001Before the board takes action on those three items, I just want to kind of remind the board that the transportation for are the bids for Let's step side for a second. The special education contracts expire June 30th of this year. Therefore, we did go out to bid for these services. And so there's going to be three action items. One, we're going to ask the board to reject the bids as they were submitted. Reasons for that would be is that some non-compliance issues with the bid specs that the vendors did not provide the information that was requested, and then the pricing was difficult to compare because of the different types of vehicles and things like that that these vendors put forward. The second would be um the extension for Safeway Transportation. The administration is recommending a
002change in the recommendation to request that the board vote no due to the company's uncertain financial position. Uh and then the third would be that the extension for First Student for 1 year would be a 3% increase, and then First Student will take over the routes for Safeway for this coming year. And moving forward, uh we'll be going up back out to bid early fall. Okay, great. Any questions or discussion on these items? All right. So, we're going to do we'll do all three in a row here, one after the other. So, uh for the first one, 26-010, this is a Can I have a motion and a second to reject all special education bids as presented? So moved, Dolan. Second, Suposs. And so, if if I've got my logic right here, if you vote
003I, you're rejecting it, which is as um as recommended. And if you vote nay, then you're voting not to reject it, which I'm not sure we do at that point, but but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. So, all right. As we say in the admin recommendation is to yes. Is to is to vote I, vote I, which would reject it. So, Gabby, may we have a roll call vote on 26-010, please? Okay. Moon? I. Dolan? I. Pritzker? I. Suposs? >> I. Giulio? I. Kimmelovich? >> I. Looks like the motion carries. The next item is 26-011, resolution to approve a 1-year extension with the Safeway Transportation, as Mike just mentioned. We're also looking to reject this. So, an I vote would be to reject it as recommended. Can I have a motion
004and a second to reject the 1-year extension with Safeway? So moved, Pritzker. Second, Giulio. Gabby, can we have a roll call vote, please? Dolan? I. Pritzker? I. Suposs? >> I. Giulio? I. Kimmelovich? >> I. Moon? I. Motion carries. And then last of these three, 26-012, resolution to approve the 1-year extension with First Student Transportation, as Mike just described. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the 1-year extension with First Student as presented? So moved, Suposs. Second, Dolan. Gabby, can we have a roll call vote, please? Pritzker? I. Suposs? >> I. Giulio? I. Kimmelovich? I. Moon? I. Dolan? I. Motion carries. Okay, moving on to 26-013. This is the resolution of the Board of Education of Plainview Community Consolidated School District number 34, appointing the school treasurer. I'll turn it back over to
005you to Mike for a explanation on this. Yeah, this pretty much follows the transfer from me being the treasurer to Michael taking over since he'll be starting April 1st, and it's just a formality to to have that happen. Michael already has his treasurer's bond in place, and it's been approved. So. Ternik. If it feels like you just did this, it's because you did. And yeah, when Dr. Alex started. But now we're going to do the same for Michael. Do you want to call? >> always great knowing that I'm not crazy. So, appreciate that. Any questions or comments on this item? You're sure? Positive? Yeah, I was just going to say that. Just checking. Yeah. Great. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution as presented? So moved, Giulio. Second, Moon. Gabby,
006can we have a roll call vote, please? Suposs? >> I. Giulio? I. Kimmelovich? I. Moon? I. Dolan? I. Pritzker? I. Motion carries. Michael, good luck. Thank you. Expect regular reports or whatever you probably require regular reports. Yeah, okay. Yeah, but whatever you'd like. I mean Well, hello. Okay, I can't get my kids to do what I want, so maybe we'll have Michael do it. Moving on to 26-014, resolution calling on the Cook County Treasurer and other Cook County officials responsible for the issuance of property tax bills to resolve systemic issues. Very apt as I was looking at my property tax bill yesterday. So, Mike, over to you here. Uh Michael. Great. So, uh as everybody who's been paying attention to the news knows, uh the Cook County government as a whole has been addressing the
