001and Miss Malbeck, are we ready? One of these days. Um, good evening everyone and welcome to the meeting of the board of education of Glen Brook High School District 225. Um, we'll begin with a uh roll call, please. Miss Smith. Mr. Downing here. You can collapse if you want. Mr. Mr. Glowaki, present. Okay. Mrs. Hope here. Miss Mullenbeck here. Mr. O'Hara. Mr. Shine, present. Dr. Steinberg here. Six members present. Uh, the next next item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. If I could have a motion, please. So move. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. That will take us then to item three on our agenda, which are the board and superintendent reports. Um before we move on to Dr. John's, I have um uh a sad um statement to
002make. Uh tonight we are saddened to share that the Glenberg community has lost two of its own in recent days. Mrs. Mary Kay Lutz, a longtime registered nurse at Glenberg North and Joshua Terrell, a rising junior at Glenberg South. Since 2015, Mary Kay has served our students and staff with unwavering kindness, compassion, and dedication. She was known not only for her clinical expertise, but for her warm smile, gentle spirit, and deep care for every individual she encountered. Joshua was a dedicated student athlete who ran cross country and track, and he was actively involved in Project Lead the Way and the science and engineering learning community. He will be remembered for his bright spirit, curiosity, and the meaningful connections he formed with peers and staff. We ask that you join us in a moment of silence
003to honor Mary Kay and Joshua's lives and the lasting impact they made within our school community. Dr. Johns. Thank you, Miss Mullen. I have two items for the superintendent report before I hand things over to the principles. The first is um an um a notice that we received from Northbrook Township. They're opening up their um new food pantry space and that's part of their 175 years of service that the township has had to our community. U just understanding townships when one moves to Illinois is fascinating. It's a it's a real um story of history for us. Um and and townships have always served residents. And in our particular case, we have an outstanding um township uh office and they're doing a great job of supporting our students, particularly when it comes to those who are
004needy and their food resources are particularly important and our students uh at both schools work very hard with their food drives to help to support these pantries. On June 17th, that's Tuesday, June 17th from 4 to 6, they're going to have their ribbon cutting ceremony. Um, I think that part will actually start at 4:15 and I encourage anyone who can go to be there. I know that several of the administrative team will be there. Um, partly because of the level of partnership that we have with um, the township. U, we want to make sure that everyone is aware that that is a really important and key relationship that we have in our district. So, um, if any municipal leader, particularly our board members, are able to attend, it would be a wonderful thing to to
005show our support for such a great organization. The second thing I want to to acknowledge and you can see the copy of the letter in the packet is that we received from uh Representative Jennifer Gong Gershwit's office. She's the representative for the 17th district which is largely Glen View. A really exciting bit of news. Uh she's been able to to secure for Clenuk South a $500,000 project grant that'll be administered through the DCEO. Uh and we're already looking at ways that we can use this. We have a number of facility needs at South that we would like to address, but we're very excited for uh this allocation that came through the budget. Uh we certainly have needs for it and are very grateful to Representative Gon Gershowitz who's been really a a passionate and loyal
006supporter of our schools. Uh since certainly as long as I've known her, I believe she had two children go through our schools and uh we certainly appreciate her support and efforts on behalf of our schools. So, with that, I'll turn it over to the principles. I'm going to guess that we're going to start with GBN. Yeah. Thank you very much. Um, well, to start off, we had a beautiful graduation ceremony on Sunday, June 1st. Um, our graduates gave thoughtful speeches, presented a generous class gift, and performed the national anthem in the GBN alma mater. Thank you to Miss Mullen Beck and Mr. Glowaki for attending to bestow our graduates with their diplomas. Um, GBN celebrates our 2025 winners of the NCTTE, the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards in Writing. This is a
007national writing contest for sophomores and juniors, established in 1957 to recognize some of the best student writers in the nation. And locally, our contest was coordinated by our ARC, our academic resource center. And this year's prompt was about the healing properties of literature. NCTE judges awarded the highest rating of first class to Ashley An, Emily, and Mari Bali. And only 18 18 students in the state of Illinois received this designation. And in addition to these three, seven additional students from GBN were recognized with honorable mention awards. Special thanks to our art coordinator, Christopher Diper, for coordinating the students for this competition. Um, our year wrapped up with our annual concert in the courtyard featuring our choirs, bands, and jazz bands in a Ravenia style concert. We couldn't have had better weather for this performance. And
008special thanks to our directors Chad Davidson, Kelsey Nichols, Dan Briggs, and Alex Baxmeer, and all of the students for their wonderful performances. Our GBN bass fishing team sent three students, Charlie Patrick, Alex Theman, and Jacob Zyor to compete in the state tournament on Lake Shelbyville this past weekend, marking the team's first trip downstate. The team placed 32 out of 60 teams with a highlight being Alex's impressive 5pb 3 bass. Thanks to our bass fishing club sponsor Daniel Wolf who's one of our instructional assistants for his leadership as well as our security team member Jim Degrroot who assisted in chaperoning our students as he is an avid fisherman himself. Um and in activities Glen Brook North the Glenrech North chapter of Relay for Life held a very successful event last week that raised approximately $43,000 that
009will go directly to the American Cancer Society for their work with cancer research. It also helped that they too had beautiful weather for their evening events. Uh special thanks to Relay for Life sponsor David Dolnik for his sponsorship of the club. In athletics, uh more than 100 students in grades 6 through 12 were excited to bear down with Chicago Bears quarterback Tyson Beagent at the offensive skills camp that we held here. Um including current and feeder program football and flag football players. So it was a great event. And GBN baseball defeated Glen Brook South to secure the regional championship and fought hard at the sectional semi-final against New Trier this past Wednesday. Though the game ended with a tough loss for the Spartans, we're incredibly proud of the team's performance this season. Congratulations to our
010head coach Winer and the full baseball coaching staff and especially our players who persisted through many different injuries and had a great great season. And our GBN boys track sent five students to the state meet including our 4x100 team of Eban Fleelland, Aiden Fleelland, Matteo Gatalian, and Eli Khan and a 200 meter competitor even but on but the icing on the cake was that our 4x200 relay team of Eban Aiden Fletcher Geek and Eli Khan took first place in state. Their time of 1 minute and 26 seconds and 2500th from the day before was the 11th fastest time in the history of the IHSA. It's the first state championship for GBM boys track and field. And special thanks to track coach Sean Brandt, the full staff, and our full track team for an incredible season.
