001I would like to call to order the November 19th, 2025 regular board meeting of the Fenton Community High School District 100 board to order. May I have a roll call? >> Matuk Goodri >> here. >> Makulla >> here. >> Miller >> here. >> Lewis >> here. >> Rosinski >> here. >> Figuroa >> here. >> We have a call. Please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Sam please read our mission belief and bison way statements. >> Yes sir. Fenton mission statement cultivate successful, passionate, empowered learners through rigor, relevance, and relationships. The Fenton belief statement. Successful, passionate, empowered learners thrive when we provide a safe,
002caring, and welcoming environment. Diversity, equity, and inclusion unify our community. School and home collaborate as one. We champion innovative teaching and engaged learning with state-of-the-art facilities. We infuse social emotional learning into academics and culture. We prepare students to fulfill their civic responsibility. We immerse students in authentic life experiences. The Bison Way students and adults at Fen High School create a safe, caring, 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. recognition Sam. >> Okay, so we are going to start out. We have a lot of recognitions today, quite honestly, and it covers the gambit, but we're going to start out with uh National Board Members Day, which was November the 15th. Uh we have
003a small token of appreciation as you could see here on your table. You feel free to trade if you'd like if you like a different flavor or whatever. Um, but seriously, uh, as board of education members, you guys volunteer a lot of time, especially the last, uh, few weeks, a lot of time even on Saturdays, special meetings, things like that because you have a strong commitment, uh, to this community and and to the parents and students. So, I'd like to thank you for all the time that you've put in. Um there's a few quotes here that I wanted to read regarding uh this started in the state of Illinois in 2007. This recognition is a way to honor those citizens who devote so much of their time and energy for the education of our children.
004And uh another way to put it is you as you serve on this board, you're a local voice for community education decisions and we have a tremendous community here, school community, and I appreciate each and every one of you for your commitment. So, thank you very much. Thank you, [applause] sir. Okay. Uh, we also want to honor our vice president, Leo Figureroa, who is the new IASB director at large for DuPage County. You may ask, what is that? Well, IASB is the Illinois Association of School Boards and at a recent district meeting, we had uh a vote and the vote was unanimous. In fact, we have some actual footage of that event. if we could please play the video. >> I know I had a friend in the audience. >> Do I have a second?
005>> Thank you. All it has been moved and seconded that we elect a slate by acclamation. So, let's vote. All in favor say I. >> Thank you. Opposed say nay. Thank you. The eyes have it. The slate has been elected. Thank you. >> As you could see, it was unanimous. And uh we're proud of Leo as he now represents uh the Fenton board throughout DuPage County. So what do they actually do? A director at large is a voting member of the board of directors helps with to provide strategic direction for the organization which includes representing member interests, supporting advocacy efforts and serving on committees. Um basically the director at large has sort of more of a broad uh a broad approach to governance and policy. So Leo, thank you for representing us and we appreciate
006you spending even more time representing our community. So thanks Leo. [applause] And now we'll turn it over to Kate. All right. Good evening. Could I have the girls cross country team please come to the front? All right, this is very exciting. So, from previous years, we all know that Fenton is home to one of the best cross-country runners in the entire state. She has stood before you on two previous occasions, and we'll talk more about her in a second. But additionally today I am proud to say that we have one of the best cross country teams in the entire state. So this team includes Jocelyn Wade, Susanna Malinowski, Amy Krupa, Malia Damic, Giana Chrisa, Matilda Pisces, Nikki Mateu, Kai Zamora, Joselyn Honororado, and Evelyn Estrada. So to qualify as a team, you typically need exceptional
007times from at least five of your runners. That's a huge accomplishment considering there were over a hundred runners at the sectional meet. Our records show that only one other Fenton girls cross country team has ever qualified for state and that was in 2012 when our assistant coaches Jazelle Garcia and Mimi Veoy were students on that team. So we are incredibly fortunate to have that institutional knowledge on our staff mentoring our students along with head coach Frank Hexat and the other assistant coaches. A little bit more about Joselyn senior right behind me. All right. Senior Joselyn Wade has been to state before as an individual qualifier in 2023 and 2024. Both of those years, she finished in 16th place. This year, Joselyn finished ninth out of 236 runners. Everyone in the top 25 are considered to
008be all state runners. So, what that means for Joselyn is that she has earned all state honors for three consecutive years. Joselyn is our most accomplished cross-country runner in school history. and it's up for debate, but she might even be our most accomplished female athlete ever at Fenton. So, Coach Frank Hexat and assistant coach Jazelle Garcia are here to share more about the girls. [applause] Good evening everybody. Hi, I'm Coach Jazelle. I have been a f the Fenton girls assistant cross country coach for seven years now. I'm also a Fenton alumni of Fenton High School as well as the girls cross country program. Um it's really truly incredible to see what the program has evolved to and become under the leadership of coach. Where'd you go? >> Where'd you go? Oh, under Frank Extat, his
009leadership and has just greatly evolved this program into one that most other schools admire and respect and the work that these girls put in and what they did this past year was something truly incredible and I was so happy to be a part of it. They all worked so hard and deserved every single accolade they get. So, I'm extremely proud to have been a part of it. Um, extremely proud to have coached every single one of you and very excited that well, we have three seniors leaving, but our team is very young. So, I'm I'm looking forward to the next couple years to see what we can do. Thank you guys. [applause] >> Uh good evening. Uh I would just like to say one thing and that is thank you, but I would like to
010individually thank some people starting with Sam Benson. Thank you for coming to Peoria. I believe it's the first time a Fenton superintendent made its way to the cross country state championship meet. But thank you for being there. Your positive energy uh did have a wonderful effect. >> Well, thank you. I enjoyed it very much. So, thank you, >> Kate Ward. Thank you for uh coming to the sectional meet at Bison Country uh and witnessing history. I would like to also thank the athletic director uh Pedro Rodriguez and Mr. cost uh for hosting both regionals and sectionals. Um it was a huge advantage for us to run on our home course and both of those championship races. I would like to also thank Laura Davies. Uh she was the official for those meets. She's been a
011longtime supporter of girls cross country and truly a legend. uh Wade's been chasing her um in track records and cross country records and uh she's been very gracious and um a huge supporter of the girls this year as well. Um I would like to thank the boys cross country team for our off-campus runs keeping everyone safe and uh their expertise uh was utilized with this team and I am very thankful. We couldn't have done it without you guys. Um, and then finally, my assistant coaches. Uh, I have four outstanding assistant coaches. Coach Flores, Coach Lobo Lopez, Coach Mimi, and Coach Jazelle. Um, they are the example for the team to follow. Powerful women and uh, great character individuals that um, you know, we couldn't have done it without them as well. And then of course,
