001High School District 100 board to order. May I have a roll call? Matug here. Goodri, yes. McCullo, present. Miller, present. Yes. Lewis, here. Redzinski, yes. Figureroa. We have a ro. We have a court. Please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Sam, please read our fing mission beliefs and vice and way statements. Fenton mission statement cultivate successful, passionate, empowered learners through rigor, relevance and relationships. Fenton belief statement successful, passionate, empowered learners thrive when we provide a safe, caring, and welcoming environment. Diversity, equity, and inclusion unify our community. School and home collaborate as one. We champion innovative teaching and engage learning with state-of-the-art facilities.
002We infuse social emotional learning into academics and culture. We prepare students fulfill their civic responsibility. We immerse students in authentic life experiences. The Bison way. Students and adults at Fenton 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. Next item is recognition, Kate. All right. Good evening. Um, so our school year is officially over. We had graduation on Thursday of last week and our last day of school on Friday. But we are not done recognizing our outstanding students. So, uh, first I'd like to invite up the the members of the FCCLA and their sponsors to join us. [Applause] CLA, I got that. I got you. Um, so not
003all the students could be here tonight, but the students that we're recognizing, Madison Voit, Karen Hernandez, Katie Nihoff, Isabella Reyes, Camila Rivera, and Alexis Torres Peneda. Um, so Family Careers and Community Leaders of America, otherwise known as FCCLA, is a national organization where students have the opportunity to explore career opportunities and build real world skills by developing projects, engaging and participating in events, and competing regionally and nationally for scholarships and awards. The work of FCCLA helps our students and teachers focus on a variety of youth concerns and career pathways such as education, hospitality, human services, and design. Uh so these six Fenton students completed and meddled in two events at the April 10th FCCLA statewide competition in Springfield. Uh so first we'd like to recognize Camila Rivera and Katie Nihoff. Uh so Camila is here.
004uh they earned a silver medal and also sophomore Karen Hernandez earned a bronze medal for children's literature. Um and then our three students Isabella Reyes, Madison Boy, and Al Alexa Torres Pana collectively earned a silver medal for their score in the entrepreneurship food truck event. So we'll give them a hand. [Applause] Also, our two awesome FCCLA sponsors, Miss Angel and Miss Jaganti, are here and they will share a little bit more about our students. All right. Hello. Um, today I would like to honor all of these students. My speech might be a little repetitive to what Kate said, but um, just a little bit more about the competitions. Um, like she said, on April 10th, these students advanced to the state competition in Springfield, Illinois. After competing in the regional competition in February at the
005College of DuPage in children's literature um, and entrepreneurship food truck. Um, so our early childhood students, they had to essentially submit a lesson plan of a storytelling experience and then perform their presentations in front of a panel of judges and they had to pretend like there were children in the room. Um, and then Bella, Maddie, and Alexa worked as a team and presented a food truck concept and business plan that was Puerto Rican themed. Um, and these were projects that they created and practiced performing in in our classes throughout the year as well. So, they put a lot of hard work into them. Um, in combination with the regional and state competitions, these ladies were awarded with bronze and silver medals, some gold medal scorings as well at regionals. And we are proud to say
006that everyone in this group is a dedicated family and consumer science student and they have taken many classes in our education or culinary arts pathway. Um, and then I wanted to give a shout out to Camila again if you want to step forward because she's a senior and just graduated. Um, she plans on going to College of DuPage next year and start her path in becoming an elementary school teacher. Uh, Mrs. Jaganti and I know that you'll both be an amazing teacher because you're very passionate about helping young children and we could just see that you're very gifted in that. Um, I want to thank everyone at Fenton who supports FCCLA and the family consumer science department. Every day we are teaching lifelong skills and are also providing opportunities for students to explore and train
007in various career paths. Ultimately we want students to be prepared for their futures and make a positive difference in this world. Thank you so much. [Applause] Then we'll go over to the back and have a report. Yeah. Yeah, we got to move the chair down here. I can go on. That's rid. Um, Mr. Reed, can you come forward? Get your light. Dr. Ben, come forward and that way. All good. Thank you. Every meeting thankfully. Right. Yes. Most definitely. All right. our second recognition. Um, I'd like to invite Nicholas O'hanion to join me at the [Music] podium. Okay. So, in March, Nick was selected by the Chicago Bears as the second recipient of the 2025 Community High School All-Star Award. This Chicago Bears program, which was co-sponsored by Athletico Physical Therapy, highlights nine high school football
008players throughout Illinois who are making a positive impact in their community and school. A representative from the Chicago Bears came to Fenton and surprised Nick with a Chicago Bears backpack that is not available in stores and an official NFL football hand painted with his name on it, which you can see right up there, um, with the words for demonstrating excellence in service to the community. Nick also received $500 to donate to a charity of his choice. So, he was selected for his leadership on the football team, which this year our football team finished six and three and competed in the playoffs for the first time since 2013. And Nick was a crucial part of that team. On top of that, Nick was also qualified for this award because of his academic prowess. He had graduated
009with three 3.8 GPA, member of National Honor Society. Above all, the selection committee noted that they loved his 63 hours of community service, including many hours as a freshman bison time mentor, helping our newest students build strong study habits. He was also very active in our link crew, assisting in high-profile events like freshman orientation and future freshman night. Um, I have to say if you were ever at an event for Fenton, Nick was there and he was helping out, right? His face is familiar. Um, and just an outstanding student. The Bears said Nick leads the way. um that often go in ways that often goes unnoticed, like volunteering to clean concession stands after he'd spend all night competing on the field. It's just the type of guy he is. Um a fun fact, when the
010Chicago Bears created this program in 2020, their the very first recipient was a Fenton grad. So, we have a long history with the Bears. Um and finally, as you all know, community service is a graduation requirement here at Fenton, and our National Honor Society requires even more. I think this is something that really makes uh our school special because we form authentic bonds with our communities and our students develop genuine kindness and I think Nick is a perfect example of this. Um so we're excited to recognize him and Nick, would you like to address the board? Okay, awesome. Uh hello. Uh good evening everyone. I just want to say thank you to the Chicago Bears and Athletical Physical Therapy for selecting me to be a 2025 community high school Oscar. No one at Fenton volunteers
011with the hope of receiving any sort of recognition or gain. Wearing the blue and orange is a privilege the residents of Bensonville and Wooddale provide me. It's also my duty return to kindness and provide for others in the community who are chasing their dreams or in need of support. I want to thank my coaches and teachers for the mentorship that led to this humbling recognition. But I'm not the only one who learned these lessons. The Fenton football program and our entire student body is full of selfless students that are just as deserving of this award. When we put on our helmets, it takes 11 11 of us to succeed. When we take them off, we're still living as a team. If I had to guess, it's probably because of the inherent qualities I got from
012my parents that caught the attention of the Chicago Bears. Compassion for others, humility, leading by example, and not hesitating to help others. These are all things my parents taught me. And this award honors them as just as much as it honors me. Thank you. [Applause] You got somewhere more. All right. Congratulations. See the summer somewhere. Thank you. Thank you very good job. Thank you. Chairman, do we have any public comments? 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. Larry Angelone. [Music] Good evening. My name is Larry Analone. I've been a resident here since 92. I believe it's like 33 years.
