Fenton High School Board of Education Meeting May 24, 2023

001oh cool Figueroa here Goodrich here paid here Kovac president Lewis here radzinski here Rago here we have a core uh we stand for the presence of Allegiance from the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right Fenton Mission beliefs and bison wave statement James yes our Fenton uh mission statement to cultivate successful passionate empowered Learners through rigor relevance in relationships our fin belief statements 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 the state-of-the-art facilities we Infuse social emotional learning into academics and culture where prepare students to fulfill their civic responsibility we immerse

002students 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 at a high expansion expectations to become the leaders and innovators of the future Mary do we have any requests for public comments yes we do as a reminder public comments are limited to three minutes per speaker with a limit this evening uh 30 minutes total first speaker Paul Welsh good evening good evening School Board good evening brothers and sisters this is beautiful it's a beautiful sight my name is Paul Welsh I'm a school counselor here at Fenton finishing my ninth year here my 20th year in education looking forward to the end of the school year some time at

003home over the over the summer with the family I'm also going to take some time this summer to serve as the president of the Illinois Association for College admission counseling we work hard during the school year to serve our students and to serve our community and I'm going to continue to work hard serving students leading this Statewide professional association as a volunteer leader on my own time you are also volunteer leaders and I'm grateful for your service thank you I urge this school board not just those of you at the table but the entire Fenton Board of Education because the responsibility to negotiate a fair contract with my brothers and sisters rests with this entire body I urge you to negotiate in good faith to come together with us on Common Ground that we all

004share a contract that is fair to teachers and fiscally responsible to taxpayers returning to school in August without a fair contract will distract all of us teachers administrators school board members from doing what we are committed to do to serve this community to the best of our abilities thank you [Applause] good evening my name is Sue Gasco and I'm here at the board meeting again for the second time in my 32 years of teaching just share some thoughts with you I'm looking forward to seeing the conclusion of another successful school year and to get ready for the 23-24 school year during the summer I go ahead and redo things like syllabus syllabi lessons things like that all on my own time all unpaid I do this because I want the school year to be a

005smooth start for myself as well as for the students after all this is best for them our students deserve a good start and a quality education it is important to me that we begin this school year without any distractions returning to a new school year without a new contract is a stressful distraction from what is most important teaching students I appreciate what you do for us and ask you to negotiate in good faith with the Fenton education's bargaining team to reach a tentative agreement prior to the start of next school year it is often said that we are one big Fenton family let's walk that talk I urge you to truly work together to reach a tentative agreement as a true Sutton family would thank you for your time [Applause] Candice tomorrow hmm good evening

006I'm Candace Morrow some of you might recognize me um I have been a teacher here for 28 years in fact next year is my last year as I will retire in the 23-24 school year in those 28 years I have never been to a school board meeting um but uh but the current situation here has kind of compelled me to come and speak before you excuse me um first here's a little bit about me I I was a resident of Ben Smith for 29 years my late husband went to school at Tioga Chippewa Blackhawk Middle School graduated from Fenton High School he taught Ed Tioga he coached here he taught driver's head he talked to or taught a lot of the students that are still here today he impacted a lot of lives in fact

007the gym at Tioga has his name in his honor it's the Thomas P gymnasium Thomas Peterman gymnasium my kids went to school here too they went to Johnson they went to Blackhawk Middle School and they graduated from Fenton High School so you can see I was kind of unique I was both at residence I was a parent and a teacher here in the district um so on July 1st 2017 my life was forever changed when I received the news that my my oldest son and my husband died in a plane crash okay and uh when that happened your life is never the same right when this Unthinkable unimaginable tragic event happened my Fenton family right here the teachers they they were there for me they came to my house they they gave me food they

008brought food every week they were selfless like teachers are they were countless hours outside of school not only were students but now they took me on We Are Family um six months later another unimaginable event already thank you when I was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer once again my family right here my Fenton family was there for me okay and I feel that now it is my turn to be there for them even though I am retiring next year I need to be there for them and I am here because um quite frankly I'm I'm angry um I'm angry that some of the proposals being offered by this border are deemed on your behalf as as a fair contract when in fact it's a little insulting and hurtful uh and and far from equitable

009can anyone here look me in the eye right now and say to me gee Candace I am so sorry you lost your husband and your child but hey they weren't in your medical plan so sorry you get no bereavement days or can anyone imagine saying gee now that you have stage three breast cancer and you need chemotherapy and you need to take your days off but you don't have enough sorry you know we don't have enough in a sick bank or we're not willing to give you more ah I don't want that to happen to my Fenton family and uh I urge you to please you know first of all I hope that none of you ever have to go through what I went through but if for some tragic situation ever were to happen

010to you I hope you are treated with dignity and respect and not what what seems to me like a slap in the face you're trying to give us with a you know an equitable proposal I urge you to negotiate in good faith so that we can have a fair contract by the beginning of the school year so that we as teachers can go back and focus on what we love to do and our passion our passion which is our children our students thank you [Applause] [Music] Abra Millman foreign we love you Candace hi my name is Aubra Millman and I'm just completing my 17th year here at Fenton I love Fenton I really really do I also missed the Fenton I used to know the Fenton that was not so starkly divided between classroom teachers

011and administration I missed the Fenton that embraced encouraged and applied teacher generated ideas to the foundational philosophy philosophical philosophy of the school I have volunteered to serve on every interview committee as well as various other committees and have a very clear recollection of when I realized my opinion no longer held value I miss Benton I was hired into I missed the Fenton that trusted teachers I missed the Fenton that made eye contact and had potlucks and that didn't threaten to sue its teachers I have committed my professional career to Fenton High School I am asking for Fenton High School to invest in us the teachers we deserve and have earned a fair contract at the beginning of the school year our students are owed the best education that we can provide them and the lack

012of a fair contract denies our kids of everything they deserve don't do that not cool go bison yeah Josh Payton hello my name is Joshua Payton and I wanted to share a few of the significant ways Fenton has impacted my life the strongest feelings I have when I think of Fenton are passion and gratitude I have an abundance of gratitude for all the relationships that I have experienced as part of the Fenton family I also have passion for what I do it was formed here inside these halls and it lives here every day and my hope is that the students that we teach will carry it on with them as they leave this building I graduated from Fenton in 2000. during my time here as a student I was incredibly fortunate to be guided by

013teachers coaches and other staff members teachers like Mr grothy Mr seiple Miss Waco Miss Kurtz Miss Harmon and Mr Johnson helped me through my freshman year in becoming acclimated to high school they shared their passion not only for their courses they taught but more importantly for their students coach Howard and Coach Valente took a chance on a very tall freshman and gave me the opportunity to discover the benefits that come with hard work and what it means to be part of a team during my high school career I continued to grow and benefit from the teachers who not only loved what they did but also working with their students teachers like Miss roach Mr Lewis Miss Vera Ms Johnson Manos Miss Roth heisen Mrs George miss bozen Mr Clark Mr Oaks and Mr Ayers Mr

014Weiss Mr Anderson Mrs hogstad Mr Eccles Mr Lott Mr Layman Mr Jeske and Mrs Taylor as I completed my time here miss Demian and Coach Cromer helped ensure that I was able to go on to college and pursue my education and play basketball all these teachers guided me they helped me they taught me and they supported me I could not overstate the importance of all these people in my life I did not understand how deeply they impacted me until my Fenton experience came full circle that moment was in 2005 when I reconnected with Coach Cromer and became part of the basketball staff here through my work on the basketball staff I was provided with the opportunity to become a person of impact in the lives of students I had a chance to use all that

015was given to me as a student here and help students at Fenton live up to their fullest potential it helped me decide to go back to school and pursue my teaching license for the past 15 years I've been part of the teaching staff I was again so so fortunate to receive the guidance and support and see The Passion of the teaching here for the students the example that the teachers I knew as a student and their dedication continue to impact me today the experience I had as a student as well as now as a teacher set the standard for how I live my life the teachers who supported me as a student and who are now and who now welcome me as a colleague were able to do so because they were empowered and they

016were supported they were able to focus on students because the work environment allowed them to do so in 15 years here as a teacher Fenton has I'm sorry in 15 years as a teacher here at Fenton there have been three times when my ability to maintain complete focus on the students was impacted the first two instances were previous contract negotiations with the current Administration the third is the con the current contract negotiation starting next school year without a contract in place would undoubtedly have an incredibly negative impact on this building fun students deserve to have an experience that is not mired by the negativity being created by the current negotiation process students deserve teachers that are solely focused on continuing to build positive and productive relationships students deserve to be supported and students deserve the

017opportunity to walk into this building and continue to receive every ounce of our attention and our ability thank you Melissa Rauch [Applause] she didn't sign in though oh gosh hi my name is Laura Vela and I've been an ESL social studies teacher here at Fenton for the past five years I work with non-traditional students who require much more different supports than the general student population in 2018 I was welcomed into the Fenton family here there was a team of teachers who understood the vast needs of el students I was eventually invited to professional development Symposium that took me across the country where I spoke with an administrator over dinner about the challenges I face as an El teacher their reaction was that of awe and astonishment as they spoke about the Immigrant trauma gaps in

