptional job as a speech pathologist at Northwest her
004students consistently make gains and meet their IEP and mtss goals she proactively has put things in place where she sees a need in the school for instance she saw a trend in the data that kindergarten students needed additional practice with literacy skills so she found a program that provided that additional opportunities for our students to practice within the classroom she is also a leader within the schools she was an educational assistant before we had assistant principals in the district and even without the title she is still as a leader within the building she helps chair the building leadership team in the school and helps repair agenda items for the team she also serves in her free time as the building rep for the Union as well as the union president um she helps find common
005ground and Common Sense Solutions when needed and she is a support to her colleagues in the building and seeks to grow the education Professor profession so this year alone she has mentored two new special education teachers to the building and hosted a student intern as well she serves on our social committee for the school and organized events such as the Autism Speaks walk in downtown Chicago having a group of us go and having dinner a few years ago having some staff make dinner at the local Ronald McDonald House in Oak Lawn so she's willing to help out where is needed in the school she has managed student behavior in the lunchroom helped with restorative practices with detention and volunteered for our special nights such as our cultural night and I could go on but I
006think you can see that she does a great job for our district so I just want to congratulate her on winning the award thank you so much Dr Bannock and I I have had the pleasure of working with Leslie and she is absolutely wonderful to work along does an excellent job meeting the needs of our kids our kids so I'm I'm honored to give her this award tonight as well and we would love to take a picture with you and Dr vanic if you could please [Applause] subscribe [Laughter] and you get to go to a banquet don't you um I think so [Laughter] thank you congratulations Leslie congratulations yes and because she's the teacher of the year she doesn't anticipate for the board meeting so of course she gets the night off she could sneak
007out that's amazing so congratulations to you guys we have some under beer activities and graduation updates from Dr Sim pillow 's fun activities so we are there we are looking ahead for our class of 2023 and all the fun activities that are coming up just want to share the dates with you um yes answer any questions that you have as you can see May 1st um we're going to Springfield so we started a process of that and I give the teachers a credit for that that's a lot to put together and to organize and to supervise and they want to do it they came to us a couple of weeks ago like two or three weeks ago I honestly had no idea that you're really gonna do it today we want to do this and
008I guess you know they used to go in the past with covet and everything and they want to bring it back you don't always get that so I give uh I give our eighth grade staff credit for wanting to do that May 16th our njhs ceremony uh for our new njhs members so that's coming up on May 16th May 19th is the dinner dance um more details to come with that but I guess that's a you know that'll be a really big event for our kids and I you know and being new here I'm hearing how dressed up they get and uh it's a big a big event so that'll be exciting uh May 26th our eighth grade Awards assembly be taking that place May 30th they are going to Great America so again kudos
009to the 8th grade teachers and they're gonna go to Great America all in one month all in one month God bless them yeah so that's that's awesome um then we're gonna do graduation practice looks like it's going to be half happening here are at Central students that's actually May 31st is the last day of school for our eighth graders and then June 1st is graduation and it will be taking place at Saint Xavier University at the Shannon Center 8th grade promotion which will be great we did a tour to check out the check it out it's going to be pretty exciting I think I think we're going to like it I know we're able to expand out to inviting five family members per student so it'll make for a good size good group and be
010interesting a little nervous but obviously because that's a big venue but we'll get we'll get it done we'll get it done you know and again I've met with the eighth grade teachers already and they've talked about that you know they have a good system in place make sure everything's go as smooth as possible Dr zinfel is actively looking for the graduation promotion booklets right yes just to prepare I know he's on top of it yes absolutely so any questions just uh just keep our eighth grade staff and your thoughts enter this ladder yeah the field trip is amazing have you ever went on the trip I have done it at no other than a couple others yeah it's a pretty amazing just for the kids so I'm glad that they're doing it and thank you
011it'll be a great day so I'm grateful that the teachers want to take them it's a long day it is um you know it's a Monday and it is on a Monday I couldn't do Tuesdays so like late start Wednesday because it gives a lot of kids the opportunity to go yeah definitely keep the eighth grade teachers in your thoughts they've worked hard this year with our crew to establish good connections and good relationships and and make a good experience for them but they are eighth graders and they've hit eighth grade probably earlier than we would like and you know we're starting to see that um you know so we're dealing problem solving thinking creative ways to kind of keep that the positive connections going and stuff like that but they're right you know well
012may will be dangling over their heads for like opportunities to have a lot of fun so hopefully right right they'll get that so absolutely yep all right all right thank you thank you equity and inclusion Community listening tour and we had two board members that were also present so she's going to share out on that for us cleaning so you may remember from the December board meeting that the equity action plan has five strands and one of those is community as agency family and Community as agency so our goal within that strand is really to advance the work of equity inclusion and diversity and make that connection with our community and with our families and so we had our first event on January 18th and that event really was um a listening tour so we
