001ready when you are. Good evening. Welcome to the board of education meeting Glen Brook High School District 225. Madame Secretary, can you do the roll call? Mr. Downing present. Mr. Glowaki present. Miss Hope here. Miss Mullenbeck. Mr. O'Hara here. Mr. Shine present. Dr. Syberg here. Six members present. All right. Any changes on the agenda? There have been no changes. Then taking a motion to approve the agenda for the day. I move we approve the agenda. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. This evening we are very fortunate to recognize a good number of our students. And I just want to start by saying thank you to our students, our sponsors, our staff members, but also their parents for being here tonight. Uh to kick us off, Dr. Georgees, would you like
002to introduce some distinguished students from Glen Brook South that are featuring their work from the 2026 Illinois High School art exhibition? Well, good evening. This is incredibly exciting and it is my honor to celebrate two Titans um who are art students who placed in the Illinois High School Art Exhibition. The Illinois High School Art Exhibition Program is one of the country's largest and most influential student art exhibition programs. Each year, over a 100 cities, suburban, public, and private Illinois high schools from across the state converge on Bridgeport Art Center in Chicago to participate in various exhibition programs. This year's program featured over a thousand works of art from young artists across our great state. Student works are independently judged by a panel of evaluators for competitive statewide awards. And I'd like you to please congratulate
003me or please help me congratulate our two GBS students who placed in the competitive exhibition. First, we have Caitlyn Davis for her pottery as displayed, who won third place in the state. And then we have Julia Sooska for her painting as fourth in the state. So, please give them a round of applause. I would also be remiss to not take a moment to thank our amazing art teachers at GBS. We have Miss Fuja and Mr. Remenuk. Did I say that right, Alex? Yes. Um, without their instruction, their mentorship, their passionate advocacy for the arts, these moments for our students would not be possible. And I would like to thank our instructional supervisor, Mr. Cody Halberstat, for his guidance and leadership of these exceptional programs. Thank you. And next, I'd like to welcome up Mrs. Mandy
004Hughes to recognize our DECA first through third place um recipients at the state competition. Mrs. Hughes and our students, come on up. All right. So, tonight I am pleased to celebrate the success of this year's DECA team from GBN at the state competition which was held in March as well as the international competition held at the end of April. For those who don't know, DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. High school students in DECA chapters demonstrate their knowledge of important career content as well as creativity, problem solving, and presentation skills to business professionals at various competitive events throughout the year. Over 2400 students representing 71 schools attended the Illinois DECA state competition in early March with GBN sending 55
005students who competed across 52 individual team and prepared events. And tonight we are recognizing um on the screen you can see 11 total students and we have some who had some conflicts tonight. So we have a um our group behind us. You can see the full list here. But I want to um call out we have senior Ethan Frink who had third place in hotel and lodging management. Senior Lauren Rachelson who was second place in business finance series. Uh freshman Alexis Foss who was second place in principles of business management. and senior Lyanna Malish Kevich and who had first place in integrated marketing campaign service and junior Tyler Price who was first place in restaurant service. So congratulations to these students on their state achievements. In addition to the students here who placed first through
006third at state, 18 additional events placed fourth through 10th and ultimately 18 students qualified and competed at the international DECA competition in Atlanta at the end of April. This year the conference hosted over 25,000 students from all 50 states and 10 countries. The whole event was a great success for the students who attended and we have the privilege to celebrate senior Lauren Rachelson and freshman Alexis Foss who earned Deca Glass which they brought with them today and placed second overall in their events at I at the international competition. Lauren is no stranger to DECA Glass and earned third place in the same event last year. and Alexis is the first freshman at GBN to place in the top three at ICDC. So, congratulations to all of our students. And I also want to extend a
007sincere note of gratitude to our DECA sponsors, Michael Ras from social studies and Mindy Ingresol from CTE, as well as Sarah Carter, another CTE teacher. DECA is one of our largest competitive extracurricular activities and Mr. Ras, Miss Ingresol, and Miss Carter work very hard to provide these amazing experiences to all of the DECA students involved. So, thank you everybody for your dedicated work and congratulations. Thank you so much to all of our students, our faculty, and also our parents for coming. At this point, I want to encourage all of you to stay for the remainder of the board meeting. There are some very exciting activities. Should your schedule require you to step away, uh now would be a great time to uh start transitioning, we'll give you all a few moments. For those who are
008staying, we'll be talking about some capital projects. Conversation of some exciting things happening in world languages, budgets. The budget. Every time you mention another thing, they move faster. Say cookies or ice. you're out in the there are snacks that are available. All right. So, while that transition's happening, I just have two other items I wanted to share this evening. Uh first, uh just another shout out to our faculty and staff at Glenbrook Transition Services. GBT is our new therapeutic day school serving our students uh in their transition years. So, that's typically following their four traditional years of high school up to age 22. Um, we held our very first parent information night, but it wasn't just for the students who received services at transition services. It was for all of our students, including our rising
009freshmen, so they understand what transition services are all about and how that component of an IEP ultimately is developed um and implemented throughout their high school years and beyond. Uh, we welcomed over 50 parents and students to that event. Um it's our first largescale uh informational event and the feedback was just overwhelming and to have a brand new school where we're already welcoming in our rising freshmen to learn about uh this important um uh service that we offer to our family is amazing. Um and we look forward to continuing those opportunities. So special thanks to Mrs. Stacy Wolf, our assistant director um special education at GBT and also Dr. Skip Kum, our director of special education. Next, there are just a few things that are happening. I promise just a few things. There we go.