013Uh both of my boys graduated here. I'm going to hand out this information to each of the board members. I did this four years ago. If you would like to contact me for any reason at any time, please do. [Music] Um, as I said, I've been a resident here for approximately 33 years. I've been an employee here for 24 years. I've I reiterate this stuff for the three new board members. Um, the rest of the board here already knows me. I've spoke up here several times. Anyway, the reason why I come up here to the board meetings is I I know I only have three minutes. Obviously, you told me one time at one of these speeches that it's actually five, but anyway, I just keep trying to convey problems and information here that do
014not get resolved and the channels I use here at Fenton don't seem to work. So, I was hoping that my elected officials would assist on getting these problems solved. Anyway, with that said, I recently cons uh voiced my concerns con uh regarding the lack of inadequate communications between the athletic department and the department of grounds and transportation, which I am a groundsman. I'm the head groundsman here at Fenton High School. I spoke with the athletic director, the assistant athletic director, and the secretary of the athletic department regarding inadequate communication regarding outside sport scheduling. My concerns about the scheduling were dismissed as if they had no merit. I especially conveyed to the athletic department secretary that I needed to receive changes in schedule as soon as possible after she became aware of the changes. I want
015my current calendar to mirror her current calendar throughout the entire spring season. She indicated that that would be too much effort on her part. I am responsible for preparing the athletic fields for competition for tennis, baseball, soccer, and softball. I cannot fulfill those requirements if I do not have accurate sports schedules. I need to have this knowledge of current schedules, games, rescheduled games, especially additional scheduled games. I am also responsible for maintaining this 40 acre campus here. That includes garbage pickup, grass cutting, and whatever else is needed outside. I cannot do this if I'm don't I I need to know this so that I can do this job. But preparing for an athletic competition is priority before everything else. Our kids come first. So, I need to adjust my day. This came into play this
016past Tuesday after Memorial Day holiday weekend as I was not notified the game and only became aware of it after my coworker told me that there was a softball game scheduled that he he was told about on Friday by the softball coach. Had Rodney not come to work, my my coworker, I would have jumped on a and I would not have known about this regional baseball game. Now, I don't know if you guys realize, but regional is a very important thing. It's IHSA scheduled. It I should have known about this weeks ago. This has to be approved by IHSA and I was not aware of it. I would not have prepared the field for our kids. That simply is not acceptable. I should have known this information and I voiced this in a labor management
017meeting recently and I got push back. Push back to communicate information. It's nonsense. I need to know and if it hurts somebody's feelings here, that's too bad. Our kids come first. Anyway, I started inquiring that morning if there was a game. We have two new people in the Department of Transportation. These people need assistance. They're still acclimating. I asked one of them if there was a game in fact scheduled. She told me yes, there was. So, I did more inquiring. I should have been setting up the field, not inquiring whether the game existed. It's just simply nonsense. Anyway, I finally got an email from the athletic director secretary at 8:06 p.m. I that morning. I should have known about this a long time ago, not the morning of. I should have been already out on
018the field preparing this field. And I also knowing that it was a regional game, I would have put the extra effort to make our campus look better, maybe do some extra grooming of the field. I would have been doing this process for the last 3 weeks preparing for this regional game and instead I'm thinking that our entire sports spring sports season is over with and here I am with a surprise. It's just simply unacceptable. I don't know how to solve this problem, but if we're failing to just willing to communicate, we have serious problems here. Very serious problems. And I can't help but wonder if this is something personal with me that they refuse to. They would rather suffer the collateral damage of our students just to make my job more difficult. There are people
019in our administration that cannot stand me. And I believe that they would do this at the expense of our children. And that just disgusts me. Now, I hope you guys as board members will finally listen to me and realize that we have a problem here. If we don't even have communications, we have serious problems here. I've been before this board numerous times, numerous times. And all I suffer, and I mentioned this this last time, that I get retaliated against. Our kids come first. simply as that. If we're not all on the same page and you need to find a different job. Thank you, Mr. Lewis. I realize that we don't It's still public comment. Hold on a minute. Is that it? Mr. Lewis, I I realize we don't respond to public comment, but I'd like
020to make a statement. We don't respond to public I won't be responding to the public comment. I'd just like to make a statement in in what capacity and what's I just like to say in general, generically that I appreciate the voices of all of those who make public comment. Thank you for your comments. Um, our next item isformational. Sam. Yes. So, we're going to start out with graduation highlights. And you can see we have a full agenda here of of other items to go through. This is justformational purposes. Some of these items we are going to ask for action later on in the evening. So, let's get it started. All right, great. So, uh we just had our graduation on Thursday evening. Uh it was a well attended graduation. We have some statistics here that
021I'll read through. Uh we read them at graduation, but just to highlight how our class of 2025 um some outstanding statistics for them. As I'm reading them, we'll have some pictures, some great pictures from the night. So, uh, the class of 2025, we had 366 graduates. 24 of those graduates were recognized as Illinois State Scholars, uh, which means that they were in the top 10% of graduating seniors in, uh, the state based on their SAT scores and also their GPA. We had 50 members of the National Honor Society. 65 of this class of 25 2025 earned the seal of biiteracy. 13 students will be joining the US military. And the class of 2025 earned more than $2.68 million in scholarships and grants. Finally, this class clocked 13,711 hours of community service, which is equivalent to
