001Board meeting to order. Roll call please. Stacy here. Vinnie here. Kenogal here. Curran here. None here. McMaster here. Forbes here. Mm here. We have Thank you. Uh we will stand please for the pledge of allegiance followed by the invitation given by Cather Stacy Wilson first assembly of God. I pledge algiance 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. I'm Stacy Wilson from GC First Assembly of God here in Granite City. Father, I thank you for the men and women who serve our community by being a part of this board. And I thank you for the men and women who serve as teachers and administration. I thank you for all of the people who stepped up
002to be willing to drive buses for us to get us back going the way we need to be. Lord, I just pray that you would continue to have your hand over this community and on this school board and this school district. Lord, give them wisdom as they make decisions and help us to continue to grow and to be um leaders in our area for education. And I just pray your blessings over them. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Very nice. Uh, first item tonight on the agenda is public comment. Do we have anyone here to say anything? At this time, uh, we'd really like to recognize the Grand City High School vocational team. If you guys could come up, we'd appreciate Mr. Defw, the high school principal as well. Give
003us a few and to read some of it, but most of it at this time we just need to recognize the fact that um this is the award is presented to the state of Illinois. Correct. Um I'm going to let Mr. Ran handle some of this because he does he is the assistant principal at the high school and he does handle most of the grant and the vocational program uh for the high school. Um I want to introduce if you want to introduce everybody first. Certainly. My name is Tim Moran, assistant principal. This is Billy Lake, our department head. Mark Jones, our vocational welding teacher, and Mr. Dw, our building principal. Do you want to kind of take it from there first? Certainly. Uh, I I would got a phone call about three weeks ago
004from our systems director who is oversees our county funding and our grants and he told us we'd been nominated for an award for the technology education association of Illinois. And as it unfolded, we were nominated and uh received the program of the year for vocational for the state for the through statewide. Yes. And so two weeks ago, Billy Lake and I went to Bloomington and accepted the award on behalf of our department. And one of the things we want to make sure we express to the board is a continued support program's been in place for years and we're very fortunate to have a foundation then our guys can continue to keep that going. And one of the things that's the most impressive when we are there is when you talk to other people, other administrators,
005other teachers, and we realize how lucky we are to have the support from the board, to be able to have our classes and the opportunities for our kids because a lot of these schools that we think are above us are not. So, we're very fortunate to have what we have. So, thank you for all your support. I just want to tell them thank you again because when you go to the high school and you see kids and they're always You can see these guys out in the hall. Mr. Depw is always in the hall but for good reason. But you know, you know, the robotics team, uh, Mr. Jones, you've done volunteer program and volunteer work, too. They're they're ingrained as part of the high school. It's very important uh to to make that point
006because the kids are really dedicated to the programs they're in. And I just want to say that the award was an acknowledgement. I want to use the actual wording from a state for a superior technology education program which provides fundamental knowledge about the development of technology its effect on people the environment and culture and draws its instructional contents from one or more of the following systems communication energy utilization production manufacturing and transportation. So we just I mean it's a it's incredible this honor to be the honored as one of one of the best in the whole state and I think Mr. Ran said it correctly. You know, we don't don't underestimate us, right? Don't don't underestimate GC. We do a we do a great job and these guys are a representation of what we can
007do, what our kids can do. So, we I know it's a small little plaque, but we put something together for you that recognizes your achievement. Uh because it really is a big deal, and we're just really proud and thankful to have teachers like you and principles and administrators as well. So, [Applause] Thank you so much. Thanks everyone. Thank you. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Congratulations. Great job, guys. We appreciate it. Keep it up. And now more than ever, I think we need it, right? Jobs that are needed out there. So, thank you so much for appreciate that. We do have several that will uh uh address the board in executive session tonight. Uh so we'll take care of that later on. Um this point I'll move to item five, the minutes, which is approval
