001community consolidated school district board of education meeting wednesday december 20 uh december march 23rd 2022 at 6 30 we're here at frederick school on frederick road i need a call to order and a roll call please weedman here mac here brayden here albert here lacroix here miller here and nash here okay that gives us a quorum if we could all please stand for the pledge of allegiance i pledge 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 thank you uh now i need a motion to approve the agenda for tonight and that includes the modified or the updated personnel report so moved second miller i mack aye albert i weedman aye matt braden aye lacroix
002hi and nash hi okay uh first thing on our agenda is public comments i do uh wish to remind everybody to keep their comments to under three minutes if possible and uh first person on the list is crystal larson i okay we're uh there we go esteemed burden president thank you for hearing me tonight my name is crystal larsen my pronouns are she her and hers i'm a local elected official district resident lgbtq plus activist and the mother of two children who attended d46 schools i'm here before you tonight in response to a speaker from the meeting of march 9 as a transgender woman a public speaker on transgender issues and the parent of a transgender child who attended this school district i believe i'm sufficiently qualified to offer an expert contrasting opinion in their
003comments the speaker first noted that the policies of the district related to gender expansive students were illegal an abuse of power and used to indoctrinate children into an lgbtq plus lifestyle i requested a copy of these policies for my own review let me begin by stating the obvious i don't need to read the 78 pages the district provided to me to know this one simple truth school policies do not make people queer i did read the policy titled district protocol in support of transgender and gender non-conforming students and i was immediately uplifted by the comprehensive effort that was undertaken to provide support to these students there is a complete process that allows children to move from an exploratory phase through to being fully out both at school and in their everyday lives and at the
004speed which they are most comfortable it allows for children to take a step back step sideways or even step out of transition entirely that process is driven almost entirely by the child and only supported by the school even 10 years ago prior to the adoption of these policies the support and understanding for children who were questioning their own identities was generally positive this speaks not only to the current policy of this school board but to the ongoing commitment in support of a diverse student body and these regards d46 continues to be a model in how to keep gender expansive students in school during an incredibly vulnerable time in their lives i would also like to address the speaker's comments regarding a transgender agenda at gms this is my own personal observation but at no time
005did i as a parent ever feel like d46 was driving any one particular social agenda over another i've seen teachers support students of all backgrounds on various social issues that matter to the children they're responsible for but never have i seen them push a specific agenda of indoctrination except to become educated and free thinking members of our society i've watched a number of gender expanse of children including my own grow through these school systems over the past 10 years and have heard their stories about having to advocate for themselves at every turn the faculty and staff then adjusted to support these students and offered them room to be curious to question and to explore all hallmarks of a good and free education system some of these students are now living their authentic lives and the
006gender they identify as and their homeowners taxpayers and someday may have their own children in this district the same schools that gave them these opportunities the speaker then went on to claim that children are too young to understand what it means to change the gender we were assigned at birth quote to change from a boy into a girl and quote they don't get it was there what they said in that regard i refute the speaker's claim in total children know their gender identity at an incredibly young age as factual medical evidence continues to bear out speaking anecdotally however i was younger than seven when i first understood who i was i was younger than seven or eight when i knew that my family didn't agree with that gender expression i was younger intent younger than
00710 when i understood that continuing to express myself as a girl in even the most trivial ways would get me in serious trouble children understand their actions and their decisions far more than we give them credit for if i had had a support network like the children today have my life may have been very different instead i learned to hide my true self behind walls of smoke and mirrors carefully crafted illusions and facades for nearly four decades were it not for an unrelated and serious life trauma i may never have found the courage to be my authentic self and enjoy the sense of finally beginning to be who i was always meant to be my transgender son knew at an early age as well and without the support of the d46 schools he may never
008have survived middle or high school i don't say that just figuratively but quite literally he may never have found the courage to come out to his family he may never have found the strength to be his authentic self he may never have found the acceptance and love of his family in the way he deserves so i want to thank you all for your continued diligence in providing a safe environment for students of all backgrounds to not only to exist but to grow and to thrive thank you thank you lucinda smetana hello my name is lucindanna i have three school-aged children or three children two school age that attend prairie view i just wanted to say a couple remarks uh to this to this committee and to the board and the previous board as well thank
009you for all that you guys have done regarding covid's safety i have an unvaccinated child at home and returning to in person was very put a lot of anxiety on us and you know the dashboard that we have as a district has been extremely helpful tool has been very powerful to me and my family when masking went optional all of a sudden we kept our children home for two full weeks and those numbers looked great and it's because of not just because we're doing the numbers but all the other mitigation factors that are in play so thank you all for doing what you can to keep my children safe my kids go to school they wear masks and and we feel very very comfortable sending our children to school and i know it's been a
010very very difficult last two years but i just wanted to say thank you from my family the other thing i want to talk about similar to ms larson is just concerned about lgbtq plus curriculum within the schools and i'm coming from not knowing what was said at a previous meeting but being concerned about what's happening national nationwide specifically the don't say gay bill that was passed we are not florida we are not texas we are not new jersey we are from the great state of illinois and we are a inclusive culture here i'm proud to be from lake county i'm proud to live here again after having a career that's taken me all over and i'm very very pleased about our statement as a district about diversity inclusion specifically just pulling it from the website
011it's defined diversity shall be defined as a fluid concept that includes gender race religion ethnicity socioeconomic background linguistic differences exceptional abilities sexual orientation gender identity and expression and variations of talents and abilities and special needs so i feel right now from my experience with my children being at prairie view for the last two years one of them completely remote that we're doing a great job with that i feel included as a person of color in this community as a homeowner as a taxpayer you know there's things that we can always do better but when i see things being passed such as the don't say gay bill it makes me very concerned the idea of restricting what's taught and what's communicated from a k through third grade education regarding sexual identification gender um sorry sexual orientation
012gender identification things like that i just don't i don't agree with and i really ask that as you guys continue to to lead our district that you think about that inclusive nature and that policy that we have the other thing i wanted to mention was living up to these values of diversity and inclusion i know that we have a special committee that's been focused on that and i actually signed up as being one of the parents but i wasn't selected so i know that we're working in this space and i know that you guys have been through a lot managing the pandemic and i'm excited about the things that you're going to bring forward to help us be a more racially socioeconomic gender sexual orientation etc type of community so that's what i wanted to
