GCSD9 Board Meeting - Feb. 23, 2021

001I call the meeting to order. Roll call, please. Williamser here. Cook I. Kenogal. I Curran I. Nun here. McMasters here. Jones here. Sorry, I started the eye turn. Kaylee, I'm sorry. See, we were she's here. Kayleie's always here doing such a great job. And we have a quorum. We do have a quorum. Very well. Will you all please rise for the pledge of allegiance followed by the invocation given today by pastor Stacy Wilson with JC First Assembly of God. If you do not wish to pray with us, you may mute your phone at that time. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Lord, I thank you for this opportunity to pray over

002this board and the administration of our district and our families who have students who are here and represented in the schools. Lord, I pray that you would give them wisdom and guide them in all things as they set out to make the best plans possible for our community. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Pastor. All right. Public comment. Do we have any public comment? No, we do not at this time. Very good. Moving on to the minutes. I need a motion for the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of the board of education held on February 9th, 2021. So moved. Second. Any discussion or questions on the minutes? We got Wilms Meer and Count. Right. There's a second. Yep. Okay. Roll call. Cook I. Kenogal. I. Curran. Hi. None.

003I. McMaster. Hi. Wilms. Hi. Jones. I. Motion carried. Moving on to consent agenda. Mr. President, the board, the consent agenda contains those items that are repetitive and routine in nature. Any member may make a motion to approve the consent agenda or request that any of the items be moved to section 7 for individual discussion and consideration. Some move. Second. Any discussion? You want to shout out to the gift gifts? Yes, I would. Um, there's quite a few people who make it a a make it a thing that they do to give back to our school district. I I just can't get over how many people in this community are willing to give gifts and to make donations for different groups and different schools for our kids to be to better their education and and extracurricular

004activities. It's just really amazing. Um Terry Biggs um made a donation to Grant High School, Betty Mazaros the high school, Garnet Moran to the high school, and an anonymous gift was made to Mville school as well. So we appreciate all of those people that that that take the effort and make the time to help our students. Absolutely. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you very much. All righty. Roll call, please. Kenogal. I Curran. Hi. None. I McMasters. Hi. Wilms. I Cook I Jones. I move carried. Um, recommendations and communications, human resources, item A, leaves of absence. Sorry, I'm a little slow here. Mr. President, the board, it is recommended the following leaves of absences, absent be approved. Emily Perkins, OP, occupational therapy assistant, effective 4921 to 7221. Move. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. I'm on the wrong

005page. Apologize. Curran. Hi. None. Hi. McMasters. Wilms. Hi. Cook. I Kogal. I Jones. I motion carried. Item B, extracurricular recommendations for Granite City High School for the 2020 2021 school year. Mr. President, the board, you have received detailed information below about this item. The administration is prepared to make recommendations or hold for discussion in executive session. The high school administration is recommending the following extracurricular recommendations for the 2021 school year. Winnell Goodwin, assistant football coach, Jeff Hayes, guidance department head, and Melissa Kimell, play three director. So move. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. None. I. McMasters. I. Wilms. I. Cook. I. Kenogal. I. Curran. I. And Jones. I. carried. Item C, extracurricular recommendations for Kulage Junior High School for the 2020 2021 school year. Mr. President, the board, you have received detailed information below about this

006item. The administration is prepared to make recommendations or hold for discussion in executive session. The Koolage Junior High School Administration is recommending the following extracurricular recommendations for the 2021 school year. Mr. Justin Warren, assistant girls volleyball coach. So move. Second. Any discussion, questions? Okay, roll call. McMasters. Hi. And Wilmser. Hi. Cook. I Kenogal. I Curran. I. None. I. Jones. I. Motion carries. Item D, the employment of one fifth grade special education teacher at Griggsby Intermediate School for the 2021 2022. Mr. President, the board uh below you have received detailed information about this item. The administration is prepared to make recommendations or hold discussion in executive session. Due to Amy Bailey's moving to Wilson, the tier one committee consisting of Don Stratton, Jodie Batson, and Nicole Jordan recommended the following candidates for a tier 2 interview

007with Jim Parker, Mickey Watkins, and Don Stratton. The district administration recommends Jessica Coats. Second. Any discussion or questions? Roll call. Wilms. I Cook. I Kenobyl. I Curran. Hi. None. Hi, McMasters. Hi. And Jones. I motioned. [Music] Okay, we can make a motion. You want to go ahead and talk about that now? Right. Uh, with the with the tier 2 interview recommendations, I should have also included Anernet Baker as another tier two interview candidate. So both of them So they're they're both being recommended. That's what it says. Yes. So is there two positions or they're both they're being recommended for a tier 2 interview? What? It says um that's the way it's worded. Is that not worded correctly? It says they are recommended the following candidates for a tier 2 interview. I I think that might

008be a timeless. Oh well it says recommended for a tier 2 interview. That would have been weird, but Hey, Jim Parker, are you there? Jim Parker? Yes. Uh, Miss Chan was correct with her recommendation for the position. We only need one. Okay. It's just in the wording is wrong. And it's hiring, right, Jim? We're hiring Jessica Co. Yeah. Okay. It does not say that. So, I apologize. And we are recommending the following candidate for hiring, Miss Jessica Coat, which we already did. I just want to make sure we just voted for But the wording was just Yeah, the wording was Okay. Sorry. Okay, we're good. We'll make sure. No, you're good. Okay. Um, item E is the employment of one pair professional at Griggsby Intermediate School for the 2122 school year. That item is being

009held under 2C1. Um, item F is the request for an additional payroll specialist uh for the 2021 school year. So, did we decide to Yeah. Can we go ahead and hold Tom? Can we hold this under 2C1 to discuss the man the request for an additional payroll specialist? I just have a couple of questions I wanted to iron out on the on the job description. If we are talking about a specific individual for that job, but if it's just a general discussion about the job description and the duties that has to be held out in open. Okay. Um Okay. Okay, we'll go ahead and make a motion and a second and then maybe open it up for just a little bit of discussion. Is there a motion? Bill. Bill first. Tom second. Okay. Um discussion.

010I just wanted to make sure um Parker, you're there. And Zach, you're there. So, one of the Say what? So, this Are you saying out loud? Nothing. Okay. Superintendent K, do you want to talk? Just read the description of what the actual position is. No, not the whole description. I don't think we need to read. It's just we're Yeah, we're being asked to approve the position. And my only question is that's also to post the position. Correct. That is correct. Okay. That is okay. And then on in terms of the salary, do we post the salary or No, we don't know that. Correct, Jim. Mr. Parker, that was that was that's my concern. Do we post a range or anything with our If we don't post it, then I'm fine with it because it kind

011of we're going to have another discussion in just a minute about salaries and stuff. What he's correct under our current operating system, we cannot post the exact salary. Good. Then I'm fine with it. Okay. Okay. Any other discussion or question? Hey, I just have a question and I I think I Linda already told me she's this is a no. I just was curious to know why. I guess but we do we not even post a job salary range when we post our position. We really can't. It's so subjective. Jee, is that right? We have not in the past if we had inquiry regarding the range. We did answer that question. Um we can that may be a discussion for another day, but I just Yeah, I think the only position that we've actually posted it

012was the superintendent's position just and it was a Right. Right. It was a pretty broad range. Yeah. Okay. Correct. When you when you look at the current policy on the way people are placed on a salary schedule with it being based on potential experience that can be confusing with posting a range and people thinking they have the ability to negotiate the salary. Okay. Yeah, I got you. I got you. Okay. Okay. I'm I'm I'm good with that. And then we can talk about the actual salary. Okay. Later. Do you want me to read this? Um, you don't need to read the whole job description. It's just it's just a revised job description for the salary. Yeah, you can read the very first line. That's what I'm saying. Yes. Uh, you have received detailed information about

013this item of the job description below. Administration prepared to make recommendations or hold for discussion. Uh, we are requesting the approval of an additional payroll specialist um based on the job description below. So, this is approving the job description as well as posting it. That is correct. Okay. All right. We do have a motion and a second. So we're ready for roll call. Kenogal. I Curran. Hi. None. Hi. McMasters. Hi. Wire. Hi. Cook. I And I um item G is the dismissal of first year probationary teacher that will be held for uh executive session under 2C1. Um item H is the dismissal of a second year probationary teacher that will also be held for 2C1 under 2C1. And then that takes us to um item I which is the 2122 administrative salary schedule revision that

