001Uh so that's the first step and I'll go over the survey results um in a minute. Uh then we will be posting the position once we finalize the brochure and there's a draft of that in your packets this this evening. It is already posted an anticipated posting and as I have done some presentations and things in other areas and places I have been talking about um the anticipated posting of Oak Park and there are several people that are already indicating they will be applying. So, it's I think it's a very desirable district and I hope that there will be a good pool of candidates um to be able to look at. So, here we are. >> Thank you, Michael. >> Thank you. So the survey is designed around 15 leadership traits and those 15 leadership
002traits come from the professional leadership standards. So they are all researchbased and individuals were asked to rank those uh their top five that they believe the superintendent for Oak Park District 97 should have. Thank you. Um, as we look for the superintendent, here are the numbers. And now what was resulted from that were uh five of the top characteristics from all of the groups. I won't go through each individual group. You do have a breakdown report in your folder of that. And so one of the top uh characteristics was that the superintendent should have excellent written and verbal communication and collaboration. It was a universally top expectation between the students, the parents, the community, the staff, even uh the board members. The second characteristic was that the superintendent needs to foster a professional culture for
003the educators. It was high across all groups but particularly for staff and for families. The third characteristic is that the superintendent ensured a safe, inclusive, supportive learning environment and that was uh strongly emphasized surprisingly by families and students. Uh it was very important to them. Uh, one of the pieces that I know is important to this district is the promotion of equity and cultural responsiveness and that was important across all of the groups particularly among staff and students. Um, and the final characteristic that met the top five uh was to develop and support curriculum instruction and assessment and this was consistently present among the top five rankings. The other area of the survey asked about what kind of experience should the new superintendent for the district have. Overwhelmingly, teacher experience was strongly preferred. Principal experience
004was preferred. um students were evenly split, but all the other groups preferred um principal experience and superintendent experience was not preferred overall. Interestingly enough, um the staff was nearly even, families was not favored, community not favored, students it was neutral. And so whether or not the individual selected as the leader of this district, whether or not they have superintendent experience or not, according to the survey, um they felt that that was not as necessary. They do prioritize teaching and principal experience, but they value leaders who understand uh school operations from the classroom up. Now, there were some key themes from the open comments. I want to say there were about six full pages of open comments that we received. And so, all of those comments were coded and there were some key themes that uh
005came out of that. One of the key themes was the individual who leads this district has to have deep knowledge of Oak Park and long-term commitment. not necessarily that they are an internal candidate. That's not what that was saying, but that they know about the Oak Park community. Um, and that they come with a commitment. And that was the most dominant theme. Uh, they want a superintendent who understands Oak Park's values, context, and history, who has worked, lived, or led in a similar community to District 97. the commitment of longevity and who will not treat the district as a stepping stone. Those were some of the the comments. The second theme [clears throat] was communication, transparency and visibility. They want clear jargonfree communication. They want the superintendent to be highly visible in schools to have
006transparency around the decisions that are made and and to provide genuine opportunities for stakeholder input as well as trust building after years of turnover. Uh what the board needs to recognize is that there has been some turnover and you're looking for the right fit, right? But on the candidates's perspective, they're also looking for the right fit. And a candidate who is serious about long-term and longevity, when they look at the historical pieces of the district, um that may raise some questions. [clears throat] The third thing was strong support for teachers, principles, and school level level leadership. And some of the comments emphasized strong respect for teachers expertise um accessible leadership to listen before acting and support for principal accountability and instructional leadership. They want to reduce central office complexity and top- down decision making. So
007that came from some of the open comments. The fourth theme was academic excellence, curriculum and instructional leadership. Many comments highlighted that there were concerns about the middle school performance. Uh that there was concern about academic readiness for high school and curriculum alignment and grading consistency. There were several comments that talked about the reduced use of textbooks. And this is a national subject that is swirling as I read uh national news. It's a common theme that is gaining traction. The heavy use of technology and the impact that that is having on learning. Some positive, some not so positive. Um an over reliance on devices and screen time basically is is at the the crux of that. The fifth theme was equity and inclusion and particularly there were comments that spoke to special education and diverse learners.