010That are happening as we approach the end of the year. Um, kind of the the bottom line up front, if you will, the last day of the spring semester for students is Wednesday, May 27th. Before that, we have a lot of traditions and some um kind of uh uh refresh traditions, if you will. So, uh over at Glrook North, we have our senior awards ceremony. Um that will be on Friday, May 23rd at 2:30 p.m. Um at Glrook South. That same event will take place uh on Thursday at 7 o'clock p.m. Just want to highlight one of the pieces of feedback we've been trying to um kind of implement over the years is recognizing that some of our families and and and and other uh members of the community aren't able to attend ceremonies at
011the early part of the day. So, we've moved our ceremonies to the later part, uh, one in the afternoon, one in the evening, just trying things out a little differently. Uh, but they're always such a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our seniors, uh, that will be proceeding to graduation. Um, along with that, graduation is uh, this year at the Welsh Ryan Arena in Evston. This is the first time we've transitioned from the Rosemont Theater after a quite long uh, uh, stint there. And uh both ceremonies will take place at 6 o'clock p.m. with Glen Brook South on Saturday and Glen Brook North on Sunday. Um just an important uh reminder that with uh being at a new uh venue, it's also a venue that has a slightly larger stadium being built uh in Evston. And so
012parking can be a little bit challenging. We've been communicating with our families and have alternate uh parking locations with shuttles that'll be running. Uh but look forward to welcoming all our families uh to graduation. Um we do also have Glenberg off-campus graduation this week on Friday at 12:00 p.m. uh over at Glenber South and then transition services on Friday, May 22nd. Um, the last item I just wanted to highlight, um, over at Glumbre North, there is a tradition of grad night community preview. This is when we welcome in, uh, alumni and parents and community members to come see the amazing work of our grad night parent committee. Um, and so that preview will be right after the graduation ceremony for North on Sunday. It'll start at 8:30 p.m. Uh, and there's a normal entrance in
013the back of the school. So, we'll be sharing that out with our community. Um, but just a true thank you to all of our staff, to our administrators, to our families, to everyone that comes together to celebrate our students during these exciting times of the year. Uh, and with that, I will transition to board reports. And our first report, I believe, is from Mr. Glowaki from the parent association. Thank you. Actually, I will do the also the boosters that they met as well, too. And so they've uh recently updated their bylaws and their accounts to reflect their separate nonprofit status. Uh so they're going through those changes for co coordinating with the district on that. Uh what the meeting particularly focused on was forecasts of where they were with their revenues and everything. They have
014experienced lower revenues than usual but higher profits due to some shifts in the way they fulfill things and doing it more on demand and stuff. So that worked out well. but they're going to be brainstorming over the summer to see make sure it's not a long-lasting trend or anything happening there. Um, and they're very excited about the facilities being built and everything as well too because that may create some new opportunities and want to coordinate with the GBS boosters as well too since many of the folks that they're looking to they imagine that both buildings will be going to many of the same potential donors in the area and stuff so as not to undermine each other's efforts. Um then the other part of the meeting was primarily reviewing all the athletic wish list requests
015for the year and they're wrestling with wrestling with a communication perception uh that the boosters only support one sport that happens in the fall and that is not the case. they actually support all the sports and they went back through the history that the last time they actually had to support that one sport uh that happens to throw football. Uh that that was two three years ago. So you know it the they do quite a bit for all the other ones gymnastics, wrestling, all the sports and they're going to be trying to get that word out. So, anything anybody here at the table can do to help get the word out that these are other programs and stuff that are thriving thanks to the boosters, they will greatly appreciate that. Now, I got better about
016taking notes this time. So, uh let's see. Okay, parents association and Mandy, please correct me if I it was a day of really evening of celebrations really. It was celebrating the year. This was their final meeting of the year and change of leadership and everything. So they uh acknowledged that. But there was some business that took place for the parents association. They approved their updated bylaws. A name change. They're now the association of parents at the Glenrech North. Um and then moving up their elections and doing some other things as well too. And that so that was exciting. And let's see uh there were some qu during this meeting while celebratory there were a couple things that came up I would just wanted to share that parents had questions about. One was parking and bus
017fees and usage. So that came up once again as well too. And I think it would be beneficial to maybe at the upcoming meetings to share some history on on that as well too. Uh in terms of how we've been wrestling and working with the village. Uh and anything else I left out, Mandy? Okay, that is it. Thank you. And then I believe Mr. Shine is planning to report on the facilities committee. Um, so we had a facilities committee meeting today and we had uh actually four board members um there. So I pardon me. I'd ask Peter and Jack and Matt to just chime in here. I'll try to be brief. Um so we reviewed quickly the uh summer projects and these are projects that we've all seen. There's there papers and reports on all
018of those. Uh the good news is the actual price or came in 1.9 million below the architect's estimate. So every time we do a project, they give us a an estimate, their their best estimate. But really what matters is what the contractors will actually do the project for. And in this case, we were able to uh reduce the cost by 1.9 million. I don't have any background as to as to why, but less is better than more. Um um we are making an addition to the summer projects and this is to replace the GBN culinary kitchen um to refresh everybody's memory there was a fire in that space and so um due to the quick work of staff to put that fire out and then our our friends at ABT came through and we've put
019together a temporary space. So, we are running culinary, but the entire area needs to get rebuilt top to bottom. And um that will happen this summer. And uh to help pay for that, we actually will receive a nice uh check from the insurance company and a value of about $165,000. And uh I have a note here about a grant coming back from the state for about 110,000. So, a little bit to help soften the blow of redoing this. And it's been many, many years. I don't know if you've if you've visited these areas, but it was really um in need of renovation. And it was on the plan for which year? Uh two years from now. Two years from now. So, basically, it's on the long range tenure facility plan, fire, moving it forward to
020to this summer so we have proper space uh for the program. And just as a note, and I found this actually quite surprising, is this is our highest um enrollment for a non-core area. So, a lot of interest in in culinary. Um so, we're going to be renovating that. The other big thing we talked about few things was the stadium uh upgrade project. And um our stadiums are basically original. So North's 70-ish years old, South's 55, 57 years old, give or take. And um it's original except for the playing surface. Um there have been some renovations over the years, but be that as it may, um both both stadiums will be um rebuilt in the summer of 27. and we're going to have an entire meeting just to to go over the details of the
021the aesthetics, what it looks like. There we have uh videos and posters. The architects will be here. Um there's been a tremendous number of community meetings to gather input from parents, from staff, from all the different athletic um components as well as dance and palms and everybody who uses these fields. So we we add the proper elements um to carry us forward. This is a generational project. Um the old one's 50 years old. So think about it in those terms. This is something we really really need to get right. We're not going to change the paint next year because we made a mistake with the color. So, we're going to we have to get this right. And the path to doing that is having all these stakeholders come in and work with our staff and
022our architect to uh you know pull this together. And it's really just one person's opinion rather impressive. I hope others feel the same way when you see it. Um well, I think you made a point. It's it's out of its useful life. It is. It's run it. It's run its useful life. We've we've squeezed every every ounce out of it. So, yeah. Yeah. Now, um currently we have debt. So, big project like this has to be paid for. It's about $53 million, large number. And it will be paid for out of rotating debt. We're retiring debt. And we will refund that debt. we will go to market. So there'll be no changes for taxpayers. Um as our bonds are are retired and we pay them off, which is we're just about there. Um we will
023then sell new bonds, but we will not be incurring any additional debt or asking for more debt service from the community. Many years ago, we had a referendum and through the through time we've we've um obviously had various debt sales and over the years and we made a commitment that we would not go to referendum for 10 years, but it's actually been 20 years. So, we promised the community last time we had a referendum that we were good for 10 years. And we have through tight fiscal management managed to extend that out to 20 years. And we still do not have to go to referendum. This is just bonds will be paid off. They will be we will sell new bonds. We will incur the same level of debt and we'll move on like that.