014I would like to hold for executive session. Um and that does talk about specific employees. just to iron just a couple of questions out, make sure we're on the same page, and then you can come out and vote on. Okay. And then that takes us to J, which is the certified and classified substance. Okay. Mr. President, the board, the detailed information about this item is below. Administration is prepared to make recommendations or hold for discussion in executive session. It is recommended that the following applicants be board approved as substitutes for the 20 2020 2021 school year. Uh certified subs Angel Co Tyler Owens and Michael Robinson. Yay. Thank you. So moved. I'm very happy. Thank you. Seriously. Second. Second. Okay. Roll call. Wilms. I. Cook. I. Kenogal. I. Currin. I none I McMasters I and

015Jones I motion carried. Uh moving on to item K which is the policies. Um the policy committee reviewed the following policies and recommends the following amended poly policies for 170 AP4 and Clement weather remote instructional day under school closing. If the superintendent closes all school buildings for in-person learning, students and teachers will be expected to have and log into their devices for remote instructional day. Attendance will be taken remotely by teachers. That's Is there a motion? Some moved. Second. Um discussion. I just wanted to ask um I know when we did a lot of online learning, our concern was with students who may not have good access to like good quality internet. I we did some mobile hotspots and things like that. I guess my concern would be with if there's inclement weather, how that

016would be possible for some students who might not have access to internet. Well, we hope as it appears we still have extra hotspots and we offer if anybody has any issue we've been handing them out as needed. So we have not heard of anybody not having internet and if they do you know please let us know there are additional we can continue that beyond two years yes I mean they can we can have those out for people correct question um the remote hotspots how long can we keep those out we uh when we purchased them through car it was a 2year purchase so we we paid for two years worth of uh service on hotspots for right now. Okay. And then we can check maybe at the end of that who's going to need those

017additionally. We keep to see what what we're looking at. We'll probably have to survey at that point. We own the hotspots though. Service. Exactly. So, we can look into that. I think that's And this is just kind of ratifying this because it's actually already this policy has already been in in effect since the kids went back, right? Yep. And it went really well. We actually several school school principles called and told me they had actually more remote attendance on the inclement weather day than some of the regular remote days. So we were pretty happy with that. And I think I heard a collective cry among all those children. I'm sorry. It really sunk in that snow days. Maybe one of the assignments can be to make a snow angel, you know, write a poem. I

018know my children had a collective sigh of sad. Eliminated. All right, we're ready for roll call. Wilms. Hi, Cook. I Kenogal. I Curran. Hi. None. Hi. McMasters Jones. I carried. All right. There is no old business, so we'll move on to new business. Item A is Chromebook purchase with the CARES Act digital relief grant funding. Okay. Mr. the president of the board. Authorization is requested to purchase 540 Chromebooks for students with the CARES Act digital relief. It's a second um SR CARES Act for digital purposes only grant funds. The new devices will be used to replace Chromebooks that are at the end of their useful life. Due to the availability and supply chain delays, the devices could take 8 to 16 weeks to arrive after the order is placed. The selected vendor CDWG um is

019in bold below um for the quoted prices. We had 1 2 3 4 um attempts at quotes. Truckura $336 a piece. CDWG $38.50 a piece. SHI $355.34 and utilitar did not provide a quote. The price above does include the device chrome license or your accidental damage war warranty as well. Note that we to get devices to K12 uh we did have to utilize some of the ones that were were had been used longer in the buildings to make sure every student had one. So these are to replace those ones that that are just you know at the end of their life so to say. And just to reiterate this is all grant money. All grant money we applied for the second that is specifically for digital this technology. And I was just going to ask

020too, and you're saying that the kindergarten probably is the ones that have gotten those other lower end. Brad, do you want to speak more first and second maybe? Um, actually it it the first grade students did get the lower quality devices the way that things just worked out. So the kindergarten ones are actually a little bit newer than the first grade and fifth grade devices. So and we are looking at maybe doing some different things with the kindergarters next year as well as far as devices depending on what grant money I can get. Um I do need a motion and a second. So moved. Second. Okay, that was my second. All right, we're going to go with none because I got the last one. Current. Um any other discussion or question you got? All righty.

021Roll call. No. I Curran I. None. I McMasters. Hi. Wilms. I Cook I and Jones. I motion carries. Item B is the Koolage Junior High School roof bid 07-21. Uh Mr. President, the board uh below were the tabulation of the Koolage roof bid number 0721. The following is a tabulation of bids for the roof at Koolage Junior High School. We are re we are recommending Batty Roofing to complete this project with RMT Inc. as a project manager. The three quotes are Glance roofing $728,05 uh Batty roofing $840,686 Care Brothers $956 and $956,450. Board approval to award the bid to baby roofing incident and requested. So moved. Second. Discussion questions. Okay. Roll call. Currin. I. None. I. McMasters. Hi Wilmser. Hi Cook. I Kenogal. I and Jones. I motion carried. Item C, contractual aiological services. Mr.

022President of the board, in order to be compliant with federal and state mandates with regard to IEP services, I am requesting that we enter into a contract with region 3 special education cooperative to provide aological services. Contractual aological services have previously been approve previously approved and provided by Anderson Hospital. They've indicated they are no longer willing to provide aological services and they have ended their relationship with the southwestern group of schools that were under their opaces prior services through hospital are scheduled to end as of February 28 20121. These services will be charged to the idea part B grant. Uh just know we did have conversation about this. I did talk to someone uh in Anderson um our special ed director Mickey Watkins worked on this too and we actually I think it will be

023better to have us under the region three special education services aological services um hearing test for for students so I think this will work out well approval is recommended a motion move second any discussion or questions okay roll None. I McMasters. Hi, Wilms Meyer. Hi, Cook. I Kenobyl. I Curran. Hi, Angel. I carried. Item D is the proposal for the creation of Grant City High School esports club. Mr. President, the board uh the GCSHs art teacher, Mr. David Mccclauslin, and our director of information systems, Brad Fred Urbay, are requesting the creation of an esports club within the Grand City School District. A presentation will be given as now as to the benefits of the esports as a vehicle to improve STEM skills forming communities and helping students invest in their own education and learning valuable

024communication skills. Uh they're going to start a presentation. I will say that I've done a little research into this. A lot of school districts in the area are doing this. There's a competition. They're going to talk about this. I I think you'll you'll I uh so as you mentioned, I'm the director of information technology. uh last year before CO hit me and Brad Smith kind of got involved in this a little bit and we started talking to a couple of our school districts. So as which unfortunat I put something on a little piece of paper about the current esports outlook. So in Southern Illinois under the IHSA so it's not a Illinois high school sports like I edge IHSA sponsored sport yet. uh possibility is still there. So in southern Illinois there really isn't very

025much uh sponsorship with that program. So Roxanna is one of the closest schools that we have to us. So last year like I said prior to co we went meas went toward Roxanna and visited that campus and talked to their technology director about this product because it was something that brings a little bit of a different kind of group um to light that we've been missing out on. So our job is of course to educate all students and you know let all kids participate. We kind of missed out on a small group and we missed out on some future options for those kids to kind of move forward. So uh I'm going to let Dave introduce himself. And speaking of that, when we also went out there, we we wouldn't try to find somebody that

026would kind of take the reign. And we have found the perfect person for this. We're really lucky. Again, I'm David Moslin. I'm one of the art teachers at the high school. Again, thanks for this opportunity. Did we want to do the video first? Yeah. So, we're going to show you. So, like I said, there's no point for us to recreate the wheel. So, there's a school that Aftton, so Afton over in Missouri has started the same program. So, what we want to do is just kind of show you their story, which could also be part of ours. Chris, is this being shared? There's no volume. Yeah. Can the public see this? Sound, huh? Hang on. Go figure. Yeah. [Music] colleges and the sport is rising in popularity quickly. League of Legends is one of the