018education and varied languages and levels present in one classroom and they asked me how I cope with it prior to that I never really considered All That the yield department does so I didn't have an answer the administrator had little information or feedback to ease my day-to-day experiences with the students that I work with when covet hit all of the Fenton teachers went to the ends of the Earth to support the students emotionally and academically to provide them with the things that they needed to be successful in school post covid I was I would be planning or having lunch only to be pulled out multiple times per day but by an administrator to sub in other classes none of this was easy the demands of all of it was stressful in April of 2022 I

019had a stress-induced seizure witnessed by students in the classroom and I was rushed to the hospital where I was for three days my body and mind literally have driven me to the point where I collapsed and could no longer fulfill my role as an educator other than my DL and Union Brothers Union Brothers and Sisters of the FEA no one from the district here to check in or to see what my health status was during that time the only phone call I got was to find out when I was coming back to work at this point there Fenton was no longer my family it was simply my my employer the lack of Interest or current behalf of the district proved to me that I was simply just their employee nothing else the end of last

020year was very difficult I considered leaving the school and the teaching profession as a whole when I finally worked up the courage and said and courage and Faith to set a meeting with HR prior to my return to work I was met with very administrative talk and was told that the district had no interest and no place in knowing what had happened to me no accommodations were put in place and my regular workload and commitments resumed once more this 2022-23 academic year was very much a trial of year I could have stayed or I could have gone I set my own boundaries when it came to work and I communicated my needs with my deals since then it's been all right even to this date the area I teach in and the students I work

021with are faced with inequitable facilities and our needs still seem to be placed second my true family here is the one that I see every day the ones who ask me how I'm doing staff and students alike those who I see in the hallway with their suits occasionally speaking Spanish to me smiling and waving show no interest or support in knowing what it's like to be within the classroom walls they've simply forgotten while the students greatly depend on us there is very little support or acknowledgment of the things teachers need or how we are treated thank you Michael Baker [Applause] can you repeat the name Michael Baker good evening everyone my name is Mike Baker and I've been a science teacher here at Fenton for 10 years as our school year comes to a close

022my mind is already working on what I need to do to prepare for and improve for the fall over the summer I'll spend two weeks in Champaign with the U of I physics department as a teaching fellow in their Secondary School research program I'll devote many hours between home and Fenton to creating and improving curriculum and resources and some of that time I'll be compensated for some I will not but the reason I do it is so that when the fall term starts I'm prepared to be the best possible teacher that I can be for our kids in my 10 years at Fenton I've taught nine different courses and next year I'll add a tenth every semester is different brings new challenges once the school year starts the first and foremost task is getting to

023know my kids discovering what motivates them and making changes to my planning in order to meet their specific needs as best as I can it's in the best interest of our students to have a settled contract in time for the start of the fall term if we do not it's likely to cause distraction I spoke to you in March about how lucky I feel to be part of a community that cares so deeply for the welfare of its students I strongly believe that in each branch of this community there are some of the best and most hard-working professionals that you could ever hope to find you've heard so many stories from alumni or parents of what an amazing experience Fenton was for their kids and what an enormous impact it made on their lives and

024it's because for so long Fenton has been a destination school for people to come and work but you're also hearing stories tonight of warning signs of how that could change and I'm asking you we're at a Crossroads please go in the right direction for our kids for our parents for our community they are counting on us now I want to start the school year without distraction and it's important to me that the contract we negotiate is fair and recognizes the professionalism and commitment that we make to our students 12 months out of the Year thank you for your time Hillary Healey Healey good evening my name is Mallory Healy and I've been a teacher at Fenton High School for 14 years I'm looking forward to the conclusion of another successful year and taking my time

025this summer to spend with my family I also look forward to the arrival of my fourth child in July in addition I plan to use part of the summer to prepare for the upcoming school year I know that the time that I put in over the summer will benefit my future students once I return met to work my new daughter will be joining her two sisters at our local daycare the price of which is increasing significantly as are so many other expenses for my family as the result of the current economy returning to a school year without a new contract is a stressful distraction from what's most important teaching our amazing students we appreciate what you do for us and ask that you negotiate with the FEA to reach a fair contract before the start

026of the school year thank you [Music] Mike lautermuth good evening my name is Mike laudermuth and I've been a teacher here at Fenton High School now for 18 years I'm looking forward to seeing the conclusion of another school year for students and taking some time over the summer I'll be directing quiz Bowl camps that welcome middle school and high school students from across the country I'll be writing questions for the Middle School and High School scholastic bowl State series some of you may be aware but since October I have not been at Fenton on a Wednesday for the reason that I've been serving on a Federal grand jury it's very interesting but I can tell you something not a week goes by that I don't see the results of adults who has children did not

027receive the kind of support that our students get from teachers like these every single day and it's very sad because you can talk to some of these people and I'm sure they would tell you if only there was an adult in my life who had stood up for me at the right moment I wouldn't be here where I'm at now I think that's so important to remember those are the intangibles and and the future that we sometimes forget about I know that the teachers at Fenton work hard during the school year to make sure our students experience a quality education on average Fenton teachers will work an average of nine extra unpaid hours per week we spend several hours in the summer getting ready for this new school year not only do we work many

028of those hours unpaid during the summer but teachers spend an average of four hundred dollars of their own money on classroom materials we look forward to welcoming the students back and starting a new school year and it's important that we have as few distractions as possible returning to a new school year without a new contract is a stressful distraction from what is most important teaching our students and ensuring that they have the best possible future ahead of them we appreciate what you do for us and all we ask is that you negotiate with the Fenton bargaining team in good faith so that we can have an equitable fair and satisfactory contract when the new school year begins thank you [Applause] Sochi Quinones [Applause] my name is sochil Quinones and I graduated last year I currently

029attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison despite the Penn State hoodie I'm on a full ride I am double majoring in communication Theory and sociology and work with two non-profits I wanted to take some time to Express gratitude and support for our teachers and all that they have helped me accomplish in the past year alone when I transferred to Fenton I was afraid of two main things public speaking and sharing my art I went from shaking at open mics and being afraid of presenting to now meeting celebrities and famous writers and actors performing in full auditoriums writing a novel and best of all not being afraid to let my voice and story be heard I also survived a suicide attempt my senior year thanks to Mrs Raj and she never hesitated to make sure that I was

030supported every single day I stepped into her room sorry to miss Millman Mr ogson and Mr Escobedo I owe my writing success to you to go tendricks I owe my passion my talent and my bravery to you thank you for always pushing me to keep fighting the good fight for change these are only some of the teachers who have shaped me it wouldn't be fair then for me to not vocalize the importance of a fair contract for them in what world does the exploitation of teacher sound safe the disempowerment of teachers is the first step towards regressing as a society no matter how local it may feel these teachers are community members leaders coaches parents who are T who are student C for a full third of their day eight hours straight so why do

031you continue to try and cheat them of a contract that protects them I want to Echo what John Aguilar stated in the April meeting it's not normal in any system for there to be reoccurring issues with elected officials especially one at such a local level Illinois is one of the top States in education and we do that through protecting and prioritizing our teachers and students through Fair contracts please do what is common sense and write and give our teachers an appropriate and honorable contract thank you thank you happy nihoff [Applause] good evening it's lovely to be back at Fenton High School after I graduated last year my name is Abby Niehoff over my fencing career I swim on the varsity lady bison Swim Team all four years I participated in every choir class and the

032extracurricular that was available to me and I was inducted into the National Honor Society and try and music Honor Society I went to state for group interpretation performed in Spring Musical and graduated with a cumulative unweighted GPA of 3.86 I currently attend St Louis University with a major in public health and a minor in sociology and I'm honored to say that I attend Slough with a vice presidential scholarship I am speaking tonight in support of a fair and honorable contract for Fenton teachers I am proud to say I graduated from fencing because of all the Educators in this room and occupying this building daily Mr Jeff Bader and Dr George mussman's kindness and support for students and athletes or performers Mrs Saturday Williams and Mr Mike Barry's compassion for their for their subjects countless other

033contributions to the Fenton Community are at risk of being undercut and belittled with these contract negotiations it's important to support not only the staff members but the school as a whole we must consider the state of disrepair the building is in and the amount of good a fair contracts would do to improve day-to-day functions the school year is about to end but this doesn't mean the work is over for teachers and staff it would be incredibly disrespectful and immoral to mail it in during these contract negotiations I'm one of many voices speaking in support and I implore you that you not only listen to but hear and consider our demands for the better event and Educators and put them into action it's what's right thank you Isabella weglars [Applause] hello members of the board some

