001Okay, we can call the meeting to order of the board of education for Tuesday, August 22nd, 2023. Bradley here. Stacey here. Currin here. Noble here. Vinnie. Thank you. We're all here. Okay. Uh if everyone would please rise for the pledge of allegiance followed by invitation by pastor William H from St. [Music] 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. Gracious and generous God, I come to you today with a heart of gratitude because you have given us a wonderful gift. You have raised up an army of people, an army of people who are tasked with the responsibility to guide the education of our precious resource, our children. Lord, I'm going to ask you for another
002gift. I'm going to ask you for the gifts of wisdom and courage for each of these people as they move forward with the daunting and sometimes difficult task of guarding the education of our community. Lord, I ask this in the name of your son because it is your promise. It is your word that all that we ask for in your son's name shall be given to us. May it be so. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. Next, do we have anybody here for public comment? And this is Mary Child. Me. Yeah, I'm not Matt. So, and she is the parent of a child at Mville. Yes. At Mville. Um, I'm Ary, everybody. Um, parent of a second grader and a future kindergartener next year. And now that the first week is behind us, I
003just wanted to get some feedback on meet the teacher. Um hopefully we can get a conversation started and some improvements can be made for next year. Um I also emailed all of this to you guys on Sunday. So if you want to go back um for reference, you guys all have a copy of my statement. Um first critique is just the time frame. I just don't think one hour is enough, especially for the schools that started at 5. Um lots of parents don't get off work until 5 or later. Um, and without really any wiggle room, it was impossible for a lot of families to attend. Surrounding districts were at least an hour and a half. Um, I work in a neighboring district. Ours was two and a half hours. Um, and I think it's
004an easy solution to be more inclusive and accommodating to families. Um, would just to be extend the time frame. Um, next is the way that kindergarten and prek have their meet the teacher. Overall, it's just very limited. It's kind of confusing and not accommodating for working families. Um there's only a daytime option. Parents are notified the week before school starts and the first day of school is actually a day after the rest of the district and two and two days for prek. Um which is just kind of confusing. So I think there's just a miscommunication between the district and Prather families. It happens every year. Just look at social media if you need proof. Um and I'll just tell you a little bit about my experience when my son was starting kindergarten two years ago.
005So, first when they announced meet the teacher for all of the schools, um the little message says that Prather families will be notified through a letter. Fine. Um all of the other schools were during the evening. So, I just assumed that Prathers would also be during the evening. Um and so, uh I assumed that his first day of school also would be this the same day as the rest of the districts as it was listed on the website and the calendar and nothing different was told. Um well, I was wrong. Not only was I notified just a week before school started, but Prather's meet the teacher was only during the day and the first day of school was a day later. This along with dozens of other families completely messed up my schedule that I
006had planned for his first day. Thankfully, I work for a good school district and they were understanding and accommodating to me and I was able to attend, but I ended up missing part of my first day with my own students. So, my husband was not as fortunate. He's a police officer and since we were notified of the times with such short notice, it was too late for him to request off work and he had to miss everything. Disappointment was an understatement for how he felt, but thankfully I was able to take our son. Um, but for the parents who are single, don't have help, can't request off work with such short notice, aren't as lucky as my family is. I've lived in Granite my whole life, um, minus some of college, went through the school
007system, and I had no idea that this is how Prather did the first week of school. So, if it was confusing and difficult for me, I can only imagine how it felt for new families sending their kids off to school for the first time. Um, I'm sure it's been done this way for years, but I think just something needs to change. Every bit of research shows that parent involvement raises test scores, grades, reduces behavior problems, and raises graduation rates. So, missing or being rushed through your child's very first school event, it just doesn't set a good tone. And I just think the district needs to be more inclusive to working families whenever they're organizing this for next year. So that's all I have. Thank you guys for listening. Thank you. Um for the next part,
008um we would like to recognize the board and administration, Anna Forbes, who qualified in March to represent Grand City High School speech and debate team in the semi-finals in Congress debate. Uh she chose to compete in the impromptu speaking and made it to the double octo finals, placing 16th in the nation. So, uh, we're going to start with the, uh, speech and debate team in the semifinals with this he just talked about. Do you want to explain the double octo finals because I'm sure some Yeah. So, um, so in March I was able to make it to semi-finals at, um, IHSA's state debate tournament. I believe I was the only debater from Southern Illinois to make it past the first elimination. I was very proud of that. And then after that, I was able to
009qualify for the National Speech and Debate Tournament, which occurred this year in Phoenix. It was a week-l long trip. It was great. Um, and then I chose there to compete in an event called impromptu speaking, which is where, um, they hand me an envelope with a prompt and I have seven minutes total that I get to decide on how long I'd like to speak for in that seven minutes and how long I'd like to prep for. Usually I take about a minute to speak. Um, and through that I was able to place into double octafinals. So that is the what top 160 in the nation. They do their first cut off there and then I made and I looked later and I had ended up placing 68. So I was super excited. It was an
010amazing penel Davis. Amy Pel Davis if you come up please give her a hand. This is This is amazing. So Wesley Copper and yourself took these Caitlyn and Anna all the way to Phoenix for this competition. We were able to help the school district. I think that coming in 68 and the entire nation. I don't know about you guys, but that's pretty amazing. And the fact that you took your time and took them out there and you're so dedication dedicated and early students. So I wanted to recognize her as well as Anna for this huge achievement. We do have a recognition for the national speech and debate for 16th place. You want to hold that up and picture that way. Okay. And just when you thought that wasn't good enough, right? Uh she also um