011It was quite an exciting time. And finally, I wanted to recognize our GBN retirees who we celebrated last Friday on the Glen Brook Day. We had from our art department, Lee Block and Justin Gerbich in student services, Joyce Bozaki Ray and Debbie Mascin. In athletics, John Catalano in PE, health and drivers ed, Mike English and Jess Roby. In science, Kathy Gutierrez in CTE, Mary Kasarog in social studies, Matt Miller, our associate principal for teaching and learning, Ed Solis in world language, John Sorcin, and our instructional assistants, Amy Tiko, Indra Williams, and Larry Yokis. our auditorium manager Joel Monahan and our building and ground staff Tony Katz, Raphael Lopez, and Andy Nardini. We had a great time celebrating their years of service and hearing their thoughtful words shared on the Glen Brook Day. Thank you, Miss
012Hughes. We actually had an extraordinary end of year at Glenrook South. Um, last Friday was our end of year celebration, uh, where we have a time to bring our staff together for one more moment to celebrate all of the achievements of the year of our students and our staff and spend time in community celebrating our retirees. Um, if you haven't had the chance to attend, always more than welcome. We always kick off with a drum line at 8:30, which is a special moment to watch. um this year uh and I'll share it in a moment. We had uh a really moving and exceptional moment with our end of year video and I'll share that with the board of ed. It's kind of a synopsis of all of our student and staff achievements in in one
013video. Some personal, some professional. Um but it's really wonderful to see um everything that's transpired in this year. It's a real feel-good moment. Um, more importantly, what we celebrated, um, was an exceptional group of retirees that have a combined 282 years of service to Glen Brook South. Um, so we had uh, Mr. John Blicks from CTE, Melissa Brown Harris, safety and security, Denita Fitch the instructional supervisor of world languages, Ken Flaws from safety and security, Daniel Hicks and David Kaine um from so both from social studies, Kimberly Larson from student services, Charles Murd from technology, Jen Pearson joined us the district director of special education. Um Lisa Sly from district office in educational services. Frank Stinkowitz from safety and security. Nancy Stickles from special education. Um, and the infamous Matt Whipple. Um, so it was
014really a wonderful day. This photograph was taken right before our students led them in the drum line. And then we closed also by celebrating uh Samantha Papa George, Veronica Reyes, Lindy Smeaggel, um, Amry Harden, and Matt Whipple with the outstanding service awards. It was truly a great morning and a great way to end the year. And then we all had breakfast together. It was a good good time. Um, we too enjoyed uh a really wonderful graduation at the Rosemont Theater. Uh, we had 740 graduates in our class of 2025. I would like to thank Mr. Shine, Miss Mullen Beck, and Mr. Downey for distributing all of those diplomas um to our kiddos. Thank you so much. Um, it was a beautiful evening and uh we received a lot of positive feedback from families. Um, and
015Clara did a great job with her speech as photographed there. It was a busy morning at Glen Brook South. We kicked off summer school already. Already we're going. Yeah. Um, so, you know, it's it's wonderful to have all of the students across all of our campuses come to one building. So, GBN and GBOC were also present at Glenberg South this morning. We have 837 district 225 students that are enrolled in 36 sessions for this semester of summer school. Um the students who are attending are taking a variety of coursework through a variety of departments. They'll do one semester during the month of June, another semester during the month of July. Um so it's always a little bumpy getting them all in to their classes and new classrooms and new buildings and staff from outside the
016district. So I'd like to give a shout out to u Miss Kenchola and Dr. Kim, they are the associate principles at Glenrook South that are serving as summer school principles. Um, but within just a few minutes, everyone was settled and learning for the day. So, it was a great morning. Um, we also simultaneously had our athletic summer camps that kicked off today. Um, they'll be running all summer long with current athletes, incoming athletes, and some future Titans as well. Uh, in athletics, this is a photograph of the um boys tennis team. They finished fifth in the IHSA state tournament this past weekend. Bryce Adon and David Kaminsky finished fourth in the state in doubles. Gavin Johnson and Shahan Hajari finished in the top 24 doubles teams in the state. And Alex Pop finished two and
017two in the state tournament. So super proud of our Titans. And that's all for Glen Brook South. Thank you. Um do do any board members have any reports to share? Okay. Um, in that case, we will move on to item four on our agenda, which is recognition of community visitors. Although I understand that we do not have any community visitors tonight. Not even civic students. Oh, welcome. Oh, no civics in summer school. No civics in summer school, apparently. Um, so that moves us on then to our consent agenda. Uh, Dr. Johns, are there any changes to the consent agenda? No, no changes to the consent agenda. Um, any items that anyone would like to open for discussion? In that case, can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda, please? So move. Second. Mr.
018Downing? Yes. Mr. Glowaki? Yes. Miss Hope? Yes. Mr. Shine? Yes. Dr. Steinberg? Yes. Miss Mullenbeck? Yes. Motion carries. That takes us then to item six on our agenda, which is the discussion agenda. And first up, we have item 6.1, an update um from Dr. John's on our withdrawal from the True North Educational Cooperative 804. Thank you. Before I get started, if someone has the remote for me. Okay. I want to give a quick update on where we stand with our uh petition to withdraw from True North. Uh things are going as expected. Uh however, not the smoothest way possible. Uh we sent out our petitions to withdraw on April 29th and gave uh the other 17 districts until June 1st to give us uh an outcome in terms of their board's vote on whether or
019not to permit our petition. Uh just as a reminder, True Norris articles of agreement require unanimous consent for a district to consensually withdraw from their organization. Uh we had four districts vote against us uh which is the same as what happened with district 34. That was anticipated. So now we are beginning the process to appeal that vote uh to North Cook Intermediate Service Center, NCISC. Part of that process is the submission of a comprehensive plan. That is a part of this process. That comprehensive plan would show to the appeal board or council uh with North Cook that we have the capacity to meet all the educational needs of our students. Um just want to point out in terms of the reasons for districts uh for the four districts withdrawing, two did not say in their
020board packets, but the other two both talked about increased cost. I' just like to point out under Illinois state law. The only reason that a district would be rejected for withdrawal from a cooperative is the inability to meet the educational needs of all of its special education students. So, I feel good moving forward uh that we meet the criteria in order to withdraw. Just a a quick update uh indicating the approval, disapproval, and no response. Uh you'll see the four that disapproved. In terms of no responses, actually, I'm expecting expecting Banickburn to give me an update on their vote. They're they have fewer board meetings than than we do. So, they didn't have a meeting in in May. It's seven board meetings a year must be great. Um, and then Lake Forest has chosen not
021to vote. I did check with their superintendent. He understands that as we stipulated a nonvote would be a yes vote and he he understood that and did not have an issue. So, so our next steps, we've hired a consultant, Mary Gerity, to assist us in the comprehensive plan that I mentioned briefly before. She wrote the comprehensive plan for district 34. So, she's well aware of the requirements of that particular plan. The statute that we're following is listed. And I expect for this plan to be complete by the end of summer, hopefully maybe even a little before. We're in a fortunate position that current director of special ed for 225. Dr. Pearson is reviewing it. And then our new incoming director of special ed, Dr. Kum, is also reviewing it. So, along with Dr. Laura Cummings.