013share thank you thank you jill birdwell hi good evening my name is jill birdwell i'm a resident of graves lake i've had three boys that went through the grayslake school system and i now have a seven-year-old daughter at prairie view and i also come here today not only as a parent but as the treasurer of p flagger local um grace lake brown lake chapter we support um lake county in particular right now the only pflag group in lake county um but i i just wanted to come and um and thank you so much for being as supportive as you have have been to the lgbtq plus community um and i wanted to just kind of go over some some statistics to share with you um so from uh humans rights campaign 77 of lgbtq plus
014teenagers surveyed reported feeling depressed or down over the last week 95 percent of the lgbtq youth report trouble sleeping at night lgbt youth of color and transgender transgender teenagers experience unique challenges and elevated stress only 11 percent of youth of color surveyed believe their racial or ethnic group is regarded positively in the in the us and over 50 percent of trans and gender expansive youth said that they can never use the school restrooms that align with their gender identity more than 70 percent report feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness in the past week only 26 say they will always feel safe in their school classrooms and just five percent say that their all of their teachers and school staff are supportive of the lgbtq people and when it came to student reporting harassment and assault 56.6
015of lgbtq students who were either harassed or assaulted in school did not report the incident to school staff most commonly because they doubted that the ineffective intervention would occur or the situation would become worse if reported 60.5 percent of the students who did report an incident said the school staff did nothing in response and told students to ignore it so i just wanted to give you some some facts um to realize that the problem is real and um on a personal level as a parent of a gay son who is who will be 25 i can tell you that no curriculum that you have in place no book they read in the library no kid talking to me is going to change any child's mind and whether or not they are trans gay bisexual non-binary
016my son is non-binary and i can tell you that i grew up in a very conservative home at the time i found out he was gay when he was 10 i uh was looking into like christian um books and and talking about how maybe mothers of uh children that maybe had a mother that was overbearing and i i mean i i was literally i was all in it and just couldn't believe it was going to happen um he told me that when he was eight he realized that he wanted to marry a boy and that it was not appropriate to say aloud but i can tell you i've came a long way since then and i hope and would appreciate more parents and staff stay open to learning thank you thank you okay so that
017was the last public comment that we had signed up for tonight um [Music] next are board reports anybody have anything they would like to report out go ahead jessica uh the community engagement committee met yesterday and we again talked about uh connection and community and what those words mean and they also that committee just had a very successful food drive each school was engaged and the student councils helped promote collecting food and the lot was delivered to the local food pantry mr weedman matt yep first i want to thank all of the community members that are here present this evening in support of the board or just here to express your thoughts and opinions one of the things that has been shared thus far was around inclusiveness and i want to just say that i'm
018just very proud of our community that we continue to strive to be more open more collaborative and more respectful in our communications with one another for the benefit of our students along that vein the diversity equity and inclusion committee equity and inclusion committee is currently reading a book together called building equity and while i missed our most recent meeting i thought that the timing of the the literature and the group read of the community of the the book is really spot on in terms of everything that we're seeing from a national front and just identifying the needs not only within our schools but you know even at home with our kids you know having that empathetic lens to understand that you know equal doesn't mean equality and how we as a district continue to build
019those ramps of access for our students regardless of their background their socio-economic background race religion sexual orientation gender et cetera and so while some may fall on either side of the the line as to where their belief systems are the goal of our school system and our school district is firmly rooted in making sure that we create equity and inclusion for all of our kids and i'm just really proud to serve on this board and committed to that work thanks i have i have two reports the first is i was a rather biased attendee at the frederick band concert last week first in person band concert and you know my son's come a long way since he was learning to play trombone remotely upstairs while i was doing zoo meetings but i really wanted to
020give i know mr lacroix talked about the importance of the arts and music education in our schools at the last meeting and i'll tell you these kids blew me away kids who learned how to play literally learned how to put their instrument together remotely so i wanted to acknowledge and thank the frederick band staff for an incredible concert i cannot wait for fred vinia which is the outdoor concert very much looking forward to it my son's already already practicing one of the songs so uh thank you music educators everywhere but especially at frederick then i wanted to give a report on the equity inclusion committee meeting that we had on monday evening as ms nash mentioned we are group reading a book on equity specifically in schools and i think that's really helpful because a
021lot of us who aren't a lot of us who are educators on the committee but a lot of us aren't we're parents and we we do equity work sometimes at work or in other places in our lives so it was really it's really nice to get that lens from an educator's perspective a really positive conversation just thinking about elements of equity in schools for example attendance how is how we manage attendance penalize attendance penalized tardiness etc actually an issue of equity within our schools it gave us a lot to think about and there was a second topic that maybe dr glickman because she was in that breakout we'll add i'll be happy to um actually we began our meeting with dr woke coming dr wilker director of human resources came and spoke about efforts to
022hire a staff that is as diverse as possible so we talked about that and then right in those breakout groups we were talking both about um about attendance and also just about our efforts to create as to to understand the diverse needs of our students that was our other concept that's it okay [Music] i just want to echo tamika's comments about the work that this board has put together for the inclusion and equity for everybody um regardless if you're on your lgbtq uh or not regardless of your race regardless of your identity for the better part of the nine years i've been on the board we have been making great strides in [Music] including everybody and making them all feel welcome into the school district i would like to see it continue with this board
023up here i don't see it not continuing i've had my friend my kids have friends that are gay lesbian non-binary transgender and they've always been welcomed in our house some of them didn't feel safe in their own house to where their parents one particularly would never come out to his parents he was afraid he was going to get beat up by his own dad and that's not something that any kid should go through with the suicide rates that are so high for those kids as they're trying to navigate through life at a difficult time as it is that was not something that we want to see my wife and i have always accepted all of our friends no matter where they're at on this on in life they were always welcome in our house and
024they always felt safe in our house and i think this board does the same thing to make sure that our kids and our staff because i'm sure we have staff as well that are um how do i put this i'm sure we have students and staff that are felt that for a while that they might not be welcome in our schools and i think we've gone a long way to make sure that they are they know that they are welcome to be in our schools at any point and i want to see that continue and that's part of the reason why we have that that committee itself so i'd like to uh echo all the comments i'll i'll start with also echoing mrs braden's comments about the frederick uh concert as well um at biased