024The impact on the tax bill um will be very very minimal if at all. And I think some of it's covered under safety too, isn't it? Um, from a bonding type, yes. But the debt still understand what I'm saying. Yeah. So that's that's the big project and we're going to have um a meeting basically focused on this topic because it's so important. It's so large and it impacts such a large segment of the community and we're we're looking at our calendar. Um, so we we'll be talking about the financing and the aesthetics and the use and all of those things that go into a change like this. Um, few other things we spoke about. Um, remaining bathrooms will be done. Uh, was it next summer? So this summer most of the most of the bathrooms,
025right? Most of the student and staff bathrooms at Glenber South will be done and then next summer with a few remaining. Correct. as well as bathrooms at Glenberrook North. But by far the majority um will happen this summer. Uh fire suppression at GBN in the areas where we had the fire. We do have older areas of the building um that are not sprinkled and you might find that odd um why we wouldn't have sprinklers and it's because they were built decades ago under different codes. So now when you go back and you remodel any area, fire aside, um you would go back and you have to modernize to current code. So all those areas will get sprinklers and so that that's coming in the next two years. Some this year with the um culinary area
026and then kind of the areas around it um down the the um the hallway with with autos and um tech and then visual on the other side. those areas will get uh sprinkled. Um let's see what else. Uh South is in need of two new science rooms. They will come online summer of 27 and the new pit uh will get remodeled. It's got water leaking through the skylight and other things. And it will be modernized um in a way similar to how the main areas at North have been modernized. So, if you think about north, you think about the the big main lobby, the um I'm not sure what do you call the corridor, the student activities hallway. It it's going to take on a tone more like that. Again, what's there is original. You
027look at the wood paneling on the wall and the kind of trophy case by the by the pit. That's some some pretty original stuff there. and having the water leaking is really becoming a problem as well. So, it's there's some excellent amazing renderings of that area. Um, some really great creativity uh went into it. I know I'm keep going on here. I apologize. Um, one of the main issues with the construction of the stadiums that was brought to our attention from from families was the impact of losing access during construction. And so I guess I would ask Dr. Grall or somebody on the team to explain. uh so they will not lose access to the field during the period of construction but other elements will will come down and go up around the field. Sure.
028So the feedback we've received from our community from our students and from our parents are especially um from those families that have um spring sport student athletes. So imagine that you're in your senior year next year and you hear all this work to be done in the stadium. How is that going to impact your track season? As an example, um we are very fortunate to be working with Archon and Nicholas Associates who both as agencies have a lot of experience navigating um stadium remodels. And if all goes well, it does appear that the overwhelming majority of the spring season will not be interrupted from use of the fields. Now, what that does mean is um we might start demolition of the home bleachers uh within the stadium. Um and so the actual bleachers that would
029be used during the season would be the visitor side. Um and throughout the campus as we're running new plumbing lines and electrical lines, uh there's going to be some different uh roped off areas for lack termed or I guess really coned off areas. Um so different um egress and normal pathways will be a little different. Um but as soon as the season ends, the majority of the area will be shut down. Um full disclosure, that does mean that our very um heavily used areas during the summertime, our field for camps that will be impacted. And so we'll be working with our park districts, our feeder school districts, and other community areas to navigate that. But that was a real big important consideration for our families and very fortunate to be able to share that their
030season should not be greatly interrupted. It just might look a little different as you look around from uh the stands. Thank you very asking questions. Timeline. So for people that have all sports are we, you know, we know construction projects have beginning dates and some fussy ending dates. So you know, so contingency plans for fall. Dr. Steinberg, I want to use this as an opportunity to emphasize that we are very we're a very optimistic group and construction is going to go smoothly. There will not be weather delays or supply challenges because everyone will knock on wood right now. Um, should there be a challenge, um, there are some things I believe, uh, I forget Mrs. Hughes or Dr. George has brought up during the facility committee. An example is you intentionally, um, do not have
031the first home football game at home. Uh, in these types of situations, it's always a way to buy yourself a little more time. Um, there are contingency plans where we would partner with our neighboring high schools uh, that have stadiums. Um and we would look as best as we can to stack things up. Um but right now based on Nicholas and Archon's experience um we we think we'll be okay and we'll make sure a a big part and Dr. Battac will talk about this just a little later on today. Um why we've accelerated the timeline of talking about these projects to now is to ensure that the bid specifications are developed. We're out to bid first and we are buying all the materials we need well in advance of the much uh or the busier
032summer rush for a lack of better terms. Um so hopefully our our timeline will contribute to be in a good spot, but we do have contingency plans. Um they will be further uh vetted and and navigated should they be need uh needed, but we're going to remain optimistic that we'll be good. And just as a reminder, one reason Some of these reports at the board table are a little longer than they used to be as we were trying to move work from the board table to the committees where really the the details of this kind of work belong. But it does take a little more time then to report out to share the information. So thank you all. Any other team members? Just going to add to what you were saying skip about the committees.