0221.5 years of community service during their time at Fenton. Um, so I think everyone there was present. It was a really celebratory evening. a lot of touching moments, some great speeches given um by our graduates. Uh and it was really just wonderful to see our students recognized and just feel really accomplished during that ceremony. And I would just like to add thank you to the board for full representation. I think that sends a strong message to the community that every board member is invested uh in this class. This was a special class. It was amazing how that became a theme from different individuals who were speaking and it wasn't even pre-arranged. Um, but it really is a unique group and we're sorry to see them go, but it's time to move on to bigger and
023better things. So, we're excited for them. Yeah, they'll be missed, but we're excited to see what the future holds for them. All right. Um, moving right on. Just you know, we we closed one chapter and open the next, so we're already on to summer school. So, summer school uh will start next Monday. The way that we have done summer school here is we have two sessions. Um our first session includes both in-person instruction and our credit recovery which is done primarily online with teacher support. Our second session is much smaller um and focuses just on credit recovery. So, the bulk of students who need summer school come during the first session. So, you can see um I have listed up there what courses are offered. Most of them are for students who need to recoup
024that credit. Consumer ed and driver's ed are get aheads for our student our students. And then you'll notice that we do have a one-week newcomer transitions program which we work with district 2 and district 7 to identify uh students who are recent immigrants to the country. And so we do special hands-on training with them um for one week uh and it really helps ease that transition. It's not just incoming uh freshmen. We do have some students that if they would have gotten to Fenton within, you know, since January, we also invite them. I think as of now, we're scheduled to have 15 recent immigrant students that will be part of our newcomer transitions, which is the highest number we've ever had, which is great. So, for our first session, um, our summer school does run
025Monday through Thursday, 8:30 to 12:30. Uh, we will have approximately 231 students that will be here at Fenton in person. Session 2, right now we have 39 students. That number normally goes up because some of the kids from first semester end up, you know, taking going into second semester, so that could go up, but usually it's below 50. Any questions about summer school? All right, great. Okay, for this one we're going to have Michelle Papa Nicolau, special guest tonight who has a wide variety of experiences with grant programming and uh so we're thrilled to have her here to explain our uh FY25 consolidated district plan. Sure. Good evening to all the members of the board of education. It's a pleasure to be here with you this evening. I am Michelle Papanic. I am the director
026of post-secondary pathways, the division leader for career and technical education and um the unofficial title of director of title grants. Um so there actually is a thing. Um so I oversee uh our some of our federal grants. I would say most of our federal grants um including our title grants and that's what I'm going to talk to you about tonight. Um, we have something called a consolidated district plan. Um, this is something we've been doing now for several years when the state moved from having separate applications for all of our federal grants to one consolidated plan. So this allows the state to view what we do as a district holistically and all of the narrative pieces that we would typically put into each of the individual grants are now questioned in a holistic manner. So
027when we when they ask about how will you address academic achievement, we talk about how we will do that through all of our grants and how we will use the funds through each and every one of them. So, this requires us to answer one set of planning questions, which is kind of nice. Um, but it is a comprehensive plan. If you looked in your consent agenda, it's in there and it's quite a few pages long. Um, but I wanted to give you the full scope of how we um lay out our plans as a district. Um, we always get great returns from the state. We get approved every year. um but ours will go in um once we get this approved tonight from all of you. So these are the grants that are involved in
028the consolidated grant. We have title one which is for improving basic programs. We are part of a schoolwide program. So what that means is at least 40% of our students come from lowincome households and that allows us the opportunity to not only do targeted intervention with the funding that we get but to use funding across the entire school. So whether your whether it's a student from a low socioeconomic status or not, all students benefit. For example, we buy Chromebooks for all of our students. Um, and part of that is funded through title one. Then we have title two, which is I call it the professional development grant. Um, but there's a little bit more to it, but it it simply is focused on preparing, training, recruiting highquality teachers, principles, and other school leaders. So, anybody
029in the organization can benefit from this particular grant. Title three is our language instruction education program and our immigrant student education program. So this is for our EL learners. And then title four is a student support and academic enrichment grant. We typically move our funds from title one because we do get a little bit of autonomy moving things around with in between and within these funds. Um, so we move our title four funds into our title one because it just provides us a little bit more flexibility in how we spend. And then finally, we have idea part B and that's a flowthrough grant to support our students with special needs. This just gives you a general idea of how much we typically get um from the federal government. We don't have our aotments yet. That's
030not typical, but we are not we are not shaken in our boots yet over that. Um I went to the Title One conference down in Springfield. Um and we all came in with lots of questions about are we getting funding? What's happening with everything going on down in Washington DC? And they assured us that at least for this year, everything that we spent will absolutely be reimbursed to the districts. That's good because they had already budgeted it. They anticipate that our 2526 aotment will be very similar to this year. When we get into the following fiscal year 27, there are concerns. So although we don't know and this is all speculative at this point, they did, you know, ask us to really start thinking about plan B's um in in the case that for any
031reason when all the bills end up being passed or revised in Washington that um there are caucuses, they're aiming to reduce or even eliminate Title One and Title Two. Um, for us in all of the districts, we're asked by the state board to please spend down your monies, right? Spend it. If we don't spend it, they don't think we need it. So, we took a lot of effort, more so than ever, to ensure that we didn't really have any rollover for next year. We spent it down as much as we could because they said if anything was going to be clawed back, it would be our rollover funds. So, we we worked together as a team and really decided what else can we do that's really going to optimize the instruction for students and make