013had some guided questions and we really just wanted to hear kind of feedback from families and community members in terms of how they thought um kind of what our strengths are and our areas of growth where as a district in terms of diversity equity and inclusion so we had um some key takeaways um and one of those being to increase consistency between the schools with this work and so they um saw that some schools may do a little bit more than others so for the schools to kind of just be in in more frequent communication of what they're doing and to have more um consistency between the schools another piece of feedback was to continue to celebrate our successes around diversity equity and inclusion so to be proactive about sharing pictures and um and just
014in our newsletters if we're if we're promoting diversity equity and inclusion the parents wanted to have um just some more transparency and clear communication about what is being taught and how diversity equity and inclusion impacts what we're teaching and learning within the district and then ultimately I think it was just a great opportunity to provide um opportunity to hear different perspectives and to just talk so they would like to just continue to have more opportunities for us to be able to hear different perspectives so in terms of our next steps um our committee is taking that information kind of back to the larger team and we are going to be part of the we connect webinar Series in April with Dr Woodland and then also we're going to host another Community um resource Fair slash
015parent meeting that will be kind of in the later spring so overall it was it was a great um she wouldn't know what that is she wasn't here for April of 2020 and I think we all know what happened I mean I definitely think we could take that if you think so they had a diversity uh like uh celebration or all different yeah and so all different foods ethnicities and then so when you came in you were given a number so to speak and like so if I had me and my husband and my daughter none of us sat together we all sat at different tables and you and that was the purpose is to you know get to know other people like I normally wouldn't be with high school staff were it was actually
016there there's quite a few high school department head staff that were there so like if 8th graders were they they could mingle with them and yeah it was a really so yeah they had different foods it was held in our cafeteria in the basement it was really a nice I think we only had one no no more than one I only won two so then there was two yeah I didn't think yeah so if there was yeah two of them yeah one was in um in the basement and then the other one was actually in the gym nice I love this this is one of the things that I had petitioned for these are all in all the schools okay yes I'm gonna speak to that next but I will definitely make a note of
017diversity A diversity dinner and bring that back to the administrative team we have a meeting tomorrow to determine how we can move forward with that awesome um so that leads us to our next point so if you recall um I led and facilitated the system Strand and one of the things that we determined was that it was essential for us to Define diversity equity and inclusion for us to have a cohesive message that we are all going to commit to so this Friday in our Institute day we have an outside presenter that's coming back to support our teachers and I'm going to be introducing our definition of terms to the entire staff so that they're aware of this and every single staff member will receive this handout for that for them to be present and
018know what our defense definitions are that we're collectively committed to from our Equity action plan the next step with this is to really start sharing it with our community so for them to understand that this is also a commitment that we've embarked on and for them to ensure that we have a connection to our glossary of terms that's still being defined in our system strand so the front has our terms and the back is what we're committed to in terms of diversity Equity inclusion that's tied to again our strategic plan and Patricia is actually going to talk about some recruitment efforts that were going down this road so you're going to put this with your newsletter is it going on the perspective like how are you giving it to the community so we're actually going
019to be well there's two ways so Patricia's going to talk tonight about our website for Recruitment and Retention I picture this being everywhere truthfully um so that we again can commit to what we've said we've defined it as and also we're building out a website like a landing page for all of our diversity equity and inclusion work good job so if you come actually Curtis Hill is going to be I am trying to come right there's going to be a special guest with me can you imagine [Laughter] um so yes Curtis will Curtis Hill he's our presenter he was here early fall he will be back on Friday from 8 30 to 10 and that's a requirement of all staff she spoke with him today and his message is really about a culture of belonging
020so if you look at look at our definition of inclusion it's really this commitment to an environment of inclusive practices that is of course critical to our success for all what time is it again on Friday 8 30. and we're going right into curriculum work let's go on Friday tonight I have school they do not have exactly yeah I have school on Friday it is an Institute day okay great yes you should I mean wait you can sit by me all right oh Patricia is next look at that so I am really excited to introduce this topic this has been like a brainchild I think of mine and Michael's actually for some time so um this concept of really what do we do in terms of recruiting and retaining staff and making sure we're really
021being transparent with our community and those who are wanting to join our team I believe that Evergreen Park is so special and it's really about sharing our story making sure everyone understands what we can offer to our students and to the people that work with us and work for us oh just wait until you see I'm so excited to watch this Nancy it's so snazzy and it's called a microsite and Patricia is going to introduce her yeah it is super exciting um so Jenna um more importantly than myself has been working with Cal our marketing Communications person and he is amazing he's created what's called a micro site and microsites are individual Pages um they're separate and a standalone from our general website that we have but they're focused and this one is focused on