011we'd like to recognize her. She was chosen to represent Illinois at the American Legion Auxiliary's Girls Nation. So right now I'd like to also call up um Mr. Al Han and Don Sh from the American Legion. Come on down. So I'm So um Al is the 22nd district commander. Yes. Yes. And Don and then Don is the post 307 commander. That's correct. The American Legion funded the trip, the entire trip for Anna to represent Illinois at the American Legion Girls Auxil Auxiliary Girls Nation in Washington DC. So we went they they do this he came and spoke um not too long ago about a year and a half. Was it close to a year? Didn't seem like um about trying to get more students involved in this. Um we did have I think a May
012Hall May Hall I do believe went to boys state too. Uh but Anna when she did that was determined that she was going to go to the to the national uh one. If you want to give them a little background about this this program. Well, it's it's a program that's sponsored by the American Legion. It's we pay for everything. It's funded by donations. We don't expect the parents to pay, but I mean if they want to that's fine. But still it's it's money that's been given to the American Legion. and what these kids do, it's just unbelievable. Uh after all, this is our future right here. And with her going as high as she's done, my god, she's I think she's the future now. But Don could tell a boy. He's been in the American
013Legion a lot longer than I have. Well, essentially, girls state, boy state, they they run back to back. It's an opportunity to go to Eastern Illinois University of Charleston. And up there is an opportunity to learn how government works. They go in and they work different parts of government. Some are mayors, some are governors. They do their own campaign and they put it all together and they, you know, see who goes where and to be selected from there. Each state only has two that goes to the the nation. So, it's it's a great honor for them to be selected in order to do that. The civic education that these students receive at this type of this type of event is absolutely amazing. And being a former history teacher and civics teacher myself, I can't imagine
014being able to do this. It's something I wish was maybe I was a long time ago. It been really fun though. It was there. Yeah, maybe it probably was. I'm just a long time. Do you want to talk a little bit about your experience of this process? Yeah. Uh, Girls State and Girls Nation was it was really educational but also a lot of fun. I got to be part of about 200 girls at Girls State and there everyone was like interested in government and we learned about local government all the way up to state government. We could submit our own state level bills. We even had our own little board of education there if girls were interested in joining that. And then once I got there, they elect two what they call senators to go
015and represent our girls state in our state at Girls Nation. And I went through a series of interviews and an election. And I was luckily one of the two where to do that I had to write my own piece of federal legislation. And I had to convince everyone else that mine was the best and mine should represent Illinois. Pretty amazing, right? No pressure. I wrote mine about book bands and libraries. Uh I was really passionate about it and then I got sent to DC which was amazing. I met a lot of people from around the country. Uh met girls from Hawaii, from DC, from New Jersey. Made friends with a girl from Connecticut. It was amazing. And then while we were up there, we got to speak to our own state senators. Um, so unfortunately
016Dick Durban did have CO, but we did get to speak to a legislative aid and we basically went there and we presented our own bills. So it was an amazing experience and I'd like to thank the American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary. It was an amazing experience. I was so happy I got to go. It was wonderful. And I followed them. Her dad gave me all these things that I could follow them on Instagram and Facebook and it was incredible watching them. They made little videos and Tik Tok things, but they I also got to watch what they were doing and I followed it the whole time. But I followed it the whole time and I was just fascinated and amazed at what they were learning and what they were doing at that level
017and how much that took for you to do. And we want to also recognize the American Legion for sponsoring Anna. We really appreciate it. Anna again, hold on. I haven't given Anna her. She gets another plaque. I know. Okay. So, we have another one for Anna to to honor her for the American Legion Auxiliary Girls Nation. One of 50 in the entire country. So, congratulations. May I say something else? Yes, most definitely. when uh Anna won this and now she has a stepping stone to help her in college by going to Girls Nation, which I know the parents is always trying to find ways to help pay for college. She's also eligible eligible to compete for college uh where we have several programs. I can't remember them all. I don't know if Don does, but
018you know, there's there's several programs that the parents really need to think about with the American Legion. We have a youth police academy for anybody if their kids want to become police officers. They get to go to boot camp for a week. And then we, like I said, we had Boys Nation, we had Girls Nation and stuff. But like I said, it's a way to help pay for college tuition by they by the kids entering these programs. The higher they go, the more uh scholarship scholarship stuff, right? And like I said, that's number one, helping her to get into a better college because the minute they see girls nation, she'll go from here to here. And the fact that I think what's really important, I want to talk to the public to encourage these students.
019These scholarships are out there. These opportunities are out there. We encourage you to talk to our guidance counselors. Um, contact anyone, myself, anyone here at the office. will be able to get you through so you can be a part of this program as well. Right. Thank you. Good job, Dad. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Seeing you soon. Thanks, guys. The hard one over here. I guess before we get to the encourage everybody. So that's why they um so anyway uh let's go to the minutes of the regular board meeting of education held on July 25th. approval of those. We have a second. Bradley, hi Stacy. Hi. Hi, Noble. Hi, Lin. Hi, Vinnie. I Silva. Hi. Okay. Um, consent agenda is Yeah. The consent agenda contains those items that are repetitive in nature.
020Any member may make a motion to approve the consent agenda or request that any of the items be removed to section seven individual discussion. Okay. Um do we have a motion or second? Sure. I'm gonna mention the gifts again because I think this is such an important part of our board meetings. We have so many generous people in our community. So I wanted to talk we're going to be able to have the Costco representative here tonight at the last minute um Paul Swanson. They contributed over 350 backpacks with supplies inside uh for our students which was absolutely amazing. They have a program uh through the corporate level that helps local school districts. They do have a distribution center out by uh steel back off of right back there. So they do have a distribution center.