008of the October uh 26th board meeting minutes. So move second. Motion second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Vinnie, I. Kenogal. I. Curran. Hi. None. I McMasters. Stacy. Same. one. I item number six, uh, consent agenda items here. We can pull any of those out if anyone wants to talk about one thing. Otherwise, we'll take a motion to approve them. All second. Motion in a second. And and just want to call to mind here the cloth masks. You want to talk about that? Oh, yes. Uh we had a um a person donate over 2,000 cloth masks to one of our schools. I mean it's difficult for the younger ones to keep masks on who are running through them a little bit like water but it's important that we do that and we provide them to the
009schools but having the cloth masks some of the kids are better about about keeping those on and keeping them clean. But anything that that P wants to give us, we're just so happy to receive any for that. Very good. Got a motion, a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Oog. I. Currin. Hi. None. I McMasters. Stacy. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Wire. I. Item number eight, retirements and resignations. Mr. The board is recommended the following retirements be accepted. Say about the same thing through spring GCSH health teacher retirement end of 2627 school year. So we still have he also taught me the rules of the road. So you can save him. I'm an excellent driver. There we go. Thanks Mr. Frank. He was my simulator teacher. Oh that's not as scary. Do you have a motion
010on a second get those? Yep. Any other discussion? Roll. Curran. Hi. None. I McMasters. Stacy. I. Vinnie. Hi. Henobyl. Hi. Wilms. I. Item number 8B. Request for leave of absence. It is recommended that the following leave be approved. Diana Carfell effective 1221 to 3422. Summit. Any discussion? Roll call, please. None. I McMasters. Hi Stacey. Hi Vinnie. Hi Kenogal. Hi Currin. Hi Wire. Hi. Item 8 C employment of a pair of professional for the Kage Junior High School for the 2122 school year. Mr. President, the board is recommended that the Zoe Jackson be approved for employment for the par profofessional position at Kage Junior High School for the remainder of the 2122 school year. So move. Second. Motion on a second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. McMasters. Hi. Stacy, I. Vinnie, hi. Tenobyl. Hi. Curran. Hi.
011None. I. Wsmar. I. Item 8, approval of certified and classified substitutes for the 21-22 school year. Very happy about these. Mr. President, the board is recommended the following applicants be board approved as substitutes for the 2122 school year. Certified Carl Delgado and classified Jonathan Brit and John Mill. And we thank you very much. So move. Second by. Any discussion? Roll call. Stacy. I. Vinnie. Kenogal. I. Curran. Hi. None. I McMaster. Hi. I. Item 8E. Granite City High School extracurriculars for the 2122 school year. Uh the Grand City High School administration and board administration is recommending uh that Ashley Richie be approved for the extracurricular position of assistant girls basketball coach for the 2122 school second. Who gets that one? I'll get some I'll get some more later. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Vinnie. Hi. Canal.
012Hi. Curran. Hi. None. I Stacy. Hi. WSM. I. Item 8F. Elementary extracurriculars for the 21-22 school year. Mr. President, the board administration recommends Carly Valencia to be approved the elementary extracurricular one position for the remainder of 2122 school year. So move. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Kenogal. I. Currin. Hi. None. I McMaster. Hi, Stacy. Hi, Vinnie. Hi, I. Uh, no old business, new business. Under item 10, ratify the actions of the region one board. Uh, we're going to call for Mickey Watkins, our director of special ed. The actions of the region one board. What we did was we asked to expand upon um our current contract with um Maximum Healthcare Services. We currently had a contract just to contract with them for nursing services for one-on-one nurses. Um we in speaking with them we found
013out that they are also offering opportunities for speech language pathologists, occupational therapists um and so on. So we were just asking to be able to contract with them for their full scope of services trying to be proactive with the number of leaves of absences that we have or if somebody should have to be out for an extended period of time that we access to someone a little more quickly than just trying to find a regular fill in for that. So, we did ask for the approval to contract with them for their full scope and the region one board did approve that. It is recommended that the board by the region board in regards to Oh, sorry. No, that's right. Please go ahead. Second to clarify this is not replacing or outsourcing any jobs. This is
014substitution. Absolutely. And what services today are they providing the district? Currently, it is just a one-on-one nursing for students who require one-on-one nurses to attend school. They actually have speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, aiologists down the line for healthare services mostly. They also do have one-on-one healthare aids, also known as a pair professional if we should need one. Um, but I just wanted to make sure that we were proactive in having an opportunity to get someone sooner rather than later to remain compliant with the We have been in situations this year that we've not been able to find people to fill those positions. So, this gives us another alternative to find some app. We do have a motion on a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Currini. None. I McMasters. Stacy. Hi, Vinnie.
