001Hello everyone and welcome to this meeting of the board of education. Oops. Every single time. Welcome to this meeting of the board of education of Glen Brook High School District 225. Um we'll start with the roll call, please. Mr. Downing present. Mr. Gaki present. Mrs. Hope here. Miss Mullenbeck here. Mr. O'Hara here. Mr. Shine present. Dr. Seinberg here. Seven members present. Uh first on the agenda is approval of the agenda. Uh uh Dr. Grall, have there been any changes to the agenda since it was posted? There have been no changes. In that case, could I please have a motion? Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. This evening, it is with deep sadness that we pause to remember and honor the life of Glen Brook South sophomore Lily Bova, who tragically passed away
002on March 28th. Lily was known as a deeply kind and caring person who always had a smile on her face. She loved her friends and family with her whole heart, and her bright, positive energy brought optimism wherever she went. Her kind-hearted nature will be sorely missed by everyone who had the privilege of knowing her. At this time, I invite us all to join together in a moment of silence to honor and remember Lily. Thank you. Dr. Grall, will you give the superintendence report, please? Absolutely. Um, first of all, I want to welcome everyone who is joining here, especially our students being recognized today, and a special thank you to their parents and any other family members who are able to join. Uh, to kick us off, I'd like to welcome up Mr. uh Tom Midas,
003our athletic director at Glenberrook South, who would like to recognize some folks who might have some aquatic skills that we're going to learn all about. So, gentlemen, if you'd like to come on up. All right. Good evening, members of the board. I'm proud to share highlights from an outstanding performance by our boys swim and dive program at the IHSA state meet this year. This year's team demonstrated exceptional depth, determination, and competitive excellence at the highest level. Our relay team teams contributed key performances throughout the meet, earning second place finishes in both the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay and following that up with a seventh place finish in the 400 freestyle relay, which is a testament to our team's balance and strengths across events. Individually, our athletes delivered remarkable performances. Noah Chen placed
004fifth in the 200 medley individual medley and earned a second place finish in the 100 breaststroke. Evan Coro Cornoyu secured sixth in the 50 freestyle and fourth in the 100 freestyle. Lucas Fernandez Gettis achieved a third place finish in the 100 freestyle. And Taylor Isaac captured the state championship in diving, becoming the 21st state meet champion in school history. As a team, these efforts culminated in a third place finish at the IHSA state meet, marking the seventh state trophy earned by the program in the last 20 years. An incredible accomplishment that places us among the top programs in Illinois, trailing only Hinsdale Central and some team over there out east a little bit in trophies during that span. Lastly, I'd also like to take a moment to recognize head coach Keith McDonald, who will be
005retiring at the end of this school year. Coach McDonald has led this program with integrity, passion, and a commitment to excellence. His impact on our student athletes and the culture of our pro our program has been profound, and we are deeply grateful for his leadership and dedication over the years years. He was also, as I was just informed by some parents, was named the coach of the year by the Illinois Swim and Dive Association. And at this point, we're going to ask our gentleman to sing up here. We're going to welcome up some additional athletes. Dr. Jordan, are you ready? Yes. Good evening. Now, I get the privilege, ladies, if you'll please stand, I get the privilege of introducing our girls gymnastics team. And before I get into our individual awards, I just really have
006to take a moment um to share some highlights of our team. This team demonstrated outstanding strength and consistency, establishing itself as one of the top programs in Illinois. They won a variety of invitationals, went undefeated in dual meets, and captured the conference championship outright. They continued their success by winning at regionals as hosts and placing second at sectionals behind only Caramel um who finished second at the state meet. Um the season was concluded with a fifth place finish at the state finals scoring 142.57 just narrowly missing a state trophy by 1.35 points. All of the success of the team, the two individuals I'm going to highlight in a moment, um, are due to the amazing leadership of head coach Steve Gail, and we're incredibly grateful for his oversight of these young ladies and all of
007the successes that wouldn't be possible without his guidance. So, first I'd like to honor Alli Mus. Wave, Ally. Hi. We are proud to recognize and celebrate the outstanding achievements of Ally Midas for her exceptional performance in gymnastics at the state level. Ally has had an extraordinary season, demonstrating consistency, skill, and composure across all events. She earned all conference honors on beam, bars, and floor, reflecting her all-around strength as a competitor. At the regional meet, Ally delivered a standout performance, placing third on vault, second on bars, third in beam, first on floor, and finishing first in the all-around competition. She continued her success at sectionals where she placed first on bars, third in beam, and fourth in the all-around. And at the state level, competing amongst the best gymnasts in Illinois. Ally placed 10th on beam,