027most popular esports games. This year, more people tuned in to watch the League of Legends World Championship game than Super Bowl 50 when the Chiefs took on the 49ers. I don't think adults really realize how big it is. It's a multi-billion dollar industry. Adam Jensen is the director of technology for the Aptton School District. Two years ago, the high school started an esports club with five students. Last year, that group grew to 30 and became an official esports team. We competed with other schools throughout the kind of central region of the US and actually made it to the playoffs in several games. There's been so much interest in the esport team. This year, the district hired an official head coach. Meet Sam Barker. It's definitely been something I've been interested in for a while, watching

028it. Um, I've never played competitively myself, but I've been playing, you know, video games for a long time, and I've definitely been interested in esports and how it's growing academically. Sam and Adam both say that esports are a way to engage students who aren't necessarily involved in other sports programs and give them a sense of camaraderie. The games we play, um, even though they're on a computer, they still have the same levels of sportsmanship that, you know, your football programs and basketball programs can have. still teamwork and strategy. Strategy is huge in esports and there are also other skills that students build that they can take outside of gaming. Those critical thinking skills are definitely going to be developed. Um, and then being under pressure and having to make decisions, kids are going to be

029doing that every time they play one of these games. And if a student wants to take gaming past high school, over 150 colleges have esports teams. Mville has a very successful esports team. They have a huge program and been incredibly successful. Most colleges now have college level esports teams and actively recruit high school students and offer scholarships. The esport Missouri league that ABS will be competing in starts next month. Reporting, I'm Catherine Hassel. So, it's kind of hard to hear a little bit, but the end of that at the end of that the main thing which is this is becoming a sport just like any other sport where scholarships are being offered. So, as you can see on this piece of paper that we provided you guys, if you look at the IH IHSA guidelines

030of what that the area and the Illinois, there's not very many on the Missouri side. There's quite a few more, but underneath that are all the scholarships or all the current colleges, university offer scholarships in this. Now, some are partial, some are full rides. Um, we try to track down myself and Chris try to track down one of uh one of our f one of our old students. Maybe he actually what? Maybe somebody in the audience won't. Uh so Alex Moore, so he graduated from University of uh Mville, which was part of the team that won two two national championships and uh he was one of the captains of one of the teams. So this is close to our heart. I mean, this is something that, you know, and I've been a few I've been

031an athlete, one of the schools that are on here, Fon. So I went to school there and played soccer and baseball and this would been something I would have been just as interested in. You know, outside the norm of a normal athlete, what we consider an athlete, this is a scope we haven't seen before. So again, I'm ready to turn over to him and he can kind of tell you what he's been working on and kind of show you where we're we're about now. Mhm. Yeah, I can tell you kind of where we're standing right now. U first let me start off by saying I know I don't have to remind any of you that uh the pandemic has kind of put a damper on all of the world's favorite pastimes at the moment. You

032know, baseball, football, hockey, etc. We all have had to um kind of take a step back with what we're used to. But because of that gaming in just the past year has exploded. Just this year uh 2020 uh the gaming industry finally grew larger to outgross both uh film and sports industry entirely. Now even before that it was enough so that if you excluded football it would knock those two out. But this year it finally took out football as well. So, the industry is much larger than I think some people think. Um, now, and because of that, video games have since evolved to become a more competitive sport. All right. Long long gone are the days where you're just sitting on a couch next to your friend playing games with one another. That's still an

033opportunity, but now competition is a much bigger thing than it used to be. So, with that, I would just like to talk about briefly kind of three main points of where we're at right now. And uh that would be uh the game Rocket League which is the one that the students have shown the most interest uh play versus which is the kind of group and program that we wish to work with and then three uh benefits for the students as well as opportunities for the future. So, first off, the game that the students, and I have to give a big shout out to student Maxwell Forbes, who kind of came forward that he had a group of six friends that actually are already a team, but they did want to be a bit more school

034sponsored official, but is Rocket League. And quite frankly, it is simply it is soccer with little rocket cars. Okay. So, it is a popular free game that can be played on all platforms crossplay. Now, what that means is, let's say Talon has uh an Xbox, but Dennis has a PlayStation. Well, now they can play together across the internet. It's not so much the days where, you know, Nintendo and Sega, oh, you can't play together. Now you can. And that's one of the ways that's been benefiting us is that you know we have all these students with all these different devices even though we are separate we can still play together no matter what. All right and as I said uh it is based on soccer and with that comes all of the normal things you

035have to teach with soccer teamwork communication strategy social skills. We just do have to take out that physicality component though. And I do have to say I have personal experience now with this game. Having played it through uh I'm also in charge of hobby club with the hobby club students. This is a wonderful game for all ages. It is a it's an rated game. So, you know, G for general audiences. If they've seen the old Looney Tunes cartoons, they've seen worse than what's in this. So now speaking of uh the next topic though is play versus. Now play versus is both a group and a program platform and play versus is also what Maxwell Forbes kind of introduced me to. He made mention of this and I have been on a few webinars with them

036and really gotten to know the people behind this program. Um it oversees the scheduling and arrangement of matches for uh different leagues and it also keeps track of player and game stats. Now I will say right now it is not currently um connected with IHSA. However, it is partnered with the National Federation of State High School Associations, which is the overarching body. And as of this week, it is now up uh to being 23 state associated, which was one more than it was last week. So, they are adding states all the time. They were even in talks with IHSA, but naturally, CO being the giant monkey wrench that it is, put a damper on those talks. So and uh they are very professional. They even have their own code of conduct that students must follow

037in addition to the state's rules as well as the school's rules. You know they take this very seriously. There is a cost component however but with this though with what our team is interested in Rocket League is free and so with that there's no cost component just yet. Now, there may be opportunities in the future cuz there are students who are interested in the other games, but Players versus takes charge over five games. Rocket League just being one of the five. The others would be Madden football, FIFA Soccer, League of Legends, and Smite. And I have come to find out by asking them what the cost component is for. It mostly entails for these other games like League of Legends and Smite, the cost component is to unlock everything for the player right then and

038there. Mostly this would be stuff that is out of pocket the student would have to pay for if they're just playing for fun. But if they're going to play competitively underplay versus when we choose to have teams for that, then it unlocks it immediately for them. So then they don't have to buy everything peace. All right? Keeps it all on a fair playing field. All right? And again, those might be something for the future, but the current interest with the group of six young men we have is Rocket League. And I just want to stress that enough. And then lastly, I do want to talk about uh benefits and future potential. Uh this is allowing social interaction that students have definitely been missing while we've been distancing. Again, as I said, video games have exploded

039this past year because it's been allowing that social interaction. Uh, it is also a team sport which promotes the previously mentioned skills for soccer as well as opportunities for soccer for scholarships and competing in college as well. As we know, Mville University has their own college team. Um it also uh has opportunities however to bring in other uh disciplines for the school. For example, other schools have formed their own YouTube channels using their esports teams footage as the topic for the YouTube channel. And that has then caused the schools to bring in other vocational programs in to make those videos. Their video production team for the school then makes the YouTube channels. Their graphic design people then make any little graphics that the game does not provide. And also if we go further um me

040and Mr. Irv have talked about possibly dedicated space as well as machines. We could then also further include vocational IT programs such as making computers, networking, things like that. Even in cases where enough even in one example that we came across with uh the YouTube channel stuff is too there were enough parents and students who subscribed to the school's channel that that channel started getting ad revenue and the club started paying for itself. Yeah. So in conclusion, I just feel that this will be an excellent opportunity for students and especially also bringing in some students though who might not other have an interest in another uh kind of extracurricular or even maybe an ability level. And the nice thing about this though is this would be co-ed. It's not a boys only club. The only

041the only thing that you know is your skill level. That is it. Um, and in this time when we have to stay distant, I really feel that this could be an avenue to bring students together, especially for Granite City High School. So, the one thing I do want to add is we of course are asking of the approval of this club to be granted. Now, unfortunately, David has signed on to help out with this product. The problem is there is seasons just like any other sport. So, right now we're doing Rocket League. That season just started this previous week. So you guys accepting this proposal today, they begin their first game on Thursday. Um, good. What we would need to discuss at some point is the future part of this. So when you guys accept

042this, the one thing we'd like to actually discuss, like he had mentioned before, is dedicated space. At some point, we would like to have a hub for people like that to go and sit, hang out, and enjoy this. Cuz not only is he part of the video game or the esports club, the hobby club. So those individuals that may not suit the games that are the five games that play versus do, but they might be able to do tabletop games, do something else that just bring people together, that social interaction, which we so desperately need, not even during this time, but all those people are looking for somebody to hang out with. Um the second part of that is that, you know, curriculum tier of what do you do with that with the extra technology?

