001meeting to order for Tuesday, June 27th, 2023. And let's have a roll call. Silva here. Bradley here. Sty here. No here. Limon here. Jenny here. Curin here. We have followed by an invitation from Pastor Stacy Wilson first assembly allegiance 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. Before I pray, let's take a moment of silence for Cheryl. Lord, I am grateful to be able to be a part of this community and it's a privilege and an honor to be um asked to pray before these meetings. So God, I just ask that your hand would be on our board, on our entire school district, that you would lead, guide, and direct all the decisions for the
002best of our students and the families of our community. And that you would bless those who have um willingly served in this capacity. Um just be the center of the meeting this evening. In your name we pray. Amen. Also, our church GC First, we are on Madison Avenue across from the post office. And on July 30th, we're going to do a picnic and we want to bless teachers who live in or teach in Granite City. And so if you'd like to be part of that, we've got little gifts and things we'd like to give. Your families are invited. So check out our Facebook for the event. Thank you. July July 30th. July. And now we move on to public comment. Is there anyone here? Yes. Oh, man. Just real quick, I just we'd like to
003recognize that this is Grant City High School. Yes, it is. So, good evening, uh, Superintendent Cam, members of the board. I wanted to take a moment to share my sincere gratitude to the community of Grand City and our school district. It it has been my privilege to serve in a variety of roles as a teacher, a coach, an athletic director and principal. Um this career in education has been extremely rewarding one. Um it has provided me the opportunity to assist so many students in reaching their goal of a high school diploma. Uh Grant City has been very good to my family and I for many years. It has provided us with a community we could always rely on. On behalf of my family from the bottom of our hearts, thank you Granite City. Uh the
004past 33 years has brought a variety of ups and downs along with some tremendous challenges. Uh it has been my approach to look at every situation and attempt to find the best solutions for our students and staff and in most cases I feel like we have done so. Um I wish the school district and the community all the best going forward. My wife and I will continue to live here for the foreseeable future and I'm encouraged by what I see happening in our town and I'm looking forward to what the future will bring. Uh I can't thank you all enough for the opportunity to work here for 33 years. So thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Thank you for taking it easy on me because I probably made it to where they had I think we're
005ready for gifts or follow that. Okay. I'd like to call up high school track coach, Coach Bird, if you could come up. Y [Applause] I'm gonna have you help me out. Okay. So, um the GCSD9 board education administration would like to recognize, uh Payton Hatfield, our 2223 GCHS scholar athlete of the year. Stephanie, this is He's track. No, I'm track. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. He got me. I apologize in public. I saw Okay, we're going to go back. We're going to start over. And now we're going to recognize our 22 23 Grand Prix City High School girls track and field student athletes who qualified for the IHSA 3A state championship. So, do you want to introduce them? Yes. Go ahead. Let's bring up Well, unfortunately, Lucy Clump is not here. She has soccer today,
006but she did qualify for state. Let's give her a hand. I would like to bring up our shot and discus thrower, Miss Emily Sykes. [Applause] Do you want to say something about her performance? Yes. I mean, she great performer. She has qualified for state for the last what two years now? Yes. And she's been moving up every year. Next year we're expecting a championship out of her. [Applause] Getting there. Sorry. [Applause] I apologize for my You got me all emotions. Okay, so now we're going to do this again. So now we would like to recognize Payton Hatfield, our 2223, if you want to come up, principal if you scholar athlete of the year, who was recognized at Bush Stadium on May 16th as part of our 57th annual St. Louis Post Dispatch scholar athlete team.
007Come on up. Hey, [Applause] [Music] um I know that you were the one heading to Living University in the fall to play soccer. uh women's soccer if you want to give us do you want to say a few words about Peyton too. Peyton was also our student body president uh and was a great representation of the students that we um are able to educate here in Granite City. So we're all very very proud of very much so [Applause] You too. Okay, let's move on to approval of the minutes. Is that where we're at? Everyone went silent on me. So move second. Okay. All those in favor I see. Now we're on the consent agenda. Um okay. Um first the treasur report anybody would like to pull out or just have a motion to I guess
008You want to talk about gifts? I'm going to talk about gifts really quickly. Um, we are so fortunate, as I've often said in this community, how many people really think to give to our community and give back to kids and it's just amazing. Dr. Tertan, I don't know if he's been in the community forever. Amazing man. Uh, he donated items to Greny High School girls tennis team. Um, the value of, you know, close to $2,000. He gave tennis rackets, skirts, carry packs, tennis shoes. I that just means so much that he thought enough about these girls to to to give those and and to help the team out that way. And he's always very generous with us, too. So, I just want to recognize him. Also, first student, our bus company, uh worked with the
009Earth Day organization. They also planted trees um across the globe, but they planted a tree on behalf of the Grand School District as well, too. So, I just want to talk about that as well. Yeah. Do we have a motion to approve consent agenda? So, move second. Welcome. Stacy, I you want to invite people. Oh, that is true. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. You are more than welcome to stay, but if you would like to go [Music] now everyone One in the back needs to take a look. Good job, Joe. Good job. I didn't have a choice. It shows a lot, right? Okay, we got approval on all that. Um, I guess if we can move on to 8A, retirements and resignations. Okay, is recommended that the following retirements and resignations be accepted? Andrea
010Hileman, fifth grade teacher at Griggsby, resignation end of 2223. Brady Chapman, speech language at Culage, retirement end of 2829. Sally Ba, monitor, GCHS retirement end of 2728. Connie Patterson, monitor GCHS retirement end of 2728. And Penny Wilson, custodian, GCHS retirement 63028. Tough people to film. Do we have a motion to approve? Second roll. Hi. Jenny. I Currin. Hi. Solva. Hi. Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi. There was an awkward silence. Um 8B extracurricular resignations for the 23 24 school year. Below you've received uh detailed information about this. The administration is prepared to make recommendations or to hold for discussion in executive session. GCSD9 administration is recommending the following extracurricular resations for the 2324 school be approved. Mark Jones, assistant girls volleyball coach high school. Hi Zinny. I hi Silva. Hi Hi Stacey. Hi. Hi, Mr. Do I
011need to read? No. I can you can recommend the less understood. Okay, I was just trying to think 8C extracurricular recommendations for the 2324 school year. Okay. Um, so below detailed information under cover about it, the administration is prepared to make recommendations or to hold for discussion executive session for recommended and following extracurricular recommendations for the 2324 school approved. So move. Any discussion? Just so everybody knows, it's all like the extracurriculars for high school. all the sponsors. Department who will make a motion second. All right. Vinnie I Curin. Hi. Silva. Hi. Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Canal. Hi. Lin. Hi. Okay. Um 81 recent the employment of ESL bilingual teacher teacher for the 23 24 school year. Uh will you have detailed information about the administration is prepared to make recommendations or discussion? GCS9 administration um
012is recommending that the BOE resend the employment of Caitlyn null due to the declining of her offer for the 2324 ESL by mobile teacher position. Approval is recommended. So move second. Any questions? We knew why she was geography. That's right. She wanted something else. Yes. She she wanted somewhere closer to where she was going to reside. Right. So simply geography. Okay. All right. Roll call. Curry. Hi. Bradley. Hi Stacey. Hi Noble. Hi. Hi 8 D2 ratification of employment of prayer kindergarten prek student nurse. 2324 school year. Below there is detailed information on this item. We are prepared to make recommendations or hold a discussion in executive session. GCSD9 administration and the interview committee consisting of Dr. David Keel, Mr. Steve Matthysse, Miss Genie Burke are recommending the ratification of employment of Kelly Christian as school