032Fenton a better place. And I think we were able to come up with some really good um additions to the grants. Um just in a general sense, this is about what we get um and what we receive, but it can vary from year to year. Um, I haven't really seen it go below 200,000 for title one except for one year, which felt shocking. And then, um, so it's usually between 200 and 250,000 for title one. Um, we did have one year where it was a little higher because the rollover was from the pandemic year. And then title two, three, title four, they've all been around the same. Oh, I went the wrong way. Sorry. So within this grant or sorry within the plan these are the three target areas that we emphasize and we write
033about. So we write about student learning, learning conditions and elevating educators. So, if you had the as you were reading the consolidated plan, you probably saw these addressed in every single area. And these are the specific um areas um the grant or I'm sorry, the plan. I shouldn't call it a grant because the grants come later. I'll explain that in a minute. The plan has these 11 areas in the specific plan. Um anywhere from what we did with a needs assessment to figure out what students need. We look at our school report card. We use um data on a regular basis. We talk about our private school participation. We have about 10 schools that serve students who live in our boundaries. So, we have to offer them participation in this grant. We only have one
034school right now that wants to participate with us. So, we work collaboratively with them to ensure that the students who live in our boundaries also get access to this funding. We spent a great deal of time as a team and we had people contribute like Stephanie Jackson and Lorenzo Rubio and Eric Randa. Everybody had a chance to address safe learning environment, professional development, um our special education needs, youth and care stability plan, and our bilingual plan. So the next steps really can't start until we get your approval for the consolidated plan. And then we complete our asurances. So that really just is a bunch of statements asking that we don't break the law. Um so we take those very seriously obviously. Um but we provide assurances to the state that we will carry this out
035with fidelity. We submit to the Illinois State Board of Education for approval and then we start beginning to complete our applications for all of the individual programs. That's when we will give the budgets, what we we detail what we'll spend it on. Um, and then from that point on, after they approve it, we will do progress reports and ensure that we get reimbursed for everything that's in those plans. That's really the gist of what the consolidated plan is. Um, I'm happy to answer any questions and I thank you for your time. How long have this we've been doing this the consolidated plan? Is that a is that done yearly? Yes, it's done every every year about this time. We pushed it up to May this time so we can get our um program grants completed
036by June 30th. So, we're ready to spend in July. But yes, every year about for the past six years, seven six or seven years. Um before that, we did all of those individual grants. had to really streamline all the prep that goes into those. It's still a lot. No. What I think is good though because like in my prior role, I was in charge of the EL grant and you would really work more even in a small district like ours, a one school district, you would work kind of in isolation. And so this really I I think it's healthy because it really causes you to make sure that you're talking and not overlapping or, you know, it it really is a much better system. It's a tremendous amount of work, but it forces the collaboration
037if you do it the right way. I'm sure there's schools that don't do it the right way, but like we literally sit in rooms together and talk through this and look at data and it's an ongoing process, but it's much better like this, I think. Yeah, Kate, I appreciate that. That's exactly right. Yeah, we're able to split certain items among different grants. We're able to what we call blend and braid our grants. So, we really try to optimize everything we spend. Definitely more optimization. Thanks, Okay. Thank you, Michelle. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Okay. These are the actual board of education meeting dates. Uh I think did we put one in their their folder? Okay. So, this is obviously uh this is starting 2526 the fiscal year with the July meetings. You'll
038notice it's what the board approved basically the fourth Wednesday of the month unless there is a holiday. So those dates are moved up. So mark these dates down uh on your calendar. However you do a calendar nowadays, John, you still do what you know. Yeah, you just write it down in a calendar probably. So okay, I do both. You do both. Okay. Any questions on that? Okay. Certified tenure acknowledgement. Jose. Yeah. So, we just want to say thank you to um all these staff members. Tai Costa, Brandon Bashz, DJ Carroll, Alexa Flores, Anthony Luigi, who happens to be with us this evening. Uh Scott McNelte and Eva Reaga. We just want to say thank you to them for their commitment to our students and and all that they do. We look forward to many more
039uh years of working with them and and them helping our students, you know, just attain uh great success here. So, thank you, Anthony, for being here this evening. How about a round of applause, [Applause] Jose? Yes. So, in compliance with this ACA act, um, Fenson provides insurance coverage for all part-time employees that worked 30 hours a week in the previous calendar year. Um, so this past year, we had seven individuals that qualified for, uh, insurance and five of them opted yes. So, um, again, just want to make sure that we're in compliance, but also, you know, just, um, thank you to those to those individuals that are working hard and and putting in the extra time. We appreciate that. So, okay. Thank you. So uh we started this discussion last board meeting as far as
040a superintendent search for 2627 and we had talked about the three search firms uh that we wanted to take a a closer look at just to review the IASB obviously that's the state association uh BWP and also HYA so these we also had brought up at that meeting were there any other firms I didn't receive any other requests from board members to look at anyone else. These are all three very reputable firms. And so what I'd like to do here tonight is just ask the board um under President Lewis direction here of course is we're looking for two representatives from the board uh so what would you actually be doing? Well, sometime in June, what we'd like to do is bring these three groups in, have them present to the two representatives from the board.