007ineptitude to uh go ahead and issue property tax bills and such collections uh in a timely fashion. Uh the Cook County President's office has been talking about how this has been a problem for over 30 years. Uh yet two of the last four years, the bills have not been sent out till September, and those have been causing the biggest issues. Uh that delays obviously the collection of property taxes and then the disbursement of those funds to the taxing districts that need them. Uh District 34 and many other school districts had to issue tax anticipation warrants in order to go ahead and then stay the regular course of their bills. Not because they weren't supposed to have the money, but because the lack of collection caused a cash flow crisis for all of the school districts,
008uh some library districts, and other municipalities. Um based upon that, um we spent approximately $66,256 just to issue the $4 million in tax anticipation warrants. $17,000 for the issuance itself and over $48,000 for the interest payment uh on those over the months that they were extended. Uh we also lost approximately $250,000 in interest revenue uh during that time because of the fact that we had to go ahead and spend that money, and we did not collect those dollars during that time. Uh as of the time of the uh So, that was a total of $215,000. As the time of the uh memo being written, we had collected all but about $200,000 of taxes. Um we have now since collected uh And again, that was an estimate based upon the extension. We have now collected about
009$1.2 million additionally. There's a report today that part of that is because, as you've read, no property tax refunds have been issued. But we can't tell what's been issued to us because the county has not issued a disbursement report that accompanies any of the distributions since October 31st, 2025. A real trick-or-treat scenario. So, what we have now is trying to figure out and talking to Nick Cavalleri tonight, the distribution side of our property tax collection will be a little bit of a nightmare because we don't know if those reports are coming anytime soon. So, when they go to reconcile property taxes, it could be anybody's guess unless we start to see those reports. All we get with distributions now is something that says it's not part of the 2025 levy, but it's part of the
0102024 or previous years that have been paid, which happens when somebody pays their most current tax bill, they pay tax bills that are in arrears as well. During this time, obviously, um it is something that all school districts have started to get together and look at as a possibility of do we go ahead and try and do something to stop this process? It's not just a Tyler Technologies, it's not just a Cook County single government wing because there is no direct line of authority between the different agencies. So, a lot of the school districts have banded together to go ahead and request that we start to go ahead and hold the county accountable for the dollars we've lost and for the process that's making everybody scramble for cash. And just a little side note, on
011the $15.8 billion that was disbursed for the 45-day hold up in in disbursements, a simple calculation of 2.5% interest annualized, which is a very small uh rate considering we get over 3 and 1/2% on our investments, would total $50 million in interest earnings that the county is not dispersing. So, this resolution is important to start to hold the county accountable, and we would ask that you support it. Thank you. Uh questions or comments from anyone? Maybe just one question. Um curious Are other area, not just across Cook County, but non-Cook County uh school districts also starting to explore this as a consequence of what Cook County school districts have experienced? Uh no no outside of Cook County this doesn't happen because the way the tax collection system is and the way that it works and
012operates. So this is truly a Cook County problem only. And just so you know, there's in the legislation, it actually documents the dates that bills are supposed to be that are actually required to be out within uh the the different months, whereas Cook County has no such uh authority over them in any of the legislation. Do you mean Cook County's not bound by that legislation? Correct. It It is only for counties under 3 million people. Okay. All right. Which is typical of a lot of legislation, but in Illinois. Yeah. Yeah. Are there any other uh Well, I would have I'm sorry. I I would say this as we've discussed briefly, this is a multi-faceted problem. Um you you you we clearly see on full display an effort to better automate the process by which uh
013bills are issued and monies are received and then dispersed. Um which has turned into a much bigger project than uh anyone could have anticipated. There's a lot of finger-pointing between Tyler Technologies and various entities within the county. Um so you know, you you have that issue. The the point that was just brought up about how Cook County is just kind of uniquely different than other counties. Uh the treasurer's office, the assessor's office, um independently elected uh individuals. Uh you have a Cook County president that's that's elected with no line authority over these other departments and so it it it's complicated, but I think for uh people who pay their taxes, and we thank you for that. Um it this is not an issue about people who haven't paid their taxes. People have paid. The county
