001Sorry. Now you're good. All right, the time is now 7:03. I just called this meeting to order. Natasha, can you please call the roll? Yes. Bradstreet Here. Reyes, absent. Carney Here. Sperazza Here. Kim Here. The Hurt Johnson Hurt Johnson >> she's not here. >> [laughter] >> Here. The motion to go into open session. Did you call Did you We're already there. Yeah. All right. Um okay, good evening. Tonight's meetings will be adjusted due to the forecast of storms in the area. The board would like to prioritize the safety for our staff and members of the community who will be participating in tonight's meeting. Adjustments to tonight's meeting are as follows. Uh we have had executive session, called to order. There is no public comment this evening. Agenda item seven, district transformation district transformational goal area
002updates 7.3, school year 2027 staffing uh agenda item number eight, consent agenda agenda item nine, action items and then agenda item 10, discussion items. We will um items that were not discussed today will be discussed at a future meeting. All right, so um district transformational goal area updates All right, so we're going to bring our assistant superintendent of human resources Natasha up to the front to give us an overview of our SY27 staffing part two. She provided a little bit of an overview at our last board meeting and tonight providing part two of that overview. Natasha Thank you, everyone. Um okay, so um all right Sorry. You're good. So, as stated, this is um transformation goal we align our resources. Um this is our admin team that works on uh reviewing the proposal and the
003um topics discussed tonight. So, as we stated before, we are um really interested in making sure that we are properly aligning and allocating our resources, and that includes the distribution of staffing. This again is just a reminder of what we use staffing plans for and how they support the buildings. Um this identifies we have set up what our students' needs are. We look at enrollment. We look at um different needs of students, and then what the buildings' needs are, and then staff appropriately. So, this year in regard to our staffing plan, um as we always have positions that become available um through non-renewals, resignations, and retirements, um we also have a position We are also in a position this year, which we have not um taken advantage of any number of years, um is the
004idea that over the last 5 years, we have been allocating staff based upon the needs of our elementary schools. However, in our middle schools, we have been rolling over staff from year to year even with staffing even with schedule changes or um changes in our schedule. So, this year we would be considering um a riff, and those the rationale for that is our enrollment numbers, as well as again, programming, schedule redesign, and the student selection of electives. These are all normal practices in school districts. These things are reviewed every year. Um, and so as we continue to process what those changes look like and what the impact could be, we want to make sure that we're being considerate of our students and our community. And so the first thing we'd like to identify is this
005does not This would not have an impact on our enrollment numbers or our class size numbers. What this really is impacting is the idea that this would allow us to balance out our class sizes across all of our areas, um, including our specials and electives. So right now an example would be, um, later on in the presentation, there's a slide that identifies our classes our class sizes at the middle school have an average of 26 students. Right now we have classes in across the board in our electives and specials, um, that have zero enrollments or three to five students in them. And so looking at how we can best staff efficiently, we want to make sure that we are reviewing those and then taking into account to what our students are selecting. Additionally, we would,
006um, also be able to balance out or come to a a little bit more parity in our planning time in accordance to contractual lengths. Um, the other side of this is also that, um, right now we are projected for deficit spending in FY29. This would distance us from deficit spending. So the RIF process is a process that is identified by school code. It is something that most districts do almost every year because, again, they're reviewing their staffing needs and based upon their students. So identifying what we what the normal practice is in HR, but that idea that we have not had a riff in our district in at least 10 years. And so, this is I wanted to put this slide up to kind of talk about what that process looks like because it has
007been so long since we've actually done this. The staffing changes that we've had over the last 5 years have been handled through the attrition process through non-renewals or through resignations. This would actually be a process where students staff are notified. And so, um we identify the areas, subject areas, or grade bands in which staff are licensed to teach and what our needs are. Those needs would then identify what the overstaffing is. Teachers are then placed in groups based upon their qualifications and they're um sorted by seniority. Once we've identified those staff, within 45 days of the end of the school year, teachers are provided written notification um of what their placement is and if they were going to be honorably dismissed. Um from there, anyone that's still remaining, which is a majority of our staff,
008they will receive their um assignments based upon contractual requirements. So then, what happens is every year we have resignations throughout the summer, we have changes um or sometimes we have additional students move in, or sometimes we have students that have different identified needs. So, many times, if not all the time, you end up having at least a few positions, if not all of the positions on some level, open back up. And so then, teachers are then recalled, and then they're recalled in reverse order. So, as you're going through that process, it's not just a one and done. >> [clears throat and cough] >> It's a constantly moving piece throughout the process. Um if somebody is recalled, they do have the right to um decline, and then they could move on. We would then call them
009back again if something [clears throat] else came available that they maybe qualified for, and again, they would be offered that position. This is again just trying to identify and it's a reminder cuz I've presented it before. This is how we identify what our section number should be or how many staff we need. And so, it identifies what the enrollment is and then what some of our some of our requirements are in regard to special education or bilingual education. And so, these are some of the parameters that we use in trying to identify what our needs are from year to year. This section planning is then we also want to make sure that we're staying within contractual guidelines and that we are not maximizing class size or anything like that. What we want to do is
010we want to make sure that we are providing services to our community and that we are following the contract. These are the specific numbers as to whether we would have a teacher in the classroom, when we would add support in the classroom, or when it would dictate to open up a new classroom or new sections. And so, we want to make sure that everyone knows that this is these are all parameters that we follow when we're coming up with our numbers from year to year. So, this is the chart that I was alluding to before. This shows you since SY 24 going into next year that we don't really expect to see a large shift in any in any of our grade bands in regard to class size. There are asterisks at the 26 and
011the 25 for 6 through 8 because that is the core subjects. So, science, math, Um, social studies. Um, You lost me. Um, and so, those are that's our core subjects. However, that is not indicative of all of our class sizes. We have class sizes, as I said, that some are not running at all, but we still have staff, and some are have enrollment as low as five or six, um, or three, even. And so, with that in mind, looking at that, trying to make that more equitable across all of our subject areas and grade levels, is what we're trying to, um, how we're trying to staff as efficiently as possible. This is just another visual that kind of identifies that. We also don't maximize the contract. We don't fill every classroom until it's contractual limits.