008sixth on bar, and earned an outstanding fourth place finish in the highly coveted all-around event. These results at the state meet reflect her elite status as one of the top gymnasts in Illinois. We commend Ally for her dedication, perseverance, and excellence, and we're proud to recognize her achievements. Let's give Ally a big gift. And Ana, wait. Hi. Okay. Um, we are uh tonight we are proud to recognize and celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of Ana Tranoso. Did I do it right or do you get did make fun of me? Anukica, see, I told her she'd get to make fun of me. Um, first of all, you have had a remarkable season. Um, it has been marked also by great consistency, high resilience, and excellence in every level of her competition. Anukica earned, did I do it
009right that time? Okay, great. Anukica earned all conference honors on Vault, Beam, and in the all-around, establishing herself as one of the top performers in the conference. At the regional meet, she delivered an exceptional performance, placing first on vault, third in bars, second on floor, and second in allaround. She continued her strong momentum at sectionals, where she placed fourth on vault, second on beam, first on floor, and captured first place in allaround, demonstrating her ability to rise to the top when it mattered most. And at the state level, Anukica competed with determination and grace amongst the best in Illinois, placing fifth on beam, 13th on vault, and 10th in allaround. We commend her for her outstanding achievements, her dedication to excellence, and her representation of Glenberrook South High School at the highest level of competition.
010Congratulations. And we have one more recognition and Megan, hi Megan. Megan's going to come and be recognized as one of our very skilled and talented athletic trainers. And finally, I'd like to celebrate an outstanding achievement by a member of our athletic training staff. Every season that we have a kickoff for the fall, winter, and and spring seasons. We are so fortunate and blessed to have all our trainers, the I mean, by far I say it, they're the best not only in the state, but in the country. Um, but for Megan, congratulations to Megan Ship who's earned who has been named the 2026 preceptor of the year by the Great Lakes Athletics Trainers Association's Council for Early Career Athletic Trainers out of more than 6,000 athletic trainers across six states. Megan is being recognized as a
011leader in her field for work mentoring and developing future professionals. As a preceptor, Megan plays a vital role in shaping the next generation of athletic trainers, providing hands-on instructions, clinical guidance, and meaningful educational experiences. Our athletic training staff interns benefit tremendously from her expertise and commitment. And we are fortunate to have her as part of our school community. She was formally recognized for this achieve this achievement at the GLATA annual meeting and symposium on March 12th, 2026. Congratulations to all our Titans. We are so proud of you and all of your contributions, whether it is to all of our students or in your prospective sports. Congrats. At this time, all of our students and staff and parents, you have two choices. You are welcome to remain with us for a period of time where we'll
012go through a normal meeting. We're going to talk about policies. Um or you may leave at this time. It is totally up to you. It looks like we have some friends taking us up on the second option. So, we'll give them a moment. Thank you, Megan. Thank you. And we are grateful for that dedication. So, may the weather be with you. I don't know. It's just No, I can change. You connected. We know. Is it going to be really bad weather? It's very well. That way we can see if I can connect here. All right. Um, while we are saying goodbye to some of our friends still, I just have two uh very brief updates. Just a reminder to all of our families, board members, students who are here, we have testing coming up on
013um I don't know this this small thing known as this week uh on Wednesday and Thursday. Just a reminder, freshman and sophomore students will take the preac, while juniors will take the ACT with optional science and writing components on Wednesday and Thursday. The majority of our students will be present uh just for one of those days, but students who might have accommodations such as extended time uh could be here for up to both days. Um, communication has gone out from both buildings, but the basic reminders always apply. When it comes to participating in testing, especially those assessments that can support college admissions, it's always important to take time the day before the test to relax, to sleep, and to make sure before you come to testing that you have a fully charged Chromebook, that you
014have all other necessary uh utensils and equipment such as calculators that are approved for the ACT, but most importantly, that you get a good breakfast before you come in. So, thank you in advance to all of our families for supporting our students during that time and we look forward to uh working through the annual state testing process this week. Uh just a extended shout out uh to Maddie and Laura, our testing coordinators, and also uh Dr. Vasilopoulos and Dr. Kim, our associate principles for teaching and learning for all of their dedication to putting together these events. They are intense with a lot of logistics and we're just so grateful for them. The second topic, completely different but very exciting, is our annual Night of Glenbrook uh theater uh event that's put on by the Glen
