001So just for verbal attendance of board members starting furthest to my left please state your name for the record. >> Vasilio supos >> Scott Nelson >> Alex came >> Julie man >> James Dolan >> Jessica Pritsker. >> All right welcome to our meeting uh May 18th. We are now going to move to our approval section. May I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Kevin, may I have a roll call vote? >> Moon. >> I. >> Nelson. >> I. >> Pritsker. >> I. >> Kemale. >> I. >> Julio. >> I. >> Dolan. >> I. >> Supos. >> I. >> Motion carries. Now I'd like to ask for an approval of the April 20th regular and executive session minutes. Could I have a motion and a second?
002>> Second, Pritsker. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh, now we're going to reorganize our board. We do this every two three years whenever uh we have a new election or when we're changing roles. Uh, I'd like to ask for a motion and a second to approve James Dolan as a president pro 10 to convene the organizational meeting until permanent officers are elected. >> So moved. Camelich >> second moon. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. James, welcome. >> Well, thank you. This is my 15 seconds of fun. Um, so I want to just acknowledge very briefly our outgoing board members, uh, Scott and Alex, uh, for everything they've done over the last few years, um, and congratulate them. Uh, so now I'm going to call for nominations
003from the board. Uh, and we are going to start with the nominations for president. Uh, can I have a motion and a second to confirm Alex Kalevich as president? So move. Nelson. >> Second. Julio. >> All those in favor? >> I I. >> All those opposed. All right, the motion passes. Congratulations, Alex. Uh, I'm now going to >> Yes. I will now turn this over to Alex to continue the board business. >> Uh I'd like to move on to election of the board board vice president. Uh can I ask for a nomination? Uh or a motion and a second to confirm Eva Gilio is vice president. >> So moved >> second. >> All those in favor? >> I those opposed. >> CONGRATULATIONS TO EVA. CONGRATS. [applause] NEXT, WE'LL MOVE ON TO election or in this
004case re-election of the board secretary. Can I have a motion and a second to confirm James Dolan to continue as board secretary? >> So move Nelson. >> Second move. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? And motion carries. >> Congratulations, James. Thank you again. [applause] >> Back in the seat of power. very very unsung role there. And last, but definitely not least, we'd like to reconfirm Gabby Anderson as the recording secretary. Can I have a motion and a second to confirm Gabby Anderson as the recording secretary? >> So moved to Pritzkar. >> Second, Dolan. >> All those in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Motion carried. Congratulations, Gabby. >> Okay. And then before we move around, let's just uh again for verbal attendance of board members starting furthest to my left, please state
005your name for the record. >> Vasilio Sup, >> Eva Gillio, >> Scott Nelson, >> Alex Kimmelich, >> Julie Moon, >> James Dolan, >> Jessica Pritsker. >> All right. And then I think we're going to shuffle. >> We're going to do Yeah. musical chairs. So everyone talks amongst yourselves. Get all official. >> Oh, thank you. >> The best. [laughter] >> I heard them talking about it. I was like, >> "Oh, yeah. >> [laughter] >> All right. While Gabby is finishing that, I do want to say um Scott has been on the board for uh seven years and has been president for five, which just in case you're not clear, is a lot. [laughter] Uh every board president's uh tenure definitely has a kaleidoscope of challenges and Scott's has been no different. He has met them with
006um a lot of thoughtfulness, constructiveness, uh humility and good humor. So Scott, thank you very much for your service and we're looking forward to you now uh being the backbencher guy who just throws stuff in there from the peanut gallery. and eventually we'll have to seat you way over there. So, congratulations, Scott. Thank you again. [applause] Did you want to say anything real quick? >> Yeah, I'd like to uh thank all the board members for really making this job worthwhile and happy to do, especially the administration. I've been enjoying partnership with them also. And I want to thank you guys for taking over leadership. I think we're in a better place, especially with you two at the table. Thank you. >> Thanks, Scott. And Dr. Deli, we are finally able to move to the communication
007section. >> Excellent. Welcome to all of our guests this evening. Thank you for coming out tonight. [music] We do have a very special guest who we're going to get to in just a second. I have a an important setup for this, but District 34 is a partner with Infinitech to provide a comprehensive education that supports technology and access to communication. Each year, Infinitech hosts an awards night where it recognizes students for their outstanding work using instructional technology. And we're excited to recognize two of our students tonight. And so, Erin Ross, would you like to come up and help us uh introduce in more detail our guests this evening? >> Thank you, Dr. Deli. I'm so excited and proud that we have two winners this year. Our first winner is Silus Euing Ellis who unfortunately couldn't
008be here tonight but is watching on the live stream and he's an eighth grader here at AIA. And we have Chloe Pearson, a first grader at Westbrook. And both of them um have de demonstrated an extreme amount of growth and and um progress using their communication devices. And um this is Chloe. Chloe, can you pass this around so everyone can see what your communication device looks like? >> I have great teachers. >> Can you show everyone your So, let's celebrate both of our winners tonight. Um, we have two amazing videos um to showcase their achievements using their communication devices. >> It's a funny video. It is a funny video. [laughter] >> [music] >> Silas is a 13-year-old student at Aaya Middle School in Glen View School District 34. [music] His teachers describe him as an
009incredibly hardworking learner who brings a powerful mindset to [music] everything he does. Known for his positive attitude, Silas has become a leader in his classroom, demonstrating that with the right tools, there's no limit to what he can achieve. to navigate his education and share his voice. Silus [music] utilizes a sophisticated array of assisted technology. His primary communication [music] system is an iPad with the touch chat word power communication app. Because of [music] physical challenges that affect his fine motor control, Silus skillfully operates his device, allowing him to navigate [music] complex vocabulary with precision and speed. The impact of this technology on Silus's academic life has been profound. He has demonstrated [music] a remarkable increase in self- advocacy, taking the lead in expressing his preferences and participating actively in the general education curriculum. Silas is highly
010motivated to use his voice throughout the school day, rarely requiring prompting to engage with his peers or share his thoughts during lessons. His ability [music] to troubleshoot and manage his own equipment has earned him the reputation of a true technology expert among his teachers. Beyond his academic success, Silas's [music] vibrant personality is what truly defines him. He is a dedicated fan of the Chicago Cubs and a massive music lover with a particular affinity for the band Queen. It's not uncommon to find Silus using his technology to request [music] his favorite anthem, Bohemian Rap City, or to initiate his social interaction with a clever joke. Whether he is cheering on for his team or mastering a new classroom [music] task, Silas approaches life with joy and determination. Please join us in celebrating Silus, a resilient and
011talented communicator whose mastery of technology and infectious spirit highlights the power of discovering one's unique voice. Congratulations, Silus, on being chosen for the 2026 Infinitech [music] Outstanding Student TECHNOLOGY AWARD. >> [music] [applause] [music] >> CHLOE IS A 7-year-old student who attends Westbrook School in Glen View School District 34. Khloe is a bright, hardworking, and eager learner. Kloe has autism and has experienced difficulties expressing herself. [music] She has received speech and language therapy from early ages, exploring different modes of communication. Currently, Khloe communicates using an iPad with touch chat application and word power 108 vocabulary set. She first began using AAC in 2021. Khloe always demonstrated [music] interest in communicating. She uses gestures, facial expressions, sign language, [music] and low tech core word boards. A year later, Chloe received her own speech generating device. After beginning
012a [music] 60-word vocabulary layout, Khloe successfully transitioned to a larger 108 [music] vocabulary set, quickly generalizing where words and symbols were located and becoming even more efficient in her communication. Today, Khloe's AAC system truly functions as an extension of her voice. Chloe confidently uses her [music] device throughout her day to greet others, ask and answer questions, share information, [music] and express her ideas. Her device allows her teachers and classmates to fully [music] see the depth of her understanding and the personality behind it. Chloe's communication skills [music] extend beyond the classroom. She uses her device during art, music, and physical education, as well as during therapy and group activities. On community outings, Khloe independently orders food, interacts with staff in [music] stores, and engages in conversations with teachers and peers. What makes Khloe especially remarkable is
013how naturally she incorporates her AAC device into every part of her life. At home, she enjoys imaginative play, dressing [music] up as superheroes, playing with dolls, and building Legos, blocks, trains, and cars. She also loves spending time with [music] her twin sister and older brother. Together, the family enjoys swimming, riding bikes, ice skating, [music] and visiting trampoline parks. Chloe is curious, imaginative, [music] and eager to share what she knows with the world. Her AAC device has given her the freedom to communicate anytime, anywhere, and with anyone. Congratulations, Chloe, on being selected as 2026 Infinitech Outstanding Student Technology Award recipient. [music] [applause] >> Okay. If we could come take a picture, that'd be great. >> We'd love that. It's usually [laughter] Thank you. >> Okay, look right over here. >> Ready? One, two, three. [applause] >>
014Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you, Erin, for all of your hard work. We appreciate that. Um, I would also like to take a few minutes uh this evening to speak to our families, staff, and community members regarding concerns that have been raised with respect to student behavior, classroom disruptions, and related communication. As educators, uh many of us parents ourselves, we understand the importance of every child feeling safe, supported, and ready to learn each day when they come to school. Additionally, we recognize that public schools serve students with a a wide range of academic, behavioral, and social emotional needs. Supporting all learners in an inclusive environment while maintaining a safe and welcoming climate requires ongoing reflection, strong systems of support, a trained staff, and collaboration. This work is tied directly to our district strategic plan
015goal of creating positive learning environments that engage all learners. As we've shared in previous communications on this topic, our teaching and learning department has met with staff across all eight school buildings to hear directly from them about strengths, challenges, and areas where additional support may be needed for them to do their work effectively. Those conversations were thoughtful. They were honest and productive and resulted in several action items, many of which were already in process. I would like to note a few, however. First, next year all staff will participate in a district-wide training centered on the regulated classroom. We are currently partnering with the North Cook Intermediate Service Center to provide the student advocate program, otherwise known as ALOP, at the middle schools. That's currently happening. And starting in the fall, we will begin expanding the
016program to the intermediate buildings. Next year, we increased associate allocations at the primary buildings. Also, in the fall, we will be adding a 1.0 allocation for adapted physical education to support students across the district. We also understand the communication is important. We have been working on a more standardized communication protocol for classroom disruptions that will be shared with families later this week. Following the listening tour, our teams have been working to come up with supportive solutions and we have started to share that information with staff. I also want to acknowledge that this work is complex, but we're committed to doing the hard work. State laws guide how schools respond to student behavior and discipline, and these laws emphasize supportive intervention, restorative approaches, and safety. Additionally, the world of public education is ever changing and adapting
017to the needs of students, families, and school communities remains the cornerstone of our work and we're committed to continually working thoughtfully and collaboratively. Most importantly, I would like everyone to know that we care deeply about every child who attends school in this district. We care about the students who are thriving, the students who are struggling, the students who need additional support, and the students whose learning experiences may be impacted when challenges arise in the classroom. Every child deserves to feel safe, valued, supported, and connected to our schools. So, I just want to thank everyone for your partnership and your continued feedback. Thank you. At our last board meeting, we heard from many district parents about student safety and the classroom environment. As board president, I want to address those comments and the energy behind them
018that led so many members of our parent community to come out and talk on April the 20th. First, the board welcomes public comment and participation in all its forms. Be it speaking at a board meeting, emailing the board, participating in a PTA, or any of the many ways one can become involved with a district and make their voice heard. The relationship between a board and its community is only improved by open communication, and we welcome anyone's interest in observing and learning how the board and district conduct business, even if it includes a 15minute discussion on the price of natural gas. As at our last meeting, the board does not take any concerns regarding safety lightly, including the situations that were raised at our last meeting. All the members of our board are parents, and the
019majority have children in district 34 schools right now. Every story shared about children's experiences at our last meeting, and those shared directly with us since the meeting affect us personally. One of the core principles of district 34 is inclusion. And I am glad to share that the word inclusion has been repeatedly shared in the many discussions and other forms of feedback since our last board meeting. The message we received is that our parent and teacher community believe strongly in inclusion and finding ways to provide the best possible environment in which all children can thrive. It is this board's desire and duty to support them in those efforts. In the time since our last board meeting, you have likely seen communications from the district, the details of which were echoed by Dr. Deli in his comments