025of course on a saxophone player in the family now but it was a wonderful thing to see and i think i think one of the things that i observed also at the concert is the unity that music always brings to not only our communities but our kids and the message that they are able to share through the music that they learned together regardless of the boundaries that society tries to put on individuals and come together and create a concert that shared that message and the comments that which i want to thank the public the comments that were made by the members of the public and the comments raised by ms larson my family has been directly living and impacted by issues of lgbtq plus and disability awareness specifically and native american cultural awareness and my
026brother was gay and he passed away six years ago never having an opportunity to live his authentic self he was loved and valued and welcomed by his family but he was not able to experience that same love in the world around him and serving on this board allows me to have a voice for my brother and that will never change i can guarantee you that so i appreciate those comments i appreciate the ability to serve i appreciate the ability to at least offer a voice for some who may not have it and i know that the dear friends and family members and neighbors who are around me deserve that same voice thank you okay superintendent report can i happen before the superintendent apart reportedly i forgot the cloud was out there no you're good you're
027good and thank you everyone for making space for me to attend virtually i know you know my family is uh dealing with a medical situation right now that requires me to attend virtually so again thank you to mr bipond and the whole tech team to make that possible i also wanted to thank the fine arts teachers so i'll stay with the fine arts theme i was in the library earlier this week and blown away by some of the pieces that were hung up around the grace lake library and noticed that several of them were created by teachers in our district so i wanted to thank them specifically the visual arts teachers for their creative and professional work and i'm looking forward to hearing some of the concerts as well also wanted to congratulate dr wolk
028getting a doctorate is no small feat and we know that you're working hard for our district and very much appreciate that you're modeling the lifelong learning that we're trying to encourage our students to pursue as well as far as the student environmental council i wanted to let you know that they have been invited to participate in the sustainability forum on april 18th and they will share the the work that they've been doing to create arc scores in five categories as a reminder it's energy waste water transportation and the human experience for gms for the grayslake library and both high schools so if you're interested in that that is again april 18th happy to share details about that as they arrive and finally another opportunity the community engagement committee is partnering with the lake county forest
029preserve to host something called a watershed game which is a simulation it's specifically designed for local leaders both appointed and elected of all ages so students and adults to learn learn more about water and water quality and the watershed in lake county and that's it thank you and please speak up in case they forget the cloud is out there again go ahead thanks i have just a few short simple topics tonight first of all as you probably know we are smack in the middle of parent-teacher conferences we had conferences late this afternoon and then we'll be having them again tomorrow and our teachers are so pleased to be speaking with parents and guardians about the progress of children and then of course we move into spring vacation and people are looking forward to that as
030well i am very pleased and really quite honored to share that tomorrow morning i'll be taking the oath of office on the cedaw executive board and really just so glad to be giving back to see it all in that way as anybody who has had a child use any of seed all programs can tell you see it absolutely supports the needs of our students and so i'm so glad to be able to support cedaw as a member of the executive board and finally we have announced our eighth grade graduation schedule board i know i've already shared this with you but just as a reminder 8th grade graduation will be at gray's lake central this year on sunday june 5th which is getting closer we are planning outdoor ceremonies but we'll be indoors if it rains
031and the gms ceremony will be at one o'clock the park ceremony will be at four o'clock and because we have so many students at gms there will be a shuttle from gms to the gm to the for the gms ceremony and that's it for the superintendent's report tonight one of the shortest you ever had i wasn't going to say anything i know next week i need a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved second okay brayden hi nash hi lacroix hi albert aye miller i mack aye and weedman hi all right next are action items uh the first two items are directly connected first we need a motion to approve the acceptance of a donation from the graze lake park district in the amount of twelve thousand five hundred dollars so we moved second
032oh second weedman hi miller i mac hi nash i braden aye lacroix i and albert okay the next is a motion to approve the new gymnasium floor at gray's lake middle school in the amount of twenty four thousand nine ninety five that is taking the twelve thousand five hundred from the park district marrying it up with money from the school district to refinish the floor at the gymnasium at the florida middle school i'll make that motion oh second jim can i just ask a quick question yes ma'am um i'm just curious when the floor is being redone is that a summer project or is that a spring break project that is a summer project starting june 7th right after school let's help great thank you okay lacroix hi brayden aye albert aye miller i mac
033hi weedman hi and nash hi uh next we need a motion to approve four ada accessible bathrooms at grayslake middle school in the amount of 176 825 dollars i'll move all second second anybody have any questions on those i think the memo was pretty self-explanatory okay albert hi mac hi brayden aye lacroix hi miller i nash aye and weedman hi uh all right uh next motion i need a motion to approve the resolution of baiting the working cash fund of the district so move second any questions on that no okay nash i mack aye brayden aye albert aye miller aye lacroix aye and weedman aye all right uh next uh we have a long list of board policies uh page and a half that we went through at the policy committee and last board meeting
034um we i don't believe we had any questions from the board members over the last two weeks regarding any of them that need to be answered okay so i need a motion to approve the listed board policies that are on the agenda mr whitman it's a clarifying question so if i understand correctly we can always can we be we can never be less restrictive than where press is recommended or is it the other way around so so here's where i'm going and getting ready to answer we keep going um so one of the the policies and it's not jumping off the page to me right now but it was with regards to um how children are presented for school and it was specifically talking about hair the one and it was very prescriptive around like
035braids and things and i just didn't want um us to be boxed into you know three types of hairstyles like can we just make it you know broad enough to say someone's natural hair is is their natural hair without necessarily needing to box someone into a certain hair style sure sure i'm actually going to go back and try to answer your first question because it might feed the second the it'll feed your explanation so most policies that we have almost all of them are brought to us through press as we know our policy service and then those are based on law i say that because the language of this policy actually came from a new law that was passed because there were instances where there were children who were being disciplined because of their hairstyles
036so that was the language of that particular law okay we can be less prescriptive certainly i think if we're going to look at revising the language of this policy knowing that we can always review and revise a policy i'm wondering if the board wants to vote on this policy as written and then tamika if you want us to bring this policy back for further discussion we can do that okay if i remember right we went with the very the least restrictive option yeah we did in that policy okay yeah we did begin with okay for for all the reasons that you exactly you explained okay yeah all right i'm good thank you thanks any other questions no okay i'll make the motion to improve second miller hi nash i albert i braden aye mac aye
