Fenton High School Board of Education Meeting, February 25, 2026

001caring, empathetic environment where we believe in each other, respect diversity, communicate openly, grow together, and hold each other to high expectations to become the leaders and innovators of the future. Our next item is recognitions, Kate. All right, tonight we're excited to showcase some of our high rollers on the boys team. [laughter] So, it's exciting to see both teams doing so well. So, we're going to start with boys. Um, so if we could have both John Lazwell and Sebastian Groupa and coach Mike Chappelle come to the front. [applause] All right. So, overall, our boys bowling team went 17 and three this year with a steady and consistent play from both of these student athletes. John, we'll talk about first, surged at sectionals to finish third out of more than 100 bowlers. Um, only the top four

002bowlers at sectionals go to state. And John is the first boys bowler in four years to go to state. So, that's awesome. And then let's talk about Sebastian. Sebastian serish at regionals, bowling a perfect game and taking home the first place medal. He's only the third boy. the third boys bowler to score a perfect game in school history. The last one was powled in 2009. So, coach Mike Chappelle is going to talk a little bit more about both of these tournament. >> Do we have videos of that? [laughter] >> Are they actually doing a video this week? >> I'd love to have it. >> We live for the first time and I have it in my slideshow that I'm going to show tomorrow at the awards night. So, I can probably send you guys the

003slideshow. >> Sorry, but thank you. No. Gotcha. Um, so I'm going to read a little. Well, first I'm gonna put on my glasses. So, I'd like to thank John and Sebastian's family. I'd like to thank Umar for coming. I didn't know he was going to be here. Um, the support from them has been undeniable. I have six, so this is actually going to kind of go into my spiel on the team. I have six bowlers that seven seniors that are all graduating this year and they all came in together and their parents are at everything. I [laughter] mean, we would we would get to a bowling alley and two or three of the parents would already be there. So, the the parent support was absolutely fabulous. Um, I'd like to thank our superintendent, Dr. Benson,

004our principal, Kate Ward, athletic director, Pedro Rodriguez, assistant athletic director, Mark CS, and our awesome athletic administrative assistant Lorie Sweden, which if you guys don't know, she's retiring in a monthish. Um, I would also like to thank Mo and Mike Malone. We hosted a sectional and it was kind of last minute and he just took it right on. He had to reschedule a couple of events so they were absolutely phenomenal. Some bowling programs don't get that from their home lanes and we uh we had complete support. And then obviously last but not least, I'd like to thank the board for having us here. Okay. So, I'm here to celebrate my two of my six bowlers, but I I would love to talk about just their achievements. Mr. Mr. Ward spoke about a little bit. Um,

005all six of our starters, Logan Keki is a senior. Sebastian Krupa is a senior. Um is a senior. John Lazwell is a senior. Ethan Lopez is a senior. And Christian Ramirez. Those are my six starters. Uh they've been together since freshman year. They spent countless hours together and put everything they could into the sport of bowling. They finished their senior season with seven were 17 and three. Our only loss was to our co-op. They get to draw from a couple of schools about 4,000 kids and we had anale pole and we lost 2,992 to 2,995. >> [groaning] >> we have bowlers in the house which we do counts. So with a thousand pins we lost by well we would have tied them with three pins. >> Um and yes we finished second in conference. Uh

006they're they finished third as sophomores. So all six of those seniors that I named uh started from midsophomore year on. They finished third in the conference their sophomore year, third in the conference their junior year and then second in the conference their senior year. We have 11 academic allconerence bowlers. Uh some kids being multiples. Uh we have we have seven all academic 11 seven allconerence bowlers. We have seven individual sectional qualifications. We have one team sectional qualification. We have a winner of the Glenard strike fest. So out of 100 actually the Glumbard was 96 bowlers. A lot of sports still have different genres. Golf, if you take first in golf, that means he took first against the whole field. And in bowling, so 96 bowlers, Sebastian took first place. And I'll leave the score when

007we get to to him. And then Sebastian also won the regional, so he took first place out of 105 bowlers. And those were backto-back invites. So he had two invites in which he was the number one of a 100 varsity bowlers in a pretty good bowling area. Um we had one perfect game and then we had one state. [applause] So we're I'm going to talk about both of them and then Mr. Campick is going to figure out the [clears throat] the picture order from there. So, so John Wazwell, John is a three 3X varsity starter, a three-time varsity starter, >> a two-time academic allconerence, two time sectional qualifier, one time all conference. John just found that out right now. He would have found out tomorrow at the awards night, but um one time state qualifier.

008John took third place overall. Once again, out of in the sectional there was I think 14 and he took third out of that 114. So, not only did he qualify at large, but he got a medal for being one of the top medalists, rolling a 1335. >> Oh, that John never rolled well, but John beat in the most high pressure situation. John bested his best six game series by over 150 pins. He absolutely killed it. It was awesome. [applause] Andy. Uh, and we got to get down to Ofallen, Illinois again. Last time we went there was four four and a half years ago. Uh, Sebastian Koopa. Sebastian is a four-time varsity starter. Four-year varsity starter, three-time AC academic allconerence, three-time allconference bowler. Sebastian, I'm sure he knew that he was all conference this year, but

009he just found out officially. a three-time sectional qualifier, a one-time Glumbard West Invitational champion rolling a 1376, and a 1X regional champion rolling a 1441. So, there are six sectionals in the state. There's 18 regionals. So, there's about 1,800 bowlers that try to qualify for the state. And on that day, Sebastian's was the third highest out of 1,800 in the state. So, his 1441 was only bested by the regional champ from Oallen, I think, and and one other I know I'm long-winded. I'm taking more time than you guys are like. Um uh and then obviously Sebastian is and he's been talking about it for about 3 years. Sebastian's kind of a a prodigy. He was he's got a beautiful swing since the time I met him and he was a 300 300 300 300 and

010then he finally got it at the regional opening opening game. He rolled the 300 which was very cool and then that's what led him to the 1441. Um thank you guys for recognizing these outstanding student athletes which is what I want to emphasize again. You know we have when we uh there was their sophomore year I had six starters and five of them were all academic allconerence. So fabulous job by these two and the rest of the team. [applause] Now we're going to get coached up on pictures. is right. >> Did she picture >> back here, guys? >> So, I'm going up with Sebastian and then John. >> Good job, sir. [snorts] >> Nice to see you. Great job. >> I want to be by the 300 guys. You got to step up a little.

011That was a good That's a great picture. You're >> missing someone. That little form. >> John, you're not joining us. >> He's going to do that. >> Okay. >> No, you got to keep >> Thank you. >> [laughter] >> All good. >> All right. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Thanks, guys. Come on up. Come on up. All right. All right. >> [applause] >> All right, great. Now we'll move on to girls bowling. So, I'd like to welcome up Denise Astudio and coach Tara Chavez. [applause] All right. Denise earned second place in the chair division of last weekend's IHSA girls bowling state finals. She rolled her personal best game of 163 to move into and hold on to second place. In fact, every game that Denise played at state was above her yearly average. Denise is

012only in her first year of her bowling career, but the impact she's had on the team has been very impressive. She's driven to become better with each practice. She makes her teammates better around her and she has a positive mindset even when she doesn't meet her own expectations which are always very high. Um there's not much more her coaches could ask for. Head coach Janick uh couldn't be here but he said that he also has Denise in chemistry class and he's thrilled by the motivation and attention to detail she demonstrates in the classroom as well as at the bowling alley. She is the total package is what she what uh Coach Janick said. I'm going to turn it over to Coach Chavez. First, I'd like to thank uh everyone for um taking the time to

013acknowledge such an incredible athlete here. Um I'd like to thank our administration um obviously you the board um and uh and Mike Malone uh from Wooddale Bowl. Um so Denise joined Fenton's girls bowling team back in November. Uh she came in with virtually no experience but always with a great attitude. Uh she started the season bowling games kind of in the 80 to 90 pin range. uh by mid-season maybe averaged no more than a 100 pins per game, but her determination never wavered. Bowling was new to her. Uh and there were many moments that, you know, were quite challenging, but Denise never caved in. Uh she never complained uh only about the music maybe playing at the bowling alley. Um but she never ever quit. Uh which is why it was no surprise that she

014qualified for the IHSA girls bowling state finals. Um anyone can taught can be taught how to bowl well. um over time. But Denise possesses skills that can't be taught. Uh skills such as grit, bravery, and intuition. I don't think anyone understands the amount of bravery that it takes for a chair bowler to approach the lanes while being surrounded by more experienced bowlers whipping their ball down the lane. It can be quite intimidating. Denise persevered and quickly developed skills that set her apart. For example, she would ask me, "Coach, how many boards should I move, you know, to pick up this pivotal spare?" Um, and I would tell her just do three to the left. Uh, she'd make a face and she'd be like, "What about you?" And I said, "Go with your gut. Trust your

015gut." Um, and so she released the ball to pick up that spare and it was perfect. It was a perfect pickup. That's the type of instincts that she developed over the course of such a short season. During the state finals this past Saturday, Denise arrived at the bowling alley ready to conquer and she brought her agame. Something just clicked. She bowled her personal best, outperforming herself after every single game of the series. Although we were away at Rockford, Denise made sure they knew this was her house and she wasn't going to play, which is why it was no surprise that she placed second individually overall, beating out experienced junior and senior bowlers. She's only a sophomore. To say we are proud is an understatement. On behalf of Coach Janick and me, coaching Denise has been

016an absolute blast. Watching her metamorphis into this stellar athlete. If this season has taught us anything, it's that we cannot wait to see what happens next because it's going to be incredible. Congratulations, Denise. You deserve this recognition and so much more. [applause] side by side. There you go. All right. Excellent. Great job. Great job. Great job. Karen, do we have any public comments tonight? >> No, we do not. Our next item isformational items, Sam. >> Okay. So, we have a few items here uh as you can see this evening. And to kick it off, we're going to start out with sort of a superintendent transition update. And to start that off, we have HYA here. Uh we have Karen Carrie and Lynn Burks here this evening who you may remember we've seen them in prior