043We used to have AutoCAD and or drafting that participated with the Manuggan R class and those kids got to see hands-on what exactly they built. They got to draw those things and see it. As he mentioned before, there's a ton of information that has to go into this and and and a lot of hard work with networking computers. What we lack of what you guys just approved is we don't have any tech staff. We have very small tech staff. If you go back to our staff, go ahead. I'm sorry. And we really don't want students bringing in their own devices to school necessarily. So if if we can kind of you know look at this from an example of a voca a new form of vocational classes is the adaptation of you know hardware networking

044or computer hardware. We just purchased 3500 Chromebooks and no text. So if you go back through our past Jason Vaughman next director was my co-op. We had Ryan Evans who works at I don't even know where he works but it's an advanced program. We have Patrick McGee who works at Computype. These are all people that learn on job skills during school and we can give these kids an opportunity to not only learn but to participate in these clubs to get hands-on, watch the YouTube videos, see how they make money cuz it's not just about the game. It's about the whole concept. And that's what we're really asking for is just this is just the start. This is the start to a bigger program. And as you see, they went from six kids to more than

045that. We had another video where they talked about Francis How, which was an NBC video. They went from six to 60 and they got over $400,000 in scholarship money because, as you see, we're not one of we're one of the few schools that are able to participate in that. So, get on board now and we can give these kids another opportunity for scholarships that we normally wouldn't have been able to give. And it would be a chance for us to start up and get in early on things. Actually, just yesterday, uh, St. Louis Post Dispatch posted an article about Decar, Champagne, Urbana, and, uh, Normal Illinois all forming a league as well. Now, the league we would be forming with Play versus because it's not IHSA just yet, it would be a regional league for

046the central time zone. So, with your permission, as I said, our first game would probably be Thursday. We're looking to go against the Red Bark Lions from Tennessee. Oh, what what kind of cost are we be looking at if we go into the other multiple game? The cost that they say on the website is about they I guess for like League of Legends and Smite cuz it's different from Rocket League. Um they look for more like about a 16 person team and then they said the average cost per student would be like $64 per person. Yeah. And then devices, they'll need to have devices that are working. Well, with the Yes. But and again, like Mr. Irv said though, usually in those cases, the players versus would has specifically asked, you know, does the school

047have a dedicated space. We talked about that today actually in our meeting. We had some really good ideas on working with our new cafe we're putting in for our STEM programs and maybe wiring that to have it better for uh charging and being able to have it. We would have to involve you in in actually designing that so that that could potentially be a space. Yeah, this is a I mean this is STEM. I mean this literally is STEM. This is what everybody's talking about. This is the key word we're using. This is what it is. So I appreciate you guys listening. Question. As a mom of a 16-year-old, I definitely see the value in his monster amount of time he spends on his Xbox actually being valuable for something besides and coming together, right?

048Um my only my only concern not really concern the question I guess is we always hear so much about these online gaming and and the sort of creditors that come with that. Is there I'm assuming there's protections against that built into this system? Well with the play versus system they had to verify my employment before they would allow me authorizations and then I'm in charge and I the students kind of log in. They make their own login and they say I'm part of Granite City High School. I get a list of those students and I can then sit and say yes, yes, no, you graduated. Why are you here? Because we did have one there from 2019. Why are you here? That's cuz I know other parents I'm sure would have the same. Yes. And

049as that we are protecting our kids and play versus the program that we're looking at, they have their own code of conduct as I've said and safety is their number one primary concern. And for a match to be authenticated, I have to be present. You know, even though we're separate, I would have to have like Google Classroom set up with all of their see all their lovely faces and they have to, you know, be able to talk and hear me and you would see if there's chat what the exactly, do you have anything to add to this? I had him kind of look into it, too. Yeah. No, everything they reported is everything that I was able to discern on my weekend research over it's like 23 states and my research says over 20,000 school

050districts currently do this. And just just as a quick note, there's more people that watch the championship of League of Legends than it did at the Super Bowl. And I'm a football fan. That's almost heartbreaking. But but if you watch any kids, I saw a girl over nine today. Like my kid does nothing but watch other people play games. I find myself doing that and I'm 43 years old and I'm pretty sure there's people that are watching right now that are laughing at me, but I don't care. I enjoy doing that. They're nerds. The other brand, too. That's why we hired them. Yeah. I just had somebody tell me that we had like three or four students that are from last year who got full ride scholarships. Absolutely. Wow. any if anybody knows we'd like

051for them that's too big for us again and that's the thing is we're and it's a small that we're missing out on we're just missing on that one small but if we jump in now we're the leaders of this and like I said Rox definitely I give them credit they helped us out a lot to get us to this point but we'd be one of the few around here that actually gets it going I was grant I remember in high school so many of my friends were playing competitive Call of Duty or League of Legends like turned into a school. So, this is great. I didn't even know until I think I think this will be one of the biggest activities. But again, I just want to I want to emphasize one more thing. This

052is a multiple season sport. So, your typical club, as much as I love this man for doing what he's doing, I'm not sure how much love we can give him without something at some point. So keep that in mind because when you're doing a spring, summer, whatever it may be, winter sport, you know, it cuz eventually this is going to become an IHSA sport. There's no doubt in my mind. We've already subscribed. I've already subscribed to the IHS or SA. So we're on we're on that just in case we do approve it that we can kind of get be part of that. Um so we're ready. We're just waiting on you guys. So thank I would strongly suggest that assuming we approve this um especially if you don't have a significant amount of new people

053that you guys set some set a date and come back and tell the board kind of what happened what your help and that's why we're we're going to trial with a with a rocket league so it's small group of kids on Thursday so and there's no cost to the district not at this time well Matt whenever you're talking scholarships but my research indicated yeah those kids that do get scholarships, they're playing for the fee service type games because that allows them to have their stats and everything else displayed nationally and that's where your college recruiters can then log on and and see who's really are your top players. So, it's something that so this you can dip your toe in, but we need to expand into the other possibly. But from my talks with the

054people at Play Versus, the woman even said, "Look, look, I worked in retail for probably about 20 years before I got this job. I'll tell you a good deal." The Rocket League stuff though, since the game itself is free, we have to treat everything else that goes associated with it as being free of cost, right? So, okay. Well, I see no good deal when I see it. So, Thursday, for example, are they going to be playing like basically on their own console since it's a Thursday? Yes, because it is we are working remote. Uh they will be setting up we will be setting up a private lobby and then I've already been in contact with the coach from uh the high school at Tennessee. So uh you know GCHS warriors got to beat these Bravo

055lines. All right. Well, we look forward to an update. All right. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you guys. So, we do need a motion and a second. I still believe for this. Yes. Right. Okay. We have a motion in a second. Any other comments or thoughts? Actually, I'd like to add something. Sure. Um I know Maxwell Forbes. He's a good friend of mine. Um Mr. Curran, Mrs. Kenobyl, Mrs. K. You guys visited robotics a couple of weeks ago. He's our head builder. You guys saw him. He talked to you guys about CAD about the new processes he's done over the past few years. He's a very advocated student. He's currently a junior. And he anytime we talk about robotics on Discord, for example, and we talk about it almost every night. anything he doesn't talk

056about with robotics is about esports. He's been wanting this club for the past year. He's been trying to look all look all the research for it and uh he reached out to Mr. McClinin I know and he's just been very excited about it. I mean he already told me today that he can't make it to the tail end of robotics meeting on Thursday just because he's expecting this tournament. So I mean it I really do see it as a good opportunity and I agree when I think um this club is going to be one of the biggest clubs we have. I can I can guarantee that. And then Max was also the grandson of a former uh vocational electrical teacher at Grand City High School who's amazing. So when me and Brad went out to