033They're open to the general public. So please do attend. I will encourage that as well too. Uh so you can have your questions answered. And I want to just share my kudos to the staff and folks at Argon for really taking synthesizing a whole lot of information coming up to a very workable plan that's minimizing adverse impact, getting people into the stadiums as fast as possible. But this is a multi-year project. It wasn't just we're just focusing on the upcoming year and work that's happening, but this will be, you know, we're just focusing on the stadiums. The next after that is the additional stadium uh fields and stuff that are on the outside. So, we're planning steps ahead. And so, uh kudos to everybody for all your work and all the detail that you're working
034through on that. Right. And I think one of the other things we talked about in the committee was the additional FTE of of another person that we're going to look to add on um to help with this master construction plan. Do we have any community visitors tonight? We don't have anyone signed in. Nobody's calling for me. Okay. So we move to the next step and that will be our consent agenda. So do we have any changes to the consent agenda? Uh there have been no changes except we did update the personnel report. We had some um staff members that came back with uh all of their pre-employment uh background checks completed. So we added them on uh which includes a uh a new clerical staff member and if I recall a new uh teacher after
035I speak. All right. Do I get a motion? So moved. I second. Any questions, comment, discussion? Mr. Downing. I. Mr. Glowaki? Yes. Mrs. Hope? Yes. Mr. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Shine? Yes. Dr. Steinberg? Yes. Motion carries 6. And moving on to the next item. That's 7.1. Dr. event. So throughout this um fall and spring, we've taken um an intentional effort to bring forward to the board table programs or different topics that you might have heard about in recent years, but maybe still wondering to yourself, you know, when we talk about uh things like stamp testing or CO bilitery, what does that really mean? Um and today we are so very fortunate to have uh Dr. Kim, Dr. Vasilopoulos, Mr. Morell, and Ms. Morates are representing our teaching and learning side of the house and specifically world
036languages to talk about some amazing work that they've done. And before they kick it off, I just want to highlight one of the questions that the board has asked as they've heard these different presentations is how will we know if we're successful? How will we know what student growth and success looks like? And I want you, as you're hearing uh today's presentation, just keep that in the back of your mind because I think you're going to really get a good illustration of some of the amazing work that's taking place on each of those professional learning mornings or the late arrival mornings where our faculty come together in specific course teams and work in partnership to really start analyzing and supporting each other as professionals, but also as part of that analysis of student learning. And
037so with that, Dr. Dr. Kim, Dr. Vasilopoulos, you I'm Joyce Kim and alongside my colleague Dr. Maria Vasilopoulos, we are so thrilled to introduce Amanda Morates and Josh Morurell. They are the world language instructional supervisors and tonight they're going to share about the seal of biiteracy and what that offers to our students. They will share um what it is, what it offers, and their plan to roll it out. So without further ado, I will pass them the mic. Thank you, Dr. Kim, Dr. Vasilopoulos. My name is Amanda Morris. I'm the instructional supervisor of world languages at Glenberrook South. And this is Josh Morurell, instructional supervisor of world languages at Glenberrook North. And we are so excited to be here today to talk about the opportunities that open up student pathways, post-graduate pathways through their language
038studies and through the stamp testing. and we wanted to do something fun. Instead of just describing this test to you, we thought you could take the test to see what our students are really experiencing. So, I hope you're ready. We'll start with a novice level question and we'll we'll see how we go from there. So, this is an English proficiency test. All right. So, go ahead, take a look. Do we know the answer? I hope so. So, this is how I don't know. We'll see. Um, so this is an example of a novice level question. The stamp test starts off really asking for students to demonstrate some basic language skills like vocabulary recall. We're going to move on to an intermediate level question and you'll hopefully see the difference. All right. So, take a moment,
039read the situation, the question. if you can read the excerpt and then if you'd like to turn to a partner and discuss the correct answer. Check in. Can you see that? Huh? What's What's the premise? We need the readers. It's a rug. It's a rug. seven. So this is illustrating the need for larger projection services and particular rooms. Just open up. I think maybe we need to revisit the facilities committee with this and and add that on to our next agenda. If I can just suggest that. So hopefully those who could read hopefully you can tell that this does require a little bit more interpretation at the intermediate level. You have to understand what the passage is saying, but also what the question is saying because it's not directly stated in the text that this
040is for athletes. So, you have to be able to interpret the the text. We're going to finish with one more sample question that might be asked at an advanced level. So, again, if you're able to read the situation, the question, I know this passage is a little bit smaller in font size. The drawing bears are roaming. Yeah. Did they call it? Did they call out to Uber? So, as you're reading, hopefully you can tell that this does get more difficult. It gradually increases, right, from the novice to the advanced, which is exactly what a real stamp test does because it's trying to find students ceiling. Without an advanced understanding of the language, you could maybe guess that a couple of these answers are correct. You really have to understand what the passage is saying. How'
041we do you all tell me how'd you all do? So, language learning develops in a way where there's a steep rise in the learning curve at the beginning stages of learning at the novice level. But when students move through the intermediate phase, that language curve flattens and it gets harder, especially like levels three and four to grow in proficiency as quickly. And empirical evidence does show us that different languages require different amounts of instructional hours to grow in that proficiency. But when analyzing STAMP data, we can identify which specific skills for students need to develop in order to make data analysis, PLC work, and lesson planning more efficient in supporting student proficiency growth for all levels, for all languages. So, we gave you some sample questions, but let's take a step back. What is the
042stamp test? Uh stamp test stands for standardsbased measurement of proficiency. And I want to focus on the standard and proficiency pieces of that for a moment. The stamp test was created with the world readiness standards in mind which come from the actell American council for teachers of foreign language standards and those are the same standards that the ISB adopted in 2018 for world language instruction. So, this allows our teachers to work off of reliable, consistent, and standardized data that is based on the standards we implement into our curriculum maps and lessons. By using a proficiencybased performance assessment, our teachers are able to focus on best pedagogy while preparing students to demonstrate proficiency growth through real world application. The stamp, as we demonstrated earlier, is a computer-based adaptive test that measures reading, writing, listening, and speaking
043or expressive interceptive for the ASL version of the test. And this does so in all sorts of real world contexts. Lastly, it's offered in 95 languages, including many of the languages spoken in our community, as well as all languages offered by the Glen Brooks. So as Josh mentioned, we use stamp to measure students proficiency, but it can also qualify them for the Illinois State Seal of Biiteracy or the commenation toward the seal of biiteracy. So the Illinois State Seal of Biiteracy is a designation on a student's transcript that shows they are biiterate in English and in another language. And in your handout, you have more details on how a student can qualify for both of those designations, as well as a breakdown of the proficiency levels that we're referring to here in this presentation. In