020just now. These communications, such as our May 1st parent newsletter, regard actions that were in motion prior to our April board meeting. As a board, we hope that these actions will allow our district to finish up the year in a way that continues to make all children feel welcomed and safe. In addition, Dr. Deli has shared some of the longer term efforts in which the district has engaged, aiming to evolve and continuously improve our provision of supports and quality of our communications. Every school district should seek to continuously improve on all fronts. none as important as this. And I believe this district has a long history of thoughtful and consistent improvement. Nevertheless, the best improvement efforts are those that seek to incorporate feedback in an inclusive and constructive manner. Or put more simply, we welcome
021the public's feedback and will include it as we move forward with improvements to our school environment. Feedback should not be a one-time thing, however. We encourage you to continue to speak up, engage with the board, the administration, and your local schools, and keep us informed on how things are going. While each of us on the board have our own network of fellow parents who are friends and neighbors, one of our duties and desires is to ensure we hear from as many voices and as great a variety of voices as possible. To that end, I would like to share that as we enter the next school year this fall, the board will commit to specific listening engagements with the parent community. We will share more details about these efforts as the plans are finalized. The nature
022of these opportunities uh will be to listen and gather feedback that can help inform the district's continuing improvement efforts. These listening engagements should not replace your engagement with your local schools and the district itself. This is very important. Each school is a community and everyone from the parents, board, administration, teachers, and students have a hand in crafting that community. In closing, I would like to again thank those who have taken the time to share their thoughts and experiences on this and other topics with the board as a whole and board members individually, the administration and staff of the local schools. The best schools have an engaged and vibrant community that surrounds them and district 34 is blessed to have such a community. Thank you for your continued support and please continue to engage with us.
023And with that [applause] and with that we are going to move on to the audience comment section of our agenda. This is the first opportunity for audience comments. Anyone wishing to address the board can submit a comment card available at the check-in table and give it to the executive director of communications and strategic planning. The executive director will call community members who submit cards forward. They will be asked to introduce themselves and describe their relationship to the district. Please keep your comments to 3 minutes or less. Please know that the board will be taking notes, but we will be in listening mode only and an appropriate response will be given in a timely manner. We also ask that you submit one comment per opportunity. There will be a second section in the agenda for comments
024later on. Rebecca, do we have any comments? >> We do. The first one is Ella Bloomer. Good evening, school board members. My name is Ella Bloomer and I'm a psychologist and a district 34 parent with a sixth grader at Springman, a fourth grader at Pleasant Ridge, a first grader, and a kindergartener at Lion School. I'm here to continue the conversation regarding the use of tech in our classrooms. My family's first experience with tech was when my sixth grader was in kindergarten. Um, sorry. And school shut down during >> CO. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Okay. >> Sorry. from the beginning. >> Yes. Okay. Um Okay. Good evening, school board members. My name is Ella Bloomer and I'm a psychologist and a district 34 parent with a sixth grader at Springman, a fourth grader at Pleasant
025Ridge, and first grader and kindergartener at Lion School. I'm here to continue the conversation regarding the use of tech in our classrooms. My family's first experience with tech was when my sixth grader was in kindergarten and school shut down during COVID. During that time, the iPad he was provided was meant to be a connection to his teacher, his classmates, and to help him continue learning. Since we have come out of CO, I've been waiting for the district to scale back the tech use in the classroom. For many kids, the first personal tech device they receive is from school, which takes that monumental decision out of the hands of parents. It is something that we have all accepted without questioning the longerterm impact it will have on our children and their brain development. It also sets
026up frequent ongoing points of conflict between parents and kids and teachers and students. I often hear about students, my own included, getting into trouble for being off task, being on YouTube, gaming websites during class instruction time. Classroom time is eaten up by redirection with how to use tech appropriately and repeatedly asking kids to put their iPads away. Essentially, we are asking kids to have more self-control around technology than most of us adults do. Here are my observations of watching my own kid kids navigate this powerful device as well as hearing from other parents, neighbors, friends. While my younger kids rarely use their iPads, I often notice my older kids flipping between apps when they're supposed to be doing their work, being easily distracted, and struggling to have the discipline to complete their work straight through.
027When iPads come home, they are often brought out under the guise of checking work, but it eventually moves into using them for entertainment. It often puts more work on parents to monitor and decipher when work is being done. I've also observed that the use of tech slowly adds up as kids move through the grades. Through the gamifying of education websites such as Prodigy and Cahoots, studying for a test, learning math, or writing an essay are expected to be entertaining. We are depriving our kids of learning how to do sustained, hard, maybe what they would even call boring work. The type of work that they will have to do as they grow and enter the workforce. While there is an argument for teaching kids how to use technology, what I have observed more of is kids
028using voice activation instead of typing out their work. Kids struggling to spell, struggling to have decent penmanship, and using AI to do research as opposed to going to the library, checking out books, and reading through multiple texts to find the answers. The iPad has become both a shortcut and a handicap to getting work done. There's a lot of research on why younger students should not be provided iPads, but I'm also concerned about the cumulative effect on students in late later elementary and middle school. They seem to lack a set of skills because these skills are outsourced to their iPads. My hope is that we become more intentional with having children use more physical books, write with pen and paper, and in having to do things slowly and intentionally. In sharing what I've observed in my
029own kids, I'm asking the board to establish a daily time limit on iPad use, as well as to reflect on which kids we want ch children to cultivate offline. The Los Angeles Unified School District board voted to restrict student use of tablets in class, and I'm hoping District 34 can follow suit. Thank you for your time. [applause] Thank you for your comment. >> The next is Jessica Coulson. Chi chihofski. It's close. It's hard. >> Practice. >> Oh, does my time restart? >> Okay. Thanks. >> I'll try and talk fast. Okay. Good evening. My name is Jessica Coulson Chehalefki and I'm a mom of two children. My oldest attends Hanking. I'm also an alumni of D34, having attended Hanking, Hoffman, and Springman. I'm here tonight as part of a community group of parents, former educators, and
030former schoolboard members who came together in response to concerns about significant behavioral disruptions in our elementary schools. Specifically, the impact of these disruptions on emotional and physical safety, learning, and the inconsistencies and actions related to discipline, communication, and accountability. We have addressed the board during the April meeting and since then have heard from more parents and community members about their very concerning experiences. We would like to acknowledge board members Alex Kendalevich and Julie Moon for taking the gravity of the situation seriously and for meeting with a group of parents to begin getting their own data points from families in the district. We understand that other board members have had similar conversations with parents and families around the district over the past month. We are encouraged by the sincerity of these listening sessions and hope that
031they will yield solutions that can create consistently safer learning environments and more transparent communications for all staff, students, and their families. [music] We also appreciate the recent D34 family newsletter outlining upcoming initiatives around staffing, training, and student support services. It's helpful to learn that those steps are being initiated and we're hoping to better understand what they will look like in practice in the classrooms. We want to be very clear that we strongly support inclusive education. This conversation is not against inclusive efforts. We do not believe inclusion is the root cause of the challenges we are discussing around safety in the classroom. We are questioning the system of supports in place and we're asking for more information and solutions so that all children and staff can experience a physically and emotionally safe learning environment. We would
032like to learn more about how you will measure change and what data points you will access to track change. We also ask you to reassess your recently approved policies 71 180 for prevention and response to bullying, intimidation, and harassment and 660 curriculum content as they address situations that tend to occur in our intermediate and middle school settings versus the K2 student population. Additionally, we strongly encourage the creation of a stakeholder group this summer to include administration, teachers, and parents with the mission of co-creating and evaluating solutions and rebuilding trust between the community and the school district. Our children, staff, and the community are counting on all of us to do our part. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comment. [applause] >> And our next is Elias. Hi, I'm Elias Tarowski, a sixth grade student
033at Springman. And so [clears throat] the thing is half of my friends go to Adilla and I don't see them anymore. So I thought of this idea where there's like cross school events like every like every Friday for after school. So like so you could like be reunited with your friends that go to different schools. And it really I mean it really hurts because my best friends go to AIA and I it is hard when like I I mean I have friends at Springman but they're nothing like my friends at AIA. So once a week on Fridays there should be where um where where students from both basically any school in district 34 meet up and then there's like some 2 hours worth of like fun a fun activity or something like games and fun
034activities like for 2 hours. So then people could be like, you know, with their friends [sighs] and like it just really hurts when you don't have your best friend with you. And the thing is they every time I ask them to hang out, they can't. So that that makes it uh considered that's why I brought this up so that people could see their friends more and um and like the events generally then there's like one week um at Springman and then one week at and where there's like games, snacks, um drinks, basically anything. And then it's just like for 2 hours from like 5 to 7:00 p.m. So that's what I hope you guys consider. I guess that's all I have to say. So um yeah, that's what I have to say. [applause] Thank you
035very much for your comments. And finally, Michael Tarovski. Good job, my son. Uh good uh good evening. My name is Michael Tarowski and I am a parent of a sixth grader at Springman. And I kind of want to echo uh the previous comment regarding iPads. Uh they they do have their uses but um I do find that it is a can be a very big distraction for the students. Um recently I as if I'm trying to navigate this system of in schooly with my son kind of preparing for exams or quizzes and I'll ask him you know where is your source material and he has no idea how to have how to show what where he's getting the his preparation for his study guides that will be blank. you know, ask in various uh the
036the example I use is in social studies, they had a picture of a 19th century wagon and they had all these words and I said, "Well, where did you where did you learn about these words? Can you show me the source material for these words?" Because no one's going to ask you to identify parts of this wagon without some kind of introductory material. and recently trying to help him navigate for another social studies. I found it very um disruptive and very unmanageable to go from the study guide to the various folders that you have to navigate to figure out where you're finding your information. You grab the little bit of information. you got to scroll back to a different application to read the question again. Then you have to go go back to the source
037material again. So I I do again concur that uh they are being used more as a crutch and he's unable to um do any independent research. Um, and I I found it uh very unusable in in my being very old school. And so at least I think that the district should have a training day for parents so that they can understand how this technology is used because I really was quite frustrated to figure out how we we navigate between schooly and all these other applications to try to help them learn. And I have noticed a huge difference in his penmanship from Hanking through uh being in in first and second grade through sixth grade. So I do think that there's a a way that can be used such as textbooks. I think that that would
038be helping the students become much more in-depth learners as opposed to just skimming for answers. Thank you very much. >> [applause] >> Thank you for your comment. Do we have any more comments for this section? >> That's all I have at this time. >> All right, we're going to move on to the consideration of resolutions, the consent agenda. These are number one, the 26-032 personnel report. Number two, the 26-33 payroll warrants. Number three, the 26-34 vendor warrants. and number four, the 26-035 board meeting dates. Did anyone have any questions or comments before we vote on this? Okay. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda as presented? >> So move. Gilio. >> Second. Scott Mills. >> Uh Gabby, can we have a roll call vote, please? >> Gileio, >> I.