015Brook Foundation. So, not this weekend, but next weekend we are celebrating the launch or the return of Cinderella. For board members who might not recall, Cinderella was the musical during the year we had the pandemic and so it was not able to move forward. It's exciting to see it back right in the CPA. Um, and we hope that community members and many others will join us for the Bibbid Bobby I just forgot ball. Um, I was going to call it the boutique, but I think that's technically at Disney. Um that is on this Saturday night at 5:00 p.m. we'll gather in the Glenrook North Cafeteria. There is a wonderful meal that has been coordinated by Quest. Um there'll be an opportunity to just mingle and meet with members of the production team, some of our
016student performers, um but also community members who just have a true passion for Glenberg Theater. Um it's one of those nights that you really don't want to miss. And tickets are available online for purchase from Curate, which is where we do all of our box office ticketing. Uh, and they are $60 a piece. So, we look forward to seeing as many uh folks that can attend. Uh, will be just wonderful. And that concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Grall. Um we will then move on to board reports and we have reports on a number of different um meetings and um we'll start with the Glen Brook North Parent Association meetings. Was there a board member who wanted to report out from that? Someone is pointing at Mr. Glowaki. So I'm going to say Mr. Glow.
017I wasn't able to make it this. No, the wonderful meeting as always and stuff. Very engaged. Uh there have been a few meetings. So, I'm apologize if I don't have my detailed notes on what was covered during this one, but uh yeah, it was they were excited about the plans with the fields and everything going taking place and stuff. Okay, great. Um I wanted to well Dr. Grall and I both attended the Glen Brook Foundation meeting. Um Dr. Grall did mention that we do have the uh night of Glen Brook Theater coming up on the 25th. Um but the bulk of the meeting was spent discussing Glen Brook Fest. um which the details have not been finalized yet. Still working through some of that, but that will be on Saturday um September 19th. There will
018be music, there will be food venue to be determined, but put that on your calendar. It's going to be a lot of fun. Um I believe it's going to be an afternoon event. Um is a Saturday, September 19th. Um so that's the my uh just a little uh summary of the Glen Foundation meeting. And then lastly, um we just prior to this board meeting, we had a communications committee meeting. Um would anyone like to report back from communications? Okay, Mr. O'Hara. Sure. It was it was a good meeting. We went over um we're updating the websites for for access for for um accessibility. Thank you for accessibility for for everybody to be able to use them. um there there's a federal mandate and and we're making sure we can get um not only the website
019but also the mobile devices and and other ways that you can access our information is that anybody can access it anywhere at any time. Um and then we talked about the uh potential for student engagement with the w with the board and and different ways they can engage with us. And I would just add a few notes for any board member who wasn't able to attend the communications committee. If you happen to visit the PD room, we had um a little a group activity where we went through a wave of conversations in uh talking about ways we might be able to recruit students to share their voice in different topics. And then the other wave of of conversation we had was on what topics might we want to present to students to gather their input
020on. And there are four very full pieces of chart paper. Um so if you walk past them and you want to review them or if you want to add there is there are still markers there and you're welcome to add stuff and then we'll have a follow-up conversation at an upcoming communications committee. Thank you Dr. Grall. Um it's come to the time in the evening when we recognize community visitors who'd like to address the board and I do not think that we have anyone um doing that today. Um but that's okay. We we have time for that on every um at every meeting. Um so please feel free uh to join us at the next meeting if there's something you'd like to share with us or you can always reach us um by email or
021voicemail. That brings us to our consent agenda. Um Dr. Grall, have there been any changes to the consent agenda since it was circulated? There have not been any changes, but I do want to call the board's attention to item 71. Um, that is the staffing plan for the 2026 to 27 school year. The board previously approved a staffing plan at the last meeting in March. However, as we were going through and building out the personnel plan in our systems, we identified that one of the lines was listed, but there were no values in the line. And that was regarding our board certified uh behavior analysts or BCBA position. So, we simply are representing it because it was missing and we wanted to make sure that the board saw that. Um, no changes from when we