044order to achieve a commenation toward the seal of biiteracy, students need to demonstrate that all of their skills are at an intermediate low level of language. And for a seal of biiteracy, students need to prove that all of their skills are at least intermediate high. And just for your reference, a five on the AP language and culture exam in all of our languages is equivalent to an advanced low proficiency level. Josh and I deeply understand the value of language learning and the state of Illinois honors this by guaranteeing college credit at any public Illinois university or college. It is state law that if a student earns this designation, they are guaranteed college credit, which is saving families and students thousands of dollars and is giving them a competitive edge as they begin their college careers
045because it gives them, as you can see, about 2 years of foreign language coursework. And this is such a great opportunity. It provides access to all students, even those who are not able to enroll in an AP language course at our schools. Our plan is ambitious but doable and with student success at the forefront. Starting next year, all students at the Glen Brooks in their world language class will be offered a stamp test during their language studies throughout the course of their program. Next year, 70% of Glenberg world language students will perform at the expected proficiency level according to the American Council for Teachers of Foreign Language and that will increase to 75% by the 2029 2030 school year. By 203031 at least 70% of Glen Brook students will either earn commendation towards the seal
046or the Illinois State Seal of Biteracy upon their graduation and this timeline also corresponds with the APA rollout and curriculum mapping will be completed by this time. One of the goals for curricula mapping is vertical alignment and this will allow vertical alignment to be streamlined. We will utilize the re the results of this assessment for data analysis, curricula mapping, develop skills in specific sets for specific languages. And we'll do all this through our MTSS framework. We want our students to feel empowered by understanding at their proficiency, take ownership of their language learning and give them the opportunity to access post-graduate opportunities and pathways through a seal of bi literacy with providing our language students at the Glen Brooks with the STEM test. We're not just measuring proficiency though. We're building confidence, fostering resilience, and preparing
047our students for life beyond the Glen Brooks. Our school district is in a very unique point in our history. And this is the right time for us to add STEM testing to what we do in our everyday practice. When we align testing with strategic goals, PLC collaboration, and efficient resource use, Amanda and I really feel that we're creating a system that serves people and not paperwork. And this is why this matters. When we start with why, I learned that from Mr. Bag. You always want to start with the why. Um, when we start with the why, we see that our goal is not a test, but a community where students and teachers are empowered to reach their full potential. Thank you all so much. And at this time, Amanda and I are happy to answer
048any questions you may have. You both questions, if I can just add a few comments real quick. So, first of all, um we've we've I I just love the activity of the stamp testing and just just put that out there. Um the other element is we've talk a lot about different types of assessments. Um the current state assessment is the ACT and the ACT tests a wide range of subjects but does not test world languages. And so another way of looking at the stamp assessment is that it is a nationally normed assessment that's similar to the ACT in terms of uh validity and reliability um but is specific to world languages. And as Josh and Amanda shared, it covers all of the languages that we offer here um within our curriculum, but it also uh
049can be used to assess biiteracy across a much wider range of languages that are spoken in our community. Um one of our our biggest goals, if you will, is goal one, and that comes to making sure that students are empowered for success um in whatever pathway they so choose. And the state seal biiteracy definitely supports our families and our students who are seeking uh continuation uh in colleges and universities but it also benefits so many students just in their normal daily lives by increasing their ability to interact with others within their community and beyond. Um and I just want to compliment both of you uh as well as the teaching and learning team on focusing and emphasizing this. One of the other things I wanted to connect is in order to make this happen um
050there is a cost to the stamp test and very strategically when we were working to develop our instructional materials fee we took this into consideration to make sure that there were resources available so that this is not an additional cost for students enrolled in our world languages courses. um whereas so many other different situations it's only for individuals who uh might decide to prioritize their own personal resources in that manner. So just again a compliment to Amanda and Josh for advocating on behalf of all of our world language students for bringing this forward well before the budgeting process which is just a Mrs. Bonner, this is a very important important uh illustration. Um, and also the fact that at the end of the day, in response to the board's questions in the past, how will
051we know student success, they've put forth a pretty aggressive plan and and we'll be able to monitor it and see it and they'll have the tools they need in order to measure, in order to gauge. So, I just really want to highlight this is one of the first times we've brought a topic like this to the board and I just wanted to drill in on it. I look forward to continuing these types of conversations in the future and uh I definitely look forward to reading that passage a little closer because my uh my eyes were struggling on the second one. But back to Thank you, Mr. Glowin. No, wonderful program. I'm glad my daughter did it and earned it and she's very proud of it. So thank you for having forward. Correct. It was Spanish
052this. Yep. So she's very proud of it and touts that seal in front of her brother all the time. Who did that? Congrats. That's great. Mr. No, it's awesome. Um I guess just as I guess it's a question and you I don't know if you have the answer to it, so it's okay if you don't. Um any research in around if somebody you know has this the B uh any advantages into getting into schools and college into getting accepted into schools and colleges I mean when parents have asked me that question and what I do because this isn't my area of expertise but I'll say you want to reach out to the college counselor Dr. Boil at Glen Brook North who could answer those kind of questions. But what I can say is we have
053a lot of students who um want to go into certain fields that require language even beyond the four years or the two years. And what this does is it provides them with additional credit if they're going somewhere in the state of Illinois. And the other thing that I like to explain to students because sometimes they'll ask me like why, you know, why or parents same thing why? And what I say is, you know, I'm sure you've all seen like LinkedIn resumes or applications to different jobs and someone will say, I'm fluent in Spanish. I'm professionally literate in Spanish. And I always ask myself, what does that mean? Like, I'm fluent in Spanish. What how do I really show that? But if you look at a resume that says or an application that says I earned
054the Illinois State Hill by literacy in the spring of 2026, an employer or someone in you know the respective field will know exactly what that means because that's a very quantifiable distinction. So that's um Mr. Downing that doesn't exactly ask answer your question but I think in terms of we're talking advantages and providing our students with more opportunities and tools beyond the Glen Brooks I think that's kind of the the response I give parents when they ask me a question like that. No, if it saves them money too, that's always a good thing. Yeah, obviously. That's awesome. But anything we can do to help, please let us know. Thank you. Uh, no. This that's excellent. I think uh it's funny. My daughter was just watching the episode of Friends where Joey writes down he speaks