039>> Chemage, >> I. >> Dolan, >> I. Supos >> I >> Moon >> I >> Nelson >> I >> Pritsker >> I >> motion carries. Okay. So we're now going to move on to consideration of other resolutions. The first one being 26-036 ELA curriculum resource adoption. Uh I believe I'm turning it over to you Dr. Solarin. >> I'm making sure it works. >> All right. Well, good evening. Oh. Uh, all right. I'll use my playground voice. I'll talk close. I'll use my DJ voice. We'll get this thing rocking and rolling. Okay. So, tonight we are >> Is that the one that's not working? >> Oh, it's still not working. >> Yeah, cuz we want people online to hear. So, yeah. >> Check. Mic check. >> I see. There you go. >> Okay. Let me just
040start the slideshow here. Okay. So last month we were talking about our littlest learners. Now we're talking about our biggest learners. Equally exciting. Uh I love coming to the and presenting resources for our children. We did have a little preview bag for you that we're going to uh showcase as some hands-on showand tell for the board and a glimpse of the curriculum itself. So I'm going to move through the slides. I do have with us uh Katie Harvey and Jenny Felman. Uh two outstanding instructional coaches. Uh they're amazing. The engagement in this process which has really been many years now uh is exceptional. The details, the depth of understanding of the Illinois learning standards, their relationships with our teachers and staff is just outstanding. and that's what brings us together. So, I want to start
041with thanking them. In terms of our other crew, you've heard me say this so many times. We feel like we need to test and research and do our homework when we're talking about bringing resources to our children and to our classrooms. Our goal is to find the best fit and the best experience to maximize the potential of our children. And this group of teachers took a tremendous amount of effort, time, uh, changes, redoing lessons, uh, all the work that it takes to make piloting happen. And one particular expert with us is Claire Bansberg. You all know Claire, I think, very well. Um but she is an example of a teacher that was wanting to jump into the pilot process and again for this particular school year um teach with these different materials and give us
042feedback. So it is a huge investment. Thank you so much if you're watching on YouTube. My massive gratitude and appreciation. So as we always start our projects with our children, our teaching and learning process, our pedigogy, all of the critical elements that we want to experience throughout the school day, we have a goal and this is the particular goal. This goound for our goal, we're talking about tier one. And um sometimes I bring to you different types of our multi-tered system of support. In this case, we're talking about our foundational level, our entry point into all of our classrooms. And and this is where we look to establish a guaranteed and viable curriculum. And this is where we look for equitable learning experiences, vertical alignment, horizontal alignment, instruction, and assessments. And so really, it's everything
043and anything that we refer to when bringing a comprehensive experience to our children. And in this case, we're talking about English language arts 6th through 8th grade. As we talked last time, uh relative to our strategic plan, there's not a real specific drive in terms of tier one core curriculum, but in the objectives underneath the goal of creativity and innovation. We do discuss and concentrate on growth in terms of achievement and overall uh student growth in terms of the our benchmark assessments. And so you'll see those in objectives underneath creativity and innovation. The other element that [clears throat] we really honed in on in this particular pilot because we did indeed engage our students in the pilot process and the assessment process is engagement and learning. And actually it will touch upon different themes of
044the night and then finally professional development. And so those three objectives underneath creativity and innovation is the alignment to the strategic plan. I'm going to turn the presentation over to our coaches and they're going to share with you some more details about our approach. >> I really don't like microphones. >> Oh, it's it's not on. Here we go. All right. Um, okay. So, as you look up at the slide, uh, this is the Illinois 2024 Illinois comprehensive literacy plan. As we move forward with curriculum adoption, it's important that we ground our work and um our research on this framework. As we were looking at the framework, we really focused on every learner is capable and has the right to equitable access to highquality, inclusive, differentiated, and evidence-based literacy instruction. We also wanted to address that
045um every learner deserves a reliable and valid valid assessments. So we use this literacy plan as we built our foundation on evaluating and adopting our new ELA curriculum. Our district's strategic plan aligns directly with the Illinois comprehensive literacy plan under the goal of creative creativity and innovation. We are ensuring that relevant learning experiences nurture curiosity, foster agency, inspire engagement and achievement for our students. By adopting a comprehensive ELA resource, we're working toward increased growth and achievement across all student groups, students displaying more of the dispositions we value, increased engagement in learning, and more professional learning opportunities for our staff. Everything we do from the classroom level to a board level feeds into our strategic plan and the curriculum we adopt will be a critical tool in achieving these goals. All right, let's look at some
046research. So we use two research evidencebased models as our foundational lit as we looked at our foundational literacy instruction. We looked at the active view of reading and the skilled writing model. On the left side, you'll see the active view of reading with uh Duke and Cartwright. This model shows us that reading isn't just about decoding words. It involves the four interconnected components. Word recognition, language comprehension, comprehension, active self-regulation, and bridging processes. Each of these components work together to produce skilled readers. On the right side, you'll see the writing rope. Similar to reading, writing involves multiple strands coming together. The rope highlights critical thinking, text structure, syntax, writing, craft, and transcription. As we evaluated our program, we looked at at these resources and research models to make sure that they were all addressed and not
047just isolated skills. Our adoption process is grounded in both state and national standards. We are aligning to two key frameworks. the 2024 Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan, which we just reviewed, and the Common Core State Standards, the National College and Career Readiness Standards that ensure our students are prepared for what comes next. Any resource we considered for adoption needed to align with both of these frameworks. It wasn't about following mandates blindly. It was about ensuring that our students receive instruction that meets rigorous evidence-based standards and prepares them for success beyond district 34. So, you know, we like to do our local research and just see what other districts have decided to do in similar situations. One overlay here that's of interest is the amount of study sync. That's a program, a published program um because that
048was one of our um pilots and so you'll see that come up again. But just to bring your attention to the number of districts in the area and we have a really long list, but for the purpose of tonight, um, just so you know that we do look at other districts and this is sort of the theme we found out in the the universe of English language arts curriculum. >> Okay, so just a quick review of our pilot timeline. Um, our pilot process was both intentional and collaborative. Uh, we began our work last spring when we researched uh comprehensive ELA curricula. We met with representatives from several uh local districts, both assistant superintendents for teaching and learning and coaches, and we narrowed down the options to what we felt would be the best fit for
049a comprehensive ELA curriculum for uh us here in district 34. Uh last summer in June, we brought in representatives from four different programs and we had a group of teachers and administrators that met together and we evaluated each program based on some research aligned criteria and we voted on two programs that we uh decided to move forward and recommend to a pilot and that was study sync ELA and arts and letters. So that pilot process began this trimester or I'm sorry the first trimester um last fall with study sync ELA and then here in trimester 3 we conducted an arts and letters pilot. So just for your reference here are the four uh programs that we looked at. um the teachers, the coaches, we um met together in the summer and looked over all four
050programs. We uh had criteria for each one and as Katie said, we narrowed it down to um study sync, ELA, and arts and letters. We believed or we believe that both programs offered strong alignment to our standards and research models, but ultimately piloting them in the real classroom gave us that experience we needed to make the best decision for our students and for the teachers. >> So for this particular process, we looked at these different categories to make a decision. I have to say the most exciting and engaging feedback was the student feedback. It was outstanding to read hundreds and hundreds of uh feelings of children um that range from super engaged to uh you know English language arts is all right. It's uh it's a it's a thing. Uh but um it was very
051insightful. Uh we we love that part. Um the teacher and coach feedback. Again, Jenny and Katie spent a lot of time collaborating with teachers, gaining observational information. Uh just this sense of what the teachers were feeling, believing because it is so personal to their craft and the work that they do. We did traditional surveying of teachers and co-teers were a significant factor of this process as well. So that key piece was included. You heard about the alignment and then that last piece the program structure and especially as the world is shifting in a direction but we did look at print versus digital um as you can see in that criteria and also this notion of whole novels which uh are books novels. Yes. Uh that's how you say it. That's what they are. [laughter] uh
052versus excerpts or uh short text um which has its place but again it's something that we really looked at um maybe the old school type of anthology concept versus again authentic literature that would be presented in books and novels. So with that we want to share another element before the decision and I'm going to have Claire talk about this part. >> Sure. Thank you, Matt. Um, we are so grateful for all of the robust board participation we have in our standing committee structure in the district and um, Jessica and Vasilius have been particularly thoughtful EDCO members this year, but we just wanted to give a brief overview of the active role that that EDCO plays in the pilot process for this pilot and all pilots. Um, so as Katie mentioned, a year ago in May,
053um, our pilot plan was originally presented to EDCO. Um, it's a really wonderful and unique opportunity for educators at all of our grade bands to engage with curricula even if it's not directly going to be used in their classrooms. So, in this case, our primary and intermediate members of the committee can gain a deeper sense of where their students are headed as as readers and writers and speakers. Um I um the flip side of that love to see the pilots in our primary and intermediate um classrooms just to kind of get a sense of where my students are coming from. So all of that was and and Edco was um updated throughout the process leading up to just last week when we got a sneak peek of this of this presentation. So thank you to
054our participants. So, this is the part in the presentation where I was going to light off the fireworks because it's a decision, but Steve said it's too dangerous. So, I'm going to defer on the fireworks, but here is a decision. Uh, we're presenting to you this evening, arts and letters. You have in the um I feel like Wizard of Oz uh red cache uh of little Yes. Um student samples, which we thought you would find very enjoyable. Those you can keep because they are they're pretty cool. Uh handwritten uh samples um that you can see how children were responding to prompts, written stories, uh that whole experience and then the types of literature that will be experienced and some other components. I'm going to turn over to our experts and they're going to take you
055on a little tour. >> All right. So, um, if you open up the Canvas tote, we're just going to tell you kind of the, uh, resources that both students and teachers are going to use. So, the first one is the learn book. We're going to have Vanna over here. Look at the learn book. [laughter] Okay. Okay. So, the learn book is the student workbook that includes articles, poems, graphic organizers, and other materials to support the engagement and the learning. The prologue can uh provides language building previews and practice activities for EL, bilingual, and students who have language disabilities. The teachbook is um the teacher edition that the teachers are going to use that provides that rigorous instruction and guidance for the teachers. And then um the core texts which you will find in your red
056basket. Um those are the texts that are in modules 1 through 4. Um various grade levels in each of the baskets and those again are knowledgerrich trade books. And there's also texts that are included that build that lasting knowledge that we will achieve in uh with this program. All right. So, inside those yellow folders that Matt referred to earlier, you'll find a packet of resources from each grade level's pilot experience this trimester. The packets organized into sections for sixth grade, 7th grade, and eighth grade. So, the first page of each section highlights the module title, essential question, and then the featured visual art piece. The next page gives you um a preview of the module texts and resources including the core books, the visual texts, uh non-fiction articles, poetry, and videos. Uh and then that