022last spoke. We just realized the display issue and wanted to represent it to the board. Did anyone have any uh questions or issues with the consent agenda? In that case, could I have a motion to approve? It's all moved. I second. Mr. Downing? Yes. Mr. Glowaki? Yes. Mrs. Hope? Yes. Mr. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Shine? Yes. Dr. Simon? Yes. Miss Mullenbeck? Yes. Seven members voting yes. Moving on to our discussion action agenda, a topic that is dear to my heart, the adoption of our AASB policy manual customization project. Dr. Johns, take it away. And Dr. Johns, before you get started, we need to take an opportunity and talk about you for a moment. So that he So around August, I remember us sitting around the table with the policy committee and we were talking about this
023concept that you know our policy manual has is an area of growth for us. Um there are many policies that have withtood the test of time since they were adopted and not changed since 1973. Um but some required some pretty substantial updating and this has been a process that we've been going through for many years. And there was an interesting pivotal moment where it was acknowledged that maybe it was time to do a complete review of every policy in a systematic way. We engaged with the Illinois Association of School Boards. They have a model for going through this because this is not unique to our district. Um, and they walked us through each step. What I don't think we've talked about enough, and this is an an absolute genuine um uh comment, is the amount
024of work that was done by reviewing every single policy, line by line, verb, and noun by noun, and making sure that before any recommendation was presented to a the policy committee or a smaller working committee, that it was clear what we were looking at. And all of that work through nearly 2,000 pages was done by Charles. And so while I know what he's going to present in a moment is a very comprehensive, very pretty spreadsheet that's organized, that is simplified, I cannot understate the painstaking process and the diligence that he has put through looking at every single policy and also how then we would all get together and sometimes we I mean by the time you're through your 30th policy, you can't always stay on task. yet he would get us back on task and
025keep us moving through Charles that you will not take credit for publicly that you're right next to me so you hear me saying it and so you can absorb it um but just truly thank you for going through it. It has been um a labor um but one that will set us up for years of success. And now I'll be quiet and turn it to you R.J. That was very nice of you. Thank you. I appreciate it. As you applaud me, please applaud everybody else who is a part of this team. We had uh every district administrator was part of this process. Uh in many cases, these administrators and the building principles brought the policies back to their buildings for additional review and scrutiny, analysis, and brought it back. I also want to thank board
026member Matara and board president Mullen for their work. Uh it really took a huge effort of so many people. We spent 22 hours in meetings together through this process and I'm sure everyone put dozens of individual hours on top of that. I know at the schools they went through everything very closely. Uh leading to something I think we can be really proud of. Uh we now know that we have scrutinized every policy that we have and and where I think that really helps us is in um the depth of understanding we have of our policies that far exceeds uh what we had. Uh we were not a district that was previously policydriven because we simply weren't equipped. We didn't have enough depth of knowledge throughout the organization and we now certainly have that. This year
027we also had our quadrrenial uh ISBY audit on all the mandates that we're required to meet and thankfully we had so many of these policies already in the hopper that we could just say yes we're covering this with this policy. Uh there's 450 mandates that were a part of this uh compliance process. My guess is we'll be close to 6 or 700 in four years. Uh so being on top of this is is really going to help us. Um they um during the course of this process it is almost a sysophian task in that I think in March they brought us another 25 policies that we had to review in order to stay current because they do their updates every quarter and a whole new batch had come through and we're not yet to dealing
028with the policies from last year's new legislation where I think well over 400 new laws related to school districts and school operations. ations were passed. So, good luck in the future. Maybe I'll call in. What do you mean? I'm not staying. This could be a slop closet someplace and I'll I'll keep operating. Policy ameritus. U it was I I did have a good time doing it. Uh I learned a lot. Um it I felt like I was making a contribution for the long haul for the district. Uh, one of the things the board members asked us to do is is to make sure that we retain policies that were specific to us, that had meaning to us. And I know that everybody on the committee took that to heart for every pro policy we went
029through. There are times that we literally had to peel our fingers off of 225 policies that we liked. it was and and in order to adopt policies uh from press that I think were the the ones we needed to adopt in the end we did retain a large number as you'll see in the next slide um well actually on this side I'm sorry RJ um on the slides you'll see um you know our objectives and our why and the process we went through to to go through all of this oh and a typo and we don't have any of those it's all null and void yeah all null and void I'm going have to get back my teaching certificate um But we reviewed 296 policies. We retained 52 district policies. We adopted 146 press policies.