013nurse at Prather Kindergarten PreK School for the 2324 school year. Approval is recommended pending the submission of required I'll be abstaining because she was my employee and I can say she's amazing and making an excellent hire to my detriment. Roll call. Silva. Hi. Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Noble. Hi. Linaman. Hi. Video stay. Curran. Hi. Okay. Uh 8 D3 employment of Griggsby Intermediate School fifth grade teacher for the 2324 school year. Hello. You've received detailed information about this item. Administration prepared to make recommendations or to hold the executive session. The GCSD9 administration interview committee consisting on Miss Christristen Scerna, Mr. and Miss Marcy Savas are recommending the employment of Tiffany Wrench as the fifth grade teacher at Greeks Intermediate School for the 2324 school year. Approval is recommended pending the submission of required paperwork. So move
014second discussion. Roll call. Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Noble. Hi. Lamman. Hi. Vinnie. Hi Turan. Hi. Silva. Hi. Okay. Um 8 D4 employment of Koolage Junior High School special education uh teacher for the 2324 school year. Below detailed information about this item is given. is prepared to make recommendations or open discussion in executive session. GCS9 administration and the interview committee consens Wallace are recommending the employment of Richard Ramsey as a special education teacher at Ken Junior High School for the 2324 school year. Approval is recommended pending the submission required paperwork. So move second. Any discussion? Roll call. Casey I Noble I lament Vinnie I Curran. Hi Silva. Hi Bradley. I 8D5 employment of ESSC Lake school 7th and eighth grade teacher for the 2324 school year. Below is detailed information about this item. The administration is
015prepared to make recommendations or open discussion executive session. The GCSD9 administration interview committee consisting of Dr. He harris Roy are recommending the employment of as a seventh eighth grade teacher at ESSC Lake school for the 2324 school year. Approval is recommended cutting the submission report. I think she's related right now. I was just curious. I don't know. I know, right? Taking a jet here. All right. I lin Stacy. Hi. Um 8D6 employment of Wilson Education Center first grade teacher for the 232 24 school year. Below is detailed information about this item. Administration is prepared to make recommendations for executive session. The GCS9 administration and every committee consisting of Dr. David Christa and Baker are recommending the appointment of Miss Ashley Ms as first grade teacher elementary center for a 2320 course. Approval is recommended and
016shares. So move. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Hi. Vinnie. I Curran. Hi. Silva. Hi. Bradley. Hi Stacy. Hi. 8 D7 employment of life skills teacher for the 2324 school year. Below is detailed information about this item. Administration is prepared to make recommendations or hold for executive session. GCSD9 administration and interview committee cons as a life school teacher for the 232 24 school year. Approval is recommended and the submission of required paperwork. Move to approve discussion. Roll call. Iran. Hi. Silva. Hi. Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi Noble. Hi L. Hi. 8 D8 employment of ESL bilingual teacher for the 2324 school year. Below is a detailed information about this item. Administration is prepared to make recommendations or hope for discussion in this session. GCS9 administration the interview committee consisting of Miss Christine Devas Kerna Mr. and Stacy Swingber
017and Bush are recommending the employment of Monica Artega as an ESL bilingual teacher for the 2324 school year is recommended pending submission to provide move 10 A, the approval of an intergovernmental agreement between the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and GCSD9. Sorry, I apologize. The detailed information is below. Administration is prepared to make recommendations for executive session with the approval of the state plan amendment. SPA HF HFS requires a new agreement to be completed and signed by each participating OEA local education association. The submission of the new IG will allow HFS to continue to pay claims such as the fee for service monthly claims of quarterly Medicaid administrative claims. Tonsie has reviewed this as agreement with the approval is recommended and a copy of the is attached. So move second. Any discussion? Okay.
018Roll call. Silva. Hi. Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Noble. I lin. Hi. Benny. Hi. Current. Hi. 10B. The approval of additional days for special education coordinator during summer months. This is detailed information. You're prepared to make recommendations for discussion session. GCSD9 administration is asking for up to an additional 10 days during the summer months to utilize the special education coordinator as needed. special education coordinator manage student is to attend and out places that go to school year round. The educational needs of the students continue throughout the summer months along with meeting staffing less concerns and crisis situations. Additionally, with the approval of the expansion of the ICA satellite classroom, those students identified as attending and will need to have placement meetings held over the summer in order to be ready to start the school year. The
019special education coordinate oversees the students who attend ICA Mena and other approval is recommended considering all the issues. Any discussion? Roll call. Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi. No. I Silva. Hi. Okay. Um 10 C is breakfast after the bell hearing and on this one uh we do need to motion to temporarily adjourn this meeting. We'll come back later. Uh so do I have a motion to adjourn this currently? So move second. Okay. All those in favor I Okay. Um and do we need to vote on that? No. Okay. We can just open the public hearing, right? Okay. Um well this is the public hearing regarding this uh breakfast after the bell and um any public comment I'm going to look for Zach that no I presented the report last yeah I if there's no other public
020comment we can move on yeah we make sure everybody eats that's the key takeaway everybody eats we're good there Um, every year we vote to not do those. That's Well, it's just our kids have 100% and then it's in the middle of the day and it disrupts the It also saves us like billions of dollars, right, not to do it. Doesn't it save us a lot of money? Yes. It would it would create some unique Yeah. collective bargaining issues. Okay. Um Well, then do we have a uh motion to I guess return to this meeting this just to reconvene the meeting. Oh, just to go reconvene. Okay. Then can we have a motion to reconvene the meeting? Second. Okay. All those in favor? I Okay. And now uh that we're back in the meeting. Uh
021we do need a motion to stop this uh breakfast and portion and stop the resolution. Second. Any discussion? [Music] Roll call. I'll try. Stacy. Hi. Noble. Hi. Limon. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Curin. Hi. Silva. Hi. Bradley. Hi. Okay. Um 10 D the 2023 24 joint agreement tenative budget resolution and publication of notice in the newspaper. And uh Tom, this is another one we No, this is just a motion. This is just the a motion to Okay, so we're put in the newspaper. Second. All those in favor? Actually, I think we A roll call. [Music] Hi, Vinnie. I Currin. Hi, Silva. Hi, Bradley. Hi, Stacey. Hi, let's see here. 10 E tenative budget resolution publication of notice in newspaper for uh 2324 Grand City School District 9 tenative resolution publication so move second any discussion call IC
022Noble Hi okay 10 F is the adoption of the 2022 23 amended budget and Tom is this where we need to Okay. Uh yeah, we will need another motion to temporarily adjourn. So move. Okay. And all those in favor? I Okay. and then asking for public comment. Once again, Zach, this is for in the fall. I'll give a budget budget presentation. We simply had to adjust um buildings and grounds on&m's budget up to encompass the HBAC renovation at the high school. We cannot expend money without it being budgeted and it's just to cover us. Okay. Uh, do we have a motion to reconvene to the regular meeting? Second. Okay. All those in favor? I. Okay. And now, if I could get a motion to adopt the uh 2022 23 amended budget. Okay. Roll call. Vinnie.