015Hi, Kenogle. I thank you, Mr. Watson. We appreciate it. Uh, item number 10B is consideration of the tax levy resolution and truth and taxation hearing for the 21 2021 taxes collected in 2022. Uh, Zack, Mr. Sher, do you want to start that one out? Yeah, this is just setting the hearing for the December 14th board meeting at 6 PM. Um, and to let you guys know that we are exceeding 105% of last year's ask. We do not anticipate this changing taxes or the tax rate one iota. If anything, it may decrease it a little, but uh any change would be negligible. There is we're not expecting any change to tax rate. We are not raising taxes that amount. We're saying EAV is going up that amount which is equalized assess valuation. We're trying to capture
016some of the warehouses and uh things that have fallen off in tiffs to hopefully lower the tax rate. Yes. Perfect. And this just set the hearing and and publish in the newspaper and to publish in the newspaper. We'll do all those things and publish in the newspaper. Right. We appreciate that, Mr. Sur. Thank you. Got a motion by Bill. Second. Second by Erica. Any other discussion by anyone? Again, we're just doing those couple of things tonight. We're not actually voting on this. We're just allowing it allowing the public hearing to happen on December 14th and to publish it in the newspaper. Yeah. And I will be there on the 14th and have a presentation. Very good. We're looking forward to that. I think Eric's super excited. We're pumped. U Okay. Roll call, please. None. I
017McMasters. I Stacy. I Vinnie. Hi. Kenogal. I Curran. Hi. WSMar. Hi. Item number 11A, reports on other communication. Mr. President, the board, we've received two requests under the Freedom of Information Act during the period of October 20th, 21 through November 1st of 2021. The first request was received on October 21st, 21 from Vince SB news at localabs.com. He requested the following information. Electronic records of any contracts and documents relating to business with Panorama Education. Specifically, a copy of the signed contract with Panorama. A list of all payments made to Panorama. Copies of all materials used by Panorama and training curriculum per contract. And a list of all teachers and classes who have been exposed or instructed through Panorama materials. The second request was received on October 27th, 2021 from Marcel Pentree. Uh he requested the
018following information. Copies of the most recent transportation RFP and beverage RFP documents. These requests were handled by our administration. And thank you for handling. We appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. We don't need a vote or anything on that one. Um item number 11B is director of technology report on the digital grant. Brad Smith. Brad, I'll just give them a heads up that this is the through the SF program and it is the digital relief grant. Last year you received over $300,000 for that. We found out that it's actually renewed. So Brad, take it away. Yeah. So uh as as Miss K said, um this is actually this the digital equity grant. Um and a little bit of background is it's to assist school districts in closing a digital divide. um and allow school desk districts
019to focus on onetoone devices and the additional tools needed for students to utilize digital learning. Um as a prerequisite to the grant application, I completed a detailed survey that covered topics such as home and and district connectivity, devices and network equipment as well as data privacy and cyber security. Um the survey is then reviewed by the learning technology center of Illinois and ESP. So we have been very fortunate for the second year in a row um to participate with this in this grant and uh we plan to apply for the funding or or we have applied for funding and and we plan to apply the funding um to hotspots over a three-year period which will assist with uh students in closing the digital divide. The funding from this grant, as um Stephanie mentioned, is $37,000
020and we are just waiting for for final approval for this. Thank you, Mr. Smith. I just want to say how proud I am of this team. I'm going to talk about the next one in a minute, too, and how much they have worked towards getting grant money for the district. It's been great. So, thank you, Mr. Smith. Super. Appreciate it. Good job. Thanks for all your work. You're welcome. Item 11 C is executive director of education operations and a Dr. Keel will report on the T AOE grant. That's got to stand for something really cool. Truance. You want to say what it stands for? I'll help introduce. Yes. It's the truance alternative and optional education program. Easy for you to say. What I want you coming up. But what I want to say first is
021that you know Dr. Ke came and we usually get a certain amount for this. We've gotten for years 60 some odd thousand dollars. he's like, "You know what? We maybe we could bump this up. Enter the old alt ed the new alt ed program that they're doing." And he pretty much took the lead on all this. And you can take it away now because I'm so proud. Yeah. Thank you, Miss. Uh in the fall of 2017, just a brief synopsis, I I did ask uh the school board to approve a night school program and an alternative day school program because the one thing I was the assistant principal at the high school at the time, Mr. Dw, Mr. Moran and I had several conversations about increasing uh attendance and graduation rates, all those types of