030And then in a in a pot of others, we we sunset a large number of district policies primarily because we had so many policies that we were able to consolidate. For example, I think we consolidated seven or eight discipline related policies into one. So you could just go to one policy and find what you needed instead of having to go through so many. And we had a couple we wanted to defer that the district is in a point right now that we're not ready uh knowing what's happening in Springfield, what's happening in our field that maybe if we wait six months or so, we'll be better equipped to answer a couple. I think it came to four different policies that we deferred. So, it was a very good process. And on the next slide, just
031kind of I'll break out if my vision can keep up. Um is is that we just made minor changes in section one. That's the school district organization. It's almost like the articles of uh incorporation documents that you'll see for a business and those we made minor changes to. In section two, bless you. Uh in section two, uh we made more changes and we were able to consolidate a number of different policies. Those are the policies that the board governs the actual board actions themselves. Uh under a general school administration, we sunset a lot of extra policies. Some of these policies were over 20 years old and were no longer valid and we were able to either move them off our policy manual or put them into our policy h policy guide books and and different
032manuals and guide books that we use under operational services. We had a large number that we had had recently rewritten maybe within the past four years. And you'll see in chapter 4 or section 4, that's where we had the largest number of policies that we retained. under under personnel, if you'll recall, we just had so many policies related to benefits and we're cleaning that up and putting it into an employee guide book, which is something I think Dr. Grall, I know Dr. Grall's worked very hard on in the past eight months and I think it will be really a godsend for this district to have a very readable document for people to go to to better understand in particular the benefit packages that we offer. instruction had just some um important cleanup. Uh we had
033some statutory language that we needed to include and we now have that up to date and uh some of that work will be is already uh turning into work that we have in our course guide book under students as I mentioned before we're able to consolidate a large number of policies and under eight we basically retain policies that we had but included a couple to to address some of the gaps that we had. So when we walk away from this, uh, we can be comfortable knowing that we've got so much of this covered and as new laws are passed, new case laws determine, as new best practices emerge, we can readily um, integrate that into the policy manual that we currently have. And I think it will save a lot of time. And I and
034that time I think is really important because we want to set our priorities now away from working on policy and moving it to procedures, guide books, course guide books, those sorts of things that really have meaning to our employees, our students and our parents to improve communication and improve trust in the district because they have documents that they turn to on a regular basis that have real meaning to them. Uh and maybe a little less of the policy type language. So, I know that you've had less than a week to look at 296 policies. Um, and want you to know that that I'm not ask certainly not asking for a vote tonight, but I'll be available. Then the committee will help me. I'm sure uh if questions emerge regarding policies, I will ask for a
035little bit of time on some of these. I've lost track of why we made some changes. I took good notes, but I have a whole committee of people that enabled us to get this done in 8 months, and I will certainly turn to them for their assistance. Uh, any questions at the moment that I can address? Thank you. Yes, of course. Yeah, mine's just a comment, too. This is herculean effort by you leading the charge and everybody else supporting you and board members. So, well done. Thank you. And again, I want to underscore uh it was a team effort and you're being very kind to me and I always appreciate that. But this, as RJ indicated, when you're three hours in on a policy meeting, it's hard to stay focused. And the team really did
036a great job. And there were many times where I thought through my analysis that we were going to go in one direction. And through really good insights from buildings or for people in departments, we ended up going in a different direction. And I think that just shows the level of commitment that the team had when they went into this task. So thank you. Just also thank you like everybody but also for pushing for doing this. It's not just simply doing it. It's like I remember any of us who've been here for a while. We were doing one policy at a time two three and then you came up with this idea of consolidation into something that was standard that could help us keep on track. So that's huge. Um my question as a parting gift