057page is followed by um an outline of the module's learning goals. The following pages include, as Matt said, uh sample learn workbook pages that were completed by our students in the pilot classrooms. Those samples include annotated non-fiction articles and poetry. you'll see graphic organizers and writing planners from each of the modules. And then lastly, we included some student writing samples. So each module contains um multiple writing tasks connected to the module's topic and theme. So those are included uh at the end of each grade level section. >> Thank you, Katie. And I can speak just briefly to our experience in the seventh grade language arts classroom this last trimester. Um, I think as a natural followup to our ongoing conversation around striving for a balanced approach to technology use in the classroom, this, as Katie
058and Jenny mentioned, this this curriculum is very analog by design. And I think our students found that to be incredibly refreshing. Um, especially at the middle school level, we are actively working on developing their executive functioning skills. and early on in their term, multiple students expressed like it's just so refreshing for it to be right here in one workbook and I don't have multiple tabs open and I don't have to go searching for that rubric. So, um that was that was lovely to see that response from students. We were able to bring our workbooks out to the amphitheater, enjoy the sunshine. So, um that that definitely is a highlight of the program from my vantage point. Um as Katie mentioned, there is a visual art component to this, hence the name arts and letters. So
059um we spent our trimester in ages. Mr. President, I know you're a medieval historian. You hope to come join us. Um that uh we for instance had a medieval wood carving that we were analyzing um alongside the narrative novels that we were reading this this term and kind of the students were able to make cross you know genre across medium um thematic connections um throughout the term. So that was that was unique and we [music] loved being art historians um for for a few weeks there. Um there's a fluency component to arts and medals which is really unique at the middle school level. You tend to think of uh us actively building fluency skills in our students more at the primary, but um we speaking and listening skills are absolutely essential um beyond their K
060prek8 experience. And um you know select passages from our texts were practiced actively by our students for their pacing and their expression and and they really loved that kind of more performative component to it too. they would formally um you know record those as as as part of their assessment. Um we're finally making we're working on a narrative piece where they are writing from the perspective of a medieval teenager different social class and they're just having a lot of fun playing with language. They've gotten a lot of questions this week like you know things would be pajamas or how do they sing? So, we're just we're having a lot of fun with with with that narrative and structure and it's it's been a successful turn. All right, this is where the real fun begins because
061this is our implement implementation plan. So, you'll notice we have some dates for the end of this year all the way till uh next year. Um this Thursday we are going to train all the non ELA pilot teachers LBS1 EL and bilingual co-teers on um arts and letters. June 4th we're going to have a scope and sequence review with all teachers. Uh a highlight is June 10th all administrators are going to go through some arts and letters training. Then also we'll have um on in August an institute day half-day training for co-teers on differentiation and the prologue resource and um then another half day with all the ELA teachers. September 11th, we're also going to continue um our implementation along with having some release time to explore the modules throughout the year so the teachers
062truly feel supported um in implementing implementing uh this program. So, the request uh our recommendation is that we engage in an initial three-year purchase. And uh I I apologize, your slide references fiscal year 2027. Uh after consulting with Michael, we're looking actually at fiscal year 2026. Uh we're going to purchase uh tomorrow, I hope, and start receiving the materials as soon as possible. So what we're looking at initially is the 259,000. Um the piece to this though is that we are buying 3 years of the workbooks, the digital access, the teacher access and initially the novels from the publisher just to set the foundation and make sure that we're literally all on the same page. But subsequent years we think we can outsource the novel purchasing uh a little cheaper. And there's actually a local
063uh company that is great to work with. And um so there'll be additional purchasing second and third year for the novels because we're our goal is to actually consume the novels. We're going to uh notate in them uh annotate, write. Um and and so we'll also experiment with how many novels we're going to consume, which continues to sound so weird like we're going to eat them or something, but uh we're not going to eat the novels. Uh but we were going to use them to the point where we can't reuse them uh year over year. Um so we'll kind of play around with that. So, we don't think it would be any more than $60,000 on an annual process or uh yearly basis to uh replenish the novels. So, that's kind of the setup. Um,
064so it's a 259 for the first year and then the second and third year for all of the core curricular materials and then we'll continue to purchase novels depending on how we use them. With that, uh, I'm gonna we're going to collect the books and the materials, not the folders. If you wish to keep if you wish to keep them, sorry, we got to take them back because we're going to use them for PD uh, Thursday. Um, but uh, if you have any questions or thoughts as we take back uh, the materials, we are open. >> Thank you for a great hands-on presentation. Once again, really appreciate it. questions from the board. Go ahead, Jane. >> Yes, I Oh, sorry. >> I was gonna say, does Scott want to lead us off now? He's not,
065you know, down here with the rest of us. >> He's he's Yeah, he's >> unfamiliar view. [laughter] >> Do you want to go, Scott? >> Uh, I was wondering, are the the teachers that are getting the training, are they going to be able to take some of this home over the summer if they want to use some of their summer time? >> Yeah. Yes. It's a great question. We uh on >> it's their time. I want to know. >> Yeah. No, but a lot of them are eager too. >> Yes. So, they will have digital access to all of the modules um online. The print materials won't be in at the end of the school year. However, they will receive each teacher will receive a tote similar to the ones you have in front of
066you with all of the core texts for the grade level that they are expected to teach next year. And that is all of our ELA teachers and co-teers. So any of our LBS1s, EL or BL teachers that are supporting our ELA classes, they will get a TOE as well as our reading specialists, um LRC directors, multilingual teachers, >> um anybody who's supporting ELA will get a text set so they can >> enjoy their books over the summer break if they wish. >> Yeah. >> Just trying to take anxiety away. >> Yeah, of course. That was our thought as well. Yep. >> Uh thank you for the presentation. hands-on and very collaborative. I appreciate that. Um I'm curious is just how many modules do teachers get through in one year. [laughter] >> So that is one
067of the conversations we are going to engage in on June 4th. So the program is designed for four modules, each one being it's roughly 37 to 40 lessons. Okay. >> Um so our we will [clears throat] teach a minimum of three modules one through three next year. Um all of the core ELA standards are covered in modules one through three. Um so we are going to work with the teachers and have a conversation if we want to try tackling all four the first year or if we will teach modules one through three and then continue with a previous study likely be a novel study or a book club study that was done in the past. Um so we'll have those conversations. We will come to consensus at each grade level and the buildings will be
068aligned. >> Thanks. Yep. >> Okay. I have a followup to that. Yeah. >> As as somebody who devours books >> to the chagrin of the Glen Public Library. Um so I think I saw in module four, I don't know which grade level it was. Uh it's about fever was the I think the theme. >> Um as a microbiologist, I think it's great to have a little bit of a natural history and understanding of what has happened in the United States. >> Uh and there's even a hospital named after Walter Reed uh because of the discovery of yellow fever that not being notwithstanding I also noticed uh there's the arts and letters and then is the wit was it witt and wisdom is that by the same company >> same public >> how did we choose
069one versus the other >> also a great question uh arts and letters is witt and wisdom is designed for a 90-minute ELA block a 90-minute literacy block and arts and letters this is actually first year of implementation for arts and letters as a program it is designed for a 60-minute ELA So, the arts and letters program, the the curriculum is designed, it mirrors the witten wisdom units, but it's designed for 60-minute comprehensive ELA books as opposed to 90. >> We would love a speaker if you're interested. I know from that module 4, we got your name. Yep. >> You know where to find it. >> Kids eyes will glaze over. [laughter] >> There it is. The peanut gallery. Yeah. knew that was coming. Any other questions? I just uh want to say as a member
070of EDCO, it's really enjoyable to see everybody get really like uh passionate and excited about these things and piloting is a lot of work and so I thank everybody for doing the work and I really appreciate um the mindful focus on like printed texts and uh going a little bit more analog to kind of tie in with the concerns of a lot of the parents. And so um thanks Thank you. >> Anyone else? Claire, since you brought it up, can I now assume that a study of daily life in the Middle Ages will be a component of middle age curriculum because I'd love that. >> I think we have another guest speaker on our hands. >> Welcome. >> I too can give a presentation that will make them fall asleep. It would be great. >>
071We welcome. [laughter] >> All right. I just want the community to realize also like this has been an ongoing process for the last year. So I want to want everyone to realize we have been thinking about our use of digital resources as we've been going about this. I don't want anybody to think this is happening in a vacuum. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Great point, Scott. And thank you again for all the the work you've put into this. Uh you and the pilot uh teachers as well. It's a lot extra but clearly there's huge benefits there. So I appreciate it. So, we will be voting uh to approve this curriculum uh via the resolution. So, um this is resolution 26-036. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution as presented? >> So,
072move to Pritzkar. >> Gabby, can I have a roll call vote, please? >> Dolan, >> I. >> Kamalich, >> I. >> Subos. >> Moon. >> Hi. >> Nelson. >> Hi. >> Pritsker. >> Hi. Julio I >> motion passes. Congratulations and get to ordering. Thank you presenters. >> Our next item is uh 26-037 prevailing wages. Uh Michael will be speaking to this. Michael, have you brought anything to share? >> I have not. Um >> well maybe next time. >> And this really isn't a topic that lends itself to that, but maybe next year. So, um, annually the board has to approve the prevailing wages to be paid, uh, on jobs that are completed. Our, uh, prevailing wage, since we're in Cook County, comes from the Cook County Board. Uh, we typically do this at the May
073meeting. So, I would request that you approve this. Uh, not typically something that needs a lot of discussion. That's why we're going to do both in one night. So, >> Okay. Any questions? No. All right. Uh, can I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution as presented? >> So moved. Dolan >> second. Nelson. >> Gabby, can I have a roll call vote, please? >> Subos. >> Moon. >> I. >> Nelson. >> Hi. >> Pritsker. >> I. >> Julio. >> I. >> Dolan. >> I. >> Chemove. >> I. >> Motion passes. Moving on. 26-038 annual certification of hazardous conditions. Back to you, Michael. another one that doesn't have any sharing items. So, um annually the board has to approve hazardous routes. As you know, we have to provide transportation to uh students uh
074based upon certain criteria. Uh and we have added criteria as a consolidated school district. Uh so, annually we review to see if there are any additional uh routes that should be deemed uh hazardous and be designated so that transportation is provided. Uh Rob did that uh review and there are no new ones from this year. So this is the same list as last year that we're approving. >> Okay, perfect. Any questions? >> I I just want everyone to realize OLPH is on there. I want everyone to know that we provide transportation for PH also. >> Great point. All right. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution as presented? >> So moved. Move. Second. Pritsker. >> Gabby, can I have a roll call vote, please? Moon. >> Hi, >> Nelson. >>
075Hi, >> Pritsker. >> Hi, >> Julio. Hi, >> Dolan. >> Hi, >> Camelage. >> Hi, >> Supos. >> Motion passes. Moving on to 26-039 Wesley agreement. Back to you, Michael. Um, we have a agreement with Wesley to provide their child care services within the district. Uh, it has not been up for renewal until this year because the last renewal was a three-year contract. Uh this one is uh created in the same fashion. Uh the only difference is is that we put a three-year increase on the room rate which will bring it up to $7.21 per hour for the first room. $3.50 per hour for each room therea I'm sorry $3.61 per hour each year thereafter each hour thereafter. And then uh it is again a three-year agreement and Wesley has already signed off on it.