037weedman hi and lacroix hi okay uh now we're up to unfinished business the first item is update on the 2022-23 school staffing plan yes thank you first off thank you everybody for the congratulations it's still awkward and embarrassing but i know that's just my own issue um secondly i'd like to uh thank dr klickman for stepping in last week i heard she did an amazing job at presenting the staffing plan it's like she almost lived an hr life before becoming a superintendent and then to the actual staffing plan as an update at this time we plan on moving forward with the staffing plan as shared last time with the exception of the addition of three dean of students one at park campus one at frederick school and an additional dean at gms this is due
038to the increase in social emotional needs that we've seen the students have over the past couple of years these deans would be working with students who not just traditionally your dean of students if they get students get in trouble but also in a proactive manner helping with the social emotional teams that are put in place in the building as well as at the district level so they're going to be proactive as well okay okay any questions for dr walt okay uh can i have a motion oh we don't need emotional proof i'm already down that path okay next is new business these are new issues for the board to discuss no action will be taken tonight first is our technology plan and i can see he's up and ready to go already good evening thank
039you and i am grateful for this opportunity to share with you the technology plan with you this evening we remember that everything we do in district 46 focuses on our mission of empowering learners creating equity and cultivating community i'm also sharing again as a reminder the technology goal that came from our strategic plan tonight i'm excited to share that master technology plan that we first started discussing just over a year ago there are two main sections within the formal master technology plan section one focuses on the technology integration with the teaching and learning while section 2 focuses on devices and systems the technology department considers all components of the technology plan in ccsd46 as a means to support the teaching and learning goals of the district similarly the technology goal is interconnected with the finance
040facilities and community excuse me communications goals of ccsd46 as we dive in we'll start to take a look at the section focusing on the new computer science standards on february 28 2022 not very long ago the illinois state board of education shared a proposed draft version of new k-12 computer science standards while these standards are still very new the uh excuse me it is the expectation from isb that these standards will be implemented in the 2022-2023 school year the technology department will continue to collaborate with the teaching and learning department and the information specialists across the district in order to plan for the implementation of these new standards it is anticipated that this work will begin this spring and has already begun and continue through the 22 and 23 school year as the technology department
041continues to collaborate with the information specialists and media specialists across the district it is anticipated that further work in the next five years will be necessary to help modernize the library media spaces a portion of that focus will shift away from traditional computer labs and toward more modern collaborative spaces this work will include collaboration with the teaching and learning departments as well as the operations and maintenance department for long-range facility planning now we'll take a look and transition and take a look at the devices and systems that are a part of the technology plan the devices systems and infrastructure of a school district exist to help support all other functions of the district it is important that the hardware and software components are continually evaluated properly maintained and refreshed in order to ensure all students
042and staff across the district can successfully do what they need to do in working toward the shared mission and vision the technology department continues to plan for a rollout of our benq interactive flat panel displays that will meet the needs of our students and teachers in the short term and well into the future while remaining fiscally responsible it is important to replace our existing projectors and smart boards with a solution that will provide increased functionality increase student engagement and address the current problems that teachers are experiencing with their classroom displays our team continues to plan logistics and details for our summer and potentially even late spring installation of our benq panels as we talk about student technology the district's one-to-one chromebook initiative was approved by the board of education in 2019 for all third through
043eighth grade students during the pandemic the district was able to continue the rollout of chromebooks to our k2 students completing that entire k-8 rollout current standards in education show a chromebook having a useful life of three years ccsd46 has planned a three-year refresh cycle for all student devices the district will move towards a more consistent and predictable refresh cycle for student chromebooks once fully implemented the technology department intends to purchase chromebooks for three grade levels each year this chart on the next slide is a lot to look at but hopefully i'll help describe it a little bit the district will purchase chromebooks for students in kindergarten third and sixth grades students in those grades will receive the new devices and will keep them for the three year lifespan of the device the table illustrates the
044transition over the next two years to this new refresh cycle you'll note that our current k2 devices are on a lease and so the the chart illustrates the transition away from those lease devices to our purchasing of the the third every year for consistency this new refresh plan will begin in june of 2022 and will be fully implemented by june of 2024 just as we have done previously as we retire old devices we will look into the best options for recycling those devices sometimes the best option is selling the devices to a reseller to make some some money back off of those retired devices and otherwise we may look to donate those devices to other schools or districts who might be in need a technology department's responsibility is to ensure that all staff have appropriate
045technology in order to be successful each certified staff member is currently provided with a macbook air laptop computer support staff office staff program assistants operations and maintenance staff administrators and all other employees continue to be provided with access to an appropriate device for their specific job related role as the dis just as the district is committed to providing a consistent refresh cycle for student devices the district is also committed to providing a consistent refresh cycle for all staff devices following recommendations from manufacturers and industry experts the district is committing to a four-year refresh cycle for all staff apple laptops additionally staff members such as program assistants who are assigned a chromebook as their primary device will be included in the three-year refresh cycle that is consistent with our student chromebooks in february of 2022 again
046not too long ago the board of education approved a one-year contract with a managed cyber security partner forward edge to provide 24 7 network monitoring as well as many additional services to establish and maintain a secure digital environment for all of our staff and students at this time forward edge is in the process of completing a comprehensive evaluation of the ccsd46 server hardware and software at the completion of this evaluation formal reports and recommendations will be shared with the technology department those recommendations will then be incorporated into future plans for both the infrastructure and cyber security improvements over the coming months and years we have also already begun implementing simulated phishing campaigns and training as well as the rollout of multi-factor authentication for our staff network infrastructure primarily consists of the network hardware software wiring
047and that excuse me and wiring that enables the district to provide high-speed internet from an internet service provider to our staff and students the technology department will be proactive in planning for the ever-changing wi-fi protocols and standards wi-fi six is the next standard that we're looking for and is already supported by our current student and staff devices with new chromebooks and new laptops that we'll be purchasing in the future transitioning solely to this wi-fi 6 standard it is imperative that the district's infrastructure be upgraded to meet those demands it is expected that wi-fi 6 will provide a variety of benefits including faster performance faster throughput speeds and less network congestion as a component of this overall upgrade the district will also expand wireless network capabilities to areas that may not currently have adequate coverage such