022We have a lot of brain power taking a look at our uh comprehensive plan. So far, I've seen a a fairly substantial draft of it and it's looking really good. Um it's actually inspirational in how much work we do in special education. I think the takeaway is is is that we do a lot. So, our future step, uh I reached out to the superintendent of North Cook ISC to let her know that we are appealing the decision. uh she will appoint a three-member hearing panel. Uh they have to have some educational p uh expertise. Um they have to be impartial and they cannot be within our district. Uh this panel will determine if we can independently serve the needs of students as we said before and if approved our withdrawal will be effective July 1
023of 2026 as we as we indicated we desired. However, it doesn't stop there. despite not being articulated in the state statute, there's a whole another level of analysis that comes into play. Even if we're approved by North Cook ISC, we then have to submit our plan to the state. The state develops a withdrawal team that does an initial uh review of our comprehensive plan and then we have to request time with the advisory council that only meets four times a year. Um there'll be a subcommittee that will look at it and then a final vote. So, we have a a tricky road ahead in terms of timing. Uh, but we're proceeding ahead. Uh, one thing to point out is that the statute um, House Bill 2390 that was u passed both houses and is on
024the governor's desk that was drafted by our local representative Tracy Katz Maul with Dr. Gavell's assistance uh, would forego this particular step. So, uh, really good move and a piece of legislation. I think that's very, very helpful. Just a couple contextual updates in terms of True North. Uh, Dr. Schneider, who's the superintendent of True North, has updated families recently on the status of things at True North and our issues of of withdrawing. As we may go into more conversation later, although it's very early in these conversations, it appears that between 16 and 18 of the 18 member districts are contemplating withdrawal or dissolution. Uh but he believed uh in a letter he sent to the families that there would be no service changes for the next school year. Um and is anticipating decisions from the
025other 16 districts at this point by the end of 2025. So, a lot to learn yet about what's happening with True North. This time, I'm not requesting any action. Uh, we'll continue to keep the board and community informed as we proceed with the withdrawal process. If I can add some some things. Thank you. Because there's a meeting next week, next week, Wednesday, this coming Wednesday. So, aside from everything that we're doing as a district, we are part of the board. So I'm representing the board but I would like to represent the board and not just simply come up with wherever question comes up there. So from my point of view there are two parallel process here. There's a process of us trying to exit the consortium but at the same time the consortium is trying
026to work or at least the professional side of the consortium is trying to work on hiring consultants to draw a new plan and I don't know with what expectation I'm just representing how it is. So as representative of a district, I'm assuming on Wednesday we all going to be representative of districts that are trying to leave. But my expectation is that a large majority are going to be representative of districts that although they are trying to leave, they're going to try to collaborate on the process to see if there's a better way of running this thing. I think we need to be clear on what we want to do because this is not about leaving the the consortium or not, but this is about how we're going to come out. We all agree at the
027time that we're going to leave the consortium and we don't mind if because of us this trigger a whole other thing. But there's a different point in terms of are we sending a representative that basically sits there and twe his fingers? Are we sending a representative that says because we are not going to be part of this we're gonna get up and leave which is not what 34 is doing because 34 is participating and adding ideas although they are on their way out or are we going to be a district that are going to support them in conversations on how things could be better regardless of us being committed to leaving. Those could be two different things. We don't be like this why this didn't work for us and we are leaving but because we
028are part of the same community we don't mind sharing ideas that could do this thing better but I don't want to do it as Marc I'm representing everybody in the room so I'd appreciate any guidance or comments. So to to expand on on Dr. Simber's point um we know that there was late after the agenda was made for the for the board u packet um that a number of other districts met they have a different law firm that they use than we do and they are looking to bring forward for Wednesday night a couple agenda items. I don't know if where that stands. I've not been given enough. They've been updating the agenda almost daily in the last couple of days. Okay. So um so there's a request to to as he said as Dr.