057the high school, we just kind of asked kids who might be interested. It was funny. You had a bunch of kids and one hands went up and then other ones went kind of, you know, it was one of those ones where I I don't know, man. But I mean, honestly, if we get the spa, if you get a chance, go out and look at these places like these even high schools. The spaces, they kind of they make them so neat and so welcoming. It it is just something that brings kids in. So anytime you can get students to find a place they belong absolutely it increases their their desire to be here and instead of playing alone in the basement or something. They're actually they're cooperating. They're socializing. They're developing friendships. I think it's there's

058they're not cussing at their Xbox. They're like true. And as my mama used to always said when I was playing in the basement with my friends, I at least always knew where you were. Well, that's a good point. It's your point. Well, thank you again. We really appreciate it. Thank you for heading up. I made the motion and Zach made the second. All right. Any other comments? Roll call. McMasters. We're asked to guess. Yeah. Williamser. Hi. Cook I. Kenogal. I current I none I Jones I motion carried. Thank you gentlemen. Good job. Don't forget we got another happy Thursday. I'll send it out Friday morning. Thank you. All right. Um that takes us to the reports and other communication section of the the meeting. Item A is our student board member advisor report from Kaylee

059McKenzie. I'm excited to introduce her. She's got some great stuff to provide us today. Okay. So, I'm going to hand it over to her. She has a PowerPoint, I believe. Will that be put out to uh audience? Yeah. Um, can you bring your magnet or do you need No, I haven't. Will that be to And then do you want to put the Facebook on that or on Kaye or how do you guys how do you guys want to do it? Maybe I them seeing a presentation. Would that be okay for now? Cuz it's only the PowerPoint. I'm totally fine with whatever. Post it tomorrow and it'll be on a minute. It's just watching them is better than watching us. Otherwise, they're watching us. I got it. Look at you. There we go. You want Which

060way am I going? Here. Might be able to get both here. I'll do that. There we go. [Music] That completely backwards. Awesome. Hi guys. So, um, I know Corey distributed these packets to you guys. These are going to be the slides if you also want to look through them. Um, so those on the Facebook live, my name is Kaylee McKenzie. I'm a senior at Granite City High School, graduating in a few months. Um, I'm your school board student adviser since about August of this past year. And my position is representative of the student perspectives within GCHS. And I'm dedicating this report to full transparency for our students. And uh as for the board, please feel free to uh interrupt or ask a question, make a comment uh while I'm show showcasing this report. Uh there's

061a ton of things I'll be talking about, so you may want to take a few moments to discuss them. Um so over the past couple of weeks, I have surveyed students with nine questions related to the current school year. This survey was taken place on Google forms and students responses were named anonymous um unless otherwise indicated within their responses. Uh the principal of GCHS, Mr. Pew actually issued a schoolwide email with the included survey last Thursday which resulted in a magnitude of responses, eight times as many as I had previously had. Um, and due to this, I would like to give a possible secondary report within the next two months to highlight other student responses as if possible of course. Um, as well as give an any additional round of questions that you guys would

062like to ask them um and that I would maybe be interested in asking myself over the next couple of months. Um but before we ascertain that idea, let's look to some of the results from the student led survey. So um without the surveys for student incompleteness, we had 169 student responses. We had nearly 45 other responses that were incomplete for mandatory questions. So I'll take a separate look at those results if we were to have another student report. Um but the data collected in the survey is represented by 169 complete forms from the different students. Um it is an important note before we move on to the next slide that many responses are ideas we can't introduce due to COVID and state guidelines and some things are just out of the board's hands right so

063yet these ideas may help us to contribute other ideas um that may be following uh co restrictions implement the guidelines given to us by the state etc. So the board may want to acknowledge this throughout some of their responses presented by the students in the survey. So, the first question talks about what grade are you in or what class are you in? Um, it was actually a pretty even split. 27.8% of responses were from seniors, 21.3% were from juniors, 24.3% were from sophomores, and 26.6% were freshmen. Way to go freshmen for beating out the sophomores and the juniors, by the way. Very impressive. Yep. So, next up, we have question two. It was an open-ended question. Um it's talking about how the there are uh people's thoughts on the semester's hybrid and remote schedule. Um

064although many students understand that the bus situation is impossible, the hybrid situation allows for certain lengths to be taken on that schedule. Um they want to talk about their own responses. So overwhelmingly students um thought the schedule was okay, better than last year's overall uh for better than them for traditional year. That would be 132 out of 169 students. And I also subjugated the responses into two other categories. As you can see, it's too early or I don't like it because and then there are some of the responses. Uh we had it interferes with siblings getting to school. I know there's quite a few of my friends that had to look um around to see who else could take their siblings to school or whether what other means of transportation was available because I think

065on average I think about the high school students get to school an hour earlier than other students in school district. Um there's a lack of participation and attendance. Uh students even admitted themselves in the survey that uh they were very tired in the morning and they couldn't log on or they couldn't really pay attention. Um, the work schedule doesn't work out for this one individual. I signed on to this job last semester and they weren't pleased when I begged them to adjust my schedule. Not enough people to close on those days because they typically do close on those days and they were good at it, right? Um, so there was other reasons why they did not like the hybrid schedule. Um, not retaining anything after going back to class 5 days later. The same classes

066two days in a row was inconsistent for some students or many students. Uh, from a lot of the surveys I've seen, uh, the remote kids have responsibilities when they are home and teachers don't understand this. It's too stressful for our staff. I like the schedule from last semester. CO won't follow arrows in hallways. They just make it more difficult to get to your classes quickly. The more time you spend outside of your classes in the halls, the more likely you can get CO. The hallways are too crowded, and I may go back to remote for this reason. So, you can see that there's quite differing um, perspectives in this matter. Um but overall like I said 132 out of 169 students were very pleased by the schedule that we produced this semester. Um so overall

067I think that it has overall been better for each individual student. So the next question talks about on a scale of 1 to 10 how how stressed students were with their course load, their schedule and their extracurricular activities. Um and it seems to be pretty even across the board as you can tell um with their course load. It's pretty even across. And with the extracurricular activities, um, a lot of students said they weren't stressed, which makes sense because many students do not participate in these activities, right? Um, so overall, uh, you can see it's pretty even across the board, but from past examples, and I know Emily Ken, our last student adviser, kind of did a report about how stressed students were, it kind of matched up with the same stats from last year. So

068overall, it's it's actually uh pretty much the same. The fourth question talks about opinions on coming back in person via the hybrid schedule in quarter 4. Um there was also an other opportunity for students to elaborate on their um specific needs and there were specific responses but overall one of them the four options were I'm currently a hybrid learner and I plan to continue hybrid learning. Um another one was I'm currently a hybrid learner and I do not plan on continuing hybrid learning. I'm currently a remote learner and I do and I do plan on continuing remote learning. And the last one was I'm currently a remote learner and I do plan on going back to hybrid schedule. Um, as you can see overall, we have the majority being uh that they currently are a

069hybrid learner but they want to continue which is good news for our safety regulations not only for CO but for security purposes which is a great news. And then those that are currently remote feel like they would stay remote. But you can you can see that there is actually quite a bit of individuals that are going to switch from what they currently are in quarter three to quarter four. I would believe that's about 10% of individuals. And because of this, we can see that these individuals um may want to partake into the opportunities of what other schedules allow. So, for example, if you are currently a remote learner, you want you've heard from your friends that the hybrid learning schedule is honestly not that bad and the teachers may be more interactive with you in

070the classroom. So, they want to switch to hybrid learning or the opposite. Um, you know, some some hybrid learners really did like the hybrid schedule, but I know there was a couple of responses that indicated that they just weren't able to continue the hybrid schedule due to work schedules. So, I know there's many different reasons and purposes, but overall, I think students um I think the students a majority of the time do like their schedule. As you can see, there's a huge majority of people keeping with their schedule. So, if they leave the green real quick, that's the remote wanting to go hybrid. That's the remote wanting to stay remote, wanting to stay remote. Oh, yes. Oh, the green wants I thought you said that they Yes, the green wants to stay remote. The yellow