008Uh the respondents support equity centered leadership but they want actionable strategies that are specifically tied to student outcomes. They want some strengthening of the special education services, better inclusion with academic rigor and support for multilingual learners. So, it's this balanced approach between equity and academics. And the sixth um theme uh was school safety, climate, and social emotional learning and behavior systems. So, families and staff stressed concerns about behavior and safety, the need for stronger consistent expectations, better social emotional supports, and clear behavioral policies and accommodations. And so, those were the themes. When we look at all of these the district-wide expectations that came from them, I have listed here a community centered, community connected leader, transparent and skilled communicator, supporting of educators and principles, academically focused but resultsdriven, equity centered with a balanced approach and
009a longterm stable uh leadership for this district. So there are implications for the superintendent profile and these are some of the core competencies uh from the survey and communication instructional leadership equity strategic management uh with the preferred experience of teacher required principal preferred superintendent not as strongly preferred. So in conclusions, they want a superintendent who is deeply connected to Oak Park, who communicates authentically and who improves climate and operations and provides long-term stable leadership. Oops. Okay, so that is a summary. You have a more detailed report that has a little bit more information. You also have in the report the actual tables for each of those groups and the number of responses that they had um on each of the characteristics. Okay. So, >> how did we get it to I'm sorry, can I ask
010a question? How did we get it to students? I'm a little surprised we only had 11 students. We've surveyed them a bunch of times and they've been a little more active than that. >> That was handled internally. Um I know that there was the link that was provided but I don't know if any of the staff can address that particular question. Um because yeah there was a small number of students albeit it was good to see some student responses. >> Yeah I know typically we do like I will say in the past when we've done student communication we've kind of tailored the survey to be more studentfriendly. I know I didn't send it to students. Um so it was sent to all families and staff in the past like um we have I think like
011given students like a it not I mean >> so you think these 11 came because the parents said hey there's a student >> yeah I don't know it to students like we did with DC or how do you feel like the belong survey? Yeah, I didn't understand it to be a student survey, but that may so that may have been difficult. Um, and you could potentially I think work with some students like if that if they if you wanted that kind of feedback, I think you could be more targeted. But like my recommendation generally when we're doing that kind of interview with students is that we make sure that it's like specifically targeted language. We did some of those surveys. I think um in the past couple years at the middle school level we like
012we put together some presentations and kind of like broke it down and that they were given time and advisory and things like that. I don't know that the schools are really doing that. >> I'm actually happy that that's why not just that our students don't care like that's fine, right? That's that's actually that's that makes sense. >> Is that something that we can do with it's um I we can talk about it offline but yeah. >> Yeah. And there will be an opportunity uh there will be student focus groups and so there will be an opportunity for the students to engage um in that conversation. >> Yeah. I just know that every student will be able to participate just like every adult. So giving them the opportunity to know the superintendent does and to uh
013so get a little education about what the superintendent does then also if there are things that thoughts and opinions they have. But thank you for the feedback with regard to the student friendliness. I'll take that back um and work with the team on that. The other piece, any other questions about the survey? [clears throat] Does this align with some of the same what's important to Oak Park? Does it align with what you've seen to be important with other school districts? >> Some of the characteristics. Yes. >> Any any outliers that sort of stick in here? Uh depending upon, you know, the the the makeup of the district. Um Oak Park is very strong in their equity and cultural responsiveness. You've got it in your mission and your vision. You've got, you know, pillars. and that
014isn't always the case in all districts and so that may be so again what is unique to the district it's certainly came out in the characteristics that were chosen questions I apologize because I thought I had seen this earlier but maybe I may have my head um did we get a breakdown of based on students with families with students with IEPs, for example, because that might actually emphasize certain responses here for me. >> The survey was anonymous, okay? So, there was no identification. >> No identification criteria at all were corrected. >> Okay. >> But we can address that with the focus groups. when the district selects the participants for the focus group, that is the inclusiveness that we want to make sure is represented in that focus group. >> That's what I want to make
015sure is not lost. So, yes, that would address it. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> In terms of the the timeline, in terms of I know um there's some additional information you need from the district. Then when do you anticipate um posting the position? like I know that it's like kind of pending. Um being able to get that posted and then can you share a little bit about where it will be posted? >> Yep. Um there is a timeline as I worked with Venus and Jung and other people who were assigned to the little group that uh I've been meeting with. Um, the position has already been posted anticipated through the IASB website. Um, as soon as we complete the brochure, which you have a draft of, I'll go over that in a minute. Um, it
016will be sent out to 8,000 plus individuals that are on our higher logic system. It will be sent out to the national affiliation of superintendent searches. It will be sent out to the national organization for school board members. Um, it will be sent to the national uh NASBY, which is the Black Educators Association, Ayalas, which is the Latino um administrator association. And so we will have a very wide outreach. NAS touches about 40 states throughout the nation and it will be posted in there as well as with the National Association of School Boards. Um and then throughout the state as I said we have 8,000 plus individuals that will get the posting and the information minimally five times throughout the posting period. Okay. So, if we can look at the um draft of the This