055French on his resume, you know, and I just thought about that, you know, not quite the same. Um I I guess similar similar, but you're you're right. like how do you know that you still it's it's a more robust thing to put on your resume. I guess on a it just occurred to me um the seal of biiteracy since you get college credit for it. Do we have our people our students who already are fluent in a language take it as well so they can get the credit? Sure. Yeah, that's a great question. We do offer optional testing on Saturdays at both schools in the district. So if a student speaks a home language, they are able to test and they are able to earn college credit for their home language. You might as well
056get the A credits, right? Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah. Thank you. No, this is wonderful. No questions. Just thank you. My daughter also just took it and great opportunity. Been great. Could you just take a minute and review this summary page? It looks like this is something each student would receive and then work off this plan. Yes. So, what you're looking at, I believe that's page three of the handout. Yes. That's a a score report from Avant. Avant is the testing company that does the stamp test. And if you look at the score report, something that we really connected with in this company really is that they give Sure. they give you a breakdown of the level. Thank you, Dr. Cummings. They give you a breakdown of the level that you are demonstrating and they give
057you suggestions to power up. So Josh mentioned empowering students a couple of times and this is something that we will hand all of our students who take this assessment so that they can continue to grow their own proficiency. They can feel empowered to understand deeply their levels and to get to that next level. So we have talked to some neighboring districts who have done similar testing and they have found that students have been really really interacting with their proficiency data in this way and it gets them excited and we are so excited to be using a score report like this giving it directly to students and parents and having them interact more deeply with their own proficiency journeys. has any consideration been given to um communicating this instrument down to the elementaryaries to the middle
058schools? So, so that data carries through. Yeah, that that's a really uh good question uh Mr. Sean and I like to look at it like we're really telling the story of the student from well before high school. So, for example, um recently district 28, so their middle school, North Park Junior High, they uh worked to create a new pathway for their some of their eighth grade students, rising GBN freshmen. And a couple of myself and a couple of our teachers were working with them to uh help develop this pathway where students could start in level three for Spanish. And one of the ways we worked to identify which students might be uh ideal for this pathway, this new program, was through the STAMP test that's specifically for middle school students. And so the short answer
059or the long answer to your question is we have students, we have partnerships with district 28. They're taking this test and we're able to see how they're doing and we're able to chart from sixth grade even through the senior year of high school. And it's really amazing to see that growth because you see a lot of threes and fours and those turn into eventually sixes and sevens by the time they finish uh their language journey at the Glen Brooks. And we do actually have a history of sharing some of that data with the middle schools just to be able to celebrate exactly like you said perfectly. It doesn't start with us here at the high school. Their journeys begin in middle school. So that's something that they've really appreciated celebrating how much the work they
060do. Um and we're excited to see how we can use these data to really help build our relationships with our feeder schools and make our programs stronger. And if I could also add, those middle school teachers just get just as excited as the teachers and the parents when those students earn the same seal of literacy four or five years after they've had them in class. So it's a really cool thing to see the everyone kind of coming together to support our students. Thank you. Just refresh my memory. Every student needs to take at least one year of world language. Is there a requirement? Go ahead. There is no language requirement to graduate from the Glen Brooks or from high school in the state of Illinois as of right now. What I do notice though is
061many colleges are looking for two or four years and that is not two or four calendar years but it's the level of highest level of completion in 2028. That will change as of right now it's scheduled to change where the state of Illinois will require two calendar years of a language order to graduate from high school in the state of Illinois. Okay, that's well I shouldn't say that's good. Maybe that's good for me. I don't know how audience feels about it. But what I was thinking and this is I think this is a great as as the world changes you know having an a second language it's it's it's good skill or it's good skill to have and in particular for people that are in the workplace where interact with many people and I wonder
062because you said yes you're aiming for 75% of people that take word languages and now we're going to have 100% of people taking word languages So I wonder if if we're going to be thinking about potential ways of supporting people that may not be willing to go past the two years if two years are mandatory because they want to put other things on the curriculum but maybe because computer assisted technology you know learning tools maybe student groups ways to encourage people to go for the B literacy seal in whatever language they feel more comfortable with even if they cannot go past the two years when these two years are are mandatory at some point. Yeah, absolutely. I think if I'm being honest, being here and having the opportunity to share our story, this is part
063of that journey is because I feel so grateful to be able to talk with you all tonight about how important language learning is, how life-changing it is. Josh and I are a testament to that. And so we that's absolutely on our mind and we just really appreciate the time here to be able to see that out with our students and and really communicate that to them. And if you could continue to communicate that with the community, we're going to work together with you to do that. So that's that's definitely on our minds and we're excited to to approach that. Absolutely. That's great. Well, thank you. Thank you. Great presentation. Perhaps perhaps just a note for our uh board notes when they go out. Uh Miss Smith, maybe we can highlight the benefits of earning the
064CEO of biiteracy. Um especially highlighting those credit hours and then also opportunities for post-secary. All right. Thank you, Maria, Joyce, Samanda, and Josh. Wonderful job. Thank you. a real one. Right. All right. Moving to the next item on the agenda. Miss Darter, it's all you, Vicki. Good evening. So, we're here to talk about the amended budget. Um, all we need from you this evening is to approve us being able to post the amended budget on our website beginning tomorrow. And then we also need to schedule a public hearing at the next board meeting um for the public to make any comments regarding the budget. Um I am going to focus on just the two charts that are in your packet. Um when I first start building the amended budget, I take a look at a
065comparison of where we are now to where we were last year at the same time. And as you can see with our revenue last year at this time, we were 94.34% received. And this year we're at 96.62% received. So within the standard, not too much of a deviation there. I was able to identify where the differences lay. Um mostly a lot of it has to do with a loss of interest earnings this year because of the delay in the property tax receipts. Um we lost approximately $850,000 in interest earnings this year as a result. Um we did however start receiving some energy rebates which I was not anticipating. So that kind of helped offset that cost. And last year, as you may remember, we had a transportation claim revenue that was deferred to this year.