034of you may know me my name is Isabella weglars and I graduated last year I was a student of Mr demaro at Tioga Elementary School um and I and I now coach track at East Lansing High School while double majoring in Psychology and criminal justice as well as double minoring in Spanish and sociology at Michigan State University and I'm here to speak about the teachers and staff of Fenton High School during my four years here every single staff member that I ever interacted with it with it be it a teacher coach or even a security guard they have all been amazing people and I would like to emphasize people people who have good days people who have experienced bad days people who come here regardless of how well their day or week or month or

035year is going and you continue to brighten the days of hundreds of students I can remember all the countless times I'd have a bit of an off day but the moment I saw Miss regendron or Mr George or coach kegstet there was a shift in my attitude and this only names a few of the individuals that I still think of every single day at a time where there was a teacher shortage this District needs to be holding on to these people as tight as possible there's this very special standard that all the staff here meets and I would hate for it to be lowered simply because of a lack of communication and unwillingness to walk a mile in someone else's shoes I can't tell you what to do but I can suggest that you begin

036to listen before it's too late thank you thank you [Applause] Alicia savriano Perez [Applause] foreign from last year I currently go to McAllister College in St Paul Minnesota where I'm double majoring in both data science and educational studies if you all don't know Minnesota just passed the ethnic studies bill and my school had the opportunity to go into the capitol to go protest for this bill earlier this year while I was at the Capitol I talked wonders about all the teachers here because the teachers here are the people who have shown me what an education is it's one of the reasons why I'm going to educational studies and sorry give me just a second and I feel like you all should go and give them a fair contract the reason is is because they impact

037all of the students lives including mine and my brothers one of them who is currently attending here and one of them who is going to attend here because these are the teachers who encouraged me to double major and as much as they don't know I'm majoring in a school that doesn't really double major in both social studies and this then but they also encouraged me to try a lot of extracurriculars I hosted a women's project and a lot of the teachers here noticed I would sleep in their class when my family was going through things and they noticed I needed to serve your support and my support So yeah thank you [Applause] Stephanie how many more do we have we're at the 30 minute I just wanted to know three okay Stephanie Jackson [Applause] hi

038I'm Stephanie Jackson I'm an English teacher here school year is over in two days and I'm sure most of you know after we leave here teachers are going to be planning for the next school year over the summer the start of the school year is a time of new beginnings and it requires me as a teacher to have unlimited energy and creativity I need to inspire welcoming class environments where my students feel valued and safe to learn and have a voice part of crafting this atmosphere which Any teacher can tell you requires a great deal of intentionality and thoughtfulness depends on teachers working to build relationships with brand new students by getting to know them individually to be sure this also needs to happen relatively quickly to earn students Goodwill so that quality work will

039follow the idea of not having a contract settled for the beginning of the school year is likely to cause substantial distraction and a negative work culture for teachers who need to start the year off on a positive note this is especially important to me because the teachers are already ending the current school year walking out of this building on Friday having filed an initial 90-day notice with the Illinois Labor Relations Board for the first time in decades because we still have not achieved a fair contract unless there is a substantial shift in the direction of current negotiations the impending disruption to the 2023-24 school year will surely spread to our students students who will not be getting the best of their teachers if we are forced to begin the year in the toxic work climate

040that negotiations continuing into the following school year will inevitably create which many of us previously experienced firsthand in 2016 which was a personal low point of my time at Fenton and probably at least half of the people in this room if not more it is Paramount to me that a fair contract is negotiated before the beginning of next school year Elizabeth Wright hi my name is Elizabeth Wright and I'm just completing my fourth year at Fenton as a teacher librarian the most enjoyable job in the building I'm so grateful to work here where I've experienced professional collegiality and warm-hearted encouragement from my peers and supervisors from day one in the relatively short time I've worked here I've seen Fenton's Mission borne out through its many effective programs run by remarkable teachers staff and administrators after

04118 years of teaching in the Chicago Public School District with its bureaucracy and politics landing at District 100 was a refreshing balm Fenton is a healthy well-functioning school and a strong hard-working Community here I feel greatly supported in my job of helping students learn and grow through robust Library programming and instruction during the covet pandemic true collaboration among administrators faculty and staff resulted in an exemplary exemplary remote learning plan that provided stability for families and employees during difficult times I would love to see that same Spirit of true collaboration applied to this contract negotiation process surely open-minded discussion and creative compromise are a better basis for seeking solutions to fiscal challenges than stalemates and Strikes in 2012 I remember how exhausted I and families and students were after picketing and Marching for nine days rather

042than starting off the year with this demoralizing conflict I'm hoping that we can enter a school year 23-24 encouraged by Goodwill and Trust among all stakeholders excited to implement the teaching plans we've carefully prepared and energized to pour our care into our students thank you Nicole Hendricks foreign [Applause] good evening my name is Nicole Hendricks and I have been an English teacher speech coach and group interpretation director at Fenton High School for 19 years I was fortunate enough to have my student teaching assignment here and even doubly fortunate to be hired by the then Board of Education in the summer of 2004. I've made it my home quite literally um once I've slept over okay teachers dedicate themselves to the art of teaching through their careers and yes over Summers many hours many dollars and

043many nights and weekends are spent by Fenton teachers invested in your children many of my colleagues have already mentioned similar sentiments and core values one of my core values is to offer students a safe and inviting space to be curious to explore to speak to find their voice to be collaborative and to be thoughtful parents teachers administrators coaches support staff parapros all know the strong structure students require in order to flourish in their personal and educational development the pandemic experience taught us exactly what we lose when that structure is shaken I implore you to bargain in good faith with our FEA team to reach a tentative agreement that is fair reflective of our worth as Educators uh real quick fellow Educators can you raise your hand if you have a master's degree can you raise

044your hand if you have two master's degrees can you raise your hand if you have a doctorate can you raise your hand if you're working towards a doctorate okay I'd say you have a highly qualified staff good hiring remember that this contract is a promise to our students that we are all invested in this Fenton Community you are the brick Foundation teachers are there mortar and we need to make sure this building stands and serves our children do not let this group crumble under the stress of beginning without a contract we cannot offer the structure your children need if we have no structure supporting us thank you [Applause] thank you for your comments especially the recent Fenton alumni who showed up to provide comment also it was great to hear how well you're doing next

045item is recognitions Sam okay next slide please okay we are here to honor members of the speech team tonight we had another strong showing at the ihsa speech state finals we're going to call up Sarah Guerrero gors dieta Nathan Rodriguez and Tara paviko [Applause] class of 2023 Fenton graduate Tara how's that sound huh okay yeah there you go okay um she's the state finalist and of informative speaking likewise congratulations to Nathan Rodriguez for taking sixth place an original comedy and congratulations to Sarah for taking third in the state and original oratory we should also remind that speech does not have divisions so these individuals were competing against schools of larger sizes throughout the whole way so it's an ex an extra special honor to compete at this level and it's not only the speakers I

046want to we did a little research about Ms Hendricks and Miss Feinberg yeah from when they teamed up in 2010 from our investigation we found out that they've gone to the state finals every year wow and as we tried to add up the number of students that's more than 200 students who have participated in some form of trip to the state finals under their mentorship [Applause] so we want to thank the speech performers for the obvious amount of hours that you devoted to your craft and I'm going to turn over to Ms Hendricks Ms Feinberg and Ms O'Connor this technology man also for helping us you know supporting us and giving us what we need in order to go to state every single year we have worked countless hours with these students and the team

047members that you don't see here today as well and they are an absolute Delight because they take on challenges that others would not take and I'm sure you've heard me say this before but we know public speaking is nerve-wracking even I get caught up with my own breath while I speak and so if and I use this as an example for my students all the time tonight we're here to celebrate Sarah Tara and Nathanael for all of their efforts we are so lucky to be having both Nathaniel and Sarah back next year so that they can make their senior run for state yet again in their events and um and Tara ends her career here but we know that we are just one step on her pathway that is going to be truly successful and

048eventful and she opened that door for herself by allowing herself to tackle the events that she did as well I would not be here without my fellow colleagues and especially Melissa Feinberg as you heard I was surprised to hear those stats I haven't actually we like to Crunch data a lot at the speech tournaments but that is not something I've crunched before I haven't added it up um so that was uh nice to hear too um I'm going to turn it over to Ms Feinberg who will then share some information I hope about the kids or call the kids up yeah yes okay Miss Hendricks is so good at this I I'm not going to sit here and belabor her points but our kids are very special like she said they're willing to take on

049challenges that not many people are willing to take on they are here so late um we are here so late together every single night they push themselves so hard and it would be such a joy if everyone in this room could come and see what they do on a daily basis on a weekly basis so difficult to put your heart and soul into your art and then to have a judge write six on a score sheet which is the lowest rank generally you can receive and every you know every one of these State finalists have received that rank and they'll receive it over and over and over again until they don't they'll receive it in a State final round speech is very subjective scored similarly to gymnastics so there's a set of rules that you