076Thank you. Questions? May I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution as presented? >> Second. Gio >> Gabby, can I have a roll call vote, please? >> Nelson. >> I >> Pritsker. >> I >> Julio. >> I >> Dolan. >> I >> Chemich. >> Hi. >> Supos. >> Moon. >> I. >> All right. Motion passes. Moving on to number 526-40. approval of the resolution awarding and assigning trade contracts for 2026 capital improvement site work at Glen Grove School. Michael, back to you. >> Uh Steve's going to explain uh our site work at Glen Grove. >> Thanks, Steve. [clears throat] >> Good evening. Uh tonight before the board, uh we're asking for approval of the capital improvement uh Glen Grove site work this coming summer. Uh similar to the previous approval of Lion
077and Springman, uh this will include new asphalt and new concrete around the school. Um since the bids for Line and Springman came in so favorable and at the suggestion of the board, we went out to get numbers for Glen Grove third school and still falls underneath the $3 million that was approved by the board. We're able to do all three schools this summer with approval. Um that'll leave us three schools left. Uh Pleasant Ridge, Hoffman, and Antia. And moving forward, we'd like to knock those all out, uh probably next summer, and then we will be complete with all the uh site work uh at the district. So, do you have any questions with that? Just to note, there are three additional minor projects that are separate that are falling under a different scope of work
078that we're doing and fall under bid thresholds. That's why they're not part of uh this presentation. >> Great. Questions for Steve or Michael? We're good. Thanks, Steve, for being efficient like that. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you. Okay. Can I have a motion and second to approve this resolution as presented? So move Nelson second. >> Gabby, can I have a roll call vote? >> Pritsker I. >> Gileio. >> Hi. >> Dolan. >> Hi. >> Kimmel Levage. >> Hi. >> Moon. >> Hi. >> Supos. >> Hi. >> Nelson. >> Hi. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Thanks Steve. And now for the topic everyone's been waiting for. The 26-041 copier. >> Very exciting. >> Recommendation. >> Very exciting. >> Copier and printer, I believe. hand printer. So, >> so this is our gas discussion. >>
079This is our gas discussion. Yes. >> No comment. Um, one of the things I I think you're noticing a trend um of conversations that we've had over the course of this past year and in preparation for this year um is around being able to provide more nondigital opportunities. And while you may think we're just replacing our copers um and that is accurate, we're actually taking a different approach to how we address the use of copers. Um, currently, as I shared in the memo, we have a model where we have um less copers and more like oneoff printers that are in different locations that serve a purpose of of printing one copy, two copies, but not really the same volume that you would expect a copier to do. And so what has happened as we've transitioned
080even this year and last year to more you know paperbased opportunities when those devices go down it shuts down um the environment and shuts down the school and we were at the end of our agreement um last year. So, we extended our devices one extra year and we certainly ran into um a situation where our copers weren't meeting the needs even this last year that we wanted to. They were breaking down and and so really thinking through how do we want to approach um our copers moving forward from a collaborative standpoint. We did have a committee of um representatives from the building. There were several teachers that were part of it. But more importantly, the people who are most invested in knowing if the copers work or not are the administrative assistants in the office
081knowing if copies are done and left, you know, for wasting copies and and all of that. So, we brought in a group of individuals to talk through um our copier configuration, to talk through how it's set up. Um, and as you'll see in the memo, what we're doing is we're transitioning from a model that had two copers per building if you're an elementary building to six copers. And if you're at a middle school, you went from three copers to um an environment where you have 10 copers. Um, each copier there are volumes of copier. So, we have a low volume, you know, different um places. But the overall message is that we're increasing the opportunity for making more copies when needed and that if we do experience a time where some go down and they're
082not able to be fixed that day that we have um several others that staff can use um as we're going forward. The other thing that we are switching to which will be a unique not for it is unique for us. It's not unique for education at all. it's not unique for businesses at all is we're going to be using a print management um component and the print management will um allow staff to make prints and then don't they don't have to go to the copier right away. I mean if you've been in a business you know h how how this works. Um it is a change here in our district and that's going to take some learning um some um growth pains as it relates to that new I have to go up there swipe
083my card hit print it it's a it's a new process couple things that we know that it will provide is it will create less waste we do have in our current structure people print forget they print they go there later find it the secretaries see that there's you know a hundred pieces of paper of things that weren't picked up. This will allow this will eliminate that. Um, and it will allow for us to have specific configurations for our color copier so that staff can use it. Right now, we have color printers. You have to go to it. Um, you use a printer or a computer that's there. So, there's going to be more um flexibility in terms of that opportunity to to make those prints. It also allows for the uh in the long term
084for us to balance okay where are we seeing more prints where are we seeing more trends where are we seeing you know different staff using it and do we need to make an adjustment um with that going forward overall this change as you saw actually decreases our expenditure it is the decrease is in large part because we're removing the printers that cost us a a lot of money to per copy to utilize. And those printers are printers that have been around for the most part. I mean, they're HP 4100s, HP 4050s. If you look at the history, they've been here since 04. I started in ' 04. They came in 0405. They've been workh horses. I mean, just amazing. Um, but they're expensive to repair. The parts are out and toner is not inexpensive for
085those. So, this helps to bring down the per copy cost for us over the long term um to an average savings, I think, over the 5-year agreement of around 111 120. I say average because if we print more, we're going to spend more, but that's okay because we're making changes in terms of how we support our instruction. >> Sorry, that went longer than Steve's. I love I love it. Questions for Ryan. >> Does it say it's cheaper? >> It is cheaper. >> So, we're saving money. >> We are saving money. >> Possibly a fair amount of money. >> You should be talking a lot about >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, it it Yes. It's an opportunity where the per copy cost is um more aggressive and the when you combine the amount of money we were
086spending on our printers, not our copers before, but our printers, it is a dramatic savings. >> Paper cut is a wonderful tool. I I >> Yes, I've used it before. It's beautiful in when >> So, >> yeah, we have that at work, too. And I mean the Yeah, I used to see giant stacks of unpicked stuff. Yeah. >> Yeah. It's also good if there's something sensitive like it doesn't >> it it allows us in theory to decrease the amount of oneoff um printers because special ed being very sensitive information has required more um and I'm just using special ed business all areas have required more because they can't guarantee they're going to be the one picking it up and if it has student information so now it's you know you just swipe Terrific. Any other
087questions? Okay. So, we're going to be approving this uh new contract. It sounds correct, right? Yeah. Okay. Um can I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution as presented? >> So, move. >> Second. Gio. >> Gabby, can I roll call vote, please? >> Gio, I >> Dolan. Hi. >> Chemic. I >> Moon. I >> Subos. >> Nelson. I >> Pritsker. I >> motion carries. Okay, we're going to move on to the disc discussion section of our agenda tonight. Uh the first item on the discussion agenda is the resolution for interfund transfer operations and maintenance to capital projects. Turning over to Michael. >> Thank you very much. As Steve shared earlier, um the board committed to $3 million a year over 10 years to complete the work that was not completed through the
088referendum. Uh in this year, uh the budget contained $3 million uh for expenditure. It should be in capital projects. So, as we typically have in the past few years transferred money from either ed to on and on and m into capital or capital into into I'm sorry, O andM into capital. Uh that is what we're going to do because it was not specifically cited in the budget for that purpose. We wanted to give that opportunity to discuss that with the board if uh they wanted uh to go ahead and talk through that. But this is just typical to make sure that our capital expenditures are paid for out of fund 60 so that when we do forecasting or when we're looking at budgeting we're comparing an applesto apples number. So at next month's meeting we
089will bring the transfer from and m to capital on& and m to capital does not require a 30-day or a public notice. Uh ed to on& and m does. That's why you may be used to a hearing but in this case they're not going to have one. That's the purpose of this discussion. so that we can go ahead and approve it next month. And then just so you know, because of some timing and issues, the way things were paid for of last year, which would be part of this year's transfer, because the fun part of the fiscal year is that uh part of it gets uh brought back and acrewed back into the previous year for funds spent in this year. Uh we did have some spend to take down fund 60. So in the
090budget for next year, we've planned when you see the tenative, you'll see it a little bit of a larger transfer to cover the remaining portion of this year's work. We'll journal entry the work this year that should have been in fund 60 but was paid for out of fund 20. All for accounting purposes again for that planning and budgeting uh process. Uh and then we are contemplating an additional transfer that we'll talk about to bring down some balances to avoid rate objections and help along the capital projects. uh for next year. So, this right now clears up the transfer that uh was planned in the budget but not identified specifically. Uh it doesn't cause any thresholds to change as far as an amended budget goes. So, we'll go ahead and do the transfer next month
091and then we'll be all set to pay those bills. um should so this this is mostly about the accounting of how we move this money around but I just wanted to reference and we can talk more about this when the next budget comes through the 3 million itself has is came out of CFAC several years ago there was a rubric behind that it was when we were contemplating once the referendum work was done how much money should we allocate for maintenance over let's say the next 20-year period specifically because we didn't that's how we ended up with a referendum in the first place because we had not done maintenance. So um that as Michael notes is is been in the budget. It's actually been in the budget projections at least with CPAC presentations for the
092past at least two maybe three years as sort of a placeholder. So um just there's two separate things there. We can talk about that in more detail when we next talk about the budget. Any any discussion on this particular transfer. All right. Thank you, Michael. Moving on. Oh, this is you again. Public hearing on the next budget. I'm not going to read the whole thing. >> Yes. So, by statute, we're supposed to set the dates for the public hearing. Uh set the calendar for the budget. you guys did that back in January. Uh this goes ahead and lets people know when we will go ahead and post the budget. Uh when we'll go ahead and and bring it as a tenative and when the hearing will be on the final budget. Uh this tracks with