041Uh we would create a rubric, obviously some questions, and listen to all three and then hopefully from the two reps have a recommendation on which search firm that we would like to bring to the board for in essence approval. that would actually occur at the June board meeting. You know, assuming we have the two reps, we can determine one firm with a recommendation and then the goal would be to invite that firm to present at the board meeting so we could hear more details about the search that they would be taking on for us. So, that's the concept. Any discussion or volunteers? I think that the I do think that the um the review should be open. I'm fine with two reps, but I think it should be open to any board members that want
042to attend. Any thoughts on that? I'd leave it up to the board to discuss that. Well, if we get more than three, we have to declare a meeting, post it, and everything else. And that creates a whole another set of issues. Selecting a search firm is a very important matter. It is. But statute says if more than three of us are together, we have to declare a meeting. We can't go around state statute. Otherwise, we will be in a lot more trouble. This can be done in a meeting. Well, why don't we see who's interested? Who's available? Or who's available? I mean, I we would obviously compare calendars and and see um see which board members are interested. All three as the as um I've been investigating the process and getting up to date, all
043three are capable. The only issue, the only thing of concern is I ain't going to say concern, but selecting one that fits what we're looking for. That's that's which one best fits our needs. But all three are capable. The real um work for when we select one is putting together a rubric of what we're looking for in a superintendent. What is the from the school from a from as far as the board is concerned as far as staff but also to the community who comes in with the best plan to to meet all of those all of those separate entities and putting together a rubric to for who they are ultimately search out and bring to us for potential interview and things. But but all three are capable. It just matter who fits our needs.
044I have a slightly different view on that. But um what is the aversion to holding a public meeting to have these presentations and even allowing the public to have some input in this? the public doesn't we can take the pub we can have the public's what's important to them but we've been selected to make that decision we've been elected to make that decision to be honest and frank okay and the reason why we do two is what John stated is we have different procedures when it gets to be more than just two of us right and that that so doing this with two or fewer is creating a situation where there's not a public record of what we're doing. And I don't think that's a good way to build trust with the community [Music] public.
045The public will have their time to get input into the new superintendent when we give direction to the group we choose. It's our job to choose the group. We've been elected. Historically, we've always done a panel of two so we're in compliance with the Open Meetings Act. We're on a deadline because we need to get things done and get things moving so we can get people in place before this year is over. First off, how many people are available and want to do this? I can't be here. I have a full-time job. I have a flexibility to do it. Whether it's doing How many people want to be here? I mean, I have the flexibility to be able to do I don't I do as well. typically well I don't know in in the past
046we would do it during the school day was how we've done something not not look for a superintendent but have two board representatives sort of represent the board um typically that would be during the regular day I mean nothing says we can't post a special meeting it just we have to meet the 72-hour window and do the posting do we still have to post in the paper for a special meeting or did that get behaved. No, we don't have to do that anymore. So, I mean, if we get more than two people that want to do it, I mean, I'm not opposed to that by no means. We just ought to make sure we comply with all the requirements of a meeting and the minutes and so on and so forth. You know, it's just
047historically it's been during the year and only a couple of people have been available. If more people are available, it's the summer. I don't have a problem with that. You know, it's our job to pick the the to pick from these three. And if more people want to sit in on it, as long as we don't violate the Open Meetings Act, I don't have a problem with that. It just it adds extra steps and extra timing and coordination, which is not insurmountable by no means. So, I mean, but it's not a it's Yeah, I get it. And if more people are available, that's wonderful. I don't have a problem with it. Who who all wants to who wants to sit in on these meetings? It depends on for me it depends on what time in
048June. I'm kind of tied up until the 15th and June meeting is yeah I don't have that something around there. 25th I think. I mean I think that would be doable timelines but who who I I'm I'm out. I mean yeah I will not be here. So two of us are out. Reed, would you? So, three of us are here. So, that leaves I don't And Leo is like out of schedule like me. So, if we have three people, well, wait, four is a quorum. So, I believe we can bring three together without holding a special meeting. If we have four, we have to declare a meeting because we have a quorum vote. Well, I'd have to review all that, Tom. But yeah, we need to get final clarification, but if there's three of us,
049I mean, I'm not opposed to that. The more eyes, the better. Yeah. May you got to make sure we're in compliance. May I make a proposal that we hear these search firms during a uh public meeting, a regular scheduled school board meeting? Yeah, the plan is to have one. We do our job, select one, and they come in and provide a detailed presentation of the process and to answer any initial questions on the process. But the selection, we got to make that decision of who we going with. have one firm could up that we're going with to provide that presentation. I realize this is anformational item and there's not much that I can do of course, but I will go on the record and say that I disagree with this process. That's fine. Duly noted.