017months. Here they come. Great to see them. Yeah. Dr. Carrie Federaro, Dr. Lynn Burks. Uh but anyway, uh obviously we're we're in the sort of still the beginning stages of the transition, but they're going to talk to the board about that and I have a few real quick updates after that. >> All right, >> Carrie. >> Well, thank you. Um, good [snorts] to see all of you again. Plus one, welcome. And thank you for volunteering your your time, talents, and skills to the to the board here at Fenton. Um, I think we told you once or I did live when went and used this um this type of language that, you know, we're in a relationship with you and we appreciate your support and going with us to help secure your next next leader. Um,

018but you won't be able to get rid of us. [laughter] We stick like gum at the bottom of your shoe. And and so if you call us up tomorrow, we're happy to be here. If you call us up in three years and five years, we're happy to support support Fenton. We build our HY builds our business on service to our client and and we value we value that that relationship. Um um you're right. You're you're four months out from a new leader, Dr. Klene. Um and we know he's excited and honored to be your next super superintendent. And we're here to make sure um things get off on the on the right foot. And we're here to say we want to support you in a transition. And we are happy um to detail out a

019plan to help you as the board um and to help your incoming incoming superintendent to set everybody up for for success. We provided with you um our Cadillac version of transition plans to give you an an I an idea what we can what we can um uh do for you in support. Um but um we're ready to help you today immediately um with your transition and [clears throat] it could be both informal and formal. Um and I'm going to turn over to Lynn and she'll talk a little bit about what we share with you in your in your packet, but that's not an official proposal. That's to give you an idea of the um the realm of services that we can provide. >> We didn't actually hand that packet out. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah.

020Okay. We'll read it to you. [laughter] >> No, we won't. Um so, if you're interested, we um there is a we have a executive transition proposal that builds on research from AGB, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, from AASA and from Sherm. So, it's a five-phase process. Transitions are are are really important. You've been through a lot as a board, as a community, and I think this transi transition in particular is is really important to make sure that you start your new chapter here at Fenton. There's a cadence that comes with transition as well um that we believe is important. there's a timeline that respects the current leadership and then ensures that there's enough support for that new leadership. Um and so you'll see also there are intentional checkpoints in that transition period that includes

021um the chair uh the president of the board and the new leader. Um and um and you'll see that you know by by 6 months you kind of transition from new leader to you know kind of an experienced leader. Um so as Carrie talked about this is formal. It's the Cadillac. You're also you have new board members. You're starting a new relationship with the new leader. That governance structure is really important. So, you know, the just the plan that that we did put forth just includes all of those elements. So, you know, take a take a look at it. You can also take certain modules that you feel you may need and or you can add to it as well. But I don't Carrie and I really transitions are really important. They need to be

022purposeful and intentional and you have a superintendent right now as well. So you need to make sure that those transitions are are appropriate and those cad the cadence of those transitions are appropriate. Um and this is from years and years of executive transitions. >> And if you would like us to start supporting you and and Dr. Klein immediately our our recommendation is for a meeting between us um your president Lewis and and Dr. inclined to start um detailing out the first several several steps um and then assess what's needed moving moving forward. But we would suggest um to have that meeting uh between the four of us to get us off on a on a good start right now. >> That sounds sounds like a good plan, sir. >> Any other question comments from the

023rest? I have a comment. I'd like to see a situation in which um Dr. Klein has some real meaningful autonomy in contributing his leadership to our school district. Uh and to some extent um distancing from HYA so that his vision is the priority and not those from outside stakeholders who are not members of this community and have no stake in this community. Yeah. >> July the 1st is completely rest on his shoulders. This is that'll be his time to shine >> and I think whatever >> his time to shine I think can begin now and I think it should be Dr. Klein, whose leadership represents the transition plan, not HYA. What HYA has presented it has been at the request of the board. What HYA has presented as uh is because that's what we hired

024them to provide. So really this is just managing the transition talking about >> Yeah. There's no input on our side. No best practices. >> Absolutely. >> From Harvard graduate school. Yeah. From from four reputable sources. We we have no input in this. We we just facilitate the process. It's your >> nothing new. And this is all part of what we already [clears throat] hired you for. So, this is a continuation of what we've already I mean, if it's just simply managing and and providing [clears throat] a a conduit or maybe an outline, I mean, this is new for a lot of us. I I I don't personally have a problem with it. I I I mean, I personally read uh Jason's plan. I I understand his vision for moving forward. It just just smooths out

025the transition at this period in time as none of us have ever been through it. I I certainly don't think it hurts if all it is is a more of a manager's role. It's not an input role. I I get I get what the doctor's saying on one hand, but I also know somebody kind of has to lay the ground rule, not ground rules, but have to best practices and and help to transition more smoothly. I mean, this is from my world, a transition of a fire chief is 6 weeks. A transmission of a transition of a superintendent is 6 months. And this just blows my mind from my past life. And I understand the reasoning why with transition. I'm I I'm personally comfortable with it as long as it's more of a an adisement

026type of a role and not an input role. I I get both sides of this argument. I truly do. >> It's it it was born out of like you said, we've never been through this process. We have a sitting superintendent that did a great job filling in for us and we have a new superintendent coming in that isn't current a superintendent. So we have new superintendents all around. We just want to be more familiar with the process and what that should look like. So guidance from them is just on the process and the transition as far as a plan forward. That was uh that's that's a different subject matter. >> Please be cautious making assumptions about the entire board. I have been through this process before. Thank you. >> I said that's what it was

027born out of. Thank you. And just to clarify. >> Yeah, sure. So I Oh, John or me? >> Yeah, just clarify. And I thought it was just to help us through this. No, I I was I >> I'm It's new to me. And >> you know, Sam's transition was under very trying times and it was totally different than Yeah. >> than than than Jason's transition is going to be. And I I I personally I'm I'm comfortable with it. I do understand where the doctor's coming from. >> I understand where you're coming from. I if this is going to smooth it out, make it easy and flow and I don't have a problem with it. I want to give everybody the best chance to do their job and settle in and you know >> Reed >>

028Nikita anybody else >> anything else anything else you like? >> What's your input sir? >> Yeah well my input is I mean I appreciate HYA being out here tonight obviously I I is any task that I'm assigned I researched it. I talked to Carrie personally on how do we get this started? what are some informal things to do? And so, um, I can rest assured that, uh, Jason Klein is doing his due diligence as he's preparing for the position. We're in this informal time frame. And so, therefore, that's a good thing because he's had the opportunity to attend many events, talk to people very informally, not as in any sort of authority position, but trying to get to know the culture, trying to get to know people. He and I have also had conversations um

029again informally and getting to know each other and starting to you know here's some things to to be thinking about. So as far as that goes you're right this transition process you know it's a pretty long time but what ends up happening is all of the sudden it's March and all of a sudden it's April and the like. So, I can assure the board that that there's thought put onto this from both of us and we're getting along very well. And I think as we get closer, there'll be more formalization where there'll be opportunities. I mean, he's already gotten to meet many of our administrative team, but more formalized type opportunities. He's going to need to meet with union leaders. He's going to need to meet other key individuals in the community so we can

030help facilitate those things. But what I think the purpose of tonight is for HYA to come in, let them know they're here. They're part of the process, and as time goes on, um the board can rest assured we'll be making these these transitions. But it's good to hear from the board perspective kind of like what's important as as we move forward. But again, beginning stages, things are going well. I want the board to understand that. I want the community to understand that. Um, and so I think we we'll continue to get more formalized type things as we get into March and April would be my it would be my guess. But I know Carrie is and Lynn are always available and uh then I can contact them or and see see their thoughts on things

031because they've been through it quite a bit. I I really appreciate that and especially um we are members board members that we never been into this situation and the more information that we can get I believe is going to be beneficial. Some of the some of you guys are being uh in different situations. Maybe you guys handle correctly, but in my case, I don't. And I need support and I need to know where I'm going. For some of you, this one is easy because you've been there before, but not myself. If I'm agree with that and I'm totally agree and I request that one that support very good any other comments what I could do is I could share that packet with the the board members also >> ask if it's possible to to actually

032see what the transition >> absolutely yeah we could pass it around now I mean that's not a problem we want to help Karen out over there so she can >> again this is our whole shebang and right we weren't exactly sure specifically what you're looking for and so we showed you everything that we could we could offer in the in this packet here >> thank you thank Um Carrie Lynn at your what you suggested earlier. I'll be in discussions with Dr. Dr. Klein to u sit down as you suggested. >> Yeah. the sooner the >> about a good date to do that with >> the sooner the better to to assess the needs and start developing the initial part of of the transition. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um if there's no more comments or anyone

033else have >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Take care. Good to see you. We'll see you again. >> Good to see all you. And then this is just a slide which kind of I just summarized earlier. So again, Jason's here tonight. Thank you, Jason, for being here. And uh he's here, right? Yeah, he's still here. He's still here. He didn't leave. Okay, good. He's going to stick it out for us. All right. Thanks, Jason. All right, summer school dates in preview. >> All right, so we're already thinking about summer school. So, this is just a little preview that we do every year to let you know when the summer school dates are. We will still have two sessions. Um what we've moved to is we primarily have in-person sessions in our

034first session. So it starts a little bit later this year because we started school later. So it's Monday, June 8th through Wednesday, July 1st. We run summer school Monday through Thursday um and from 8:30 a.m. to 12:45. So the in-person classes focus mostly on English uh and math. Those classes are in person. And then we have credit recovery, which is online for students. And those are classes that fewer students um uh fail. So, we don't [snorts] have a teacher there. It might be, you know, one or two kids that need to take a chemistry class or something like that. Um, but one thing that we're introducing into session one is our incoming freshman summer matters math intensive. So, we're going to focus on incoming freshmen who have lower test scores. Uh, 15-day intensive. If they

035do well in that course, they'll be able to go into math one. And even if they don't um show the required skills for math one, that'll at least give them a jump start. They'll feel more comfortable coming into math one. So really really excited to get that off the ground in session one and that will be in person with a teacher. So excited about that. Session two is much much smaller. It is credit recovery only although again looking for ways to um increase opportunities for our students. We're going to have a teacher supported math acceleration. So again we're focusing on students who are behind grade level and they can come in say um they're juniors who are in a math 2 class instead of math 3. They can have that extra support so that they