050operate under but then it's up to judges to make a decision about how you're executing so these kids put their art out there get rejected for years and keep coming back and find that success it's admirable and I would love to see adults do that you know even more on a personal note I'm a Fenton alumni and there are so many teachers in this room who I owe so much to Nicole Hendricks Mike Mitchell Melissa Roush I I wouldn't be here without you so thank you so much to those teachers and and I hope you give them the contract that they deserve thank you first I'd like to introduce senior tarot papiko say a few words good evening we first want to thank our parents for driving us to school unbelievably early just every Saturday

051for dry cleaning our suits throughout the season for being the first to hug us and congratulate us after every tournament and for even following us to Peoria they not only supported us but they supported the entire team my parents loved watching my teammates perform and compete and always offer them with snacks like they did with me and I just feel like they became like the team's parents thank you for always calming me down and always giving me your endless support this season I really learned how it feels to be truly passionate about something and how rewarding it feels to set goals for myself and I wanted to thank the coaches for that this season was definitely not easy but they never gave up on us when we went through rough patches they helped us become

052stronger performers and just stronger people in general we want to thank them for always being people we can count on and for always pushing us when we thought we couldn't keep going we've learned a lot from them and we will carry their wisdom with us forever and for our team thank you for being the reason why we got through these 12-hour days and through the state series we know there's nobody else who would do jumping jacks with us before around or hype us up with affirmations before the entire tournament thank you for being our Rockin for all your support we're lucky to have had the support system for the past three and four years and will forever be grateful for this experience hi my name is Nate Rodriguez and I am a junior almost senior

053here at Fenton this year I had the wonderful privilege to compete at the at the ihsa speech State finals I would first like to start off by thanking my family specifically my mother for all of her endless love and support I also would like to thank my friends and teammates for being right by my side every step of the way headed into State my only goal was to break into that final round which seemed pretty impossible but I did it and I owe All of My Success to our amazing coaches Miss Melissa Feinberg and especially Miss Nicole Hendricks thank you for believing in me at times when I didn't even believe in myself [Applause] I'm also a junior almost senior first I want to thank my parents my dad couldn't make it here tonight because

054he works the night shift but um P was the first his text message was the first text message I looked at on Saturday mornings he was the first person that hugged me whether I came home with a medal or not from a tournament and my mom not only did she drive me to school every Saturday morning but she stayed up late on Friday nights ironing my speech suit so I could study and focus on my homework because I split myself into so many pieces for so many people and I would also love to thank the Educators in this room today and across the entire School some teachers like Mr Morrow and Mr oakson opened up their classroom so for our state Series team to perform our state pieces in front of classrooms because they value

055student voice they value student connection and we wouldn't be state qualifiers without them so thank you all for everything that you do and I can't wait for next year okay now if you come forward we're going to take a picture [Music] foreign next item is informational items James all right again thank you uh congratulations we have a couple slides here in regards to our graduation what took place last Sunday thank you for everyone uh the board for showing up first picture Jim beautiful picture right there Sam Benson's up there good picture to board just Mr madele over there with our beautiful students there walking in our parents our Padres Abuelos Tios and tias are also there great picture there really great Positive Vibes and feedback from our both our students as well as our parents

056um and just wanted to give Rick a shout out here for putting these beautiful slides nice shots here of our graduation this will be on our website as well as Mr cambric also sent it to the Daily Herald which will be posted as you all know as well the Bensonville newspaper will also print us it's already posted it's already up so it's a great way to celebrate our our 2023 grads here singer there our choir Miss Williams there I don't know who the guy is on the right is the principal there's Pastor Lewis pretty shout Mr Figueroa I think Mr cambrick did a great job to try to take a picture of a wide arrange of individuals as well as different activities in different parts of the graduation but this is a night for the

057kids 2023 and their parents Sam anything no it was just a beautiful day everything was like picture perfect we're outside um like James said a very positive vibe the ceremony went very smooth um so no it really couldn't have gone much better so it was a great great event a couple selfies of course no dancing though no it was pretty pretty tame for the most part yeah a few sounds that's the ceremony went along but and and of course the caps in the air that's that's the moment they all look forward to that's right and they did hang around quite a while taking pictures it was really nice we had some good setups outside some setups inside and there's an example some of the balloons we also gave out yard signs to all the seniors

058we had our graduates we had some left over and so aunts and uncles were taking them which was fine I mean it was a lot of Pride so uh just still a wonderful day once again shout out to Mr cambic there if you ever if you ever see Rick in action he'll be on the floor he'll be on top of a chair just a real action shot this next up was one of my favorite part of our board meeting which is basically student learning highlights um next slide gym since August we've been highly highlighting different divisions and different departments different programs from mtss to counseling to our ell Department this evening we're going to highlight math and the science Division and we have a video here by division leader Mr barago Jim foreign division leader

059of math and science first I want to say thank you for allowing me to highlight some great things that are happening within our division kicking off with science here is a quick overview of the courses that are available to our students at each grade level I want to emphasize that students are engaged in so many ways here are a couple of pictures of students who dissect the charts in Mr lackey's class in this picture students is leveraging virtual reality to explore Concepts that would otherwise be inaccessible to our students [Music] and then these pictures show our AP environmental science students visiting Indiana Dunes to learn about unique ecosystems and importance of conservation in the science department we have a team of teachers that are delivering the curriculum through modeling instruction this type of method provides

060content instruction while students are immersed in the process of doing science this method of instruction was introduced a few years ago and as a department we want to take a look at our progress where we want to go or how we want to build capacity in the next two years I would like to recognize Mr Baker Mr Berry for accept for their acceptance to the University of Illinois physics and secondary schools partnership program according to the U to U of I's website the program combines the talent experience and enthusiasm of Illinois's top high school science teachers with the research and content expertise of the University of Illinois to engage Illinois high school students with the highest quality physics experience this is a great opportunity for both teachers and students but more importantly this opens up

061Pathways for our students into engineering big shout out to Mr Baker and Mr Berry for their time and effort in advancing our practices at Fenton High School and taking our students to the next level lastly I want to share my excitement about the stem Wing construction plan this is a bold move to catapult our students into the future outside of more and modernized learning spaces the stem Wing will remove limitations on what teachers can accomplish with students learning that are currently a reality in the classrooms that we have today we'll be able to have modern and relevant equipment that serves our classes for multiple years without yearly replacing them the possibilities of installing hydrophonics and building Equal columns would allow students to model and observe basis of the growing ecosystem in math here are the

062courses available to our students at each grade level we're excited about the changes that we are doing to better position our students to be successful starting this upcoming school year we will be implementing our foundations of math course that supports students who are not at grade level in math walking into their freshman year this class ensures that students receive foundational skills to be successful in math in the math sequences and consequently lead them to attaining skills that will serve them in real life we will also be fully implementing our CPM curriculum which is an integrated approach to learning mathematics our goal is to engage students in the process of learning through collaboration and inquiry the curriculum and integrated approach also ensures that they receive continued exposure and learn skills in statistical data analysis while learning

063math that we are all familiar with our computer science program is growing and we're super excited about our two new teachers who will be joining us with expertise in both mathematics and computer science this is another plus to our excitement about the stemwood finally I want to highlight an exciting and growing collaboration between our school district and our feeder districts Bensenville District 2 and Wooddale District 7. last week we hosted our second annual Tri District math articulation where we discuss our goals of leveraging the articulation to improve our students transition from middle to high school our very own Math teachers walked the entire group through an activity showcasing the CPM curriculum and its power and engaging students through inquiry and group collaboration as you can see we have a lot of great things to look

064forward to in the coming years we are working collaboratively with our teachers and building strong relationships with our theater districts thank you for allowing me to provide you with a quick preview of the math and science division have a great evening once again I know Mr barago isn't here but a shout out to him just wanted to highlight some of the stuff that he said first of all a shout out to the stem Wing that will be voted on later on this afternoon in regards to the death certificate he slowly and systematically went through the math and science curriculum at the grade level 9th graders 10th graders 11th graders and 12th graders he also highlighted what that was important is interventions so if kids aren't doing well what do we do that's part of the

065foundation and what we're really proud about and we've discussed this earlier on this year is articulation with District 2 and 7. our incoming ninth graders and having that those conversations and interventions and planning before our students get here he also highlighted our growing um I wouldn't say popularity demand for computer science as well I'm going to put Kate here on the spot here take you to talk a little bit about the articulation that took place last week here with districts 2 and District 7. they were representative in the sixth seventh and eighth grade from the feeder districts and what we did was we shared our visions that each school had for mathematics and we looked at what are the similarities where some of the gaps we also compared it to our strategic planner portrait of