022Recruitment and it is super amazing they've added some things that I didn't even recognize in the micro site so it describes how we stand out more specifically in our benefits how we stand out and how we relate to the community and how within our school setting we are a community within ourselves and it also speaks to information that talks about the you know diversity inclusion and Equity as well and so the micro side is going to be up maybe in the next Maybe a lot we're almost ready I saw it yeah the biggest highlight of this which I just love and I know you will too are the testimonies yeah testimonies from our own employees paraprofessionals our some of our support staff teachers who are speaking to um you know clarify why this is the
023place to be and why we are the employer of choice so we're really excited about it the site will be linked to The District home page so that everyone looking for employment will have easy access to it and then it'll connect them to the site where they actually apply for the jobs and they'll see the list of jobs so it's a really great thing coming it really matches our regular website um but it pulls in all this information that people normally ask when they say why should I consider coming here sure so it's really great so are those our kids and those pictures yes those are all of our kids we did brand new picture and I think was really important just to do like a big update refresh so that we can really publicize
024our students it's a big deal and we'll be still in a lot of content for our virtual job fairs coming up you know it's creating our booths so we have one coming up March 7th and we have one coming up in June and so what he's done to make it what it is and what we truly are it's just amazing um historical black colleges and universities some of our co-ops so how's that been coming I am just now embarking on the historical black colleges I've got several on my list from fist to Tennessee state to all of the others big and and you're right I'm having a hard time getting anyone to actually connect with me specifically but I am working on a tool that I use for local ones that were used here and
025did work for a few positions we filled I created just this one page with information I'm trying to do the same thing and connect with the people who would actually see it at each other historically back colleges so and you're right so that we can pull there are a lot of people who come back to their hometowns like I did and and want to seek positions in the fields that they're in so yes it is definitely a project that I just started um based on everything that's happening in that regard but yes I've already started to reach out but I think I have to do the same thing I've done with some of the universities locally here and let's create the pages you know what another um great option could be Greek fraternities and sororities
026that's a very good idea actually that's a wonderful idea thank you thank you you know what other ones in the education guess what is very um you know not traditional and has fortified as one or two candidates you couldn't guess I can guess oh yeah churches allowed us to post on their um Lisa's been gracious enough to research some of the ones just local right here they've allowed us to post um and it you know we've got one or two candidates that would have considered out of it so well we're on our way I know untraditional is the is the way now so and I promise I will follow up with you on the hbcus it's very much uh priority on my list it is I just need time any other questions no actually Dan
027can you click on the link so I could show a couple different things or would I really be thrown it if not that's totally okay so if you could just click on why choose d124 um and it just specifies here's you know again a connected Community find what sets us apart team higher salaries competitive benefits professional development class size clearly I love the fact this was what drew me to ever Great Park too guys our little class size we're committed to diversity Equity inclusion I think it's important for everyone to know that we are committed to that our community supports because we have a ton of community supports that is not common and then we specify our non-certified business it's just a couple of highlights but we will be making it live in the very
028near future and I am excited to launch that thank you thank you so much you're right um so Dr Carlson was unable to make it this evening and next on the agenda is Evergreen freeze I am going to Christina Christina is talking about Evergreen disease thank you so much this is going to be the big reveal ready hello I'm on behalf of Angela she couldn't make it so Evergreen reads is running from oh let's go up there first on February 27th to the 31st and we cannot cannot reveal the title it's a secret I'm sorry I was told cannot reveal it'll be announced at the end of next week um they're doing a daily trivia every day next week as a lead up and get everyone excited they're gonna be going to give away books
029for a first come first serve basis and they could pick it up at e-schools main office sell free books drawings trivia and then we have in-school activities for each grade level specific Angela has all this ready and then there's family activities as well to involve the community and bring everyone in so if you have any questions please email Angela perfect any questions I could relate back to her they've been such great books yeah and she's like don't tell them I just in like half an hour I read it again and I was like that was a fantastic book yeah and if that was ever encourages reading just it was just do you see how she just dropped off that she read the book and a half hour I feel like superhuman that's a child I
