00124 regular board meeting of the Fenton Community High School District 100 board to order may I have a roll call sorry that's okay she's coming take your time sorry guys it's okay take your time Biga here Goodridge here hay here kovak rinsky here Rego here we have a quum are board president will not be in attendance this evening when the board president is absent it is the duty of the vice president to assume the role of president proam for the duration of tonight's meeting I Juliet Rego duly elected vice president will serve as president proem and preside over the Fenton Community High School District 100 Board of Education please join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to of the United States of America for it stands Nation God indivisible withy andice for [Music] all
002Sam please read our Fenton Mission beliefs and bison way statements the Fenton mission statement cultivates successful passionate empowered Learners through rigor relevance and relationships the 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 engaged learning with state-of-the-art facilities we Infuse social 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 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 leaders and innovators of the future we will now open the public
003hearing for the 2024 2025 budget Leo will you please read the attestation certificate of the 20242 tenative budget preparation and availability of course Phantom High School District 100 Bensonville Illinois dup County attestation of 2425 tentative budget preparation and availability I leel pigo board member and secretary attest that a tentative budget for the fiscal year 2425 was prepared and made available for public inspection for a period at least 30 days prior to this hearing thank you Leo Bruce will you please review the tenative 2024 25 budget yes I will thank you um good evening everyone uh it's nice to see all of you so uh here we go my first meeting back and we're uh putting you to work already um this is just the uh advertisement that went in the paper just just for your
004reference um and then that's the what it actually says so uh it announces just a public hearing uh for this evening um okay so some of these things are kind of a review but and I know you're familiar with them but just for uh uh reminders I guess the legal requirements for Budget adoption we we prepared it in tenative form that was approved by the board back in June um the public hearing notice was in advance we just saw that um the public hearing is this evening as we are all here for that and then we just need to adopt it by the end of the month September 30th and then we will submit to ISB um and goes to the treasures office and the Roe as well so we'll take care of all that
005once the board acts on it uh later this evening so we're just trying to review um what we what's changed basically from uh June um and then I will make some references to the activity for last year too if there's uh some notable things to talk about but our sources of revenue the local sources our property taxes of course uh which is the largest source personal property replacement taxes um that's uh sent to us through the illary department Revenue uh student fees and other fees um interest on investments those are all under the local uh Source State uh revenues are the evidence-based funding ebf formerly known as general state aid and then the mandated categorical that's transportation state aid so those are two sources of state aid we got a small Library Grant but those
006these are the main sources here um for the state and then the federal pieces we have Title One two3 the idea Grant Perkins the national school lunch program uh those are all federal sources you'll note that there's no more eser so that ended um that's been spent that money and and it is no longer available so uh that's no longer a source so you'll see later on uh the impact of that the expenditure types and I know again um what what they are to operator School District the and this follows the State Board of Education their budget form the instructional programs which is probably the largest is the largest area in the budget in the Ed Fund in particular uh support services and administration operations and maintenance techn Tech ology which is a critical piece
007Transportation capital projects and Debt Service um so this year uh we wanted to point out a few budget highlights of course we're well aware of the stem addition that's happening ongoing as as we U are very well aware of that the water mitigation project is coming to an end but there's still budgeted numbers um amounts in the budget to accommodate the run out I guess if you of that uh project uh summer maintenance we had a very busy summer but just a couple of them to highlight the band room uh which I haven't seen myself but I hear is quite nice so I've got to go uh check that out very soon uh we created a storage area too adjacent to the cafeteria and there's a mother's room over there so that we built some
008walls there and took existing space and and needed uh created some much needed uh storage space in an area for for the uh mothers uh HVAC the BAS system the building automation system that's ongoing um a lot of work was happening this summer um and it will continue to work uh they'll work through the year and next summer so uh they have claimed they will not be disruptive we won't allow them to be disruptive to the student learning that's happening but uh they can do some things behind the scenes to continue the work there uh the stronger connections grants I'm not going to say too much I don't want to steal Mr Watts's Thunder but that's a very exciting news it's a federal GR Grant and I'm going to he's going to talk about that
009later this evening so I'll leave that to him but it is budgeted uh that Grant and then technology updates um Britney's been doing a phenomenal job all kinds of uh stuff happening there the infrastructure switches network storage um all those types of things are happening uh and much of that will be offset with e- rate funds so that's that's exciting so operating funds overview and as you all know the operating funds are the five key funds that we operate education fund the operations and maintenance Transportation the imrf fund and working cash so those are what we classify as our working our operating funds so I'm I'm going to talk about that as a as a group uh the biggest fund of course is the Ed fund um so that's kind of uh it just makes
010sense I think to combine them and you'll see a break out later on as we move through the presentation um but the major funding sources have not changed materially with the exception of the pprt and the stronger connections Grant uh and I'll talk more about that as we move on uh the major cost centers include salaries and benefits I think no surprise there to anyone we have three collective bargaining contracts FAA floss SEIU we're finishing up the SEIU folks um at will employees another group we have bus drivers and administration minor changes to the budget Labor uh non- labor cost since June um the budget comparison to last year's activity it was 10.6% this on the revenue side uh or uh yeah I'm sorry continuing with the operating funds a little bit more specific uh