029Seyberg said uh bring in outside assistance in understanding and working the cooperative through a dissolution process and some other pieces. So a lot's going to happen Wednesday night. My guess is that we all owe you what will be a late meeting. They already told us meeting normally last an hour and a half told us to be prepared for two hours and a half or more. Yeah, it's really exciting. Strike that from me. So, and and one thing to to point out is that we are still members. We're still paying. we will be paying through at least July 1, 2026 depending on what happens with the ISBE. Um kind of hinting returning to the point about the timing is that we could really strike some issues with timing and getting out of July 1, 2026 might
030be difficult for us if we don't if we're unable to hit the um meeting structure that the advisory council has for the ISBE. That could be tough for us. So, while we're still paying, we should still have a voice, uh, still participate and and it's possible that through this whole process, we might see something we like and and we should stay open and open-minded to that. I just don't want to give don't want for us to give the idea of you're on your own because in fact, if they dissolve the consortium, we benefit because this whole process is over. So, we we're committed to the process of leaving, but at the same time, we are not pushing them off the cliff. So that process become easier for us. And and there's this is just um
031things going on in my own head, but we could see coming out of this a different consortium model uh where the districts maybe more locally organized to provide services and being certainly the largest member of True North, we might be in a position to help other districts in a way that's also mutually beneficial for us as well. So we want to stay in that game both to help but also because of our own our own interests are still at play in the organization. So so last week Dr. Johns and I had the opportunity to meet with representatives from the true north leadership team. Uh so these are administrators um that were asking for thoughts, ideas, um things that could make the cooperative better um in the long term. And when I had the opportunity to
032testify in Springfield twice with Representative Katz Mole and Senator Fine, I emphasize an important point that I just want to restate here. uh for our own community. Special education joint agreements or cooperatives serve an essential need throughout the state of Illinois for districts that are unable to provide a continuum of services for students with disabilities. Um there is a need whether it be for alternative uh learning environments. There is a need for specialized professional development for many districts. Um and there's a need for contracting with uh agencies for specialized um uh skills uh whether it be occupational therapy, speech, language, pathology, any of these things that that some school districts may have a need but not a large enough need to have their own staff. So um while Glenbrook is in a different position we
033can't say that that's true for all the members of True North to that end um one of the things that I shared directly with the representatives from True North and Dr. Seinbergs and it would be helpful for you to maybe share this is I've been fortunate to be in the district as the chief school business official for nine years. Um, we have demonstrated the ability to manage an environment in fluctuating times that is financially stable, that demonstrates fiduciary responsibility, that puts students at the forefront of all of our decisions. Many things which parallel what True North is is seeking to do. Um, to that end, whether we are departing because that's what's appropriate for our district, as long as we're here and and even after, I am more than happy to be part of the
034planning process to help them reimagine what True North can be. Um, and I hope they'll take me up on that. Having the CSBO lens and a superintendent lens, I would think would be very helpful. Um, and so I I I've brought that up. I have offered that on prior occasions and it has not been accepted. So I really would encourage if instead of going down a path, I would argue of dissolution which is on the table u I did confirm it's on the agenda. Um, step one is making sure that we have everyone together and we all have a plan that we could maybe accept moving forward. To that end, the one last piece of feedback I would give, one of the challenges I think True North occasionally has gotten into, and this is all
035a matter of of of public record, is they will often bring in additional consultants to a hefty price tag or different organizations or different retirees. I would suggest that the best people to analyze what the needs of the districts are are representatives directly of the district. Most importantly, the sitting administrators who have those responsibilities to ensure their students are being met. So as the leadership council considers options, I would encourage that the first thing would be identifying what specialties, what skills are needed and then to put out so that everyone can see these are who we're looking for. Do we have any signups? Do we have any interests? and showing who responds to everyone and identifying do we have enough people here to answer that or do we need to go into added expense because
036just being candid any expense of the cooperative is an expense of our district and all member districts and I don't know if it's important to bring in external people when what we really need to do is just have more candid direct conversations amongst members. So those are just some thoughts I'd add. appreciate the suggestion which I bring there. Um, Mr. Glowaki, did you have anything to add? I was just going to say I think these are separate two separate issues. So, we need to wear the hat regarding the this our departure and then separately what can win true north. We don't want to see this organization struggle unnecessarily, but they were developed for a different time and period and are they still relevant at this point in time? Is there anything we can learn? Of
037course, we're happy to share it, but those are separate hats in my opinion. Right. Mr. Downing. No, Miss Hall. No, you're shine. Just so that I understand though, this was you're not asking for a recommendation or action from the board. Um, Marcelo, you'll be attending this meeting and I think we all have heard that our goal is to assist where we can, but maintain the path that we've chosen. We're going full steam ahead on that. Right. So, I'm begging that. Yep. Okay. All right. Um, sticking on the True North subject, the next uh item on our agenda is a discussion of the approval of petitions to withdraw from True North. So, uh, this is going to be a very short agenda item. It's mostly a heads up. Uh, we have received, this is not the
038petition. This is the resolution from district 30, uh, one of our feeder districts that is now, uh, interested in withdrawing from True North as well. We know of at least one other district that has reached this point as well and we're going to start receiving over the next couple weeks to months a series of petitions to withdraw just like we have. So, I want to let the board know. If there's questions that you have in mind that we might ask uh the petitioning districts so that we can um smooth this process out for everybody conceivably if we have kind of a frame of reference of what we're looking for in the petitions or or if we want to be consistent with our own request. Um maybe then we could expedite things and go straight to
039the consent agenda when we get to that point when we start to receive resolutions. um just you know since we asked to leave for these conditions if those districts are in the same boat then we would move ahead with moving it to consent agenda. So just also trying to keep the board apprised of things really are truly marching on. It's not lip service. That actually reminds me of a question that I had on our previous agenda item about True North. Speaking of marching ahead, just want to make sure I understand with respect to um the the bill that's waiting for the governor's signature, House Bill 2390. You'd indicated that it would remove the ISBE appeal step, the second appeal step. Would that retroactively apply then to our current petition? No. No. We could jump into
040it, but we're on a faster timeline. So, yes, it the answer is yes and no. So, it would not permit us a timeline to leave July 2026 because it requires 18 months uh lead time and we're now past the 18 months. Okay, that was my my question. Good question, though. It's one of those things that wakes me up in the middle of the night. So, I'm glad you asked it. Yeah, we're we're moving faster, so that's that's good. Okay. Do you want to interrupt, too? Um people have questions. Any more questions? I'm sorry. We're sticking with Trunath. We're now um talking about coming petitions. We've got one already, another one coming, and from what I understand, we can expect another 14 or so before the end of the year. Yes, there's there's different interpretations of