021I think it used to be a serious distribution center. So we are very appreciative of that. They came and delivered them all. Uh it was really nice. We had some pictures that were posted as well. We also like to thank First Mid America Credit Union. Again, they are quite the the supporters. They recently opened a new location here in Granite City on Nameki Road and they presented us with a $500 check for the district at that opening. So, I wanted to make sure I talked about that. Uh Midwest Members Credit Union also contributed uh school supplies for us and brought those. We're very appreciative. Um this is a nice surprise. Gateway Regional Hospital uh did a drive for school supplies. uh the the people that work there and thanks to Britney Davidson and Don Stewart
022for delivering delivering the supplies right to us. There were lots and lots of them and we are incredibly appreciative of that generosity. Um I just think it's amazing the FY24 student of the month contributors. These local companies started the program in 223 and they help our kids. They give cookies and all kinds of things for students that make the student of the month. That includes the Granite City Cinema movie passes, Dairy Queen, medium wizards, sweet treats from the heart, choice of cookies, chocolate pepper creations. They do a choice of small treat or drink. And does also does Duke's Bakery also contribute? Oh, that's the different. So, I just wanted to make sure that we recognize all those people that do contribute to our students in the district. Okay. Stacey. Hi. I'm sorry. I should have
023started Bradley. Hi. Um Stacy Curran. Hi. Hi. Lynman. Hi. Benny. I Silva. Hi. Okay. Um section 8 recommendations and communications resources. And starting off with retirements and resignations. It is recommended the following retirements and resignations be accepted. Johanna Wolf, par professional at Kramer, resignation effective 81823. Colleen Treader, par professional prohar retirement end of 2627. Jennifer Pazano, RN at GCHS, resignation effective 82523. Kathy Goodwin, administrative assistant admin office, resignation effective 9123. And Sher Lamb, administrative assistant admin office, resation effective 825. So move second. question. Roll call. Hi, Noble. I hi Benny. I Silva. I Bradley I Stacy. Hi. Okay. 8B requests for leaves of absence. It is recommended that the following requests for leave of absences be approved. Taylor Buchanan, PA professional Wilson effective 842 23 to 5224. Kendra Bristol, business teacher at GCHS. Effective 81423
024to 61424. Hayn Glenn Professional Wilson effective 81423 to 11623. And April Professional Griggsky effective 81423. So move I Silva. Hi Bradley. Hi Stacy. I Okay. 8 C request for extensions to absence. As recommended, the following request for extension to death must be approved. Austin Hazari, custodian Griggsby, effective 10923 to 1124. Lonnie Swanson, first grade teacher Wilson effective 8123. Penny Iva. I Bradley I Stacy. Hi Currin. Hi Noble. I Okay. 8 D extracurricular resignations for the 2324 school year. Below you have received detailed information about this item. The administration is prepared to make recommendations or to hold for discussion in executive session. The GCSD9 administration is recommending the following extracurricular resignations for the 2324 school year. A day more. Assistant girls basketball coach, GCHS. Cander Bristol, assistant parking head, GCHS. Cander Bristol video journalism club, GCHS.
025Jake Janet, assistant Florida track coach, GCHS. Katie Parker, working lawyer sponsor, GCHS. And Michelle Rosenberg, first quarter lunch duty. Mary call Denny. I Silva. I Bradley I Stacy I Curran I Noble I lament I Okaye E extracurricular recommendations for the 2324 school year. There's a couple of pages of these so I'm just going to they're all listed here for you. The GCSD9 administration is recommending the following extracurricular assignments for the 23 234 school year for the audience. There are some like recycling coordinator program. There's just I Bradley I Stacy. Hi Curran. Hi Noble. Hi Lamman. Hi Denny. Hi. Okay. 8F. Extracurricular volunteers for the 2324 school year. Below you received detailed information about this item. The administration is prepared to make recommendations or hold for discussion in executive session. The GCSD9 administration is recommending the
026following extracurricular volunteers for the 23 24 school year be approved. Benell Junior High Baseball. Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Hi. No. Hi. Loving. Hi. Silva. Hi. Okay. HG. Certified and classified substitutes. Below is received. Yeah. We have detailed information about this item. Administration is prepared to make recommendations or hold for discussion session. We're always It is recommended that the hel applicants be ordered approved the substitutes for the 2324 school year. Certified Annabelle Ambu, Andy Robinson, and Moore, Margaret Sharp, June Oie, and Lacy Wilkerson. classify Sherry Calendarer, Justina Green, Faith Prager, Brandy Webb, George Calendarer, Stacy Hogan, Theresa Sheets, Megan Doris, Sylvia, Brietta Stern. So move I hi noble Iman I thought Bradley 8 H1 one uh resend employment of PAR professional for the 232 24 school year. Hello. There's detailed information about this item. Administration is
027prepared to make recommendations or to hold the discussion in second session. Uh due to Helen Thomas declining the offer of a 2324 par professional position, the administration has requested recommendation. So move second. Roll call. Currin. Hi Noble. Hi Linman. Hi Vinnie. I Silva. Hi Bradley. Hi Stacy. Hi 8H2. Rescend employment of special education/ED teacher for the 2324 school year. You have received information below about this item. We are prepared to make recommendations are open for discussion in second session. Due to Richard Ramsey declining offer of the 2324 special education teacher position the administration has requested resending your recommendation. Second roll call. Noble. Hi. Lin. Hi. Vinnie. Hi. Silva. Hi. Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Current. Hi. Um 8H3 employment of administrative assistant to the executive director of special education region 1 for the 2324 school year.