023Hi. Currin. Hi. Silva. Hi. Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi. No. I and 10 G is a trust. Yeah. Trust agreement. Okay. Attaches a copy of a trust agreement. Our auditor requires us to deposit all summer checks for annualized staff on direct deposit into a trust account. The auditor does not require us to deposit all payroll amounts because checks will be written for those not on direct deposit. The checks are held in the vault until each payday. Do you want to explain this more than just reading this? Our auditor is required to clear the direct deposits out of our account and the bank holds them in a trust and then distributes them on the pay dates because we close our books and there's still three teacher pays for those teachers that are 26 pays because it's two
024in July and one in August before their new contracts start because they technically start closer to mid August than July 1 and our fiscal year ends June 30 and starts July 1. So these are just the three payroll checks that bridge that gap and it's a routine every year. I just think it's explain something. We do it every year. We have move to approve. Second discussion. Hi Silva. I Stacy. Hi Noble. Hi Lman. Hi 10 H the Granite City High School Lab renovation with American Lab Design. You were also provided with the diagrams for this ahead of time. Uh GCSD9 administration requests the approval for the American lab design for the Grand High School Lab renovation project to replace the entire biology and chemistry labs which uh this case work upper and lower sinks, drain
025boards, faucets, electrical outlets, two fuel hoods, plastic cabinets, eye shower installation, shipping, clean up, debris removal throughout both labs, downstairs. Um, I will say that he was a big help in this uh just helping us figure out use and so I appreciate her assistance in that too. We're requesting the approval of $349,86.50 for work to start in the summer of 2024. Approval is recommended. Any discussion? Roll call. Silva. Hi. Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Iman. Hi. Benny. I. Okay. 10. I. Coolage Junior High School dish machine bid. GCST9 administration request that the board of education award the college dish machine bid to Stafford Smith Inc. due to low bid specifications. Stafford Smith came in at 54,22647 Rapids Food Service 545694 and Ford 5494. Any discussion? Yeah. Um I I just got a quick question. Um so
026I know we go with the low bid, but do we actually have to I mean if if one of the companies we thought would do a better job, I mean are we comfortable with them? Yeah. All of them are going to be a Hobart product. These are just the installers that Hobart recommends and they give that bid to us. I I just noticed they were all very close and the difference was the installation whatever the right they were just a little cheaper on the installation, but they're these are all electric uh dish machines and we're getting away from the natural gas. So it' be less chances of leaks or carbon monoxide and everything else getting that out of the building. [Music] Okay. Roll call. Bradley. Hi. Stacey. Hi. Roel. Iman. Hi. Silva. Hi. 10 J.
027The creation of environmental club at Grant City High School. Yes. Gran City High School 11 students Marina Rder and Pton Robinson gave a presentation to the board of education administration at the May 23rd board of education meeting regarding their request to start an environmental club for the 2324 school year. Gran City School District 9 administration is pleased to ask permission to start this club for the 2324 school year. Approval is recommended second. Any discussions? We can roll this. All those in favor? All those eyes have um I guess we're up to the report. Yeah. if we can get a status report on all the summer work that everyone may have seen going around or going on around town. Uh from Eric Smith. Yep. Um July is going to be very busy for the school district.
028Uh Koolage, we're going to start uh lift station repair. Uh that should start after the 4th. Griggsby, if you've been by Griggsby, the sidewalk has been removed. The rock base is installed. Concrete should start later this week, early next week, and then that lot will start after Wilson's asphalt lot is installed. It they're supposed to move in after the 4th of July. Um, Froart's roof is 50% complete now. Uh, they're moving along pretty good. The high school intercom, uh, we're going to replace that. Uh, the contractor has some of the parts. We're hoping to get that installed late July. Um the HVAC at the high school, uh it's going good. Um uh it's on schedule, actually going really well. Uh they are working 10-hour days now to uh keep up and try to get as
029much as the interior work done. Uh doors in the buildings. Uh we have doors that are going to be delivered 8:14 or that's the ship date is 8:14. So, those doors that we've been trying to get, the hardware and everything, uh, that'll probably be in September. We should start installing those. Um, fencing is going to start tomorrow out at Mitchell, uh, for the playground. Um, Griggsby security doors, we have those, those were delivered today. That's the, uh, front glass and the new security door for the vestibule there. Uh, that's going to start to be installed tomorrow. uh Griggsby painting. Uh most of the interior is primed, if not painted. Uh the lockers were just completed. Um it really looks good out there. Custodians have rewaxed everything. They've done a good job. Also, uh the parking
030lot ceiling, that's going to start after the holiday weekend. Um also the playground mulch, we've put playground mulch in all the playground areas. That's completed. Uh the tuck pointing at Wilson, it's the last I was there it was a third. It's probably twothirds now complete. They're just rolling along. So that building should be uh completed also. And that's pretty much the update for the district. Eric, what's that park? You said parking lot ceiling. Yeah. Uh we put the asphalt lot or asphalt on top of it. Just a seal coat. Uh we will start on those. We'll probably do Prather. Uh the ones that weren't done last year, we'll just start on them and see how much time we can get them done. We'll just and it's going to be something we'll do every year. We
031have a machine now that does that, so we're doing that inhouse. So, this will be something that we're able to keep up on. Thank you very much. And then a strategic planning steering committee update by superintendent. Sure. Um, as you know, we've been doing strategic planning all the way since December. We've been meeting um, consistently with a group, a steering committee made up of business people, stakeholders, parents, teachers, administrators. It's a large group. Sometimes some people are gone, sometimes somewhere. We have two board members and Tom Kern. We had a couple students as well who have been there consistently too. It's been very nice. Um, we made progress developing the plan. um supposed to enhance educational experience outcomes with students. Um we've done insight uh group with the person who's doing that. They did surveys
032uh with parents. They've held focus groups with both um parents and community members as well as students. I really like they did student focus groups as well. Um, from all the information we've been doing in these meetings and the information we've gathered, uh, we are are formulating and finishing up a vision and a mission statement that that kind of encapsulate the district's, uh, future, where we want to go, how we want to improve things. That's very important. Um, we're also going to do a set of priorities and strategies to implement those that vision and mission. Um, we're going to develop an implementation plan which will outline specific steps and strategies to carry that out. Um, we're planning on getting that all done hopefully by the end of September, the last meetings in September. Um, we
033have a tagline. I don't want to spoil it all because we're going to review it all. It's going to be really nice. And like I said, there's followup. We're going to be using um Lovel and I were talking a little bit. The um steering committee, the basis of it, at least some of them, we're going to use that and try to transition some of those are willing to on to the citizens advisory committee. Um, start with that and then move from that. Um, I think it's a great place to start with implementing the strategic plan, letting people know what's on that as well. Um, I just think the ongoing implementation and monitoring the plan will be crucial instead of this just being something that sits on the shelf. We want to make sure that we
034include people from the district and we we go through that and then we have these plans and we update throughout the year to the board and to the community so they can see this is an active document, not just something that we're doing just to put out there. I love that we're going to have a unified mission and vision tagline. I think it's going to be really nice for all of us. So we're really excited about this meeting and finishing up all the work we've done. So So that finishes up at the end of September. Would that be brought to the July? Oh, sorry. The end of July. Would that be brought to the board? I'm not sure if it's going to be July or August meeting and see where we are. We're working on