041there's different interpretations and timelines that districts are trying to make. So, some districts are saying, "We're not ready to go in 2026, but we're interested in going into 2027." So that mean, you know, so that puts them in a different place over the course of the next 18 months of where they want to be with their initial petition, I'm sorry, resolution and petition. So um but I do believe we'll see a couple uh more than a couple by the end of summer. Okay. Mr. Downey. Yeah. You're you're recommending or not recommending you're saying that would be great if we could get the petition and just slot it right in the consent agenda. What would we need to do that? What's that? Are you saying that you would like to be able to slot any petition
042straight into the consent agenda? What would we need to do as a board to do that? So, we would receive we the administration would receive the petition that will look uh substantially like ours and uh we would post that in consent. And what is needed to approve one of these plans is to see in either uh in the petition like we did or in a separate document that the district is asserting in some degree that it has the ability to meet the educational needs of all of its special education students. So just like districts have voted on us kind of some sort of document they attest that they have that capability. Uh if they do so, the administration would put it in consent. The board can review it just like you would a consent item
043and vote on it. If you thought that a district did not do that, you could pull that item for discussion. We'd vote on the rest of consent, return to discuss that particular item, and then the board can choose to vote or not. So from efficiency standpoint, it'd be great that we've already had this discussion in case we only pull out the ones we don't think we need. Yeah. Or we need to right now. Yeah. Thanks. Any other comments, questions? The next item on our agenda is 6.3 intergovernmental agreement to provide library services to students residing in unincorporated areas in Glen View with the Glen View Public Library. I'll take this one. Um, it's a real easy one. It's exciting. Um we have many students that already benefit from intergovernmental agreements with the village of forgive
044me the public libraries of Glen View and Northbrook. Uh what that means is we help facilitate the uh distribution of library cards to students who don't have them. Um the board has had uh these intergovernmental agreements. Uh the one for Glen View uh is a little younger just uh one or two years old. village of um or the public library of Northbrook is 10 plus years old. Um what we identified though is that we have some students that live uh often in what's referred to as the triangle. Um it's some unincorporated areas where they have village of Glen View addresses. Uh but they technically are part of the Niles and Main Township Library. Um the village of Glen View, forgive me, the library of Glen View has recognized this, worked with um uh Nile's main
045library and they are okay with Glen View servicing them. So in order to facilitate that process, we just need a second intergovernmental agreement. There is no cost to this uh agreement. Um the only thing that the library asks us for which already exists in our current agreement is that we'll help support promoting their programs and um just like any community partner if they need space in our facilities they'd have the ability to request space. Um and we in turn actually in this agreement get access to their space. So kind of a an added bonus there. Happy to answer any questions. This would be coming back to the board for approval on consent at the next meeting. Miss Hope, Mr. Shine, Dr. Steinwork, Mr. Downing, no Mr. Glowaki. Well, I have a lot of problems with
046this. I think I The library is great. I think more people can get into the library. Fantastic. This sounds terrific. So, this will come back then on consent. All right. Excellent. And then our next item uh 6.4 a one-year implementation update of procedures for student use of electronic devices. If you remember last year, we had the opportunity to present a request that came directly from our teachers in our classrooms um which was to address the reality that some of our students demonstrate offtask behavior through the use of their mobile devices and maybe others adults every so often. Um, since that time, um, many of you are likely aware that the Illinois General Assembly has considered a requirement, uh, that has been presented, uh, by Governor Pritsker and, um, some representatives that, um, all schools need
047to have protocols in place, policies in place to address the use of uh, personal electronic devices like cell phones uh, during the school day. uh that hasn't uh fully passed through the legislature at this point. Uh but there is a strong inkling that it will be uh forthcoming in the upcoming veto session. Um but what we definitely have seen around this area separate from general assembly action is so many districts traveling down this path. And I think there is something for lack of better terms really awesome uh that's happened and that is that other districts have seen what we have done what we've developed from creating an extensive FAQ for parents a different FAQ for student uh for students teachers and administrators um they've they've seen these things they've asked for them and to be
048candid they've copied them and utilized them for what works best for their school district. Um we have been in implementation mode for the last year and we've learned several different things. One of the elements that we made a commitment to um to our students, to our parents, and to this board was that when we make changes like this, we don't want to make them and then not talk about them again. um but that we would review and monitor implementation and ultimately if needed we would recommend incremental changes to our procedures. So this evening we're excited uh Dr. Cummings is going to go through and share with you the data that's been included in the memo um and just want to really highlight before I turn over to Dr. Cummings um that the concept of making
049sure that students have what they need to be successful that includes the environment and the tools and resources they need is directly aligned to our strategic plan. So focus area 3B specifies that dedicated time with support systems will be created that foster the education of the whole student. And so when we talk about policies or procedures such as keeping students on task, it's not just something we do as um per se a one-off because there's a a trend in this direction. It all comes back to our larger scope of responsibilities and goals to make sure that students are being successful in the classroom. And to that end, Dr. Cummings, can you walk us through where the data is and the recommendations? Happy to. We also have a committee member in the audience, Jill Serling. Um,
050so one of the things you'll notice um when looking at the student data is that we did not have very many repeat offenders. Um, typically once they offended, the email was sent home, sometimes they were called down to the dean's office depending on which um violation it was. And we were not seeing um repeat offenders um from that. Um I was very fortunate to facilitate a committee of teachers and administrators and students from each of the buildings um that came together to review the data not only the data that um we could look at through P school in terms of the violations but also some um anecdotal data um and feedback from a survey that we had sent out to our staff members. Um very little few tweaks were recommended through those meetings. Um some
051minor changes to the email that we automatically send out after the first violation. Um but two of the recommendations that um we have um the first one would be um reinforcing the expectation that students use the Chromebook as their device. I think what we quickly saw is students did not have a problem turning over their phone to the caddy. Um mostly because if they brought their own personal device, whether it was an iPad, a MacBook, um they were still able to access their phone sitting at their desk. Um so they could look at their text, they could um pretty much navigate anything that was on that device in the pouch. Um so not a lot of resistance to that. Um, we have always said that that students should use the Chromebook, but over time students
052have brought their own personal devices and our expectation would be that students use the Chromebook for instructional purposes um in the classroom unless it was a certain class that they needed to use a different device for. That's the first one. And then the second one is regarding um some of the social media platforms. Um interestingly enough again students necessarily didn't have an issue turning over their phone because they were able to access the social media not only from their Chromebook but any other devices as well. Um we I took a look at the light speeded data that we have which is the internet usage and categorizes the usage and that data um indicated that our social media usage for students doubled from the 23 24 school year to the 2425 school year. Um so one