028The GCSD9 administration and interview committee consisting of Mr. Watkins, special education director, regional ed director, Joe, supervisor of special ed, and Stephanie Boyer, supervisor of special ed, are recommending the appointment of Sher Schubert as the administrative assistant to the director of special education for the 2324 school. Approval is recommended and final submission. So moved. Second. Lin. Hi. Benny. I Silva. I Bradley. Hi. Stacy. Hi. Hi. And I H4. Employment of PAR professional for the 2324 school year. The GCSD9 administration and the interview committee consisting of Joei special education supervisor. Stephanie Hoyer, special education supervisor, are recommending the appointment of Autumn State as a fair professional for the 2324 school year. Approval is recommended of the required paperwork. Roll call. Vinny. I Stacy. I 8H5 employment of GCSD9 school nurse with the 2324 school. You've received
029information about this item and prepared to make recommendations or hold for discussion in executive session. GCSD9 administration the committee consisting of Dr. David Keel, Miss Judy Bratton, Miss Wilson, Mr. Tim Christian, and Mr. Judy Burke are recommending the employment of Amber as a GCSD9 school nurse for the 23 24 school year. Approval is recommended pending the submission. So move second. Just last time I Silva Bradley I Stacy Hi. Hi Noble. Hi Linman. Hi Vinnie. Hi IH6 employment of kindergarten music teacher for the 2324 school year. Below you have detailed information on this item. We are prepared to make recommendations or open discussion in executive session. The GCSD administration and the interview committee consisting of Miss Christian Deasa, Jun Bratton, and Wyatt Roberts are recommending the employment of Stacy. Did I say that? Yes. Okay. As
030a kindergarten music teacher at Prather Elementary Education Center for the 23 24 year approval is recommended and submission of the required second Bradley. I hi Noble Lin. Hi Vinnie. I thank you Mr. Cherry. 9A the board of education meeting schedule. Okay. Um at the last board meeting um we approved having two board meetings per month uh September, October, February and April. Um and then we made it work. So I guess I could read this. Um basically the idea is to have two meetings some meetings because of holidays and and scheduling and all that. We have we have one. Um and uh so anyway, yeah, it will be posted on the website uh after this meeting. And uh anyway, do we have a motion to approve this? proposed second. Any other discussion? Okay, roll call. Stacy,
031I 10A hearing officers for the 2324 school. We have received detailed information about this item. The administration is prepared to make recommendations or vote for discussion in executive session. Hearing officers participate in exculsion hearings and additional hearings requested by a parent or guardian. Permission is requested to approve the following as hearing officers from the city school district at the rate of $100 per hearing. Miss Dalter, Miss Lisa Arbor, and Mr. Jwal is recommended. So move. Linman. Hi, Benny. I Silva. Hi, Bradley. Hi, Stacy. Hi. Okay. 10B. Uh, fiscal year 24 contract with Chestnut Health Systems. Um, counselors from Chestnut Health Services provide services to students in the Granite City School District. For several years, they've been doing this. They see students twice a week at Gray High School, twice a week at Grenia, and provide
032services at Junior High one day a week. Last year, Chester Health Services asked for a $10,000 annual fee to help in continuing these services due to the difficulty of finding a school social worker who's still or announcing the board approve this agreement for the 2324 school year. This is a really reasonable fee to for them to be available and it's been in real help at all these schools. So we really appreciate just what there's high school. It's really nice to be able to have I tried to So approval is recommended. So moved. Second. Any more conversation? Roll call. No. I Stacy. I Okay. 10 C administrator and teacher compensation. Okay. Is what it is. I don't have anything. There's no authorization to post what we're voting on. Yes. Okay. So move second discussion. Hi Benny.
033I Silva. I Bradley. Hi Stacy. Hi Cur. Hi Noble. Hi last 10. This one I think is 10D. Oh, it is uh the proposed 23 24 region one special education district budget. Um, and in this case, uh, we do, uh, need to hold a public hearing specifically for this one. So, I need a motion to temporarily adjourn this meeting and open the public hearing. So, move second. We roll call these. No. No. Okay. All in favor? I. Okay. And then I guess so. in the public hearing. So, making sure here. Okay. Yeah. Um, is there any public comment on this portion? Okay. Um, Zack or Mickey, do either of you want to We're presenting a balanced budget. It basically handles region one's cooperative salaries, benefits, a few supplies for region one, and then the revenue
034is federal uh from Medicaid and Medicare. Medic a Medicaid. Sorry. And then servicing that old, right? No, nobody's that old. Um and uh the other revenue is basically local revenue from the three member districts that balance their budget. I'll have a big presentation for granted. Awesome. With that, do we have a motion to reconvene the regular board meeting? Um, and this got the motion. We got second. Okay. All in favor? I those opposed. Okay. Um, Ellen, we are back in the regular board meeting. Uh, we need a motion to adopt the resolution and the 2324 region one special education budget. So move second. And roll call on this one. We need a roll call. Vinnie I Stacy Irin. Hi. Noble. I just haven't. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. So, uh we have a proposal to uh
035increase the adult pricing uh schools FY24. The proposal is 450 for lunch and 2.75 for breakfast. I'd kind of like to have Mr. McCulla explain this a little bit so it's just not out of the blue. You want to offer a little bit? Sure. Um just uh in correspondence with ISBY uh over our reimbursement rates with BNC district, we get reimbursed roughly around 343, I'm sorry, 443 per student. and Mike Ogurty with uh the nutrition department recommended that it has to be uh our reimbursement is 443. So our meal pricing has to be close or or a little bit above that. So that's the big thing is the lunch would be 450 and the uh the breakfast is just right above our reimbursement rate with the state as well in USDA. So it's 275. So,
036uh, we're just trying to, uh, stay off the radar with that and all the other districts around us have accordingly have to file whatever their reimbursement rates is as well to be similar above that as well. So, it can't be underneath what we're getting. So, and increased labor costs and food costs, all that goes. It's also a seal to have breakfast for 275 and lunch for 450. I move to approve. Spaghetti lunches are worth it right there. Thanksgiving dinner. That's right. Sil. Okay. Um 11A the Freedom of Information Act request. We received one request under the Freedom of Information Act during the period of July 1823 through August 1523. Mr. Mitchell handled everything perfectly and it was excited. Strategic plan. I don't know. Is it supposed to sound like that? Fix that. Mr. Smith, can