022things. And we knew that we had a lot of different learners who needed to learn differently and we needed different programs for those students. And we're very proud of the fact that we did start start the night school program. Uh I did fill out the application, but I needed approval first in order to get the application in order to get some money. But the program was small. So the money we got was small. Um, we got $67,000 a year for the for the last three years. This is the fourth year of the night school program and the third year for the alternative day school program. Um, I will say Bill and Linda should remember that because they voted to approve the night school program and I thank you again for that. Um, we did get
023$67,000 a year for those first three years. But this year I added uh the program that Dr. Harris has at Lake School and we have the alternative day school program. We've expanded the night school program as well. And so now we have $282,000 for the grant. So that's a big jump for Yes. for this year and the next two years. So that's close to a million dollars which is far different than uh you know than what $180,000 that we got. So we're really excited about that. And I will say that I've never ever mentioned the night school program without mentioning Steve Matis, Chris Hutchings, and Christy Mode who have done a wonderful job with that program. We have 103 students in that program. Right now, I am going to give a presentation in January on
024the night school and the alternative day school program, but the Linda and Bill who voted for that, we've graduated already in three years, like 94 kids in the night school program. And so, we've, you know, we've got 103 kids in there now. We've probably got another 70 kids at the alternative day school program and Darren's probably got 40 of them. So, it's a big percentage of Darren's program that number one, we get the money for those kids for staying in school. Um so that's huge and then you know but again it helps the graduation rate has gone up the attendance has gone up so it really has helped in a lot of factors. A lot of our teachers in the night school program are still there that started with in the inception. We've also gained
025teachers from other school districts who have started off in our night school program that wanted to teach in the Granite City School District but they started teaching there even though they were in Hazlewood and some of those other places. And so then they ended up getting full-time jobs teaching here in the district when those positions opened up. So that's been wonderful. And now one of those teachers is the coordinator who's replaced Chris Hutchings. So she was just a part-time teacher who taught full-time at Hazeswood and then wanted to come here. She came here. She teaches full-time at the high school and is a coordinator at uh in that program as well and is getting her type 75 to be an administrator. So all those things are, you know, it really is a grooming process for
026some of that as well. So we're very excited about that. Super excited. uh Miss Ken and I were in her office and I told her I said, "Man, I got an email. I think I got about 80% of what I was asking for and so we found out together and I didn't want to tell her the number, but uh we were both excited. It was close to $300,000 a year for the next three years." So, we're very, very excited about that and we're expanding the program. So, we're doing some other things. We're going to be able to offer another class for the high school. We're going to offer uh hopefully hire another science teacher for the alternative day school program and doing some really good things there and bringing a work study program uh co-op
027program that we've been wanting to do Dr. Harris and me and so we're going to figure out a way to do that and uh it's it's really growing and and it's been successful and I think it's definitely it was the right move then and it will continue to grow and I think it benefits kids and that's the most important thing. It really really has benefited kids. kids we might have otherwise lost. I I think that you know kids at work or have other issues where we're addressing the needs of our kids where they are. And so I applaud you all for making that decision and now it's just growing and it really is helping a lot of students right now. So and that individual attention that they get in night school too when they need
028it is there and that's the thing is you know the students in night school program they they have their classes are in the evening and they go from 4:00 to 9:15 Monday through Thursday and they have their classes are an hour and 45 minutes. So, we don't offer anything like that um unless you're in the elementary, you know, grade level. But, so if you have a class an hour and 45 minutes, the teacher has plenty of time to teach it, has plenty of time for you to work on it yourself, and if you have questions, you have time to ask questions and to get feedback and answers. So, it it really is a great program. There's a there's a lot of benefits to it. We have a lot of students, as Miss K said, that
