001[Music] the heck can you guys hear me yes oh okay i i don't know what i'm doing here it's not that difficult all right thank you okay i would like to call the august 26 2020 regular meeting of the fenton community high school district 100 regular board meeting uh to order uh mary may i have a roll call please yes dalwick here peyton hell here figueroa leo you gotta unmute ting po pong he was here but i'm not sure i can see him kid you're in um mute kids here we can't hear you he is president mary thank you wiedemann here okay all right we have a uh quorum uh could everyone please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance i totally indivisible okay thank you and um james could you please read our
002fenton mission belief and bison way statement mission statement cultivate successful passionate learners through rigor relevance and relationships our belief statements successful passionate learners thrive when we champion innovative teaching and engage learning school and home collaborative effectively we provide a safe secure caring environment we infuse social emotional learning academics and culture diversity empowers our learning community we prepare students to fulfill their civic responsibilities our bison way students and adults at fenton high school create a safe caring empathetic environment where we believe in each other respect diversity communicate openly grow together and hold each other to high expectation expectations to become the leaders and innovators of the future okay thank you james now we move on to student recognition recognitions uh james please sure we have uh three uh groups to recognize uh one being our chess
003team next is fccla and our ap students who scored a five or more jim could you take it away with the videos hey my name is stephanie dowden and i'm one of the chess coaches at fenton high school along with shelley bible great um first of all we'd like to thank the board for recognizing us tonight we had a very exciting chess season and we were very proud of our program in general this is actually our 13th year qualifying for the state chess tournament in a row we had a very competitive team this year led by a solid group of seniors and we actually qualified for the state tournament this year in a very tough sectional that had the four top teams in the whole state in terms of finishing at the state tournament if
004you are not familiar with the format of a state trust tournament the state chess tournament is not divided by class so we compete with schools of all sizes across the state after seven rounds we do get ranked and we were ranked 13th amongst teams in our 3a division so with three wins at the state chester and we were very happy with our performance this year now i'm going to recognize some of our individual players not all of them are able to join us here tonight i'm still going to recognize them and we are happy to see the ones that are here with us on zoo first i'd like to recognize our excellent manager senior nathan fonseca next is our alternate sophomore naomi one of our players is sophomore joaquin olivares we also had junior mark
005barrios senior anthony kaminsky this was actually anthony's first year competing at the state tournament and he did not lose any of the matches that he played he finished with four and a half points which was an excellent finish senior zane khan freshman brenner ralston freshman emilio sanchez senior david mindala senior jason garciard jason actually finished with five and a half points and earned a bronze medal from the illinois chess coaches association for his finish at state senior roman gomez senior julian kleenchick this was julian's fourth year competing at the state tournament very few seniors do that in her high school career senior john gadovsky and finally senior and a four-star general for the team jimmy palumbo this was also jimmy's fourth year competing in the state tournament and he along with all of our wonderful
006seniors this year did a great job of leading our team thank you again for taking the time to recognize our team um have a good night [Music] bye [Music] oh [Music] no [Music] my me [Music] hi my name is arianna continues and i've been a part of fccla for two years now and i'm so grateful that i decided to join my junior year because it has been one of the best experiences of my life i have met so many amazing people and i have learned so many amazing things and i've become so confident in who i am as a person in this world and what i want to be as an adult and really like what i want to do in this world and what mark i want to leave in it and i owe
007all of that to fccla and my advisor miss fontellis because of her i am a state champion and because of her she has many state champions and because of that i've had one of the best experiences of my life and i will forever be grateful to her and to fccla for that and my advice to anyone who is thinking about joining would just be to give it a shot because you have nothing to lose if you join and you will not regret joining it so two great videos there uh this last one is just to acknowledge our students who received the five on their ap exam we had a total of 18 students receive a perfect score one of the students i know i know four ap time with all fives so just wanna acknowledge
008all all our students that hit that five yo by myself and rick uh visited their homes and gave them a a yard sign plus what most famously the reese's take five candy bar so that was a good one good everyone wins on that one so you started to say one of them had one of them i took four ap exam and schooled scored fives on all four wow yes wow that's awesome wow that's good to good to see okay very good very good uh presentations glad to see it now we move on to public comments mary please share the board of education rules of procedure regarding public comments yes each public comment is limited to three minutes with a maximum of 30 minutes on the topic names of the board members staff or students will
009not be mentioned in any of the statements no action or discussion will be taken in response to any of the public comments this evening okay thank you mary um james could you please read the uh the comments submit subscribe nine total comments and we will try to guest room the first one is it reads my name is malian a recent fenton graduates from the class of 2020 i've been an active student a member of the fenton community for four years as an alum voter and member of the community i feel it is my responsible responsibility to speak about experiences here at fenton and what i have been seeing of its board and administration it is our responsibility as constituents to to hold the board of the board accountable i am extremely disgusted by the rhetoric
010expressed during the board meeting on july 29th i am disappointed in the board members who stood complacently as ignorance was asserted at the meeting i am disappointed in the board members who weren't there in the first place to refute those hateful and ignorant beliefs as you all were discussing the diverse inequity resolution i was stunned by what was stated and the underlying viewpoints of some board members i was stunned by that audacity and by the apathy raising other items discussed divide us simply because you are uncomfortable acknowledging the inherent advantages of people of color i'm sorry disadvantages of people of color lgbtq plus individuals immigrants women and so many communities that have legitimate reasons to feel ousted because they have been systematically oppressed since the founding of the country i am urging the board to
011get uncomfortable you must acknowledge different minority groups you must recognize that this is your problem this is your privilege to even argue about the inclusion of these groups inclusion should not even be up for debate i hope more and more people of color run for the position on the board so that the community is accurately represented as we have 71 minority school district i hope for the board members here today dessert this serves as a wake-up call to be more effective with the little time you do have and to check your privilege when it comes to certain topics i'd hope that the purpose of this resolution isn't just to follow what other school districts are doing i'd hope that the resolution reaffirming fence diversity and equity policies are tangible enough to be demonstrated in the
012school i hope this resolution actually protects students from being targeted based on their race sexual orientation or gender identity as i know so many of my classmates have expressed to me i hope there's there never has to be another student who tells me stories like these i hope this isn't where the discussion about diversity and equity ends we must never stop discussing difficult topics because our privileges allows us allows it because in the end the resolution is just words clearly words none of you can even agree on words that are inconsequential if not put into action so please act accordingly the second public statement is from from uh patrick escobedo president wiedermann and member of the board i'll be frank i come to you tonight on behalf of the defendant education association seriously seriously concerned