011the major funding sources um sorry about that my slides are out of over here sorry about that operating fund revenues are projected to drop from the tenary budget by 1.8% so that's about 7 $7,000 and that's really a combination of the pprt personal property replacement taxes and federal sources I mentioned a few moments ago eser funds are no longer available um so and I'll get more specific how what those amounts are as we move on property taxes um that's the bulk of our local sources and our Revenue in general that's 78% of total revenues and projected to increase by 3.9% and that's over last year's activity other local revenues represent about 10.7% those would be student fees and other types of fees that would fall into the local category State revenues at 6.7% and that
012pretty much hovers in that range right around 7% every year there's not really much growth there with the tier funding that we're in and then Federal sources is 4.3% so revenues are projected to be 38 M 371 942 that's about 2.6% less than last year's audit unaudited activity and really the the two pieces there in the first bullet um are really what's driving that that decrease with the eser funds and the pprt um so a little more specifically um we have the property taxes it's down less than a percent so about a half a percent from the uh tened budget so $165,000 and that's final based on uh dispersements that we've received from the previous year's taxes into this year um when those allocations come in we we made some minor adjustments there so that's
013why that there's a tweaking there I guess you could say the pprt so we're close to about a million doll $921,000 less than this past year um so we're uh we were a couple of very high years with the the economy doing well business is doing well um but that structure has changed somewhat in terms of how they're Distributing the funds so unfortunately um you we're taking a reduction there of pretty pretty significantly uh interest on investments were down about 27% from last year that's based on lower interest rates that's about $430,000 um so it's a another pretty good chunk that uh we are anticipated to not receive or earn uh the stronger connections Grant as I mentioned that's $241,000 so that's that's that was a nice add to the budget uh nsec another ad
014it kicked up I had 95,000 in the uh tenative budget it's going to be about 246,000 so that's another 151,000 but overall the decrease is about 1.8% or 77,000 as I kind of mentioned a moment ago yes sir oh yeah go ahead can you back up the page oh yes that one yeah property taxes I thought on the other prior page said property taxes went up they did and that's based on the last year's activity this is from comparing it from the tentative so it's it's been uh modestly adjusted down from the tenative budget in June so overestimated to T yeah yeah okay yeah so no good good clarification there um okay on the expenditure side again the operating funds those five funds uh they're projected to increase um by 1.3% uh from the tenative
015budget the largest drivers of course are salaries and benefits technology equipment upgrades tcd tuition special education services uh overall Staffing levels are unchanged so that our staffing plan that was approved last spring um we're following that and and that those levels are unchanged um for what they were um and I think most all the certified positions are filled I think there may be a a position or so um in the teacher Aid world but we're uh we're in good shape there the uh expenditure expenditures are projected to be 39 m291 897 and that's about 10.6% greater than last year uh the overall the operating funds does anticipate a projected shortfall of about $919,000 so we haven't had that for a while um the revenues dropping and our expenses increasing of course uh created a an
016imbalance there uh the operating funds expenditures some more specifics the salaries um just changed uh modestly the 6% so less than less than a percent about $136,000 benefits went down actually based on Final selections of of uh benefits that staff chose uh down about 1% or $51,000 purchase Services that's up about 8.1% or $356,000 um that does really include the stronger connections Grant uh is really what's driving that um and also um the purchase Services is is greater this year just because of some Transportation needs and and uh leases and things like that that we've uh taken on uh supplies are just modestly about 1.9% and it's just based on uh activity and things that are happening and pricing that's come in for various products equipment outlay uh this includes buses that we purchased so
017we did a combination you may recall last spring we leased some buses we purchased some buses so so um that's kind that's not the only piece there uh in equipment but that's a big piece of the equipment budget is the busing purchases and then tuition of course that's outside tuition placements uh off about half a percent overall uh an increase of about 1.3% 36 are $534,000 so here's the revenues at a glance um just to I know you've seen this before it's kind of a busy sheet but um the local uh taxes uh sources on the fourth line down from the left is the variance compared to the tenative budget is 3.4% less States up a little bit uh 5.4% that's because of we adjusted the uh state aid um for transportation so that's up
018a little bit there uh and then transfer or federal rather is up 4.3% still down overall from last year's it um but up from the tenative as a result of the stronger connections Grant that's a Federal grant um so there you have it all the way over to the right that 38 milon 371 942 that's about 1.8% less than what was in the tenative budget or about $77,000 and then below that you can see the tenative budgets there what we uh the board acted on last June and then the 2324 budget and then activity for 2324 as well as for your reference uh on the expenditure side um again similar format all the various categories that we have um and budget for along the first line there is 2425 the salary piece and this again
019is all compared to the tenative uh budget back in June so the fourth line down left the right the variance compared to the 10000 budget salaries are up 6% benefits are down one one just over 1% purchase services are up 8.7 supplies are up 1.9 uh equipment 4.4% tuition is just half a percent uh non-cap equipment uh. 35 and the overall is that 1.3 uh 6% increase um over the tenative uh Bruce I think oh yes another question did you have a breakdown of that purchase Services I I didn't see anything um yeah I can give that to you I don't have it in this presentation but um it includes Professional Services technology purchases it includes busing uh leases uh busing uh contracted Services uh it's a it's a pretty significant uh cost center um
020for in that area but I can give you detail on that okay here's the my my one and only shining pie chart there so um the salary benefit awardwinning pie chart I think it will be yes I'm not the expert in pie charts but anyhow I did want to show this one because I think it kind of gives a good uh you know depiction of what it looks like in terms of how that where the funds are spent salaries are the blue category there 58% uh benefits are 133% followed by purchase services and then down the line supplies equipment tuition and nonap equipment so about 71% of the budget is between salary and benefits which is not unusual for a school district so the final budget summary this looks similar to a few slides earlier