012We actually leave room for students to come and go, depending upon what, um, the needs of the community are. And so, at each grade band, they had different class sizes in the contract. The dark [clears throat] green to the left is our projected average. When you go all the way over to the right, that is the contractual maximum. So, it shows how much room we have, um, in updating or moving forward in if we have new students that enroll in the district, where we might be able to place them. Again, if we do end up, um, in with a larger class size, then that's when we look at either adding support in the classroom, or we open up another section. So, in this, um, chart, what we wanted to do is try to give some
013semblances of how, um, the staffing numbers look, um, and how we are also trying to make sure that we are taking advantage of that attrition that I talked about. While we may need to do some riffing to accommodate to accommodate this shift. And so, what we're projecting at this point is that we would be increasing in special education. We have additional needs in the special education space. We do have a few sections that are closing at the elementary schools. Um and then for middle schools, we would be again trying to balance the balance those loads um in accordance with the contractual language. Um and then electives and specials, um that again is trying to balance out what our numbers look like in those class sizes based upon what our students are electing to take based
014upon their um electives and specials. And then um it also includes um admin because we are not just looking at our staff in our buildings, but we're also looking at um the organization as a whole and where can we staff as efficiently as possible. So, the bottom chart is really just trying to say that we believe that there will be a net change of about 15 to 27, meaning staff will be moved and placed based upon their qualifications. Of that, um we could have anywhere from 3 to 15 staff members that would be um at as part of a reduction in force. Um that number of spans from 3 to 15 because as we go through, different staff members are actually qualified to do different things. And so, although we may have somebody who is
015um teaching a special maybe at the elementary school or and they may be moved to the middle school or somebody that's teaching at the middle school may be moved to the elementary school or subject areas are changing. So, we believe although 15 to 27 would be the change, we believe almost half of them could be handled through just reassignment within the district. So, these are steps that we've already completed in trying to work through the process of determining if there is a need for a reduction in force. And so, that goes all the way back to did our first presentation with the principals in January. And so, we've worked we've also met with the financial oversight review committee and we've presented here at our last meeting in February. These are our upcoming steps. We did
016have another review with the financial oversight committee this past March 3rd. We're here presenting to you today. And then March 17th, we are going to meet with our teachers organization and so then we can talk through this process and what um what the constraints are and different how we can make sure that we're following the contractual language. It's also part of school code. On March 24th, we would plan to bring a specific motion to the board identifying the individuals, the specific number, and the individuals that we would be looking to reduce. And then in April, we would be having the conversations around all of those moves that we were talking about in regard to you know, if although you may have been considered in the reduction in force, you may have another assignment based upon
017other things that the district has received. And then we would disseminate assignments as the contractual language requires in May. Questions? All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> All right. I'm sorry. I forgot what um Okay, 7.3. Oh, we did that. 7.3 uh Consent agenda. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? I move the Board of Education of Oak Park Elementary District School District 97 approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. >> [snorts] >> Um Ross Dribben? Yes. I'm in the room. Um Carthy? Yes. Sperling? Yes. Kim? Yes. Moore? Yes. Perez and Herb Johnson are absent. Action items. That's on rhythm 9.1 listening. I move that the Board of Education of Oak Park Elementary School District 97 approve the use of Title 1 funds in the amount of $87,120 for student
018supplemental programming with Mathnasium as shared and discussed on February 24th, 2026. I'm sorry. I had a question about this that I had sent in. There was some publicity around Mathnasium moving from pen and paper to iPads. And I was curious You saw that Yeah. And I was just curious if our And I wasn't here, so I'm not asking you to go back, but I was curious if our contract with them is specifically designed not to have pen and paper I mean not to have iPads or if that was touched on at all. So we set the terms of our contract. And so within that within our contract, we can say how we would like the program to look, especially for the students that we're serving. And so with that, I did speak with Ebony, and