066So this year we received two years worth of transportation claim revenue that we did not receive last year for the one year. So that kind of offset um some of the loss and it put us a little ahead of where we were last year at this time. On the expenditure side, we're very very close. Last year at this time, we were 76.41% 41% spent and this year we're at 76.28% spent. So very very close. Um some of the differences that I did see were we are delayed in our transportation billing. We're about two months in a rares with them. Um and we did but we did have some additional capital outlay this year than we did last year at this time. We which included the battery project and the vehicles. So that's kind of just
067a snapshot of the comparison of last year to this year. The other chart goes through um the changes that I made from the original budget to the amended budget. Um I'm not going to go through each one of these in detail. Um but these are just some things that I did um increase or decrease to rebalance the budget. I did decrease property taxes. Um I am still anticipating another 3 million to receive this year. However, I did decrease it mainly in the debt services area because of the we're getting to the end of our debt and so um the the money that's coming in for debt services is lower. Um I decreased the transportation fees. I did look at the numbers today. We have approximately 100 additional free and reduced riders this year which caused
068a decrease in the fees that we received and collected. On the expenditure side, um I decreased the budget by 0.15% or $346,000. Um I decreased it a lot of the decrease came from the insurance and wellness. We did not have an increase in our HMOs this year. Um midyear we changed, you know, plan year. So I usually budget for an increase thinking we're going to realize it. We did not realize an increase in our HMO. So that saved us $2.2 million. Um, I did however have to increase our dues fees and others because we had increased costs in our special ed placements and I had to increase our non- capital outlay. Um, I believe at the last budget meeting um, it was approved that 2 point or $210,000 for spin bikes and we also are
069going to buy some new cameras for the district. So, I increased the budget there. But overall, we did balance again. Um we are still using some purposeful use of fund balance for debt services capital projects as well as our aquatics program. Any questions? No. Thank you for all your work. That's excellent. It's very easy to understand. Thank you. Hope that showing wonderful work. Thank you. I just comment is you know it's really good. I mean that it lose 850,000 and kind of cut back. That was uh impressive. So I was very happy to see the energy rebates coming. How much was that? Yeah. How much was that? It was about 400,000. Wow. That's nice. It's a nice windfall. Very happy to see that. Yes. Maybe we'll get them again next year. I'm I'm going to
070count on it. Two quick ones on my side. I don't expect answer for the first one, but is the state going to do something with the loss revenue and interest? I'm sure we are not the only district. Yes, we are not the only district. um a lot of districts they were joining together trying to see what we could do with the uh county clerk's office and um I don't know if did that go anywhere it didn't really go anywhere yeah I should have say the county not the state okay the second question is I understand our budget is balanced so you have increased you have decreased our revenue significantly higher than our increase on expenditures yes um that is it's still balanced because of our purposeful use of fund balance. Okay. So, if we take
071that into consideration, you'll you would see that it it is balanced. All right. No more question. Thank you. So, do we have your permission to post the amended budget beginning tomorrow? So moved. And we need a motion. You can do a motion or you can do consensus either. Yeah. How people There's a motion already. There's a motion. Okay. We need a second. All in favor? I roll. Any opposed? Motion carries. And then we also need approval to schedule the public hearing at the next board meeting. All right. So moved. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you so much. Mhm. Nice work, Vicki. Thank you. Next item on the agenda, it's additional summer 2026 capital projects. And so just highlighting here, Mr. Shine has actually given a pretty good overview of uh
072the capital projects earlier. Sir do Dr. Pac and Mrs. Bonner are able to answer any questions and can give a very high level overview of the timeline. Yes, we will be brief, but feel free to ask us any questions. Um, just as a reminder for capital projects for the summer of 2026, which is this summer, we've already gone through our typical board process where in the fall we brought you a list of all of the projects and we put the projects out to bid. The board awarded the bids on February 9th and you know, we're all set for construction this summer. Um, a week before we did all of that, we had the fire in the culinary classroom, which is why we're bringing one more project for you tonight. And so, I'm going to turn
073it over to Lauren. Correct. So here you can see the uh current layout of our culinary classrooms which is in red on the left side of the slide. Um on the right side you can see what will be part of this summer's construction. We've been able to claim some space from classroom C116. Still leave it on the larger side for a classroom and yet gain a prep space and two comparably sized culinary classrooms for our students for the fall. Right now they are currently utilizing a converted staff cafeteria and they are very excited about that. Um we were very collaborative and continue to be very collaborative. In fact I think something that's unique about this project is we came together with Archon and Rano and North CTE teachers and South CTE teachers. We know that
074on the master facility plan um both of our schools culinary labs were set to be on there. We just accelerated the timeline for North thanks to the combustible event. But South then will also be part of our master facility plans. We wanted to make sure we were designing with the um the needs of both schools in mind throughout this whole process. So here you can see just a high level rendering. Um our stations for our students moved to the perimeter. Um they they call these resomeial because it's a it's a blend of residential and commercial. Our student stations are in the center. Both of the classrooms will have this equipment that you see here to allow for versatility in scheduling. So it doesn't matter whether it's a culinary one or a culinary two. If we
075happen to have two sections of the same thing at one time, they can be in that classroom. Right now, we're very bound by what we can schedule in which classroom and when. So we designed with that in mind. We will have one commercial um commercially outfitted lab and the teachers have already said it's really easy to flip if one class needs it one day or the other. And so that will have those commercial grade large hoods, large range, huge mixers, things like that in that space. Um here we're also incorporating a transaction window. So a space to potentially showcase a winner of a culinary competition or potentially have a popup sale. And so we just wanted to design with the future in mind and creativity and versatility for future oriented pedagogical needs in that space.