029do have to work in this community, and it's admirable that these kids will go to work and they'll go to school, but sometimes it's difficult. And so if you get off at Taco Bell one o'clock in the morning and you try to come to school at first hour and you're always late and you get an F for it, well, you can go to the night school program and you can work there during the day and then you can get credit for your job. Um you know, so you're actually the thing that you're doing is actually helping you graduate also. So um it's it's just a really good program. It really really is. So I look forward to sharing a whole lot more about that with you guys in January. Um because we're going to have
030a ton of information on that and the day school program. I mean, I just think about how much money that just brought into the district. Just by him taking that chance and writing for that. Um, it's really a big deal. And I went up to the night school a couple of times and it's they actually make a real effort. It's above the cafeteria and there's, you know, Granite City emblems and lights. I mean, they Christy mode in particular just they really try to make it a great atmosphere for those kids too. They feel a part of the school and they go to homecoming, they go to prom, they do all those things. So, it's and they feel because they are they're part of Gran City High School and we say that all the time. How
031many of us how many of us took night school classes when you were in college? Um, you know, so and sometimes it just works with your schedule and you know, we do have some students that are parents that graduated because it works out for their babysitting. And so it's again, it's a different opportunity for different types of learners and different types of needs being met. Just really proud of the program. Great job everybody. Good job. [Applause] Dr. Keel and and Brad Smith both I want to thank you because going out and and you know going for these grants because if it weren't for the two of you writing those and going through that process we wouldn't be sitting here in terms of of additional dollars coming into the district saving the taxpayers money and everything.
032So thank you for doing that. And one last question because these 94 kids that have graduated from night school what what are the chances that they would have gotten a degree or graduated at all at some point um without it? Yeah, and that's I hate to say slim to none and slim just left town, but it's it would be similar to that because uh because again a lot of times these students are you know they have fallen behind because they do have work or they do have extenduating circumstances at home um that keep them from that. So, um, it's it's the numbers are mindboggling and we have a lot of that data as far as the number of classes and credits that they've taken before they started the night school program and since they started
033the night school program and it it's it's just a completely different night. It is night and day. Um, but uh but a lot of those some of those students we we we will have to say that number one and there's some misconceptions out there but we have so many smart kids in that program. So many smart kids in that program because some kids just don't want to go to school with 1,800 other kids. Some students just have anxiety. Some people just want a smaller they want a smaller field. Some people go to smaller colleges. It's the same it's the same concept. It really really is. So, um, we have students that, and some of them have been behind, you know, the very first year, uh, we had two students, um, Darren and I know this
034that, you know, we had two students that hadn't been in school in high school for two years and they were just about to turn 21. Both of those students just needed one semester of classes and and both of those students called and reached out to me because they heard about, you know, me starting this program. All I did was start it and everybody else did the rest of the hard work. Um but but they reached out to me and said, "Hey, you know, can can can I be a part of this program? I only have a few classes left to take." And I said, "Absolutely." And you know, we've had students like that. We've had some great success stories like that. Students who haven't been in two years. They just needed a couple classes. And
035we don't ask why. We don't care. As Ken and I have always said, we don't care. We just want you to graduate. We want you to be a productive member and be able to go to the next step in life. And that program really has done that for those 94 students. And it will be over a hundred here in just another month because we have I think another 14 or 15 or 18 on track right now to graduate in December and more than that to graduate on track in May. Wonderful. So our job is to educate kids and to get them to be productive members and finish and it's and offer different ways for that to happen. So because everybody learns differently and we have really done that with these two programs. We really really