014received the money, whether it be from individual taxpayers or through their escrow accounts, and um the county did not have a means by which to disperse those funds. And uh as has been cited, was able to collect significant interest on that money without making any comments publicly about what their next moves are or their intentions, not only with that, but um really improving the system moving forward. We hear a lot that they're committed to making it better. Um but no one has really articulated much of a of a plan. And then the bigger point, too, that I don't want to repeat, but our inability to reconcile our current standing um is very frustrating. So we we're asking for your support at least in passing this resolution and uh there are other efforts underways underway by
015other groups uh trying to influence this as well. Thank you. Thanks for the additional detail. I'll just use as the survivor of many enterprise software implementations myself and also as someone who's led several of them, it's one thing to fail the rollout. It's another thing entirely to have no mitigation plan, nor even you know, recognize that a mitigation plan is necessary. And I think that's to me that's what this resolution speaks to is there's a wholesale lack of leadership being shown, especially at the county level. Um you just have to when you have a uh implementation failure, you just kind of have to step up and own it and work out. And I think even more so, this was clearly Dr. Dolan, how many years prior did we sort of anticipate that this was going
016to fail? I mean, you could have read the tea leaves years in advance. There's no reason why there couldn't have been a mitigation plan in place. And so that's really what this speaks to is if we don't say something, then Cook County will feel that well, that's okay for them to do in the future. And And it's not. And there are very real impacts, which Michael has spelled out. So Great. So let's go forward. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution as presented? So moved, Gilleo. Second, Supols. Gabby, can I have a roll call vote, please? Gilleo? Hi. Kimmel Lavin? Hi. Moon? Hi. Dolan? Hi. Pritzker? Hi. Supols? Hi. Motion carries. Now we're moving on to item 26015, the 2026-27 staffing allocations. Kevin? Thank you. Uh so as you're aware
017at the February these are the recommendations for the 26-27 school year both on the certified support staff side. Um as I mentioned in the February memo, there are at times things that change between the February meeting and the March meeting. I'd call the board's attention to a couple of small changes. On the certified side, there's an addition of 1.5 FTE, uh 1.0 of which is to meet uh EL ML needs that have emerged and specifically with regard to the um dually identified children. So children who receive ML EL services and who have IEPs. The other is a 0.5 um basically a scheduling function need um at a tier. Uh so 1.5 addition from compared to what the board looked at in February. And on the support staff side, related to the presentation we heard earlier
018in this meeting regarding the audit and the Baker Tilly recommendations, there's an addition of 1.0 FTE on the support staff side that pertains to the best practices and functioning within the business services department. Great. Any questions or comments on this one? Okay. May I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution as presented? So moved, Dolan. Second, Moon. Gabby, can I have a roll call vote, please? Kimmel Lavin? Hi. Moon? Hi. Dolan? Hi. Pritzker? Hi. Supols? Hi. Gilleo? Hi. Motion carries. Moving on to item 26016, resolution for non-renewal of final year probationary teacher. Back to you, Kevin. Thank you. The resolution is fairly self-explanatory. The reason is enrollment uncertainty at Springman Middle School. It dovetails with um essentially some limited uh endorsement and licensure flexibility with the particular staff member and declining student
019sections. And so as a non- uh tenured staff member, this is a procedural move because we don't have a place for this teacher. This teacher has been a teacher in good standing. And um she's done a very nice job for the district and we appreciate her service and will continue to between now and the remainder of the school year. Questions? May I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution as presented? So moved, Dolan. Second, Gilleo. Gabby, can I have a roll call vote, please? Moon? Hi. Dolan? Hi. Pritzker? Hi. Supols? Hi. Gilleo? Hi. Kimmel Lavin? Hi. Moon? Hi. Motion carries. Kevin, you got a lot on here tonight. Uh the 2025-26 calendar update. Thank you. And uh I apologize to the board and the larger community because I may be responsible for