036can get up to grade level. So again, looking for ways um for our students to make sure that they're on track for graduation and going into career and college and all of the things that they want to do. So that's just a little bit of a preview of what we have coming up in the summer. Okay, next we have Britney is going to come out from behind the the technology hub over there and actually present for us on uh primarily the -ate. >> Yes. Uh thank you everybody for your time this evening. Um it's that time of year where I provide a technology update related to our rate funding as well as our upcoming purchase of Chromebooks for the incoming freshman class. Very similar to my presentation last year, I'll go over what is um

037uh details about our funding for the next 5year cycle and our purchasing plan for the next 5 years. Uh as you all know, -ate provides funding for schools and libraries for discounted internet and related services and infrastructure. We're starting year one of a new 5-year cycle. It's administered through USA or the universal service administrative company uh through fees applied to telecommunication companies. There are two categories of funding. Category one is our internet. There is no funding award or budget limit for that. Category two is our related infrastructure and services. Uh that funding award is determined at the start of the cycle. So this year we got an update for -ate 2026 through rate 30. Um it takes your fall enrollment count and multiplies it by USA student multiplier. Uh as you can see on the

038slides here, it looks like it's jumped quite a bit uh to account for inflation. So that kind of offset as you can see we actually had more we have more funding this cycle than we did last. Uh but you can see our enrollment has gone down. So that's kind of offset that. So for category 2 in total we have approximately $271,000 of which a certain amount is reimbured to us and that reimbursement rate is determined by our participation in the National School Lunch Program. Um as you all know we're part of the C program that provides free breakfast and lunch for all of our students. It is a four-year commitment. We are currently in year three. Uh same as last year, we're receiving uh for this rate cycle, year 1, uh the highest discount rate

039available for both category 1 and category 2. Uh so 90% discount or reimbursement rate for our internet service and 85% for our category 2 purchases. Um next year is year four for C, so I'd imagine our discount rate will continue to be the highest. And if we continue with CP beyond that, um I assume our discount rate will will be the highest as possible, though that's determined year-to-year. Uh with -ate funding, you're not obligated to spend a certain amount, uh each year. Instead, the name of the game is to maximize it in that 5-year cycle or you lose it. Uh what's been historic for Fenton and with a lot of other districts is that they al we align it with our device refresh cycle. Uh so last year we purchased primary networks uh switches in

040the spring. This year, our secondary network switches, which are installed throughout our network closets in the building, need to be refreshed. Uh, so formally next month, I will request board approval for that purchase. [gasps] Looking beyond years 2 through 5, I don't anticipate, as it stands right now, utilizing category 2 funding in year 2, 3, and four. However, year five, it'll be time to refresh our wireless access points. So, we'll use the rest of that uh - funding to supplement that purchase. Uh, as far as where we are in this year's -ate cycle, uh, we're currently in the 28-day waiting period. We've put our proposal out to bid for vendors, uh, specifications on make, models, quantities, etc. Uh, that 28-day waiting period ends the first week of March, at which time we'll review the proposals

041we receive and select the vendor that best meets our needs. Uh, next month's board meeting, I will officially request board approval for the purchase of the secondary network switches. We'll pay for those in full. rate uh allows you up until September of the following year to complete the project. But what's been typical for us given the time we purchase and when we typically receive the items, uh we make that part of our summer project for that year. So uh updating our secondary network switches is on the docket for us for this summer. Uh once we complete that purchase, we certify that with USAC and request reimbursement. Uh and we typically get that the following spring. Our second update is related to the class of 2030's Chromebooks. Uh we're entering the 13th year of our onetoone

042device program in which every student here at Fenton uh receives a Chromebook when they start and it's theirs to use for their time here. Uh we've transitioned to Lenovo Chromebooks and will continue to do so for the class of 2030. Uh we really appreciate Lenovo's commitment to the reinforced structural components and their devices. Uh we know there's a lot of wear and tear with students uh Chromebooks and we definitely see it all. So we appreciate uh the the reinforcement of the screen, the hinges, the back and front covers. Um and we're going to continue to use a line that allows for two in one convertible touchcreens that our students are used to. Uh it's a bit of a tumultuous time for technology sourcing. Uh you all may have heard in the news uh with the

043rapid increase of data centers and large scale computing operations uh certain PC components are difficult to source. Uh so Lenovo has gone uh for any uh of their generations going forward they're all in on MediaTek processors. You may have heard shortage on Intel processors specifically. Uh I think it'll be a good thing for our kids. Uh the way the MediaTek processors are designed, they're more efficient, which means longer battery life on a single charge and overall better lifespan of the battery, which is good news for our students. If you ask anybody in our Chrome zone, do you uh we hear about quite a bit that their uh Chromebook needs to be charged or it doesn't have enough juice. So, I think this is good for them. >> [laughter] >> Um, that being said, with that

044sort of tumultuous uh uh uh timeline we're dealing with, I've uh leveraged reaching out to vendors that we've worked with in the past, as well as some that have been vetted by uh nearby K12 districts. In addition, I am utilizing Illinois Learning Technologies quote request program. They anonymously uh reach out for requests on our behalf. Uh so, I'm reviewing all of our options. Uh the plan is to purchase 310 devices within a warranty and the necessary Google Chrome licensing. Uh what's typical uh as in years past is we'll uh supplement this purchase with some Title One funds uh of at least $57,600 for this year. Uh for context, I threw up uh what our total cost was for the class of 2029 Chromebooks. We were looking at $339 per device with a total with the

045licensing and warranty of $167,000. Uh so again come March uh I will have official numbers for you all and we'll be seeking board approval for the purchase. >> What happened to the devices that uh happen to survive in decent condition beyond the warranty? >> Oh we we utilize these uh so we have we have a fleet of loaners that we use uh throughout the school day. Students that don't bring their devices or they don't have enough charge they can swap for that. uh those in good shape. We really leverage that warranty till its very end. We'll send those out after they come back from our graduating seniors who opt not to purchase and those are used. We just got through state testing. We had 40 Chromebooks available for kids that didn't have it. Um so

046they're used for a variety of purposes. We're all in on Minga, so we have check-in stations. Those are great uh devices to use for those. So we really maximize them until they don't turn on anymore. Yep. Okay. Great job, Britney. Appreciate everything you do. >> Okay, now we're going to move on to uh we're going to have gentlemen from Honeywell come forward. And this is sort of a follow-up presentation for what we talked about last time with a little bit more in-depth information as far as potentially what Honeywell can offer us. >> All right, thanks for having me back and nice to meet the full group tonight. So, uh, whoever is in in control, yeah, the Wizard of Oz, we can move here. So, we talked a little bit about this in the in the

047last meeting, but for the folks that are seeing this for the first time. Um, what we're working on here is what is called an energy savings performance contract. In the state of Illinois, there is a specific statute that talks about energy efficiency. And basically the basis of the statute is to allow schools to use some of the purchasing power of more energy efficiency and saving money that they pay on utility bills to move forward some large expense um expenditures that come up over time. So, what we've done so far and what we're working on right now is we've taken a look and the things that we're looking at as far as energy efficiencies go here at the high school is solar, lighting, um, building envelope and water conservation. We took a look at the controls

048and we know that there's been significant amount of work done there. So, when you see there when we have the X's, it's really kind of what we're recommending at this point. Um, I can share a little bit more than what's up there, but the lighting looks to be a good investment for the district to change over to those lights and provide that saving. Um, these are a pretty good version of what you guys have in some spaces and, you know, we would match that throughout, but that new version of those lights would provide a significant amount of savings over time and would be a good investment. Um, we're continuing to investigate the solar. We will have we have engineers tentatively scheduled for next week if we decide to move forward. Um but we've gathered a

049significant amount of information so far because we are trying to stick to a pretty tight deadline um that the federal government has put forward with the one big beautiful bill anniversary starting on July 4th of 2026 and there being some milestones that need to be hit by then. So you can go ahead and move to the next one. I'm going to talk um a little bit about what you see here. So, we know we can get panels on the new section. So, on the left all the way down there in the corner where you're, you know, our Google map did not show your new building. Thank you, Vanna White. [laughter] Uh we got uh we got the the panels over there showing you'll see it's kind of in an odd array because we do know

050that you do have some rooftop units on there. Um so, that's why it's kind of misshapen like that. But on the other side, there were some plans for roofing going forward in your capital plans. And what we're bringing folks out to do is to tell us exactly what the structural supports are of those roofs. And what we get is a pounds per square foot report based on how many pounds per square foot the sections of the roofs can handle and the age of the roofs. That allows us to make recommendations of which pieces of your roof, which sections of your roof likely do not need a replacement over a long amount of time and will not need a reinforcement that makes the investment into the solar not worth it. So, those are all the things

051that we're working towards at this point. Everything that we're going to talk about in numbers, our engineers do a good job, but they're preliminary, right? We need to get everybody on site. We need to give you hard numbers. So the thing that we're talking about today is is there enough information and interest from you all for us to continue down this path. Um and at the end of that path if we go our separate ways and do not move forward on any part of the project there is a break fee associated with and I shared a contract with Doug. Um, but really at the end of that, if we do all of our due diligence and we deliver all of these plans to you, the worst case scenario here in this situation is that you

052all would end up with fully exe, you know, you could execute on those plans in the future at a basically a a third or a quarter of the cost you would normally pay an architect or somebody to design those plans. You would have plans that are ready to move forward with. So the worst case scenario is we go our separate ways, it doesn't work out for timing, whatever reason, you guys would still have deeply discounted um plans that you could execute on when the time is right. So that's what we're kind of talking about today. So if we go to the next slides, we get through to the numbers and we we made a couple assumptions here and I'm trying to boil down the savings um as as as simply as I can here. So