012finally, the team and the whole team which is here. We all played a role. We all played a part in this great accomplishment. So, thank you all and parents as well for raising wonderful daughters. >> Thank you. [applause] >> We'll come up there. I'll say goodbye. Congratulations. [applause] All right. Next, we're gonna recognize junior Matthew Anderson. So, if you can come up. [applause] Matthew Anderson is a rising star in the boys cross country team which advanced as a group through regionals and competed together at sectionals. Matthew finished 13th out of 136 runners at the sectional meet and earned a trip to the state finals in Peoria. Matthew sprinted into the scene last year when he took first place in the frost soft race at the Kurts Early Bird Invitational, which is an annual event that
013we host here at Fenton with more than 20 schools. So, we're super excited to have Matthew back next year as a senior. Um, and can't wait to see the great success they're going to have in the future. Coach Patrick Frri is here to share a little bit more about Matthew. [applause] Um, I thank you everyone. Uh, I'd like to first thank you the board for uh recognizing um Matt and then also I'd like to uh thank the Fenton administration uh for their support this uh season allowing us to host the regional and sectional meet. Um, you know, as Frank said in his comments, it was a great advant advantage for us to run on home course and to be able to go against some of the best competition in the state, but to be able
014to experience that and be able to control and understand how our race goes on and how the competition is going to unfold was a great advantage for us. So, uh, thank you there. Um, I'd also like to thank my assistant coaches, uh, Coach Jay Hehart and [clears throat] Coach Fabel Urzua. um they put in a ton of effort um to make this season very easy for me. Um as a coach, it's a lot u a lot easier when your assistant coaches are, you know, very active and, you know, really have a passion for um being great uh you know, helping your athletes achieve a lot. Um on to Matt. Uh Matt, this was uh his second year in a row being our number one runner. uh his second year in a row being all conference
015and he also added all regional as well as stayed qualifying to his repertoire. Um not only that, he also took on the uh added responsibility of being a captain for our cross country team this year. So uh you know I look forward to where he's going to grow and how he's going to run next year. And I just hope that, you know, his dedication and example will be a shining um, you know, be able to hopefully inspire his teammates and others around him to excel and hopefully reach the state meet and so we can join the girls as a team next year as well. Uh, thank you again. [applause] >> This one guys Got to get out front. You're good. >> [applause] [cheering] >> All right, Jake. Thanks. >> All right. All right, then we
016have one last recognition uh this evening. We'd like to take a moment to recognize and thank our superintendent, Dr. Sam Benson, in honor of Superintendence Day. Sam's a dedicated leader who brings a lifetime of experience to work with us every single day. He's measured, thoughtful, and unwavering in his commitment to our students, staff, and community. We're deeply grateful for his steady hand, his vision, and his ability to bring people together. And of course, we appreciate his well-timed humor. Sam always knows just the right moment to crack a joke and lighten the room and has also been known to wear costumes on spirit day, which everyone always enjoys. >> What's the next >> coming up soon? So, thank you, Dr. Benson, for your leadership, your heart, and your ongoing service to Fenton. We are fortunate to
017have you. >> Thank you, [applause] >> Cameron. Do we have any public comments tonight? >> Yes, we do. >> As a reminder, public comments are limited to three minutes per speaker with a limit this evening of 30 minutes total. As a reminder, please address staff members and students by title and not by name to protect their privacy. >> Karolina, Fatima Mendi, Xander Lemon. >> [applause] >> Hello, my name is Karolina Herrera. Hello, my name is Fatima Delator and we're 11th graders from Fenton High School and we are writing this on behalf of the students of AP psychology to share the results of our project which is sleepless in American high schools which examines the prevalence, causes and consequences of insufficient sleep among students at Fenton High School. The primary reason we are here today is
018to discuss students sleep in our school and to advocate for the well-being of our peers. We aim to provide actionable recommendations to improve students well-being and academic performance and recognizing that this is a crucial aspect of their overall development. We can all admit that as humans we often failed to achieve the recommended full hours of sleep. Perhaps we were preoccupied with work, had a long day, or you were kept up by your kids. According to a survey on the sleep practices of high school students issued by the CDC, which is the Centers for Disease Control, 70% of respondents reported sleeping fewer than seven hours per night. This data is tremendously below the advice 8 to 10 hours for adolescence. The majority reported feeling tired or unfocused during the first two morning courses, and almost half
019the students who replied to the survey disclosed having unintentionally fallen asleep during classes at least once in the past month. These habits are in are consistent with national data showing overall sleep deprivation among high school students. The effects of these sleep deficits are present in daily classroom life, including lessened attention, poor test performance, irritability, and increased stress levels. In short, our students are attempting to learn in a biological state not conducted to learning. Understanding why students are so tired is essential for adults to learn how to offer a helping hand to the student. Nevertheless, first it requires examining the basic science of sleep. The sleep cycle, also understood as the circadian rhythm, is the body's internal clock. Its primary function is to regulate our alertness and sleepiness throughout the day. During adolescence, this cycle inherently
020shifts by two hours, meaning teens feel awake later at night and sleepy later in the morning. Early school start times causes students to wake up before their internal clocks are fully awake, which can lead to students to experience chronic sleep deprivation. Sleep pressure is a second system that is affected by sleep. It builds up as the person remains awake for extended periods of time. This pressure can only be relieved through sufficient sleep. When students stay up late, whether for homework, social media, or activities, and then wake up early for school, they may not recognize how this interrupts the natural homeostatic pressure that regulates their sleep. This leads them to begin each day in a state of psychological sleep deprivation. When this worsens, it will escalate over days or weeks, and students develop sleep depth, which
021is the shortfall of rest that bo that the body requires. All of these essential details that are often ignored make up our sleep. This is vital for us to understand in order to have a healthier future. [clears throat] >> Contrary to the popular belief, this step cannot be repaid simply by sleeping in on weekends. Cognitive and emotional performance remain impaired for days afterward. Our data reflected this reality. Students who slept fewer than seven hours per night reported greater mood changes and lower grades on average. Sleep deprivation also disrupts cortisol levels. the hormone central to the body's stress response. Typically, cortisol levels increase in the early morning to promote alertness and decline throughout the night. Insufficient or poor quality sleep disrupts this rhythm resulting in increased cortisol levels at night and lower levels in the morning.