048as outdoor classroom spaces across the district forward edge the district's new cyber security vendor is in the process of completing a network audit for us as well at the completion of that network audit the district will have additional resources and plans to continue to move forward in this upgrade as early as spring of 2022 and continuing into the fall of 2022 the technology department will continue collaboration with the operations and maintenance department in conjunction with the district safety and security committee to continue to update building and district communications systems this includes but is not limited to two-way radio communications phone systems school intercoms and security cameras each of these current systems is passed due for an upgrade in order to provide consistent and reliable communications it is anticipated that some of the this wire excuse
049me some of the wiring updates that i talked about with the infrastructure updates that will be needed for these projects as well will be combined with the overall infrastructure upgrades that will be taking place a nice merger of all of those updates in the coming years ensuring consistent reliable communication methods for for day-to-day use as well as in case of emergency situations is critical finally the technology department is planning to phase in new security camera systems with modern technology to replace outdated and unusable systems as i wrap up here the ccsd46 technology department is committed to providing a robust network infrastructure and consistently refreshing student and staff devices to enable all stakeholders to be successful in empowering learners creating equity and cultivating community it is through proactive planning ongoing collaboration and commitment that ccsd46 will
050continue to provide technology-related experiences that represent best practices in education i would like to acknowledge the collaboration that went into the creation of this plan with many of my colleagues and teammates across the district and with that i'm happy to answer any questions that the board may have does anybody have any questions go ahead i do jim go ahead christy that's okay thank you um so first of all mr bipon thank you so much for this presentation i wanted to call out a few things that i really am excited about the first is the rigor of your assessment i really appreciated that you looked at a whole bunch of different data to determine what the schools and the districts needs are including the needs assessment the help desk requests and the inventory that is exactly
051the kind of rigor that i think our district employs all the time and i think that's fantastic for kids to see us doing that so thank you thank you for that and for sharing it with us and then as someone who cares a lot about community and community engagement i love the focus on collaboration at the student staff and department level so i was glad to see that called out in your presentation and also i'm really excited about opportunities for outdoor learning and technology i do have a question for you as you know i'm interested in the environment and sustainability so i'm looking at this plan through the environmental lens through financial lens and through a social lens and just wondering what happens with the devices as they age out can you speak to that
052at all please yes i can so while the end of i'll speak specifically about our student chromebooks on that three year refresh cycle the usable life of a chromebook that's in a student's hands every single day throughout a school year and throughout a calendar year is really three years and that's for the device range that that we're buying after that three years since we are moving away from leasing the devices and moving towards owning them as well as moving the the repair process back in house which we did this past fall we're now able to take those four-year-old devices and use those as loners and or for spare parts for the for potentially the fourth year of that device's life so we'll we'll still get some use out of those devices after the three years
053and then when those devices are no longer useful to us we will certainly as as i mentioned look for a a way that we can make a few dollars per device by reselling it to a reseller or a vendor or looking to donate it to to others it's certainly while the the level of expectation that that we're setting up for a useful device for our students is is that three year lifespan but we will look to to make sure that we get every opportunity out of out of those devices as well yeah that does help and just anything we can do to keep them out of the landfill down the street is great um and then just this isn't a question more just a comment i'm i'm really looking forward to working with the rest
054of the board to identify the impact on student learning because technology is there's direct costs of the computers but there are a lot of indirect costs as we build the infrastructure which is great i'm hoping we can find or become familiar with how we share the impact on student learning of our technology plan and again not asking for an answer to that just hoping we can make that part of our narrative as we talk to our residents other residents and neighbors so thank you so much thank you christine jessica thank you for all the times that you've spoken about this beforehand and tonight too something that jumped out at me was the shift from traditional computer labs to collaborative spaces and i appreciate that but i am wondering about um students who may need a
055quieter space like will there still be spaces for students who may not thrive in a collaborative space because i know plenty of people in work corporate workplaces that the collaborative space hasn't really worked well for them although it does work for others can you speak to that yes uh the the section that talks about modernizing our our libraries and our media centers is really focusing on that entire picture so while while we speak to them the collaborative spaces there's really so many opportunities when we're looking at that common shared space in each of our buildings so looking at and and we've seen some of them in in neighboring or local public libraries or in other schools we we see those spaces that have that can meet the needs of of all of our learners so
056the the flexible learning spaces is is really what we're what we're looking at and hoping for to to provide flexible spaces for our students and our staff anything else anybody else have any other comments i just speak after you yes i'd just like to add a note of thanks as well i know this has been a massive effort to not only do all the research in the background but then also take all of the input from the members of the board that we brought forward to make sure that was considered as part of pulling this master technology plan together and you really and your team delivered outstanding results and incorporate all the feedback that will really maximize the dollar spent but also i think will yield a nice return on investment not only in resale
057dollars right but for our children having that one-to-one access with equitable solid technology current relevant technology um that are leading practices in the educational industry so just again a big kudos because this was a huge effort and we i think threw a lot your way to make sure it was incorporated in this plan and you and your team delivered really well so thank you thank you thank you i simply first of all wanted to make sure that our very robust audience here tonight knows that this is mr chris vipand our director of technology i assume you probably figured out who he was and what he does for us but i wanted to make it abundantly clear i also wanted to thank you mr vaipon for all of your efforts to make this goal area of
058our strategic plan continue to move forward so quickly so thank you and i also wanted to make it clear that this is actually the slide version of the master technology plan but there's also a written version a pdf version that will be posted on our website and mrs leslie armstrong mcleod is here tonight and she helped put that together with mr vaipon so thank you for being here that's all okay any other questions for nope okay i think the next one is you too right so next is the chromebook refresh not a whole lot new to say about this particular agenda item because it just shared the the purpose of this so we are looking to begin that refresh plan for the k three and sixth grade students this summer so what you have tonight
059is simply a discussion item and then i would hope in the at the next board meeting to bring that item back as as a action item to go ahead and move forward with that purchase of of a third of our student devices for the upcoming school year any questions related to the chromebook refresh my only question because uh i see you have a dollar amounts for all those that are in the audience the dollar amount for this year's refresh is a little over four hundred thousand dollars um is any of that coming is that coming out of esser funds or is that i know some of this was planned already but where does it come from the devices and the benq is coming out of asset two and three for this year but next year's