036have. David, it would be wonderful if we could track some of these kids after they get after they graduate. That would be really amazing. Yes. And we work very very hard on doing that as well. And we and we have some present in January on the whole program. I I assume you know in your January presentation be pretty thorough. Um I would really like I don't know if this part of it but I'm very curious to see what are some of the tricks and strategies that we found to be extremely successful. You can't completely replicate it, but there are definitely some things could be applicable to a typical school day in regular classroom instruction. Well, and some of those things we already have um we already have adapted to be honest with you, uh Erica,
037because one of the things that we did is, you know, we when when I started that night school program, I brought in egeneuity, which is an online coursework. And so that has been a that's been a big game changer. It really has helped out a lot at the high school because then we've taken that and put that into some study halls and then allowed students to use that as credit recovery. So, if you're behind, instead of taking a study hall class, I think they've even fine-tuned it some even a little bit better since then. Um, but it's basically the same concept is instead of going to study hall, I'm going to use that time to take an online course because maybe I failed the course and so now I can make that credit up without
038having to go to summer school. It's not going to cost me anything. So there's a lot of advantages to that. So we've taken some of those things already from night school, implemented that into the high school date program and into Dr. Harris's program at Lake in his alternative day program because those students take online courses there as well. That's great. So we've already kind of tried to, you know, stay ahead and and offer those things to students because as long as those kids see a light at the end of the tunnel, Yes. they'll keep coming. They'll keep working. And that's what you have to do. You have to You have to let them see that there is an end in sight, you know, that they can go on, get that diploma, and then go to
039the next step. And to meet it where they are. I mean, that's huge. Once again, thank you. Thank you so much. Look forward to January on that, too. Appreciate that. Item number 11D, uh, director of information system, student services, enrollment, Brad Irv, to talk about buses. Okay, I'm going to intro this one. They came in one day because I It's terrible. the transportation situation, the crisis was the worst thing I've ever had to face educationally. And I have such a team. Everybody, everybody gave input. It wasn't one person. It wasn't just Mr. talking. We had every every single person at the board office administration to mention some of the building admin have had input on this and we could not have done it without everyone. So, I want to head that off to Brad because
040he pretty much led the team and was here a lot of late nights. We all were. So, take it away, Mr. Survey. All right, everybody. So, this has been the most exciting time of transportation in history of this over to me. Uh so what we had is we started the school year off running full routes and then we started losing a number of bus drivers along the way as you guys know due to just you know co situations uh contract negotiations between the bus company and drivers and so we found ourselves we're actually losing more bus drivers than we're bringing in. So, we had to make the, you know, rash decision to kind of cut routes and that was no one ever wanted to do that. And unfortunately, we're starting to see that in other
041school districts are kind of following the lead of what we've done to make those adjustments. We're luckily on the other side coming back. So, we have been in place to start hiring some bus drivers back. We finally um finally got back to full stride with all regular ED bus routes. We're still missing a few bus routes that we've kind of picked apart and made people squeeze in to kind of fit and we're looking to get those back here shortly as well. So hopefully by the new year we are looking about going full stride ahead with the same amount of bus drivers that we began the year with. The main problem that we've we still have to face is getting back to the place we were two years ago where we the way we kind of
042explain is a three- tier system where each bus would would uh I'm sorry a two-tier. So each bus would actually drop off at two locations. Currently we're in a three tier where each bus drops off at three locations and you're talking about a 50-minute time route between pickup and drop off. So every school has got to be staggered 50 minutes. So when you're doing that, that's why that's why we discussed the fact that school times have been a little bit different than what they've historically been because we haven't been able to and we haven't been able to stagger them like we had this year. We had to stagger them out three times. So we're still probably about 22 bus drivers short. We just met with the bus company today. We met with the CEO as