022This dis such disregulation not only increases stress and anxiety but also weakens memory and emotional control in a person's learning. Lastly, sleep provides the restoration that the body and mind need to work correctly. During sleep, the brain unites memory, clears metabolic waste, and restores neural and hormonal counterying. When students fail to receive adequate sleep, this restorative process is shortened, leaving them cognitively and emotionally exhausted the next day. These interacting mechanisms generate a range of educational and psychological issues among students. Students who start building up chronic sleep disorders demonstrate reduced attention span, slower reaction time, and diminished executive function compared to their well-rested C classmates. Sleep restricted adolescence are also more vulnerable to depression, irritability, and hiding risk-taking factors behaviors. From a purely understanding perspective, students perform better, behave better, and feel more confident. Our findings
023confirm this. Students reporting eight or more hours of nightly sleep scored an average of six percentage points higher on cumulative exams than those sleeping six hours or fewer. Moreover, these well-rested students are reporting feeling more optimistic and less stressed. In accordance with pre-existing psychological literature on adequate sleep, correlating with emotional resilience. Based on our analysis and review of the research, we respectfully propose the following actions for consideration. First, delay school start times. Schools starting before 8:30 a.m. conflict with the circadian rhythm of adolescence. School districts that have moved their start times later reported improve attendance, better academic performance, and less tardiness. Second, implement sleep schedule, sleep education programs, including brief models modules within health or advisory periods teaching the science of sleep and explaining such terms as sleep pressure, sleep depth, and circadian rhythm. This
024may equip students with the knowledge about their own psychology. Third, review and extra and extracurricular tons. Excessive late night academic and athletic demands overlap with sleep time. Setting reasonable homework limits and discouraging late evening practices would help students maintain a healthy sleep schedule. Lastly, create a culture of well-being, encouraging teachers and administrators to model healthy sleep behaviors and avoid glorifying work. Promoting an environment where rest is considered a foundation of productivity, not its opposite. Each of these measures is evidence-based and feasible with our current structure. These reforms might significantly improve student learning outcomes, mental health, and school climate if implemented. Sleep is not a luxury. It's a biological need for the restoration of our mind's cognitive, emotional, and physical resources. The scientific evidence along with our local findings suggests that our sleep, our schedule, and
025culture consistently leave students exhausted, overstressed. By organizing our policies with adolescent behavior, we can create an environment where students are honestly engaged in learning. We would like to thank the board for considering our findings and for welcoming the opportunity to present this research in person. Together, we can ensure our district supports both academic excellence and the well-being of each student. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh hello, my name is Xander Lyman and uh I'm here to tell you about the problems with teens and uh sleep. When people hear about teens being tired, they often think that they're just staying up too late playing video games or texting their friends. Well, this is the reason that Teens are always exhausted during the day. More often than not, teens really just aren't getting enough sleep. During
026the years 13 through 18, the body goes the body underos numerous physical and mental changes. All of these changes use a lot of energy. So, while the average adult might be able to function normally off of just seven hours of sleep, according to John Hopson, John Hopkins Medicine, a renowned university that has made notable advancements in the medical field, the average teen should be getting closer to 8 to 10 hours per night. A major reason for this difficult sleep difficulty sleeping is the change in our circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm operates as an internal clock for our bodies. It tells us when we should be awake and when we should be asleep. Something that most people don't know is that adults and adolescence have different circadian rhythms. So during the teenage years is when those
027cycles start to change. This causes abnormal times in which the teens bodies will start to feel tired. For example, while an adult might have no problem falling asleep before 10 p.m., teens often struggle to fall asleep before 11 p.m. and still wake up early in the morning. Because of this, social demands such as school every morning at 8:00 p.m. 8 a.m. become much more difficult as the body is running on insufficient sleep. Another aspect of teens not getting enough sleep is the hormone melatonin. Most people don't most people know melatonin as a supplement to help people sleep, but it's also a hormone that your body secretes during the later hours of the day to help you feel tired. The difference between melatonin adults and melatonin in teens is that it doesn't release into the body
028until later at night in teens. Compared according to a young according to a study done by PubMed Central, a government funded medical database, a delayed secretion of melatonin usually coincides with puberty changes. Because of this delayed secretion, even if a teenager tries to go to bed at what society calls a reasonable hour, their bodies might not be ready to sleep yet. Over time, this lack of sleep builds up. creates something called sleep debt. Sleep debt is the difference between how much sleep a person needs and how much sleep they're actually getting. Just like any other form of debt, nobody wants sleep debt. Over time, this continued lack of sleep or accumulation of sleep that can cause issues with cognitive performance, physical health, and the overall mood of the team. The negative impacts are shown by
029a survey that was given to the student body offensive. A majority of the students reported getting between five and seven hours of sleep on school nights, which is below the recommended 8 to 10 hours per night. Most students reported drinking a caffeinated drink multiple times per week. The data also showed that students who consumed the most caffeine were the same ones who felt the most tired the next morning, suggesting that while caffeine might help them feel more awake for a few hours, it disrupts their sleep, leaving them feeling even worse the next day. While some people while some people might think that lying in bed, scrolling through TikTok, or just relaxing in your bed while reading a book has similar effects to a good night's sleep, they're nowhere near as effective as actual rest. Sleep
030is a time when your body performs important tasks such as memory consolidation and restoration of resources. Memory consolidation is the process of your brain converting your short-term memories into more lasting long-term memories. When this doesn't happen properly, people will struggle to remember things over long periods of time. Restoration of resources is your body hitting is sort of your body hitting the reset button. It's when your mind resets it stress levels, attention levels, and helps replenish energy. If this process is not carried out fully due to insufficient sleep, it can cause someone to feel more stressed, less focused, and more sluggish the next day. These are just two of the many processes that your body performs while you're sleeping. Many other essential fac essential factors require a good night's rest. If a teen's body doesn't go
031through these processes every night, it could lead to a variety of different problems in their classes. In conclusion, sleep is not something that teens should treat as an option. It's something that all teens need in order to function properly during school. And while it is the teen's job to make sure they're doing their best to go to sleep at a reasonable time each night, schools can assist in this by lessening the amount of homework that students have each night, starting the school day later or assigning more work that needs to be done on paper compared to the work on our Chromebooks that require us to stare at a bright screen all day. Parents can also assist by influencing their child to get to sleep earlier, doing their best to align schedules as to not disturb
032their child while sleeping, and making sure their home life is stressfree as possible. By doing these simple things, we can support the mental health, learning ability, and overall well-being of teens. Thank you, >> Candace Garcia. >> Good evening. I'm Candace Garcia, uh, alum from here. My son just graduated this past year and homeowner here in Bensonville. And I'm here today regarding the contract with Flock for the automatic license plate readers. Um, I foyed for the emails. I'm also a researcher with Lucy Parson's Lab nonprofit. Um, I foyed the research and emails and documentation that you guys have regarding the ALPRs before you made the decision. Um, I'm not too pleased. Most of the correspondents went with interim superintendent Figureroa and the school resource officer. Um, The sales rep for Flock was very persistent, quite obnoxious,
033um, and predatory, might I add. Um, I seen some correspondence in email. I didn't get any documentation as far as how that information is going to be used moving forward, but I know a lot about flock. Um, and it we're doing more to expose the children than to protect them by adding ALPRs around the school. Um the meeting I did view stated that well we're going to add these cameras because didn't state what type of cameras but the school's expanding. We're doing construction. We simply need more cameras. So then I backtracked it. The email said well there's some concerns about how this information will be shared across the country because that's how it's shared. Um so I'll get back to you ALPR sales guy um after the next meeting. So then I backtrack to the