053within the federal tax credit, almost every county around Chicagoland except for Rockford, and I forget what the name of their county is, but out by Rockford. Um, yeah, there you go. And then so we can get an extra 10% because they have been determined as energy. We have lost energy coal jobs over the years. So because of that loss, there's an extra 10%. So the way you can get to the 40% federal tax credit that significantly discounts that solar is by using a non taxdeerred method of payment. So, if you guys pay out of operating funds, you guys do not use a tax deferred bond, you do not use a taxexempt lease option that we could help with, as long as you guys do not pay with another double dip of tax deferred payment, you

054guys can get up to that 40% credit. So, what that does to your project is it is a $2.3 million um approximate. We have, you know, other close numbers, but 2.3 million approximately on the solar. The district would only pay 1.2 million of that total $2.3 million cost because the 40% comes right off the top. We would take that payment once you get it delivered from the federal government. So this first scenario is taking into consideration that you are using a non- taxdeerred payment for the solar so that we can maximize that 40% credit. If we are to do that and then do the lighting, building envelope, and water and get the savings that we believe we can get where it says savings are approximately $214,000 per year, which would be um approximately $4.28 million

055over the 20-year term. Those savings are coming from the dollars that are going out the door that you're spending on utilities right now. So, we're talking about a budgetneutral option where instead of those dollars paying for the electricity that you're using every day, those dollars are now paying for some upgraded lighting, some solar, um, some building envelope, and some water. So, it's the same dollars going out the door. It's just where they're going and the return that you are then getting on them. I did another scenario. Well, I have the cash flow for this um from the solar. Um and so this is just the solar breakdown and where those savings come from the state of Illinois. Why this works a little bit better than other places is we have something called wrecks and those

056wreck revenues which are basically smack dab in the middle about $57,000 there is an Illinois shines program that basically says thank you for not using other carbon created energy and those are certificates that get paid like a commodity every year. So we help you measure the production that comes along from it. So the state of Illinois guarantees that for 20 years and then the cost savings that you see highlighted in the yellow that add up to, you know, about 158,000 that is strictly coming off your utility bills. So when you put all of those things together, that's a big driver of this. As I mentioned, the lighting does have a payback as well um within that 20ear span that adds to those savings. So this is just a perspective on the solar portion of the

057project and you'll see that's where we did the calculations there. You'll see the sale price 2.3 million. You'll see the cost to customer at 1.2 something my eyes from here. But the 40% off the top for the tax credit. The comm incentive that you see next to it um also goes along with that. So you guys are paying in the low 50% as we charge through, you know, the end of this federal tax incentive. I have cash flows that yeah, here we go for like the the 20 years. And so what you can see there, um, a couple things to take note of in this, and if it's available to you on your screens and you guys to look at later, the customer cash contribution you'll see is in years uh, not zero, but one,

058two, and three. That $400,2 represents that 1.2 two that we were talking about that the district would be responsible for out of the $2.3 million solar project. >> I got I got a first of a number questions. >> Yep. >> Here. >> So, if it's a customer cash contribution, shouldn't that have brackets around it? Because energy savings should in my world should be a positive. Customer cash contributions if that's what we're putting in should, you know, be a negative. >> Yeah. And then somehow you've got then there's lease payments that are negative and then somehow you come up to 566. Now I haven't run that you know through a calculator but can you explain that presentation to me? >> Yeah so our our finance team I cannot explain the use of the brackets and the

059not use of the brackets but I can tell you that I work [clears throat] through this with them. Um and >> you want to go for it? >> Yeah. when you're looking at this uh we're not treating like a traditional balance sheet. Uh so we're we're treating capital contribution like capital cost avoidance. So it's a it's a input you know into the project itself and then the net aggregate is what we're looking at at the bottom. So um at the end of the day this this cash flow which I which I had my glasses. >> Oh by the way are we leasing this? Are we owning that? cuz I see lease payments. >> So you would own the asset and then the the one version of a of a you know taxexempt um you know

060debt debt tool is a tax exempt lease. Some people use geo bonds um some people you know will use private placements uh which is a which is a end run. So this one explicitly >> we took into account that you would only pay cash for the solar and the lighting and those other pieces are where the lease portions would come in. So >> who owns a lease? Who gets that money? >> Uh it's up to your financial adviser. If you have somebody that you work with, we have a team that can do an RFP and bid it out. >> I didn't know if Honeywellers are these. >> No, it's not ours. We Honeywell will not own it. We have a team that will go out, Bank of America, um, Win Trust. Um, if there's banks

061that you guys would like to include, we would include that. But we're not, you know, we're not in the business of financial advisors or lending the dollars. >> Just exactly who do you work for again? You're not Honeywell. >> I am Honey Well. >> You're Honeywell. >> Yeah, we're both Honey Well. >> All right. But in the me Okay. So you worry about the the actual wiring and the panels. >> We Yes. Our engineers are the ones that come out. They do the scope of work, right? We go out and we walk actual folks that will do the installs. Okay. >> Um so we are the ones managing the whole process, putting the numbers together, make sure we're competitively bidding everything, which financing could be part of that, but also, you know, we have three

062bids on lighting. >> We own title. We can finance it because we're taking a loan, but do we own title to this stuff? >> Yeah. Yes. >> Yes. >> You would be the owner. >> Are you the only ones doing this? You You act like you guys You guys have been hitting all the school from what you know. >> We are not the only ones doing this. I met three other people at the superintendent conference last week that do this in this area. Um, it is the same model, right? Under the same Illinois statute, >> but we of course are not the only ones. >> So, I'm not sure unless I talk to the other guys where I'm getting the best price yet or not. >> So, what we're using here is Sourcewell. >> Sourcewell

063is a competitively bid contract. >> What? Yeah. What is a Sourcewell exactly? >> Yeah. So, Sourcewell is a contract that went out and the same way that you all would put out an RFP for a product or service. >> Yeah. They put that out to all the companies that could respond. >> Okay. >> A bunch of companies responded and only so many made the list. What Sourcewell then does um the same way you could use it to buy a new pickup truck. >> Yeah. >> Is they would say based on what Honeywell's service we're providing you. So um solar panels, design and implementation, uh lighting, all of those things, they've all been line item in the source well contract. These other they set these companies meet the qualifications of the bid. >> Correct. And then

064source well sets the margin and cost plus model for each of the different services. >> And who's the supplier for these things and what's their warranty? These I haven't heard anything about what happens when one of these things fails 10 years down the road. >> So you will get a warranty from the manufacturer. >> Who's that? >> We don't know yet because we haven't bid it out. >> Okay? because we want to bid it to get the best price for you all. So, we're not going to just take it to somebody that we've done business before. >> So, these numbers could change. >> These numbers could change. That is possible. I So, I said at the beginning, this is a preliminary modeling of what we think is possible. What we would be agreeing to today

065is taking something like this and saying, "Here is three bids for this lighting. Here is three bids for this solar. Here is three bids for this." And what we would say, who do you want to work with? We would put all of the numbers together. And at the end of that whole process, we would give you the menu of those items and say, hey, the solar gives you a good return here. This is the numbers we have. The lighting gives you a good return here. We would recommend this. The building envelope. You guys would have the choice at the end of that process whether to move forward with any, all of it, anything in between. But at that point, what we're putting in front of you is guaranteed numbers to deliver the construction for >>

066that point. >> And then we're also putting in front of you guaranteed savings. >> So let's say we we go out and scope part of the project and we don't look in a wall and find something that's going to be a major problem for what we're trying to do. >> We're on the hook for that. >> We have to do it within the price that we already negotiated. So, this contract I'm looking at covers this this uh vetting process here. >> We're talking about an investment grade audit. So, what you're agreeing to is that it is a worthwhile venture for the board to see if our preliminary numbers >> and if we're close to those numbers, if it then makes sense to negotiate and talk about real numbers. So, to your question about the panel

067that goes out, there will be a manufacturer warranty. we will help you get that replaced. But let's say because that panel [clears throat] was out and if somehow our data doesn't tell us, you will have a dashboard. Our data will tell us, we will likely know that panel is out. Your team will know that panel is out. But let's say that panel is out for an extended period of time and it hurts your production >> and you don't save as much money as we guaranteed. We will write you a check for the difference >> of the money that we agreed on to save you every year. >> Well, somebody's going to have to manage us for the next 20 years. Is that you guys and watch the dashboard? >> There is a measurement and verification

068process that we commit to the Illinois um renewable energy certificates in order to get those payments. There is an approved vendor requirement. Um and there is reporting that we will help you all do. Um you guys will have access to all of the data and those things. >> So we pay you a management fee. Not it is going to be more significant on the front end to send things up, but it's not going to be a neverending management fee of and I should say of any real it is not going to cut into the savings in a way that's going to make the project ineffective. We're talking a low percentage based on the you know, if we're talking about $214,000 worth of savings, >> you know, we haven't we haven't gotten to the number yet,

069but we're not talking like 10%. We're talking a very low singledigit percentage. >> I'm not for the for the moment I kind of have to believe everything you're telling me. And I'm used to larger projects like that. I usually have the comfort of having to talk to a couple of people of of what to do whatever I'm whatever I'm you know trying to trying to bid out. >> Yeah. >> So, but I do have one last question. >> Sure. >> And then I I see on your project timeline that I have. >> Yeah. If you want to I it's coming. Yeah. >> Yeah. And I that go back for a minute. All right. There's another thing I want to tell you. >> Excuse me. that thing that looks like just so much of a listing

070listing of numbers to me. You know, I don't see a flow or roll into any kind of conclusions. It's got numbers, but I'm not convinced they're going anywhere. But keep moving to your other other thing there >> and that I don't know. All right. Now, somebody must have fixed that. And I just happened because I caught it over the weekend. Now, it just so happens that mine says collect bids and present to Hinsdale 86. So, I just want to make sure that we got our numbers and not Hinsdale cuz I don't know how many times you're circulating these. I So your timeline right there, February 2026, what we're talking about right now is the investment grade audit development utilizing the Sourcewell cooperative. >> All right. >> Um and then following through March 2026, as I