013the discussion of equity and inclusion at last month board meeting the faa is deeply committed to equity the bedrock principle of our practice it shapes our relationship with our students enforce informs our professional development as educators and con constitutes one of our core values as an association so i am sure you will understand our dismay surrounding the stated purpose for and discussion of the board of education's equity resolution last month we call on the board to genuinely consider the deeper morality at the heart of the equity resolution and we call on the board to take seriously the experiences of those included in such a list equity is not a check box it it is not something to pursue and develop merely to be in the step with other school districts nor is it based to
014cover given recent social upheaval equity is something far deeper it is even essential i'm sorry it is an essential part of the quest for justice in america equity is our collective acknowledgement that in spite of our most notable principles the history of our country is one in which people have suffered discrimination and violence because of the color of their skin their religion their race their sexual preference their gender identity their ancestry heritage or nationality their age their social economic status or their physical or mental disabilities through both individual acts and larger social structures structures the his historical injustices faced by these groups can only be overcome by taking action by taking a stand and saying saying to a member of these groups in in uncertain terms that we see you we stand by you that
015is the first step towards justice and as professor cornel west points out justice is is what love looks like in public you are the steward of the education of thousands of students how many of them have felt the sting of racism for their for the color of their skin how many have felt their derision of their peers because of their faith the exclusion of their society exclusion of their society or family because of who they love and how they identify a resolution for equity and inclusion is the first step in acknowledging the pain and healing those scars it must it must be taken up with a strong sense of love and justice it must be taken up because it is the moral morally right thing to do as disappointing as we were in the superficial
016purpose offered up for the equity resolution it was far more disturbing to hear many of the arguments offered against such a resolution being an inclusion one we all wish we live in a perfect world one in which people were judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character as dr martin luther king jr aspired to the unfortunate reality faced by dr king when he delivered his speech was that people were far too often judged precisely the opposite way and while prop while progress have been made the sad truth is that for far too many groups and people today that reality still persists in choosing whom to include under the rubric of your equity resolution i urge the board to look at the inclusion of groups people on the list
017not as a tedious encumbrance but as an essential act of love they acknowledge some to acknowledge someone's suffering to acknowledge the injustice faced by groups of our fellow citizenship is to validate their humanity far from being an act that focuses on what divides us including these groups in your equity resolution is a powerful act that unites us it unites us in the collective resolve to make friends a place where every student is acknowledged for who they are we all want to be embraced and loved and accepted for who we are as individuals not in a general way but for those things that essential and unique to our identity in closing we urge the board of education a spirit of love and justice as they adopt a comprehensive equity resolution one which encompasses multiple statutes for
018which people have been discriminated against and to say to our students we educate you for you we defend you for you and we love you for you thank you for your time patrick has toledo patrick uh president of fenton education association a third comment is uh from kelly mullins president wiedemann a member of the board i am disappointed after listening to your discussion surrounding an equity statement during june and july board meeting at every opportunity we need to declare our commitment to equity in this instance your lack of statement is the statement you are sending teachers and staff members have been working this this mission for years and for you to stumble upon something like this is troubling fourth statement is from uh dalia aguino i use she her pronouns and i am a 2013
019fenton high school graduate my public comments are addressed to the board today with co with concerns questions and insights as a result of the of listening to the dialogue that was in response to diversity equity inclusion statement drafts during last month's board meeting this this statement has been condensed due to a time constraint if anyone would like the full statement please feel free to reach out to me directly i like to start by saying as an educator who who does work centered around tei for a living i am concerned with the potential lack of knowledge from the board members regarding definitions of identity terms being listed in the statements drafts with this being said i have a few questions bullet point one what if what if any dei training is provided for you all on
020a yearly or semesterly basis bullet point two are you all aware of the big eight social constructs of identity and its fundamental makeup of individuals rule three what is the level of emotional intelligence against the board around topics of dei one concern shared by members of this board was the fear that the list would be too long if we were all acknowledgeable on the big eight identities we know what they are umbrella terms to other than they shared in the last month's statement drafts no action is an action by not listing out the acknowledged and and acknowledging these fundamental identities you are unintentionally saying that they don't matter a board member quoted dr martin luther king jrs i have a dream speech to prove to prove a point around not needing to list out identities
021such as race and fear that it will cause more exclusion than inclusion they said the speech focused on the character of the individual and not the color of our skin what they fail to do when quoting dr king is the following they failed to share what dr king's speech and the actual focused on if you have if you look the time to read the speech in its entirety you'd know that dr king's speech was focused on the racism and segregation of black individuals in our country and how they are judged by the color of their skin as it happens in current day dr king spoke of a dream because for many life was and is a nightmare it is multiple microgas aggressions racial traumas racial fatigue the list goes on on a daily basis we
022cannot erase black and brown identities according to the u.s news report published on april 13 2020 it will show that benton high school high school students body is 72.2 percent student of color you're on the board to serve these students and their end families if you have have difficulty acknowledge that the 72.2 specifically and other groups should be acknowledged in your statement then you have no place to sit on a school board that represent a predominantly black and brown community we know that it is the bison way to treat everyone equally and with respect regardless of identity however this is not the reality for everyone within this school district nor nation and that is the honest truth thank you fifth comment this is from omar marin regarding the equity and resolution at the board meeting
023in july made a comment on this resolution which where the individual insisted on focusing the resolution on this on something that represents unity as apparently address race would create division this is coming from a 2020 grad graduate of fentanyl so i believe no one understand the social environment more than one that had to experience it for the last four years i am latino with a dark brown complexion and of course afro i am far from being a white man in my four years finn was riddled with racist white peers who would constantly do things like crack immigrant immigration jokes exclude esl students and throw around the n-word i have even been profiled by school hall monitors i would not go to a week at school where i was not followed into the bathroom with the
024assumption that i would smoke which by the way i never have in my life i do not benefit from the whey privilege in any way and know many students that were in the same situation as as me at school we were not always welcome despite 64 percent of the student body being latin latin american 2019 the prevalence of white peers uh from affluent white neighborhoods in wooddale will ensure that the hostile environment will continue to exist in the in the administration if the administration does not voice an explicit anti-racist resolution this resolution cannot be passive it must mention a variation of word anti-racism and voice its support for the black community saying something like all other marginalized communities in addition as well would work but the black community must specifically be mentioned and supported white