034previous meeting, but I don't get to see those concerns. But what I do see is you have 70% Latino population here at the school. It's a bad idea. The contract's two years. I'm asking you to cancel it. Um I haven't had a lot of time to look at the information, but I will. Um and I'll be asking for more information through Freedom of Information Act. Um do your students know that you're tracking their license plates in and out of the school regularly? Do the parents know you're tracking their license plates in and out of the school regularly? and that that information can be shared throughout the entire country given the status with ICE and Border Patrol. It's an awful idea. So, I'm just asking you to resend the contract and certainly not renew it and
035and make your students and your parent population aware. And I think I'll leave it at that. >> Thank you for your comments. Our next item isformational. Sam Yes, we're going to start, as you can see, we have a wide variety of topics tonight. We're going to kick it off with the Illinois school report card and then variety of different financial topics. So, Kate, kick it off. >> All right, I'll start us off with a school report card. So, every year on October 31st, um the Illinois State Board publishes the Illinois school report card for each school in the state. Um, and you can go on and see any school's report card on illinoisportcard.com. And there's tons of information about every school. But overall, um, kind of the highlights of the report card is this index
036score. Uh, so if you take a look at the house there, um, each school is there's eight different areas that each school is kind of rated in. So you get an index score and then it is weighted. Um, so the areas that high schools are judged in is, uh, different than the criteria that you have for grade schools. So, um, we're going to go through a lot of these metrics, but one of the things I want to point out to you is that there's a lot of information up here. One of the most, I think one of the greatest things about this is you can really see the changes in your own school. And so, what you'll see on each slide, at least to start with, is our current score, which is there in the
037green. So, this year is 73.1. And then up in the corner is what last year's score was. so that you can see the changes. Um so again this year as we have been in the past Fenton is a commendable school. Um and we did earn that score of 73.1 which is up from last year's score of 64.94. So just a little bit more here are the different accountability indicators that each high school is um tracked in. So you can see those there and then you can also see the weight that is given to each one of those indicators and then overall it is converted to that index score one to 100. Um in order to be a commendable school that means you're not in the top 10% which that mean those schools are called exemplary
038which that is always what we're trying to be. A commendable school is below that but it also means that you're not a targeted school. um which a targeted school means that you have student some student groups that are performing or at least one student group that's performing in the lowest 5% of all schools. Um it also allows you to take a look at your targeted student groups which that's great because you can see your overall score but then you can also look at subgroups to see how your subgroups are also performing. So at Fenton the six subgroups um that are our targeted student groups you can see them listed there and we'll take a look at how those groups scored also. Um so again here you can see this is our overall index score and
039where Fenton falls on the continuum. You can see the exemplary is at 93 and targeted is down there. Um but we're really excited to see that we had growth from 64.94 to 73.11. And then here's where we get into our targeted groups. So our lowincome students, right? They're actually pretty close to our overall score, a little bit lower at uh 67.36, but again, when we look at that, we did see growth from last year. Our white students at 84.68 this year. Again, a nice growth from last year that we can see. Our Hispanic and Latino students, 68.08. nice jump that we see there from last year and again a little bit lower than our overall score but really within range. So that's you know something that we are always examining. These are English language learners
040which at Fenton as we've talked about a lot in the past we have a very complex um makeup of English language learners. We have many students that are newcomers who have been here for less than three years but we also have English language learners who are lifelong English language learners. Um so this is an area that we have are spending a lot of time um making sure with professional development, making sure with teacher certification. Um you probably remember we talked about our initiative that we've been working on EEL for all to make sure that all of our teachers understand best practices around English language learners. So we see that their index score is 37.2. But again, we're seeing growth uh a lot of growth there. Um our students with disabilities remained pretty flat from last
041year. Uh, one of the things that we always have to keep in mind at Fenton about our students with disabilities is that many of them um also are English language learners. So, we're not only making sure that we're serving whatever their learning their diverse learning need is, but also their language needs. Not all of them, but a high percentage of our students have both of those qualifications. Here's one that is really impressive. These are our former English language learners. So, this would be any student who qualified for EL services and would have passed out. It could have been in grade school. could have been in high school, but students who passed and shown proficiency in the English language, they're actually our highest performing group. Um, and again, we've seen really great growth. So, our former
042English language learners are really um exceeding expectations, doing a great job. Okay, now this is a I'm going to give you a second to take this in and let me explain it a little bit, but here are some of the metrics, right? And the way we wanted to show this was that so you can see the trends over time. So if you look up in the right corner, anything that you see over there in blue, that's the state average. So that you can see Fenton measured against the state average. And then also our trends over time. The red line indicates the COVID year where there was not data for that year. And we also know that since COVID that has been kind of a line of demarcation where many things changed in education. Um, so
043again, I think some things to point out, our percentage of IEP or students with exceptional needs is on trend. You know, it's kind of remained stable. But where we've really seen a tremendous amount of change in our population is our English language learners, right? And you can see how that number has gone up tremendously and greatly outpaces the rate in the state. Um, kind of an anomaly that we're looking at is low income. So, it looks like this year we had a dip in low income. We don't actually think that's accurate. um we actually know it's not accurate. One of the things we are lucky enough to be a part of the school lunch program where all of our students get free lunch. Um and so because of that, students don't need to fill out
044the waiverss anymore. And so that's pro that's an under reportported number. We're working hard this year to make sure that those numbers um we're getting students to fill those forms out and their parents to fill those forms out. Um in the past it was, you know, they free lunch was what you got out of that. So there was much more motivation or need for them to fill it out. So, we're looking for ways to make sure. So, our guess is that we are probably still close to that 58%. Um, but that, you know, it's the inclusion of that free lunch program from that started last year. You can see our homeless numbers again, um, still growing, outpacing the state. And then our class size. I'm going to turn it over to Steph to talk a
045little bit about the test score metrics. Thanks, That is the one. Okay. So, the first thing is our EL exit rate. Um, that was an area of an improvement for us last year. We had 13 students who exited last year. Um, that's the best we've done in the last four years. We are going to continue with a major change that we implemented last year. And the change was that we tested the students in one sitting. So they took the access test in one sitting instead of over the course of several days in different portions. Um we think that that made a pretty big difference. Um they had a special testing session during what we called uh future ready Fenton day and we think that that had a very positive impact on the results. So that's
046that planning is underway for February 5th and we are going to continue with that practice. Um, so then the rest of the scores, we almost need like a second like thick line there because between the 2023 24 numbers to the right, um, that is all SAT data. So, it's the kids taking the SAT. Um, last year they took the ACT for the first time. So, we're in a position right now where we are not comparing apples to apples for this last year. Um the ELA and math proficiency numbers have changed in two ways. So at like and at the same time. So we're looking at baseline data right now. Basically um our proficiency rate is based on the ACT exam but also um over the summer ISBE released what they're calling their rightsize realigned college
047readiness standards. And basically what that means is we've always used the test company's college readiness standards to measure proficiency and the state of Illinois is saying we are not going to be using ACT's standards anymore. We are using ISBE's college readiness standards and it's based on a lot of research that they've done over the past few years. I have a lot of information about it. So if you want to have a conversation um I I do know kind of a lot about it. there was a long long webinar that I was a part of. Um but they think that this is the right thing to do in order to help honestly schools like Fenton. Um so that's it's really two separate things happening here. We've got different readiness standards and we've got a different test.