021but this does have your beginning and ending fund balances by fund uh so your beginning balance if we look through from the Ed fund I won't go through all these but the Ed fund is at 19,1 194 847 that's the beginning balance plus revenues of 32,1 166 817 expenditures are 32,5 33692 so that brings a variance of 366,924 [Music] see that variant shrink which would be ideal uh the subtotal at the bottom of that page again highlighted all the way over to the right second column from the right um the 919 955 that includes the transfer from the working cash fund so we are recommending a transfer uh we'll bring that resolution to the board next month um to help out the transportation fund so that transfer 550 will go to the transportation fund that's
022what the budget includes and then that uh result would would come out of the working cash fund as an internal transfer and then this is the non operating funds we didn't talk a lot about them but they are special purpose funds as the board is aware um we have our uh Debt Service funds uh which is what we're paying our our existing debt and our debt certificates um even though debt certificates are paid out of operating funds and not levied monies our Auditors has advised have advised us to account for The Debt Service activity in The Debt Service fund so that's why you're seeing that a little bit higher than what it would normally otherwise be but that's that's the reason for that and the Auditors I'm sure we'll talk about that when they present
023the audit uh I believe next month they're coming uh and then capital projects of course we know what that is uh that would include the stem addition that would include what's left with the water mitigation um so there there's kind of what the budget uh based on um what we have been uh resulted with with Gil Bane and the cash flow and uh how those expenditures are going to occur uh throughout this year so the end result there at the bottom line is the the beginning fund balance of the 63 m169 revenues of 39 871 uh less expenditures of 69 829 shows a variance of uh negative 29 m955 616 of course we know that that is because of that because of the bonds that were uh sold last year to fund the construction so
024you receive those upfront and then you kind of spend them down that's is uh kind of how that works um and just to kind of share with the board what what is this how does this impact our uh fund balance um I just wanted to give you a I think it's a 10-year depiction of um what our funding meance has been the fiscal year that's those are the ending years audited years the ending balance and the months of reserves uh you know we've been as high as 11 uh almost 12 months 13 months I guess um we are projecting uh next year a projection of seven just under eight months I think when you start getting down to the four Monon 3mon deal that you've got to start taking things uh far more seriously so
025we're not at that stage but I just wanted to uh share that with the board of where we're at so we're coming off of a 10-month reserves um so close to a year um and then we're going to drop down a little bit projected for Bruce do you just want to review again for those for us about uh with the water mitigation using fund balance money as part of this it was and that was reflected in last year's budget we moved $10 million um from the education fund into the capital projects fund so that uh reduced the uh fund balance uh as well quite a bit and then um you know we had the uh revenues um from the uh debt certificates as well so that's kind of how things are shaping up what the
026budget looks like at this point um and we'll uh ask ask the board to take formal action later on this evening I have a couple of questions Bruce yes sir I I apologize I have brain fog tonight what's our fiscal year everybody seems to have a different fiscal year when do we end and start uh July 1st and then to June 30th all right so we're we're we finished last year's that's all closed out we're operating in a new one did we carry any money over from last year unassigned money uh we we actually came out ahead about a $3 million ahead all right so that'll help with all of this as well that was that was my one question and then now with some of the project money we may be ending up into
027positive we'll be able to shift that in as well and offset some of this um well that that money will have to stay in capital projects cuz that's the intended purpose and you we can't move that anywhere else what about our 10 million we put in there if we have any money left from the water mitigation we could probably do that through resolution if we wanted to move somebody out into op something out into oper I mean that would also help us offset a little bit if we have money sitting in the uh leftover from the the water mitigation project that originated in education I don't see why we couldn't move it back I mean it wouldn't hurt to help us offset some of these so we have a couple little options we have some
028flexibility yeah we we certainly do and last year as far as the property tax money how what percentage did we actually receive of our projected we're actually very fortunate in depage County people pay their taxes so we're at 99% that's pretty consistent yeah so we've consistently been high 90s 98 99 yes yes okay so that that helps make me feel better about some of these numbers because you hear about other communities and other districts that are looking at far less and there's no way to recoup that money all right but those were my questions thank you sir okay sure read just quickly the $3 million that you mentioned that was left over from the the from the prior fiscal year that's all educational fund money it's in the operating funds yes yeah because the my
029I recall any you may have some extra money in the in the construction or the capital fund but that's restricted that's yes that's intended for those purposes uh the debt certificates for the the steming and whatnot right thank you Bruce um are there any questions or clarifications needed from anybody in the gallery seated in the [Music] gallery we will now close the public hearing for the 2024 25 budget thank you we will now move uh we will now return to the regular Board of Education [Music] meeting next is recognitions [Music] Kate good evening every good evening everyone um we have two different recognitions uh the first one we are recognizing our students who earned five on their AP exams last May so every year we like to celebrate the exceptional efforts of students who earned
030a five on their AP exams as you know students can earn college credit with a qualifying score usually three or higher but five is the highest score uh last year we had 19 students total earn a five 10 of them were returning students so nine of them were graduating seniors all of them were given a celebratory yard sign as well as Reese's take five candy bars um I'd like to point out and highlight that one of our students Elijah who's a junior earned a live on two of his AP exams which is incredibly difficult and something to be proud of uh on the next slide we have a video of several of the students sharing Marine senior AP AP US History uh May junior worlda junior world history Junior world history Elijah Rivera US history