025students are not the ones that are targeted when cops go out on the streets to fill their arrest quarters it's black and brown people this is not about white students and every non-bigot knows that if this were to be included in the resolute resolution this would be a step forward from the environment many like me dreaded dreaded and felt powerless against it would also serve the cause if you stopped the hallmark from enacting racist bathroom inspection policies contact me if you have if you really care to learn more i will not make the statement too long after all it is urm students like me who pass ap test so that the administration could pad their resume with their awards to get visits from the governor my contribu contributions do not increase my worth in case
026my previous sentence is misinterpreted by some thank you omar marin number six this is from marshall tsubach the title is remote hybrid learning dear friend board of edu of education members my name is marshall subac i reside in wooddale my daughter sarah suebach is a junior at fenton i have two daughters that graduated from fenton i'm writing you to express my concern about the remote learning plan and the hybrid learning plan adopted by finn i participate in the two town hall meetings regarding the plan i have email administration at a number of conferences with the principal and curriculum director i have followed the board's direct directed chain of command and raising my concerns please note the curriculum director principal and the superintendent have all been very professional and have tried to answer my multiple questions
027and ease my concerns i have sent many emails uh countless questions during the town hall meeting inquiring questions as to why these plans were adopted in attempt to get answers to their credit their administration always taken my calls and encouraged me to have to have other parents provide feedback i have no doubt there are all good people trying to do what is best for the students and staff as to the remote learning plan and the hybrid plan i respectfully disagree with the administration and the plans to adopt to be adopted by this board the purpose of my letter tonight is not to question any of the administration staff staff or teachers motivation in the adoption of the remote and hybrid plan i know all parties have best interests of the students and staff in mind
028when formulating the plan i have confidence in the teachers at fenton i also i am also not questioning having the students in class in person versus versus remote for the time being it is understandable that the health and the safety of the students and the staff have have to be balanced with student learning i also understand that the difficult difficult position you are in as a school board and to pre appreciate the time and the effort that you each put in being on board i personally know how much work that is there are difficult times and i understand that there are not easy issues that no plan is perfect i am not only advocating for my daughter sarah but for all the students at finn i know we are only two weeks into the remote
029learning i agree with administration given it it is a chance but i feel if i did not see something now the next board meeting is not until the end of september and that just seemed too long to sit silent and watch again my daughter is a junior she's enrolled in spanish 3 ap english ap english 3 ap us phys ap u.s history physics ap i'm sorry physics ap calculus bc and ap biology in a normal year my daughter would would see each of her students see each of her teachers each day for a 45 minute period five days a week with the remote learning plan and the hybrid plan the students are not seeing each of their students five days a week on monday my daughter has bison time from 11 a.m to noon no
030other time is mandatory for for school on mondays on tuesday and wednesday she starts remotely learning at 1 pm and it's done by 3 p.m it is only 2 hours one of the hours is live remote instruction google me and the other one one hour is support which okay let me just give it which learns its options to help it's needed for a certain break out group in other words for two days a week the lives instruction time with teachers may only be one hour on thursday and friday my daughter has remote class from 10 am to noon and then 1 pm until 3 pm this is only 4 hours again one of the class is live remote and others remote so that the live instruction time may only be for two hours on those
031days to summarize for each class my daughter has one one hour per per week of live interactive time with teachers per subject the teachers are having students do their work on and learning on those days but it is not it is not teacher-led instruction simply say that this is not enough that is not enough instruction for a high school student in five ap classes or students with no ap classes my time is up for that one is beyond three minutes next next statement here uh is from amal ganima good evening several several fenton alumni students have put together a statement regarding finn's board resolution for equity diversity that was discussed on july 29 2020. one of the basic function of the school is to be a safe environment for all of the students considering the
032students of district 100 are largely composed of minorities undocumented students the members of the lgbtqia plus community and several other demographics that are historically systematically oppressed if in the school board cannot do the bare minimum of a written statement that is reaffirming values already in place to support these students that is a great failure to the community it serves we believe in important that this resolution is not just an attempt at an empty formality we regarding comments addressed the issue of inclusive being excluding the the things listed in the resolutions are attributes that apply to every person for example every person has a race color sexual preference immigration status etc it is impossible to exclude anyone through naming attributes everybody has if a board member claims that this resolution excludes certain students they are speaking
033as the groups of people oppressed within each attribute listed exhibiting their disdain for their progression of inclusive inclusivity within the bison community it is already known that every life that walks through friends doors matter but if you are using the fact that all lives matter as a con contention to the needed extra attention of people of color in other marginalized groups right now it is hateful and cruel in the context if this resolution does not name these groups and does not substantially address issues that take place in our community every day that leads members of our community and the students to believe that these policies are not present in fentanyl's values in the first place the school board and every member of the school board needs to take account needs to take accountability and be
034advocates for fentanyl students not adversaries thank you public coming number eight is from noah zagatti as a muslim female who wore jihab it was extremely difficult for me to feel as though i was not i was not an outcast at fenton no matter how hard i tried to fit in i always stood out and felt different i played varsity volleyball for three years the jihab on the the comments people made or looks or looks received were terrifying and i wouldn't wish that on anyone but i learned to deal with it and stand up for myself but to be quite honest i shouldn't i shouldn't have to do that i sh i should i shouldn't have to constantly stick up for myself because i'm not white or because i am or because i am muslim to
035have people on the board sit back and not stick up for for people of color during the board meeting was extremely disappointing this is a direct message my skin color or race or religion cannot be compared to someone that is tall [Music] fat or short i am enraged that you could compare the treatment of people of color who face social injustice on a daily basis someone who is tall shame on the people who were on the call who did not disagree with her and stick up to the people who were who are oppressed by the system i dealt with racism at fenn because i was muslim my sophomore year a girl tugged on my jihab an article of clothing i chose to wear every day because i go out there there were so much power
036much power and meaning behind my reason of why i chose to wear a jihab in the moment i felt so weak the audacity that this girl had to lay her hands on my jihab super upset i want to talk to the social worker and counselor they told me that they would handle it but nothing was done the school made absolute no effort to validate me and making me feel wanted at school where i was already an outcast being one of the very few muslims at van venten i had no one to go to or talk to because no one would understand i had to suppress my emotion and to take myself and to make myself believe that it was it was okay to be treated it was not that it was okay to be treated