060coming up local funds okay just want to know where it was coming from any other questions regarding the chromebook refresh no okay looks like you're off the hook and now we have summer projects next one on the hot seat so upcoming is mr adam halperin our director of operations and maintenance thank you everybody i'm going to be honest it's going to be hard to follow that up he did he did a great job there 99 of what you're going to see of mine is an update of what we're going to do over the summer a lot of it is everything that we've brought to the board over the past five six months from our long range plan through to our iaq that we did with train in partnership with obviously woold and train so i'm
061going to start off tonight with a little bit of our mission here empowering learners creating equity cultivating community back about six months ago we did our strategic planning and in the strategic planning for the for my team here we review expand and clarify financial practices to increase transparency and communication with a focus on aligning financial decisions making to the district goals review expand and clarify the comprehensive master facility plan on an annual basis to continue to create equitable quality learning environments both inside and outside of the building to serve our students staff and communities with a focus on aligning decision making to district goals back in december we proposed a 9.2 million one to three year project list uh we we went ahead and we met with our partnership of wold and train and over
062the summer we did uh we went through the bricks and mortar of all of the ccsd 46 district buildings laying out a long range plan at the same time we had trained technologies working on air quality study of all of our mechanical systems throughout the district once we received all documents and studies as a team we were able to go back and highlight the projects that were deemed a high priority to ensure a healthy safe and continuous learning environment all projects are aligned with the district's strategic plans and facilities in regards to the master facility plan the planning of these projects started immediately with the board of education approval in december over the course of three to four months mr wildman the operation and maintenance department and i have met with a variety of contractors
063planning this year and the next two years summer capital improvement projects since we have such a short period of time throughout the summer to complete the projects without disruption to the learning environment it takes planning and coordination along with the projects outlined in our one to three year priority capital plan there are many smaller projects that happen in-house that we complete on a yearly basis to maintain that safe and clean environment i have been in discussion with our cleaning service gsf on a cleaning schedule that works around all of our construction technology and the park district camps and any in-house projects that may happen inside our buildings and that are cared for and so that they are ready to be opened for the 20-22-23 school year with the last two years in our rearview mirror
064we are looking forward to the work this summer to which includes but is not limited to over at avon center school we are looking to replace the two boilers on the original 57 building along with that comes a new set of pumps for the building pumps inside that boiler room we are also replacing the water tank with a new high efficient water tank the old 57 air handler unit which is original to the building will also be replaced with the six reheat coils that take care of the classrooms on the original 57 in the original kindergarten wing we have the old 57 unit ventilators which will also be replaced the building automation in the school will also be updated all of those there are in line with the air quality assessment that train assist us
065with along with that we have bathroom partitions that definitely needed to be replaced and taken care of over the time and the signage on the wall going into those washrooms graze lake middle school we are replacing five rooftop units that were over 27 years old those rooftop units were also in line with the air quality assessment along with their useful life was gone the gymnasium floor with the board approval tonight will be replaced sanded i shouldn't say replaced it's going to be sanded down taken to taken to the original wood and brought back to a beautiful place for all sports to happen on that floor along with that we have new designs that we'll be on we are in partnership with the athletic directors and also with the principal of the school as was stated
066earlier the four washrooms that are up in the front of the school by the office are being remodeled so that they are ada compliant and useful for all staff and people that come into the buildings and utilize our buildings on the back side of the school it is the only school where our garbage cans are out and to the public we are going to enclose them for safety and for appearance purposes more so on the lines of safety also in the back is our cafeteria the windows there the seals have been gone for past the past couple years and we are replacing them so that we get the efficiency within that room there along with the long-range plan was fire doors with inside the school that needed replacement if you remember last year over at
067metal view we had the roof that was replaced over there this summer we are planning on doing a lot of the outside cleaning pressure washing of the concrete outside painting on the inside and lighting upgrades throughout we are looking to go to led lighting within side the school frederick above us here we're looking to have this roof replaced this summer it is beyond its useful life we are currently in the process right now of dealing with contractors on going over our roof they have analyzed it and the plan is to start come summertime more will come on that shortly in the library here we have a room that was the old computer lab we are walling off the the room and it will become a new professional development space for all teachers and staff to
068use as mr vipen stated about the computer labs the old computer labs we are taking all the old electric towers out of it that have uh network cabling and that is going to be repurposed into a room with desks for the students to be able to utilize we're going to continue the water fountain replacement within the schools also to make bottle fillers throughout the schools there are not many places that are left without them but we do plan on utilizing wherever they are not and putting them in they will also have regular bottle fill and water fountains at the same time also over the at wood view we are planning on having the parking lot seal coated for the longevity of the of the blacktop out there on the west side of prairie view there
069is a retention pond that has overgrown causing water to back up last summer we were able to get in and start removing a lot of the cattails that are in there and clearing it out so that the water can go back out to the slough and it flows properly rather than back into the school we're going to continue that along with fire sprinkler repairs that are in need of over at prairie view if you recall over at park campus we had a plan to replace part of the roof last summer due to covid and in the lack of being able to get the complete material that was put off until this spring our contractors have the the insulation and the material needed to complete the process along with that we are sealing the walls up
070on the top of the roof so that the water infiltration will not happen again it cures the issue outside over by the playground we are in need of the bike racks to be tied down as the neighborhood kids seem to want to pile them up and they put them all over the playgrounds in the gym we are removing the old lights and replacing those halogens with leds inside also the technology room the mdf room the air conditioning is in need of replacement it currently does not work over at the district office we have in an older spot we have some wires that are hanging around we're just going to be replacing it and putting up wire molding so that we can conceal it we also have an issue with the heating and the air conditioning
071over there we have some rooms that overheat some rooms that overcool with no control over it and we are working on getting that taken care of this summer along with the signage replacement with our new logo for our district over the summer we have annual summer inspections that help us re for requirements with the roe some of those are the fire extinguishers backflow preventers sprinkler inspections the fire alarms outside locks and doors bleachers and backboards and the stage curtains the stage curtains that you see over here every five years need to be fireproofed well this just so happens to be our five year mark on them all buildings annual summer work also consists of locker clean up kitchen all kitchens and equipment cleaned our lawns and landscaping stripping and waxing of the floors all carpets