030want to know more about the photo contest I have my notes here to read so so if you're like don't ask me anything off my notes tell her it's a secret to be revealed next to me I believe what we heard was if there were any questions we needed to email deal with that thank you thank you thank you so much we'll hear more about that in March I would assume too notice Claudia picks up on a photo photo yeah I love it next up we have Miss Rebecca Tyrrell kindergartners we were talking about registration about that graduation kindergarteners like holy cow so we're Full Speed Ahead right now talking about our upcoming kindergarten class so currently right now we are we have child find effort so one of the things that we're doing this
031year is sending out a postcard to all of our residents in Evergreen Park with that kindergarten information we're really trying to get as many students prior to the first day of school as we can so those are those postcards are being finalized the postcards are going to have a QR code where you can scan and go right to our um the kindergarten landing page which is not on the website right now finishing touches that just talks about the you know new student registration for our kindergarten families and then it also just outline to the steps as well if you don't scan the QR code so visit d4.org click under the parents tab new kindergarten registration within that we're also have letters that we've generated to our Pre-K or early childhood students that will be distributed
032those students are not considered new they're considered returning so it's a little bit different so we want to make sure that our families understand specifically what they'll be asked to do during that registration process which is March 13th to August 14th it will be open and um Elizabeth Lopez will be very very busy with the online registration process and meeting with families completing that residency process so once that's done we do have some screening dates schedule at our schools so Tuesday April 25th we're going to have screenings that are at Southwest and Northwest and then Friday April 28th at Southeast and Northeast so we're kind of finalizing all of the you know procedures and steps typically once um all the registration is completed completed Elizabeth sends um each individual building a list of the students
033their students with names contacts and they send Out screening dates and times from there and then we also have our tentative kindergarten open house which is May 17th that ran pretty smooth last year so all the students will be notified through registration and even at the screenings we held it from 3 30 to 4 30 right after school and I think we had a pretty good attendance and then our little ones in pre-k or kindergarten will get a flyers you don't want to forget about so that's where we're at right now Full Speed Ahead for next year 's about that have we done the postcard before no I think that's like an administrative brain like we need to get to every single resident right I'm like postcard happy guys but it can't be like there's
034no longer the I didn't know right so like if and sometimes it's not on people's radar but getting that out there at the with the QR code and just we've heard so much from our teachers and um like in dirt and things like that and onboarding these kids before they get to the first day of school right like just having as much information as possible sets them up to succeed so yes so we're hoping that brings a little bit more I feel like we've had a lot of parents Reach Out already about kindergarten ERS we're gonna watch kindergarten numbers closely right [Music] [Laughter] she's hoping we have three kindergarten she is she's got him in office [Music] thank you so much Miss Daryl thank you all right I am so excited to introduce our director
035of food service Miss Julie Henry I was like Julie can you do that report she said sure I can I I bet she didn't say that yeah they want to do a report I said she's she was ready yeah she's right but we're glad you're here thank you um first of all I would like to thank start by thanking everyone who had a part in my hiring for this position I appreciate it seems to be working out pretty good and I enjoy doing what I'm doing right now um as we all know at the beginning of the school year it was a bit hectic with every and with everyone working as a team and filling the director's position I do believe things have quieted down a bit [Music] from when we were doing the with
036the pandemic how we had to have everything in the coolers and we had to package everything up we are now doing it like we used to do it with everything open where the kids can grab their own stuff and I think it's a lot easier for the kids to actually see what they're grabbing instead of just taking what's in a bag I think the kids enjoy that a lot better um we are now offering different choices in the outside schools we have a hot and cold option and at Central Middle School we bought back the salads and the wraps so that they have more of a variety of things to choose from plant makes I know yeah we have we do still have challenges with getting produce or product from our vendors so with that
037I'm trying to bring in different types of menu items we've tried Salisbury steak we've tried many hamburgers homemade tacos stink fajitas and it seems to be working a little bit better um our numbers from October to January have increased from anywhere from seven to fourteen percent wow but when you can make it from scratch in the kitchen they just there's a different quality versus Heat meat right you know yeah and um there's the numbers from each school from October to January um as of Tuesday I would like to let the staff know that we are bringing back staff lunches and if you have any questions [Laughter] I will be sending out an email tomorrow I believe to each of the secretaries to let them know that it's coming back so yeah trying to bring everything
038back so Julie told me last week and I was like apparently this is a big deal around here that's what makes people happy right now that's awesome yes that is a big thing that's awesome we are um we still need one more person in the kitchen but with the people that we've hired these last two people that we fired have they fit really well in the kitchen and they are parents of kids that have gone through before and they still have kids in District 124 so that's awesome they're familiar with things and they want their kids it right they want to see our food service exactly does that make you fully staff now then we're short ones but oh yeah much better yeah and I'm finally in the office able to do things kid you