037you fix that? I just won't move it anymore. Okay. Can they see the So, yes. Okay. Which one do I just do? Yeah. You'll just need to point it at my computer. We've been uh working on this. One of my goals this year was to create a street center for our district. It's very important that we know where we're going. Um I said the other map where you're going. So the strategic plan overview. Um we're going to talk about a little bit of the things we did. Um this is the cover of the strategic plan. It seems like it isn't a big deal, but picking all the photos is kind of a neat thing to do. Um those are all our students and our graduation and everything on there. Every picture in the strategic plan
038is from all the thousands of pictures Mr. D. So, we really thought that each of these pictures represented what I'm going to talk about later, the care, connect, and learn. Uh, I think that picture of Mr. Dw at graduation. I love just think that we really wanted to to speak to the the social worker and the CTE and the students pride and our warrior pride with the marching warriors. So, I think that uh we we did a great job putting that together. Okay. Over the past several months, actually since January, uh the district has engaged in the strategic planning process. Um the insight group helps us do this. It's kind of a daunting task trying to make sure you include as many stakeholders as you can in the process. So we serve they they actually
039ran the program. So I think it's a little more transparent. It's through them. They did the surveys. They handled those things and then we were all part of that. So they surveyed members of the community. They convened a steering committee which was I think 40 started out 40 members I do believe uh representing various stakeholder groups. We had parents, we had business owners, we had teachers, we had students uh and administration. So I really think that the representation was was a really good mix. Um they took we took the data that we got from the survey results um the comments all the the input from everybody on that steering committee um and went from there and then started the process. It's kind of hard to see this, but we talked about each meeting that we
040had. So, each meeting we had sample plans. The first one we looked at plans from all over the country uh to see kind of what we even thought we wanted to do. I know that we looked at one from Chicago public schools and it was probably at least it was at least 100 pages. It was on strategic it was at least right. We were like well we don't want that. There's a lot of verbage. Um, it did have a lot of information, but the point of a strategic plan is to be kind of quick and to the point to show you what our priorities are, what we're going to do, what our goals are, and then then we deal with implementation separate from that. Um, you you want to make sure that what you're doing
041that seems simple, but trying to get a group of 50 people to decide what the priorities are, what those goals are, how you're going to implement them was a little bit of a task, but it was really fun. Uh, we all had dinner, we met, everybody We moved tables every time. Uh it was it was it was a nice process. So every meeting we did something different. Core values, mission and vision were the second one. Data priorities and goals. Um data priorities and goals part two. Measuring progress and performance. And the final review was the plan and also to talk about implementation. How we were going to get to meeting those goals. Oh gosh. Hold on. Okay. Okay. So, core beliefs. I thought this was one of my favorite parts of the planning process. Um,
042the core beliefs were designed to guide the actions and the behaviors and the decision-making process of this steering committee. So, we all talked about things that we felt were important and what we believed about education. And it was really interesting with all these people pretty much there were a lot of similarities and a lot of commonalities. And that was really nice to see too. I mean, everybody wants what's best for kids and so we came up with um these in particular and I can't really read that from here. So, I'm going to go here. Uh they we talked about innovation. Uh I thought that was interesting. Bring forth new and creative approaches that could change learning, preparing students for a changing world. We can't you know they always say that the worst words are we've
043always done it that way. We have to change the the children that in here now are facing a totally different job market. Everything's different than when we were even some of the younger ones were in school. Um Anna can tell you that everything's different even from going be able to watch you guys at your state and be able to see you do things interact in real time. Just things like that, just things that we didn't experience. So I thought innovation was very important. Community partnerships was huge and it was really nice. We had a a chiropractor, a realer. We had people in that talked about and they actually started offering up like, well, we would take a co-op student or we would like to help with this. And so it really brought a sense of
044community and I thought that was really important. Um, also diversity, equity, and inclusivity are very important. It's a changing demographic. It's a changing world. People are much more mobile. You don't see sometimes people living in the same community for a long amount of time if people come in. So, we wanted to make sure that they felt included, that they felt like they were welcome here, and that was important for us to put into our priorities and beliefs. Um, integrity fosters trust and ethical conduct. That was the most important thing about the steering group is that everybody had input. Everybody could talk, anybody could ask a question or volunteer information, and we got a lot of really good um just conversation about a lot of different things. And I think it's really important. And that's why
045I really wanted another group to come in and do that and kind of sponsor that and get everybody going. I so I think the experience was really good and empowerment. Um first it fuels students staff confidence, autonomy, self-belief, equipping students with skills and teachers with skills and mindset to take ownership in the pursuit of their own potential. Right? And not just our students. This was about teachers and staff too. Um I know I'm going to talk a little bit later about our professional development and how we're changing that. our curriculum director is talking about giving menus and and allowing more input and more autonomy for professional development within the district too. I think that's huge when someone wants to improve and feel relevant in their job. So, um that's really important for students and staff.