076Real world connectedness to that industry. And so that is why you see this addition. The glazing also is a great uh advertisement for that program and it allows the outside in which we've seen in some of our other projects especially within the CTO world with our maker spaces and those 3D printers being showcased behind glazing. So something to draw attention to the space and draw interest. And so Kim's going to talk about our sprinkler work. Yeah. So just one other component of the project I want to mention. Um, as I think you know, the majority of our buildings are sprinkled, but we do have some older areas that aren't, and they're bound by the codes from the time that it was built. So, throughout the master facility plan, which you'll hear more about, we will
077be sprinkling all of the areas of the building. So, for this summer, summer of 26, as we're touching the culinary area, we're going to be sprinkling the area in green. So, those are the two culinary classrooms, our child development, fashion, and also our preschool lab. When we talk about summer of 27, you'll see we're going to be addressing the blue area. And then all the areas in gray are our larger areas. And as we do work in those areas throughout the master facility plan, we'll be addressing those as well. Okay. Anything? There we go. The time. Yeah. So, just a real quick timeline. This project is out to bid right now. And so, next Tuesday, May 19th, we will be opening bids. we will take them to the board on the 26 for approval. Um
078July 26 this summer is when the construction will actually begin and it'll go through about December. So it'll be ready for second semester. Okay. Questions yet? Mwaukee any questions? No sit down. Need your hair. It's all the shine. Great. No questions. Okay. Thank you, Kim. Thank you, Lauren. Actually, I do have a question, but it's not it could be answered by anybody. It's not related to the project itself, but we had the DECA presentation earlier. So I wonder if if we we're going to have new renovated environments and some of these students are doing entrepreneurship projects and I saw something on food services and something on hotel management and things like that. Are do we do we leverage these new facilities for opportunities for students that may not be taking necessarily a class but maybe
079wanted to do something there? So, we have a very active FCCLA program um at both schools. Um and we are also continuing to seek out new opportunities for students to work through um developing their skills for different career pathways. And so, all of that's incorporated into all of our space designs. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Uh board committee das assignments. So, thank you to all the board members for filling out your interest form. Congratulations. You all received those items for which you indicated your interest. Um, uh, you did. Your name is everywhere. Um, I've circulated this to the board previously. Um, should the board be okay, I would uh ask for a motion tonight to approve to formally establish committees uh and liaison assignments and just highlight one small change that will take
080place beginning at our next round of committees. We will more formally take um a a role uh that's really important because committees are comprised of staff members and board members. Um but those two combined is what defines a quorum. Um and so we'll need to make sure that we have a quorum. Um that's relevant because as we start to move more things to committee work, we received a question from board members which is can they attend remotely and as long as there is a majority of a quorum present then yes that is an option for those instances but we just need to be a little more u strict on on some of those protocols. So um happy to answer any questions. If not, I just ask for approval tonight. Before going to board questions, one
081comment. I'm going to pick up on Mr. Glowaki's comment earlier. As more things are going to happen at committee me meetings, maybe we should do more dissemination in terms of having the community aware of what's going to happen at these committee meetings because gets the meat of the conversations that happen there. I could see that at least in two of them if everybody shows up, we even have a board quarum at the meetings. So it that would make the job easier as well for the people that share what happened at the committee here because if we know that these meetings are either attended or broadcast at some point. So we can highlight maybe um I have some ideas for updating our board notes structure so we can also highlight committee work done as well as
082part of that report. All right. Great. Board members, Mr. Wagi. No no questions. No questions. Uh just on the the liaison assignments, you're going to make sure we know when those meetings are and stuff. Yes. Um so we are going to wait for our um associations to provide us their updated calendars and then Robin will send out calendar invites to everyone who's on it. Um, and then one thing that I'll work with uh Sandy uh and Marcelo on is just clarifying um who will do the report at the respective board meeting just so we're kind of organized on that and make sure we get it all handled. I appreciate you including those also in your weekly updates too. Absolutely. Reminders, reminders. I hope he's a shine. Great. I move we accept uh accept the um
083committee assignments. I will second Jack's motion. All fa All in favor? I Any opposed? Motion carries. Great. I guess next topics for future meetings. Do we have anything? We don't have any specific topics for um that have been presented already. Few quick notes. First, next meeting we're going to do a very um detailed review of the summer construction work for 2027. So, that will involve a little bit of showand tell. There will be renderings of both the Glenchrook North and Glenre South stadiums. Um you also have some um video previews as if you're flying through the areas. Super cool drone views. Good times. Um for our friends over at Glenberrook South, we're going to celebrate the unveiling of the new pit renovation and what that will look like. Um and yes, yes, there are also
084bathrooms that we'll take a look at as well as Dr. George's one science lab edition. very exciting. Um, one last item, uh, I wanted to share a few, uh, meetings ago. Um, one of the board members asked, "Is there a way that we could see and celebrate some things that are happening in CTE?" And, um, just today we received an invitation from one of our CTE teachers over at Glenrook North, uh, where I'll send an invitation to the board, but you've all been invited to actually come see student presentations as part of their final exam on some things that they created. Um, so that'll be in your bullet points. Um and I hope that uh some of you will be able to join me on that. Be very fun and exciting in about two weeks.
085All right, that's everything. Uh there will be action coming out of close session. Two potential items coming out. So before going to close session, we going to entertain a motion to move to close session to consider 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 on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity. Section 2C1 of the Open Meeting Act. So moved. Second. All in favor? I Any opposed? Motion carries. And if you can take time or we can go right into it as a