066The Graduate to make sure that we were in line with that we shared what are some of the challenges that we're having in our curriculum and what are some of the ways that we're overcoming them that opened up a real vulnerability it's hard for teachers from even the same school to talk about the challenges but from other schools and the teachers did such a nice job and we realized that many of the challenges that we're facing at Fenton they're facing too so this is really building the bridge of us being able to talk about how can we start continue to do the good things that we're doing and move forward what we're committed to is all teachers in that were at that collaboration are going to go observe at least one other teacher at either

067Fenton or Blackhawk and Wooddale and then we're going to come back in October and talk about what are some of the things that we saw so we want to build that trust and that collaboration so that a teacher from Fenton can email an eighth grade teacher and say hey you know what are you trying there and I think that was a really good beginning for that I have a question I know we're focused uh mainly on incoming students but what about the students that are struggling now what what is you know what's happening yeah absolutely no that's a great question um the math department has done an awesome job of pivoting this year and really making sure we're gonna see I I think pivoting is going to be the key word because for the next

06812 years we're going to see kids that have gaps in different areas depending on where they were at home right and as I know as a teacher that's scary because you kind of we haven't seen that before it was kind of you could do the same thing you kind of knew what kids were going to come in with and our math department is figuring out really innovative ways to make sure that they are catching up so this year what we did was something called foundations where kids who weren't being successful they got to repeat a semester and now they're going to continue that into summer school um we hope that that's kind of a one-time thing that we're going to have to do and we'll continue to learn as we go on so I'm proud

069of the math department and Mr barago for being as flexible and Innovative as they're being you know just to add one other thing we also are expanding our academic literacy program as Kate knows because she led this initiative as in English in the past this next year it's going to be in math and English so it's building those skills that are necessary alongside while they're taking a math course and that's so we're trying to get kids that are at risk or or we think would need that support right off the bat and that can also have on and off ramps where sometimes the student we may you know May be to the point where they may not need that anymore and then we discover someone else might need that so we're trying to explore that

070too thank you with the inclusion of the uh um more of the I.T related pieces with falling under the math and science is that going to be following mostly under the science area the mathematics is it elective or are we talking about uh um kind of a you know if you do compsi one and two you don't need calculus one and two um that's a great question schools are really all over the place with that where that's coming falling in sometimes it has to do with the certification of the teachers um you know if it's a person who's computer science with a math background or computer science with a science background what we're doing at Fenton right now is keeping it as elective and then we're going to continue to explore if that makes sense

071for our kids and we'll be able to shift that if we need to these it's great to see the articulation with the other districts with math is it being explored or considered in other areas also yeah absolutely so the goal next year is to start with the English Department um or continue on I guess with the English Department and then keep ramping it up to social studies and science it's great to see you yeah it's really it's it's it was an awesome experience now you could see why we like this part of the the board meeting because it really we talk about math we talk about ell we talk about science but it really it's a time for the board to take a pause we could dig a Little Deeper talk about a little bit

072more and we'll continue to do this month after month is there any way to see any of the curriculums that are being done for the various things like you quick up there like what the classes were I'm just curious as to you know what uh what they're delving into Now versus 20 years ago when I was yeah absolutely I'll talk a little bit about in our summer curriculum hours one of the things that we're in the process of is uh it's called mapping so that what we would like is every course to have a forward-facing document so that we could have it on their website eventually that's probably a one or two year project there are some courses right now that we could give that to you right away but we want to make sure

073that anybody could go on the website and see what are they doing in computer science um or what are they doing in math one so that's a current project we're working on I know everybody loves acronyms but could you help me out with CPM and what that actually so it's kind of funny CPM stands for college preparatory math this is that program and I think when you hear the term College Prep it's a little bit outdated which I think is why they don't necessarily but it's a well-known name what CPM is really all about is having kids instead of a teacher lecture kind of the way we all learn math teacher lectures we practice like 10 problems CPM is giving them an authentic problem um and the kids stand up they work together they figure

074it out and then the teachers teach them like okay this is what you actually needed to do in order to solve that problem so it's helping the kids it's making it more relevant to them they're more active they're collaborating with one another so they're learning all those skills instead of I think we used to just think of collaboration kind of in a social studies or an English class but they're learning those skills in math and it is just so much more engaging so it was like word problems yeah yeah I mean that that's the base of it right but better than that have you ever used in the uh what I always refer to as wet classes so the we saw the dissection of the shark um how has that been going with the science

075classes and things like that are we seeing more of that kind of Engagement in biology and in chemistry are we seeing more of a walking back with a lot of the computer-aided visualizations and things um I think I I would say that it's kind of been the same I don't know that it's been more or less it's student interest has remained the same um I think our science teachers have really valued the Hands-On lab experiments and things like that there are ways that science teachers are supplementing uh with some of the technology but I mean I think you can see from Dan ladka I know um Shelley Bible they they it's really still a very Hands-On uh their lab Focus the other districts that I've seen some of this stuff with is they've moved away

076from some of these things more towards the 3D models and stuff like that in an effort to save costs so I was just curious if we had started on that path it's not my favorite person yeah but I was just curious if that was I think we use it here and there but we you know we know the kids prefer getting their hands in it self thank you was it test scores or that made you determine that this is what we need like what was it that you looked at that and I get I'm trying to ask the question the right way but what was brought to your attention that those uh curriculum or those classes needed to be put in place was it students test scores what was it that I think two student

077test scores played into it but honestly the the test scores because of the pandemic are all over the place um I think really what we're seeing is what our teachers are noticing and kids success rates as far as their grades go that has been our biggest indicator um and also you know our students are really Frank with us about where they're struggling they're our counselors do a great job so it really is a lot of self-diagnosis I think also building this relationship with the grade schools they've been able to say here are some areas that this particular class is struggling with so it's a combination of all of those things but a lot of it is just kind of self-diagnosing and seeing where the kids are okay thank you yeah important for the board to

078realize too just to put it out there Durst has been always articulation with the feeder school but due to the pandemic at the learning loss you're hearing it's ramped up a little bit in regards to intervention there's always been an inversion if you hear me say this over and over and good effective schools have strong interventions and that's what we're trying to get to there are no more questions we'll move on I'm going to hand it off to principal Benson here code of conduct revisions okay so if you recall last board meeting we I went through sort of the highlights of what we'd be going through here today so this is our second review uh we're going to ask for you to approve these changes to the disciplined part of the school handbook every year

079there's a review of the discipline policies or what we call called a conduct there's a committee that met numerous times input from staff members parents or students and um this is this is the changes that that we we came up with it's also based on if you recall our policy meetings where press gives us model policies they also give us a model student handbook this year in particular we knew it would be time to review that to make and update our policies to make sure that they were that they were solid policies based on state laws and in various ISB changes so without further Ado truancy so we added in there the concept of you missed 10 days of school there's an attendance contract we've been doing this but it wasn't explicit in the handbook

080so this clarifies that excused absences we added students are allowed to take five mental health days again this is uh stat Illinois statute and they can also attend One Civic event per year so we added that some language things simple things like we used to call something a lost Tuesday we which is we used to have professional development on Tuesday afternoon well now we do that on Mondays so now we just have what we call Extended detention so we want to be clear in case a parent is wondering what is extended detention now we explain it in in the handbook tardiness we have a hero system and I'm going to beat you to the question where you ask what does it stand for it doesn't stand for anything it's the name of the company so

081I just figured I'd get to that um but basically it's a system we use where we scan kids if they're tardy and they get a tardy ticket that's not a municipal ticket it's just a tardy ticket that they receive so it's I'm antis trying to anticipate your questions um academic dishonesty uh if that does occur we're out of the business of no credit will be given so we're not doing that anymore there's hero again uh just kind of reading yep uh can you back yeah I'm sorry could you go back Jim uh no credit if a person was academically dishonest does that mean they'll still be given Credit Now well what it means is as far as the disciplinary action taken by the school we're not going to impose that what it means is a

082teacher could make the student do it again the teacher had some discretion in there theoretically they could so let's say teacher says okay you've got that AI right AI did the assignment right right so let's pick out something that's potentially current so maybe they identified then maybe they'll make sure that student does it again so it's it's up it's more instead of just saying it automatically a Dean meets with you and it's a zero it's they get a chance for a redo potentially yeah yeah exactly okay all right yeah uh back to the next slide uh again we just explained the hero system a little bit more in depth so parents know changing the wording from in-school suspension to in school intervention that's one of the things we're working on uh over the Summers make

083sure we have a a program where if a student is in in school that we can intervene with more push-in services but also reflection on how you got there how you can avoid being there again making sure academically you can keep up because we don't want the student to get behind academically if they're in the in-school intervention and then we a little bit more explanation on restorative practices which we've been involved with for years but we just wanted to again put it in the handbook so parents will understand when Deans or other staff members talk about restorative practices they have a background that they can refer to so any questions on any of these revisions it says in but I don't see any description of what in administrative action is delineated as can you go