050Duly noted. Well, can can we get back to who I'm available who who was competent, you know, 15th and later. Okay. So after the 15th you're possibly. So if it's before the 15th you're not available. I think it could be I will participate. Yes. Okay. Chris will be involved. Um I I can't remember what was Reed. Reed was null. Reed was no. Leo basically said when we had our um bi-weekly meeting with the leadership team, he wasn't necessarily if I maybe you could speak for he wasn't necessarily going to be involved. So he was not available. So we have two available maybe a third depending on this. Yeah. So we can maybe have three but let's go on two then right in case. Okay. Okay. Um then then what I'll do is um I'll reach
051out to these three companies and see what kind of their availability is and then obviously reach out to Did you have a comment or No, I was going to let them know that they got copies of the current proposals in the district office. You can Yeah. for whoever I mean for you can stop by and Christopher get a copy of what they have in their initial pack. Okay. Um but I'll I'll reach out to them see some availability. I'll reach out to both of you for sure and well no I'll reach out to you for sure to see uh availability right right after I reach out to them. So I literally call them and say what's their schedule look like because they have certain point people that they would be in charge of this and
052and see what the time frame is and then reach out to Chris or Dr. Mcola and uh and uh Mr. Lewis and it's after the 15th we'll figure we'll figure it out. Okay, sounds good. Okay, thank you. extended employment hours. Yeah. Um this is mostly informational for new board members. This is something pretty standard that we do every year, but I just wanted to give you a little bit of context. This is something that we'll vote on tonight. Um so every summer, uh we have extended employment hours over in the lefth hand column. These are positions in our school where they need to have some additional days to tie things up from this year or get ready for next year. So for example, student services, our counselors come in, they make sure they do credit
053checks, things like that. Um, most of these have to do with recordkeeping. Our EL coordinator comes in and pre-ests any new students that are coming in and then our internship teachers and coordinators. They have to start setting up internships for the kids who are required for them next year. So, that's what that is. Um, we also award summer maintenance hours which you can see it's mostly to departments that have like a lot of inventory have to go through make sure that they have everything set up for next year. uh we do have more hours there this year particularly for science to give them time to pack up their science labs and then also come in in August to unpack and get ready with the new STEM link. So I just wanted to give you a
054little bit of background on that before you made a vote and see if you had any questions. I'd like to request that we go back to theformational item related to the superintendent search the two members if it's two reps you know that is creation of an ad hoc committee. So I would think by definition that ad hoc committee who's going to be reviewing these firms will be subject to the open meetings act. Okay. We we'll look into that with our uh district attorney. Thank you. Mhm. Okay. Bruce, are you awake over there? You ready? Okay. Ready, alert, and ready to go. Okay. Um, okay. This aspest bid proposal. Uh, again, this will be an action item for uh later this evening. U, this is for the abatement work for the three science classrooms and two
055prep rooms that are being vacated to the addition of the STEM wing classroom. And you uh for the board members that are new, uh we did approve the actual renovation work for these classrooms back in March at the March board meeting. Uh at that time, we needed some more work to advertise it uh extend the advertisement for the asbestous work. That's why it's coming to you tonight. Um but we did receive three proposals. Um Gil Bane worked with us on that. They met uh vetted the bids. uh they are recommending and we support their recommendation to go with the low bidder uh that is lowest bidder and the lowest responsible bidder uh m environmental. So we are uh asking uh the board to approve that and that bid the base bid is $138,000. So that'll
056be on your uh action item later this evening. And then this just kind of shows the area the green area is the area to be abated for these specific classrooms. Um, just so you're aware of, uh, and I think you've seen this map before in past meetings, but just wanted to keep that in front of you of where we're looking at in the building for that. And Bruce, this should be the last of the abatement related to the STEM wing and the classroom moves and everything else. And it's all in that same budgeted item. We're still under budget. We're still on time. Yes. It's just we had to get that three weeks. We we yeah we don't expect uh anticipate any other little popups here. No one never knows in building. But I know this
057one was a planned one. Yes. And we're just finally able to take action on it. Right. I guess I have a I know this is related mainly with the best issue with the flooring. How many other areas do we will we encounter do we with the aast issue through the building in other parts of the building? Well, um I know there's been a lot the hallway down by the administrative offices, uh by the fax area, home area, that that those both of those hallways going east, west, and north, south down by the athletic department. That's all, um areas that would have to be evaded. Um so there are several hallways still that would need to be addressed if or when we get to that point. And we've been kind of phasing that in over the
058years with doing like a hallway a summer at a time due to the time constraints and the cost of it. So, we've been phasing it in over years um to to get that work done, but that's there's still a I'd like to say we're almost done, but I I um don't think we're quite there yet. What about the other science labs that we're not doing yet? Yeah. Uh yeah, that would that would be part of it as well. Yeah. Right. The ones that have not are not going to be touched this summer, they still would need to be south of the building. Yes, sir. And they still have the old any room with the old flooring. Correct. Any hallway with the old flooring. Everywhere old floor because it's the adhesive of the tiles, that's the
059asbestous. It's not the wrapping around the pipes. It's not in the walls. It's just when you tear up those tiles, you're disturbing the asbestous. Right. Okay. That's been our recurring nightmare. Mhm. And we've fully confirmed that it's not a suspicion. Okay. Yeah. Mhm. company will come out and do a sample and confirm it, right? Was all put in with the same adhesive that was approved back then and that's the problem. And we're not the only ones dealing with this. We work with an an environmental consultant that does all the testing for us and prepares a a formal report. Yeah. Um Okay. And then the other item we'll have ask the board to act on later this evening is the small engine room renovation. I know that's an interesting title. Um, but the uh I thought
060I'd start out with this sentence. The small engine course is a gateway course into the automotive pathway. Um, it's currently utilized uh in and is really is it's a smaller room than than uh well, we moved from a smaller room to a larger room. Uh the ventilation system wasn't quite up to par what we need. In fact, there were at times where they had to I think all every time they started up the engines, they had to move the the uh work outside to have adequate ventilation. Uh we don't want to continue to work in that manner. Uh we worked with our architects to develop a plan uh and a drawing and a design um and worked with their engineers as well um to uh achieve a plan to put this system in. Um what