093what the calendar has traditionally been. Uh and we're looking forward to getting those uh those public hearings on it going. >> Terrific. Any discussion on that one? I just put it out there for those that are not familiar with pulling it down. Uh July 15th, is that the target date for the posting of the tenative budget? >> Yes, >> there we go. So, July 15th. >> Great. Okay. Our next item is instructional resources. Brian, take it away, please. >> I have three wonderful people that will be helping once I turn on. I have three wonderful people that will be helping with this presentation. So, let me call them up. Hold on one second. Here we go. Thank you guys for the opportunity to share today and and really recognize that um this is a part
094of the conversation. This isn't the conversation. This is a a point in time to share where we have been as a district um areas that we've talked about and done um and focused on, but more importantly where we see ourselves moving forward and how we see that um conversation going um not just next year but the next year and moving on for our students. First, I do want to introduce we have three of our um teachers from the schools. with Chrissy um from Matia and they'll introduce themselves as well. Jen from Westbrook and Katie is um from Pleasant Ridge and they're going to be able to share some information um again about our steps um as we've gone through this um process. I'm going to try right now not to share everything that they're going
095to share. I have a tendency to leave it on one slide and then I do an introduction that is about everything that we're going to talk about. However, I do want to just speak to um that this is an opportunity for us to talk about the journey to talk about the process that we're in, but more important importantly to share our immediate adjustments, our short-term and our long-term conversations. I think the important component is is that for us, this is a yearly discussion. It's not always a yearly discussion where we come to the board and talk through, but it is a yearly discussion where we're talking about our resources, how we're integrating them, what we're using them for, whether that is the IS group or it's the IS group with our committees structure, and we'll
096talk about that as we go um forward. But it is something that we really take pride in being able to have conversations about how we're using our resources. Doesn't mean that we don't have a areas for improvement each year and things that we're like, "Oh, we need to change this. There's changing um demographics and how things are working." One of those things is last summer we had a small committee of administrators and educators um from the buildings come together on this exact topic. understanding that we were starting to see more research post the pandemic around the use of digital tools. seeing how um other districts were starting that conversation, whether they it was a productive conversation or it was a responsive conversation by those districts and really trying to see how we were prioritizing our
097resources and what we wanted to look at as we went through this year in terms of moving forward. you have seen as a board that part of that play out already and that is in the adoptions that Matt has brought forward they have emphasized the non-digital components while each of those tools whether it's um the primary with farmics has a digital tool that we are not focused on the social studies or the science that has a digital tool um but the focus was on getting textbooks and making it more analog and then what you just saw in the presentation around um ELA and while they have a focus um they have a component that is digital our focus as a district this movement is to really focus on the tangible you saw the they don't
098call it a handbook or a workbook but the learn book um as making that uh an important part that's both um strategic on our part but also acknowledgement that this is a change that's taking place that it's interesting that similar conversations took place in 200 or 2012 2013 as technology was ramping in and then co did create unique struggles and unique situations where technology became a driving force of that communication and that ability and now it's about reflecting on what we have and how do we move forward forward from there. So, I'm going to move to the next slide before I just talk about everything and talk about the fact that our core commitment as a district and ours as an instructional innovation team is not around technology. Our district, if you listen to conversations
099at EDCO, if you listen to conversations, our focus um is about that humanto human. Now, what we need to do is to make sure that our focus is being modeled throughout our buildings. And how do we do that is the next phase. But talking with our staff and talking with um when we're going over resources, it is about driving intentional use when we're reusing resources and making sure that it's not um a passive resource to you to occupy time, something that you're using just as a filler. That has never been the intent of our one to one. It wasn't, if you look back to when we adopted it, it was actually a major component of what not to do um in there. And part of our work moving forward is about how do we ensure
100that that's not a part of the conversation. How do we ensure that in our buildings um and we have some ideas already and we are looking forward to the committee and the partnership with parents on additional ideas, but how do we move that forward? A major component remains digital citizenship. Whether we have technology in our schools or however we use it, kids are going to be at some point in their K12 experience um in an environment where they are online and how are we preparing them for that and the age appropriateness of that preparation um and being able to set the tone and identify with kids how they should be and how they shouldn't be using technology um both in school and out of school because there is that crossover where, you know, we have
101kids across our district that are using, you know, our resources and then they're using their own resources. Um, and are you making the right decisions when you're not being watched? Are you a individual that whether we're filtering and you're on your own home advice, are you understanding the ramifications of what you're doing and how you're developing that? And the last thing and I share this with our human human is it is to provide prioritize that human interaction. While we do believe that there are components where technology plays a role in helping create some efficiencies, create some opportunities that we don't have otherwise that is not the norm. That should be the exception. That should be those enhanced opportunities versus the common item that we're using on a regular basis. So, I'm going to pass it
102on to Katie and she's going to share um some of the more immediate changes that you'll see as we start next year and some things that have actually already taken place. So across all grade bands, device expectations will include clear instructional structure, instructional structures, active monitoring to prevent non-educational use, and storing devices when they are not in use, and eliminating unstructured open choice device. In the primary K2 grades, devices will be used for identified opportunities, for focused instruction only. They will remain at school and not go home and be stored in enclosed classroom carts. In the intermediate grades 3 through 5, grade three, the devices will stay at school. Grade four will allow very limited take-home use during the week and will stay at school over the weekends. And grade five will continue the take-home
103model while following our enhanced focus on intent around utilization. Grade three and four will be stored in enclosed classroom carts in the classroom. In the middle school 6 through 8, device use expectations emphasize clear instructional structures and the storage of devices when not actively in use across all classrooms. So, this is all great to say um and it's a a first step, but putting it to practice is a responsibility of us as a district and working with our staff around what [music] does this mean? It's keeping iPads at school. Okay, that's something we can tangibly do and just they're staying at school, but how we use them at school and the intention of each of the opportunities with that device is our focus as we're moving forward. Some of the things that you'll notice that
104we didn't specifically talk to are that having the enclosed carts in the classroom means that the device is only coming out when it's going to be used. It's actually a practice. We don't have the carts currently, but it is a practice that a lot of our teachers use now. The iPads go somewhere. We get them when they come when you need them. Um, but it instead of being the exception, it's going to be the norm in terms of having those [music] devices stored unless there's opportunities that are very specific. And there are other things we're going to talk about what that means, but that staff say, "Okay, now is the time where we're going to be able to use this for 15 minutes, whatever the the the activity is versus having it readily available. I
105personally have my phone sitting in front of me right now. And as a person who when you have that, it it is there isn't a sense of wanting to see your phone or see something. pulling that device away is a strategic move. It is not um something we're just oh we're going to store them so they can charge. We don't really the the charge last for a long time. It's a way so that we're only using them when we need to use them. And again, we do have staff that do it currently. It's just making sure that this is the norm as we're moving forward at the middle schools. I do want to emphasize that a focus of ours um and we know that at middle school there is as they're going through and then
106they're going to high school there is a larger use of technology. However, we do have programs like our ELA, like our science where there are 60 minutes where you don't need your device and so storing those as you come in will be again something that we currently do in some of our classrooms but not all of our classrooms. but providing that area or that opportunity for teachers to say, "Okay, iPads are here today's and so they're not there tempted as a student to use it and then they're only using it in those situations where um the teacher has decided that this is that opportunity." Move on to the next one. Sorry. [laughter] >> Um here's the continuum of tools and procedures that we currently have um to keep our students safe. Uh the first one
107is J. That's our remote management platform. Um this allows us as a district to push out apps and updates and different restrictions. Um sometimes those restrictions are based on grade bands, sometimes they're districtwide. Securely, that is our web filtering company. We use this to block websites, but also monitor student web usage. uh securely sends alerts to our administrators to check in with students who are searching for um sometimes inappropriate or potentially harmful content. Apple Classroom, that's our device management tool for our teachers. Teachers can use this during class to view students screens in real time. They can also um perform other tasks like guiding students to certain websites or activities um or locking students into a particular website. Gaggle is another management tool that monitors students but this time in our Google suite. Uh it
108flags potential harmful or dangerous language in emails or docs and also alerts our administrators if a student um needs to be checked in with. However, the most important um in our digital tool uh continuum is that human aspect. So, our teachers using everyday classroom management practices. Um like Brian said, establishing those clear routines and practices and also just proximity and presence helps us to make sure that our students are digitally safe. >> Yeah, you'll find me adding to most. So the I think the key takeaway around classroom management is giving the teachers the permission and the ability to when you do store them that they're not going to be used cuz again especially with the middle school when they have a device around feeling the the need to use it for something. um and making