037this way alongside whether the topic of 9-1-1 would would come up in class i would have a lot of anxiety because of the the jokes my peers would make kids in the hallways were always yelling out al-akubar as a joke acting as though a bomb was going to go off the situation made me extremely uncomfortable what i have stated is probably not even five percent of the racism i dealt with fenton to be quite honest i could go on forever because this has become the norm for us people of color have been taught to suppress their emotions for the sake of making white people feel comfortable people of color advent and deserve better it is the job of the staff to stop students when they hear them making comments it is the job of the
038staff to educate rather than ignore and i hope can apologize for the statement she made number one if you're going to refer to mlk make sure you're you are educated on the message mlk was trying to to put out and make sure you know what he even is because help me out guys it's gonna pass when you're trying to make a statement about someone you didn't even remember the name of public comment number nine um this one is from lisa lisa patterson two hours and eight minutes into the last board meeting i was dumbfounded when one of the members asked what the purpose was for finn writing a resolution on diversity and inclusion it seems she had trouble understanding why it was important that people that people in groups that have been historically marginalized be
039specifically named here in in the proposed resolution i say i say to i say to board members and others that that think like heard this you don't ask why a married couple sometimes choose to reaffirm their marriage later in life you celebrate their love and devotion with them you don't ask people why they are wishing their friends and family a happy birthday you acknowledges it's their birthday and celebrate their milestones with them you never ask why what is the purpose of saying our country's pledge of allegiance because board me before board meetings and school functions you do it with without question because you want to reaffirm to everyone that you love and support our your country so why is the world would we not show our support of our diverse student population by including them
040each and every group to show we support them and one want them to feel included and accept here at fenton the fact that you ask what is the purpose of this is in fact part of the problem i hope you i hope you thought broad and hard and reconsider your thoughts on this president that's the end of public [Music] comments you're a mute mr leader me your mute okay thank you james um i would like to thank everyone who committed their comments it is very much appreciated uh your voices are very important then may i have a motion and a second to go into closed session for the purpose of the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body including hearing testimony
041on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity however meeting to consider an increase in compensation to a specific employee of a public body that is subject to the local government wage increase transparency act may not be closed and shall be opened to the public and posted and held in accordance with this act five ilcs 126 slash 2 section c1 and the collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or the representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees 5 ilcs 120 slash 2 section c2 um we have a motion make the motion thank you marianne may i have a second leo said second okay thank you roll call please mary payton home yes
042galway yes figaro yes rhaego yes ramirez yes yes okay we are going in close session we will be uh then back in open session you then we are slowly getting back into open session we're on we are uh the next item is the district reports um james if you could take that please absolutely we'll go through this uh we receive a custodial service for you um we received that about three or four weeks ago uh we responded to the to the foia by reporting that we do not bid on our custodial services we have our own custodians uh in the building so we have resolved that for you just wanted to report that to the board next up was the last well actually a couple of two weeks last couple weeks there was a storm
043i think it was two weeks ago uh that raised a couple question uh from um board members and the administrators as well just wanted to state that right now we had a severe storm approximately a week and a half ago we did not lose power during that storm we have backup batteries to keep our digital infrastructure intact during a power outage we have power backup for our computer servers student information system which powers power school telephone network and hallway lighting we also have a small generator that can power a small area of the building not the whole building regarding our power grids from comed we have two paragraphs in the building that means if one grid goes down that part of the building has no power the second power grid does not support the first
044power grid so it doesn't equalize both grid one power grid is out it's out okay the second power does not power that and and vice versa that's where we're at we've been fortunate um in regards to that tommy is working very hard to make sure we have um backup during um a power outage uh but we did not receive we did not get power outage at the last storm um uh severe storm we had a couple a couple weeks ago next up is extracurricular updates our four sports teams are practicing boys golf girls and boys cross country and girls tennis we are still waiting for the illinois department of public health to approve the ihsa the illinois high school association to return to play plan they have not approved that when it is approved by
045idph our students will be able to compete with other high school teams in relation to clubs and activities we initiated a process with our sponsors they would submit a remote remote plan for their activity that would be approved by the administration this ensures that activities which would be available for our students even during remote learning the sponsors turned in their plans last week and were approved by the administrative team the administration will be checking in throughout the school year regardless of whether we are in high in remote or hybrid setting to evaluate how the program is doing the goal here is to maintain our extracurricular programming throughout the year therefore students are engaged in other fitness activities outside of academics let me see what else okay uh covet update um just real quick um we
046we constantly look at the idph uh um dashboard illinois department of public health dashboard as you see here we look at this daily there still continues to be a warning high rates of uh covid uh 71 per 100 000 idph would like that below 50. that's where illinois is standing right now i also look on a daily basis as well as the administration straight up team during our administrative um meetings the do dupage county public health uh dashboard due page this is just a snapshot out of dupage 13 9 13 965 total confirmed cases and so many deaths as you know bensonville is the fifth highest in dupage in regards to covet cases we believe the number is a little lower for under reporting uh wooddale is um is doing much better in regards to
047covet cases and we continue to watch this as you can see with some of the lines here and some of the trends it continues to go up instead of down and just today we had 2100 new cases in illinois and we would like that to go down the trend this this month of august tend to be in the 2000s just real quickly to reiterate like i do every board meeting fenton is not isolated island we continue to collaborate with idpa cdc is the governor's the governor's office as well as the other school district high school of the school district in dupage they continue to influence our operations here at fenton uh in regards to this uh to our practices i just wanted to share with you the latest from um which i shared i believe
048half of this uh at the last board meeting what i would like to point out to the board is that it continues to change the guidance from the regulating agency continues to change and it's like playing a game of football and the goal posts just continues to move when they say guidance there it makes it more difficult and safer obviously to comply to uh but we're doing our best to comply to every guidance that's mandated by the regulating agency the illinois board of education has six one appropriate ppe as you know one of them being mask uh number two increased cleaning and disinfecting three social distancing that we practice no more than 50 individuals gathering in one space five cis symptoms screening and temperature checks and six the option for remote learning during that should