035the covers, some of the detail. Now, we're sort of on to the actual what the plan will look like. So, trying to make sure it's really it's really fun and I'm really excited about the the success and the work that everybody's putting in there. There was an amazing amount of work put into this and I was so impressed with all the people, right? The people who really thinking about this deeply and I mean it's it's so professional. It was really um I want to thank all the people in the steering committee because it did take a long time out of their days. We were there several hours. We did have we did feed them but um it was just really helpful. It was really nice to hear all the different perspectives on things too. Um
036it wasn't just we didn't just hear from education. We heard from we had a chiropractor. We had a dentist. We had there were all other teachers from other districts. There were parents. I thought administrators I just thought it was really interesting to hear all that. I'm looking forward to continuing that voice and hearing it as we go through. No, I'm I'm thrilled to be able to see the end of this and have it tie in with you kind of already touched on it, but um you know, so we can have milestones and we can actually refer to this thing and see what we're meeting and if we're not meeting it, you know, okay, people are going to know because it's in a document. That's right. It's all implementation makes me excited. Keeps everybody on track,
037right? Yeah. And it's it's and you might hear this a lot, but there are strategic plans, you know, sometimes they're done by uh governmental organizations where they have every good intention and it collects dust on a shelf. So yeah, we're we definitely do not want to do that. So the grassroots and the implementation plan, I think, is going to be key. And I identified some people have volunteered even to head up and to lead those implementation sections. So we'll divide that up and then they're going to be some people in the district have offered really really happy to get the results in and the people who are involved. We're excited for it. This next is the multi-grade level school committee update. All right. So try not to go too long but you want to give
038some updates and information. So just a general context for those of you just tuning in like what the grade levels you know I'm sure you've all heard of this before but you know co a lot of the work that we had done because it drew focus and resources to others but even last year our committee was meeting with district administration at the time the committee was Talon and myself and over that year we were collecting a lot of data because we want this decision to be data informed and all of our planning to be data driven as well not just feelings driven or like knee-jerk reactions and so we've collected demographic data particularly geographic and population data where our students are living and then referencing that with where our schools currently are, which is a
039whole other thing. Um, discussions of transportation come into play, building availability and feasibility. Yeah, we have some buildings around the city, but not all of them are feasible to be used in school for schools. Um, considering other types of logistics, um, potential funding because it will be an investment. I've said that before. I want to reiterate that this is going to be an investment in the future of our schools and it will come with a price tag. Good news is we've already been looking making sure Zach has commented several times we have quite a low debt right now. He would like for us to keep it as low as possible. I know, but sometimes you got to front the pump a bit to spend some money and get some results. Um to my recollection, it's
040been decades since we've had any measure major reserv uh renovations or even constructions. And so we'll have to bring some things up to date with that. Our current committee members are Becky and myself. It's Bradley and myself. And we've been meeting um in May and June. And she and I were just talking earlier today. We're hoping to up the the frequency over the summer to get some things really moving forward. So we're looking at two meetings in July and two meetings in August. And those meetings will be bringing other people into the fold. So we've been meeting with um Stephanie and other district administrators. We want to reiterate before I go further that there is no official action being taken on this yet. We're just moving us forward. We will have a recommendation to the
041board at some point, but prior to that, we have a lot of more information input to gather. So, we would like to be meeting with district administrators, building principles, staff, teachers. Um probably need to be doing a little bit of collaboration with some other committees because there'll be some over, you know, some bleeding between not literal bleeding. Okay. but you know like blur some lines between construction obviously the strategic plan and so we'll be bringing more people into the conversation um Becky and I firmly believe that we want to include as much of the public in this as possible hear as many voices as possible but also you need to be efficient in that and so we want to have a communication process that'll be multifaceted multi-directional but also allows for us to be able
042to process everything so while we are going to try to reach out to everybody We won't be going door to door asking for personal invitations. So if you have things to say or suggestions, come to us. Uh we're looking at surveys, meeting with the committee, maybe community individually or as a full life on committee. Uh later down the road as we narrow down options given the input that we received. We plan to have at least one town hall, if not a couple, to share information with the district um so and the community so everyone understands where we're coming from. We want to be purposeful and deliberate in this and we want to make educated plans for our future. We want to make sure that that is sustainable and that at the heart of everything while
043we all have our wishes, you know, traffic flows, etc., etc., etc., we want to make sure we're doing what's best for kids and that we're creating buildings that best serve our kids. And so, as we continue to move forward, this is an inexhaustive list of factors that we're still considering as we go through. First and foremost, the impacts on children, positive and negative, because this will be an adjustment. Um, we are not making a formal recommendation. I'll say that again. But I think it is safe to say that given what data we have, our committee is leaning toward exploring the options to bring more grade levels into a given building to reduce the number of transitions that our children experience moving from school to school. So now we're looking at possibilities for that. District administration,
044particularly Brad Irv, but really the whole district admin team from what I understand has done a lot of really great work. They've presented seven possible scenarios to us, each of those containing strengths and challenges to consider. So, there's already been a ton of work and thought put into this at the district level, but we want to continue talking with people on that. We also want to keep in mind not just like academic implications, but also social emotional developmental implications for children and then subsequently their families. Obviously, curriculum and instruction, building cultures, staffing needs because staffing is a dynamic numbers game every year depending on enrollment and we do have a mobile population and that will impact how we staff our schools. So, all that needs to be taken into consideration, other logistics like start times
045and transportation, we are all in the committee, I say all us, we are looking at outside of the box options. So, for example, maybe two elementary schools start at a different time. Like what do we need to do to make this work for families? And so we're not going to be chained to the that's what's always been done in the past. We're looking for what has worked in the past, what would work for us now and what ultimately will work for us in the future and be sustainable. So lots of options like that on the table. Financing, of course. So we'll be meeting with Zach. We're probably baking a lot of cookies to see what we can buy and get away with. Um, we want to make changes. We want to move us forward, but
046we need to do so, as I said earlier, in a sustainable way. We don't want to stretch ourselves so thin that we become quote unquote house floor. Probably a lot of people are going to say know that term. So, we don't want to stretch ourselves too thin where we can't be responsive and be responsible during the running of school because things come up like dishwashers and gyms to be replaced, things like that. But, we do want to move forward on that. And then overarching through all this is we're trying to engage as many people stakeholders as possible. We also have to keep in mind that this is going to be a major shift most likely. You know, we're not making the recommendation yet, but it's going to be a change and some people are going