072cleaned throughout the classrooms all the coils cleaned for all of our hvac equipment our boilers and our chiller annual maintenance other anticipated projects as mr vaipon stated the purchase of district-wide radios the district-wide radios that we speak of will enable us to be able to talk across district between schools not just within the local school itself should there ever be an issue we are able to speak across and we have emergency channels along with the purchase of security cameras additional playground mulch for the ada compliance and for the safety of the children should they happen to fall as i stated before the pressure washing of all concrete belts and exhaust fans are regular annual maintenance but also falls in line with our air quality assessment and our salt been repaired so that we do not
073lose any salt come next winter so that we can ensure safety on our drives so nobody slips and falls so our next steps obviously is to complete the work over the summer come august we'll have a board update on the completion of all the work that was done one district one direction ccsd46 and thank you anybody have any questions good i was just wondering since we have such a large audience if someone other than me could explain how we are paying for all this because i you know me i don't i wasn't selected to be on the board before my financial acumen [Music] so as mr halpert explained he mentioned that several of these projects are coming from local funds so some of the smaller things were anticipated and are coming from his local funding
074his operations and maintenance fund and then several the projects are coming from the nine million dollars so we also have what was also anticipated uh which was the gms uh air handling units which is the five of them is that correct with with the gms uh air handler or the rooftop units that is part of the capital improvement plan that we are also getting a we got a grant for that it was a 50 50 on a 50 000 grant so there's a combination of local funds the combination of what was anticipated to be spent from capital this year from local funds and as well as the first one year 1.9 million so you've got the um the most of the work that's happening at avon which was approved last month then you have the
075176 000 you've just approved so you have a lot of things happening in this presentation and some of the things are coming from local funding so we didn't explain all that but it's all happening and it's all pub it's all funded yeah thank you i understood that enough but not well enough to explain it to the audience so i have a question true before i get to it though kudos mr halperin nice presentation you held your own it's like i said tough to follow that so so clearly you and your team are going to have a busy summer um rich content and a presentation i guess the only thing that i didn't see there and um it hadn't struck me before but it seems like we're covering the entirety of our district and then i
076was like well where's the tech building the technology building so is that in scope for anything at all over the summer i have nothing on it right at the moment okay i'm gonna be honest they did just get a new hot water tank [Laughter] but we appreciate the question as do the people in the back corner of the room absolutely we can very much perfect we appreciate the question i i will say we are currently waiting from our architects at the moment we walk through uh the isc and the district office to try and get the same kind of information that we did throughout the district on our long range plan okay great deal thank you i would also like to note as we had these discussions over the summer about the master facilities plan
077that several of our many of our buildings are in the 20 to 25 year old range so a lot of the components are getting to that age where they need to be replaced so if it looks like there's a lot going on this summer it's because there's a lot going on this summer and um because you know i think at three of our buildings and this one and park campus and maybe meadowview in prairie view yep are all in that same time frame we and so because of the building bloom that happened in the 90s we built some schools around the turn of the millennium and so all of this updating needs to be done now so yeah uh for those who weren't with us over the summer we talked about the master facilities plan
078there is a lot going on right now and it's kind of all happening at once so thank you adam for your your plan and you continue to stay on the ball on this and keep our buildings humming thank you all right thank you and we are up to topics for a future agenda yep i have a few i think possibly the recent warm weather got us excited thinking about may so i have information all the way through may right now as to upcoming board meetings um the next board meeting on april 13th we'll be asking for an approval of that chromebook refresh that we talked about tonight mr wildman will come with a fiscal year 22 budget amendment just starting the process and request to amend the budget and as the board knows that's a
079very regular process every year you know we create the budge budget we approve the budget and then we make amendments to the budget as we go so that'll will happen on april 13th the beginning of that process we'll also begin a discussion of purchasing a district-wide radio system which you already heard about tonight but we'll give a little more detail at the next board meeting on may 4th we plan to bring you an update of our el program dr diaz will do that may 18th um i believe it would be mr wildman and mr halperin and maybe dr diaz as well talking about our safety and security committee and providing an update of the work that that committee has done this year we're going to be asking mrs lorenzo to do a presentation about care
080solace that's a new program that we are providing for our families very briefly it is a program that allows us to help families connect to resources in the community to support their social and emotional needs and also may 18th we'll have fiscal year 23 preliminary budget also in may not sure which month which board meeting in may yet we'll be doing a policy committee meeting again we have a new set of press policies that we'll be bringing then and also in may we are excited to do a logo reveal board you know that we've been working on a brand new logo we will be bringing some hoopla to that uh to a meeting in may to share the new board with the new logo for our school district with all of you and that's all
081i have okay anybody have any other topics they'd like to discuss coming up in the future all right we are up to our second round of public comments yes we have sally gill um can you just push the button on the microphone so it's red thank you sure can you hear me now yes ma'am i'm sally gill thank you for giving me some time to talk this evening and i appreciate all that you do um there's been some talk this evening about the importance of inclusion teaching kindness and absolutely important commentary about teaching tolerance and anti-racism to our children and supporting our lbgtq plus community in schools so rather than repeat those talking points i'd like as an educator myself to point out some facts to folks who might be concerned about what is actually
082happening in schools the concerns i hear in our community are that critical race theory is being taught and that somehow inclusive education that is also affirming of the lbgtq plus community will corrupt our children harm them or make them feel bad the fact is that in the us fourteen thousand public school districts collectively supporting 55 million students none of them teach critical race theory it is not a part of the curriculum or standards of any k-12 american school district diversity equity and inclusion is the two are not the same the public school critical race theory hoax and disinformation campaign was created by a man named christopher ruffo a senior fellow of the koch brothers manhattan institute the actual role of critical race theory became a component of legal education in the 1970s to educate lawyers
083and address the role of racism and discrimination in legal practice a good thing but i digress it's not in schools roofo recently admitted to his crt scheme in a public tweet he said we have successfully frozen critical race theory into the public conversation and are steadily driving up negative perceptions we will eventually turn it toxic as we put all the various cultural in in uh insanities under that same brand strategy in short if anyone believes that crt exists in general k-12 education you are believing a lie you're being manipulated and hoodwinked with disinformation diversity equity and inclusion however is a real and important necessary component of education as for the additional concern about lbgtq plus affirmation in schools it is the responsibility of educators to affirm and support all our children of every race ethnicity