071is the remote learners wanting to return to hybrid learning. Oh, you said that backwards the last time. Oh, sorry. Yeah. So, wait a minute. So, it's only the yellow is the ones that want to come back in person. Yes, that's correct. Yeah. And then you can see there's a few other um responses that indicated as not those four general colors. It's because they had different purposes. Like I know some students were um they were early graduates for example and so they took the survey. Obviously, they're not in hybrid or remote learning right now. So, but they wanted to take the survey to represent their response, right? So, there are various circumstances, but as you can see, I think the majority is going to be keeping with their schedule about 85% of them. So, that's the

072overall opinion. The fifth question asks, will you be participating in homecoming activities, i.e. dressup days, and during the month of March? I know student council is going to be representing this. Uh, Mrs. Linda Ames is going to be uh steadfast in these activities for our students which is a great thing. Um as you can see again the majority of the opinion is yes they would love to participate in these activities which is great news because even in previous years you would see quite a bit of students not want to partake in these activities. Right? So it's honestly a it's honestly great news that 129 out of 169 students really want to participate in these activities. Um I'm not sure about traditional years. I don't know how traditional years um fared with this question as well,

073but I would assume it's about the same uh same pace. Uh there was also uh this was also an open-ended question. So when I categorized this into yes, maybe and no, there were some specific responses about maybe for 22 students. Um some of these students talked about how uh they they may go to some of these activities or they may do some of these activities depending on um you know whether the co situation is is okay and what the activities really entail coming up within this next month. Um so there's a mult there's multiple different reasons but also there's a note indicating at the bottom that some students said this is because they are early grads or virtually learning and they weren't sure what activities were coming up when they said maybe or no. And

074because of this, I would just like to say out there to, you know, Facebook live, if you are a student who's an early grad or if you are a student who is a virtual learner, you can take the opportunity to do days. Please interact with the high school and uh doing the homecoming activities because it's meant for everyone. You're not less of a student just because you're not doing hybrid learning. So please, please, you know, look forward to these opportunities. And um if you're not sure what the activities are coming up, I'm sure that Mrs. This is Linda Ames from student council. We'll uh be indicating these activities pretty soon since March is coming up very quickly. All right. So, question six was also an open-ended question. It asked if we were to conduct high

075school events, so not the homecoming activities in March, but during the summer, i.e. prom, activity banquetss, awards ceremonies, would you be interested in attending and participating? And before I get into those responses, I wanted to ask this question pertaining to um even if we tried to look to have the outlook of the future to see if these activities could even be plausible if students are actually interested or would they like to move on and do other things during their summer or do other things during their late spring semester. So um but you can see the majority of these students 145 out of 169 said yes they would love to participate in these activities. Um, some said maybe, but note at the bottom, many answers were from every category discussed that they would only attend certain

076events if there were co safety precautions in lower cases. Obviously, the board will make sure of that as well, but they did take that into consideration for their answer. Um, but students also discussed that many would be unable to to participate in activities during the summer. uh whether it's due to work relations, maybe a lot of seniors are going to colleges during that time, you know, participating in uh you know, uh these over the summer classes. Um so they said they indicated that they would like the opportunity if available to do these events during April or May. So I know that that was actually a huge majority of opinions even in the yes category. Um, but students do prefer that the sooner the possible if it was obviously okay with CO safety precautions and if

077there were lower cases. The next question was an open-ended question. I uh included some additional responses, but this was for the class of 2021, my personal class for seniors. Please give us potential ideas for the GC board to discuss in regards to additional events to commemorate your senior year or any additional advice. Um, so personally in my background, I just like to say that a lot of students in my grade um do feel that we haven't been represented as much as the class of 2020. I will say that for sure. Um, personally, when I have them to these board meetings, I know that there is a lot that goes on. you guys have a lot to deal with, especially with the differences in technology and applicable grants that we may or may not be getting.

078And so, we're really at a crossroads with all of the additional things we have to face. So, and I and I've actually, you know, given this perspective to many of my friends, and they do agree that there are more pressing matters, but they would like some of these responses to be acknowledged. So, the first response is that there could be a senior only prom possibly. Um, I know that the juniors might feel differently, but you know, if the same situation were to happen next year, then we could have a senior only prom for them as well, right? So, hopefully in the future, um, you know, they could understand that purpose, but that that student in particular just wanted a senior only prom. And I think there were a couple of other responses that were similar,

079um, but not that many. So, another one was, give us a senior day. I'm not really sure what that uh set in there in particular, but I assume it's one of those senior skip days where we're able to, you know, skip Zoom classes for a day and, you know, go do something on our own. Um, an in-person graduation that was acknowledged by many, but of course, whether there's co safety regulations or something that the state provides, we can't obviously do that um unless the state gives us the right to do so. Um, prom and may carousel, that was also a big one. the welcome back rally. Even though, you know, we're like seven months into the year, you know, kids really do enjoy the welcome back rally. We we enjoy dressing up in our class

080colors, participating in, you know, makeup and wigs and, you know, classes and it would just it would just be amazing to do that once again, especially, you know, just because we haven't had many opportunities to do many other events. Uh let us go to senior nights for the sports that are playing and uh seniors only so that we cannot get co I know that was also a huge response. Um host a virtual hybrid event possibly or make a video discussing how rough this year has been or how we were successful through it. Um I know actually Granite High World the students that are working on Granite High World videos is trying to acknowledge this. So, just to the students out there, if you're listening or, you know, eventually hear about this, I know those students

081are currently working on making those types of videos. Um, prom prom, please do anything you can to make that happen. Social distancing might be difficult, but as long as masks are in use and there are hand sanitizers everywhere, I think it would be safe. With graduation as well on the football field and space the chairs 6 feet apart across the football field, I have the capacity in the bleachers for my family to be a lot less than it was before. So once again just indicating that they would like to have a traditional year. Obviously if it's with within the guidelines I think we could possibly do that but if we're not able to provide those guidelines then we may just have to do something differently like maybe something like we did last year. So you

082know that could be an opportunity. There were some more questions related to this question uh for the seniors. I think that last year's graduation was a great success, but I think you may be able to figure out a way to hold a traditional ceremony by social distancing and everyone for everyone in limiting how many family members can attend. Then then again, things are changing every day and things can be a lot better by by that time to come. Um, the WWT raceway in Madison for graduation, um, there was a couple different responses about this. I would like all of my family and friends to see me graduate and I'm sure the racetrack would consider our situation this year. Um I I guess they were saying that in terms of payment for the raceway. I think

083they were concerned that maybe we'd have to pay for it, but I guess they were saying that they would consider our situation, you know, and they would provide it for charity work. Um I think we need to do it to do what we did last year for seniors where they got gifts from teachers and random packages and uh then the next response goes on to the adopt the senior idea which I think the previous response uh ascertained to. So we can we can uh definitely do something like that. I feel like especially since last year that was uh I know that was a Facebook group that was made online and uh I think there were just uh you know anonymous people saying hey I'd like to send you something and it was just a very

084pleasing experience. I know a lot of my friends did receive something and it was anything from food baskets to um DVD movies. You know it was a great experience for them and you know maybe we could do that this year. Uh a senior sendoff in some type of way. to make sure the seniors feel celebrated. Signs in our yards would be cool, like how the class of 2020 had it. To be truthful, I think the lack of recognition for the senior class this year. Um, and they go on to talk about how the for lack of a better expression, uh, we're we're going to be we're going to be seeing how the senior class should be more represented. Um, but once again, I know we have so many different situations happening this year. during co

08519 was unprecedented and honestly I do think the majority of students feel the same way that you know we have to look to co first we have to look to the safety of our students and staff first so although that we can't really uh introduce uh this recognition for the senior class in some regards I still think the majority of students are just grateful to you know be healthy be alive right now and really partake in their home activities and you know still talk to their friends online while we have you know in the in the 21st century we have technology that allows us to talk to people online, you know, where we don't have to go face to face. So, I think that um, you know, we have to look optimistically at this year