084into some further detail on that okay I should say the memo itself has more details and I think are you referring to that kind of I'm looking at that party to school for 30 minutes um we struck in a truancy citation being issued and changed that to in administrative action um I'm just curious as to what in administrative action entails yeah let me let me find it real quick I'm getting up here School is that the petting you're at number two tardy to school uh yeah page four page 43 um and I think uh well it's actually yeah it's uh yeah two tournaments to school the two tardy examples there 30 minutes and 31 minutes where it says uh may result in administrative action right so when you're when you're late to school so the

085process of what occur yeah all right thanks so when you're late to school what happens is the students do do line up okay I see it all right uh what happens is the students line up they get a a through the herald system get a tardy uh the question comes if you're more than 30 minutes late is it really is it really a tardy you know it's a little bit more than a tardy it's not a class-cut per se but it's pretty close to it so uh basically what it says now tardy logged in hero two detentions to be served within two school days minor step issued and administrative action it it doesn't specifically spell out of specific consequence but it does reference potential administrative action so that's not that's typically what like what would

086have is you receive two detentions but we also reserve the right for administrative action it could be like where were you were you in the building were you outside the building or what have you so they wanted that language in there in case any other administrative action needed to be done but we haven't defined what those things could be well I just said two detentions when you enter the building so typically it would be two detentions when you come in let's say 35 40 minutes late uh administrative action is General enough so there needed to be any additional administrative acts and I think it's important to understand that these are guidelines it's not if you do this this is what happens automatically so that's why there's times where we would reference that yeah like I

087said I was just curious if there was a definition of what administrative action meant it sounds like there isn't and I'm happy to move on any other questions can we just go back to what lead was talking about with the um go back one uh with the cheating uh academic dishonesty uh I'm hoping that if we're catching kids doing academic dishonesty that we're doing a little more than just having them redo an assignment because if they go to college and they have academic dishonesty in a paper they could be expelled from the University so I'm hoping that we're teaching these kids that this is not okay and that we're not just saying oh well just redo it in your own words you know that we're talking to them about the potential consequences of doing this

088outside of high school if we're not going to be having consequences for it you know yeah I think um we're not condoning the action or are we supporting it the the remainder of the policy does no credit will be given is crossed out but it references the referrals given to the student and assigned to the dean the teacher notifies the parent by phone so they're notified so then the parent needs to become aware counselors notified by the teacher so then the counselors and then there's also like a second incident third incident okay that's all I'm asking yeah I'm not saying let's string them up I'm just saying lessons I understand that this could become a huge consequence for them outside you know in a higher academic setting no I think you're right I think it

089also depends on the assignment if it's like a 10-point quiz versus a term paper if you have something that black and white in the handbook it's like okay I guess we're not given any credit and now yeah it could be a devastating effect based on yourself right yeah absolutely you know I think one of the other things is like it's a little bit different now for the kids like you have to be really explicit with them about what cheating is because there are so many ways that they can do it and a lot of times they don't know right especially like freshman or sophomore year they think that they're rewording something and so I think this is also a good teachable moment right yes it's a huge teachable moment it's giving them a little bit

090of Grace assuming passive intent right and making sure teachers have a little bit of flexibility absolutely um but yes and I think certainly as they get into Junior and Senior year it is an expectation that they know how to do this right but um you know that that's the reason so there are consequences and all that absolutely but there is a lot of things that it's like oh they really didn't know that's what they were doing it's a sad person opinion it's a sad commentary today if kids don't know what cheating or if they're busy putting the time into rewording some I think they've already got a clue that maybe they're stretching the truths a bit on that well I understand what she's saying but you have to leave with a little bit of Grace

091and well I'm not I'm not I'm not trying to be punitive but I think there has to be some clear idea of what's appropriate and what's inappropriate I think the thing that I like most about this change though is that it sounds like Mr Benson was saying is that we're empowering the teacher to make the decision as to what's going on here right right like it doesn't need to go to mrontango it doesn't need to come to us it doesn't need to go through a huge process we're empowering the teacher to say okay this is a simple infraction here they're the best ones to to view the intent and to kind of act as judge in that space that's a really important thing that we're not taking that away or that we're kind of giving

092that back and letting that kind of happen at the appropriate level yeah I think that's well stated uh in essence whatever he just said I talk a lot I know thank you Dr Ben thank you moving on to our next item Kate yeah um so as you heard a lot tonight um we are going on summer break starting uh on Friday um but one of the things that we do at Fenton is we offer curriculum hours for summer work uh this is a unique opportunity because obviously we know that our teachers and our counselors and our Specialists are always rewriting curriculum during the year but it's on the fly right and they're you know they don't have as much time because they're balancing so many things so we offer summer curriculum hours for teachers Specialists

093and counselors to continue diving into work so this year we have 74 different certified staff members who have applied to uh get to do additional work they can apply and in addition to special programming so it's teachers mtss so interventionists our freshman transition team our SEL committee and our PBIS committee SEL is social emotional learning PBIS positive behavior so there's two ways that can two existing buckets of Summer work so existing coursework so one of the things that we really worked on in profession development this year was teachers taking a look in a look at their units and what they were teaching and making sure that students could see themselves in the curriculum teachers did an awesome job of starting that work and they're going to apply to continue working on that over the summer

094fine-tune units as Kent asked about before one of the ways that you can get uh existing coursework is working on the curriculum mapping right so people are going to be mapping out their courses so that eventually hopefully in a year two years we're going to have a forward-facing website where you can take a look at all the different courses and what's going on there it's great for teachers it's great for students it's also good for a new teacher coming into the district that they can see this is what English 2 teach us right and then we have new courses and resources which is always really exciting as Mike talked about the CPM curriculum and math there are new textbooks that are being used both hard textbooks and online textbooks which we'll talk about at the

095next board meeting and then we're developing some new courses so as Mike talked about foundations of math right now our English uh sorry our social studies and our El departments are working on developing a Latino studies course that'll be proposed hopefully in the fall we have Healthcare occupations if you remember Michelle Papa Nicolo talked about that some of our computer science classes so this is a really great opportunity for our staff to dig in get ready for the next school year and Kind of Perfect the things that they've been working on um the eight uh 18 22 hours 1822 hours of uh of work um I I did hear one teacher mentioned something about nine nine unpaid hours in the summer is that does that have any effect these are all paid um I can't

096quite remember what what was said at uh I think they were referring to there's not all the they do a lot of work just independently on their own like Miss Gaskin was talking about her syllabus and getting that organized that's that's just work that she's doing just because she's a professional this is all ours that uh either we initiated or the staff initiated and we are documenting it and we're asking for your approval since they'll be compensated so so what the comment was was that their um the assertion was that there was approximately nine hours a week being spent outside of the classroom and sounds like classroom hours or the paid hours that teachers are spending revising courses doing other non-classroom related tasks around curriculum and things that was was being said there okay because

097I I understood I wrote a damn nine extra unpaid hours during the summer so I was that's that's why we were talking about summer hours up here so I was just trying to understand the difference between what they spoke on and what's up here but because this is paid hours correct I think teachers are called the same thing yeah teachers do do a lot you know I think what I think sugasco is a great example something like working on your syllabus that you you know that wouldn't updating it that wouldn't necessarily be covered here that's just something that they do on their own so I mean there are some teachers who are doing things that aren't covered here that they're not getting paid for I think that's what she was referring okay just wanted um

098and uh for you know is there an application process for this yeah so what's the how do we determine where we're going to be you know investing like I'm seeing here major coursework revision 180 hours for English um 130 hours for science and social studies but only 15 hours for business and and um El so just trying to understand kind of that that variance yeah as far as like the new courses it's what's been proposed uh this past year and was approved as new courses so they get the priority um and then I would say as far as you know when you're looking at the other areas each department kind of has a different Focus uh obviously Math and Science are ramping up this year El we've had a lot of newcom uh incoming students

099many of them speaking Ukrainian so some of our teachers are working on resources for them so it kind of depends year to year sometimes departments go through a heavy load of like wow social studies is really revamping and then you might not see isn't that much work for the next two years so you know there is definitely a rhyming or reason there's a um an application process that I take a look at what they're applying for and then the division leaders also do to make sure that it's in line with you know what we're doing but that's kind of the process it goes through yeah I was saying the one was the major course revision but then I'd see now in the new course development we see a pretty sizable investment in the ones where

100we're seeing lesser in the revision so yeah exactly it actually looks to be pretty balanced yeah thank you yeah next slide Jim this one back again the UK yeah um so the other thing that we do during the summer is summer workshop hours so that's where teachers are actually collaborating here together sometimes with the curriculum work they're collaborating here together but this is more that um you know we're doing something maybe a training this year what we're focusing on is a book club so uh last summer we read Goldie Muhammad's first book which was called cultivating genius uh and it's really talking about how to help students particularly minority students see themselves in the class material form her second book came out this year we it's really exciting we have 21 teachers two instructional coaches