046So, the vision, this was probably the most difficult I think to come up with because everybody had it's very hard. You don't want to word smith it to death, but it was very important for us to have it pretty short. I I would mine was really short but this one was kind of right. So we had some really long some really short but our vision describes what a district hopes to achieve or be in the future. So empowering lifelong learners, critical thinkers and responsible citizens through innovation and community support to reach their potential. And I think lifelong learners is important because we all should do that, right? You can learn from something every single day. Doesn't matter what it is or where you are. You can learn from that. And it's not just about the
047students in here. It's about all the staff and all of us. Uh critical thinkers. I think it's impossible now to not be and to succeed. There's so many new things out there. I know uh Mr. Kur and I have been talking about AI a lot and how and how these these new new ways of thought, new ways of doing things require a critical approach. So we really need to to encourage that in our students and staff. Uh and responsible citizens is huge right now. I mean just the making sure that civic education went and did I think is so important and to be able to encourage others to be able to take part in that and take part in government and going to be doing a student advisory committee that I really want them to
048be a part of too. So just that community support it could be a school community could be state community it doesn't matter or federal community as she shows us. So it's just very important a mission articulates what is unique right about the district and what the district does and who the district serves. So it was very important to all of us there. Everybody had this that the heart of Granite City, you know, when you think about Granite City, I was born and raised here and you know what, hard work, resiliency, um that take they take pride in fostering their schools and innovation and diverse educational experiences for all students. We are dedicated to continuous improvement, supporting student academic success, overall growth, and a safe environment through equity, advocacy, empowerment, and community involvement. So it takes
049those core beliefs and we put them into a mission that says what we want to do as a district. And so I think you know they're always longer you know because you got your but your vision and then you have what's the mission is that vision. So I think those work really well together. The portrait of a graduate I thought we liked that from looking at all the other plans and I thought it was really important for us to kind of look at what does a graduate from Grant look like? What do we want them to have when they leave us? So, it's a characteristic and traits that each student should embody. Turn next. I can't read up from here. We want students to be empathetic. I think that's huge in today's world. Trying to
050understand what it's like to walk in someone else's shoes, what it's like to to experience what someone else is going through. I think that's very important for students now and all of us. Uh resiliency. Something bad happens, COVID happens, we have to bounce back. You can't wallow in any kind of problems you have. You have to bounce back into it. Right? Talks about embodying a growth mindset, resilience to overcome adversity and navigate the many challenges that students and staff have now. Uh collaborative developing relationship and working with each other to reach the common goals. I think because when we were in CO and everybody became kind of on their own, I think it's super important now to to foster a collaborative sense in classrooms in in schools with with staff. I think it's just really
051and with the community, which is what I love about the stereotype um skill um exemplifying strong academic and communication skills that position them to lead in the local and global economy. I mean, even with social media, I know that's But you have to know how to communicate, how to get your point across. We see where that doesn't happen. Sometimes perceptions are wrong from what we hear and see. It's very important for them to be able to to have those skills. And once again, a critical thinker is so important. Demonstrating the ability to think critically, solve complex problems, and innovate in a dynamic world, meaning it changes every day. And these students now mean everything different. many of us experience, right? Education. So, we have to be a part of that and contribute to help navigate
052them through that. That's one of our employees daughters that. And these are the priorities. We have them on one page so you can kind of see them. Once again, one of our softball girls too. Um, these were really important. We talked about yeah we had our core beliefs but what are our real priorities that we want to do and accomplish through the strategic plan. Uh supporting the whole child was huge. I think every table every table talked about wrapping around the student not just academically social emotionally anything we could do to help a child um their behavior uh social mental well well-being we have social workers we try to have programs we just talked about chestnut trying to find ways to help those students that whole student the whole child because we all know if
053the student isn't happy or healthy or confident in where they live in shelter, they're not going to learn as long. So, everything we can do to wrap around them and help them feel a certain way, it's going to make them more willing to learn and be able to learn physically, too. So, that was really important. Um, aspiring to academic excellence, obviously, that's what we all think about when we think about school. That's very important, right? Uh we want to ensure that students are academically prepared for college vocational career readiness through programming, high quality instructional materials, researchbased instructional practices. We're already doing some of that right now and we just have to keep that momentum going. It's really important that we prepare our students and that's going to require us to look for new and different
054ways of doing things. So that was a very important one. Equipping for tomorrow. We're talking about um collaborating with stakeholders. I talked about people They were willing to take in students um let them work for them. I talked to Gateway Regional, the new CEO wants to bring in um students maybe in different areas of the hospital to to do things, have tours, um to contribute to the success of the entire community. Being able to have them involved helps all of us. Having students part of the community and doing things within the community is going to help all of us as well as that student. Empowering and diversifying our team. uh they'll provide each staff member with focused support that allows them to find success in their role and continued growth but that's also very important
055not the team of students team of teachers team of staff I like to look at everybody as teams actually you look at a team there's no I in team right everybody works together for a common goal and that's success of our students and so we really felt like empowering and diversifying and bringing new people in that have different skills and different mindsets to help our students and staff. Once again, with the professional development, bringing different people in um trying to specialize and have the uh professional development catered to certain groups so they're learning something relevant that they can use the very next day with students in the classroom. It's very important and building our future. I do believe the the American Legion is is our future, right? You're our future, right? I mean, we that
056sounds a little maybe a little funny or whatever, but I think it's very important to know that we have the ability to help shape where they go and what they do. Yeah. Right. And our brother, it's just very it's just very emotional to me because I think what we can give them is not just academics. It's that faith in them, that support of them, that pride in them that will allow them to move forward and be our future and do what's best for our society. So, that was very important and that took a long time to kind of pull those together and talk about what that meant. So, that was very important. Oops. Sorry. Okay. Supporting the whole child. I'm just going to go through these a little bit quickly. I'm not going to read