037from you to us is can we work on something similar to like the facility plan where if there are 300 policies can we have some sort of rotation where we every five years we have a fiveyear plan where we look at some policies maybe this exists already. Uh so the the the press updates um as as you've been to as I've shared um there's approximately eight attorneys and then all the major law firms in the state work with those attorneys to interpret uh legislation as it's passed and then come up with um really they assess all the different policies that need to be tweaked, what tweaks need to be made. Sometimes it is a word uh and and then they will publish and it's nearly quarterly uh a packet of all the updates that they
038think we should make. In my experience um then the committee can go through those really quickly. You I can I foresee it as like okay this is an and this is a semicolon. This is a no-brainer. Whoa, time out. We have to talk about this other one because it's it's in more depth. And um it really you get a much uh faster turnaround. You're you're really doing a lot more policies but you have kind of a context and an anchor that everything fits into. Sorry I'm meeting but as you mentioned some of our policies are Glen Brook flavor that don't depend on external policy or changes in government and Glen Brook favor flavor normally follow common practices. So we make policy as we make practice as all of our practices change sometimes you look back
039at something five years later and it turns out we are not doing it exactly like the way we did it when we wrote the policy for it. So my aim is not at these 300 ones but at the ones that parallel what we do in normal operations. And you bring up your point is really important and I hope everyone kind of keeps this in the back of their minds. While we kept a large number of district 225 policies um in the future, I think we want to look at those as the updates come in and re-evaluate. Do we want to stick with our own or do we want to now adopt the new one? As our practices have shifted, as we've become a more policydriven district, as we understand the implications, I I suspect we'll
040start to open those back up. I will have to say for boards uh for for decades of boards in this district, they wrote really good policy. You know, there were some policies that we had gotten into a habit of of making a little introduction for every policy recently, really kind of hearkening back 20, 30 years ago to some great well-written policies. It was hard to let some of those go knowing the work that goes into them. But I think as new information comes to us um we get more comfortable with the press policy update process we'll take another look at those 50 some and and probably probably change down the road. Um just one point I'd like to add um to that in terms of the work that the the the committee did. One of
041the major pushes was to move things that are not truly policy out of the policy manual and move them into the procedure because as you point out rightly procedures change over time. Practices change over time but most of the time that should not be happening at a policy level. Policy is bigger and broader and more grounded than that. Procedure is the day-to-day work of making something work. And when Dr. John's referred to the handbooks and guide books that are being adopted. Those the administration can keep up with without the board being involved with the policy decision. the policies should be I think usually a little more um they should have a grander scope I think in a sense and once we've decided what as a district we believe our policy is with respect to a
042particular issue that really shouldn't be changing very much over time because it reflects who we are as a district and we don't change every four years um I know that there will be change there will there will be times that we do have to because there have been major shifts have to look at policies again. Um, but my hope is that as Dr. John says that, you know, this is this is groundwork for us not having to have the policy committee going over each little policies over and over again because a lot of them now have been moved where they should be into procedure. Um, and absolutely we will the the we there there are Glenn Brook policies. We deliberately chose not to follow the press model, you know, um because it did not reflect
043who we are as a district. It was more standardized to a general state approach and we're the Glen Brooks. We do things our way sometimes. Um but those are very clear to us and as we get the updates, you know, as Dr. John's pointed out, that'll give us an opportunity. Again, press will tell us this policy has been updated at our level. we can't tell you how to change it because your policy is not our policy, but they'll still have flagged it as one that's that's being um pushed through the press system. So, we will know that that's something that we need to reflect on again. So, I do think the whole process will just save the administration and the board a lot of time going forward. Um and the efficiency gains will be terrific.