101and myself who are going to participate in this book uh study her book is beautiful first of all let's start with right like it's just a really appealing book um but this is really she's taking that next step of talking about making sure students see themselves in the in the curriculum and that it's joyful right sometimes it's you're looking at primary source documents that a lot of times it's about oppression or really difficult times and this is also trying to to talk through how do we teach students and make sure that there's joy in what they're learning about and that it's very positive um so making sure that there's a good balance there so I'm really excited to do that if anyone would like to join us for the book study you are more than

102welcome they're going to be by Zoom um and if you would like a copy of the book I'm happy to get it for you I would yeah yeah absolutely sure absolutely thank you Kate next slide okay this one's for the board here this is just discussion only here and just throwing out some ideas this is for your board meetings okay so here's a schedule um we know we got some feedback from our executive board here our vice president as well as our president and and some of you I spoke to individually we've traditionally had our board meeting the last Wednesday of the month um I'm assuming there's time to to state your opinion and do we keep it that way um right now this is what's going to you and you will vote on this

103next month it's scheduled every uh the last Wednesday of every month for a board meeting except for Thanksgiving November uh the Christmas break in December and March for spring break that will be the third Wednesday of the month part of the reason we particularly Bruce and his crew there like the fourth Wednesday is because we would like to pay our bill at the end of the month so something for you to chew on we're also assuming you guys would like to keep it at 7 pm so we could have a uh committee meetings at 6 PM so we could have two at once so any comments on that uh can we have it on the fourth Wednesday instead of the last Wednesday I don't know I know there's just one or two times a year

104yes I think that's yeah it's always the fourth Wednesday okay yep very good except for the two call out or the three call-outs correct thank you okay that silence means to me that uh we'll move on with that so that will come up uh at the next board meeting to be voted on next one is Affordable Care Act ACA report every year we do this for our part-timers um we're we're mandated by the government to ask our part-timers Who clock in more than 30 hours per week if they would like to have coverage insurance coverage using the Affordable Care Act this year we had one candidate that qualifies we've spoken to that individual and they refuse to have coverage this next one as you saw um this is our water mitigation map for the summer

105starts actually we start this work uh this work construction work next month Dan Sullivan uh reviewed this at the committee meeting basically we're commuting communicating to our our staff our students and parents and email will go out in regards to basically saying hey look Fen is under construction we're doing some construction work please stay away from these sites the sites include all of our Fields the back parking lot because that's where the trucks will be going to and from and the construction location will be fenced off with either a green or red fencing so that will be going out and we just want to make sure everyone is aware of it next slide for your local Labs local lab as you as you know is a trying to remember it's um let me look at

106my notes Here they always ask for foia that's for sure uh it's a news agency and and real quickly they're asking have we ever done business in regards to invoices and transaction with Lorry Children's Hospital from July 20 July 1st 2022 to present day we have investigated we have not done any businesses with Laura Laurie Children's Hospital in voices and transaction therefore we replied with our response and that has been resolved that's the only foia we received this month the one in the city I believe so yes is there more than one Mary just one yep next slide that is the end of gem next line that is the end of our informational items the next item consider Ginger okay we have additional information that we would like to share with the Board of Education

107in closed session related to the personal report therefore we would like to pull out the personal report from the consent agenda and vote on it separately after the closed session may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented excluding the Personnel report which will be voted on after the closed session second motion path pretty good huh yes Figueroa yes Goodrich yes paid yes go back yes redzinski Yes Lewis yes now motion passed anticipated summer curriculum I was may have a motion that the Board of Education authorizes Administration to utilize the requested 2023 anticipated summer curriculum hours as presented so moved second roll call disgusting sorry just real quickly this is a couple minutes ago uh Kate Ward we view this gym next slide so everyone sees this um reviewed anticipated summer curriculum

108hours now we're putting it up to vote for the board discussion roll call Regal yes Goodrich yes paid yes Kovac yes redzinski yes Figueroa Yes Lewis yes motion passed anticipated summer workshop hours may I have a motion that the Board of Education authorizes the administration to utilize the requested 2023 anticipated summer workshop hours as presented I'll make that motion second discussion once again K award reviewed this a couple minutes ago one of the books that we're going to be readed as a group is the unearthing joy have a question quickly yes the summer book club are those hours included in the 1822 hours is this are these paid hours they are paid hours they're separate there's two different rates for summer curriculum hours and then a different rate for summer workshop hours but both are

109included in your packet okay yep summer book club it takes 21 teachers to no 21 teachers will be participating I'm sorry 21 teachers will be participating sorry okay we wish we had more um yeah all right Sylvia just to highlight for you that is a 45 hours requested at 21.20 an hour for 954 for that thank you all right roll call Regal yes okay yes Kovac yes redzinski yes Figueroa yes Goodrich Yes Lewis yes can I just ask one question could any uh Any teacher do this book club teacher counselor specialist okay absolutely thank you 2024 salary adjustments may I have a motion that the Board of Education approves the 2023-2024 fiscal year salary adjustments for at will four percent increase in bus drivers two percent increase into motion you know all right one I'll

110do it yeah it's motion second discussion we discussed this at closed session um and this this is our recommendation for salary adjustments so just reiterating this was discussed at the last closed session closed session last month that is correct oh okay roll call Rego yes Kovac yes ridzinski yes Figueroa yes Goodrich yes paid Yes Lewis yes resolution to approve the issuance of 32 million death certificates to improve the side of to to improve the site of and renovate alter repair and equip the Fenton High School building may I have a motion to the Board of Education adopt the attached resolution authorizing and providing for an installment purchase agreement for the purpose of paying the cost of purchasing real or personal property or both in and for Community High School District number 100 DuPage County Illinois

111and for the issuance for the issue of not to exceed 32 million death certificates of said School District evidencing the rights to payment under said agreement providing for the security provided for the security for and means of payment on the said agreement of sales certificates and authorizing the sale of sales certificates to the purchase to the purchaser thereof yes I'll give you a motion second discussion next slide I would like to show some slides in regards to this discussion for the board as uh the stenguin project we've been talking about a stem Wing forfeiting basically since the facility audit in 2019 and has been discussed therefore for the last couple of months we have been discussing it further and what we're looking at is a two-story thirty four thousand square foot uh new addition for

112Fenton which is modernized and 21st century modeled it'll be approximately 9 to 13 new stem Wing classrooms for this building next slide next couple slides here are some rendering there's the front end front of of the new stem Wing which is facing 83 so you can see there these once again this is rendering it's a class front face there with our logo as well as Fenton High School on top next slide classrooms will be modeled after the pictures you see there 21st century science and career pathway classrooms we will have a learning staircase there where folks could go from the first floor to the second floor but also have an option for some lecturing some learning some discussions there as well as you can see on the second floor there are some small breakout rooms

113there where our students can discuss and explore the subject matter X topics okay Excuse me yes this is the wow learning stair that is it's been coined that we like it to call it a learning uh learning space I think it's a beautiful beautiful rendering right there personally the the wow comes from The Architects and it's the wow moment that when you walk into that you're like wow this is this is a uh a different sort of place a different sort of area to learn and it's been tagged as wow from that so hope it answers your question thanks Ken here's just a really quick schematic of the floors what you see in the colors there the blues uh areas there is the first floor and second floor highlighting the different classrooms next slide Jim

114here is also another picture from 80. go ahead second size wise how does the the new classroom compare to what we currently have because it's bigger bigger more modernized um it's definitely bigger more standardized yeah yeah I mean as you guys know most of our classrooms are smaller um I think movable space more light modern plumbing modern technology easier Access Wi-Fi access different floors there just really a modern stem classroom so instead of 22 it could be 32 it could be at 24 20. it's hard to see on there but yeah I think it says 1100 square feet yeah most of them are averaging about 1100 square feet so and ours are current I think our average right now is about 800 800 and 900. something about 300 square feet larger than what we currently

115have that's great yeah once again the front picture of the the building there by the end of the water construction project as well as the stemwood project that's what we hope it would look like once again there's a lot of work these are renderings we need to communicate with other administrators some teacher feedback and so forth so this is a 15-month schedule starting June 2024 and once again it'll probably be two summers when it's complete so we're looking at June August July 2025. so really excited about the timeline here next slide as you know this is the debt certificate timeline process I'm going to hand this one over to Mr Martin just a recap of what we talked about earlier this evening during the finance committee meeting we're asking the board tonight to approve a

116resolution to move this next phase of the debt certificate process forward that we'll ask the board to act on just a few minutes here and that'll be the first 14 million dollar sale June and July we would actually conduct that sale if not sooner and you know timing is critical with that piece but 14 million dollars would be the first phase of that and that's to benefit the district with with the Arbitrage earnings and then January of 2024 would be the remaining amount of death certificates and that amount is yet to be determined the board would give us Authority up to 18 million but that doesn't necessarily mean we would issue all that at that time the full amount go ahead just quickly in some of this we've already talked about the issuing of these