031and English 3 Al Jun world history Laura Junior world history and I apologize Elijah is actually a senior he was a junior when he earned these um but there are quite a few Juniors on there yeah there are a bunch of kids that earned it as sophomore in world yeah so we're really proud of them it's very exciting all right and our second recognition is for our fan favorite Mr Mark frell all right so we're proud to celebrate Mr Mark frell for being selected as last week's Chicago Bear High School coach of the week Mark led the football team to a 3-0 start as his first year back as head coach his confidence expectations attention to detail and strong team structure have made a big difference with our students this nomination was reviewed and selected
032by a committee of internal Chicago Bear staff and Executives as well as a few representatives from Athletico Physical Therapy Mark will get a handmade football with his name on it and he will be recognized at the December 22nd game against the Detroit Lions along with the other coaches of the week winners uh the Bears programs are also making a $2,000 donation to the Fenton football program we're really proud of Mark and all of the student athletes who are following his lead this is the football team's best start since 2014 on the next slide we'll see a really cool video of the PE Department Mark's family and the Chicago Bear surprising him on Wednesday of last week [Applause] how you doing okay [Applause] football you selected the Chicago B and athle coach of the leek congratulations
033the December 22nd game against the Lions williz along with all the other coaching winners um I have a special award here that I'm going to show you in a minute yours you're going to get one that's customized with your name on it but we're going to use this one to take pictures so just congratulations great job thank you appreciate yeah coach the way the award works is there's about eight people Statewide that nominate you've actually been nominated multiple weeks uh and uh you were nominated again you won this week we have a committee of 10 people inide Care Organization and athletic that on the award so you know you like to do great job you're doing Turn Around from last year to this year you guys are doing great and expect to see you guys
034in the playoffs so thank you appreciate it we brought your family so you can celebrate yeah [Applause] guys thank you very much hey great job hey B Pride here we go hey B Pride on three 1 2 three we couldn't be more proud of Mark um yeah it's good to be back um after a little Hiatus away from being a coach here but uh given the opportunity to work with our kids um you know pushing them to be better um reach expectations um the the kids have been great the other coaches have um put in a lot of time um watching the kids succeed um is very rewarding and uh very honored to receive the reward but the most important thing is a little bit better every day that's where we preach to the kids
035and uh you know we haven't been to the playoffs in a while so that's what the goal is get them to reach their goal so thank you Picture Time picture time oh my god do that thank you very much thank you def appreciate it congratulations you put your Chase on so yes here you go right in the middle you go all right what am I doing right with you all right try to balance it out okay all right come on all right why is his eyes all right cry clear that all right thank appr thank you very much not gosh you're going to get us all tiered up here Karen do we have any public comments tonight yes we do we have one Larry anzelone as a reminder public comments are limited to 3 minutes
036per speaker good evening good evening uh I just wanted to come in here and uh thank all the board members for showing up today and donating your valuable time to both Fenton High School and pensville and Wooddale Community thank you so much thank you thank you thank you Larry that's it next is informational items Sam okay we're going to start out tonight with a stronger connections Grant coming from the gallery we have Rich Watts our director of special education like to thank him when we we brought forward this concept he he kind of to use a football analogy took the ball and ran with it sorry Mark he's still here he's not listening um but he really uh was able to to put this to paper and we received the Grant and so now he's
037going to go through for everyone what we want to emphasize here with this with this stronger connections Grant all right so I want to tell you more about the stronger connections Grant um so we secured over $241,000 uh through a federally competitive Grant fund um to focusing focusing on Mental Health Service and uh with a goal of strengthening our community connections so what will this grant do for our Fenton students and families um it will provide no cost mental health treatment groups for all of our students um and this will be through professional mental health therapists that will come to Fenton to run these groups so the groups will actually take place at Fenton for this portion of the uh Grant so what will these groups look like for our students um we have we're
038going going to have trauma groups anxiety groups substance use prevention groups and grief groups all run by Professionals in those specific areas uh we will uh for our parents um there is a consent so so we will reach out to you uh about your students to get them into the groups uh so it won't just happen without you uh we're going to have violing uh English and Spanish groups in all of these areas um and they will run during the school day at Fenton all right how else will this uh Grant help Fenton families and students through our uh be sure Consulting partnership so um as you all are aware um this is an excellent partnership that's that's going to support our students families and staff with uh all of our safety components online and
039and in in person um how else will it help Fenton um after school tutor ring hours over 450 hours will be offered um through our for our teachers to uh be able to tutor our students in need of academic supports it will also cover the cost for this year and for next year for the um parents Square uh Community uh direct messaging so that we can have a direct messaging pathway for our teachers Cod coaches of families uh for emergency alerts and it's automatically translated uh to a parent uh preferred language um and this grant will will help us for years to come um so far the Fenton cares Grant just to give you a recap of what that is or where we are with that right now uh what 179 of our families have
040had mental health care visits uh possible no C visits made possible through this grant so far and theer connections Grant is going to um add to this so um it help us strengthen this support So at the current rate our families are using the service will be in place for our families and students through March of 2026 um and obviously if um we're encouraging our families to use it more right so um if that happens it won't last quite as long but more families will get helped right that's the idea there um I know that was quick um this is going to be very helpful for our students for academic and for mental healthare um any questions for me okay uh this program goes on for a couple of years you say so the the
041grant itself is for one year with a possible extension for longer that I'll apply for as soon as they offer me the chance to okay well because we can offer these Services because we have the grant currently is that correct correct the grant is giving us the opportunity to do this so what happens when the grant goes or when Grant ends yeah that's a great question so um our counselors are right now like we work on putting groups together to help reinforce it after the grant ends so right now it's it's um outside mental health professionals but we're also reinforcing our current staff to help students in house too so it's both I'm not sure I got I'm not sure I understand that so the grant ends or the SEC or the seconde grant ends