017is the draft of the brochure. One thing I will need is a JPEG of the logo. If you can, whoever manages that can send that to me. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Uh the other thing that uh I think it was on the information form uh we do need to list it's now a law that in any posting it has to have the salary range. So that would be something that the board if you don't have that already would need to um discuss and get to me as as quickly as possible. Um there was a little um error. I caught it already. the posting uh will close on January 7th. That was a conversation with the smaller team uh because we felt that the posting period was a little too short with the holidays and
018everything in between. Plus, we have the joint annual conference coming up this week that we wanna I've got several sessions and I want to talk about uh the posting the opening um and we have sessions that we will bring in prospective candidates um to discuss the openings that we have. So, it's good prime time um to market um the position. So, I do need that. So, it'll be posted as soon it'll be posted to all of these entities that I mentioned as soon as we can get this brochure because to post it without this information, you're not going to draw the candidates, right? Um, and so as soon as we can get this um in place, uh there was also a change I think in your board meeting date for November. I was originally uh
019understood to come in on the 10th to go over a lot of this. Um but you have only one board meeting in November. It's today. So that kind of we're a little behind by couple of days, but we'll make it through. >> I just want to point out um Becky needs to be added to the board of education list on the last page. >> That's why we want you to take a good look at this. I already had the uh financial data verified by your school finance officer, your CSVO. Um the salary range was one thing and I think those that was the only thing as well as anything that you would find um that is not clear or you want changed. A lot of this information came from the information uh form that we
020had sent in and thank you to whoever completed that. It was done very quickly and we were able to put this together um relatively quickly. So I appreciate that very much. I do have a couple of questions for the board. Um the experience I want to just verify that teacher experience, principal experience. Does this board want superintendent experience for the next superintendent? The community, you saw, you know, the survey results and what the community as a whole, the staff and everyone was thinking, but as a board, is that important to you? We can certainly add it. Can you use like could you use the word like not preferred but like considered right considered right like as opposed to I mean I would I don't want to say preferred if most going to be like you
021know who are they why are they going to rule out people that haven't been there but I think we in my opinion and I was I was the board member that filled that out and I said that it wasn't mandatory just full disclosure I don't care if it's not anonymous I I think though that we would consider like you were at a superintendent we're going to want to go and get your reference and use that experience and then there might be a candidate that wasn't a superintendent and we're going to listen to them and talk to them about what how they figure that out. So I think it's going to be a consideration but I don't think it has to be mandatory. >> Yeah. I would say um I don't want to speak for the
022whole report but it's it's not a it's not a mandatory thing for me. Superintendent experience is not >> I would also go I was looking on the survey for nice to have but not required. So, um, so yeah, I think consider is >> good. >> Yeah, I think in the past I've seen required and preferred, >> right? >> So, I I don't know that I've heard consider. >> Well, I'm just trying to come with something almost more neutral, right? >> We're going to consider your prior prior experience with superintendent. >> You don't have to put it in. You can just leave it at teacher and principal. I would prefer that it says that they have some experience because again we're going to my hope is that people would apply if desired regardless it you know
023of that being posted because our experience in our last last superintendent did not have that experience. I think there are a number of things that could so I don't want to get into like the that an open session but I would say um when I use preferred that can signal especially to women of people of color as like I I'm not going to be eligible. So I want to encourage folks as much as possible and if we if there's a way to explicitly say like even if you think you don't have the skills, we still want you to apply. Um because I know that in particular when I'm recruiting I say we want people who are first generation. We want people like I say all those things because there's someone who say I got to
024have nine out of nine and that's not the case. You can probably have seven and if you're strong in one area seven out of nine is just as good. So I don't want any leng I personally but I'm one of seven. I would prefer that we not have any language that can be interpreted as exclusionary. I agree with exclusionary, but I do also agree that we I would prefer to have something on there that does say superintendent experience is a nice to have >> desirable desirable. I I've applied for educational jobs always. It's preferred. >> It's required and preferred. I don't we could look through what we usually have. >> And I think I don't think I I You're not saying you want preferred though, do you? Are you? I mean, I don't know what
025what the we shouldn't predetermine, you know, like that that one thing is going to exclude people. If anything, what I'm hearing from the presentation is that people want an Oak Park, you know, immersed person in the community. That was like the top theme for everything. Whether they have experience as a superintendent or not, it should still be listed because of what happened, why we're here. So, um I think I I mean I think you don't have to even put the word considered in parenthesis. You could say will be considered. I like the adding asking adding that phrase. The other question I did have kind of for the group though is >> um is central central office wasn't listed. Does anyone have any thoughts about including anything about central office versus principal >> administrative experience? >>