048Um so the other thing then means that this data here is a reflection in a change in policy and not student performance. So you really can't look at it as like a jump in student performance because that is not what it's reflecting. Uh the one well another thing too so with science um a noteworthy item is that science was always based on the Illinois state science assessment. So it was an Illinois state test. Now it's based on the ACT portion that is the science science test. They're two completely different tests. So the Illinois science test was a state test based on science content. Now they're taking the ACT which is focused more on applied science and it's heavily reliant on timed reading. So it's a big difference in testing. Um next year we're going to
049have a much better picture of progress. um we'll have the two data points we need um with the same test and the same benchmarks and then we can measure growth uh which is really like the best way to look at student test data. So um I don't know if there are any questions about that at the moment. >> Okay. So going on to the next slide, one of the things that I think we're um proud of and excited about is like the tests, you know, the state changing the test that, you know, Steph just really explained how there are shortcomings with that for measuring, you know, our student performance. But one of the things that I feel really good about is the things that we can control, we're seeing the growth there. So like for
050instance our ninth grade on track I think if you look at those numbers. So this is something that we have really focused on over the past couple of years and I've shared with you a lot of the different supports and interventions that we've put in place for our nth graders. Um things like academic math literacy um as a support class. Bison orange is an executive functioning class. We're working hard on the transition from eighth grade to freshman year. Um because we know that when our students come in and have a strong freshman year that that carries out in their four years. And I think you can see that in our nth grade on track. um we're having a lot of success there and outpacing the state. Also, you can see our graduation rate continues to
051be on track. This is a little bit confusing because we have our four-year, fiveyear. Obviously, the vast majority of our students graduate in four years, but there are reasons um sometimes because they have exceptional needs or sometimes, you know, they just don't pass in four years. So, you can see it's a much smaller percentage of students that would have a fiveyear, six year rate. But again, all of those graduation rates are on track or right there with the state. So, we're happy to see that. Um, and I can I my anticipation is that as our ninth grade on track in increases that we will see that continue. So that's really exciting. Um, and then the last one is focusing a lot on our attendance. So you can see that our attendance rate is continuing to
052improve. Our chronic absenteeism and our truency is continuing to decrease, which that's the one area we do want to see a decrease. Um, you know, as you've uh as we've talked a lot about absenteeism, that's something that has been a lot of our messaging and a lot of our efforts are going into that. So, we're seeing it decrease and we're going to continue working on that. We can see probably the biggest decrease there with chronic truency and we have done a lot of messaging kind of the first step there is making sure that our parents and communities know how to properly report attendance. So, that's a huge decrease that we don't have students that are unexcused or we have fewer students. Um, so now that we have that, we're really continuing to focus with that
053chronic absenteeism. Uh, we're partnering with the ROE. Uh, we have an attendance specialist who's with us three days a week and then with district 2 two days a week. Um, and so we're doing a lot of work there and we're already seeing success this year. So, I'm excited to see next year's data when we get to that point. So again, um I invite you to go on to the website because there's lots and lots of information. This is just an overview, but I think it shows that in so many different ways we are making growth from previous years. Um there are some areas that we need to continue to focus on. Obviously, our EL students, our students with disabilities, we know those supports, you know, we need to continue, but we're seeing growth in all
054of those areas. Any questions? >> Okay, next we have our Yeah, financial audit presentation. We go back a slide. Our audit has been very patient, so we don't want to skip skip a slide, but anyway, he he does have uh in your binder is is this related to the to the audit. So feel free to follow along >> as you're getting that information out. Just before I'll introduce Mr. McCabe Thorp here, but this is in accordance with Illinois school code, the school districts across the state have to annually annually undergo an a financial audit conducted by an outside agency and uh Mr. McCade Thorp of um as the audit manager of Lauderbulk uh Lauderbach and Aean will present the audit findings to you tonight. >> Awesome. Thanks, Doug. Thank you, Superintendent Benson. Um, yeah. So,
055my name is McKay Thorp. I heard you guys have a lot on your docket, so I'll make my fast pass presentation even faster. Um, another successful clean audit. Um, as expected. Um and that's only thanks to Doug, Vanessa, and Maggie um of all the hard work that they put in throughout the whole entire year. Um that where the district received on their ISBY AFR a 3.9 score uh which is out of four where four is the highest. Um so what ISBY does is um we put in all the financial numbers. Isbby looks at analysis where it looks to see cash for expenses. repairs your long-term debt, takes all those into account and gives you a score, uh, which the school district received a 3.9 score. Um, so that's awesome to see. Um, so we'll start
056with the big packet. Um, and we'll go to page number one. Uh, so this is the most important page of the audit report. Uh this is your audit opinion uh for fiscal year 630 uh which the district once again received a modified cash basis opinion. Uh this is consistent with the prior years. Um so congratulations again on receiving the opinion. Um so I'm not going to go through too much of the booklet. Like I said I know you guys have a lot to get through. So, um, if there's any questions when you go through it, Doug has my email. Um, so please feel free to reach out. Um, I did just want to bring your attention, and this is kind of going to go in part with Doug's presentation that he has later on this
057evening. Uh, if you flip to page 89 in the far back, All right. So, you're going to see it says combining balance sheet as a transportation, debt, service, and fire prevention and safety. Um, so the transportation on page 89's balance sheet, page 90's income statement. Um, you'll see that the fund balance or for transportation uh is getting quite low. Um, and if you look at and then flip to page which is your IMRF and social security. Um you'll see the opposite um that the fund balance is uh growing um and is almost more than the expenditures. So um Doug brought this you know Doug brought brought this up I think the first day uh that we were there on site. He I think it was also his third day uh hired by the district. So,
058uh, so Doug and I have been working, uh, together. Doug's been presenting us with, um, ideas and we've discussed the property tax levy, um, steps that he looked into, um, to kind of help build up the transportation fund, um, by using the property tax levy to the school district's, um, advantage there. So, just wanted to make the board aware that Doug did the right thing and calling auditors, right? It's always nice having a third set of eyes and outside eyes um to kind of take a look at things to see if it makes sense. Um and so I just kind of wanted to kind of help show that up so when Doug does his presentation um you can see that the audit reflects uh his findings as well. Um then you'll also see in the
059smaller packet which is title management letter there's a uh best practice comment for funds not in compliance with fund balance policy uh which last year the transportation fund was in there um and the transportation fund is in there as well as this year. So once again, um that backs up that there's steps that need to be taken just to kind of help build up the fund balance policy and transportation going forward. So um like I said, I know it's kind of a quick one because I know you guys have a lot going on. Uh but overall, great clean audit. Um you have a wonderful staff and you have a great leader and Doug uh for future years to come. So thank you again and I know it's a school night, so don't stay up too
060late. Also, if there's any questions, sorry, I remember Yep. I got to be Yeah, we have templates that we can share with Doug. Doug and I have we've we've talked about these before. So, now that this year's audit's done, we can kind of Doug can put them together, send over to us, give a quick little glance, and work with the board. So, >> I did express concern over these Luckily, they're not too ind depth of policy, so you're in great hands with Doug here. >> Cool. >> Awesome, guys. Have a a great night. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay, next slide. All right, good evening board. Uh this is uh for all of us CSBOs uh in throughout the state. November, December is sort of our Super Bowl as we are preparing the uh
061the tax levy. Some of the most exciting things that that we do in the business office. Um so for for me, uh part of Illinois school code, I I'll go through all this as well. um is providing the board prior to um the board's adoption of the tax levy for the school district. We go through an estimated tax levy. With this presentation, I'll give a an overview of the process itself. Um, again, thinking through this, making sure um, all of you as board members when you you go to the grocery store, if somebody asks you a question about their property taxes, you have a solid working knowledge of where the school district takes plays a part in that. Um we'll take a look at some of our historical as well as comparative um data uh