061we're proposing is to to work with our current contractors that are on site now. It would be about nine contractors from demo work to electricians to uh you know uh flooring the the whole shot. Not flooring but ceiling ceiling work I should say. Um and that would include change orders to the existing contract. So as long as we're within 20% of those contracts we can um add work to their current project uh current contract. So, uh, we think that was the most, uh, efficient way, uh, and competitive way with utilizing contractors that are already on site, um, to get this work done and to get it done in the time frame that we needed, uh, done in. So, the change order would be for $103,799. And there is a change order number three that's attached
062um, from Gilbane that would reflect the changes. And then the contractors uh with their current uh amounts that would change their contract is listed on there as well. Any questions on uh I don't normally ask this kind of question but for uh this project are these guys getting everything they need? Is there anything else that you know on their wish list that might help them improve this area? Well, we're touching the room. Makes sense. I that is all that we're aware of from the division leader to the staff to uh Mr. Harmo, right? For this particular coal program, yes, we think that this it's basically it's a unique ventilation system. So, the engine goes into this area and then it vents out. So, is all just for ventilation. Mhm. Yeah, we we do think it's
063back from our students. Yeah, we do think that we got favorable pricing. I know it's a still over $100,000, but considering it had to there's probably some government ra. There's a whole Yeah. A whole process we've been going through for a while, I guess. Yeah. And so I guess in the same line where Reed was going, I know he's doing the ventilation, but also is this Are there other needs? All right. I guess I would brea you got to meet all the regulations for that kind of stuff, you know, for for this for this time frame. Uh we want this obviously we want this done this summer. Hence we're bringing it here tonight. And I appreciate the new board members because obviously this isn't something that we necessarily prep you particularly well on. It's something
064that we've been talking about months ago. Um kind of taking care of this. So uh you know I think mo moving forward there's always needs in that area. Michelle was presenting tonight the sort of that CTE area. Um, you know, we've made some progress there. I think this will really it's not necessarily flashy, you know, or but I think it's it's a it's a start, you know, as far as addressing needs and things like that. Yeah. Summary point. Yeah. Sure. Well, you got the the work guys here. We suppose we have a little bit of money left over. He doesn't disappear. Uh, you know, I'd like to see these people get whatever they need and perhaps send some. I think this is an area that probably doesn't get the attention that it needs. I've been
065back there. I think it's awfully important for people to have alternative career paths and I think this is a a very good way to support that. You know, move a couple of walls, give them the room they need, you know, give them some ventilation. Mhm. So, just to confirm, you'd like us to spend more money. Is that correct? For that one particular room. For the record, I know he did he did say he did say he doesn't normally kind of Well, I mean, it's a good sign we need to move to a bigger room. It's a good sign that there are more students that want to do this. So, I mean, we got to support these students and adequately benefit. Well, we we honestly Yeah, we think that's a good thing. Yeah, it is. It's
066a great thing. And where it manifests itself is there's more periods throughout the day, right Kate? Where there's more that room is being utilized, more periods than it was years ago. So we can accommodate the students in the room, uh it's just a matter of we want to take care of this and certainly as we look at other improvement plans down the line that there's going to be some ideas in there in in this arena. I'm sure as we try to figure out what to do with that. Well, you got the people here with a little concrete addition on. I guess I guess my comment was similar to John's some months and months ago about if we touch it. Yeah. Do it the right way. Do it the right way. And believe me, we John's
067comments from have permeated our brains and we have applied that for example the the five rooms that we're touching. that's going to be done completely. Uh I would say a little bit of grace with this one in that we have a specific issue that we're trying to address and we want to focus on that right now. Uh so I wouldn't say this is a complete overhaul of that room. Um, but at least we're taking care of this and and I think the I guess the word adequate I don't know that's the right term making it safe and compliant. Right. Right. Exactly. Right. Okay. So that that's the Oh, I I didn't mean to do that. Uh that's the purpose of this request here tonight. Okay. Do we have a number of about how many students
068are utilizing this course in this room? Um I don't know that off the top of my head, but I could certainly get that for you. Yeah, we just we heard the enrollment is up in that area. So, okay, that's what I heard. Okay, I think we're done there. Uh, so salary increase. So, this these are sort of the last employee groups that that we want to take care of here. Um, at will employees. So an at will employee is is typically honestly it's someone like like Karen uh some of our very important individuals that are not necessarily in the union but they do a lot of work like the the principal's secretary or or administrative assistant I should say. Um we do have a group of atwell individuals like payroll coordinator who do outstanding work
069for us and so our recommendation we're asking for the board to approve a 4.5% increase and then of course our bus drivers. our bus drivers. We know um it's it's a competitive market out there and we feel that a 4% raise for our bus drivers uh would help us maintain the drivers that we have. Uh we think that's a fair number. So that's what we're requesting here tonight. And after this, that should take care of all the employee groups that we've been asking for increases for. So this is something that we would ask for approval for uh as an action item a little bit later in the evening and we don't have any other for right now. So thanks. So just just as an eyeballing in our small engines um which there are a couple
070other courses in there but just small engines itself has about 70 kids per semester spread through three different classes. Um, but my guess is that there's more than just small engines that use that. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Next is discussion or act in action items. Did you do consent? Oh gosh. Sorry. Moving a little too fast. Consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? I'll make the motion. Second roll call. Mr. Lewis, I respectfully I would appreciate uh I request to have the personnel report removed from the consent agenda. That's fine, but the personnel report cannot be discussed in open meeting. I'd like to have the personnel report removed from the consent agenda. Just I was just letting you know though. Okay. What was a motion made? We're removing
071the personnel report. Oh, okay. All right. Roll call. Matug. Yes. Rzinski. Yes. Figuroa. Miller. Yes. Makullo. Yes. Goodri. The same. Lewis. Yes. Motion passed. Um report what was your It was personnel. We got to address now. All right. Your question or comment about the personnel. What? You need a motion to approve the personnel report first? Second. May I have a motion to approve the personnel report as presented? I'll make the motion and a second. Second. Okay. I'd like to move to divide the personnel report based on contract and summer employment. So essentially what I'm asking to do is take the um let's see one two three four five six seven eight contracts and vote on them individually and then vote on the May 2025 personnel report independently as well. So there would be nine motions.