026Yeah, thank you. >> Yeah, I would I would say that. Yeah, I think that's important. >> But I wouldn't want somebody from HR applying to be a superintendent to be honest. >> Well, that happens all the time to be honest. But that's their job. That's not our job. But I'm just saying >> that's broad. >> I just want to be clear. We're on the balcony >> and that is that's why we have the amazing Carmen to do that. This is what she does. So we're going to try. So this one is >> you want administrative experience will be considered. >> Administrative and superintendent experience will be considered. Yes. >> Thank you. Got it. Second question is residency. Do you have a residency requirement? Some districts have a residency policy. Um some districts don't have a
027policy per se, but for certain positions they do require. Is that something that is required here? >> Say that again. >> Residency. >> It's not required though. >> I mean like it's not on our policy, >> right? I think similar to the other I I think because the O park experience and immersion all that stuff was mentioned some some language to something to indicate that it would be a nice to have if someone you know I don't know maybe the language about someone who knows the community is enough but yeah I think someone like if we were to someone from like Florida, right? >> Um I think knowing the Chicago land area is is important. So yeah, could that could be like >> the first line in the paragraph after the characteristic says stakeholders want
028a superintendent who will be deeply connected to Oak Park. I think that's the res residency is not required but they want the superintendent to be deeply connected with the community. >> Isn't is this something that could be handled via questions for example later to say you know if you're from here >> done if you know they're different questions rather but if you're not from here one of the questions is going to be >> how do you make that connection to park >> okay >> rather than trying to >> get it in here. So we won't put anything about residency. >> It's definitely not required. >> All right. >> So next steps once we get the information that I need, we'll finalize this. I'll send it to the committee that I'm working with to make sure
029everything is okie dokie and we will post as soon as soon as we can get that done. It's going to be better. Um it'll give us almost a good six weeks. So, I want to make sure we hold to that timeline. Um, the next thing that will happen on December 3rd and 4th are focus groups. And so, there are nine focus groups. The board has asked about having a focus group just the board. And we can certainly do that, but you would have to do the open meetings act requirements, >> special meeting board. >> Yeah. >> Right. And it could be one of the evenings of the third or the fourth and so I'm already here doing focus groups. >> I'm not I'm out of town that weekend that week a whole week. >> Um
030>> so I mean we still have some time if you can let me know what >> can I ask a question. Um another just as another option I wonder if and I whatever you I don't know what other practices is a focus group typically how you do it because the other option obviously is to meet with two board members at a time instead and ask the same questions conduct an interview so that you could get some consistency um and to the extent that you notice some discrepancies then you know kind of we can we can go deal with address that but I just wonder if an extra board meeting if there's time for it. >> Generally, we have not done board focus groups. >> Okay. >> How do you learn what the board is interested
031in >> through the survey? When we do the state uh the the slate of candidates, um we talk about the interview, the protocols, the process, uh those kinds of things. Um and that is generally how the board communicates. uh going over the survey results. Um boards will share well I would like this like we kind of did just now with regard to the language for preferred and considering those kinds of things but we have not done focus groups that doesn't mean we don't we couldn't do them. We certainly can do them if that's something that is very important to this board. We'll circle back to see if it's a special meeting or how we what's the best way to do that availability so we can stay within our timeline. >> Can I ask one on
032that point though? Um I do think that by the time we get to the slate that's already been pre-screened and I do think that the board input should come before the slate. >> Yeah. Yeah. I don't care the format, but I'd be more than happy to do a focus group or have, you know, a virtual meeting or something with two board members at a time. Okay, be happy to do that. >> Yeah. And I I think that I'm sorry, the survey was is great for the the kind of big buckets of characteristics, but I would describe I think that there's a a strong interest in kind of deeper feedback >> by the staff, by the board, by the community. Like I I just think that I don't I I thought that was a great start,
033but I'm not I don't think there's a lot of feelings of satisfaction that input has been collected. >> I would agree. I mean, I wrote like a half paragraph or so in that open comment thing, but I thought, you know, at a certain point, you got to cut yourself off with that open comment. So, a focus group would be >> okay. >> Of some sort. >> Well, you just um whoever will connect with me to kind of coordinate how you want to do that, be happy to. Um, so speaking of the focus groups, we have about nine focus groups uh for the district and this is and they're scheduled for December 3rd and 4th. How you schedule them that's I won't do that because you know when your community can meet, when your staff can
034meet a lot of times it's after school the staff will meet. Administrators generally meet during the school day. They can kind of get away. um families and parents usually evening or right after school. Um but what I do want to empathy emphasize is that the focus groups need to be as inclusive as possible representing all the voices of the community. So if we're doing an elementary staff focus groups, we want to make sure that we have as many schools represented, programs represented, grade levels represented. So to really be very intentional on who you are inviting to that. Um some districts utilize the building administrator to help with that selection. Uh some have district office personnel that have a good idea of who to who can be selected for that purpose. Same thing with parents. Um