071mentioned, we already gathered quite a bit of information for you guys. We were able to get people to go at risk at no cost to you all um on the project. So, we've gathered actually a little more information than we normally have at this point. >> Um, so then in April 2026, what we're talking about there um is what you're talking about. We're coming to you with real hard and fast numbers that we can discuss um and agree on and decide whether or not the measures that we're bringing forward are a worthwhile venture for you all. >> All right. All right. I'm done. >> That's fair. >> Can I jump in real quick? >> Yeah. You know, one other thing that we do throughout our workshops is we do everything open book pricing. So you

072see every bid like you would for any other, you know, construction event. You see our fee structures, our our, you know, our management time, all of our engineering time. So it's a completely transparent model. And that's it actually mimics the source wall cooperative purchasing contract which actually has my name on it nationally. So um >> All right. All right. >> Yeah. And and in this situation, what is the the money that is available through the federal tax credit is urging the movement of a little bit more speed and that's what the source well co-op is designed to do that I've gone through. Yeah. >> So I can appreciate the fact there's some federal money at stake but I don't want to overlook the other customary aspects that I would look at on a project of

073this size and have to in a fashion put all my eggs in one basket sometimes. So you're going to get you're going to see all of the all of the things that we're talking about here for the energy conservation. You will see multiple quotes for all of those things. >> Would you say your estimate at this time is conservative? Very conservative and more worst case. >> It's conservative. Honeywell as a company. Um you asked if there's other people that do this. Yes, there are other people that do this. We um in comparing numbers on the construction side um we're usually going a little bit over and preparing numbers in this preliminary phase we're usually being a little conservative under. So um we're trying to be conservative on both sides uh to give you a a

074fairly fair picture so that when we come back together um it's not a surprise. We're trying to surprise to the upside. Um, so at this point I would say, you know, the the numbers are conservative. We will um I've heard some things from our our some other projects in Minnesota that we just put together about percentages that we were actually over and things like that, but that's what this process is for. This process is for us to get you hard and fast numbers to make decisions together if that's, you know, worth going down that path. And that's when we will make those numbers real guaranteed in both directions. >> What's the number of years for the break even point? And you may have shared that, but I'm drowning in all these numbers. >> It's on

075the end of the solar there. So you'll look the the very small um you'll see there's a like a $3.75 $3.75. So that simple payback in green on the right um that has the years there. >> So these pay themselves off in 7.2 years. >> Overall together the entire size of the array um would be seven I think it's >> 76. >> Correct me 7.6. >> Yeah. >> Yep. 7.6 approximately. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> So really this is the first series of steps. If we get further along, there'll be a small expenditure to us, but we can say no thank you once we get those hard numbers that Reed was looking for, once we see the breakdowns of the proposals. But in order to try and get this tax credit, we need to at

076least start the process now. But that doesn't mean we're bound to the process. If in >> yeah, >> May, June, we see the numbers and we realize this really isn't to our benefit, we can say thank you, we're not moving forward. So it's not like we're committing to everything today. We're just committing to the first step. >> Yes. And uh and the the whole number that's on that IGA contract is when we've completed everything, when we completed all of the work. So, one of the very first things that we're going to do is we're going to get a structural and electrical analysis. Let's say numbers come back and we have to rebuild structures with there's a whole bunch of other work that has to be done that we didn't plan for. We will let you

077know and all we are going to do is go dollar for dollar. what the cost was to gather that information at that moment. So, it's not like if you agree to go through with this tonight and sign that document that that whole number is it it it's all going to be dependent on where we are in the process, the information we gather um with the people that we're in this process with. We have weekly meetings. Um I talk to them way more than that, but we have weekly set meetings. Um, but we talk and every time we get information, good, bad, otherwise, we we share it. So there's there's plenty of off-ramps within this process. But that number signifies if we do all of the work, we deliver you plans on viable options that you

078guys can retain and for one reason or another you tell us that we're not going to move forward with anything, that would be the the largest amount that you would be on the board. You said remind me um how after tax incentives how much are we out of pocketing >> on the solar it would be 1.2 and then we're approximating for the lighting building envelope and water possibly another 900,000 um would be the rest of the project. So it's a $3.2 million project but because of the incentives on solar um there's some incentives on uh lighting as well. So that's going to be close. So if you do 3.2 minus about the 1.1 you're getting back on solar, there are some lighting things in there. So it's basically the district cost would be sorry of

079the total 3.2 that you see up there approximately 2.1 million. And all of those things will be hard and fast in a contract right when we get through this process if we decide to move forward. You mentioned that you would be bringing on a structural let's see to do a structural analy but also he do a electrical assessment of our >> Yeah. >> could you explain what would come out of that electrical analysis? >> Yeah. So if you in the February um 2026 >> before you explain cuz our building is kind of like you know 50 to 70 years old. >> Yep. And I know some things has been done. And I guess my concern >> hearing that is it still good enough to see value out of something like this without major internal improvement?

080>> So that's the first thing that we do. So, Commonwealth Edison's interconnection agreement um interconnection application requires two things. It requires a structural analysis and it requires an electrical um diagram of how we would connect the system to what you currently have. Okay, so those are the first two things that tell us is this viable. This project is really the savings are driven by the solar end of it. So, that's why those things are the first things that need to be done. It's also kind of the longest part of the process, right? Um going with KMED, delivering these materials, getting feedback on what you know they might have outside in their grid, what you guys have in the building. But part of the reason that we're doing those things first is most of the buildings

081that we're working with, especially like DuPage County, you know, suburbs around here, they started with one section of their building that was a small school, 80 100. We were at Evston today 150 years ago, right? They started as one smell section and they've just been making additions and additions and additions and additions. So, this is pretty normal um everywhere that we're working with. >> And so, the point of the investment grade audit is to get into those all of those systems and say, "All right, we're we didn't know that this electrical here was going to be an issue. This is what it's going to cost." And that's how we allow you to make the the decisions is we're really going to deep dive into all of those things and make sure we vet it um

082through this process >> with good validity. Is there room for it? >> Yep. >> One of the things I forgot we this is when you were here last month this came up. >> Yep. But the idea that you know if there's some cases where we had to put new roofing on or clearly we have some old sections what have you that that somehow or another and I clearly have no knowledge of this that you know if we were to put solar panels over somebody's you know new roof that whoever did that is going to think that's okay and make sure their warranties are still intact and I not sure where we left that. Yeah. So, I um in the other projects that we're working on, we've been connecting with the roofing companies. We have them

083come out and do an inspection before we put anything up there. We have them come up and do an inspection after. We understand their warranties, but we make sure to follow that. We're not drilling holes in flat roofs. Um it's a weighted, you know, racking system. So, um it's usually not a major issue is issue with the roofing companies. Um, but they usually have a process that we will make sure to follow in the installation and planning and all of those pieces so that we do maintain your warranties. >> Okay. Some do not like holes drilled in their roof. >> They do not like that question. >> So the style of roof >> Yeah. You guys are flat >> and the structure I would Yeah. If it was slanted, you couldn't get me up there.

084But it's I walk it's flat. >> Yeah. I mean, so there there it should not be, but it is that's also a normal part of the process. Okay. John, I know you've jumped around your presentation. Did you go over your the one with the financing option yet? >> I didn't. So, if you want to just bounce back to that, the the difference that I wanted to show you is if you finance the whole amount, right? That's what this this model here says. I didn't have another cash flow with all of those pieces cuz I think the the the piece to just think about here is if you were financing the whole amount using some kind of tax, you know, deferred financing, the difference in your savings is approximately $54,000 a year. Um because you're paying

0856% more on the front end because you're not getting the full 40% tax credit. It would move down to a 34% tax credit. and then just the cost of the financing on that full amount with that loss of 6% um reduces your savings by a little bit over a million dollars over the 20-year guaranteed term. So, I just wanted to give you perspective of the impact that using a non-tax deferred funding source for the solar could have. Um, and I thought this was the kind of the simplest way to to call that out. Any other questions from the board? Okay. C can we just go to that timeline slide again? So, as far as uh where this goes, we do have this down later in the meeting as an action item. Uh as far as

086the investment grade audit, uh as you can see, there is the timeline there. Uh that's why we're sitting here tonight and and taking a look at whether we want to approve that that portion. Uh as as was pointed out that July 4th tax credit, federal tax credit could go away and that's why the timeline is sort of as tight as it is. But I don't know if the board wants to discuss any further about their views on this here or wait for the the uh vote. >> Um whether we move forward. >> Um go ahead. >> Under Robert's rules, we should wait for the item to come up on the agenda uh for voting. >> That's reasonable. >> Sounds good. Okay. Any other questions? with whether we move forward with this or not, it still

087the structural analysis, the electrical assessment still gives us something valuable to us cuz it still helps us to assess our current building and it's something we have up front and won't have to pay for again in any other capacity. And and just to reiterate, if you got if you all go through with any piece of the project, any piece of it, then you that is it's just part of the work that we do to get the project started. So the clarifying point is the the investment grade audit counts as starting the project and ensures >> well the number that you all have on there right where it says the break fee the $98,000 that is only if we do not do any type of project right yeah that's it >> yep >> just to go

088could you go could you explain how because we have some new board members that weren't here when you first explained how starting the project excuse budget a lot first and this being one single building allows a period of time for us to address the rest of our roof and still have the entire project. >> Yep. Yep. So, that is the the real kicker for you all and what you have in your capital plans as far as addressing sections of roof um by doing a 5% spend on the project by July 4th um and also starting construction. So, the starting of construction could could simply just be the new wing um and that section of the project, that starting of construction now buys you three more summers of construction time. So, if you have roof sections

089built in into the future, you can keep this tax credit that is expiring through the safe harbor rules for um all the way through December. I think I don't want to screw it up, but 20 you you'll get three more summers of construction after this one. An opportunity to do that >> and portions of our roof are already due for replacement over the next few years. That's why they >> right and uh you know by design in a little bit we're going to go over another topic that Doug's going to walk the board through as far as >> what we want to do for for example for replacing roofs that are in poor condition. So everything's intertwined here okay >> tonight but it's right so it's contingent on different things. Okay, thank you very much.