039know we I don't have to cook anymore so yeah so my other question too in regards to the things the new things to determine um like do you just make it and then you kind of just see what goes through trash um yes okay but we we kind of make it we kind of put a low number since we have different varieties of things I'll put on something that they do enjoy so we won't make as much as this of the new stuff yes and then we'll see how that goes right there so I've seen other school districts do this really well is they'll do a like a a taste if you will like they might come up with three new recipes based on the required right right things that come from the state and
040then they'll put out you know just like the little cups and it might be like broccoli with a little cheese or a little like you said a little slider or something and then they let the kids sample it and vote on what would be a new menu item that way you kind of get buy-in I kind of did do that with the piece of calzones the other day I had a couple kids come up and ask them to try and they said yeah so I did have it on the menu last Thursday and it seemed to go over pretty good yeah but when something like that would try and it's kind of hard to pick and choose what kids come up because they're like well why why didn't I get picked or why didn't I
041get paid to come up and taste it so in order for to do something like that we'd have to go to like an advisory or into a classroom so that the other kids don't know what's going on so board members would be um guinea pigs to take um I bought new cookies macadamia cookies at the mix here thank you we're happy to have you in the world you're a great fit thank you very much I appreciate that you're welcome you just made everyone tonight we're being over yeah [Laughter] so I'm Mr Eric Garcia tonight please wow take it easy on me what do your staff have Super Bowl hangovers I swear I've seen them yeah so our monthly financial report so for statement of revenues our total revenues went up around 7 million over the
042course of the last month that is mainly due to an increase of 5.3 million dollars in our past month in tax revenues that Eric has been speaking about thank you our statement of expenditure there were no unique expenditures this month and the main expenditures in January were salaries and benefits and when Eric and I were going over this together I said Eric I have a fun question for you I am curious how much money do we roughly spend in a month and on average we spend 2.2 million dollars a month in overall expenditures so this is what happens when your superintendent does your report you get more fun facts foreign balance report so you'll notice our education account is really what has shifted up to 7 million and that's again due to an increase in
043revenues from our last month that is directly tied to tax increases and that is all I have for them yes one other thing too is transportation you'll notice we had a hundred thousand dollars in special education transportation reimbursements yes yes okay so we do have our auditor here tonight Mr Don Shaw and he is going to go over our audit risk score drum roll please right Don I'm so excited for this moment welcome thank you never heard someone say they're excited about it thank you I am I'm very excited appreciate it Eric uh So speaking of Mr garosi I know he's not here today but I wanted to thank him and the entire team for all their effort to make this a successful audit year without their help this wouldn't be possible so please send
044uh my thank you to him okay first you can go through the annual financial report with you which is the thicker the packets you received and if you turn to page one you'll find our water bucket name and letterhead this is our independent audit report to which we have provided a clean unmodified opinion it's the highest opinion you may receive basically states that we found no issues with internal controls or the numbers as they're presented if you turn about three more pages you will run into the management discussion and Analysis this really provides a summary of how the year performed in narrative form so if you have questions about fluctuations from year to year or what the numbers truly mean is where you'd want to go to find those answers I always tell people if
045you if you're going to read only one thing of this whole thing make sure you read this section there's a lot of good information your individual fund financial statements will begin on page 18. and that far right column towards the bottom of page 18 you'll see that the total ending fund balance for the district as a whole was at 16.1 million dollars 42 or 6.8 million is related to your general fund this can be your main operating fund it's made up of your education operations and maintenance torque and working cash funds see how that fund performed in the current year we could skip ahead to your income statement page 20. towards the bottom of page 20 you'll notice that the general fund did increase about two million dollars this is primarily due to your expenditures
046being below budget in the current year as well as your um [Music] I'm gonna make Eric rewatch can you repeat that for everyone moment 42. your exposures were below budget that Curry uh in addition to your expenses being below budget what also went into that is the debt issuance of about five million dollars and that was kind of offset by a transfer out to your Capital project s the notes of financial statement will begin on page 22. the notes really provide further detail into how we came up with the fair so we did with supporting schedules then there you can find your Capital asset and your long-term debt schedules I could go through all the notes with you tonight so I'm going to have you skip ahead all the way to page 81. that's usually
047where I get the the Clapping Applause so page 81 is the start of your budgetary information so if you want to see how a specific fund performed based on the budget this is where you'd go to find those comparisons does anyone have any questions on the financial statements before moving on so we got more evidence-based funding than we thought I think that was in total from all of us or two and two and a Dutch but I can double check no that's good your essers are actually down below okay I'm trying to find out here it might be kind of hidden in there um I was specifically asking about evidence funding was that due to the property tax relief Grant so I can't speak for certain how that all happened we usually just get the