057them all. So, on each priority, we then set goals. So, just like anything else. If you're going to do something, you want to have goals to achieve that, right? So, supporting the physical, mental, social, and behavioral wellbeing of student, we have goals. Providing training, ensuring that schools are providing support services, we're maintaining safe and supportive learning environments. Those are goals. And then from there, we'll see what we need to do to to to succeed in achieving those goals. So, for each one of those priorities, we have goals. Academic excellence, establishing pathways. This is a big thing. uh through secondary in particular to engage in advanced coursework in English, arts, math, providing them with opportunities, higher level learning experiences, building trades, right? AP classes. I mean, it doesn't have to just be when we think of
058higher level learning as an advanced class, it could be anything that's engaging. STEM opportunities at kindergarten, right? These new higher level learning experiences because it is all experential learning now. kids are out there. They can do 3D labs, virtual labs online, AI. There's just so many things that we can use for us. And these students deserve teachers that can understand that and provide those experiences for them. Um, achieving vertical and horizontal curriculum alignment. We've already started that. Making sure that kids are pretty close at the same spot with our standard standards. Making sure that that alignment, our curriculum director is working on that, too. Bring in people to help with that. Um, knowing what they need. Uh that's very important. Implementing strategies to progressively reduce and eliminate hopefully um achievement gaps. First we have to
059identify the achievement gaps. That in itself can be difficult. We talked about with special ed looking at MTS doing doing um testing, finding out where kids are and addressing them and doing um things that can help each of them succeed and bring them together so there's not such an achievement gap across those. equing for tomorrow, we're going to establish a workforce development task force uh to initiate collaboration between um universities alumni and business leaders. The steering committee did even a little bit of that as well, but we have a new CTE director that's that's working on that as well. Uh expanding and aligning career and technical education and postsecary readiness. We've uh sponsored a CNA class at SWIC. We're running start. We have a lot of programs with our local community college that are incredibly
060beneficial to our students. So, I think that's really important. Um, encourage, so we'll continue to build to make sure we make that goal. Encourage career exploration through pre-K, kindergarten through graduation. Uh, career exploration. We have a new vocational trailer that's going to go around to the different different schools. The band, our jazz band, they go to the grade schools and do performances to inspire those kids to want to be in the band and do things as well. Um, I just think that anything we have people come in, uh, I talked to one of our board members about being able to come in and talk about what he does. I think they all should be able to do that. Um, different businesses coming in and different people coming in. I used to do that as a
061high school teacher. I had a law class and I would bring in attorneys and judges and things to come in and it really sparked some with a lot of kids and one of them is a a partner in a law firm and other so I think that mock trial experiences things like that with those those different types of things for them empowering and diversifying the team. We'd like to develop or trying to develop a local pipeline for supporting non-traditional pathways for educators, CTE accreditations to get them in. Uh we have to work with higher ed and maybe Isby to start allowing maybe retired people. I know there are certain uh state reps that are working to try to get if you retired from mowing and you want to come in and teach a class on
062coding because we can't really get anybody for the price to be a teacher to come in that's on top of those things. So being able to allow those types of things. I know our state legislators are working on that as well. Maybe we can put in on that, right? I think that's a good idea. That's a bill for you. Seriously, it's kind of out there right now. I can talk to So, develop a middle and high school teacher pathway program. I think that's huge. Grow your own. Um we're looking at doing a um intro to education class through Swift. We're looking to find someone to do that high school and grow that educator program. I know that a student related to Anna uh even though he's into engineering that also has a a desire to
063maybe come back and teach. I think we have to instill that that sense of wanting to give back to to the younger students. I think that's really important. Um support, develop and grow high levels of retention of educators. We have to do things. We have to be creative and people change jobs now. They don't stay in things sometimes for careers. So what can we do? That's why we talked about new professional development and autonomy and wrapping around teachers and children so we can get those educators to stay for our students. Building the future developing a five-year plan is the start. It ensures that we have facilities, infrastructure, transportation, technology utilized and effective for students. Co actually pushed us towards technology. We're in a much better place than we were three years ago with technology. I
064think our students especially appreciate that. Um I think it's just really important. Um infrastructure, we are having some air conditions issuing issues, but we also have a brand new system that's ahead of the game. So we'll be great. Um and once we get it all finished, it's just a huge project. But we're in the middle of doing so many things to facilities. We have new parking, new parking lots, painting, new ways, new technology systems, just things within the schools that we're really working hard to have for our kids. continue to provide facilities that are safe and secure learning environments. I know Mr. Smith works on this every single day. There's something that we we're trying to improve and trying to make better for our students and teachers. Okay. The implementation plan is our next step.
065I think that's the most important step. Otherwise, you have a booklet that stays on the shelf and you have good intentions, but you need to follow through with those goals and all the priorities we talked about. So, each priority will have an assigned lead. will coordinate and communicate the strategies associated with each goal. Each priority will have a team of individuals with diverse representation hopefully uh different departments, parents, community members. Uh progress towards the priorities we regularly reviewed and community at the district level and at the board level. I'd like to have quarterly input on how we're doing this so that you as a public can see and hear what we're doing with our promise in that strategic plan. It's very important that we talk about the follow through and how we're going to improve
066the district. That that was huge for me. Oops. Okay. You can't see that. What happened says um how can you support the strategic plan moving forward? You might ask that as a community member. You can read the plan when it gets out. You can volunteer for the citizens committee that we're going to have that comes from the steering committee. You can attend strategic planning community meetings that I'm going to be doing throughout the fall, going to PTA meetings and going to different schools and talking about the plan and talking about the implementation. So, please feel free to attend. That'll all be I'll have a video I'll have a video out that talks about it. We'll also have it um sent out on Skyward so everybody knows where and when those are. I think that's very
067important. That'll go to all the different schools. So, if you can't get to one, you probably get to something. We'll probably even try to have some kind of snack or something. Mr. hasn't hurt yet. Try to have some some drinks and snacks. He's looking at me smiling. Right. So, that'll happen this fall with the implementation. I think what's very important I think each of you can someone hold up your not on camera at the moment, but Chris hold it up. That um I want to give credit where credit is due. We were all trying to think of something quick and short that represented every all the work we did in a strategic plan. all the the priorities, the goals. We wanted to think of something fast and everybody could remember that represented everything we were