042whatever if you're able to get an an extension so to speak MH will these Services still have to be funded somehow well I think I think we evaluate the programs once they're implemented like parent square is new this year he sure is new this year so I think we evaluate them as we go and then if the grant money runs out and we don't have other grant opportunities then we have to evaluate whether we continue or not some some would probably continue some not based on funding so there's no sunset on this program well the sunset would be based on what's currently in in the account right so as families utilize the funds as exhaustive once families are finished utilizing it then then we would um look for additional gr sources actually in the meantime
043I'm I'm but that's how we found this one looking for additional Grand sources to try to reinforce it uh reaching out I kind of like always U meeting with all my colleagues in different districts I'm looking for every opportunity to find places and and money out there because mental Health's a nationwide problem right so there's sources of money out there to look for and I'm looking for that the 450 hours of U teacher tutoring so that's also covered under the grant fund yes thank you thank you thanks I'm so sorry I'm sorry maybe I'm out of line I'm sorry thank you Rich and now we have Lorenzo coming up to give our Equity report oh gosh I'm sorry jumping way ahead getting us out of here all right all right good evening it's good to
044be back and check in with with the board it's been a while um it's my pleasure to give some Equity updates from our building um like I said it's the first time I I come and give Equity Updates this this year but we've been doing a lot um just in the first month that we've been together uh so why don't we get into it and then if you have any questions or suggestions for for Stuff uh to be happening around our school um I'm I'm here um so first off the diversity committee which um I lead but it's basically basically made up of Staff teachers students uh and some administrators we've had our first two meetings already so that committee is is what I call like one of the the more fun committees because our
045task on diversity committee is just to make sure that every student across the building feels included and welcome and like they belong at Fenton High School so we try to do fun events that involve that are that are meaningful and culturally relevant uh to make sure everybody feels that way so from that committee we've already put together a number of things most of them related to Hispanic Heritage Month just because that started September 16th and continues on to October 16th so it's one of our first cultural events throughout the year and fitting because so so much of our population identifies as Latino as well so we've to we took 14 students 15 students to the Guatemala Independence Day Parade on a Sunday um we have a large population of Guatemalan uh students from Guatemala right
046um and it was it was great to see them give up their son Sunday just to take a field trip optional and March in a parade with the Fenton Banner um and have a lot of fun doing that uh we've got a DJ Monday is here at fence in our tgim thank God it's Monday we got to we start the day off with the DJ who used to be a student here he was actually an El student from Guatemala he get he went into DJ has his own little business but he's been good enough to come and uh play some music to start off our Mondays before class starts uh we've had some successful fundraisers aligned with the Hispanic Heritage Month um students in alas are Association for L American students so konas or it's
047like that sweet bread you know what they are right they sold really yeah next time I'll bring I'll show and tell but they were really successful they sold out the kids made a lot of money had a lot of fun doing so um we've been selling paletas a senior sophomore class have been selling paletas Frozen obstacles I guess um during lunch periods as well that's been going well um and more stuff to come we have a Hispanic heritage Spirit Week plan to end um uh starting October 7th to October 11th uh we're going to have a band come and visit us so shout out to Mr Garrett George for bringing in um a band an actual professional band through a music Grant um that will perform for our students on October 16th tentatively and we've
048got some Day of the Dead activties plan um here's some pictures from some of the things we've been going through can I just ask where was the Guatemalan parade where that was in the city that was in Albany Park so that's another location where there's a a large population of Guatemalan um community and so they have it there it starts at a a park on Kimble and California and then just goes down so they they marched they were marching right behind um a motorcycle crew so they got a kick k out of the motorcycle guys like let them rev let our kids rev their engines yeah I didn't take a picture of that but it was pretty cool for them uh there you see some pictures uh on the left some of the kids that
049went on on the on the parid um I included up there top left uh BSU black student union selected uh Miss Brock just took those students to um an experience on Navy Pier right what is it called the fly over Chicago they had a lot of fun um some pictures from the k and then on the top right even this is a also comes from diversity and Equity work but our own Spanish teacher Amy Vasquez has put together a Spanish class for teachers and staff right so our staff can learn some Spanish if they don't know this is voluntary after school they come and they learn some Spanish um and that's been really successful so there you see a pretty full class of our teachers learning some Spanish um just to share this message I
050got um so this is from a teacher actually so she texted me this hi sorry to text but I had to tell you this um the student said she she told you about a Cuban song and today they played it during the passing period she started crying because it reminded her of home she said she had told you about it and she was so happy to hear it made me so happy um and basically thank you for that uh I had to share it with you so that I wanted to share that because like sometimes um Equity work gets seen as something that's like kind of not rigorous not really as important as the the content that goes on in the school but uh you have to understand that you know none of that academic
051rigor can happen if kids don't feel welcome and like they belong in the building and like the administration and the teachers in the building see them for who they are recognize them and and let them be themselves and let them thrive in themselves so this is what it's all about this is why we put together these little events this is why we have kids on the Committees and teachers um little moments like this um will enable our kids to feel like they belong here even if they're very very far away from home and so that's that's what keeps us centered that's why we keep pushing to that end um a more formalized way to to make sure that our kids are being welcome and have things accessible to them is the delt uh just a