043well. And uh we're trying to find different communication avenues. Chris Mitchell has been amazing. It's the only time in history I can never remember we've been on the news probably eight times in a row and it's been for just all positives. They come to us looking for answers all the time. They love talking to our our group. Chris has got a great connection. Stephaniey's got a great connection to them. And so we're really making strides moving forward. Uh we're hoping that the new year with, you know, everybody wanting maybe Christmas money and trying to get back, we're starting to get some new employees. So we're getting there. It's still a little slow. It's not perfect yet. Hopefully we continue to grow and we can get back to our original uh base with the 22 that
044we're missing now. But I do have to admit that everybody that everybody in our district has led to help. Um I would like to take all the credit, but it's far from that. I mean, everybody has chipped in. Everybody has said their peace. Everybody's kind of helped out to try to get where we are. And unfortunately, there were some very hard decisions moving forward and we had to make them, but we're now finally coming back. and we've had a lot of positive reviews for that, you know, through the news and everybody else. So, um, we're getting there. We're slowly getting there, but it's better than what we've been. So, this is the good note. I think I just want to add that, uh, you know, we met with the CEO today of Illinois Central and
045he focused and praised us in particular for our collaboration. Sure, we could say it's a bus company's problem. They need to fix it, but it was our problem, too. So, um, they also I have to give Chris Mitchell a huge kudos for pretty much running a recruitment campaign on our end. They did what they could, but I mean he knew so much more about how to do that. They didn't really have a communications person because their their model of business is changing too right in the middle of this. So, he really picked up and they recognized that today and said, you know, you did a lot of our job for us. So, he did a great job getting us on the news, trying to be ready, trying to he had a drone even the other
046day, you know, so going the negative comments we had to make to the positive to the positive news coverage um really helped get a spike in applications as well. So, great job to everybody. I am just so happy to have all our students back where they should be in school. It's fantastic. It's been a long road to get here and and again, kudos to everybody, the entire administration and and everyone that pitched in here and did what they needed to do to get it done. And thanks also to Madison County Transit. I'm going to send them some donuts coming up. Uh seriously, I'm they they did almost 100 students. Uh it was a great way for kids, the older kids especially to get to school. Griggsby students, which were very difficult. I think they had
047at least 20 uh that every day. And I think some of the kids even said, "Wow, our buses aren't like this." So, they love that they were air conditioned inside. So, I'm like, "Don't get too used to this." We really, really, really appreciate the community, too. people that uh carpulooled um just in the police department, the city of Granite City, all helping us with um issues we had at Griggsby, too. I mean, literally, it was a village or a city in this case who really came together to to make all that work in the time of need. So, we're just really thrilled to be able to have that kind of support for the community. I also want to reach out and say thank you to as of tomorrow uh Kit GO the owner of that
048area that's right across from CVS is going to let us begin parking a bus there which is the you know biggest four-way stop in Granite City and we're going to be able to put a bus and uh get some people out there to let us he gave us the spot so we can actually start advertising a little bit more uh at that at the location. So I do want to say thank you to him as well. Thank you for bragging that happened today. I'm sorry I forgot that. It's really important. We really appreciate that. Very good. Hopefully we can get there and I know we got some more bus drivers to get hired, but uh to get back to full uh 22 22 bus drivers. Yeah. And and and to be able to build on
049what we've accomplished. Oh, and so many people have stepped up. We've had an interview with a mom who came back after she's been at home. I mean, just the the community members who have really stepped up to help in this situation was really wonderful. So, parents that are out there that still think that that this crisis is over, it's not over yet. Uh, and we still need you to consider becoming a bus driver. Yes. There we go. Bring it on. I take donuts pretty often. Thank you again, Mr. Irvey. Appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Irvey. Um, item number 11 E, Treasures Report on hand. We have several uh several reports there that are for information only. Um, and with that, before we go to executive session, have I missed anything tonight? We got everything covered.
050All right, we I will take a motion to go into executive session here shortly. Uh we are going in under uh exemp exception noted under fivecs 120-2 open meetings for student disciplinary matters. That's 2C9 for expulsions. So move second. Go ahead. All those in favor? I. And we are in executive session.