044Um the um the fact that these documents will be so much more accessible, understandable, um will be terrific. Um and yeah, you know, as someone who's on the policy committee, I am very excited about having this new process. I think it'll work right now. Well, it's never finished, right? It's never finished. Um I have a a a comment and and then a question. When this board in the future is faced with the challenges of the day, the difficult questions that we're often faced with, student discipline, um areas of human resources, procurement, uh facilities, we will be very very happy that our policies are streamlined, that they are more clear, that they are understandable not just to the board but to the the externals, our communities is we've often over the years run into this situation
045where you've got a policy and you've had three, four or five amendments because they've been reviewed and they still for whatever reason are unclear and they become a source of debate and uh it always I found interesting in in student discipline areas where you you're sure you've got it and then there's this special thing because you're trying to outline line every occurrence or or category or whatever and you can't keep up with the world. So you do need to get up to this generalized place so that you can be more accommodative and we can be more efficient. Um my question is what is the plan for the student handbook because it references policies in many cases. Thank you. So, that question actually came up in our cabinet meeting this morning around probably 9:30, 9, 9:45
046or so. Um, typically we start having our handbook conversations um right after spring break. We intentionally have delayed that until the policy manual gets redone. When we first adopted the Illinois Principles Association model student handbook subscription similar to press just on the handbook side um we had a lot of cross referencing because our policy manual did in mass match press. So now, um, a topic that Robin will be helping me tomorrow with is, um, she'll be going through the entire model student handbook and printing out the original copies of the handbook cuz at the bottom is where all the cross references are to all the different policies. Then with our new policy manual, we'll look to see what needs to be updated, what new policies exist. We'll crosswalk that. And then, uh, Dr. Cummings actually
047sent out the appointment for our handbook gathering in May 6th. Um the goal is to get the handbook to the board for approval, final approval, no later than the meeting in June because our parents need to have it for next year. Um so a little behind, but the handbook always comes to the board for approval. Um and we identify all the changes that were made and that's our our plan. We're just a little behind schedule. Uh but for a good reason. I just wanted to compliment everybody on all your work that you did because many of the policies that were retained while we say they're the Glenick way it's where the Glenicks were sometimes at the forefront of issues and things such and some of it was recently highlighted by our our governor actually in
048some of the policies and stuff and some of the finance ones. So kudos to everyone for all your work on differentiating us and keeping us a step ahead. And then I had a question R.J. Going back to the handbook and everything is press still supporting the piloting of the handbook in there because that was another shortcut that we were envisioning. Yes. To help this integration and make things very transparent. So, we have a goal. One day when you're a staff member or a parent, you will go to one system, one website, and you'll be able to say, "I want to learn about parking." And you will see the policy on traffic controls, as we call it. That's a Glenberg special. And then you will be able to see, oh, it's also in the handbook. And
049when you click there, you will see all the text for the handbook. Um, we corresponded with IASB last week. They said they were speaking to their software provider this week to make that happen. So, um, if you're not aware, bonus kind of leading. Um, apparently no one has ever asked to integrate their handbook and policies together, which I just find fascinating. Um, and they thought we would be a great uh, case study for that. So, we're looking to lead the way in that and I have a feeling that they will find a additional revenue stream that will be well adopted by many. But, uh hopefully uh by the early fall we would be in a good spot. But we will be the first on that with an amazing policy manual. Now, we just got to
050write the procedure manual next year. So, I believe the goal is to have this come back on consent. Yes. But in this intervening two weeks, if anyone has a chance to really dig in into some policies, has any issues, questions, concerns, please reach out to uh Dr. John's, to myself, to Mr. O'Hara, any of the administrators that you think would have a particular view um on the subject because we really are going to try to bring this one home next week so that we can stay on track with getting the handbook updated, etc., etc. So, thank you all board members for doing that. Um, yay. Uh, next on the agenda, I've lost my agenda. Hang on just a second. Ah, the board calendar. Another important and fascinating topic. Um, we have a board calendar um
051for May 26 through April 27th. Um, anything you wanted to highlight there, Dr. Grall? So, we'll keep it relatively brief. Um in the memo that you'll see uh there is um a chart of the dates. Here are the highlights. Um first we are only scheduled to have a single meeting in the months of June, July, and December. Okay. Um so we've been kind of trending in that way for quite some time for those those lower months and just recognizing the holidays and things of that nature. But just want to highlight one meeting in June, one meeting in July and one meeting in December. And that still puts us on a good pathway uh with respect to approving the budget and doing different um uh kind of cyclical uh processes that we need to go through.