090Speaking of Doug, he's going to continue our facility assessment and funding strategies. >> Good evening, board. >> Um, good evening board. Again, thank you for all the time and obviously we were wanting to spend a lot of time focusing on facility improvements and uh that's a a major point for us to to navigate tonight um with all the other things. But what we wanted to to touch base on is our continued conversations on on ways that we can improve the facilities and uh give we we've talked about this in some small portions of regular board meetings and and on some of our finance and facility committee meetings, but we just wanted to bring some of this again to to the attention of the board and and uh get some recommendations on on where to move

091forward uh with a few of these facility improvement planning uh ideas as well as some financing options. So again, a quick recap. 5 years ago, back in or a little over 5 years ago, back in 2020, we had the school district's architect firm, STR, complete a facility assessment um taking a look at a comprehensive plan to um address the needs of our buildings and grounds. and they came back in 2020 with $15 million or just under $116 million facility needs uh project for the purposes of uh issuing a a referendum. And in 2021, that same architect firm uh revised our our every 10 years we need to com complete a health life safety survey. And they completed a revised 10-year life safety survey in 2021. And of that $115.7 million of facility improvement needs, they

092identified 1.5 of that um 115 to be statemanded health life safety um projects that need to be completed uh to in order in within 10 years in order to maintain that compliance with ISBY between that 2021 and present day. We've made some significant improvements um to our facilities. Uh athletics, as you are most of you are very well aware, we've had some comprehensive stadium improvements with our track, our turf, our fencing, our restrooms, the asphalt surrounding uh and also the entryway to our our outdoor athletic facilities. In our academic areas, we have our wonderful STEM wing. Uh and we've begun some initial classroom renovations. We've we've modified uh five science classrooms. We've also modified and renovated a band room. And then addition uh some infrastructure uh adjustments have been made. We've uh approximately about 15%

093of the galvanized pipe that was identified in the health life safety survey has been completed. So we still have about 85% of the old galvanized pipe that needs to be replaced throughout the the building. We've replaced backflow pretor. That was another item on the health life safety. Um on our health life safety, we had some safety upgrades with um the fieldhouse exterior doors. Uh and we've done other infrastructured items with our uh our IBS or BAS system for for um our HVAC, so the electronics, the computer programs. So we've done a lot of work within the building. Um but as you see on this next slide, unfortunately that financially hasn't made a huge dent. Um, in 2025, this last fall, we had our architect firm STR update that 2020 facility assessment. Um, the the numbers

094are accurate. In 2020, the facility assessment was around 116 million. With those facility improvements we've made from 2020 to present day, they eliminated all of those items we've already completed, but due to costs of labor, cost of inflation, etc., the project has has increased to 123. That's again removing many of the items we've already completed. >> Yes, sir. Some of this looks to me to be a little mixed up, but I'll tell you why in a minute. Can you back up a All right. Because we're talking about some facility needs from STR. Okay, fine. Then we're talking about some statemandated safety improvements. Okay. Now, those are separate topics to me. >> Correct. >> All right. Now the athletics and the academics portion I'm going to round these off just for convenience. Athletics will say it

095was 10 million. The academics will call the 32 say 42 million and be around terms. Okay. But that's part of the 2020 deal. Okay. The safety compliance is the infrastructure with the galvanized pipe and what have you. Now, what I little I know about safet safety improvements is something about you're supposed to do those things with within 10 years or what have you, but I'm not going to I'm not going to wait into the details, but I am trying to separate a couple of different topics that they're showing up on the same on the same slide. Can you go to the next one? So, for instance, these fac this facility update assessment, you know, thing. This is all speaking to the to the 2020 study, >> correct? >> All right. So, we took at that

096time, we to $42 million off the table. We did the athletics. We put the addition on here someplace. Okay. And then what you're telling me is beyond that, as of 2025, there's uh an additional still $120,000 $120 million. Pardon me, wrong. Sorry, dropped a few zeros there. uh immediate infrastructure facility needs. That's kind of upgrade. Now, how much of this is wants and needs? You know, where's the bells and whistles? >> I I think what what Doug's trying to do is just provide context. >> Well, few million here and few million there, >> right? Well, but it's it's it's Yeah, he's he's building toward I think the main point of what we're trying to get to tonight. Um the these numbers here are good, better, best where you would actually add them all up. Um

097I think the main point here, not to speak for Doug, but I guess I am, is that through inflation or or whatever that that cost has gone up >> it it's not doesn't mean, >> you know, what what are all these items? I mean, that's not really we're going to go into that, >> but I understand what you're saying. They're two separate topics, but he's just trying to >> set some foundation uh to then continue with the presentation. >> Right. I need to understand a little bit of the flow now. >> Yeah, >> I'm better now. >> Understood. >> The the way that to answer your your last question and then um if if we're good, I'll continue to move on. the the architects identified more the closer thing to the needs in that tier

098one being good >> and then the nice to haves and the pie in the sky are tier two and tier three. >> So this is not necessar Okay. So there's some repetitive projects in here. It just depends how much you want how much money you want to throw away at them. >> Correct. Okay. Cuz I'm Well, then the total needs is 123. If that's those three numbers, you know, that's not quite representative the >> because these these are some of these are mutually exclusive depending on how what you how much how how much money you want to throw at the project. >> Correct. So the the the total needs that 123 uh million is the sum of the the good plus the better plus the best. >> Yeah. But I I thought a minute ago

099I understood that those differentiate depending on whether you just want to do a good job or a better job or the best job, although they're the same projects. >> The tier three, for example, just one thing in the the tier three has a complete tear down and rebuild of a facility, a a fieldhouse and a fitness center. That is not included in the tier one. Okay. >> So there are additional projects that go on in tier two and the tier three. >> Yep. Why is tier two cheaper than tier one? >> Tier 2 just has fewer additional projects. So tier one is a series of say round numbers 30 projects and then 20 additional projects on top of that 30 if that makes sense. >> Okay. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Tier one is we put

100in a we put in a shower that John tier three is we put in the executive washroom. I I I will agree with uh that. Yes, that that Yeah, that's a good way to put it. >> I got it. >> So, of to sort of tie the the previous slide to this slide um to what we were saying before, of course, $123 million worth of work is a ton of work. Um as an executive team, as an administrative team, we took a look at all of those facility needs and we tried to really get it down to what do we actually need? Of that work, we we identified around $15 million worth of work that we feel that could really improve our learning environments, the student life, and the the arts and the activities for

101our students and then also meet some of our baseline critical infrastructure and site safety needs. So again, 123 million, we're definitely talking referendum with something like that. But if we paired it down to the bare essentials of what we felt would really positively impact the learning environment, the student life, and the the infrastructure, we thought we could we could get it to around 15 million. And as you see in the learning environment, some older science classrooms that that still need to be renovated. Our our culinary labs could use a refresh. many of our CTE, our career and technical education class classrooms could use a refresh. Uh we we renovated our band room, but our choir room could use a refresh. Um up upgrades, uh we've we've heard presentations from students in the past, and it's

102also been an item for us. Our auditorium could use a really nice refresh. Um our fieldhouse and some of our athletic facilities could use use some updates. Um we've heard from from some community members, our tennis courts could use a nice refresh. And then obviously we heard from Honeywell. We know that we have a a large portion of our roofs are on expired uh warranties. So they're in a a need to be replaced as well as um things like our HVAC mechanicals. A lot of the the computer and software have been updated, but still the physical components uh could be could be redone. We know that uh for many of you who have been in our um our main gym, it would be nice to have some air conditioning in there, especially during those those

103um shoulder months of of the the school year. And then our parking lot um it could could use a a lovely update as well. So, those are some of the priorities. Of course, there are many other things, but we we really wanted to try to pair it down to a a tangible um dollar amount that we could potentially do something with. So with with that 15 million in in mind, this is sort of a funding strategy that we wanted to present to the board. Um we've talked about these things again in in the past and in both committee meetings and at at the regular board meetings. We from our water mitigation and our stemwing projects, we have about $5 million of carryover money that that is sitting in fund 60. That fund is specifically needed

104to be used for facility projects or capital improvement projects. We could take that five million and focus that directly on those classroom and extracurricular ideas. These are things that would positively impact our students learning environments, uh the student life, the student arts, etc. And then another funding option that was not available um until recently within the past two years um issuing a life safety bond uh which is we've we've talked about this in committee. We've we've we haven't officially proposed anything. We're we're again in sort of the exploratory phase, but issuing a life safety bond uh again we talked about this last month would be about a we'd estimate we need a $10 million life safety bond where we could then focus that money on those infrastructure, mechanical building improvements that would address life safety

105needs and things that are need to be done but they're not those exciting things that the kids and the community would see. >> Yes, sir. a life safety bond. Uh you've got it up there for for for 10 million, but what are the limits of something like that? >> A life safety bond does not have a limit. >> So in theory, if um so how the process works, I'll I'll kind of go through that last bullet point here. uh what we would need to do in order to get to that point of issuing a life safety bond, we would need the board to make action to approve uh an amended survey of our health life safety survey that was completed in 2021. If the board approved the process of amending the health life safety survey,

106a a licensed design professional, our architects, uh, Midwest Mechanical, even a Honeywell, there there would be a company that would come out and they would redo the life safety survey. That life safety survey would then come to the board. it would come to the administrative team and the the board for approval prior to going to the ROE and the state uh board of education. If they came back to us and said, "We have a you have $120 million worth of life safety needs," we would very politely ask them to revise that life safety prior to approving it. >> Your mic bring your mic down. >> No, bring the boom down so we can hear you. >> On and now it's on. There you go. >> So, we do have some we do have some we

107do have some controls and we can put in some some boundaries in that that life safety audit to make sure that that it's not something that is so uh unattainable that we'd have to issue a referendum or we'd have to borrow, you know, an exorbitant amount of money. >> This is something you did like 5 years ago, right? >> The audit was 5 years ago. >> Yeah, he's he he mentioned it at the beginning in 2020. But how much did it cost back then? >> The audit? >> Yeah. >> Uh, it was wrapped up into STR's feet. It wasn't broken now. >> I'm just trying to get I wasn't here the last time they did. I'm trying to get a little background, but it >> you That's my copy. Take it, read it. >> My