047to love parts of it, some people are going to hate parts of it. You can't make everybody happy. But again, our anchor is what is going to be the best experience for a Grant City child to go through our schools. And that's what we're using as our compass to process. All right, that was a lot. Sorry. A lot of work's been done, though. Have you have you asked for teachers to Yeah. So, yes. So, we want to expand our committee. I'm kind of think we're thinking in terms of like consent if that makes sense. So, so far we've dealt we've been working with the committee, Becky, myself, and a few district administrators like Steph and some other people. There are still other people I would we would like to talk with at the district level
048and then we continue to expand out then building principles, staff, teachers and having people join. So we're kind of building out our committee and then also families, other community stakeholders as we grow out. The idea is that we'll be gradually narrowing down options as we're expanding and that will come to you know hopefully one great plan will come out of that. It'll work for action and then implementation. It's ambitious, but we are hoping right now that we take care of this work ASAP without rushing, which we haven't rushed. We put a lot of thought in this already, but we are operating with a target implementation of next school year, the 2425 school year. That might, you know, that's ambitious. So, I'm not making promises again, but that's what we're trying to correct. That's what we're
049working toward right now. So, will you be using summertime as well for meetings? Yes. So that's that's one reason why. So Becky and I initially have said we'll do we'll meet monthly, but as we're seeing, you know, like what we don't want to do is be like, hey, it's April or it's even March or February. We're going to go shift everything around the whole district. That's going to send people into a panic. I've already seen a few concerned faces out in the audience when I said we're looking for 24 25. Um, but it's time. It's been it's been coming. We've lost some time with co and if we know what we need to do, we want to do it. We want to make sure we're doing it deliberately, thoughtfully with sustainability and a night to
050the future on that. Could you just real quick uh touch on you mentioned a mobile population? I know not everybody knows exactly. Yeah. So, a couple things. One, we have what in education you call high mobility, which means a lot of people moving. So moving in the district, out of the district, moving within the district, which when you're talking about looking at attendance centers, that has implications because you might live on this side of town, but now you moved over here. You have a renter population. Now, what I hear is that the housing market is going up in Granite City, which is great. So hopefully, populations will I don't want to say stabilize. They're not. Yeah. But I think something else we just need to keep in mind is that the world is a more
051mobile place now. It's not Granite City mobility thing like the world is mobile and people aren't as attached to their homes as they used to be you know like you sell you buy whatever and some of that's a generational shift I think too. Um so where that comes to be a challenge for us is all of this planning is about numbers projections. It's like literally trying to predict the future. Um, so you have to think of not only how many kids in total will we have, but how many kids at what ages and where will they be located and then try to make sure they have a good school experience and plan all your things for the next five to six whatever beyond years around that. So it's tricky. Registration's going on right now too.
052So that's why it's important everybody register not wait till two weeks before school. Yeah. Yeah. Please. I am notoriously working now, not two weeks before. Yeah, that I mean that's an excellent point. Don't forget those physicals, right? But yeah, the registration helps because that helps with planning. I mean, it's you could do that the better. Yeah. The buses this year. Parents have to register for buses this year, too. We're going to We'll send that out. We'll have to decide if they're going to tell us if you're going to write. We'll get that out. Register. Register. Register. Yes. So, we know you're there. Okay. Thank you very much. Um, okay. Board committees by me. And, uh, really this is just an opportunity to let everyone know what the board committees are. You just got a really
053good explanation of one that I don't have to talk about now. So that's great. That was the I guess it's on paper as the attendance centers evaluation committee. But yes, uh you know we're moving toward this multi-grade uh system and uh some of the others are the citizens advisory council which um we recently brought up. I don't know if Linda wants to say I mean really It it's it's essentially what uh superintendent can was explaining. Uh it was a long time ago when we had and then it stopped before CO or by the time CO came and uh we had gotten our teeth into some things that we thought were very beneficial for this district and we're hoping to continue that uh as well and it'll become more available to the public as we get
054uh get more information and do a little more digging. So we'll have agendas and we'll get that out. Yep. Sure. would love starting with the student folks. We want to be as transparent as possible, let you all know what's going on and what we're working hard at. So, thank you. And another part of that transparency is the community and public relations committee. Um, and they're responsible for the public image, you know, and all that and just uh trying to make sure that we get the word out, you know, as best we can. Um, That's uh both Eric Stacy and Lorie Silva. Um Linda is an alternate on that committee. Um and some of these committees haven't really met in a while. We're one of our goals is to kind of have more of these meetings,
055have more of these reports, let people know what's going on within the committees and not just generalized board meeting. Um just a little more, you know, I don't I don't think in the past that anybody was withholding things purposely. I think it's just, you know, sometimes we we maybe could have shared a little more and so we're doing better. Um the construction committee, that's me and Don Leman. Um and Becky's the alternate on that one. Um and B that's what you kind of think uh not just construction but also buildings and grounds, you know, uh leaned on Eric Smith last week to have the meeting. He gave us a version of what you heard earlier tonight. Um and then also uh the um employee evaluation committee uh and that's just you know that is committee
056that focuses on the performance and the appraisal processes for the evaluations that go on in the district and evaluation superintendent. Yeah. um uh the financial oversight committee. Uh it's myself and Linda and basically it's just to monitor the financial health of the district and it's you know to serve like another set of eyes. Uh Zach has been amazing with that kind of thing. So, uh, that's that's really helped us out. And, um, let's see, where am I? Intergovernmental. Um, yeah, that, uh, Eric and Don and then Eric is the alternate. And that's kind of a liaison between the school district and the other government. So, school district works with um, whether it's federal or not or even local, you know, the library where I work or um, police city. Yeah. Anything like that can be
057intergovernmental. So, you know, sometimes there's different agreements that have to go on u and that's that's what that makes. [Music] Yeah. So, negotiations is certified employees and classified employees and that's union stuff. Um and you know, uh contracts and employment terms and things like that. The policy committee is the committee that develops with the review and develop policies uh that generally get recommended to the board for an actual vote. So like we had one before this meeting um everything discuss some of the stuff that was discussed there would be put forward for not this meeting but the next meeting and then uh saber that's Eric I don't know if you want to speak to the saber just what saber is not everybody knows. Uh it's our form of dare. Uh and so I was the
058saber officer for eight years uh before I left the schools, left my assignment in the schools. And now Officer Maui is our saber officer. There's a saber committee that is kind of independent of the uh of the school district and that's who we kind of work with. They put on dances. they teach in classrooms in fifth fifth grade stuff like that. Thank you. Um school improvement plans and school programs uh that is the committee focuses on the development implementation of plans that improve performance and student achievement. Um, and then, uh, there's the southwestern division of the Illinois Association of School Boards, which is kind of serve as a liaison almost with the Illinois Association of School Boards. Um, that's one that hasn't met a lot traditionally. I used to be on that board now as