048report directly from isby they split it out I believe based on the students there's usually a percentage that goes into that calculation I can't speak to exactly how that's all calculated that's okay over there an email yeah that's a good question any other questions okay if not we also provided a separate document the matchup letter uh real quick we did we may see two current year recommendations the second one is actually a repeat so I apologize uh you can skip that Capital asset policy that was a recommendation from last year so the only current year recommendation we have is in regards to Gatsby 96 which will work with Eric and the team on that um that's looking at your vendor subscriptions and now it's we're going to call it a intangible asset that's now going
049to go on the government we'll work with Eric and the team on that I don't have the SBA fire in front of me oh I have it our overall score our financial profile score from last school year was the three-point I5 we are now at a 3.8 [Music] news went from 27 3 million to 29 6 million and we ran an access budget of 2.25 million that's okay [Music] that's some great games in our standings 3.5 to 3.5 and I think my teachers and administrative team because it was definitely a team effort is that a trend that we're expecting to continue or is there something that would prohibit it from being sustainable um I mean I think definitely we still need to work with a number of days of cash on hand we've definitely increased
050it was at 99 days of cash on hand to 115 I think that gives us about four months of reserves on hand I think as a board your board policy is at six months and that's something we should always strive to be at but in terms of looking at overall needs of kids we want to make sure that we're spending aligning to what our students need and our teachers need and making sure that we're doing that appropriately and lining our budget with our goals sometimes it's hard to say no but if our budget doesn't allow us to do that then we have to make a commitment to really aligning our goals to our action and then making sure we go so that is that I'm not sure I I well no I have every intention
0513.5 to 3.8 just our financial standings along this rate we we should be up at 3.9 and we are certainly headed towards that by increasing our I mean we've already went from 99 days to 150 I mean yeah and making sure it's stable for sure yeah but my thing is it it may not continue to go down because as you stated if there's a need for us to then spend more to align with the goals it may not be a trend that continues to go down that's my point like we're celebrating that there was a deficit but it may not continue to be confused no as to why we're spending more than what we did last year but that we've we reduced spending we came in two million above right and you made two million
052more in Revenue right so the whole point of a budget too though is to adjust that like that's great and knowing right always knowing what we know well our plan last year was to be able to start saving and that we needed to increase our our long-term savings so the fact is that because as you needed to right the fact that now we also have that um the taxpayer what is it the property tax for the property tax relief we should see more money that is being able to be saved not necessarily spending less to having just the fact that we're getting that property relief will also help increase drug s increase our Revenue all right thank you so much I appreciate it thank you you gave us good news thank you so much thanks
053for being thorough yes over the past month that we've received and both of these foils have been completed okay so um we are up to public comments um I just have something to read before we go there I do have at least one person addressing the board so a few reminders specifically about the logistics for public comments and 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 will set a timer that's visible and expect everyone to respect their three minutes in addition we do not respond to public comments at board meetings but we do absolutely hear them and we respect and listen to and take into account the community
054concerns and if there's a specific question that comes up in the public comments that we can respond to we will do so within the next day or two so uh if not a board member but the appropriate person for that so I have a Meg Lara to speak to us thank you welcome thank you welcome um my question was what is the plan for getting rid of the mobiles um like do you guys have a plan are you sending money aside are we buying a new building are we extending the buildings that we already have fundraising um how much would that cost just that's my real question because I know they've been around for a long time and I just want to know like how are we planning are we saying I hope they're not
055there next year but what are we doing to make sure they're not there it is a great question I'm smiling because we ask the same so um we will follow up again I'm not we're not prepared really to answer that at a board meeting but it's a question we are prepared to respond to so fear not um thank you I appreciate that um was there more no all right thank you I harp so quietly are so hard on the three minutes and um I appreciate that so um we will we will follow up I have your I have your phone number is that the best way to reach you then I have I have magazine now okay great thank you so much and ladies you're you're just such a great job on Spanish club everyone
056thank you she runs Spanish clubs that's great it's going great I've heard nothing of positive things uh thank you again I appreciate that um great board reports January um Arrow governing board are you ready sure thanks okay okay the governing board met on January 23rd and the main item on the agenda that was was the approval of the bid which um I think I reported on last month that we anticipated the approval of this but the approval of the bid um in the amount of um thousand dollars and two hundred twenty two hundred fifty two hundred thousand two hundred twenty dollars for Revis High School to purchase the arrow property so that is confirmed it was approved by both the governing and the executive so there was a board resolution to authorize the transfer of