062with us other school districts in our area and then also we'll we'll finish off with kind of what goes into um the the estimated property tax levy for for this school year. So as I mentioned earlier um this is a part of Illinois school code that we are to provide um an estimated tax levy at least 20 days prior to its adoption. So tonight uh serves that first purpose. And then secondly, by the end of the last Tuesday in December, which is December 30th, uh we must present and adopt a tax levy for approval. And our uh board meeting is December 17th. And uh again, that will be the the day that we will um hopefully adopt the tax levy. Then I take care of that and send it off to to the county and
063to the state. This slide is just a there's a lot here uh but visually there are many things that go into um your property taxes at home. Um the levy itself, these red circles are where the school district plays a small role. Um all of the taxing bodies within the county um are working on their levies, preparing their levies, similar to what we're doing here as a school district. um the county the the town assessors the the township assessors are evaluating the um property value of everybody in their township and throughout the county. Um the uh you're hearing tax appeals and things like that. You've got your county clerks are are trying to navigate uh developing a tax rate how they're going to determine what your overall taxes are. Your county treasurers are are issuing
064and collecting tax bills. So, we play one small part in um the the tax the tax process here within the county. A couple key vocab terms here. Uh again, I'll try to go through these quickly. Um an EAV, this is something when you look at your property tax bill, you'll have your market value. the entire township of the Addison Township, which we're a part of, one of the nine townships in Dwage County, we have an EAV, an equalized assessed value. U all the property, uh it's north of$1.6 billion dollar um in in the Addison Township. Tax extension is what you are actually given uh and then it's paid out in multiple payments, approximately 10 payments starting in May uh of the next fiscal year and going through December. The levy is the ask. That's what
065we're doing tonight. And then a tax rate is based upon something again you'd see in your property tax bill. It's the the ask or the extension, I'm sorry, divided by the total township's EAV is how you determine your your t tax rate. Again, just a visual here. Uh there's a difference between the levy and the extension. The levy visually is what we as a a municipality ask for. And then the extension is the taxes that are given uh based upon all of the uh again other factors that go into this EAV, CPI um and what what the the county assessors and and county clerks determine what they can give away uh in in terms of each each municipalities ask. >> You did not. >> Okay. You did not. This is a a lot of information
066here, but I wanted to go into just a little bit more of uh things to consider when when I'm preparing uh the levy or when any other CSBO is compar preparing the levy, what are your expected or anticipated expenditures, salaries, benefits, those are usually the the biggest drivers. Um supplies, equipment purchases that that you're anticipating for that upcoming year. uh transportation costs of building projects, facility improvements, etc. Those are the things that you predict or trying to guess um or anticipate as expenditures for that upcoming that upcoming year. Uh next, where do your revenues come from? I've presented this earlier in in July. Uh over 75% of our revenues come from local property taxes. We have about a little over 6% comes from state sources uh reimbursements um uh grants same thing with federal just
067under 4% and then about 14% comes from other sources uh CPPRT interest earnings student fees etc. So, expenditures, revenues, and then we also have we are in what's called a PTEL or a property tax extension limitation uh county or a tax cap county. So, with that there you cannot go above 5% or CPI from the previous December whichever is lower. So, last December our CPI uh was 2.9%. So for us we can ask up to 5% that we can levy up to 5%. Realistically we will only be extended about 2.9%. Uh the last previous two years we have gone above 5% on our levy request. That requires what's called a truth in taxation. So you can ask for more than 5%. You just have to do something called a truth in taxation. You have to
068provide a rationale for that. the last couple years the rationale was due to CPI being beyond 5% anticipated expenditures etc etc that's why uh we went above we requested levied request the levy request was about 5%. Just quickly, so the the this if we levy beyond 5%. Then we're required to have the subsequent meeting where you have you have another meeting and allow people to make comments. Correct. Like that. >> Correct. >> If we if we levy below 5%, we don't have to have the meeting or the you're not you don't have to have the subsequent public meeting to explain the levy. >> Correct. >> Uh but you're only going to get 2.9 anyway. Correct. >> At best. >> I'll explain that a little. We'll get 2.9 plus new construction. >> Yeah. Yeah. Plus some
069wiggle room, whatever. Yep. Okay. >> EAV adjustments and and new construction. So I'll but yes >> in from from this presentation kind of skipping to the end. We will not be asking above 5%. >> Okay. >> U due to our expenditures, our revenues, etc. So we do not need to do a truth in taxation. >> Okay. This is just a visual to show um one of the the certainly as all of us are homeowners, the people who are homeowners and property taxpayers in in DuPage County and throughout the state. Uh this visual just shows the the significant amount of money that goes to education schools in Dwage County and uh similar that pie looks looks like that throughout the state. But in Dwage County, almost 75% of all the property taxes collected get distributed to
070the schools. Um, and again, I mentioned this before, Addison, we're in Addison Township. We're one of the nine townships within Dwage County. So, when you see our revenues and our levy requests, they're very they very much mirror the distribution of of taxes to schools in in the rest of the county. Um, another part of the process, what can you levy for? Um, you can levy for various groups, education, bonded interest. Uh, we have a couple bonds uh for the the front entrance in 2015 and 2016. You can levy for IMRF and social security. You can levy for working cash. It's sort of a rainy day fund. Um, transportation on&m. If you do go out to referendum, you have a limited and a non-limited. um bonded interest. So many school districts who go the the referendum
071route that's a separate levy um fire safety tor etc. One thing you cannot levy for is capital projects. That's that goes through referendum. >> Yeah. And I I learn more about this every year. So you just if you help me out here for a minute. So these are all the things you can levy for, but you're still not going to get more than 2.9% overall. >> Correct. And some school districts, realistically, some school districts levy in each of these groups. Some school districts levy in only a handful. It's based upon how they determine their expenditures and how they want to, you know, divvy up their spending. >> Now, we're into some of the historical information. Lot of data here. Um, I have the past five years of CPI. So you can see uh again going
072back to that um u previous conversation about truth and taxation. We had gone to truth and taxation a couple years uh for a couple years in a row due to those high CPI rates. So to try to capture as much um new money and and and tax extensions as possible, we went above the the 5%. You can see uh the EAV. This is the the value of of the the properties in the Addison Township. Um $1.6 billion dollars and you can see the EAV change over time. So the value of property over the last five years is going up over 5% year-over-year. So you're seeing that reflected in your if you are on Redfin or Zillow or you see that in your property your your house goes up five six% on average year-over-year that also
073plays a part in in your property tax allocation. Um our tax rate uh within the school district here uh year-over-year as well. So, this is the our extension divided by the EAV determines our tax rate. Um, that column in the middle, the tax impact on a $300,000 home. If you built a brand new home in 2024 that was val valued at $300,000, um, of the taxes that that you were extended or you had to pay, just under 1,800 went to Fenton. The next column sort of trying to visually explain this. If you built a new home in 2023 at $300,000, you 1850 went to the school. That that same property in 2024 went up 8.4%. So then that that extension uh went from $1,850 to $1,954 or $103 increase. So the far right column is
074sort of the the indicator of what is the the increase impact on a taxpayer year-over-year. Historically, we've been averaging about a $90 increase for a $300,000 home year-over-year due to the the uh EAV increase, the CPI changes, and then our levy requests. Another comparable is just showing our school district compared to the other seven high school. There are seven high schools in Dwage County. Our tax rate, you can see that we're right in the middle. There are certainly some school districts that their tax rate is higher than than ours. Additionally, our two elementary districts are also listed below. Uh again, our tax rate at Fenton is relatively low compared to to district 2 and district 7. Um there are a lot of factors again that go into that. EAVs, there's a major tiff in Bensonville.