072I don't see the need. Do we have what's the consensus of the board? Is does the four of us want to do this? I don't see what what would be the I guess before what's the reasoning for that your request to have them done separately like that would be my I want to vote accordingly to what is right. Um and I need to be able to do that independently. I can't do that as a batch. Could Could you just repeat your request? Sure. I'd like to my my motion or my I'd like to move to divide the personnel report so that when we vote on these, we're voting on individual contracts as opposed to voting on a batch of individuals. But but I think you said eight. Jose, I know I have the list in
073front of me. I could obviously n is what you said. Yeah, because that we also have to include the May 2025 personnel report which includes summer. So the personnel report separately from each contract. That's your request, right? I have no issue with leaving the summer group together. That's the May 2025 personnel report, but then the within it, but then there's the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 eight individuals who were voting on contracts for as well for the following school year. My fear with breaking them up like that is there opens up the opportunity to have bias for each individual one. I would prefer to vote on them as a whole. As would I as what I as well vote on all the contracts as once. Yeah. Okay. [Music] You vote them as a
074whole. Yeah. Report as a whole. Yeah. All right. So, where we at? Roll call. We're voting on the report as a whole. As a whole. Yes. We just had discussion and now we're going to we're going to vote as a whole on the personnel report. All right. Uh, Ro. Matuk. Yes. Rosinski. Yes. Miller. Yes. Malo. Nay. Good. Abstain. Lewis. Yes, motion passed. Um, I'd like to note that items in the consent agenda for any comment or specifics or issues or whatever. Those the time period for us to as board members to comment is when the board will res between Friday and Tuesday SE not in the open mid session because a lot of that is you know with privacy concerns issues with that dynamic with that it's through that period and you would email whatever
075question or concern you have back to Sam CC myself and that's the form for that to be done. It can also be done during the public board meeting, Mr. Lewis, and it's stated in policy two, section 2, uh, 220, just for clarification. Okay. Okay. Uh, our next item. Yeah. Motion pass. Next. May I have a motion that the board of education approve the 2025 2026 consumable materials and textbooks replenishment proposal as presented. I'll make the motion. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Matuk, yes. Rosinski, yes. Miller, yes. Makulla, yes. Goodri, yes. Lewis, yes. Motion pass. May I have a motion that the board of education approves the textbook purchase for the 202526 school year as presented? Motion. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Matuk, yes. Rosinski, yes. Miller, yes. McCulla, yes. Good. Yes. Lewis, yes. Motion passed.
076May I have a motion that the board of education authorizes administration to utilize the requested 2025 anticipated summer curriculum hours as presented? Motion. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Matu. Yes. Yes. Miller. Yes. Mullo. Yes. Good. Yes. Lewis. Yes. Motion passed. May I have a motion that the board of education authorizes the administration to utilize the requested 2025 anticipated summer workshop hours as presented? I'll make the motion. I'll second. Any discussion? Roll call. Matuk, yes. Rosinski, yes. Miller, yes. Good. Yes. Makulla, yes. Lewis, yes. Motion pass. May I have a motion that the board of education approves the extended employment hours as presented? Motion. Second. Roll call. Matub. Yes. Rosinski, yes. Miller, yes. Goodridge, yes. McCulla, yes. Lewis, yes. Motion passed. May I have a motion to the board of education based on the bids received
077for bid release 3. recommend awarding a contract to M Environmental for Fenton High School's abatement work for the base bid amount of $138,000. A motion. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Rosinski, yes. Miller, yes. Good. Yes. McCulla, yes. Matug, yes. Lewis, yes. The motion pass. May I have a motion that the board of education approve the resolution appointing school treasurer as presented? I'll make the motion. Second, Bruce, you just want to review that real quick and discount. Yeah. Every year at this time, uh typically at this time, uh the board takes action uh on a one-year appointment of the school treasurer, which may be a board member for a one-year term per board policy, or uh it has been the practice here to appoint the chief school business officer as the school treasurer. Um and that's
078what is presented tonight. If the board so wishes to continue that practice, um if so, then that would be Douglas Wilds. There's a resolution there for the board to act on. um and the certification of the minutes as well included. So, we're asking you to act on that tonight and then next month we would present the treasur's bond uh for approval. But it we kind of bring it to you in a two-stage step uh stage process. Any questions? Roll call. Good. Yes. Miller, yes. Rosinski, yes. Matuk, yes. Mullo, abstain. Lewis, yes. Motion pass. May I have a motion that the board of education approve the 5-year review of the following policies as presented? 4-50 6-320 6-210 7-40 7-90 7-130 8-80 and 8- 110 motion motion I'll second any discussion roll No. Matuk, yes. Rosinski, yes.
079Figuroa, I'm sorry. Good. Yes. Oko, yes. Miller, yes. Lewis, I'm sorry. Yes. Motion passed. Figure still not here. Thanks, Sam. Okay. May I have a motion that the board of education approve the 2025 2026 fiscal year salary adjustments for at will 4.5% increase and bus drivers 4% increase motion second any discussion roll call Moo yes yes Miller yes mullo Yes. Goodrich. Yes. Lewis. Yes. Motion passed. May I have a motion for the board of education approves the Gilbang change order number three dated May 1st, 2025 in the amount of $13,799. Yes. I'll make a motion. Second. Roll call. Makulla, yes. Goodri, yes. Miller, yes. Riddenski, yes. Matuk, yes. Lewis, yes. Motion passed. Does anyone have any committee reports? Oh, yours, sir. I missed it. The only real update we had is that we are presented
080um they were requesting a grant. This is the the Benville library for the amount of $8 to $10,000 for essentially waterproof weather resistant book drop off points that we would build at both Tyogga and um and Johnson. Um I know district 2 approved it. Um so the BCF will come back and it will be presented them again at the next meeting for lend. There is a right to play act that is currently being talked about basically allowing students that are in sports to play both at club teams and high school teams. As of right now that is not allowed. You have to choose high school or club. Um this excludes competitive cheerleading but all other sports are included. um as a coach. I will say that's a lot on a student. But um moving on
081to Nedsek, uh we're continuing our discussion about hiring additional administration staff. We have not come to a conclusion on that yet though. Thank you. I think that concludes it. Yeah. Our next board meeting is Wednesday, June 25th, 2025 at 7 p.m. with a tenative finance facility committee meeting at 6:00 p.m. prior to the regular board meeting. May I have a motion and a second to go into close session for the following? A 5 Illinois CS1 120/2C1 the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of Fenton Community High School District 100. Motion second. Roll call. Makulla. Hi close session. Yes. Miller. Yes. Rzinski. Yes. Matou. Yes. Lewis. Yes. There will be no action items after close session. Okay. back until the session move. Second roll call. Matug, yes. Ridzinski, yes. Miller, yes. Good.
082Yes. Mulla, yes. Lewis. Yes. Second open session. May I have a motion and a second to adjurnn? All in favor say. Thank you and good night. Focus.