086and we have to look optimistically at this past year. So, overall, I think that's what this question entails. Question number eight talks about hybrid learners. So, this wasn't a mandatory question. This was just for hybrid learners. On a scale of 1 to 10, how safe do you feel in the school? This is related to CO 19 as well as other security protocols. 10 being the most safe. So, as you can see across the board, there's a big jump in tens in every single graph. Um, you know, students are the most safe. As as you can see, we have the one-way hallway situation within the classrooms. I know that we have students spaced out and we clean the desk about every hour so that uh we don't have the possibility of risking CO by um touch

087protection. And you know when we're looking at you know the gymnasiums and annexes if you partake in gym or if you are in a senior lot for example uh there's still safety protocols and regulations for co 19 as well. So uh every area on campus for granite city high school is very safe according to students. And then the last question it was list below any other concerns comments questions that you would like the grand city school board to discuss. Once again, uh, all of these responses are probably going to be, uh, reignited over what the previous questions were. So, for example, a senior only prom that was both reinstated several times once again. Um, Instagram hate pages towards fellow students. Um, I actually do know quite a bit about this one on Instagram. I've seen

088about 10 different hate accounts. Um, I never really follow them, but they had their account open publicly, so I was able to view those Instagram posts. But almost immediately, you know, I would tell my friends to go report this account and it was almost taken down within an hour within when when I viewed it. Um, but a lot of these accounts were only up for about 24 hours. They weren't, you know, a month-long account that was there to um bully students. But for some examples, um, it was really just, you know, creating rumors about certain students and to an extent bullying them, cyber bullying them. Um, as we know, uh, this hasn't been a year where we're in person, so a lot of the in-person bullying hasn't been taken place, but it's been put towards

089cyber bullying. So, I know that has been an issue. And I think what this student wants to know is if there's going to be any repercussions that are possible if we do recognize who the person is behind that hate page. So, um, in the future, I mean, we can really just look at how Instagram hate pages can have repercussions because like I said, I've seen at least 11, honestly, and I know there was a lot more that I haven't seen so far in these past few months, and I think students think they're getting away with it. For what p purpose, I'm not sure, but students continuously do this. Um, one-on-one learning and pajama day, that was also another comment. having to take uh classes that are life skills when you graduate high school like how

090to pay taxes, how to take care of a baby, etc. Um I would like to say personally we do have these classes. They may not be mandatory, but we have adulting 101 or you know taking care of everyday adulting things. You know, learning how to sew a button, for example. You may not think that's very important, but you know, one day you're going to want to sew a button on your pants to cover up, right? Exactly. So, you know, we have these we have these classes at the school. And I think uh the opportunity that the board needs to discuss is how we um really showcase these classes and these opportunities for students. Um I know that since they're not mandatory, a lot of students don't hear them because they just want to, you know,

091move on, take those easy classes. But if they do want to learn those life skills that a lot of students are asking for, there is that availability at the high school. We have business accounting to learn how to pay taxes and learn liabilities and assets. We have which I'm currently taking right now actually. Uh we have adulting 101 to take care of a baby etc. I know they just reimplemented the foods class for this year and although you know co happened I know it's going to be um eminent in the future. So obviously these students can take that class as well. Um teachers won't respond to my emails and overall there is a lack of communication. Once again, uh there was just a variety of responses in relation to how there's a lack of communication,

092which I think is a very important topic for today. Um clean the whole desk, not just the whole desktop. Some teachers aren't doing this. Um but once again, we can see that every other hour teachers do clean the desk. Um and we haven't had any COVID cases reported and uh overall we did see a huge increase in the amount of safety that each student felt was provided for them. So uh we think overall this would this is still a great thing that we're doing for hybrid learning. Uh this year really sucks for all the seniors. Uh there are ways that we can make it more special for the seniors. So you know you could look to the previous uh two the two questions ago. Question number seven about possible opportunities for these seniors. Uh the

093Chromebooks we were supplied with for remote learning are far too slow to use long term. I can hardly type and a Google doc at the same time I'm in a meet and if we're going to use Chromebooks uh through the next year and then in 2022 I would definitely get more capable laptops and they go on to say you know recommendations like a window uh computer a 6 GB RAM and a four core processor. Um these are just some opportunities from students and then uh the last slide discusses more responses to this last question. Uh the schedule is a large concern. It's hard to keep track of my siblings with a huge schedule difference. It's also a very early schedule. The time schedule was much easier to handle last semester starting at 9:00 a.m. I

094love the job you guys and gals are doing. I really did like that comment. Can we do some more stuff for Black History Month? And can we have more clubs like the JOTC? When we have the driver's ed, why can't we lower the cost on it? Some parents are losing jobs during CO 19. Some parents aren't going to be able to afford to pay for this. Um, some students will end up being knocked out of the class. Um, prom and graduation are the most important to me. I've already lost the entirety of my senior year, and I want at least something to be memorable and fun about it. You have uh when we're talking about how we're going to make teachers uh follow safety guidelines. Many of them forget to wear a mask, even behind

095their desk. Um, honestly, from my perspective, I haven't seen this. And not only do I go to my um my own teachers classrooms, I visit other classrooms to uh you know give something to them from another teacher or to just talk to them because I really am close with a lot of the teachers here and I see every every teacher wearing a mask the entire day, right? I'm in robotics from 7:00 a.m. to, you know, 9:00 p.m. almost every day, right? And every teacher in that building I've seen has wearing a mask the entire time. So um I haven't really seen this problem. uh make sure fast on that very first question I engaged there was a comment about um teachers won't respond to my emails and it kind of goes on I just want

096to touch on that really fast. So if there are students who have mental health concerns, I personally feel like there's always a teacher or a counselor or an administrator or a cafeteria worker or a board member who will listen to students like peers, right? Everybody, you know what? So like I just if student wrote that is listening because it's anonymous and we don't know, just feel free to email me. So my name is Matt.jones or my email matt.jonesg9.net. that and it's not because I want to know who you are. I just want to make sure that we're providing everything. You know, if we do provide another survey in the next couple of weeks, I can definitely put that information at the top in the directions. You know, if you do have any mental health concerns,

097you have if you have any concerns that is worth mentioning, maybe email them to you. Yeah. I mean, I don't I it's not common for board members to get those, but I'm just saying like it kills me if somebody's sick taking an anonymous survey and saying that they're having mental health concerns and they talk to. So, I'm giving my email out to just email me Mr. Mats is heading up the car team which is doing a really amazing job and Mr. message to somebody they could definitely connect with too would be a really good source to start with because I know for a fact that you would find what they need. I just want that really bothered me so I just wanted you know maybe when we send out um this presentation out to the

098social media we can also link that you know in our description of the post. So I think that'd be a good idea. Yeah. Thank you. For sure. No, for sure. Thank you. Um so we're continuing on uh we should talk about the workload that a lot of honors kids are having. Um, some people say, "Well, you signed up for honors." Yeah, for inerson school as normal. Um, some students think that, you know, this year might be worse when looking at the course load and working at the workload than previous years. Um, you know, it just depends on the amount of classes you took this year versus last year. I think it varies depending on what class you take, how hard it is, but overall, I think it's probably nearly as hard as previous years in

099my own experience. It's definitely different for other experiences depending on what classes you have and what you do after school, what your, you know, other opportunities and activities look like. But, um, overall, we can really see that, you know, we're having, um, you know, more time in regards to co 19 since we can't be in person for, you know, about 7 hours a day, right? So, I think there is overall, you know, maybe more workload, but you have more time to do it. Um, teacher spotlights. Maybe have the students nominate the teachers so we could show our appreciation and how they have impacted our lives. That would be I love that comment so much because I am very close with so many teachers. I have to give a shout out to Mr. Lock our vocational