075Um that is a very significant um reduction of their EAV. So Bensonville has a a little bit of a slight disadvantage to Wooddale. Both do have tiffs, but but Benville has a very significant multiple hundred million dollar tiff that that they're not capturing any taxes on. Um, so just wanted to show you as a as a as a board member, we are in a very comparable tax rate to other high school districts in Dwage County. This is our this is what our um extension look like last year. So again, those various groups, education, bond and interest, operation maintenance, IMRF, transportation, special education, social security, and then aggregate refunds um are the the the groups that we levied in last year, the rates associated, and then what we are actually given or that extension. So we
076were given slightly less than what we asked for. This is to show um the previous five years and then what we're anticipating this year. The blue column is our levy, our ask, and the orange is what we were given, our extension. We've over the past five years, uh, Bruce and and now, uh, myself, we're trying to levy a little bit more than what we're expecting to get in an extension, but we're not trying to do something where we're levying a ridiculous amount of money that we we know we wouldn't get. So, we're we're trying to do this as as fair and appropriate as possible. Uh Bruce and and I are hoping to be Bruce was within about 90 98% where he'd get the extension compared to the levy. That's my hope as well is that
077I'm I'm levying slightly more than what I anticipate we'll get. The downside is if you underlevy, you don't capture as much as you you possibly can. Um which has detrimental effects down the road because you once whatever you've been extended, you can never levy more than 5%. So that's always the unfortunate game in in the state of Illinois and how this works is you want to try to levy as much as possible year-over-year, understanding the negative consequence to a taxpayer, but there is a significant consequence to the municipality if they underlevy because that sets them back uh year-over-year due to the the levy uh the the limit rates um in places like like our school district and or our county with the PEL tax cap. So, getting into the nuts and bolts of this year's
078levy, again, CPI is at 2.9%. The EAV um with talking with u um the county clerk, the EAV is estimated to increase this year by 6.5%. So, again, whatever your home value was this last year, you can anticipate your home value increasing about 6.5% next year. There's about 6.5 million in new construction throughout Wooddale and Benville outside of the tiff areas. Um, a couple other places, our education fund, our salaries and benefits will exceed CPI increases next year. Our on&m fund, uh, we've obviously had some conversations about needs to continue to improve and focus on facility improvement. Um, as uh, Mr. Thorp had indicated our transportation fund is below board policy of 15% fund balance to to um expenditure and revenue ratios and our IMRF social security is above board policy actually well above board
079policy. Um so these sort of things factored into um my tax levy preparation. There's a lot of information here. Um the column on the left hand side uh is each of the funds. The 24 tax extension is the second to the left. That is again what we received this last year uh in terms of extensions. The column in the middle is where my levy requests are. Um and then what I'm anticipating what we will receive in terms of extensions. Now that is again an estimate. It's a guess based upon all these um various factors that I that I had mentioned earlier. A couple key points. Um, in the education fund, [snorts] we have a four, it's a 4.6% increase of levy money in that fund to try to cover the anticipated 5% salary increases and
0803% increases of of things like accounts payable. Operations and maintenance, it's a 6.2% increase there due to anticipated operations and maintenance costs. Again, hopefully um when we get to this uh later down the the the school year and we start preparing our budget, we hopefully can allocate some money for facility improvements. Transportation, as you can see, is a significant increase. It's a a nearly $400,000 more than what we were extended the year before, almost a 25% increase. as you have seen this year-over-year. Bruce used to move uh working cash to pay the the um the fund balances, the the underfunded transportation budget. I'd like to try to start moving more money into transportation to increase that fund balance so we're not continuously moving working cash into transportation. Um IMRF and Social Security, uh as Mr.
081Thorp and indicated we have plenty of money in that fund. Um I'd prefer not to levy anything in there for at least this year, maybe even two. Um because we still have bills to pay out of there, but we have plenty of money in there. I'd rather allocate it to transportation on and m etc. And then special education looking at a 4% increase there um due to typical special education increases. So, the total levy request, if you take a look over over to the far right side, again, we have a 2.9 um CPI, but with EAV and new construction, we're anticipating the extension to be about 3.4 3.45%. Um, so the overall levy request is a 4.7% increase. So, I'm hoping to be within that that as uh Bruce has historically been in that 98.5%.
082I'm not in expecting us to get that full 4.7% increase, but I'm hoping to be somewhere uh close to that 3.45 of of that extension. Um, if when after this presentation and we um as a as a board approved the estimated tax levy, this would be what the levy it's. It's a one-page document next month. It's a one and this would be exactly the the requests. 27.9 in ed, a little over three in operations, 1.87 in transportation, 420,000 in special education. And the bonded interest is a dollar amount to pay back our principal and interest from the 2015 2016 um bonds totaling just under 34 million. So again, just tying back again trying to get give you that that grocery store conversation. Um, if you have a $300,000 home in Wooddale or Benville this last
083year, um, it costs about $1,800 of of that property tax money went to Fenton High School. That same house next year will be valued at just under $320,000. uh with our our levy and the anticipated extension, it would be about a $1,850 uh property tax uh extension or distribution to the school district, which is a $60 increase. The the last point here is this is about $45 less of an increase than it was last year. And historically this is about $30 less than the average over the last five years of the increase or the impact on the taxpayer. Um so it is certainly an increase but it's less of an increase than it has been historically year-over-year for the for the past few. Um, and then next steps, if the board approves our tax levy,
084as I said earlier, um, we will then bring this to the December 17th uh, board meeting for approval. And if it is approved, I file with the Dupage County Clerk's Office um, essentially the next day. Any questions? >> I'm keeping the clicker here. I'm keeping the clicker here. This is again one of a part of Illinois school code. Uh what we are supposed to do again this ties into our audit ties into our levy. We are we are to present to the school board what's called the operational funds expenditure report and if needed a reserve reduction plan. Um it it went into effect uh a calendar year ago. What you're supposed to do is look at what are called your operating funds. The education on&m and transportation fund. What are your annual expenditures year-over-year for
085the past three years? Come up with an average of those expenditures. Look at your fund balances um for those operating funds. And if your fund balances exceed 250% of the average of the spending for the last three years, you have to do a reserve reduction plan. Essentially, that's to try to keep school districts and other municipalities from hoarding money from taxpayers and not using it. We are certainly well below that. Uh we're at at 56%. Um which again, we do have board policies and as Mr. Thorp alluded to part of our our four or nearly four rating is because we have fund balances that are north of of of the the goal of somewhere around that 40% fund balance. So we're just north of that. That's how you get an ISBY rating of a four
086when you dip below that 40% is when you start getting into three etc. But we have a board policy of 15%. So we do not need to do a reserve reduction plan. This is just something again that we're trying to be transparent, trying to be open and and um good stewards of taxpayer dollars, making sure people know that we're we're not just sitting on on their their hard-earned um taxpayer money. Um this last document is also a part of schoolboard policy or a a school code. Um as a school district, we we work on trying to do the best we can with shared services. There are continuous ways to to improve this. Um but this document is a part of the annual audit where the auditors look at where our places we can try to