109it intentional. Always looking at that intentionality of how we're using it and why we're using it and giving people that permission that when we don't need to use it, classroom management and keeping it away is the way we're going to address it. >> Um we are continuously evaluating our different uh configurations by gradeband and districtwide and securely to help keep our students safe. uh we regularly consult with our security representatives but also surrounding districts. This helps us stay ahead of potential emerging digital trends both positive and negative. Um our primary buildings um as you can see from the slide have the most restricted profile. Um that means they have access to the least amount of outside internet. Um, our intermediate buildings have a restricted profile, but that um gradually increases independence as students increase in
110grade. And then our middle schools have uh most open access, but we're again we're also continuously evaluating the need and blocking different sites um if issues should arise. In addition to all our tools and our securely configurations, we also have procedures around um cell phones and wearable technologies to again keep our students digitally safe. Uh the current expectation is that students are not allowed to use personal devices for communication outside of school and um as you can see the slide goes over those procedures surrounding that expectation. So, just as a reminder, you know, we have always had a cell phone bell-to-bell um ban. The we do have students that challenge that situation um on a more regular basis and so we deal with it as we go through. But just as an awareness, it's not
111the cell phones aren't going to that we know how to manage the cell phones. The wearable devices is going to be a conversation that as a committee that we have to really put our minds together with the community about how we handle wearable devices because a child has a Apple Watch. I'm not a super techie, so I have a watch that actually doesn't work right now, but it's not even an Apple Watch. Non-digital. Um, and we have students that will go to the bathroom, call home, text home, and outside of taking the taking the watch away, you know, it's hard to know what's going on. And that's a real world situation. All of a sudden, we have a parent show up at a school that says, "My kid texted me." So now we can handle
112the outcome. We can do the this is your first offense conversation, but it is something that's happening in in our schools and that we really need to talk about how we're going to address that moving forward because they are different than a phone because a phone you have to take out. It's always on a person's wrist. I want to talk a little bit about um we believe we believe strong in the recommendations and the the movement that we're going with with not sending devices home with not um with having more restrictions. However, it does have some drawbacks to it and I want just the board to be aware of what some of those are. Um we are when devices go home there is monitoring that takes place you know kids are searching different things and
113a lot of that at home monitoring um that [snorts] we see is around self harm and this is not just middle school this is all the way down to first grade um searches around suicide searches around um self harm searches around bullying and whatever the topic is, it it happens and we're able to have conversations with it. Again, I'm not we're not arguing that this is a reason to keep it. We're saying these are just things that happen at home that have allowed us opportunities to talk with students to hear um why they did it. For for the most part, our youngest kids are searching suicide because they heard the word. It's not necessarily that they want to commit suicide, but it is something that we see on a daily basis, you know, these types
114of searches. The other thing is that for many of our families, um, and we found through co for many of our families, our device is their device at home, not the kids, the parents, and and we're okay with that. Um and so there will be situations where because we do currently provide internet access for a portion of our population that doesn't have access for whatever reason. Um and again a lot of that came out during COVID. Um but we feel it's important for those families where they may have a cell phone at home but they're trying to do their medical records or there we feel an obligation to provide continue to provide. there will be a small number of students that we um that still take their device home. Now, it's it's important to note
115that we don't want to single out those families. So, trying to figure out the the way in which we're going to do that is something that we have to talk about over the summer. Um and the other component is we will have, as you saw earlier, we have students that this is their means of communication. Um, and so with the IEPs and with that, we also have a small number of students that will take their device home. The vast majority obviously will follow the guidelines that we're coming up with. These next steps really are about moving from conversation to intentional action while staying aligned to our district strategic plan and guiding principles. A key shift is returning to precoid summer practices by collecting and storing iPads in district buildings over the summer. This reinforces that
116devices are instructional tools, not an always on expectation. At the same time, we are maintaining flexibility and equity by creating exceptions for families who rely on school devices as primary communication tool. We want this work to be collaborative and data informed, which is why we are building in both parent and staff surveys during the fall 2026. The surveys will help us better understand what is working, where concerns exist, and how these practices are impacting learning, engagement, and family experiences. The instructional innovation committee will continue to serve as an ongoing feedback and reflection structure throughout the year, bringing together staff, leadership, the PTA, GEF, and parent voices. >> I'm going to come back to Lisa for the next slide. >> The instructional innovation committee reflects a long-standing commitment in our district to thoughtful, evolving instructional practices.
117While the committee's name and focus have evolved over time, the core purpose has remained consistent, supporting student learning in meaningful and responsible ways. Earlier versions of the committee focused heavily on devices, software, and access, especially as technology became more integrated into schools. Over time, the work expanded into to include digital citizenship, instructional integration, and broader questions about how technology impacts teaching and learning. Postco, the committee has intentionally shifted away simply managing devices and toward a broader focus on instructional support, innovation, and inquiry. That shift is important because it reinforces a major theme throughout this presentation. Technology itself is not the goal. Strong learning experiences are the goal. The committee's work now centers on asking important questions. How do we support engagement and achievement? How do we maintain balance and developmentally appropriate practices? And how do
118we ensure equity and meaningful outcomes for students? Ultimately, the comu the committee helps us remain responsive, reflective, and aligned with the district's vision of creativity, innovation, curiosity, and student centered learning. Uh, one of the things I want to stress is that when we talk about balance, often times people think 50/50, and that is not what we're referencing when we're saying balance. it's that we're using whatever resource intentionally and and focused on um that resource for a specific need that's been identified. And so when the committee is talking, they're really focused on the the whole child and how we're addressing the whole child throughout this process. I do want to stress that the work of the committee next year will be important, but there will be work that's taking place over the summer as well to
119get us started um on the right foot as we hit the school year that we don't want to wait um specifically for a committee to have conversations and um that bigger picture in the survey. We know that we want to provide staff with some, hey, this is the appropriate opportunity to use advice. These are not appropriate opportunities to use device. And be very specific. You can call it a bookshelf. You can call it a yes and a no. You can call whatever you want to call the the examples are, but really if we're going to ask teachers to be more mindful, providing them examples that are more mindful and providing them examples of how we can use the resource and how we will not be using the resource moving forward. And then it's our job
120as a district to monitor to when we're in the classroom. Obviously, and this was shared with me, and I I know if I'm coming in the classroom, people know I'm coming in, they're going to follow whatever guidelines, but having all of our staff be accountable to each other on how we're using the resources. This is not um uh uh [clears throat] some of the changes aren't instant. They're people have lessons, they have things, and it's providing them alternatives, providing them examples of how we can use other means to accomplish the same goal. Am I the timeline? >> Yep. >> Okay. This is just a communication timeline. We started um and I didn't even this is the communication part, but going back to last summer and having these deeper discussions and then having them with the
121IS and the our leadership team throughout the year. But in late April, we did provide the board with an update um that talks about, you know, where we're at, what we're thinking. We also began um in collaboration with the GF a think tank team. While that has really nothing to do with the specifics around digital resources, it has to do with what our focus is and that is developing and working with community members on integrated interactive activities and opportunities where our students can prosper with their curiosity, with their collaboration. um minus having or not having technology as the focus. May we had a is update to staff about in the board meeting and family sharing parent direct communication about iPads. Some schools have already communicated that they're staying. You may have gotten that communication. Some
122have not yet because it's in this Friday's communication. Hopefully they'll read the board update and see it that it's in there about um our changes this summer. um seeking staff. We we have our I is representatives, but seeking participants for our instructional um innovation committee for the following year. Um and knowing that it's not a a one trick conversation. It's not just about screen time. It's about how are we using our resources across the district and that this is a year conversation and then next year it's another conversation. and then it's another and it's evolving cuz if we do it as a a singular place in time we're going to be in the same spot that you run into um with our construction or you know where it's all of a sudden it's piled up
123and so making it an annual conversation for both the district and the community and then in early August reminding staff sharing with staff our stuff but also reminding parents what is our new stance how are we evolving ving with our practices across the buildings. I want to reiterate that it's not going to be perfect. This is a lot of change, a lot of conversations that are taking place. I believe um as a collective whole, our staff is welcoming to these opportunities. I also know that there's going to be um some more conversation around, oh, I did use it for this. You're saying now you would rather us do something in in working with our staff through that. I think I'm talking about GF as well. I always like to highlight the GF in our conversations.