059um, but it's, you know, we try to send people to the IASB conference every year and let people know what we heard and what we saw. You know, if were to come up, that's an as needed committee. We can bring you have that discussion however needed. Um, and then there is the special education board which is uh Becky Bradley and Ericson alternate. Um, and that's uh the board that focuses on programs and services for students with disabilities just trying to make sure that uh everyone's got educational opportunities regardless of their ability. Um and then our board member, student board member advisor, uh Erica Venny and Lorie Silva and Don Lman. Um and they select our student board members. So that recently happened. Um and uh you know that just having that board member helps make
060sure that we get student insight into this board to help policy. We've learned so much from them over the last couple of years. given out. I mean they take their role very seriously and they try to engage with all members of the student body and the provided sometimes they do surveys. Yeah, we are going to have a student that's enough for me. uh those those are the committees you know I think some may be created down the road some may may be removed that's what we have at the moment anyway anything else on that the next part uh is a discussion amongst the board members here talk about the possibility of starting back with two board meetings per month I don't know if anyone wants to leave this off I I don't mind Okay. Since
061I'm probably the longest person on the board, longest. Let me interject real fast. Just a disclaimer. Sort of. We're not deciding anything right now. We're discussing this. Should anything be decided that would be on the agenda? No vote on the agenda tonight. Yeah, that would be the next time. I have seen both the two times a month type of board meetings. Uh it was extremely rigorous and uh and oftentimes exhausting. I didn't think that we really accomplished that much in that half in those two weeks that we had work uh put in front of us and the ability to really focus on the whole wasn't really there. Uh I eventually uh it it was decided by the board that they based on what we had looked at in the research of other districts. Why are
062we doing two times a a month when uh it just seemed that we could have accomplished so much more and presented so much more to the public uh at a once a month meeting. So, I've I've experienced both and I have to say this is the smoothest working board that I've ever had the pleasure of being on. And I think a lot of it is because people are so focused on the their abilities to understand and be able to do the work that they are here for. I we've never explained the committees to our public before. This is the first time that committees have ever been explained. And I think it's great that they've never known that school board members are on committees, you know. So, it's it's just something that I think is important
063to get out there. Uh I hope I hope that uh we can continue with the once a month. I think we're giving you everything we've got and I hope that uh and I know we're going to continue doing that. We just have a very vital board uh on this on this group. So, thank you. Well, I do have something. I just I just um in running for election and so forth, went through a lot of neighborhoods, rang a lot of doorbells, talked to a lot of people, and one thing that was like the number one people thing that people said was they just don't trust what's going on. They don't know what's going on. They don't think there's transparency. And I think two meetings a month gives more transparency. The people in Granite City want
064it and I think they deserve it because there is so much going on especially this year. Erica just mentioned you guys are going to be meeting at least two month you know on your committees um you know that our communities get together people don't really know what's going on and we need to be ourselves a breast of what's happening in the district and like I said especially with the multi-level schools going into effect people want to what's happening and there's just that element of distrust when it takes so long before you hear anything and there's some things that we're not sure what's going on. Maybe I mean this is you know the meetings go a little long now perhaps the meetings would be maybe half the time if we had two a month they never
065did they never did they I'm just telling you what the people that I spoke to they want transparency and that's why we were elected to we've experienced this evening has been uh the ability to to show people that we are being very transparent those meetings that we're going to be having and those committees that we're developing and you and I are on committees together and there there is the opportunity to really give them the heart and soul of what we're doing and I I just I think I think that maybe in the past there might have been some kind of concern about the issues, but not now. I don't I don't see it and I don't hear it. There are transparency. Yeah. And I agree. I think the transparency I think that's part of, you
066know, with our our new board, that's something we've been working very hard on. My concern about going to two meetings a month is a couple things. one in speaking with even the person who came from the state of ISBY to train us on the school board told us you don't you shouldn't do two games a month it's inefficient you don't need it second I think he said you can do he said you can he's like but you don't there's no reason to like that was my takeway I don't think anybody else heard that well I think I think Kevin 2 um does assist you with in hiring and stuff like that Um there are times I mean we agreed when we went to one that when we needed to hire people that we would call
067special meetings and I found that that hasn't really happened um we just end up like tonight where we hire hire hire hire hire hire hire um and and what have you. Um so I I think it can help with that. Um I I mean I can be as transparent at one meeting as two right? Um, but I think there are advantages to to the two to having two meetings. Um, I do think that it would cut back on I mean I'm not going to be here till uh on I I guess this is a personal thing, right? Um I do think that uh you are going to cut some of the stuff out of your meeting is not going to be as long, right? It's just I mean you're not going to have as much
068uh stuff to talk about. My biggest concern with this is the amount of work and hours spent on preparing for meetings when our district administration and building principles sometimes could be spent doing the work of the district versus planning for a meeting every two weeks. I mean, and not to throw people out and like you don't have an answer, but like how much time do you spend preparing for a board meeting? It's a lot. And so I'd like to I mean we could even poll and do numbers and something but my would rather them be doing business of the district versus preparing for a meeting every two weeks. So I will agree with Lori. I walked the campaign trail myself and the majority of the parents and stuff that we did speak to. They do
069they were very adamant about the board has to go back to two meetings a month. I I do second that. I do like that uh theory. Um, I will take a little of Eric's. I think you could maybe solve hiring. I understand the special meetings, but uh, discipline. I think things get pushed off a whole month. It's hard to go back your feelings and stuff that may be very strong a month later may just fizzle out where it's not as big of an issue as what it was two weeks ago. So I I do think that two meetings would be valuable to go back to, but I wasn't involved in two meetings the first time. And I will tell you going back to u you know we said we'd have that second board meeting I
070what I found I mean I you tell me if you disagree on the few occasions that we did it it was rough trying to find like okay is anybody are we available this day this day this day. Whereas if we just know I mean I knew when I got on the board we were I mean when I got on the board when you guys got on the board there were two meetings a month and so I knew I mean I knew that well for the schedule for one meeting a month was we were to keep that second Tuesday. Okay. But I don't feel like that but I don't feel like that I don't think it happened when we need it. Um but I mean it could very well happen now. I'm wondering when like so
071yeah, we haven't used it a lot, but I would argue that's because we haven't needed to use it. Like when has it been detrimental to us that we missed out on something or some business didn't get handled because we went to one month? Well, and not to mention there's already four months that we do one. Even when we did two, there were four months where we did one. November, December, June, July. Yes. And it's not detrimental to us. It's not detrimental. It's detrimental to people in Grand City who want to what's happening in the schools. But I think we approach that then with a different kind of communication. Well, part of me thinks we approach it with something like this. When's the last time we had this conversation publicly? Exactly. Right. I can I think