052Our meetings are all scheduled to take place in this room uh at the district office. Um should that change, we would need to revise the agenda. Sometimes that can be referred to as a special meeting. And the other thing I wanted to highlight is I need board members help. One of the items that is making this board eligible for recognition by the Illinois Association of School Boards for the first time for board governance is that we do an annual self evaluation. And so last year we did it in August. In the memo, I pres pro provided three dates and I am going to send you a poll at the end of this week. Just need to know which date works best for you. As a reminder, the um self-ealuation typically takes place on a Saturday.
053Um and we're looking at a Saturday in September. Uh generally come together around 8:30. Uh stay until about noon. Uh and go through that process. Uh topics of excitement include a review of the communication norms that we established. Uh typically we would dig through a lot of policies but we we kind of are in a good pathway there. Uh but we'll talk about growth uh growth there as well as um expectations and goal setting things of that nature. So, um, that's the one takeaway that I need to get your feedback on before we come back on the 27th so I can include that in the regular agenda. The other item I just wanted to remind you about is um I'll just do it now. Next meeting the board will hold its annual organizational meeting. Um,
054and at that time you would also approve this meeting schedule. So, it's all sequential. That's when the board goes through the process to elect officers. um appoint uh Ms. Smith if you so choose to do so and Ms. Tarver. I know that they are more ex more than excited for those roles unless another individual is so interested um uh in their roles respectively for secretary and treasurer. Uh and then again you adopt the uh meeting schedule. So that's the uh it's kind of the summary. Happy to answer any questions you have. Um yes, Mr. D. Oh, sorry. You go ahead, Mr. D. Thank you. You've been recognized. Thank you. There you go. Uh so we set up the board meetings uh and I know you try to work around holidays, but you did miss a
055recurring holiday and that's Monday Night Football. I just want to get that on the record. You know, it's a good thing that you're highlighting that for me. I appreciate that. Sometimes I need those reminders. I do believe that this board has in the past considered uh those those types of topics. Um we need a quorum, right? So if it's going to be an issue, just let us know. Yes, it's going to be an issue. Where where we might through our through our board governance training where we might want to be cognizant is how we structure the topics for certain meetings. Uh perhaps we can be more efficient on some weeks as opposed to others. I'm laying the groundwork for maybe later. There we go. Tuesday meetings for all we know. Someday there might be Tuesday
056meetings or more meetings with only one meeting a month. Should that be the interest of the board that that that is one meeting of many boards and we certainly could talk about that. That's true. That nothing is set in stone. Um okay. I unless anyone had other comments about the uh proposed board meeting schedule. Um that takes us to the next subject on our agenda which is topics for future board meetings. That is gave one. Yeah. Perhaps changing the board meeting schedule. We could we could we could dig into that. Did any other board member have anything that they'd like to suggest as a future topic? Well, you can always uh let me know or let uh Dr. Grall know if something comes to mind and we'll be sure to get that on the agenda.
057Uh let's see. I believe we do have close session tonight, but there will be no action coming out. There will be no action coming out of close session. Okay. Um this evening, the board of education will enter into close session to discuss sensitive matters as allowed under the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Please note that no action will be taken following the closed session this evening. At this time, I will entertain a motion 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. and collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives
058or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees in accordance with sections 2C1 and two of the open meeting act. So moved. I second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Um, so we