068trying to do. So, we were all brainstorming in there and Miss Masha goes, "Well, we had all these words. We had different words and maybe she goes, "Well, how about I think we had care and something and she goes, "How about care, connect, and learn?" Like, we all just kind of went quiet, that's it. So, we it's so important. Caring, connecting, and learning is what everyone should be doing. Not just at GCSE9, but that's what everybody should be trying to do every day. We need to embrace what is best for all of our students, not just what we think sometimes is best for us. I know that's hard to hear sometimes, but we must care for our students, colleagues, and families. We must continually try to connect with our students and community. And we must
069be open to learning new ideas and new views every day. with these through these three things care connect and learn I do believe that we can and will move forward as at this point so I'm really happy about this plan we'll be getting more information out be doing a video I'm just really excited to get started implementation so thank you very much. That was a lot of work. Yeah, go ahead. I uh as I was attending mine, you were a steering member. Yes. Talon and I were both on the committee on the steering committee and I know that this is just really plowed into you uh very quickly. But but the table groups that we sat in on and you had to sit at a different table every time, new people were amazing. they the
070brilliance of their thoughts and their uh their coming together uh hadn't even talked together until we sat down at each at each week uh or each month and the the the effort that they put out to put this forward and then having write it to write it down and present it uh was was just pretty amazing and I I was just in awe of some of the brilliant thoughts that people had um meet the teacher night. I I walked in and uh one of the first things the teacher said was, "Please let me know if your child is unhappy. Let me know what is going on." I feel choked up when I think about it, but you talk about someone who really knows social and emotional is so important. It's one of the most important
071things when you Google What concerns do parents have about their children in school? The first one is social emotional. It was one of the survey show. And all I can say is that, you know, I appreciated being on the team. Um, and I know Talon did too. Uh, I was just I was just utterly taken away by the opportunity to listen to some of the thoughts and concerns that people had put this out. So, it wasn't just a flim plan. It was real down and and dirty flowers. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Linda. I appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah. It was it was it was an interesting experience, you know, month after month after month going over this and seeing uh what the end product. Well, it's not really the end. No, that's right. We get
072the strategic plan and we'll have supplementary documents and we'll have all kinds and we will have those plans online. it'll be online now that we we've introduced it and like we have the new Care Connect learn emblem and so we're really excited. All right. Well, next uh we have a communication on the multi-grade level schools committee. Uh that is Erica Benny and Frankie Bradley and then you want to chime in chime in. Okay. Um so we won't give now that we're two meetings a month in some ways we're not be able to give an update every meeting but we'll definitely shooting for about monthly meetings I think updates. So, um, in this last time since we last updated you, we've met with district level administration. All of them are in the room. They stay late
073working with us, talking with us. We had lots of really great conversations and, you know, weighing some pros and cons. And then also, we were having all facets of the district, giving us their input, ideas, concerns. It's an ongoing conversation. It's not something that will be wrapped up probably ever, honestly. Um, I know seems like gosh, how you know this thing's taken forever. But this is probably the most important part of it short of the change like the planning and the implementation because this is where we educate ourselves and where we talk through possibilities and hurdles and challenges and so this Bradley I speak for you but you can also speak for yourself but we're trying to be very conscientious in this. We don't want to just say like here make a change a change
074because most often that's going to create a whole other set of problems and time and that has exponential implications over time financial logistical and we want to make sure that we're making the best decisions for our kids and for our community. So we're continuing So now we're kind of doing like a couple levels. So we're going to be continuing conversations with district level administration because you can't knock that out in a meeting or probably five or 10. Um, but we also want to now bring in our building level principles. So, building principles in the room, you should expect to hear an email, receive an email from Miss Bradley and me the next couple days. We'd like to have a sit down with you. We know schedules are hard, so we might try to group some
075people together so we're not having like all these individual ones, but we want to hear your insights and your perspectives, your ideas, your concerns, and start weighing through some pros and cons of various ideas. And then from there, that's what we're hoping to achieve through the month of September. Then we're ready to branch out to um faculty and staff. I promise we're going to get to community and families as well. But usually when you do this kind of thing, if you work through a concentric model where you start small and work your way out, that's most effective because if you start too big and bring it down, it gets very overwhelming and it becomes very cumbersome and you don't really get anywhere with it to be honest with you. And we don't want this to
076be just a conversation, but we also don't want it to be on the other spectrum something that happens without everybody's possible input and everybody's possible perspective. And we want to make sure whenever we make difficult decisions, because one way or another, it's a difficult decision for change, that we're doing what we think is best, what we truly believe and know is best for our kids. and that we're doing that in a way that's sustainable over time and not something that's just going to become a fad, which is a terrible thing in education where we have a great idea and then we do something and they're like, "Oh, maybe we ditch it in like a month, you know, a year or so." So, we're being very strategic aligning with the strategic plan as well. Well, over
077the course, board members will be collaborating more with your committees because, for example, construction committee, should we go down that route, we'll need to be talking with that as well. So, it's definitely going to be a collaborative effort. You can expect our next update at the end of September. Anything else? I don't think so. And that was all building admin. Um, prek through Yes. through high school. So, we want to include all of the building principles. And those are building principles, assistant principles as well. Again, we're trying to include all those voices. When we get with like staff, teachers, probably toward the end of September, beginning of um of October, we want to include as many but it's logistically and physically impossible to meet like we're meeting with all the other people. So, we want
078to find a way to have some people where we can interact with face to face because it's nice to have some follow-up questions, but we want to have that to be a representative body that represents most perspectives in the district, but then also be able to survey everybody so everybody has an option. And anyone that knows about survey development, you have to be very careful in how you word that as well because we're not trying to influence or skew. We don't want want to have a narrowed focus but not too narrow. So um that'll be some work that we're doing in September as well. Um okay and after that we move on to executive session. We do have items tonight read those off. Okay. Do we have a motion to move the meeting? And and
079we're going to go in under 2C2, a matter of collective bargaining under pending litigation 2C11. In my understanding, we have a student safety issue under 2C8. Is that correct? This one, right? 711.