035your PTO representatives from schools. again using the dimensions of diversity to make those groups as diverse as possible so that all the voices are represented. Can >> I ask a question? >> Um what is the maximum number of folks that you would find helpful for a focus group? >> No more than 20 >> because we have about an hour. So the focus groups are scheduled for one hour and we generally have 15 or so questions and that takes up the full hour. If we have more than 20, some people will be able to express their thoughts. Um do you have a list of what those focus groups are? >> I have one administrator >> if they're on there. I can look it up. I'm sorry. I didn't realize they were they are >> they were
036on the um earlier on in the responses to some of the questions >> from October 15th. >> So they were they were it's not in the folder. >> Okay. >> But it was some questions that was sent earlier in the process. >> Okay. >> And there are nine focus groups. >> We'll ask John and Venus to get us that that list >> if we can get those sent to us. >> Yeah. And then also um Venus, if you and John can work with Amanda to [clears throat] make sure that the communications timeline is set so we we're getting those things out to the community to say this is happening >> and I will send you just a sample invitation that you can pull from use make it your own or use your own however you
037want to do that. Um and then my last question uh I have the sal I have a figure for the superintendent um salary. Will you let us know if this is like very high very low where we comparison to other districts? >> I would give a So the way the the law works is you can give a r >> but I just want to see you give a range minimum too. >> Oh I thought but my point is you don't have to pick one salary. >> Right. Right. Right. I was just saying like can we get a R? So we use a in my job we use a formula >> and it's all over the place but if she says like this is way too this range is starting too low or this range is
038going up very high will she let us know that? >> Yeah. We will try to select districts of like size and makeup in the area probably West 40 districts maybe. um and do a check on it. >> Yeah, I was asking because my first inclination was to use that that calculation that I use for work, but I don't know if it would fit. So, I think it's probably better we say like this is what we used last time. Can you help us to determine what that range would be? >> So, I can you can use 40, but we also have um sort of comparative peers that we use for almost everything else. >> Oh, and I the names of those. >> Yeah, you can send those to me. I can check on those. salaries. No
039problem. So, we have the focus groups on December 3rd and 4th. Um, and we'll get the brochure out as as quickly as possible once I get that information. The posting closes on January 7th. There was a little bit of an adjustment with the team um just based upon some opportunities we have. And then, um, the slate is scheduled to be presented to the board on the 13th. Okay. And you will have to decide on your first round interviews. It's typically two nights because you don't want to do six hours of interviewing, right? Each candidate about approximately an hour. So, most boards break that up into either like a Friday night and a Saturday during the day kind of thing. Um, and when I screen the candidates and begin to make that selection, and when we
040they get the call, you're on the slate, they always ask, "Well, when is the interview?" So, I need to have those dates as quickly as you can get those um >> interview dates. And you said we'll get those de uh December wait >> January 13th. Okay. >> Right. Um, and so between the 7th, I think I'm going to be um screening candidates. I have to wait till the posting closes. I'll be evaluating evaluations way before that, but screening candidates um after the 7th, between the 7th and around the the 12th, and then putting the slate uh together for you. So, I would need to have your first interview dates prior to the 7th. >> Okay. I have one more question that I feel like the public might want to know. Will we still have access
041to resumes, people that you did not select for the slate? So, at least we can say we reviewed it and we saw it >> of candidates that were not selected on the slate. >> Yes. >> No. >> Okay. >> There is latigious legality kinds of reasons why the schoolboard association does not do that. >> That's I'm sorry. the school. We can't see our applicants. >> Public? >> No, you said the board. The board can't see all the applicants. >> No, we don't provide a list of all of the applicants. There's several reasons why. One of one is potential litigation. Um, what is the litigation about? >> Um, disclosing information on a candidate that did not want to have it disclosed until they were at a certain point in the application process. because there are some
042candidates that they apply but they don't necessarily want their district to know about it yet unless they're a serious candidate, >> right? So, I think this is an important process question that we should have been told about. We've done this. I've been on the board lucky enough for multiple selections of superintendent and we always get to look at the resumeumés. We appreciate your expertise and your screening, but at the same time, like we know our district and sometimes there's a diamond in the rough that maybe you didn't realize the connection. And so looking at the resumes has been part of the process the other times that we've done this and without any disclosure to their district for sure. Right. >> If you signed a non-disclosure document, >> right, >> that would protect the >> I
043will send you um our legal uh opinion from our legal council at the schoolboard association which would explain the reasons why >> Jeremy, >> a local community member. >> Yeah. >> Right. And then after the first round interviews, we'll need to decide when you want to do the second round interviews for the finalists. And if you want to have I know there was discussion about having uh a larger kind of stakeholder group to view the candidates responding to some questions. >> That's still kind of not been decided. Um, so we still have a limited time, but that has been >> we do want that. And it's not that people would be engaged in asking questions, but they're just able to view it. >> Um, but I think people would like that. Um, we're we've gone
044way over time, but Becky has one last question and then I would ask if we have any additional questions that we just email it. Um, to jump and Venus. >> I think it would [clears throat] just be like this is more thinking of like our diverse community in which um we're talking about participation in a variety of like programs. This is very important. I would love to hear marginalized community members perspectives on the search and I think of focus groups. I know we had talked about whether there would be a virtual option or whether um we would consider what locations would be most appropriate, whether they would be offered in more than one language. I [snorts] think that had come up and since it came up in one of the themes for like multi-ingual um