049be hybrid learning the option for remote learning during hybrid learning the tool here this is the decision tree uh that was given to us by the illinois department of public health i believe about a week ago this became uh this was very useful uh board as you know we had our first positive covet case at fenton we followed this thoroughly uh we've asked superintendents in dupage of ascalin or the public of public health hey make make this easier for us throw give us a chart and this was very valuable just in time um for our case here at fenton just wanted to share that with you this is uh the guidelines that's provided by us uh by the illinois department of public health and that's what we're following just to give you an example of
050how guidance from isbh and the governor's office continue to change you could see here this is isb all the different guidance august there's three different guidance in august in july there was three and in june there's one i i had to cut it off there a little bit but it's it's a moving target in many ways because no one has been through this and and um and uh we're all not a novice in regards to this illinois the public department of public health just in august look at it you know in one the number of it and that's just august um so there was one on the 20th the 18th and so forth cdc um what's not here last week they had more guidance for us to to read and follow as well so that
051just gives you uh a picture of the regulating agency and how it's passed down to public schools all right i will take a pause here i know i promise you that we're going to continue to uh provide information in our our remote learning 2.0 updates and plan um i'm going to invite michelle papa nikolao to talk about this thanks michelle hi members of the board good evening how you all doing hanging in there okay i i'm gonna go ahead and take us through so we are off and running with remote 2.0 and we are running um we're trying our best and our teachers are doing an outstanding job talk about adaptability and resilience and those skills that are needed by our students and and displayed every day by our teachers they're getting the practice um
052so let me take you through some of the highlights um there are a lot of really great things happening although it's a challenging situation they're really i want to highlight um quite a few things here so um we had our student boot camp to kick off our school year it went really well it was a success um we think it provided the practice and exposure to the tech tools for both the student academic classes i think we really use our time efficiently in this model um a lot of students um you know across different districts and families are saying oh yeah they day one they just keep hearing the same thing over and over again we went ahead and took that up took care of all those messagings within this boot camp um and we
053encouraged ways to build community and relationships in a remote setting so we really took that time to bring kids back together ease them back into the school setting in a nice and in a community building type of way so we thought it was a great success we had great feedback from teachers and students bison time was is now one day a week on mondays and that's off to a really good start students in the first bison time learned about how to use their syllabi to get off to a good start and how to use their weekly eye outline from the teachers to plan accordingly for their responsibilities both in and out of their live sessions and then this past week freshmen met their counselors sergeants and juniors worked on social emotional learning and their ruler
054strategies and seniors continued their exploration of post-secondary options with their college and career readiness counselor so they did their best fit for college and career so so we think it's it's really an important time we hope that our students continue to attend we've had some really good attendance so we've been happy with bisontime um we've really the first this first week these first two weeks um i'm focusing on relationships and community building even in the academic classes and during our live connections and life support sessions those are that's prime time with our students we want to use it to ensure they're getting those um connections with one another with their teachers and they're building strong relationships um our teachers are focusing on communication really well with family and students we are implementing two brand new
055school-wide tech tools we had remind in the past but we went to a school-wide remind setting and uh school-wide calendly so we can easily easily and seamlessly make appointments with our parents and seamlessly make appointment with our students it's not like emailing back and forth and when can you come and when can you come it's a really easy tool it's been around for a while it's a really great addition for our communication and our remind app allows us to use uh leveraged text messaging um quite easily you know that's that's the way we communicate so um we think that's a great tool that teachers are starting to use attendance has been solid teachers are reporting that they have full classrooms the students are coming they're showing up to the zoo meetings they're showing up to
056the google meetings we're really pleased our deans are not gonna the park with the follow-up for students who aren't attending and we're seeing our numbers get better and better every day i mean they're really strong i don't have the percentage but um it's gotta be in the 90 percentile the 90 percentiles uh area um i should get that for you guys but i know it's been really strong um beginning of in-person support systems so kate ward um our esl um division leader heard early on that um some of our el students were struggling with the tech their exposure to the tech isn't they're not very well versed in it some of them are having connectivity issues um they quickly got on the ball and they brought in eight to ten students last or i'm sorry
057at the beginning of this week already to start getting support from some of our tas and how to navigate some of these google classrooms and and how to ensure that they're accessing all of their uh remote um responsibilities and digital responsibilities so we're hoping that we can continue to figure out ways to scale that up and get some more students that those kinds of supports if they need it the amount of tech tools we that are being used in the classroom it's so important zoom is an important tool or google meet is an important tool right it allows us to see one another but there are so many more because our students are learning outside of those live connections they're being engaged outside of those live connections that's not the only time you're expected to
058learn we're using padlet uh wevideo uh flip grid ed puzzle jamboard you just the list goes on and on all of these tools that allow teachers to provide feedback through video and really work to ensure like this cognitive load that goes along with this type of learning can be really intense and overbearing so the more that we can put on video or put into simplified and visually appealing um uh manners it helps with that cognitive load for students so you know they're not being overwhelmed by just text after text after text after text and um you know that we think these these new tools are really helping students are using the google classroom well teachers have begun inviting administrators into the classroom to observe practices they're trying and they're celebrating some of the things that
059they've planned and are implementing we've seen some great work already from our teachers so we're really excited about their use of the tech tools um support and enrichment begins the week after labor day so there are systems in place with automated communication for families and students so they know where students will go when they will need to be there how they will get online with their support teachers and how they're going to get that additional help and enrichment we're looking to start you know by the end of september we already have some ideas in place we'll have some programming options out in the next few weeks um we're working on our surveys to students parents and families right now about remote learning 2.0 um we want to give this at least four to six weeks
060before you know we started asking for that feedback it's time for things to settle in but we are already planning about what we need to ask we're hearing things and we're putting them in the survey so we know if it's a widespread uh concern or if they're just really individualized type of concerns and just a couple of more items community circles so on monday mornings we've been providing teachers with professional development and time to collaborate but also you know healthy students need healthy adults and this pandemic is impacting people in many different ways including our own staff members so we're trying to take care of them we're trying to give them outlets to work through and process what's happening to them in this time and ensuring they have the support systems to manage the stress