087share services. We can um do some sort of cooperations and co-ops and things like that. So with uh things like curriculum development, we work with district 2, district 7. um with uh insurance. We're a part of the educational benefits cooperation and and click. Um we we're a part of an Illinois gas uh um cooperative to try to get the best rates we can on natural gas, electricity. There are some other ideas that at hopefully a future board meeting I'll present to you on on ways that we can continue to improve there. Um we uh financially we're a part of an investment pool uh called is um Illinois school district asset fund is laugh uh is the acronym we love acronyms you see a part of that every every month in the treasures report that we're
088a part of that um and the list goes on and on here where we're trying to do the best we can where we can consolidate we can share services this is just showing that um of course there are always other places we can ago and we'll continue to look at uh but this is again part of school code just to showcase this. >> Okay, Jose. >> Yes. Uh so we did have um some foyas this this m this past month. Uh the first one the data branch um asked for records that reflect purchasing activity by all departments, divisions, offices and programs. So that was resolved. Uh the Lucy Parson's lab had five um that were broken down um due to the first one being uh it was denied due to the the voluminous requests. Um
089so quite a few of those were also denied. Um I believe you got you guys have that information as well in your packet but um >> only one of the of the five was partially uh resolved. So the majority were denied due to the fact that the majority of them we we did not have the information requested. Okay. And then tonight under other, we could go back to other. Thank you. Um, just a real quick update. The board's been hard at work looking for the new superintendent uh for next school year. Six candidates were interviewed on Saturday, November the 15th, and through that process, it was narrowed down to two finalists. The dates are Wednesday, December the 3 and Thursday, December the 4th. I know Karen was check touch base with all the board members
090and those dates are working. Uh as far as a uh venue that hasn't been determined yet. So more to come on that. We're still looking at that. >> Can I have a [clears throat] >> Yeah. >> Uh one thing I wanted to add. I I apologize. Uh Mr. Lewis, uh, for the for the personnel report, we did add, um, Mr. Tom Cantlin's um administrative contract for the FMLA leave that he would potentially cover with your approval um, in the spring semester. Um, so that is in your in your um, packet. Yes, sir. Um, so I just wanted to bring that to your attention. I apologize for that oversight. It was not included in the packet um, on Friday, but it is in your packet now. So, >> so he is listed in the personnel report
091as a hiring, but this is the actual FMLA contract. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Next item is our consent agenda. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda as presented? >> I'll make the motion. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Rzinski? >> Yes. >> Miller? >> Yes. >> McCulla? >> Yes. Goodidge. >> Figuro. >> Yes. >> Lewis. >> Yes. Motion passed. May I have a motion that the board of education accepts the 2024 2025 audited financial statements as submitted by Labbach and Aean LLP as presented. Any discussion? >> Roll call. >> Makulla. >> Yes. >> Goodri. >> Yes. >> Miller. >> Yes. >> Figureroa. >> Yes. >> Rosinski. >> Yes. >> Lewis. >> Yes. Motion pass. May I have a motion that the board of education accepts the 2025
092estimated tax levy as presented in preparation for the final tax levy to be adopted at the December 17th regular board meeting. >> I'll make the motion. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> I'd like to make a comment. Given the nature of taxation in our community. It's unsustainable to continue to ask residents to contribute at the levels that they are. Additionally, another taxing body has added taxes to uh residents just recently this past week. For that reason, um I think it's very challenging to want to support any additional tax levies at this time. And I'll also add that I I do maintain that there are opportunities for savings here at Fenton given the nature of the topheavy administrative structure that we have. >> Roll call. >> Miller. >> Yes. >> Redzinski. >> Yes. >> Figureroa.
093>> Yes. >> Makulla. >> No. >> Good. >> No. >> Lewis. >> Yes. Motion pass. May I have a motion that the board of education accepts the operational funds expenditure report for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025 as presented. >> I'll make the motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Roll call. >> Good. >> Abstain. >> Miller. >> Yes. >> Figureroa. >> Yes. >> Rozinski? >> Yes. >> Makulla? >> No. >> Lewis? >> Yes. Motion pass. May I have a motion that the board of education accepts the report on shared services or outsourcing for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025 as presented? >> Yes. One motion. You looking for a motion? >> Yes. >> Got one second. >> Who's taking it? Leo. >> Any discussion? Roll call. >> Rozinski, >> yes. >> Miller, >>
094yes. >> Good. >> Yes. >> McCulla, >> yes. >> Figuro, >> yes. >> Lewis, >> yes. Motion passed. >> Does anyone have any committee reports? >> Uh, Bensonville Foundation will meet tomorrow. I believe we had two small requests if I read my emails correctly. And then we're waiting for a financial balance to help us move forward. So more at next meeting. >> Um ISAB this Friday, majority of the board and some other administrators will be going downtown for the triple eye conference. And just a quick reminder with that that the recommendation is for uh President Lewis to uh is in agreement with the committee report that was shared uh prior. If you have any thoughts on on those votes, he is the voting member of the body and uh so just be aware of that
095that occurs on Saturday. Uh I will say uh the NETSC meeting I attended um was at Lincoln Academy and it was one the speaker was one of our students who's actually transitioning back to Fenton at this semester. Some great pride from him and and his mother was there also. So that was nice to see how he's developed some coping strategies and and looking forward to his return. Um so that was that was the NetSack meeting, lend meeting. um many of the same things that that you even heard tonight about the transportation fund being low. This is happening in many districts. I was at a superintendent meeting this morning and it was brought brought up again. So, we're the issue that we're dealing with there is not unique to to Fenton. However, you know, we appreciate
096Doug's efforts and identifying it and and putting a plan together moving forward. A tenative finance facility meeting is scheduled at 6 pm prior to the regular meeting. Our next board meeting is Wednesday, December the 17th, 2025 at 700 p.m. Triple I is Friday, November 21st through Sunday, November 23rd. attended a special meeting for the 2026 2027 superintendent search is scheduled for Wednesday, December the 3rd, 2025 and Thursday, December the 4th, 2025. May I have a motion and a second to go into close session for the following five Illinois CS 1202C1 the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of Fenton School District 100 two 5 LCS120/2C2 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
0975 ILCS120C12 litigation when an action against affecting or on behalf of the particular body public body has been filed and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal or when the public body finds that an action is probable or imminent. In which these in which case the basis for the findings shall be recorded and entered into the minutes of the closed meeting. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Rzinski. >> Yes. >> Miller. >> Yes. >> Figureroa. >> Yes. >> Makulla. >> Yes. >> Good. >> Yes. >> Lewis. >> Yes. Motion pass. We're in close bill. Going to close this. May I have a motion and a second to go back into open session? >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Miller, >> yes. >> Figuro, >> yes. >> Rosinski, >> yes. >> Good. >>
098Yes. Yes. >> Lewis. >> Yes. Uh motion passed. Back in open session. May I have a motion and a second to adjourn? All in favor? I >> thank you and good night.