045somebody that appreciates that I those are things that I would be curious about. I know the library is a central location in which people gravitate towards for services and programming. There's local churches. I would just like to see us think outside the box in terms of the location. I think transportation has always been an issue. So I also ask about virtual. doesn't have to be answered now, Carmen, but I would like us to consider like how do we reach our marginalized populations. The survey for me, sure, is one way to do that, but that's also assuming that all of our community members, you know, have access to stable internet connections. They're probably logging in through their kids' iPads or whether they are, you know, literacy concerns, English, Spanish, all of that. Since uh Venus and
046Jung are the liaison, do you mind just sharing that with them and then they'll share it with Carmen? >> Thank you so much. You're very welcome. >> The posting will be on our website also. Correct. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And at the same time you post across the nation. >> Yeah. We can send you a link with the brochure information and you can post it. >> All righty. >> Soon as I get that information, it'll be finished. We'll have it to you within the next day or two. Okay. >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> All right. Uh, can I get a motion for the cassette agenda? >> I move that the board of education vote for elementary district 97 approve of the consent agenda as presented. One more second.
047>> Can we get a second? >> Are we entering a revised personnel report? >> Go ahead. >> Are we Are we answering the revised personnel report? I know we discussed >> Was that >> is there a revised report? >> Yes. >> Okay. Did you say it with the revised? >> No, but it was unaware that the motion. But >> uh >> thank you. >> I just read the consent agenda motion that was here. I did not realize there was a revised >> Yeah, I didn't need there. >> Um what >> personel list? >> Do we have a copy of revised person list? >> I don't have it. You told me about it earlier. That's why I don't know what was shared. Natasha >> the revision specifically is a vacation date pay for of 13 days.
048>> Okay. >> So that was that's the revision. >> That is the revision. >> So include that revision. >> Okay. >> And we'll put it into the minutes. >> Um do >> you want me to give it a go? >> Yeah. [laughter] That's okay. I can forward it. >> I got it. Um, I move that the board of education approve the consent agenda as presented with an update to the personnel list, which is item 7.4, the personnel report, um, to include the update related to vacation dates. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you, Holly. Uh, more. >> Yes. >> Johnson, yes. Candace absence fur. Yes. >> Carney is absent. Perez. >> Yes. Cross driven. >> Yes. >> Revised the second general approved. >> Action items 8.1 school year 26 summer programming. Can I get
049someone to read the motion? >> I move the board of education district 97 approve the 2026 summer programming as presented on October 28th, 2025 not to exceed $685,000. I get a second. Second is absent. >> K is absent. Perez. >> Yes. >> More. >> Yes. >> Spurlock. >> Yes. >> Rosen. >> Yes. >> Her Johnson. >> Yes. 8.2 2026 2027 school calendar. Can I get somebody to make a motion? >> Can can I just ask that we just we had three options last time? >> Oh, yes. >> Which can we just tell the community which option we're bringing forward? I know it's in here, but >> in line with the high school starting later. >> Start of it is the >> start of August. >> It was basically option C, but we had made an
050adjustment because we moved to the March um institute day. >> Okay. But then we also align with the return date of January 6. So we made it and then um we also have the May institute day. So we did March. >> We did move it but then because we were still not aligned in January, we just left the May institute day. So that's the only other alignment. >> So we still have one day out of alignment. Everything else is aligned with the high school. So highlights to parents are this starts later than we usually do. >> Correct. >> And there is no after the winter break. Usually we have that Monday as a teacher institute. We have that as a student no attendance day alignment with school. >> But this year they will be in
051attendance on that Monday right after break. >> Yes. And that is in alignment. >> Highlights for people planning vacations. >> Yes. >> And [clears throat] we did do the March Institute Day which is also in alignment with the high school. The [snorts] only thing that's out of alignment in regards to ours is the TI the TI um on the May institute day. >> Can I get a motion? >> I move that board education for district 97 accepted by author as presented. >> Second. Yes. >> Johnson. >> Yes. >> Ch is absent. Block. [snorts] >> Yes. >> Carney is absent. Perez. >> Yes. >> Motion pass. >> Discussion item 1.1 tenative tax levy presentation. We have 15 minutes of presentation. 15 minutes for discussion. Well, we get past that. We're we're really good at this. By
052by law, you have to pass a tax tax levy in December. And every every district uh in Illinois in November, we begin discussion what that tax levy will look like. Anything above 5% is uh that's the cap. uh a lot of districts go 4 4.99 but because of the special consideration that this board has to taxpayers >> the the recommendation is >> 3.3 well actually and and actually five you have to pick the lower of 5% or CPI you can't just pick 5% of CPI lower so CPI is 3.3 >> plus CPI is 2.9 >> 2.9 growth >> plus the new growth >> all right well then I whip through this really quickly. That was great. Thank you, Dr. McCall. Um, reminder of dates. Uh, this is the first viewing. Um, we're looking to have
053the board's favorable approval on December 9. And then I, myself, the business manager or CFO, will go down to the county and hand deliver the file or the the levy on Tuesday, probably the second Tuesday, right after this board meeting, should it be favorably approved. Um, as always, these are long-term decisions. Um the levy is based primarily on making sure that we're meeting the quality of education that we're we're giving to the community and providing it against our values, our strategic planning. Then also our facilities, the facilities are you know buildings, we have 10 schools and so that is a large portion of the operational expenses. So those are two considerable things that we think about when developing the levy particularly long term. Obviously 80% almost nearly 80% of our funding is real estate taxes.