100department head, Mrs. Heath, our science department head, you know, so many different teachers that I'm very close with and that I work with every day in my extracurricular activities and in my other classes. They are true representatives of who I want to be when I grow up, right? you know, I I always look to them and I think that they they really have impacted my life. I don't think I would be who I am today and who I want to be when I'm older um in my own career um without having those experiences, right? So, that's definitely something I want to partake in if possible. Um I have a good combination of teachers doing virtual learning, but for my Google classes that are being conducted in egeneuity, it would be nice to have more contact

101from them to see how I am doing, not just rely on egeneuity process. Um, and so this student actually indicated their name as well. And I actually know this person. So I texted them about this and I would say, you know, they wanted to remain anonymous, so I'm not going to say their name. But, um, when they included the name in the survey, I contacted them and they were like, "No, Egeneuity is great. Like, this is a great education process, and I know we've discussed this previously on the board. Um, but they would just like more communication from that teacher on what to do." So, um, that was just another concern. All right, that's about it. But um I'm just going to talk about a couple of other things. So you know not only uh

102in conclusion but I'd like to talk about a possible secondary report but um in conclusion students understand that the health and safety of our students and staff come first but they would like to see more done related to their potential events and individual needs met. Um many have documented their mental health decline as we've already talked about the motivation significantly decrease with no optimistic outlook for the future and they would like more answers. um even if it's an answer of you know we are still waiting for state guidelines and co to regulate it's still communication right so many students don't currently know how we hold these general meetings on Facebook live and uh maybe we need to make that more apparent so actually in fact I think it would be a great idea if you

103know we could arrange an address maybe from superintendent can and uh we could have a document set out districtwide to answer a lot of the key questions and concerns from the survey So, I think that'd be fantastic. It's a great idea. All right. This is awesome. I appreciate that. Put together well. It's hard in these times. And seniors, we're on it. It's just February. We'll be on it. I know. I I'm in high hopes. And, you know, I' I've talked quite a bit. I'm, you know, captain. I'm president of a lot of clubs, NHS. I really try to reach out to students and say, "Time is coming. We just got to, you know, wait it out. We got to get through these classes. We got to wait it out. It's almost the end of the

104semester. We're going to get through this and it's going to look great, I believe. So, like a lot of the sports stuff related to, you know, spring sports since everything's been pushed, right? No, senior nights and all that stuff, that opportunity hasn't even, you know, come yet. We're still trying. I think we'll be able to do that. I think uh athletic director, Mr. Mo, has done a fabulous job with allowing us, you know, limited spectators and having people be able to come. I know they've been in the stands for basketball games. It's been it's been really great. Uh even if it is a less amount of cheerleaders, they're there homecoming. They're going to be able to do some things. So, we really are trying I've talked to Mrs. Heath and Mrs. Ames and Mr. Peasy

105and trying trying to get some Mr. Dew and trying to get some things done. So, just I like the adopt a senior. I think that's that's a really neat idea. So, um we'll and that is one of our most important things. Yes, there are other things going on, but we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for kids. We're here for kids. So I so appreciate this and and hearing that and you know whenever we got that response about you know how sports are looking in the future and we got that information that I just say will be happening so many students were relieved. It felt like we had something to be optimistic about in the future right it felt like we were coming out of this whole unpre unprecedented event. So I mean I can

106speak for the students I think when I say that students are being feeling better than they were like 5 months ago. I think that there's more of an optimistic push. Um, I just think that they need a little more communication and a little more push in regards to, you know, getting through this semester. Um, I know a lot of students have already told me, "Oh, this semester has only been two two months long. I thought it was like nearly the end." Right. So, I mean, that's that's every year, right? So, I mean, yeah, that's what I wanted to discuss, but you know, I would also like to do a secondary school report maybe to address some of these concerns and make more questions that you guys would like answered as well. Um, and I could

107do that in the next two, three meetings. I think I think it's good for their mental health that they have these questions and they speak out without worry that it's that we're going to criticize them because we understand where they're coming from. It's so unusual to be in this setting when they're in high school like this and and so difficult. And I wanted to say one thing about the student that was talking about the heavy workload for honor students. Uh and another thing that this could also be something that could help that person and others is organiz organization skills which are so essential for trying to get through a heavy load of work and and often times we don't we don't spend enough time on how to organize our our day our workload. So, you

108know, this could be also something along with mental health, anything that that is always a pressing issue for every every adult. Yeah. As well, especially during co Hey, Stephanie, would it be possible for Mr. Matthysse or someone to send out an email with like this is who you would contact if you want to talk to someone? In addition to that too, we have uh we just purchased the district the Rethink Ed program which is all social emotionally based for all age groups. In fact, I think it does an excellent job actually for the first time for for high school secondary groups. They have videos that are peer related. Uh I think that could be made available now that we've purchased that. Miss Nachas Converter might know a little more about that, but we can get

109something out I think to address many of those issues I think to to the students junior high and high school. So I can even get with you and we will Mr. Matthysse sit down the car's team and and develop and make sure they do have information on who to get a hold of. We would hate, Mr. Jones put it very well, the idea that that someone feels they don't have anyone to reach out to. Exactly. I mean, I I was in a situation a few years ago where my mental health was in a decline and like Mr. Jones said, reach out to your teachers. I wouldn't be where I am today without Mrs. T, Mrs. McCoy for debate. You know, all these different teachers. I guarantee you if you reach out to your teacher, you

110will be in a better place. Guarantee it. And we'll have Mr. Mitchell actually our communications director uh get forward but get in touch with some of these people to uh have students recommend or give some nice quotes about some teachers for the spotlight coming up. Yes. I want I want to say one other thing and that is we feel privileged as a school board to be allowed to know the feelings that are going on with our students. Uh we care so much about them and that's what we're here for. So, it's our privilege that you've given us this time to respond to these questionnaires and and we thank you. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Not not to speak for Superintendent Cam, but like the biggest challenge that I can think of as far as like

111events goes, just how much the landscape changes from month to month, week to week. So, when you look at like end of year stuff, like you know, who knows what we'll be like by May, by June, you know? So I think that's the biggest challenge for me personally is just how much it can change. Hard to predict and not knowing and we are looking at all those numbers now looking at maybe making some changes or some other availabilities on student attendance for quarter 4. We're in the middle of doing all that right now. Um because you know the more students we can help and get to the better off we all are. So absolutely we're looking forward to some normaly right. Of course. Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm hoping for I think everybody, you know,

112not just students are hoping for a better future. And like I said, you know, with this push about IHSA and a lot of different activities actually happening now, especially out of where we're coming out of our, you know, winter depression, we can clearly see that there's going to be an optimistic ride in the future and we're going to have a good outlook this coming spring and this coming summer. So, I'm very excited. Thank you so much. Very nice job. And thank you to all the students that responded. Yes, thank you. Yes, of course. Yes. All righty. The last item on our open agenda is item B, which is the Freedom of Information Act requests. Mr. President, the board, we received two requests under the Freedom of Information Act during the period of February 3rd, 21

113through February 15th of 2021. The first request was received on February 3rd, 2021 from Nathan Mahelich at the Illinois Retired Teachers Association. He requested the following information. the name and email addresses of any certified staff, teachers, administrative, nurses, counselors who are retiring this year. The second request was received on February 15, 2021 from the product analyst team at public contractors.com. They are requesting the following information. Employee staff contact information for all GCS9 employees um including first name, last name, position, title, department, phone number, business cell, email, and office address. These requests were handled by the administrative offices. All right. Thank you. That takes us to executive session. Exceptions noted under five ILCS120-2 open meetings. The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body, 2C1. Student disciplinary matters 2C9. The

114purchase or lease of real property for use by the public body or setting price thereof. 2C5 and six. Collective bargaining matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives. 2C2 litigation when an action against affecting or on behalf of the particular public body has been filed is probable or eminent. 2C11 to discuss school building safety and security and security procedures 2C8 and student safety 2C8. We do have those um human resources items that we held under 2C1. That was um the dismissal of two teachers as well as the administrative salary schedule revision and then we also have a negotiations conversation um with our negotiating attorney under 2C1 as well. Hiring parro and the hiring of the parapro. Yes. Yes. Correct. Yep. All right. Do I have a motion to go into executive session?

115So moved. Second. All in favor? I. We are in executive session. The time is 6:27.