061of the situation so we've been doing some community circles with our staff that allow them to kind of process in some group settings what's happening and how how they're dealing with it um and then finally i think i started with this and i'll just end with it again because it's so important students are developing the skills of adaptability and resilience along with our adults we're so proud of everybody we're so proud of our students we're so proud of our adults we're so proud of the work that's being done um the way that they've displayed this adaptability and resilience is is um really inspiring and um i just hope they can keep it up um i i know that it's challenging um we're just happy to see that everyone's sticking to it and trying new things
062and making it work that's it thank you michelle thank you good job that's for sure yeah michelle that really is is a lot i mean it's it's amazing how much is involved there and i just wanted to say you know that it's very encouraging to see the strong attendance and that just shows that if when we have a good foundation um a lot of good things flow from that so yeah very good thank you all right the next topic is the fall learning plan as promised uh to the board uh to continue to provide you information in regards to fall learning plan when we had our fall learning plan back in july when we presented this to you the basis of the decision and the direction we wanted to move to was safety safety for
063our students our parents and our community um the directions we will continue to move on forward right now and how we're going to transition here is we're going to continue remote learning 2.0 until the end of the first quarter if you want an exact date of that that's october 16th again the decision is based on the current information and trend that we have right now from our regulating agency and what's present here in bensonville and wooddale it's based on safety and wellness of students families and staff quite frankly it's too risky to go hybrid i know we had our target date of september 14th it's too risky because of the numbers right now at this time and covet cases in illinois having around 2 000 cases per day today was 21.57 everyone in the state
064wants it lower but we're not getting there at this current time it is not uh going in the direction where we want to go and quite frankly it is not uh this is not this is not a safe time to return uh to school remote learning 2.0 it's safer and it's working as michelle uh just reported here and we feel it as a group teachers are reporting that as well school that started also to point out that school that started in hybrid move quickly to remote learning whether it's covet cases that's happening in their school or a a surge of cobot there um have you seen as you know when you watch news school districts or high schools or middle schools or elementary schools whether they're public or private are moving to remote learning also
065to reiterate all dupage high schools are in remote learning bensonville remains to be one of the highest coveted cases in dupage we continue to monitor that that is a an important aspect of our decision continued guidance from the regulating agencies and operations of our hybrid learning is changing as i highlight it to you we continue to get the the guidance from ivph is the cdc and so forth we continue to implement them but they are challenging um fully remote options for students during hybrid learning is difficult as an example and quickly as promised we want we told you we're going to continue to survey our parents in regards to topics one of the topics here is that we needed data if we do go to hybrid learning how many of our parents how many of
066our students are are going to choose that fully remote learning option and we threw this out about a week ago and here are the numbers there's 233 responses to the survey so far uh 54.9 of parents or families say yes they're going to keep their students fully remote i was i was surprised by this to be honest with you i was thinking 20 30 families that's not what we're having here of course we also had a version in spanish 29 responded 41.4 um reported that they would choose the option of fully remote as well so in retrospect the directions we're moving for right now is to continue with remote learning 2.0 until the end of the first quarter why the first quarter so it's a continuation of of the learning platform we don't want it
067to disrupt it it's good for for for our students as well as our families the next topic we have right here is just to to point out to the board here we do a community report every year this is the second annual report that we have um put together our residents should receive this annual fenton community report tomorrow friday or over the weekend the purpose of the report is to communicate to residents all of the wonderful things going on at fenton and to celebrate our accomplishment this year residents should start receiving this once again thursday and friday a a you shout out put a lot of energy a lot of time is mr rick kambic for taking the lead on this important communication initiative some of the light highlights are you know our graduation rate
068our ninth grade on track jim are you able to flip pages but anyway there's the layout there we go that's how the the front pamphlet would look like turn the page nice and blue or are bison blue uh some of the topics that we covered in in in the pamphlet is our facilities as you guys remember that earlier in the year that we had a facility assessment and uh we had the whole school uh participating that uh another big accomplishment is 72 281 meals uh that was served during covert 19 basically from march 16th until the beginning of the school year uh shout out to all the folks that helped out on that next next page gym next page this one here is just you know the topic of the pamphlet is basically threatened by
069the numbers just to show our residents what we are accomplishing academically as well as extracurricular 93 graduation rate remains solid 92 attendance rate 97 9th grade on track that should be a plotted board uh in regards to that means our ninth grade graders are 97 of them are in line to graduate on time um 27 ap exams and so forth our bond rating continues to be strong community service hours even through the pandemic was 12 784 we see that beautiful picture there may lane our state champion 59 students qualified for the state finals and on and on beautiful picture then other slide here other accomplished that we continue to focus on equity board as you know uh early last year we went through an equity audit with the regional office of education we should be
070receiving that results there was a a news assessment on that we've created a a district uh equity leadership team which is a cross section of our staff um we're going to continue to focus on that that is part of our strategic plan we also collaborated with district 2 and district 7 to create the portrait of a graduate unfortunately it's difficult to roll that out right now because of covid i'm working with the uh superintendents to see when we can give this to justice and enough time we just don't want to say that no one's paying attention uh this has to be done right and kicked off in the right way and finally um as you know uh governor pritzker was here uh to to to celebrate our our achievement is there anything else jim i
071think so if you want a flat view that's how it looks like so please keep an eye on it on the mail we're very excited uh uh to share our accomplishments to the rest to the community of bensonville and wooddale that is it for our district report mr wiedemann okay nope all right thank you james um now we move on to the consent agenda um does anyone have any questions regarding the uh consent agenda any items that are on there i just want to give a shout out to wendellco enterprise technology for donating 50 laptops to fenton high school they will be here on our campus this friday for our thank you plaque and pictures uh with them just wanted to give a shout out to them and to celebrate their generosity uh the value
072of the laptops and the land cards are approximately twenty five thousand dollars that's amazing it's very generous of them yeah yep thank you yeah very good okay thank you james then uh may have a motion to approve the consent agenda is presented i'll make motion that we approve the consent agenda thank you patty may have a second i'll second thank you marianne roll call please mary peyton howell yes regal yes ramirez yes yes galway yes figueroa yes yes all right that motion has passed uh we move on to the board resolution for equity and diversity uh patty and juliet were given the task to draft a resolution as directed by the board uh they have two drafts to present this evening uh james could you please read uh draft one and draft two sure draft