052a quick refresher the Del stands for district Equity leadership team that's made up of admin trators everyone on the admin team uh and teachers that have volunteered their time who who uh make Equity a passion of theirs as well we have a lot of Educators who are really passionate about it um there are five strands who focus on creating smart goals uh smart being like database measurable goals that we can accomplish and see progress towards these are the strands uh there's a system strand so takes care of some bigger picture issues policy and things like that teaching and learning focused on U pedagogy what happens in the classroom student voice climate and culture uh professional learning uh so development that we give to our teachers and family and Community as agency so each strand has
053about 8 to 10 members administrators intersperse throughout as well as teachers and they all set their goals this past uh August 30th we actually had a whole delt team meeting uh we called it a reset just because it's been a while since the delt it's the first time it's happened since I've been here that the whole delt got together uh so we we saw the teachers out it was a little hectic because it's a big group but it's important to us and so if we're saying Equity is a is a priority here we actually have to follow through with that and so there were some great goals that were had um and this is kind of the the backbone of of of our Equity work here if you want to take a look at the
054details of the equity action plan that we're working on it's linked here in the slideshow I can share it to you with you or email it as well but um I think everyone left that meeting feeling energized and uh renewed cuz cuz we're we've got some fresh ideas and and uh we feel like we can make some progress so that's my my big Equity update if you have any questions I can do my best to answer them if you have any suggestions for celebrations I can take notes too great thank you Lorenzo appreciate that okay next item I will go through it's a Wooddale Tiff update for those of you that aren't aware there was a Woodale Tiff that was just voted upon fairly recently basically there's a little map there uh of Foster and
055busy highway there's going to be a pretty large data center going in there a few other buildings um most likely like an electrical station just specifically to help in that region um this is a 23-year what they call a Redevelopment project area uh we have been told that it expected to possibly uh End early but of course that's not guaranteed but thought I'd make note of that uh for example when you add up the homes that were in that area for 2023 eav is approximately 6.5 million they estimate that near the end of of the Tiff uh 2048 eav would be uh 20 million to 37 million somewhere in that range uh there was uh several meetings on this there was a vote at What's called the jrb meeting The Joint review board uh there
056were six yes votes two no votes I voted on behalf of Fon I abstained cuz we were looking for you know as much of a favorable situation as we could clearly in past um I can report out though that uh any surplus funds as defined by the ACT should be distributed to the affected taxing districts which we would be one of them upon closure in termination so it's possibility as time goes on there could be some surplus funds that could come our our way so that could be 20 years from now right for instance yes okay and Sam just for clarification even if the jrb all voted no would they could still go ahead and do this correct yeah my understanding is what they would what they would then do if everyone voted no they
057would have to reconvene I believe within 30 days and and try to work something out and I don't know Bruce you a part of more of these than I have but I I I don't know like if there was a lot of nose yeah I was impression that whether we voted yes or no doesn't matter it's more of a courtesy until they come to renew yeah when it comes to the renewal our no vote actually carries weight right yeah so how many Tiff districts are we under now Bruce between the two communities or yes uh probably about seven or eight yeah so when we look at our budgetary constraints we can thank the village of Bensonville in the city of Woodale for their Tiff districts all the districts are affected by this yes this is
058my pet peeve and this is exactly why it's my pet peeve because it's unfair that the library district the school district the fire district and the park district and every other District I understand some of these Tiff districts are necessary but I feel some of these Tiff districts are stretching the rules a little bit and yeah I am less than pleased with this not that it matters they're going to do what they want to do but when people start yelling us about our budget I suggest they talk to the city of Wooddale and the village of Bensonville and expressed their concern about the Tiff districts that are being enacted left the right in this area because all the districts are suffering and neither the city or the village are going to listen to this and
059call that my point of personal privilege this is hhap yeah the only thing I would say the only thing I would say about this one is it it uh it's a data center it's not going to impact us uh in M wise there will be no students um that but all that money we could be getting that we could be using to fix our problems is unavailable to us for how many years well we hope less than 23 but the term is 23 yeah yeah so for up to 23 years that money could be coming into US supplementing what we're losing it just never mind I'm going to stop now before I something I'll that's okay any other thoughts or comments or questions okay let's move on to a much more pleasant topic homecoming week
060highlights Kate you're up I'm before I go into homecoming I just really want to thank rich and Lorenzo again I think you can hear both Rich watts and Lorenzo Rubio bring such passion around mental health and making students feel belonging um and what those two men contribute every day make that in a different place and a better place for kids to be so um you know just to really shout shout out to both of them but it's homecoming week we're in the middle of it we're excited about it um it is Disco fever at Fenton High School so that is the theme that the students chose and we're having a good time with it uh we've had a couple of spirit days so far you can see there Sam and his jammies uh with a
061couple other kids this was on Monday you can see those are let's talk about the the four girls that were showing Pride with their pajamas too I mean I think yeah of course of course the students this was so with the seniors do is we have the the sanction days right which it was pajama day and then 70s day today was tie dye tomorrow's class colors but then the the seniors kind of do their own thing at the same time Monday was um did you say today was tie dye day today was tie-dye day yeah there we go um anything you can carry is what it was so they all brought different items instead of a backpack that they could carry their things in so you can see we have a Crockpot there at stroller