054So it's a considerable amount of what we do um as we talked about mentioned a little later the tax participation warrants were based on not receiving our taxes on time. So this is something that's of great value to us and deserves attention to make sure that we're budgeting for the future as best we can. History of CPI. So you know we have been benefiting from the high CPI over the last few years but it's getting down back to normal. as 2.9% and we expect that that will continue to be on a downward trend. So between CPI and new growth we are going to stabilize and it's not going to be the I guess probably the last COVID and on we had some pretty high tier CPI so that is definitely on a downward trend. new
055growth. We're looking at about, you know, 10% or excuse me, $10 million. And so 10 million worth of new growth is going to give us about 40,000 of additional revenue per 1 million. So we're looking at an additional 400,000. So this is where we're looking at total wise. Um you can see from the history on the side, we're probably a little higher than the last few years, but it's in line with overall if you look at the previous years. Obviously, our ED fund is the highest. Um it's in line with our previous years. It's pretty consistent. Um you'll see it's a you know obviously a 3.3% increase. Uh we have we don't levy uh necessarily in working cash every year but we are looking to levy this year in working cash. Um >> why is
056that? >> Just so we can have additional funds for cash flow. We have I'm not quite sure truthfully historically why we haven't. I've typically levied in uh working cash, but I did, you know, consult with Rob and this is what we're suggesting so that we do have a little bit more cash flow to work with, especially given our year that we've had with the tax anticipation warrants. But, um, we're open to not doing that if there's some history that maybe suggests that we shouldn't. So, 3.3 is what we're asking for this year. Last year it was 3.4 as a reminder. And just some other, you know, things that we consider with the levy is we are our reserve level is below our peers. We've talked about that. We're trying very hard to get to six
057months. Um the future of our other revenue, state federal grants is obviously something we're not sure about. It's very uncertain. So we want to be able to make up and consider what we do if we have less of that, which we're expecting. And then obviously with the delay of our taxes, we saw from this year that without the, you know, proper timing, we were in a real hard position and we still remain in that position and are watching our dollars very closely to make sure that we can meet our operational expenses between now and January. So with some tight budgeting and the leadership making sure that we spend accordingly, I think we can do that, but we're we're way too close for us to be comfortable. This is a requirement. the overall three-year o operating
058funds. We should see what an average expense is. It's 107 million. This is required that the board gets to see this. Um it's in comparison to our unodudited fund balance, which is June 30th. We're still in the audit process. So about 47 million for the June 30th, 2025 school year. And then the fund balance, the average expense 44.3%. Obviously, again, we want to make sure that we're getting up our revenues so that we can make sure that we can account for our expenses for up to six months. that would be very comfortable for us. >> That was a quick summary >> questions. That was fast. >> So, not necessarily to the levy, but I just want to bring up again because it has been mentioned because it was mentioned as part of this ideally could
059county will start paying us our tax revenues on time. However, this is now twice within the last very short period that that has happened. Um we we discussed briefly I think with Rob last time he was here. Our policy is currently four to six months um in terms of reserves. Is that something that is recommended that we actually look to raise that level? The the idea is you have you're spending it on community as it is gathered but also have a cl you know enough to weather things like when Cook County does not pay taxes. Um, is there a recommendation? Have we got talked about >> fork? Yeah, >> I don't know. Venus I didn't and we didn't really talk about who's got we we were going to talk about fork at the end, but
060we did talk about at fork and we talked about possibly adjusting to 3 to 9 months extending only on or lifting the bottom to 5 to 8 months or whatever it is. The point is lifting the bottom and extending the top as a policy discussion I think. Um, >> so that's forthcoming. >> Um, yeah, I mean if we could talk. Yeah, we >> the issue is how do you get there? We can we can make a policy to raise >> sure >> our reserves from 6 to9 months, but >> we don't have a lot of opportunity to expand >> our revenue. >> Well, it has to be accompanied by budget cuts, right? Like that's it has to be accompanied by budget cuts. And um but the discussion about the levy was also you take the