053of the things that we are recommending is that the top three social media which is Tik Tok, Snapchat and Instagram that we would block those from the student devices. Um they could still access that on their phone when they weren't in an instructional setting um if they were indeed on their phone network and not our school network. Questions. There's the third one. The document. Oh, the third one. The third recommendation um that I talked about in there was just some um simple revisions to the email that is an automatic email sent out from the district office. Mr. Mr. Glowaki, did you have any questions, comments? Mr. Down, just a quick comment. I think it's I think it's great. I think that social media is a great thing, but it's to, you know, high school students,
054it's can be to a lot of them it's not great. So, I think it's great. He's great a lot. It's great, Dr. Steinberg. Great. Um, I think these are great. I just have questions. One for you and I think one for Dr. Gra in I how was this in the old days? Meaning I don't know if there's a policy or something. If you are teaching and two students are chatting unrelated to class or they are playing cards, let's forget about technology because there were other distractions in the past. How did we act on that? What was our did we have policies or we just simply said hey sorry no cards in the classroom or because I'm I'm a little bit and you know we say no more Tik Tok and then Tik Tok goes away
055in two years and it becomes white cloud or something else and then something else or or like what just happened they leave the phone but the phone they do Bluetooth with something else so it's like a catch once you catch them it's two more months and somebody goes to chat GBD and figures out how to break the policy and comes back. So is there anything else that we can empower the teachers in the classroom to act without having and I'm not afraid of having multiple policies but not to have to always go around the policy and the policy and the policy where simply it's like you're sitting in the classroom to be taught something and to contribute as one of the members of the classroom everything else is for after the be you know after
056the time or or while you're walking on the hall. So can we find a a secondary solution? I'm not going to say alternative but a secondary solution that will empower whoever is maning the classroom teacher to implement these distractions out of the classroom. Certainly. So let's take an opportunity to explore that in a few different ways. Um to your point um before there were so many devices on students desks or in pockets or what have you. Um there would be tons of different distractions. Let's take the easy one. uh students passing notes to each other. Um and the way you would address that from a classroom management um approach is you would identify it's happening. You would confiscate the note and you would proceed down that informal conversation just like we have now and then
057if it becomes excessive you would involve the deans at the high school level. So the students are teachers were empowered. Teachers were empowered were still empowered to do that. Yes. Okay. The challenge you run into with devices is twofold. First, while the district implemented, and Mr. Brea, correct me if I'm wrong, was it 2013? In 2013, when the district implemented a onetoone initiative, meaning every student had a device. Um, we did so and we required all students to or all families to pay for that device and and to have it, but we have never consistently required students to use that device in the classroom. And there were curricular reasons why that was a challenge. Um, uh, the majority of which are no longer applicable now that we're in 2025. Um if we were at that
058stage and we compare ourselves to other districts, one of the classroom management needs that would have been identified and to my understanding it was discussed uh at Glenbrook um is that it's one thing to see students passing physical notes. It's another thing to see what's happening on 25 to 30 screens in your classroom. There are plenty of technology tools that teachers utilize in order to keep students on task. I'll give you two very easy examples. If you have software and you need all students to um actively read a an article, um you can push that out to them. You can lock their devices in. They're focused on that. Similarly, you mentioned chat GPT. If you are giving a student an assessment instead of using the traditional grade master or the scantron sheets uh or or
059a physical one, you can lock their Chromebooks into a testing mode and that way they can't get out of that which is really actually efficient and easy to do on a Chromebook compared to so many other devices. Um, but the other thing that that you can do with that software is the teacher can continue to do what they they do best. They can actively engage with students, walk around the room, things of that nature. But when you have questions of if students are on task, off task, as opposed to getting very close to them and in their personal space and trying to see exactly what's happening, of which minimization of screens happen and things of that nature. um software allows you to actually see all those screens for the students that are in your class
060at that point in time and you can address that offtask behavior very easily because you can see it just like you could the note being passed. Um so um the the next step besides making sure that we're using that device that we can have control over which is why we chose the Chromebook many many years ago um is to identify what is the piece of management software that would help us. Um one of the great part um of of the Glen Brooks is that our teachers they have colleagues they have family members who are teachers in other districts and there are many tools that are out there. So, starting in the fall, we'll be actually learning more about those tools, likely to make uh or do a pilot test of what that would look like
061in select classrooms in the spring. Um, but that would allow us to address that. We had two questions. I'm retired. I give my space to the other board. No worries, Mr. Shine. Um I think that this is a great example of collaborative um teaming working towards a solution where a need was clearly recognized and um I think the community was ready for it. Um we can see that in the feedback. We're not seeing the push back from the students. I actually didn't think we would. It was the workarounds which I in my if I had to think ahead they they would be doing some of the things you you alluded to Laura. So um is there a next step of of tightening this further? Um I think less is better. Um I I guess I
062would disagree with my friend Mr. Downing. I I don't think social media is good um at this age group. I think it leads to all kinds of mental health uh challenges that be it would be very it would be very nice and it'd be very nice if those you know we weren't augmenting those challenges uh with social media. Um but I'd like to hear what might be reasonable next steps. Thank you. Yes. So, our plan is to continue to meet next school year. Um, the committee with the students and teachers and administrators um meeting at least twice, once each semester um I think it'll be interesting to look at our data after implementing these two recommendations. Um, and so we'll definitely come back together to review that and to determine if we need to make
063any other tweaks um to the plan, to the FAQ. Um, definitely going to make a push at the beginning of the school year through communication, through the syllabus that teachers have to indicate the expectation for the onetoone device. Were any of the feeder middle schools implement the program like this? la last year or so that rising freshmen have have seen this. I'm not aware of that. Well, it's my understanding that none of the feeder districts allow the kids to carry cell phones. Oh, and they were field was locked up a few years ago. There there is an Apple Watch problem just Yeah. One of the pieces of feedback that we heard um so I remember one I thought one of the elementary school districts had started to make some proactive efforts. Um before we started
064allowing students to carry things with them. The law does state that they are able to have a phone in the building um uh for a variety of different purposes. So it's the off and away concept. The way we heard from our students this year is that and we actually heard this from teachers too uh recognizing uh workarounds is they just wear smart watches at the younger grade levels um which enables them to have a level of interaction and connection uh without having to have a phone. Why do you why do you qualify that at the at the middle school? Aren't the high school kids doing the same thing? Yes, but even though middle schools aren't carrying their phones with them because that's their rule, they are having smartwatches, so they still have connection and distraction
065happening. Why wouldn't that be the case for our students? it it is a case for our students that but so one of the things as we went down the path was okay we're going to make students place cell phones in the caddy should we also make them place their smartwatches in the caddy as well um and you could just keep on going with all the different devices we we viewed at the high school level the specific types of apps that our students are using we we are a heavy Snapchat chat district, the experience on the smartwatch is not going to be very helpful or engaging. Um, therefore, yes, there could be students doing it. Uh, but the impact on the learning environment would be much more minimal compared to actually having a full functioning device.