073one title is resolution affirming defending am i on yep the title is resolution affirming defendant board of education's commitment to diversity equity and inclusion draft one fenton district 100 board of education is committed to maintain a safe and inclusive culture for learning where each stakeholder our students faculty staff administrators parents and community are expected and valued for their unique or similarities regardless of color nationality ethnicity heritage belief system gender identity sexual orientation age physical or mental disability economic and or citizenship status we believe fenton has a larger public purpose to matriculate educate and graduate students who have been historically underrepresented a diverse school community alone is not enough we seek to create a truly inclusive school one where students and adults are welcome and supported and where their faces voices and experiences are reflected and
074valued fenton is committed to providing every student an equal opportunity to participate and thrive in academic and co-curricular programs achieving educational equity is continuous progress of assessment reflection and improvement prejudice bigotry and stereotypes are learned and can be unlearned benton district 100 gives definitions to this vision of a diverse inclusive and equitable community encouraging and valuing number one equitable access to schools programs and practices we implement programs and practices that provide equal access and enable all students to thrive academically athletically socially and emotionally we embrace this in part through fenton's belief statement bison way and portrait of a graduate number two inclusive teaching and learning we examine and revise our curriculum and teaching practices as necessary to ensure what we are affected what are effective in reaching every students through rigor relevance and relationship we
075train our teachers to recognize and to understand the range of needs and learning styles among our students and to hone their skills into building and sustaining an inclusive classroom number three personal expression and experience we affirm the uniqueness of each individual and value individuals ways of existing in the world we are committed to understanding how personal cultural and historical aspects of identity can contribute and enrich our school community number four self-reflection and exploration we teach individuals to question their cultural viewpoints and assumptions and to modify them when appropriate we are committed to exploring the shape of fenton's unique school culture to better understand the experiences of students and adults from diverse backgrounds as well as to challenges our own practices number five meaningful interaction and dialogue we challenge every individual to interact meaningfully with their
076entire school community and to learn from one another honoring our differences while embracing shared values we provide a safe environment and infuse the skills of social emotional learning seo that encourages expression of our differences in ways that invite dialogue and education rather than cause cause alienation we encourage curiosity and inquiry so that we can learn from a diverse range of experiences and points of view number six serve and community serve on service number six service and community involvement we use the above practice to instill a consciousness of justice an ethic of citizenship and a commitment to service we teach and practice responsibility towards the engagement in in our school our larger community and interconnected world therefore be a result that fenton district 100 board of education denounces racism bigotry or disrespect of any member of
077our community that is draft one i will read draft two title is resolution affirming defendant board of education commitments to equity and unity the fenton district 100 of education is committed to provide a safe environment and maintain equity for all students staff and visitors as we continue to strive to cultivate successful passionate work through rigor relevance and relationship diversity inclusion equity and access have been key elements of fence missions and core values as we seek to build community we are committed to providing the best education in school made up of students faculty staff and families drawn from many different socio-economic backgrounds cultural races physical or mental disability religions and sexual orientations we believe that fenn has a larger public purpose to also matriculate educate and graduate students have been historically underrepresented we embrace diversity and
078we believe in our unity in our diverse empowers us as a learning community respecting diverse backgrounds advocating for oneself and others by being a voice for justice collaborating with others creating a sense of harmony within our interconnected world challenging each other to be the best version of themselves clinton high school's board of education reaffirms its commitment to core principles of our missions adopted belief statement bison way and portrait of a graduate as well as the policy policies advocating respect for each student and staff members bullet point one fenton district 100 encourages innovative teaching and engagement through ongoing educational opportunities and professional development for our staff thus allowing for adaption adaptation of the curriculum programs service to ensure an equitable learning environment as part of its ongoing equity and unity work fenton is committed to providing
079every student an equal opportunity to participate and thrive in the academic and co-curricular programs bulletin number two fenton strives to empower strengthen and unify its diverse community through outreach to the community to help build bridges improve communication between students parents and educators and community parents and encourage effective collaboration of school and home environments bullet point number three fenton provides a safe secure and caring environment where all stakeholders and visitors are treated respect with respect fostering an inclusive educational environment where each student and staff members is afforded a respectable and supporting learning environment we affirm the uniqueness of each individuals and value individuals way of existing in the world we are committed to understanding how personal cultural and historical aspects of identity contribute to and enrich our school community bullet point number four we believe that
080diversity empowers our learning for our community we teach individuals to question their cultural viewpoints and assumptions and to modify them when appropriate we are committed to exploring the shape of friends unique school culture to better understand the experience of students and adults from diverse backgrounds as well as to challenge our own practices bullet point number five fenton infuses skills of social emotional learning sel into all aspects of academic extracurricular activities and fitness culture to improve community skills and self-awareness we encourage every individual to interact meaningfully with the entire school community and to learn from one another honoring our differences while embracing shared values we provide a safe environment that encourages expression of our our differences in ways that invite dialogue and education rather than cause alienation we encourage curiosity and inquire so that we can
081learn from a diverse range of experience and viewpoints bullet point number six we use the above practice to instill a consciousness of justice an ethic of citizenship and civic responsibility and a commitment to service we teach and practice responsibility towards engagement in our school our larger community and interconnected world therefore be a result that fentanyl district 100 board of education affirms that that that through these practices policies and beliefs fenton high school fosters an inclusive safe environment where each student and staff member is treated with dignity and denounces racism bigotry or disrespect of any member of our community [Music] okay thank you james thank you for that reading um so based on these two drafts uh could i see a hands um could i see your hands for draft number one the first one that
082uh james read okay i see two correct me if i'm wrong uh i actually i i just want to make a statement real quick before we i think i'm sorry i'd like to make a statement uh since i missed that last meeting i'd like to make a statement before uh we vote before we okay but we're voting already um go ahead go ahead make a statement thank you paul i appreciate that um well first i i wish to acknowledge james and administration for the work of continuing advancing diversity equity and inclusion in our community and learning uh so i understand that uh it is already built into our policies uh not only at fenton here but our uh theater schools uh also i wanted to make sure i give gratitude and thanks to each of
083our people each of the people that exercise their democratic right to to voice your thoughts and opinions i encourage you guys and others to to do the same and stay engaged in our local government uh state and federal as well um creating a community and society that's more socially responsible socially fair these are the american ideals that engage citizens voting and driving change that's reflective of who we are and who we choose as leaders and so that takes votes um and to my fellow board members listen i appreciate each of you for devoting your time and talent to fenton uh my sincere message to each of you though this is not just about the evolution this is about i think us as leaders listening reflecting and also taking ownership of how we are either part