057the property so that is underway and um it's good news because we're worried about that property property and now it will go in to the hands of a for the district that can make good use of the property as a school district so um we also um so this was after the actual meeting but on February 6th Dr Canal was very pleased to announce to the boards that he received the official notice of the state award and it was officially conferred the 25 million dollars that pays for this project so that was of course anticipated and he had been assured that it would happen but making it official was a big relief I believe so it's um it was very pleased to have that happen and then we met again on February 22nd and that
058was mainly to approve a landscaping bed so we get to see these fantastic videos of the construction site and I mean truly everything is going incredibly well but the fact that um it's coming down to landscaping and talking about like putting in fixtures and so things are moving along quite well there there's been a couple well it's anticipated I don't you know what it's it's going to be in September it's not the exact things very yeah September is the date there's a slight delay um so but I think right after Labor Day yeah yeah so in the fall is exactly what as was anticipated so um so it won't be like exactly when we start school but it'll be a few weeks after that so um that pretty much sums up everything unless you have
059anything to add from the executive party we're definitely into like next year planning and making sure that teachers are included and everyone has the information that they need and really making it one school environment and I think that's important that everyone see it's that it is one school environment going into a beautiful brand new building for us are they doing with Staffing you're doing really well with Staffing even with selling paraprofessionals yeah I mean I think they still have paraprofessional openings but um but much better than what it was increased it's they're doing well um District review team Denise Jones and I were there at our most recent dirt meeting was Monday January 28th there were seven issues on the agenda which is a higher number than the last few months but many of the
060issues had been addressed and resolved at the building level by the time our dirt meeting happened to avoid this confusion going forward there was a review of Bert and dirt so building review and District review team press procedures there are many issues that can only be resolved at a building level and others that should obviously be discussed at a district level so the agenda items included questions about and this is not in order mid-morning Brain Breaks I love that idea if a teacher sees fit adequate plan time for specials teachers at the middle school specifics about standardized testing procedures carpet removal at the middle school and sending home midterm grades digitally from all buildings reasonable there were three issues that had longer discussions and first of all one the first one was technology care and
061fees associated with replacement um so the great you know take home versus keep it school debate um for our students regarding their devices and then assigning and actually collecting replacement fees um a review The Next Step would be a review will be done and this conversation will continue um the second longer discussion issue was administrator coverage at all five buildings if a principal was called away and the committee had a very positive conversation about this members offered to recommendations to adjust the ap's schedule if necessary to ensure that there's an admin in each building at all times and then finally Dr Woodland presented the behavioral intervention plan Dr Woodland shared that she Becky Terrell and the principal team have been working on a behavioral and behavior intention behavior intervention plan I wrote the notes you
062think I'd be able to read the notes sorry about that so copies of the draft and it was a draft only meaning there's still a conversation to be had about it but it was shared out it was a response to student Behavior a comprehensive approach um to tiered intervention was distributed reviewed by the representatives that were there that was another lengthy discussion dirt is longer than it used to be um because we are no it's good it's good work um it's digging deep and we're really getting two things and getting through things so it's great um and everybody has an opportunity to share feedback um Dr Woodland stated at the meeting that the next step was to share the document with the social work team which happened last week um and uh that took place
063last Wednesday during PLC time went very well and she added that the completed document would be a cohesive District document for all to follow so obviously more information will soon share soon soon be shared with staff weekly newsletters um to all of us I'm sure and then after the review all the dirt members expressed appreciation towards everyone who was doing the hard work on that specifically but also in general and for taking this matter so seriously so our next board meeting excuse me our next dirt meeting will be Monday February 27th I believe we will be discussing the calendar the calendar capital T Capital C and that um among other things and I'll have more to say in March so it was a good video and it was a long it was a long meeting
064that's okay though it's good work um and then next we have policy committee meeting review oh yeah she loves me all right so I love the little recap that Dr Woodland put together it just kind of makes our meetings go a little bit more cohesively so there are 10 policy updates so I'm just going to kind of go through the first one was from section 2.265 it's regarding the Title IX sexual harassment grievance procedures and the policy and footnotes updated to include Dating Violence domestic violence and stalking and the only um thing that wasn't written here that I felt like was pertinent is that whomever the student confides in whether it's the teacher or it's an aide or a sub or um somebody from buildings and grounds that they take it seriously and and report
065it promptly um moving on to policy number 410 fiscal and business management this requires districts to disclose the case Reserve balance and funds related to their budget during the annual Levy presentation which we're already doing section 124 120 regarding Food Services that was already addressed the national school lunch program to provide a plant-based Bagel lunch option to students who request one but because you guys are already doing such a fantastic job it's not going to be necessary for one individual student to be like yeah I don't eat meat you guys are already providing that so great job there um section for 140 is in regards to waiver of student fees so this requires districts to waive fees for students whose parents are veteran or active duty military personnel with income at or below 200 percent