066In order for that to work, does their phone have to be on? Is it is it getting data from the phone? No, because you can have a cellular data plan on the watch. Okay. Yeah. One of the reasons um just kind of exploring just from a technical standpoint, one of the real important reasons why the Chromebook is such a a great device for this type of a situation is we can absolutely administratively um lock down the network they can connect to. If you have a bring your own device environment, um I take this laptop and I go anywhere. Okay, if I can't get to my app using the internal network, no problem. I'll connect to my cell phone that's sitting in the caddy and and take care of that. You can't do that with the
067Chromebook. So, we're we're trying to address all of those things. But make no mistake, um there will be new workarounds and we'll learn them as they come. Miss Hoped, I was just going to ask if if you guys are meeting two more times over the school year if there are, you know, can we pull the data on, okay, we've blocked these things, what are people accessing or what new workarounds have come and maybe update more than once a year if we need to block more things or I'm going to like and subscribe to that. the new terms appreciate. Don't forget appreciate it. I I have two questions or actually possibly two questions and a comment. Um the first is on the the memo that shows the um staff responses to the uh survey. I mean,
068I got the gist of it, but I don't think that it describes what one, two, three, and four are. each of the each of the table I'm sorry each of the um columns but my my my sense my my contextual sense is it was very popular you know that the the feedback was good but I'm not exactly sure what the those things stand for so maybe just to make the record clear we should update that and upload um device violation one two and three yeah just a little bit of cleanup on the on the memo um and then two questions so we're we're going to say that um students should not be using devices other than their Chromebook. So they bring in their MacBook or their iPad or whatever. Would that be like like a
069passing the note situation where we'd be confiscated and take I'm just concerned because there's some expensive hardware and if we are collecting bunches of these every day, you know. Yeah. So even when a student has a cell phone violation, our general uh protocol uh what is called a rule is staff members other than administrators do not confiscate any items. So if there was an actual issue in the classroom, uh the teacher would likely call the dean's office and one of our security assistants or or a dean would come on down to assist or or in some cases the SRO depending on on how busy the time is. Um, in the event that a student has their own device, um, to be candid, our students are generally very compliant. Um, but in the situation, we will
070guide the staff to fill out a referral and if it's not at that class period, it will be a follow-up. Um, in the absolute worst case, um, uh, technically we will capture the IP address that they're connected to, determine the MAC address, and then we'll block the device from the network. Um, so that's another option. Okay. Technology. Uh, you're specifically blocked. You're blocked, Mr. Dominic. Um, last question only because this was raised by a number of parents to me when we developed this policy and implemented it and I'm not aware of there being any issues, but I'd be interested in knowing what your um view is on this. there were some concerns expressed of like what if my child does not have access to their phone during an emergency and we've had a few of
071those things happen and as far as I know now I haven't gotten much more on that that has not been an issue but can you address that just to allay the fears that some people might have on that. Yeah. So this I guess technically this afternoon um we had an opportunity to review our emergency operations plan with representatives from the village of Glen View um and the village of Northbrook police departments and fire departments. And this exact question came up. Um, and what we were seeking was our our current process is that in the event of an emergency, let's uh, for lack of better terms, say the the fire alarm goes off. um our current practices that the teacher has the ability to make a decision. And it's it's a bit of a gut decision
072or or just in time decision to determine if students need to bypass the phone caddy and get out of the building um or if in an orderly fashion they can grab their phone out of the phone caddy. Um, we asked uh public safety what their thoughts were in that process and they um and correct me Lara uh uh Barb or or Mandy if I'm wrong, they said that is exactly what they would recommend. Um, in fact, they they use the example to say if you were to ask us if a home was was on fire or having a situation, well, we would tell you we would say, I believe they defined it as make sure your children followed by your pets in that order are out. Um, and don't worry about anything else. But recognizing
073they said you'll know if there's a if there's a situation going on especially with respect to fire if it's directly in that area of the building or if it's not. Um and so that that judgment is very reasonable and there was no concerns there. We have had evacuations and we have not had any issues and not to say we have data on this but it seemed like most students had their devices and there was no problem. Okay, that's helpful. I had a follow-up question to sorry follow-up question to something that Miss Malbeck raised about the personal devices that people bring because the arts engineering classes they do actually some of the teachers do encourage their own devices because they were using more horsepower than a Chromebook and for design work and things of that nature.