020today's weather. Um I I thought that we had moved past the winter concerns, but uh jokes aside, this is a simple change being brought to the board for approval. There are 185 teacher days in the current contract, and we're proposing adding a day at the end of the school year to make it a 185-day teacher year. The recommendation is to not change the student attendance days. We have exceeded the number of required days minimum attendance days for children. So we're recommending making the last um day of the school year a staff day only. That leaves us with two staff days at the end of the year and restores the 185. Okay. So no changes for the students, just to be super clear. That That is correct. Any questions? May I have a motion and a
021second to approve this resolution as presented? So moved, Pritzker. Second, Gilleo. Gabby, may I have a roll call vote, please? Dolan? Hi. Pritzker? Hi. Supols? Hi. Gilleo? Hi. Kimmel Lavin? Hi. Moon? Hi. Motion carries. I just want to note that I'm actually responsible for the weather today cuz on Friday I made uh appointments for two of our cars to have the uh snow tires taken off next week. So we're okay today, but I'm in real trouble in the future. Um and last but not least, 26018, the 2026-27 calendar update. At first I I thought these were duplicates, but no, it's a different calendar. Kevin? It is indeed. And thank you. The board approved the 2026-2027 calendar at the December 15th meeting. Um since that time, some new priorities for professional development for the district have
022emerged. And the original fall institute day was scheduled, as approved back in December by the board, scheduled for October 30th. And we are proposing moving that institute day to Friday, September 11th in order to provide this professional learning earlier in the school year. So, it's about the priority of the professional development and the timing of such. And so, sticking with the goal of trying to preserve as many 5-day weeks as possible, the 11th is already a week where there's no school on Monday. We're proposing moving that fall institute day from Friday, October 30th to Friday, September 11th. Are either of those holidays? They are not required holidays. Okay. Typical definition of holiday. Okay. Any questions? All right. May I have a mo- motion and a second to approve the resolution as presented? So moved, Moon.
023Second, Dolan. Dolan. Gabby, may I have a roll call vote? Pritzker? Aye. Suposs? Aye. Giulio? Aye. Kimmelavitch? Aye. Moon? Aye. Dolan? Aye. The motion carries. Feels like one of our more involved consents agendas for a while. I realize why Scott isn't here. Everyone did a really good job with all the motions and seconds, so excellent work. We're we're a great team here. Okay, so we're going to move on to our second audience comments section. Uh Rebecca, do we have any cards? Okay, since we have no other cards, I'm not going to read the whole section about audience comments again because you guys already heard that from me. Moving on to our reports section, we have the number one FOIA report and the number two monthly budget report. Any questions or comments or explanation about these?
024Anyone weigh in on FOIA requests? No, just curious if there's any insight that's we can glean from any of the monthly updates and what we can anticipate maybe from the CFAC meeting that is coming up. Just cuz we're talking about monthly budget. Sure. Well, I mean, we So, we do have a CFAC meeting scheduled for the I think it's the 30th of this month. We have quite a lengthy agenda and basically just talking about some of the changes in the business office and our progress um related to transitioning the treasurer function and kind of a host of other um topics. So, that is coming up. But was there a second part to that though? Or about the the reports yet? Yeah, so we're um as part of the meeting on the the 30th, we're hoping
025by then we'll actually have a lot of the information Oh. We're transitioning from Skyward. We're going to also use Forecast 5 in not only developing the budget, but the monthly reports for the board of ed as well. Um we're we just got done with the audit adjustments being updated. So, we want to make sure that we are super clean kind of moving forward. Uh the only outstanding one right now is the capital project fund, which I'm still working on at this point. Thanks. Thanks for the question, James. Uh any other question on the reports? Comments? Okay, moving on. Any other business? No other business? Okay. Now, before we adjourn, at the end of last meeting, people said I had to do something different from Scott. So, I as most of you know, I have a
026history degree. So, on this date in 1789, George Ohm was born. He is the person who wrote Ohm's law, which is the one of the fundamental law that governs our understanding of electronic circuitry, which is actually pretty important. So, as you go off into the well-lit night using your phones and whatnot, give a thanks to our friend George Ohm. And with that, we are adjourned. Thank you very much. All right, that's good. Wow.