072it can be detrimental to us in hiring. I think it it can be if we're just looking at what it can be um between hiring um discipline that uh Donnie brought up, you know, people who are kids who are put up for expulsion 10 days, you know, they get 10 days and then we're putting them on homebound um because we're only having one meeting which costs money to the district. So, I'd like to go back to your comment, Eric, about the uh the interviews, the the hiring of people. You do know that we have interview committees that are doing interviews all the time. We get we get constant, right? And so, if we do this every two weeks, then they're not waiting a month. So the problem you're saying is that we have too many
073people listed to say I think but when you're competing for people when you're competing for people if we want Erica Venny to come to our district and we wait a month to hire her she's getting she's getting offers from other places something don't we have something that goes that gives them a yeah that gives them a temporary knowledge that they they have a very good chance of being hired but that doesn't many people. I mean, so many jobs. Have we What's the What's the data on this last year since we've gone to one month that we've lost out on people because we waited too long because we were at one meeting. Has it happened in the last year since we went to one? Never. No one's walked away from us. I know there's been like
074the geography, you know, we decided to take recommendations. That was something we offered a recommendation. I understand the transparency of the communication. I should be resolved through communication and not upping a frequency of a meeting. I think we as a board can communicate. We can communicate more than once a month. Well, and there's committee updates and I don't know the statistics, but um how much are the board meeting videos viewed in their entirety? Because I know as with most social media videos, they start up here and this happens. Yeah. Um, and so people may not see it all there. They may be waiting for a report, whether it's at the board type thing, it's something from a board member, it's whatever. I think and I think communicating honestly the same information in a variety of
075formats is important too because not everybody gets their information from reading the minutes. Not everybody gets their information from watching a YouTube or Facebook, you know, like so I think having that messaging and improving our communication and providing these regular updates and then we can even provide update. I mean we can use our website for many of the updates too. Yeah. Social Chris actually knows what's our average viewer. He probably knows that average viewer numbers right now there's 35 people watching live. I would have to go back and pull the numbers to see how many people view. Um, now we have had a lot of success with Superintendent K's Yeah. 90 second videos just providing a quick update because that's that's what the community has wanted is more updates. Why couldn't the board provide an
076update too? I mean Allan or whoever like you know we have these at the boards or whatever like a recap. I know Lory's done some recaps on our social media, you know, like something like that where we're still engaging with the public. Um I just again I really worry about bogging down people that we have a lot of work for them to do with preparing for these meetings every two weeks. I will say our park district meets twice a month to run a successful park and I think they do a great job. I mean, we're dealing with our kids future. I I really do think it's important to make sure that we keep that in mind that we're focusing on our children's future. So we you know I I kind of feel that that's pretty
077valuable. So right, which is why I would rather the administrators doing the work for the children's future, not preparing for our need and to speak to and and I I would be the first to say don't just do something because everyone else does it. But there is such thing as best practices. There the best numbers I think we've got at the moment is that there's 852 school districts in Illinois and I think fewer than 1% of those it's like under 10 districts have two games. Well, there's a reason for that. Now it now granted is you know if we we just went over the committees and if committees start to meet more and you know I think I think that helps. I really do especially uh and getting those committee updates. I I think it
078just makes your one meeting longer. I think I Yeah, I don't say it makes Well, let's just say we can't publish wanting to have more information. Yeah, that's I don't disagree, but it's easier to get it out every twice a month than making our meetings even longer because now we start doing the uh the committee meet the committee updates, which we should, right? But why not? But what you're telling me is we're just going to make this one meeting even longer. And like you said, we have 35 people right now and in an hour we're going to have what a lot less than that. That's fascinating. Yes. Yes. I can't believe we got 35. Um so I'm just saying especially at this time with everything that's going on with the planning for the new schools.
079I know parents are just want to know what's going on and I think they need timely updates on what's going on. I would like to know more what's going on, you know, to be more apart. Sometimes I think like waiting till the next month, it's like I don't even remember what we were discussing last month. It's a lot of time in between. I agree. I would agree with that if that's all we were doing, just the board meeting. Here's the information and we don't post anything else. But I do think there is an attempt to to get more information out and to try and and I've tried to do some of that with the board too. I'm just going to throw something out to the crowd because we have district administrators in this room right
080now. Feel free to answer or not. If it's awkward silence, I'm cool with that. How long did you How much time did you spend preparing for today's meeting over the last month? Hours, days, I'm just being honest. Most of them probably just showed up tonight. No, but some of them did. Like board administrators. Yeah. Like principles and stuff like that come to the meetings because Yeah. Now, let's not say principles, but like central office staff. Central office. Okay. Central office because those are the people that are going to be doubling their preparation time now when they have other work. Somebody's going to be doubling their time. It probably be like Corey because she's got to get the agenda ready twice. But I don't know, Steve, how much time did you devote to? I I'm in
081a weird spot because I'm transitioning. So like the only thing I really had on this because this is my last week at central office. So the only thing I had on the agenda is my hire. But I spent a lot a significant time hiring and preparing those boxes for the hire. Right. But you would be working on that whether we had one or two meetings a month anyway. It doesn't matter. But we I haven't lost personally I haven't lost a hire that I recommended due to having only one meeting. But that's just personal for the amount of people I've interviewed. Okay. So for for hires we're not that. Okay. Who else didn't spend some time making? Did you spend a lot of time? I didn't track it because it wasn't something. It might not be
082an answerable question, but yeah. I mean, it's hard to say because by the time you with your interviews, um, working with HR, getting the information, um, writing the gray boxes, holding the interviews, um, then all the other information that we had on there this evening. I mean, I can't tell you how many hours we put in, but you would still be writing the gray boxes regardless if it was one or question. Y it's this isn't a very and we're we're at a less busy time of year. If you asked us this question October or November when we're doing future planning, that answer would look very very different than it does right now. Well, and Mickey and I are also not just sitting in interviews and preparing gray boxes and doing all these things for multiple
083people. We're also closing grants, writing grants, working on, you know, CDP stuff, working on all the things that behind the scenes make things run smoothly for whenever appears, you know, you have things like curriculum and, you know, all the things that make everything run smoothly. And that's my argu that's kind of the argument I make. You have a whole other job to do besides preparing for we don't just show up. And I don't think anybody that's already saying that. But the but really the question here is is would it is it more work for you to if we had two meetings because you're still going to be doing the gray boxes. You're still going to be doing curriculum. You're still going to be doing everything that you do now, right? During the school year tax