124And the reason I highlight it is because they have been a major supporter of our digital sport, but even more so of our non-digital. If you look at our major adoptions with the GF over the last 10 years, they've included our maker modules which are all hands-on. They've included our learning spaces which was all about creating environments for kids to collaborate. Not there wasn't intentional to say not technology, but it was a we weren't in including technology in that. And around our support of inquiry, they supported our STEM night. If you were able to participate in STEM night last year, it was an opportunity to have parents and students doing activities around science and around inquiry together. >> and our kindergarten play, if you if you talk about when we adopted all day kindergarten, a
125major focus of that was a play-based kindergarten, not a AI or a tech based kindergarten. was about utilizing play as a key component of our instruction. I just want to close with when I talk to the board, I always say this. Matt has the wonderful privilege of talking about test scores and talking about how well that we're doing with our curriculum and how well we're doing at integration. I like to talk about our core dispositions because at 22, at 23, I want our kids who went through the district to still be resilient. I want them to be curious, collaborative, joyful, empowered, compassionate, creative, and reflective. That doesn't mean they have to use technology. It doesn't mean they don't have to use technology. It means that these are what we guide ourselves on. And so when
126we're developing the list of how to use it, it's with this in mind because I believe at our core, if our kids leave with this, they'll be incredibly successful as they go through high school and college and beyond. So that concludes that part of it. I'm positive that there are questions and so I'd be happy to have our team of individuals answer those questions. I'm also positive that there are things I left out um and that I'll be able to follow up with those later. >> Well, thank you Brian. Thank you team for coming and presenting. Who'd like to kick us off? >> If I must. Uh this is great and thanks for framing the presentation today to both acknowledge address and then also keep open that we don't have to have all the answers
127but we're making progress right >> um just a couple reactions. >> Yeah. >> Uh number one I think it's helpful >> for everybody to hear and we probably need to repeat this over and over but >> to acknowledge and reinforce empowering our instructors all the teachers and also to use their professional judgment as to how does technology enhance the learning experience or how does it not and for all of our teachers to feel comfortable making that judgment because that is their skill. Um reaction or idea, take it for what you will. Uh, I'm going to age myself, but you know, some folks here are going to recognize that it was awesome when the television VCR cart would be rolled into when you're growing up and be like, "All right, here we go." Right? there's probably
128a similar kind of approach or something we to the experience of the iPad cart and what that could represent for at least you know our K12 as they as we think about how this model may evolve so that it maybe doesn't necessarily need to be one to one correct to say that we don't have an answer now but you'll be everybody's favorite person if you're walking around with the wagon and iPads Brian so just putting that out there >> um and then lastly I I want to acknowge you know, hearing the the other dimensions to this so that it's not a black or white issue, right? There's a lot of gray space in this topic that hits individuals, families, and the today, the tomorrow, and beyond. And as we continue to kind of go through
129this journey together, you know, certainly echo what Alex kind of led off with in terms of how do we do this as a community without fingerpointing or without um without accusation, but still passion and emotion because everybody who shows up here, whether it's here or there, is committed to the success of their students, of the community, of their kids, and each other. And so I just want to continue to assert that as a concept and pillar for how we, you know, continue to drive this model and that some of the things that you identified are certainly solvable even if we don't have the answers today. So thanks to everybody, Brian, and and really, you know, to everybody who's kind of shared any of this um or feedback over the last, you know, couple months and
130and even years. >> Thank you. I do like to share with people in conversations that in terms of that collaboration and how important it is from a leadership standpoint. You know, all of us value Glen. We wouldn't work here if we didn't value the climate and culture that's with the school district. But we all have our own communities. And in those communities are where I advocate my values and and my [music] components with my school board and and that here it's about me recognizing the professional components of my job and working with the community to represent the values and the components of this community and how this community in this case um looks at using resources. So I we definitely look forward to and have I've been here 22 years have valued that partnership and
131that ability to work with different groups of people throughout those years to make change. Glue has always been an area where we're not following we're leading um those conversations and I think it's because of that ability to have open conversations that has helped us out a lot. >> Thank you for this presentation. Um I just want to chime in with a couple quick notes too. I also really appreciate and thank you for your time on this work. I appreciate the um mindset around the evolution. You mentioned the stop at the at the beginning I meant to say um kind of the immediate short and long-term goals of this and knowing that it will continue to evolve and I think that's so important. You know we have to be responsive as trends change as research comes
132out and evidence around best practices and that's what keeps us such a great district. So thank you for that. Um, in that same light, I'm wondering, you know, given this is um evolving, what is the flexibility around continuing once the survey results come out in the fall, maybe not always waiting waiting a full year, right? But how do we kind of implement as we go? Um, also recognizing change management is a process. So, kind of how do we balance that and making sure that we are being responsive to needs as they go. Um, I think this is a really good start. The other part to the change management component is um first I think a lot of our curriculum resources are reflecting some of these changes and I appreciate it's obvious there's collaboration in the
133district which is really important um but what else might our educators our teachers need in addition to having the hands-on materials where are there reasons and root causes why tech is maybe being used in ways that are less helpful right or being used as incentives or as free time or you know and where are there other supports that may be needed or resources needed to help um provide more productive activities or whatever that may look like. So in addition to the change management that's happening around curriculum, I'd be interested in how else are we supporting educators and really I know you mentioned monitoring and looking at how it's being used, but in terms of kind of getting to some of the more root causes of why it's being used. Yeah, I think that's an important
134and I don't have a specific answer, but I do have a as a committee and as a conversation that we've had. It's when you remove something, you should be able to provide especially for our staff answers to what are options they can do instead. Um if you're if a staff member may have been using it in one way and we're like okay no longer are you even remotely going to be using that way by just taking it away doesn't help that staff member but giving them options and giving them examples and professional development around those um and working with our staff to figure out what those answers are. We have some that do already. They know. And so taking and borrowing from others I think will be an important component. Thank you. >> Thanks for
135uh taking on this work. I know you've been working on it for a while. Uh I want to keep our eyes focused. The next three years I think with AI is going to change a lot of our perceptions as we move forward. So let's try and be nimble. >> Yeah. AI. I didn't even bring up AI in this conversation because it is an everch I mean last three months if you've been following and it is a scary it there is a lot of scariness to AI. I use it. I'm sure a lot of us use it. But if you are doing research around it and you understand the potential that it on a positive front, awesome. The negatives, it can get really scary. And trying to balance that for our kids who are growing up
136in a world that has this now where a picture that's made of me may not be me, but it looks a lot like, you know, and that's just a basic component. So I think it's every 6 months you're going to see dramatic changes in what influence that has on especially I'm keeping with high school like you know my daughter's in college and she sees kids using AI at she's at a wonderful university that all the kids got into and we're so happy and then they get there and they use AI and you're like have they been taught so helping students with that is I think and adults >> is is major. Thanks, Scott. >> And Brian, I believe uh ISB is coming out with AI guidance for schools this July, correct? So maybe >> I'm
137sure they are. >> We'll see. We'll see what we can build off of that. >> Yes, >> I'm sure they are. I will Can I just share though the the stance we have currently with AI is we're not blind to the fact that kids use AI. We're not blind to the fact that it's available. Um we are as a district we are not endorsing we block it internally um from our devices and we do have a a walled garden AI that it'll allows we haven't rolled it out for um all of our middle school students but some are using the walled garden environment and that the reason I call it wall garden is because it's our chat GPT where it's we know what they're searching we know what they're We know where that information is
138going. We see everything that's happening. So, if you're going to use it and we can funnel you in a manner that we can at least monitor and help educate you on, it's better than kids going home getting off our device going to chat GPT or whatever claude any of them and just freefor all getting information and then pasting it in there. So, again, it's a education component. It's not being blind to the fact that they're using it, but being aware and trying to just like we have the filters, help them guide through the process. >> I just um you know, like Mickey's apprentice. >> Yeah. >> And uh like you know, first you have to learn how to use the bucket and the mop and then you can outsource. Um, and I think that that's
139I think I appreciate the fact that we are focusing on learning the skills and the scaffolds before you unleash the beast. So, thank you for all your thought. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Um, thank you for this. This is really, really great. Um, I just had a a clarification I was wondering about. Um, so it sounded like you guys were going to continue kind of working over the summer, which you typically don't work in the summer. >> So I do. >> Well, the committee, sorry, the committee, >> correct? The not the committee. Um, a group of the IAS's. So because we can't pull the whole committee together over the summer, pulling some of the iss and the summer work is intentional so that we're getting as we talked about um you talked about you
140know we don't want to start the year and then be like okay we're going to have a committee now and then we're going and then all of a sudden it's December, January, February and you're like what have we done? It's to give uh the work that we know we can get done over the summer an an opportunity to start fresh with the school year. And then the committee can talk about, okay, these are the things we've already done. We're going to get the survey results. What do we want to enhance? What do we want to change? What policies and procedures do we need to focus on? What do we need to bring to the board around policy um so that it can better support it? where that group would not be responsible for that. they'd
141be responsible for things like, hey, if we're telling staff not to use the resource for we tell them now, but if we talk and to say, hey, if you've been using it for um a reward or you've been using it for something that isn't necessarily the best means to use that, here are examples of things you can do so that they start the year with, hey, we're really enforcing not using it, but here are things you can do to do it. That's what that group will be working on. >> Got it. So, basically, they'll just kind of have more clarification before they start the school year. >> Correct. >> Got it. >> So, they start the school year with them implementing versus >> just waiting for more information. >> Anyone else? Um I just want
142to say you know clearly this is one of the issues of the moment and and increasingly a challenge as we go forward um not just based on the work that you know your your team has done but obviously we've we've gotten a lot of feedback from our parent community um as well I am very encouraged uh I know you have engaged with a lot of folks over the past couple of weeks to sort of you know bring in some of that additional information. I'm encouraged that not only has have we done that, but we are looking to harness that going forward. U input from our parent community. I know we have a couple of board members who are very interested in being involved as well. And so encourage uh you and your team to keep
143that up and you know possibly a a more casual conversation with some folks over the summer might be good to seed some ideas as we get into the new year. I definitely think we'll continue. I've had great conversations um with uh representatives from the community and definitely believe that there are um some thought leaders uh in our community around this topic, but also around their kids. You know, I I also stress to people and I was told this a long time ago, your kid goes through school once. you know, advocate for your child, advocate for their experience, and um we are here to partner and and I think that's again another nice thing about the district. We don't ever claim to do everything perfect, but when there are situations to improve, I think Glimu has
144been notorious for making adjustments and working with the community on implementing um those best practices. And that started with when we did the one to one, you know, like how did you start this process? you know, that was communitydriven as well, and we're just evolving, but keeping that conversation going forward. Terrific. Well, again, looking forward to a lot more. Thank you, Ryan, and team very much for coming here tonight and for all of your work, and I can't wait to see how we continue to work collaboratively to take this forward. Thank you all so much. >> [applause] >> Uh the last item in our discussion section is press issue 121. I hope someone else knows about this because I don't. Is that you? >> Yeah, in in the riveting world of um board policy, we
145do have some revisions uh for you to consider. And so uh we as a reminder, we do use uh the school board association's press service. So these uh policies are reviewed by a team of attorneys. Suggestions are made. Uh most are usually I would describe as nonsubstantive. The ones that are I try to always call to your attention. So uh these are for your review and then approval at our next um meeting. >> Thank you. Did anyone have any discussion on the press issue this time? >> Super value ad for capitalizing E's and L's at times. Okay, >> that's great. Um, okay. So, we've come to our second uh audience comments section. Before I read all of this, do we have any audience comments? >> I do not. >> You do not. All right. So,
146we will go ahead and skip forward to reports. We have the foyer report and the monthly budget report. Any questions or comments there? >> No. I just want to mention that the uh the new monthly budget report looks really great. Can't wait to give you some feedback on that as we move forward, but it's so much more comprehensive and easier to understand. >> Great. Do we have any other business? All right. Now, before we adjourn, um 72 years ago, today was Tuesday, May 18th, 1954. And that date was the day after the Supreme Court in a unanimous decision uh sent down the decision on Brown versus the Board of Education, which laid the legal framework to uh end segregation in United States public schools. And I just think based on everything we've talked about tonight,
147equality, equity, the importance of American public schools has never been higher. and the provision of a good public education to all children. And I think that's a great way to probably end the conversation tonight. Thank you all. And we are adjourned. >> All right. I don't know where [applause] I was going back, but he's got it. You turn it. [laughter] Do you know actually fun fact Bridges is alive in a