117current uh debt you know time is of the essence to catch the market and to be able to take advantage of the Arbitrage so uh you know certainly encourage the powers that be to get that moving as quickly as possible but then I wasn't sure it was clear on how soon the second portion could be issue although I think apparently the state has put some restrictions on how quickly you can do that yeah I think for Arbitrage regions there was a six-month window awaiting window to issue in the same typical year I would you know uh I would encourage double checking that because if we're so fortunate that the market is out of balance so to speak that you can make money part by borrowing money that I would certainly irrespect to Erie just on

118itself without considering any Improvement projects it makes all the sense in the world just as an investment opportunity right we can certainly verify that with our I would I would certainly true there's just there's too much or too much opportunity that could be missed I believe this was a discussed at a previous meeting that I think the total amount that we can actually put into the investment is no more than 15 million at a time yeah I think in total from what they were saying that's why we had to do the 14. so I don't know if we can take 15 and then take another 15 and just stick it all in there so yeah you're right that's why it's under 15 million because of the 600 000 potential earnings and earning uh Arbitrage that

119that would still be keep us under the 15 million dollars but I think it's but I think it's in total though correct like I can't do it again and again and again right and continue to build like a Fenton trust essentially it's anything after you go over that 15 million ends up going back to the state that's our that's our uh that's my understanding now from our advisors yes yeah so I don't think that's a we can put 15 in and then put another 15 and a half 30 total it's well you got to spread it six months apart though I mean apparently from what I heard yeah but there's no reason in the world you couldn't have 30 as long as you as long as you adhere to whatever the time time spread time

120limitations are that are posed on you yeah the only drawback might be with that is if we issue it too soon we may not know what we need at that time it doesn't matter if you can make the Arbitrage seriously yeah but we I guess we would be issuing potentially more debt than we would may need for the project you're making money on it though wouldn't you well it's still going to have paid back yes you've got money to pay it back and then I mean I don't know what the repayment limitations would be but I don't want to lose sight of that you know typically there's a penalty on daily repayment on death certificates because the folks that you are buying the investment or buying for the totality of the debt certificate so by

121closing it early usually there are penalties and fees or you're at least ending up owing some additional fraction of what would have been lost if it had not been taking off over its entire time so that's part of the investment and I'll be meeting with them tomorrow too so we have a scheduled meeting already so [Music] roll call I only I heard Mr Goodrich with the motion but I second here who yep okay thank you or did somebody else second it and I didn't hear you oh no Sylvia did so sorry Sylvia yeah okay apologize ready go yes redzinski yes Figueroa yes Goodrich yes paid yes Kovac Yes Lewis yes motion passed stormwater mitigation bid release two may I have a motion that the Board of Education approved bid release number two to the following

122firms Abby Paving slash construction slash concrete work 970 dollars John Kino and Company site Demolition and excavation work one million four hundred and eighty eight thousand six hundred and ninety Abby Paving asphalt asphalt paving 232 thousand dollars Peerless Enterprise fencing 180 dollars Alessio and Sons Company site utilities work one million seven hundred and sixty eight thousand dollars we have a motion I'll make that motion second discussion Mr Martin uh that that is the recommendation what we talked about earlier this evening been released number two this is really the biggest uh portion and bid package of this project so there may be some smaller bids coming forward after this but this is by far the biggest uh chunk of it of this uh total combined cost of 4 million 378 840 and again just to emphasize

123that is uh a little over a million dollars under budget uh under the projection so we're pleased about that roll call Regal yes Figueroa yes Goodrich yes paid yes Kovac Yes redzinski Yes Lewis yes motion passed School treasurer surety bond may I have a motion that the Board of Education approved resolution approving surety bond of Treasury to move right second second here discussion Mr Martin uh last month the board may recall the appointed a treasure that happened to be me so this month a school of treasure is required to have a surety bond in place that the board would approve for uh really the the protection of the board if there was any mishandling of funds and that type of thing so it's really kind of an insurance policy we're required to hold 25 percent

124or write a bond for 25 percent of the highest amount of balances we would incur over the course of a fiscal year um that is in the process of potentially changing uh to reducing it down to 10 from 25 but as of today uh we have to uh submit this to the Roe by the middle of the regional Office of Education by the middle of June and what we know today until it becomes Lodge 25 so that's what we're recommending tonight um that going forward I think after this where the governor's expected to sign that bill both houses have passed it it hasn't happened yet unfortunately it's kind of a timing issue but we've got to approve the bond move forward it's at the 25 level um if the Law changes can you renegotiate the

125bond we're going to try we've contacted the bond uh issuing company and asked them if they would consider that they're getting a lot of requests requests like that just run every District in the state is asking for that so we'll we'll keep you apprised of that um okay yeah so we're hopeful that will happen but sure yet roll call Regal yes Goodrich yes Aid yes Kovac yes rezinski yes Figueroa Yes Lewis yes committee reports Bentonville Community Foundation well the new members meet tomorrow so we'll have order report next month also you had the you gave the uh yeah the Fred Lewis scholarship correct I thank you Juliet for facilitating that and Sylvia it was 750 dollars to one of our students at Jessica leuven Rick coming out Living Vine Jessica so a really great event

126thank you for that board Finance the facilities committee oh yeah Dei nothing to report yes we do uh we had a meeting with Melissa May 3rd and uh it was over the soon go ahead Leo you got something well first of all we introduce ourselves because we are part of the new committee and um we talk about how we're going to proceed how often we're gonna meet and especially since uh Sylvia and I are the first time working together we're still not having set up a date but we will yeah we're working in that and it's all what we got to report in that now board finance and Facilities committee I think we have beat this up this evening everything that needed to be approved has been approved you don't want to see the slides

127yes board policy committee nothing to report I guess not not I a SB delegate nothing to report Linda that would be me uh there was a meeting last Friday unfortunately I couldn't make it but the topic was I think I had a guest speaker our state superintendent Tony Sanders former superintendent of u46 that's Elgin was the guest speaker there and they also there they discussed their budget that's it oh it's me again okay uh we got the meeting on May 8th I believe and uh it was a long meeting first of all we renovate the contract for many of the administrators also in the meantime we got the meeting for the government board and guess what I was elected again so as president um it was again it was a long meeting we started three

128o'clock and the government meeting start at four and we finish almost at 5 PM so it was a productive meeting and we met all most of the teachers the negotiators uh Mr Antigo was there and believe me it was I was happy to see in a happy faces because they were uh expressing their emotions how the contract end up and I tell you that in the beginning I was scared because how they react and the meantime they go in and out and I don't like the way uh the things are setting down but finally we got agreement and they were really happy and I you know I wish Phantom can do the same to be honest we need uh someone to put their feet in the ground and be a good preachers now well sorry

129about that I went I talked too much but uh the one thing I want to say that I really respect the organization that we work together and they got a lot of respect for the kids it's all thank you just want to really so proud of um Leo as you know at netsec fence well represented as you know I'm a board member as well but he's actually the president of the board so we'll we're very well represented there at netsack I'd like to remind the board of the triple a conference if you haven't responded to Mary about attending please do and also with the August 24th board Workshop next board meeting new business went next board meeting Wednesday June 28th 2023 at 7 pm with a tentative board policy committee and finance facility meeting scheduled

130prior to the regular meeting at 6 and 6 30 PM respectively closed session from the party may I have a motion and a second to go in to closed session for the purpose of the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel counsel for the public body including hearing testimony on a complaint laws against unemployed of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity however a meeting to consider an increase in compensation to a specific employee of the public body that is subject to the local government wage increase transparency act may not be closed and shall be open to the public and posted and held in accordance with this act five Illinois CS 120 slash two C1 also for

131the purpose of collective negotiation matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives or deliberations concerning salaries schedules for one or more classes of employee code 5 Illinois CS 120-2 C2 motion some move I'll second it motion or read Sylvia roll call Regal yes paid yes Kovac yes redzinski yes Figueroa yes Goodrich Yes Lewis yes um we do five five minute break good job foreign back in Open Session I have a motion to approve the Personnel Report with the following amendments exclude Mr Brandon Pursuit from the Personnel report two due to a typo on item number five of the Personnel report regarding summer school the correct date should be 2023 summer school program I will make that motion I will second that motion roll call Regal yes redzinski yes Figueroa yes Goodrich yes

132paid yes Kovac Yes Lewis yes motion passed may I have a motion to approve the contract of Mr Brandon the Civic gosh as a full-time teacher Master Lane step I so moved second second seconds I'll tell you roll call Regal yes Figueroa yes Goodrich yes paid yeah Kovac Yes ridzinski Yes Lewis yes wasn't passed may I have a motion to approve the additional compensation for Mr Brandon the subject for the exact amount of 2763 dollars so moved second roll call Rigo get ready yes yes Goodrich yes hate yes Kovac yes Brzezinski yes Figueroa Yes Lewis yes motion passed may I have a motion and a second to adjourn a motion to return yes all in favor the A's have it the majority good night