019that's one of the considerations that she will be looking at when designing that contract. I think we had talked about potentially working at hand so that it was up to the parents. Because some parents might prefer their children to have Yep. I make a second. I'll second. Uh Carney? Yes. Kim? Yes. Moore? Yes. Spurlock? Yes. Rob Buring? Yes. Perez and Hurt Johnson Thank you. 9.2 approval of Sentis agreement. Uh the link to the motion is broken on that one. I don't know if we have a copy of it. So, the link is broken. All of it. The diligent links generally aren't working. I'll send it to you. I think Michael's got it. I I was going to say I think I have it. Oh, I do. I move that the Oak Park Elementary School District
02097 Board of Education approve the Talbert uh and Desktop Fiber contract to Sentis through the um NEA cooperative in the estimated amount of $41,635 annually uh and may fluctuate based on inventory. Second. Rob Buring? Yes. Carney? Yes. Spurlock? Yes. Kim? Yes. Moore? Yes. Perez, Hurt Johnson absent. Motion Can I get someone to read now point three confidential confidentiality review of our release closed session minutes? Having previously considered the minutes in closed session, is there a motion to determine if the needs for confidentiality still exist as to all public meeting I'm sorry. As still exist as to all closed meeting minutes or parts thereof not previously made available for public inspection. Who seconds that motion? There is such a motion. I make it. >> [laughter] >> I'll second. Okay. I'm all set. That's where you can
021do things. >> [laughter] >> I thought you weren't. Connie. Yes. Kim. Yes. Moore. Yes. Spurlock. Yes. Rushbrook. Yes. Um Perez and Her Johnson absent. Motion to carry. Okay, then brings us to 10.1 discussion items. Um we have an e-rate and we will take action on this on uh March 24th at our next board meeting. Uh are there any questions? This is a for firewall and some licensing for our current ones. We have two of them. So, we have connections to two different buildings, so if we have any issues they'll fall over to that. So, pretty straightforward. Total cost after we capture the new e-rate funds, we got $33,000 to the district. I don't have any questions, but anyone else? And if you do come up with questions after reading the memo, you can provide them
022to me and I will get those questions answered for you all before the 24th. Before it's time to vote. Okay. Thank you. Concluding items. Thank you. Uh board remarks and I think we can um if it's okay, we can skip those and get everybody home safely. Unless anyone has any burning things that they want to remark tonight. Well, I just want to I didn't know if you wanted to like state for the record that we will come back to talking about the ice stuff that was talked about at the last meeting. I know it's front and center for a lot of folks, so um we do have a larger presentation on it. Well, I don't know if I I don't So, that will be part of the superintendent's update on the 24th. I just wanted
023folks in case anybody was watching this with So I would yeah. Yeah, that was also part of the in the beginning that there are some things that we took off in light of the storm. I'm sorry staff can get home safely. So we will make sure that those things are on the agenda for the March 24th. So be ready with your board remarks and your committee reports and all those good things. And I'll be ready with the superintendent's update. Yep, and then at that time we will also talk about the the additional agenda items, the district transformation of gold area updates, FY27 teacher leader roles. We'll we will discuss that. Action items will be uh school year 27 staffing, authorization to proceed with summer 2027 constructor construction sorry and tentative summer 2028 planning. E-rate will
024be asked to vote on that. Discussion items for next week will include some of the things from this week as well as the annual audit finding presentation and then a copier RFP ooh exciting contract. And that is all. And I get a motion to adjourn. I also want I will just say that it's not we're not going to come to the board for approval for the master facility. Okay, good. It'll be an update. It'll be an update not a vote. Thank you for that clarification Michael. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Voice vote. Say I. I. Are you trying to I was like can I ask one can I just ask one question? I know you the email that went to the community about our adjusted schedule say said we're going to move the
025items to April. I know you just said March but I I'm just curious. Are we trying to move them to April or are trying to move them to So, some of them some of them will be moved to April and some of them will be moved to the 24th. So, depending on what items need to be voted on and done by March we had to Understand. A portion Thank you, Nancy. Portion them out. >> But, the safety plan is one of those that will be moved to the 24th, correct? >> Yes. And the and the superintendent's update. Okay. All right. And then Natasha came. Can we move to adjourn? Um the Oak Park School District 97 doesn't like I don't have that Um All in favor. All in favor. Sorry. >> Yes. I'm moving to
026the adjournment. I thought >> [laughter] >> this was the motion. I was like, "That's it?" Thank you.