084of the problem or part of advancing that that cause and that includes me um you know really what diversity equity and inclusion means what does it mean to you and what does it mean to me and what does it mean to our students okay this is the question that's answered best by yourselves me and you with our personal experiences and i can speak from my own personal experience because growing up uh i have been subject to discrimination and bias and those things in fact with the rhetoric we have today i am also subject to that being asian with covid and the rhetoric of the chinese virus even though i'm not chinese now let me just say something when there is a lack of experience when there's a lack of experience where you don't experience yourself
085the discrimination you have to draw upon your empathy you have to understand and get in people's shoes and understand what they're experiencing that is the responsibility of our board when we hear these students go through their discriminations and situations they do we need to again listen and reflect okay the fact that we identify in our statement their individual uh differences when we say that it means that we acknowledge that we empathize with that and we acknowledge that and it's important it means something maybe not to you you who don't experience it but in empathy we realize that that's happening we acknowledge that when we gloss over it and say all lives matter that's glossing over all those experiences that other people might be feeling so i'm asking you to be empathetic in this situation thanks
086for letting me let me talk okay thank you pitt um could i see your hands then for draft number two okay i see one two three for uh leo is your uh hand up no i i vote for the first resolution okay so okay so there was so we have one two three four okay so we had three for the first and draft number one and four for draft number two we have a motion and a second that the board of education uh approved draft number two as fenton's resolution affirming our commitment to equity and diversity i'll make a motion okay thank you jack you may have a second i will second thank you marianne roll call please mary payton howell yes ramirez yes no jalwick yes figueroa yes regal no wait a minute yes
087okay the motion has passed um now we move on to committee reports uh first one bensonville community foundation juliet and kitt i introdu is there anything new with the foundation uh yeah so we did have a meeting on august 13th i believe yeah and uh me and juliet were both uh present to represent the district um the the couple things that um the the board wanted to mention the bensonville foundation is that so we're we're going through uh you know just some audits of where different grants will go and the question came up uh on do we still need to um award or open up the funds to the booster fundraiser account and uh do what's the what's the role also to the ap test fee uh you know how does that play a role
088and do it do we still offer grants for the ap testing for this year okay if i may i would advocate yes for the ap testing i do not have that numbers as you know at this current moment ap testing in april but if you could advocate for fenton we would appreciate that okay perfect thank you thank you james okay thank you thank you kid um finance facilities committee um there's no new news on that that is all on hold right now unless marianne do you have any thing other than that i do not thank you okay thanks uh the iasp delegate um nothing new there's nothing i'm sorry nothing going on right there lend um leo and james i always report there was no meeting thank you okay thanks uh nedsec uh we were
089there but our meeting was cancelled so we were in the middle of the storm oh okay all right all right thank you yeah uh policy committee um kit or petty we don't have anything until next month we have a policy committee meeting in september right right okay good all right just obviously committing on to september 30th uh it starts 6 p.m uh all board members received the 18 new policies to review uh from press let me know if you didn't receive that i could definitely resend it to you we're going to have our same protocol where our dr benson will and mary timmons will give you a t-chart and to go over it thoroughly uh but please have a take a look at it i i gave you an abbreviation abbreviated version a quick summary
090of it okay and um jackie i know at the last meeting you expressed expressed interest in at attending the virtual meeting on schools opening i don't know if you did attend or if you dare to you know if you picked up any information or uh care to say anything [Music] i i don't mean to put you on the spot jackie or mute sorry paul i was not able to get on the uh the meeting okay okay thanks thank you for joining um i think what we'll try to do is still uh james i know we still get notifications on these virtual meetings um and i know they're still going out you know i would just encourage anyone if you have time to um attend any one of these meetings you know they you know they
091they have uh some useful useful information and i'm sure right now the subject uh the hot topic is uh remote versus uh hybrid among other things so with that the next board meeting is going to be next wednesday september 30th um and yeah new business will be the policy committee meeting right before that meeting at uh 6 p.m don't forget we have the board retreat on equity on the 23rd okay yeah september 23rd um we'll be sending out information on that um before we adjourn paul could i have a minute to respond to the um not necessarily the public comment but to um the resolution the the development of the resolution sure sure go ahead okay um one one of the comments that came up from one of our stockholders was that um i quite
092someone questioned the purpose of the resolution and that was myself and i questioned it because i wanted to make sure that what truly what the purpose of the russian was and the reason i did that is because we do have all these programs and policies in place and we are mission statement bison way they all state how we treat our the individuals in our community hopefully ideally treat the individuals in our community and i think it was the reason i brought that question up is because um we have the responsibility to be concise in our wording and what we're trying to come across um yes i felt we needed to reaffirm what we are already doing in our community we are an extremely diverse community as you saw the numbers 64 are latino um 72
093percent of color that leaves 38 um are are white or without color um our resolution needed to reaffirm what we are doing although it's not perfect you know by any means and there is certainly a long way to go as as in our nation but i think that re reinstating reaffirming and um reawakening what we are already doing to um make a positive environment in our school i think we only stumbled going over all these resolutions we had four five resolutions last month and we stumbled because um we wanted to be accurate and and to go over all of those at that time was kind of difficult and so i understand the frustration of the public and i you know want to affirm that you know we acknowledge that but um we needed to to
094be more concise in what we were trying to come across and um and i apologize to omar that if she had or no omar had the problems with the hall monitor um but i think if if a student is having problems with um being picked on or you know uh if if they're if they're uh i already come with my words tonight again um if they're not being valued for who they are and they go to an adult and their that situation is not satisfied i encourage them to go to yet another adult until that situation is is uh is clarified and we have gone through so many changes through this country i just hope that we have um we we continue to dialogue and we continue to learn from each other um you know
095people who have had disabilities have had to overcome many roadblocks as people who have had you know or uh of color who've had many robux have overcome those as well and we will continue to fight that and i just you know we need to learn from each other but we need to have a dialogue about it and not just lash out with each other and so i am i hope that this resolution will help to clarify what fenton really stands for okay okay thank you thank you patty for those uh for those words and uh clarification uh thanks again for uh for your assistance and juliet's assistance in this endeavor um i know it was a lot of hard work and we really appreciate everything you put into it as well as everyone else in
096their uh participation so with that uh i'd like to say thank you good night and may i have a motion and a second to adjourn martian uh thank you kid may have a second please second uh who's that jack leo neil sorry i'm sorry okay uh world club please ain't no yes yes figueroa yes rhaego yes ramirez yes wiedemann yes okay thank you and good night everyone and just let me know any questions and uh stay safe you too thank you all right you