066of the federal poverty line which is not applicable to a whole lot of people but you know what I applaud them for their efforts I agree yes um policy number 520 is in regards to workplace and it includes defining race to include traits associated with um not limited to but hair texture protective hairstyles such as braid locks and twists we've seen a lot of this happening in the media the last couple of years where somebody thinks that someone's hairstyle is not appropriate for school or to play sports so they decide to cut it off yeah we're not doing that um no no the policy number five to 20 is in regards to substitute teachers so this was substitute teachers are not to exceed 120 days rather than 90. so previously we could have a substitute
067for now that's been extended to 120 and we appreciate that because we often need help and having that extra time is great for our schools policy number 5250 requires districts to return sick leaves used fully for fully vaccinated teachers for qualifying covet events so um yeah everybody appreciates being able to get that same is being reduced through not just vaccination but your regular immunity from having already had it there's a lot of us that have already had I've never been confirmed but I'm suspicious um policy 5 280 in regards to duties and qualification permits unlicensed Personnel to supervise school activities connected to the academic program when the governor has declared a disaster due to Public Health Emergency so I would like Dr Woodland to give an example on what that would look like so the
068community isn't confused that we're going to be what example did I give you in policy um yes thanks Judy I had an example so yes it would be like for example a non-certified unlicensed Personnel paraprofessional could run activity during a disaster declaration so if you recall the governor has released that so we're not currently under that but they could supervise an after school so if the governor said this is a disaster area or does it and if you would call this was directly tied to we have so many like staff shortages that they were trying to accommodate for what those staff sort of just would look like okay yeah I just wanted you to clarify because I don't want parents thinking that we could drag somebody in off the street to teach the science class
069yeah because it was a disaster yes um two more we're almost done home stretch policy 620 is in regards to the school calendar s for e-learning days which we're already doing and lastly why would they have to even say that if they're doing new learning why it's a school day yeah it's a school day no there were districts who were asbestos I would say more specifically at will employees who are opting to not pay them oh wow yeah not us that's crazy yeah we don't have to worry about that no okay last but not least policy 7190 is in regards to student Behavior and the state is moving away and so Dr Woodland wanted to continue to reiterate um the plan to not have any type of isolated timeouts or physical restraints and that was
070all of the policy dates that we wanted to speak to thank you so much all right we are up to our action items um so the first item is consent agenda item is a number one is to approve monthly transaction reports for January of 2023. number two is to approve the fund balance reports for January of 2023. number three is to approve expenditure report and protected payroll report for February of 2023. number four is to approve the board minutes from the regular award meeting of January 18 2023 number five is to approve the closed session minutes from the regular meeting of January 18th 2023. number six is to approve destruction of closed session tapes from October of 2018. number seven is to uh prove the Personnel recommendations as listed on our agenda with additions and
071FMLA leave a resignation with intent to entire retire excuse me and another resignation a non-school or non uh student position so if uh sorry if I can please have a first motion to accept consent agenda item a as listed I'll make the motion in a second a second and a roll call Michael all Miller Rachel Miracle yes Denise Jones yes Judy Mason yes Kim Leonard yes Claudia Parker Colleen yes did I throw you off Michael I know but she kept me on the straight and narrow because I was like wait everybody I'm like yes of course but so we got this we got this I am sad to see Mrs Walsh so much like they deserve every yeah every everything that we can no worries she'll come back at seven I love that um so
072action item B is to approve the first reading of revised board policies as listed on minus um actually it's a it is on the approve the adjusted agenda that's here with us okay um yeah so I just was quite um so approving the first reading of those board policies listed minus 630 and 6310 a first please shh first thank you and a second second and a roll call I don't know what Michael Buble again Judy Mason yes are you from America yes Denise Jones yes Kim Leonard yes Claudia Parker yes Colleen Clemson yes motion is passed excellent excellent and then item C is to approve the second reading of the and Adoption of the revised board policies as listed on the agenda if I could have a first please why not thank you Michael and
073a second I'll make the second treat and a roll call three times the charm yay Tim Leonard yes Denise Jones yes did he racing yes Rachel marquin yes Claudia Parker and Colleen klumzak yes motion has passed excellent all right so we will now recess to closed session to discuss the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of the district or legal council including hearing testimonial from Saint lodged against an employee or legal counsel to determine its validity I'll make the first motion and a second oh your name again Sarah what was that all right Michael Miller Kim Leonard yes Denise Jones yes Colleen Clemson yes Claudia Parker yes Kitty racing yes Rachel mayor Quinn yes motion is passed uh I know right we will be taking action after we return um to
074open session but we do not need to continue with the recording and released on your own recognizance so okay thank you so much