062you know so kids came up with some creative ideas that was seniors um another thing that we have going on just a clicker okay um this isn't necessarily a part of homecoming but something that we had going on over the weekend was our day of service so this is something that our link crew has been putting together as a way to give back to the community but also we know thanks that um Fenton has a 25-hour community service requirement so we try to offer opportunities for our kids to get out there in the community and get some of the community service so we had about 60 students many of them freshmen who were out and about Fisher Farms Blackhawk Redman and then also doing things around the school so it's good for the community good
063for our kids um here is 70 day we can also see a little bit of the window decorating that students were doing so the windows it's mostly clubs and activities get different windows that they can decorate um some of it is classes that do it but it just adds a little bit more spirit for [Music] us yeah so the kids have a good time doing that um this this was a new one that they the kids brought in this was a a fundraiser so kids paid I think it was a dollar for a yard of tape um and there were some teachers who they were able to tape to the wall so we have Mr luigio from the business department and Mr Bader were're two of the teachers there were a couple more but so
064that was a new addition to um homecoming week this week or this year um tonight is movie night so at right now the last time I looked we had about 70 kids down there watching Mama Mia um tomorrow we're really excited about this we're going to continue with our bonfire which we've been doing for the past couple couple years um but this year we're lucky enough to be able to partner with a varsity soccer game so we'll have the boys varsity soccer game which will be nice for them to also be highlighted and then the bonfire afterwards um of course Friday night is our home football game um and then Saturday night is the dance here at Fenton disco fever um so we're excited about that the kids love the DJ who is also an
065Alum so that's exciting um so that's homecoming and then another exciting thing to highlight is our young People's music Grant so Mr Rubio was talking about the band that's coming in in October I think it's Pond doce um this is part of the young People's music Grant um Garrett George is uh foundational in this grant um Fenton has been awarded this grant for the past seven years and over the past 7 years it's been about $50,000 that has been donated to Fenton over the years A lot of it has been used to purchase um new instruments which has been great but another part of the grant uh Mr George has really put towards a stipulation is cultural awareness so building different uh connections to professional bands that represent different cultures so he I spoke with
066him and he he told me about how it really has been awesome for his own professional development for the professional development of students and that it has allowed him to weave in a lot of these different techniques um and types of music into the curriculum so that it's not just like oh during Hispanic Heritage Month we're learning this but truly kids are learning these different techniques from different cultures throughout the year and it's part of the curriculum so once again we're really thankful for that um and it's something that makes our school a better place Sam thank you okay another exciting topic for me here school calendar update unfortunately uh last Friday we had a utility contractor accidentally cut the main power so therefore large swats of the building were without power fortunately our students
067our staff our administrative team acted very appropriately uh there was never a safety issue throughout uh however it became apparent that that was not going to be restored uh until late in the afternoon and so we dismissed early that day about 9:45 without incident and I want to rep report that it does count on the school calendar as a school day it's what's called an interrupted school day something that was beyond our control and since we had over an hour of instruction that counts as a day so we will not need to make that day up next slide boers yeah so um we have resolved uh seven foas in the last month um so you can see the list there at the top uh Canon USA Lake County Gazette um submitted five foas and then
068smart pure does a Bo really want okay our next item is the consent agenda the consent agenda may I have a motion to approve the cons the consent agenda as presented I'll make that motion second roll call well let me let me uh go back a moment do I uh talk do we first discuss or do we do the roll call First you can do any discussion any discussion okay roll call please figer off yes Rego yes hay yes kovc razinski yes good rich motion passed okay the next item is changes to the 20242 tenative B budget does anyone want to discuss this discussion uh I have a question yes um if I recall at least in round terms there was a short fall of about $900,000 I think he moved you know $500,000 from
069another fund but in round turn there's thought there was someplace in the neighborhood of a sell of four $450,000 shortfall you had to pull out of reserves round terms so I saw a note that uh you know the the shortfall was going to try to be managed but my question is is whether there's going to be any active programs to try to actually reduce expenses to match the income you know I would say look obviously we looked at this in the hearing anytime there's a a tenative budget or a budget we even looked at the data from 2023 2024 to 2024 25 and typically um the budget is going to come in under what the projected budget is so not saying that's going to happen for sure but looking at the data it was several
070couple million less I believe than what was projected as the expenses were also project were under what was projected so I think it's important it's an important to see that yes we're not maybe won't have a a $3 million surplus this coming year but um I also think that you know many of the programs we've discussed even those that are grf funded uh are important and necessary so I think generally if we watch our spending and we monitor this monthly kind of see where we're at you know I'm I'm confident we'll be in in in a decent position so there's nothing like we we now have an active program where we need to cut this or we need to cut that but I think good fiscal Management's always smart and and that's what we should
071be able to do this year do we have any preliminary Pro projections into the following year I know we don't have a crystal ball but I'm ass I know we do have some retirees we have a few other changes coming cuz I know as we discussed the contracts that we saw it was going to be higher in the beginning but Trail off as people retired and new people came in so I I think think we probably need to keep that in mind that next year we're going to start to see a little of those benefits we will there there's a big uh group leaving is it this year or next year I this up this upcoming year so that'll that'll take some pressure off the budget without a doubt it um five teachers are retiring
072at the end of this year are you going to be the question is will it be replace because enrollment continues to go down year after year well that's that's part of the Staffing process as we go through uh in the spring there's possible there could be some attrition based on numbers and and who's retiring and what program are they in uh it's certainly an opportunity to look at that um but that will be done in the spring but even if we need to replace them we're bringing in people who are at the bottom end of the scale that'll be making less and then hopefully we'll see different changes in our taxes coming in and it is fluid we need to watch it I don't think we're anywhere near a panic mode yet it's just something