074How do we resolve conflicts where the student they don't want to carry two devices to school so they're using their MacBook because of the class but then they're going to foreign language and you know now we're trying to shut them down and everything. How do they coordinate so that the students not in any dire straits for not using the Chromebook we're trying to promote? So let's offer a few options. It's always good to have options. The first option, very much not popular with my child uh and many children, is that we provide lockers to any student that would like them. And that is a great opportunity to not carry everything with them. Acknowledging that that will not be a viable option. We'll go to option two. In any class that requires a higher horsepower device,
075the school district is providing those devices. So, they don't have to carry two devices. they can use their a schoolp provided device especially in our project lead music theory uh graphic and visual uh art uh classes all that's provided if that doesn't work the natural then question comes well yes but I'm working I want to work on my projects at home and therefore I need my device or maybe I'm on an extracurricular activity and uh it's just best if I keep using that device in that situation it goes down to the same concept of some of our students choose choose even though we have um digital textbooks, they choose to carry print textbooks and so that's a choice. Um again, the lockers are available for storage. Many of our um classrooms especially that are designed
076that way. Students do have the ability to leave certain devices like that in the classroom. Uh but they can work with their teacher andor um utilize other I mean it hasn't been an issue for the most part. So you have kids coming in with their MacBook Pros that they're providing but using since everything's cloud-based in most other courses not an issue. I was just I saw a conflict here based on your response of what are we trying to now send are we going to create issues where we don't have issues. Yeah I we were talking with Mr. retag about the different curriculum that actually require specialized devices. And again, compared to 2013 and where we are in 2025, the number of of classes substantially decreased. Back in the day, we also had a higher number
077of students who would bring their private their personal devices because they um uh they just had wanted that flexibility and it it helped us out too because we didn't always have enough devices. But now, even with our higher horsepower applications, many of them are cloud-based. They just require a different There's just a few that I've noticed with some in the community that are still using it. Surprised, but no waves currently. Are we creating waves? Yeah. I being the one of the individuals who who's taken the phone calls um each year about why do I need to have a Chromebook when I prefer to use my own device. Um it's about a handful and I would anticipate just about the same. Um and in that situation uh I want to be real clear. Um, while we
078will ask our teachers to make sure to certainly enforce the rules that you have to have a Chromebook, if parents have concerns of of that nature, they'll be reaching out directly to our associate principles or to Mr. Breag. Um, I was going to say myself, but technically it's Mr. Bag now. Okay, Dr. a little bit different, but I'm thinking we're seeing surveys from teachers and and following what you just said, the students are kind of voting with their feet because there are not too many repeat offenders. So there not there's a significant number, but once and that's it. I wonder if we can leverage our surveys that we do in terms of sense of belonging and how you are at school educating by example in terms of putting more questions in terms of how do
079you feel now that you have more time to dedicate to the class or you don't get as many interruptions kind of getting into it there's a value for doing this and it's not just that we are trying to take something away for the sake of taking something away may take a year may take two but people get I mean I know it sounds crazy even saying it but nobody will take a phone call in a class. Although maybe somebody does it. I know. I know. But even the thought of doing it, it sounds kind of odd, right? Because you already some people go go to dinner or lunch and they put their phone down because it's an etiquette. But these are teenagers, so we need to educate them into that part. And then it may
080take time until it gets used to you're talking to a friend. You're not going to be watching your phone all the time because your friend will consider it rude. So maybe there's some solution through that way to belonging to building community being part of something larger. Yeah. One of the beautiful things about what Panorama does for us is they keep an eye on trends that are emerging and how they may or may not connect to this idea of social emotional learning. So they have direct questions regarding cell phones and the impact on that, social media as we were talking about and of course uh AI readiness and student experiences. So those are definitely opportunities for us to explore with our team and as a matter of fact we've been talking about uh going into year
081four um what do we want to dive a little bit more deeply in and what do we feel comfortable that maybe we can streamline now. So good timing for that. Yeah. And I think as I'm thinking you as a parent of former students, right? Your kid does something we tell you or goes home and says everybody does it, right? But if as a parent I know that only 365 over 5,000, my answer is no. Not everybody does it. In fact, the majority of people don't do it. They comply with what they supposed to be doing. So putting that information out kind of creating a model of do you think it's working? Any other comments? Okay. Uh that takes us then to 6.5, the 20 2526 parent and student handbook. So each year the administration compiles
082a collection of handbook updates. The handbook updates um really align with policy changes that have been made over the years. Um, this year we did make a midyear update already to the handbook regarding student apparel and appearance. Um, so that's um, already been included, but we also receive a variety of updates from the model student handbook subscription service that we have with the Illinois Principles Association. Um, those again reference updated laws, things of that nature, and those have been incorporated. As you scroll through, you'll see common updates such as personnel changes, name changes, things of that nature. Um, we've also tried to move around some different sections um because um again being very candid, the handbook was laid out uh for some sections in a confusing manner. So, we just rearranged some things and then
083updated current practice. Um more than happy to talk about anything. Um we started presenting the handbook to the board for uh review um uh just last year was the first year it came forward. Um and it's just an annual process we go through. The handbook is then made available to our all parents and signed off on by all students u each fall. I like seeing my name. I don't like it seeing twice twice on page two. Double Marcelo. Yeah, we will correct my twin. No worries. Were there any um items um Dr. Grall that you wanted to call out or this is for um discussion and then we'll come back on consent. Is that right? Correct. Just from a a process standpoint. Um I chair the committee that reviews the parent and student handbook updates.
084Um uh members of that committee include Dr. Georgees, Mrs. Hughes, uh our associate principles of student support, our our assistant principles of deans, um uh Dr. Cummings has been on that committee and a variety of other staff members. So, um this is not just as a reminder, this is not policy. This is really operational procedure. Miss Hope. Okay, Mr. Shine. Anything else? Marcel, Mr. Downing nothing. And Mr. Gowaki, well you guys did a bang up job committee. Um added 30 more days. Yeah. So this is just we and we have a policy the so these are this is making consistent with policy changes and also consistent with actual practice. Okay. Right. This will be brought forth back on consent agenda at the next meeting. Okay. Okay, thank you so much. That brings us then to
085item seven, which is our review and summary of the board meeting. Um, had some great reports about graduations. No one mentioned how fast they were. That was great. They were so efficient this year, right? That was but they were fantastic. So much fun. Um, efficient efficient. Everyone just wanted to go and celebrate. So that was great. We got everyone to their their parties. um some great end of the year um celebrations of retiring um staff. Um end of the year uh achievements downstate for some of our athletes. Um no community visitors this time, but maybe next time. Um and then a whole lot of discussion about True North, some updates on our uh cell phone policy, and a review of changes to the parent and student handbook. want to um as always ask any board
086member who would like to raise any possible topics for future board meetings. You can raise them now or you can send them an email, send us an email or me an email or give me a call and we'll get those put on the agenda. Yes, Dr. Gell, just had one note. We had a very awesome finance committee today. Um and we needed some more time to have our conversation. So for anyone who is interested in continuing our discussion of financial reporting uh structures of budgets and things of that nature, we'll gather again at 6:00 my gosh June 23rd if I recall correct. Um so just in the PD room uh anyone is welcome to join and thank you so much for the the great and uh awesome conversation. Excellent. All right. Um and we will
087I think have close session tonight. We will hold 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. and collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees. And those are sections 2C1 and two of the open meeting act. Could I have a motion? So move. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Um let's take till 8:25 7 minutes. Is that enough? Okay. Okay. See you then. And we are back in open at 8:40 p.m.
088Okay. Coming out of closed, we have a potential motion. I move to approve the resignation agreement for Miss Sarah Daatashi as discussed in close session. Second, Mr. Glowaki, yes. Mrs. Hope, yes. Mr. Shine, yes. Dr. Steinberg, yes. Mr. Downing, yes. And Miss Mullenbeck, yes. Motion carries. And with that, I think we've reached the time for someone to move to adjourn. I move. Second. All in favor? I