084more of your time to have two meetings or one. Yeah, I think the frequency is is is where the rub comes because having to prepare and turn around and prepare again and to make sure that we have anything where if we have a little bit of space that we can make sure we're getting everything we need in there. I just take the frequency. Again, I know I put you all on the spot whether we're weren't prepared to even think about or answer that question, but there there's also a part of me that and at first this may sound like a stretch, but and I I'm not accusing any board members here of doing this, but there's also the thing with board members or even with the public in terms of viewing these or coming here
085and sitting down that if you have one, it's like, okay, that's the monthly amount. If you have two, it becomes a lot easier to say, I'll go to the next one. It's not that important this time. I'll go to the next one. And I just I could because it happens in regular meetings. It's one of those things that, you know, people will treat office meetings that way. It's like I have weekly meetings that I don't need to worry about this week. I'll go next week. No, I think you're general public, not like a board member. I'm talking about board members, too. I'm not saying it's anyone here. It could very easily happen where somebody decides, you know what, I got to decide between this and something else and you know, I looked at the thing
086and there's not a ton on here. I'm going to go to this. Well, I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm saying it's a human nature. But you're right. I mean, I see what you're saying. And a lot of times too, we have to consider like it's kind of a both and like we're making decisions for this board, how we function with this board, but we're also everything that we do sets precedent for future boards too. Now that's not to say like we can't do they can change if they want to too but that's something to consider like while the people around this table may not do that. There's nothing that says the person wouldn't do that but and then of course we could address that you know their attendance or whatever because they're elected to
087be president. Well, I just say it that we're here for the families of Grand City. I know what I've people that I have talked to, they are concerned. They don't know whether to trust what's going on, what's not. I think the more that we stay on issues, impending issues, get them out so we know more about it. We're more educated. When we run into people and they're saying, "What's going on over there at, you know, Froart on the roof or what?" We can tell them, "Oh, here. This is what's going on over there. You want our construction report. I know, but we're here for the families of Brandon City. Not for our convenience. Not I'm sorry you guys, but not for your convenience. It's not their convenience. It's serving the public. And I would argue
088the distrust started back when we had two meetings. So, I don't think the distrust way before. Yeah. Like there's been distrust. I think it's a communication and a transparency issue, which I think we should address those things, not the frequency of meetings. because we as a district were two one two meetings a month for a very long time and there was a lot of distress at that time too and most people that I've spoken with which we spoke with different people they would rather us have the business of the district taking care of business and then we have a meeting once a month I just want to uh during my interview process um that board when we had two meetings it was a big deal for them to make sure that that we talked about
089communication and we changed it. It was my idea to hire a communications manager. I don't know about other people out there, but there wasn't any any of that prior to us being here and getting on Instagram. Chris does a marvelous job of making sure what's going on about registration. Every what are you all every day we're working on things to put out. I do videos. I could do more videos. Uh we do I guess it bothers me that people are distressful. I don't know what I'm not saying, what we're not doing. Um, I think that Chris and I talk almost every day. Tim and I talk about safety. Jim and I talk about HR. Jill, I mean, all of us talk on a regular basis about things going Chris about food service. He gets menus
090out regularly now. I mean, everything's out there online, on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter. Um, we make videos. I put board updates out. I have the board of education like the members we could be communicating. I mean, that's what we're working toward now. And I've already heard, I'm sure many of you have, they like that. They love the fact that we're going to talk about things. I mean, I don't know if they like what you said, but they knew it was on the agenda. That is another thing, Erica, because really, quite frankly, if I have a question about something, I can't like call up several people to say, "Hey, what about this?" You know, we can't really discuss things, but we can't discuss it. I mean, for educational purposes, information, you can ask questions. If
091you're wanting to learn about things, we can't discuss anything. We can't we got to be careful meetings. We can't do the back and forth. So, like you have a question, but if you have a question, you can call get a hold of our superintendent and she she because we have to tell we have to tell her every you know we work with her as we work in our committee she's she knows what we are doing and that's the process so when you want to know something you simply contact superend I hope the people can do that I hope the people there can do that too because that she's the central figure and about what is going on. Well, but also that aside, like I mean we can't make any like decisions or anything, but you
092can contact any single board and ask them a question about something. We just can't make a decision on that. I think you're just saying like more open conversation like this is what the public want. But it doesn't have to be. So I think I can call you and ask you a question, but then can I say it out loud? Can I tell the public what we talked about? You know, that's the I think that's the issue like I know because I get emails like what's going on but if if it's not out there or discussed openly to know how we feel or how the decision was made. This is the open meeting. That's right. We can do a better communication. It doesn't have to be a board meeting. Like we can give updates periodically. I
093mean I'm fine with I can do a committee update every two weeks if they want and publish that. Not everybody's comfortable with that. Like I again I'm just saying I think this is a communication and transparency kind of issue that can be resolved through other avenues of by being better communicators and engaging with the public outside of two meetings a month outside of this meeting right here. Because again as someone in schools it's not for the convenience of them. is that these people have work to do that need to serve our children and our families and we're tying them up by preparing for meetings and bureaucratic work by doubling our meetings again. And that's a concern to me because I know how much time that that takes in a school year when you're having 50,000
094other things to work on. And I don't want any other things to slip because they have to prepare things for our meetings because we're their bosses. Can I say one other thing? One more. Oh my god. It'll be short. We all feel strongly about this, but I have to say like even though we disagree, I love having the conversation with you and it's refreshing to have the conversation and so this is the only time we can do this. So we can have the public to realize like this schedule this this way because I knew we couldn't vote on it and it's time to marinate because I was like what happened by the next month. We can we can remind you and give you minutes. Remember that you got pissed at me when I Sorry. Okay.
095I am so sorry everybody. All right. Hope everybody enjoyed that one. [Laughter] People are calling each other. Forget the agenda. We're just going to meet like good news. talking about all of this open communication and open everything. Uh let's see what we got some freedom information. So we uh we received three requests on the Freedom of Information Act during the period of May 17th 23 through June 1523. They are listed below and Mr. Mitchell handled them all very well. Thank you. And now with that one being so we just have to We hardly ever do that. Yes, there there are certain things that we cannot talk about in public and that's what executive sessions. So, do we have a motion to to do we do we have to disclose like the nature of it? Is
096it like security? We have to say like we have to last that we're going to talk about school security under 2C8. Okay. And it uh and also about the setting the sale of real estate in the district property on 2C5 and six 28 28 2C 56 and 8 security. All right. I move to go into executive session for those reasons. Roll call. And we need a roll call. We need a roll call. Okay. Hold on. I move that. Who second it? All right, sounds good. All right, I Vinnie I Curran. Hi, Silva. Hi, Bradley. Hi, Stacey. Hi, we are in executive session. 7 728