073we need to be aware of and I do remember we discussed this potential when we granted the contracts which we all thought were fair at the time you can never project what's going to happen with property taxes if districts don't help so I mean we're in far better shape than a lot of other places we're just not as good as we're used to being in my opinion well and and also obviously we're we're super excited about the stem wi but there's going to be you know we have to pay that for that right that's what we got the bond for and that's also going to reflect in our budget we increased our debt and a few other things but it's it's all planned and managed that's right expenses so we just got to work it's
074like anything else you we have to manage appropriately because it's going to be a tremendous uh asset for our our district but it it adds a different Dynamic to what we look at each year I know we passed that part but John mention it again and I hate to mention it because it Ruffles John's are we close to any of the Tiff districts um ending or like yeah pensville is expected to have one and this year that'll impact the levy for for next year okay okay that's good so so Bruce does that as part as his Levy and any additional okay and we had one come off this past year as well so that that helped a lot there was some Bensonville while we a Bensonville yeah Wale just discovered Tiff districts in the last
075three years that's for a while [Music] yeah any other discussion were you going to me say anything else Sam no okay our next item is the adoption of the 2024 25 tentative budget may I have a motion that the Board of Education accepts the following the public hearing documents the adoption of budget resolution the the adoption of the 2024 budget any discussion I'll make the motion [Music] second roll call Figaroa yes Rego yes hay yes rinsky yes Goodridge no motions passed does anyone have any committee reports I report out on the and Foundation we had a meeting we had a meeting on July 25th um we had received the Subaru money plus uh looked at our past funds we had received 13 requests um two of those were what we call Mini grants um after
076review uh nine were approved one was denied and two were removed or no action was taken at that time um the balances um are about where they would be after we have most of the payouts made uh there's another meeting scheduled for tomorrow and I'm hoping to make it depending on how an appointment I have to take uh my mother two pans out I hope Kent can make it if I can't but that's uh really our and we were the reciprocate of another uh Foundation donation we had a good showing from our tennis parents our tennis students uh Sam was there as well um who else was there Sam I can't remember uh Rick was there Rick was there yeah sorry Rick I getting tired my apologies but it was a good showing and uh
077yeah I think it went very well and the foundation uh some people didn't get everything they asked for most people got something and I I think it was all appropriately handled and it was a a very productive meeting very long meeting for the foundation so that's all I have to report on that and hopefully I'll make tomorrows and have report next meeting I can report out on the Len meeting which was uh last week lend is is basically kind of a legislative lobbying group I think Bruce is what I would describe it as um and there uh many superintendent there business officers board members were there uh basically there's a few themes out there right now uh that we're looking at one is OB is obviously funding um most of DuPage county is tier three
078or tier four funding which means as you saw tonight most of our funds come from property taxes uh there's a couple tier one tier two um and which means then the state basically through their evf funding system is kind of kicking in a little bit more money to those districts to help them uh in various ways so that that was part of the discussion the state seems committed to that type of a system although it doesn't have a whole lot of impact on us but that was a a topic there's also topic on bus drivers and what are the qualifications for a bus driver it's it's actually a pretty stringent process as you can imagine it's an important uh position to drive kids around um it's also an expensive proposition so there was some talk
079of reforming that um and then the other area was uh dual credit dual credit with community colleges is something that we've pursued here pretty aggressively as a lot of districts have however throughout the state there's kind of varying systems that occur between the different community and what counts and what doesn't and how many hours a teacher needs to have and should they do a professional development plan so it's it's sort of um different from Department to department so there's some talk of trying to make that more of a uniform process however as you can imagine there's a lot of autonomy that are in community colleges and and that's not that's not a simple proposition so the bottom line is some of these ideas really aren't happening right now there's been discussions there's been votes they
080did say that perhaps in the lane Duck Session that that is approaching pretty soon there could be some movement on some of these issues but right now it's it's more just discussion and letting the legislative process play out so that's lend um also I was at the netsec meeting was pretty uneventful kind of beginning of the year like it is here beginning of their fiscal year there was a presentation made uh by the transition program and some of the some of the uh projects that they're working on and and and what their students are working on so that was part of of that meeting but otherwise it was a fairly uneventful meeting and then I would say why why I just keep going the iasb delegate that would be Mr Lewis and he that won't
081be until the triple I conference so that's something that he's already committed to attend on our behalf there was no policy meeting and there was no finance and Facilities meeting and there was no Dei meeting I think that covers it all right well thank you Sam our next board meeting is Wednesday October 23rd at 700 p.m. with a tenative finance and Facilities committee meeting at 6: p.m. prior to the regular board meeting May I have a motion and a second to go into close session session for the following 5 Illinois CS 1202c for the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of Fenton Community High School District 100 B 5 Illinois CS 120 slc2 for the collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or the representatives or deliberations concerning
082salar schedules for one or more classes of employees C five Illinois cs1 1202 C1 litigation when an action against affecting or on behalf of the particular 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 of imminent in which case the basis for the finding shall be recorded or and entered into the minutes of the closed meeting May I have a motion and a second to adjourn close session I'll make that motion second roll call figuroa yes Rego yes paade yes rinsky yes Goodridge yes motion passed e e e I'll make it local rinsky yes please paade yes Goodridge yes fig Yes Juliet yes all in favor of adjournment please say I meeting a Jour y