108knee-jerk reaction is it seemed like it would be a good idea. Okay. I'm missing a little details about how much it would cost, but you know, a life safety line and it and it seems to address needs is something that um in my world would seem to be a good idea. >> Yeah. When you first mentioned u a redo or update to that safety assessment, it would it drew my concern. Do we want to open that closet right now? cuz I didn't know we could have a strong say into ultimately what get put on that list. >> Yeah, I thought >> my first reaction was let's let sleeping dogs lie to take care of the last list. >> But it does help to know input on what gets put on there. >> I got a

109question because there's something about I remember John telling me one time once this thing's put put down on paper you're obligated. >> That's what I was That's what I was talking about. 10 years to get it done. Yes. That was my fear was you open that door and this >> Well, the nice thing. >> Yeah. The nice thing that Doug brought up though is now they've given us an additional funding mechanism short of a referendum. And I like that it has an end date. This is not perpetual. So, it's not going to be permanent. It's it's for a specific task. It's a specific amount. It's for a specific number of years. It has an end date. It goes away. We're done. And >> yeah, >> you know, that is appealing now because it gives us

110an option. It gives us a tool that was unavailable in the future. And as a taxpayer, I I like that it has a an end date. It's being >> specifically focused on projects that that meet certain criteria. It's not a pie in the sky. Yeah, we really want a fieldhouse. So, we're going to No, this is very focused, very specific, very researched going through several steps in the approval process. I mean, it it's grateful we have another option in a tax cap county. Don't want to kill the taxpayers. I'm one of them. My kids are gone. I I But I get it. There's still needs. We got to support the building. This is a nice tool and a nice option and and it it I it's a nice way to move forward with this, you

111know, to hit to get hit with the first number that I scared me very much >> trying to do this right. But the to see the due diligence to pair it down to just 15 million, you know, yeah, we have that 5 million that has to go specifically to building. Boom. Covered. Then we're only bonding 10 million dropped out of end. I Yeah, this this is a nice nice way to approach this. >> Yeah, I totally get to be careful what you ask for. Okay, I'm assuming you can manage that. >> I I will be able to. Yes. >> Okay. >> And then having direction on the life safety bond allows us to better allocate that 5 million remaining. >> Mhm. >> Right. Cuz if if you if you don't Yeah. If you don't do

112the ladder, the 10 million, then you have the 5 million and you have a lot of >> the urgent needs >> like that would be in the life safety uh audit, the revised one. So, it it changes >> what what what you try to focus on and there really isn't enough there in that 5 million to to really start to take care of some of those more urgent needs. >> No, it's the needs go beyond the 5 million. I I did have one question on a previous slide just to context in my head. We talked about oldest roof section approximate percentage. Do you have that off hand? Are we talking 10% 20%. I just just just help it process in my mind. >> It's about a third. >> About a third. Oh, even better. So,

113it's about a third. Okay. If you if we went back to that Honeywell presentation where where the where they would be putting that second um second stage of of solar panel arrays, those are those roofs are currently expired on expired warranty. So, they need to be replaced. >> But still, that's still covering a third of our correct our roofs, our old. So, okay, it makes I feel even better hearing a third. I'm thinking 10%. A third that's a pretty good chunk of of preparedness. And then yeah, that plays into Honeywell and newer roofs and warranties and so forth. All right. No, excellent news kind of sort of I guess. I don't know with transitioning to the sort of the impacts on taxpayer the the benefits and the consequences of positives and negatives of the various

114options. So if um this is something that you as as a board need to to weigh um and then provide us with direction if we go these are in no particular order other than option C being the recommendation from from the administrative team. If we went with option A and we did not issue a life safety bond and we just used the remaining 5 million uh on capital improvements. There's no u increased tax impact on the taxpayer other than our just our annual levy increase. But the downside to that is we would have to further prioritize our needs. Most of the needs would need to go into facility improvement infrastructure. A most of it would be steering away from student life, student experiences, um academics, etc. Uh we we'd be doing it on roofing and

115plumbing and and some of those those pieces. um that would not deter our a future need for a life safety bond or even a referendum. Um option B, we could certainly again go with no life safety bond and we could you could direct me as a business manager with our budgeting process to allocate more funds to the operations and maintenance of the building. What I would need to do is shift money from our education fund or our transportation fund or or any one of the other funds towards O andM. Again, that doesn't that doesn't negatively impact our taxpayer other than the the typical levy, but the downside to that is we need to make some some significant changes. Now, we're really impacting student services. Um, and that's that's a but that is an option that

116that we could choose. Um, and then the third option, uh, which is the the one that we're recommending, we utilize the 5 million from fund 60 as well as issue an again approximate $10 million life safety bond. Where that tax impact is over a 10, this would be a 10-year $10 million life safety bond. This would be an again an approximate number, but it would be about $75 a year for a a homeowner that has a $300,000 home with an end date of 10 years. So again, you're talking about $750 over a 10-year span on a $300,000 homeowner. And again, the benefits to that, of course, the the the negatives, that is an impact on the taxpayer, but the benefits are we have that 5 million. Um, we can [clears throat] preserve operating funds and

117continue to do money, many of the great things we're doing here within the district. And in addition, we could then utilize that 5 million for a lot of those nice to-do projects that we want to continue beautifying and improving the the school. >> I'd like to add something to that that I think is important. It's easy to look at this and say $75 a year for a $300,000 home, but that doesn't account for the fact that we're not the only taxing body. And so that idea of $75 a year being it doesn't seem like a whole lot. In reality, it's not the only ask that will be out there by all these overlapping taxing bodies. So, I think that's important to keep in mind. >> Thank you. And I totally agree with the doctor's statement,

118but I also have to look at it as we have to be do our due. I can only control my little section of the pie. It's unfortunate and I think this is a lot less painful than a referendum which is forever whereas it has a drop dead date. I mean, we're going to have to look at the lesser of the evils. Are we going to impact how we educate our students? Are we going to not let certain things get done? Are we going to wait until we're at that critical impass? How much more is this going to cost? Look, I can't believe the increase just in five years in that plan. What's it going to be in another five years? I mean, some of this stuff we have to nip in the butt. What's going

119to be the lesser of two evils? I mean, I I get it. But what what is nice about option C is it's a drop dead 10 years. It's gone. It's not a referendum that's there forever. Um, and I agree there are going to be other ass from fires, from other schools, from library, from park Um, and I totally agree with them looking at the big picture because I just looked at my tax bill, but I also know I got to we got to be true here. And I can only control what I can control and what's going to be the least painful way to achieve this goal. And I I I think having a 10-year drop dead date is a plus. And we haven't decided anything, but while we're having this conversation, I I I

120hear what the doctor's saying 100%. He's right. And I wish I could control the other districts, but man, this is tough. No, nothing's nothing's a good decision here in my opinion. Nothing's a good decision. What's the lesser of three evils? >> Honestly, >> just to give you an idea of the the 115 from the initial facility audit estimate assessment that was done in 2020 to the one and that was just recently done in 2025. It's at 123 plus. Let's let's let's realize that 42 million we spent on the new facility stem wing and the uh 12 million with the water mitigation got cut out of that initial 115 and it's still at 123 approximately just over about 8 million over what was done in 2020. We thought we took a big bite out of, but

121stuff the more we wait, we can't control how cost escalates and how quickly. >> How much of the 123 is new stuff versus cost escalation? >> I think majority of it cost escalation. >> Is that correct? >> Yes. with with the annual inflation and and materials and supplies and uh we're talking about 30 to 35% increases in pricing from from 2020 to 2026. >> So something >> that's that still does it. Now, one of one of the things I would add is that what I'm getting out of this conversation as compared to my impressions back in 2020 is there seems to be a a much better focus on what the school needs versus what it wants, you know, and I'm, you know, I'm heartened by that. >> You say, I'm just doing mental math. If

122we had 115, we spent 60, then we are add 42. >> Yeah, you said 42 + 12 >> uh 30 32 left over, which is what we still have. >> So 114 minus 42 and if you add 35% to that, you going to get to 12. >> Was the to get better numbers? Was the stem wing included as part of that 115? The STEM wing was not a part of the facility assessment. Science science science classroom renovations were, but a STEM wing was not a part of the 2020 referendum. >> Then it would be more explaining. Yeah. >> Okay. >> That makes more sense. >> STEM wing and work on the classroom. >> That makes a little late for that. >> Okay. >> Work on the classrooms because kids. >> Yeah, >> I remember that

123discussion. >> So that help with the numbers. >> Yeah, that helps with with the numbers. So with the sort of the last slide here with board action next steps, this is sort of a if then next. If if we decide to go this route, if we go this route. So um and again this is not an action item. This is just for discussion and and to help me u move along with you and supporting you and uh eventually I'd like to get to having Kate and Steph spend a lot more time talking about teaching and learning than facilities. Um, if the board wishes to further pursue the concepts of a life safety bond, that first bullet point and then ABCD, if you you tell me that this is the sort of the direction we want

124to go, what I would do next would be to invite um our financial investment advisors from T PTMA. Bob Lewis is is the gentleman that has presented um historically to the board to talk about these things. He would further explain the life safety bond. would get you uh much more accurate numbers to talk uh what what a 10 10 million $15 million life safety bond if we did a 10 10-year bond 15-year bond etc. get down to the nitty-gritty of what the the current borrowing rate is and what the actual tax tax burden would be on a taxpayer. He'd get much more um granular in in that financial information and present that to the board. And then we would go with uh contracting one of the li again a licensed um design professional STR has

125done in the past. We could use Midwest Mechanical, Honeywell, etc. They would then do our health life safety amendment. Then again, that would come to us. It would come to the board prior to then going to the ROE and the the the state of Illinois for approval. So again, we do have some we can put some barriers in play to make sure that this is a manageable financial contribution or commitment. And then once the ROE and and the state of Isby approves it, then what we would do is take board action on issuing a life safety bond. And this was in a previous conversation or previous discussion. Uh a life safety bond is a board action. It's not a a voter action, if that makes sense. >> I have a question. I'm thinking about a