084gender identity sexuality and beliefs even those students whose parents believe the critical race theory exists in schools it is our job to teach children and young adults about society as a whole in which lbgtq human beings exist talking about these realities will not change your children or somehow make them gay just as not talking about them will not ensure that they are straight we just don't hold that much power over the years as an educator of young adults in higher education the youth i see in the very most pain in the most danger are those whose parents deny them their truth in their sexuality and identity and who guilt them and shame them into believing there is something wrong with them and in some cases they reject their children often their teachers and professors like
085me are these students our children's saving grace because they are being abused at home by parents who refuse to accept them as they are i have personally witnessed this many times ultimately if anyone fears public educators my advice is to home school there is a choice in that regard and personal choice and responsibility isn't that supposed to be the real tenet of conservative thinking but to impose a narrow view of the real world on the rest of our children that has no place in our schools thank you [Applause] laura diaz good evening my name is laura gias first i just want to commend you all for your leadership and preparing our children to thrive in a diverse and global world i am grateful for the commitment to diversity incl and inclusion that is posted on
086the d46 website it ends with this statement d46 welcomes welcomes students of all races ethnicities and nationalities students with diverse abilities students who are lgbtq students of all family structures students who are english language learners students from all socioeconomic backgrounds students regardless of their immigration status we welcome you not only do i believe that is sound educational policy that is personal to me i my sons are mixed race and i have one who has diverse abilities and so it is incredibly important to me that both of them see themselves reflected in the curriculum education expert emily style espouses the importance of this in her theory of windows and mirrors mirrors are the idea that when students read books and have curriculum where they see characters like themselves they feel valued in the world and they
087feel a sense of bull and they feel a sense of belonging windows in a curriculum help us develop understandings about the wider world students need to learn about how other people conduct themselves in the world in in order to understand how they fit in d46 has created a strong foundation with a diversity equity and inclusion statement that affirms and values every student please continue to uphold these fundamental sound educational principles that ensure every student can learn and thrive in our multicultural community and world thank you thank you [Applause] meline van dieglen hello it's myleene van dieglen but you're really close i appreciate that thank you um i am a substitute teacher in the district i sub at frederick and gms i am the classrooms daily i interact with the students and take the time to
088get to know the students in the past children would go by different names jennifer would go be called jenny or jen richard would be called dick richie or ricky and a child that was a junior would go by junior then a student would get a nickname and friends and sometimes teachers would call the student by their nickname today students are being asked to be called by their the name they choose and identify with now i shouldn't say all students most and some when i first met a class or when i first made a class i explained to them that respect is number one in my life and number one in my classroom i ask them to tell me their birth name that is on the attendance but if they prefer to be called by a
089different name please tell me that name some students tell me a unique name they want to be called and i try my hardest to call them that name out of respect i have had students come up to me after class and say thank you for respecting me and calling me by my name i want to be called by i feel seen and validated then they walk out of the classroom with a smile on their face the teachers in d46 show that same respect to their students they respect their students and their choices or what pronoun they identify with isn't it what all parents want is for their children to feel seen validated and respected lgbtqi children are children who want to be seen validated heard and respected they deserve to be able to have their
090voices heard and get guidance from someone they feel safe with i applaud the students who are truly trying to figure out who they are and learn how to love themselves and embrace their differences the students who feel they are part of the lgbtqi are strong and i support them i substitute all subjects and in the d46 school district the teachers are teaching the students to be well-rounded educated students there are many discussions in the classroom about all subjects and all views are heard the teachers are teaching from the facts of the textbook they are guiding the students on how to be well-rounded educated members of society with lgbtqi plus students as well as in education communication is key communication with parents their children and the teachers when students are part of a public education there
091needs to be respect and understanding that not everyone thinks or feels the same and that is okay just remember to respect others views and beliefs and even if they are different than yours thank you okay so that's all we have for public comments for tonight um oh okay so since i sat here the whole time i had some additional questions um the first off was language around hairstyle i wasn't aware of whatever kind of policy that was being adopted but i asked that any language around hairstyle include natural artificial dreadlocks any kind of hairstyle as being inclusive so just wanted to make sure we included not only natural hair but artificial hair that may be used in other ways the next thing i want to talk about was the regards in regards to the technology
092plan and the chromebook refresh i would like to see as a future topic discussion around the children's online privacy protection act coppa my children use chromebooks they have chromebooks they've been using them they use software that's available through google and google has in 2019 been charged by the federal trade commission in violation of copa and um they refined 170 million dollars so i i'm all for technology but technology is a combination of hardware software and then teaching people how to use both and i'd like to see us invest in software that's proprietary in nature or that doesn't sell my children's data i have real concerns about that my children do not use microsoft based programs i know there's kind of a way of free access which is google and microsoft and i'm a dinosaur and
093i like microsoft but i also like it because my privacy is there i understand the use of search engines and that's fine but there's a lot of software that my children are using that's free and then when they come home they want me to pay additional funds in order for them to use the free software at a different level and i think that's inappropriate coming from school so i wanted to share that i'd love to learn more about what our policy is around software and software that is paid for and that offers unique things to our students thanks thank you i will be extremely brief in my comment uh a prior speaker the substitute teacher noted that the names on attendance records within d46 still reflect birth names i was recently speaking at an roe
094school safety conference over at the warren almond campus and the tech campus over at clc is doing some amazing things for the high schoolers and maybe this board would want to consider that as well they have taken extraordinary efforts to make sure that the preferred name or newly adopted name even if not legal is what's presented to the substitute teachers rather than that birth name so certainly something that could be taken into consideration for future efforts in the technology department thank you thank you okay um [Music] we are going to be going into a closed session meeting um we do not anticipate doing any uh board business afterwards no votes on anything no public comments on anything so um for the public portion of the meeting it's over uh you're welcome to stick around and
095wait for us for an hour and a half to you know come out and see i don't think you can get anything she talks a lot so oh my god um i need a motion to go in the closed session please so moved you gotta listen to us tonight lacroix hi nash hi miller i matt hi albert i'm weedman hi and brayden hi it's so weird