126conversation we had here, you know, a couple of months or so ago or so. I can't remember exactly, but if Midwest Mechanical were to do the study, if they did any of the work, they roll that in as I thought that's on. Okay. If we have STR did it, that's an extra 10% that's out the window. >> Correct. So, I think there'd be all the incentive to make the most bang for the buck. >> I agree with Reed. Uh Doug's presenting the different options. I would I think I'm reading you correctly. Go with like a Midwest Mechanical rather than STR. They did tremendous work on the project and all those types of things, but I think we've got other options now that we can pursue to that makes more more sense. And then final on

127that that uh final bullet point, if the board is doesn't have the appetite or the interest to pursue a life safety bond, we would just need to to go to that previous slide of option A. What do we do with how do we want to stretch the 5 million to the best of our ability or option B um stretch that 5 million and then move some money from um the ED fund and transportation and and so on so forth uh to support our operations. decision. >> You really don't have any money in op, if I read that correctly, you really don't have any money in operations in the next couple of years to pay for any of this stuff. If I remember the forecast, >> Reed, I've had a lot of cookies today and this

128week has been rough on the operations department. Yes, thank you for pointing out something that >> just checking. I mean, I see >> appreciate that. I see you know the the thought but okay >> the the shell moving is becoming a little challenging. Yes. Thank you. As you've noted, >> I've witnessed since what was it 21 December 21 when I came on our operations and maint what we're spending there has done at least at that time I saw the the stiff increase and it's done nothing much since then didn't do the same thing. Okay. And it is it's the reality of a you know we're sitting in the old very old building and the longer we wait to address it we subjecting whatever board has to address it to to some huge costs. >> Yeah.

129>> So as much as we can chip off it just helps. >> Yeah. But we're also in a very very difficult place financially. The fiscal health of this district is not good. I mean that's evident in the financial projections. So we can't go to the taxpayer every 5 minutes asking for additional funds to do projects. We need to look at alternative ways to find resources that can be used. >> That's true. So >> and to that point, Dr. Dr. McCulla, the Honeywell is one of those options that we just previously pre presented as ways to try to do both um address some of our energy conservation, uh water, plumbing, u building enveloping, improving some of that as well as trying to find ways to generate a little bit of revenue. Um, as we've talked about

130here, generating revenue and as a school district is is a pretty challenging task if you're looking for ways outside of um asking a taxpayer to to pay the burden. Um, so Honeywell is is is one of those options to try to generate additional revenue. >> All right. So, what do you what do you need now? A yay or a nay or something? >> No, we're not voting on this. voting but >> not no we're not voting on this but the way I'm reading the room we would we would reach out and have PTMA give a more detailed presentation on what that bond would look like and I would anticipate next month and probably voting on this >> any other questions thank you. >> All right. Uh, so both of these boys have been resolved. They

131they've been run through legal. Um, just so the board is aware. That's it. Um, our next item is our consent agenda. May I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda as presented? I'll make the motion. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> White. >> Yes. >> Sorry. >> Figureroa. >> Yes. >> Makulla. >> Yes. >> Good. >> No. Oops. Abstain. >> Lewis. >> Yes. Motion pass. The next item is our school calendar for the 2026 27 school year. May I have a motion that the board of education approve the 2026 and 2027 school calendar as presented? >> You for a motion? >> Yeah. I'll give it second. Any discussion? >> Just to confirm the calendar, there was consultation with both the uh Wooddale and Bensonville and in aligning this to the best

132extent possible. >> Yes, there was. And um I just actually saw both of them today. Uh and we lined up really closely with Benville District 2, the start dates, um break dates, and kind of when we end too. So it it's it's more aligned than we've been in the last couple years actually. >> Perfect. >> Good news. >> My question is not related to the the dates on the calendar but more so um just like an operating process during finals weeks. Is there um a prohibition on like practices and and sports activities? Um, just personally, I know that finals week that [clears throat] just passed, my son had a final and an hour later was in practice for hours without the ability to study for finals the next day. And I know other school districts

133say that during finals week there should not be that type of thing going on. So, I'm wondering what's the what's the policy? You know, typically ti typically what we do is we have final exams which ends up being like a half day or we're done at 1 or something like that and then there's a little bit of a break and then we do usually allow athletic practices. Uh the thinking being if we have the athletic practices too late in the day like let's say 3:30 4:00 then they would practice let's say for two 2 and 1/2 hours then there's less time to study whereas if we can move it up a little bit they would have more time to study but there's no policy necessarily saying that you can't practice on final exam day but

134I understand where you're coming from and and obviously the students have to juggle the two with the priority being academics, but um it's sort of a different question um as far as that goes from the actual school calendar, but that kind that hopefully answers your question. >> Roll call. >> Good. >> Yes. >> Mullo, >> yes. >> Figuroa, >> yes. >> Fzinski, >> yes. >> White, >> yes. Lewis, >> yes. Motion passed. Next item is Honeywell solar panels and ESPC. May I have a motion that the board of education approves the Honeywell contract for solar panels and ESPC as presented? >> I'll make the motion. >> Second. Any discussion? >> Yes. I've had great success personally with renewable energy. This is a great project for the future if our financial situation allows. But not today,

135not tomorrow, not next month, and not next year for Fenton High School District 100. Waiting 7.6 years to benefit from a capital outlay today of $2.1 million does not demonstrate financial stewardship of taxpayer dollars given our current financial projections. I appreciate the presentation, but it's important to acknowledge that the presenter's priorities are to enhance shareholder value for those owning Honeywell stock and not the needs of our local taxpayers. The presenters already left. They do not seem invested in the decision we are about to make now. I guess they are on to the next proposal. How many of you would be willing to take on $100,000 of home improvement loans with only one contractor offering a bid for work to be completed? No. was the only way to vote on this matter. >> Well, one of

136the presenters is still here. He didn't leave. And this is only the first step in three before we finally approve the whole thing. I I don't think it hurts to see what our options are because, as I understand it, we can opt out at any point. And as we're all saying, we have to find ways to make more money. I I would like to get more information to see if it's feasible. If it comes back as unfeasible, then I absolutely have no problem saying no. But we will never truly know, like he said in the presentation, until we actually see hard numbers. I'd like to at least go through the first step to see is it truly feasible. I mean, I don't know. That's my opinion if we're having discussion. So, that's my my two

137cents on this. Just remember that 2.1 million is for the cost of the project and doesn't include work that would need to be done to the roof and other infrastructure improvements to be able to host the panels because the cost of removing the panels is so high that the roof has to be repaired and fixed so it has an extended warranty period before the panels go on. So I I just don't think given our financial projections now is the time to be waiting 7.6 six years to benefit from something that we're paying for today. >> Roll call. >> Figuroa. >> Yes. >> Makulla. >> No. >> Good. >> No. >> Lewis, >> yes. >> Rosinski, >> yes. >> White, >> yes. >> Motion passed. Does anyone have any committee reports? >> Uh yes. Uh we

138got uh the board policy meeting committee today and um we're going to vote uh next month. Also I was in a meeting at um NASC back in February 9th. Uh we got u like any school we got a financial statements um [clears throat] school maintenance maintenance projects like uh they got a new bin excuse me >> and like every school they facing a challenge financials so nothing new but um NASA is in a good operational moment. >> We we do have a lend meeting uh on Friday morning and Dr. White uh plans on joining the Zoom meeting along with myself and we can give you a report next month. >> Nothing on Bensonville Foundation. We'll have a meeting next month. Nothing on board finance facility. I believe we'll have a committee meeting prior to next

139month's meeting. >> Could you run down the policy meeting earlier? >> Yep, I did. >> Give an update on >> I did one next time. >> Okay. Yeah, >> I missed it. I'm back. [laughter] >> All right. The next scheduled board of educa education meeting is Wednesday, March 25th, 2026 or 7:00 p.m. following uh potential uh finance facility committee meeting at 6:00 p.m. Um >> when you're done. Yeah, I am. >> Okay. Well, I just I wanted to add to that uh >> new business. >> What's that? >> New business comment by >> Yeah. >> Reed. >> Um that as we get our hands around our our budgeting issues and financial issues. um that we actually create a a list of actions and dollars to try to, you know, actually get a workable document at

140least to follow to follow through on this somewhere in in the neighborhood. I'm guessing this should show at least at least $500,000 worth of savings. And you know, the more the better uh as we go into uh next year and uh so next board meeting Reed is the where we come up with the certified staffing plans. We're working on that right now. So, we should report that out to the board and and with that in mind, we'll probably expand that a little bit to take a look at some other areas where we're looking for some cost savings moving forward that uh so the board can kind of see see where we're where we're headed. >> I think that'd be good. >> I appreciate that very much because tonight was a good illustration of seeing dollars

141flying out. We know we're in a little bit of trouble. But we haven't talked about retaining dollars. And I appreciate that because I think there are some luxuries that have been discussed this evening that I don't think we're in a situation to be able to afford. >> Okay. So then the next board meeting, we'll we'll do that and we'll expand on the costsaving discussion as a agenda item. May I have a motion and a second to go in to close session for the following one. 5 Illinois CS120/2C1 the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of Fenton School District 100 2 Illinois CS 120/2C2 collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees. Three, five Illinois

142CS 120 C9 student disciplinary cases. Fourth, five Illinois CS120 C10, the placement of individual students in special education programs and other matters relating to individual students. Five five Illinois CS1 120/2C21 discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully closed under the open meetings act whether for purposes of approval by the body of the minutes or semianual review of the minutes as mandated by section 2.06. >> I'll make the motion. Second. Can I get a roll call? >> Good. >> Yes. >> Figureroa. >> Yes. >> Rosinski. >> Yes. >> White. >> Yes. >> Makullo. >> Yes. >> Lewis. >> Yes. We're in close session. There'll be no further action after close session. Go ahead. >> Can I have a motion to open open session? >> Motion. Second. >> Roll call. >> McCullo >> here. >> Miller White >>

143here. >> Good. Yes, >> Lewis. >> Yes. >> Back in open session. May I have a motion >> and a second to to adjurnn? All in favor say I. I. >> Abstain.