061the levies as they come and then talk about expenses so that you can increase your fund balance. >> Okay. That is a future description. >> Yeah. Okay. But I will say right now that 6 months is not what's stopping us to be this point. The point is we like we don't have more money to put in that we're not letting ourselves put in the fund balance. >> Right. But as part of that conversation, I think it makes sense to maybe look at look at what our policy is. >> Most conservative districts have I was in one 100% fund balance that you go entire year without revenue and and survive. >> Yeah, that is not welcome. >> That's that's the most conservative extreme. >> Yeah. Usually more 50 to 60% is more common. >> Okay. And
062historically we have lagged behind our peer districts in terms of fund balance reserves. >> Got it. I think the size of our district is really what we're what's what's a big difference for us because the size of us doesn't allow for us to use our federal or state funding to cover it. We just can't cover it in that same amount of portion because you'll see some of our districts or comp districts have other funding for the size of them that's able to handle a month or two. We just don't have that. So I do think we also think of even how we get there. Even if it requires some type of readjustment of how we're allocating, we dip into our future. So now not only we're, you know, if you cash out your investments or
063liquidate, you're actually dipping into that future of what we said we'd have. So now we're actually lessening what we have for the future. So the consideration of maybe putting forward a little bit more is actually going to save us a little bit in the end or keep us on our path. So, it's just something to consider that you don't see every day. >> I think there's also just kind of we all know that this is residual. The policy was a little bit reactionary to the high school kind of just holding a ton of money and us wanting to discourage boards ourselves and future boards. >> Thank you, Crystal. >> Thank you. Next one's an easy one. >> You want 50,000? Michael's going to get it for us. >> 9.2 fiscal year 26 bill maintenance grant
064application. >> No action tonight, but December. This is one that's available every year and as long as we apply for it. >> You do this for me. >> I I just did it. Yeah, I know. Save me some time. >> Any questions? >> I'm convinced. Yeah, >> I have. No, I'm just >> It'll It'll go towards right now it's listed as a charity by what part of the master facility work for this summer. >> So, >> and this was work that was already planned, right? >> Planned bids are already released out. Okay. >> Yep. Yep. >> And what's the dollar amount then? >> Uh 50,000. So, there's a level of you have to it's over 100,000 to get half of that. So, we meet the threshold to do it. So we max it out. >>
065We'll be back for action in December on this. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Michael. >> Thank you. >> Before board remarks, by the way, this was a board of board of education appreciation week. And you should you should be appreciated with all that money you get for for being away from your families and spending all the time here, taking all the flack that you take. Uh people should appreciate what what you contribute to this community. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So my vote. >> Yeah. >> All right. Concluding items. >> Well, board remarks. >> Nancy, you need a consensus. I need well actually and so I've heard from the majority present about um sorry backing up IASB conferences this weekend at which they have um a delegation meeting from all the different school districts.
066They bring forward proposals this year. The primary proposals that they have are actually just adjustments to the constitution. >> There's nothing juicy on this. >> There is nothing juicy on this. Um the one item that is not adjustments The one [laughter] item that is not adjustments constitution is the state now requires specific seat belts for districts that um have their own buses and are in don't have funding to do this. It is putting forward the position that ISB supports actually providing funding to districts that have need and have school buses to actually pay for this thing that they are now required to do, which makes sense that the state would actually help districts do that. And it's it's needsbased, not just like everybody gets some cash, but um it it makes a lot of sense
067to actually if you're going to have a mandate that something has to happen, take a look at what the needs are of the different districts to actually implement that need. >> Um so I did hear from a majority of those present tonight uh that they were fine with that. Did anybody have any other comments on this or is the board position? These were all recommended by the committee at IASB as well. Nothing was flagged as super silious or anything like that. So does it do I hear? Thank you. Um if I if no one has any objections to bring up if I could just get a voice vote of >> yay. Yay. >> Yay. Is it I or yay? >> Uh I think it works. Positive affirmation works on that. >> Um we've >> had
068some wild ones over the years. This one the and people kind of >> decided this wasn't their year. One year they proposed paying board members. >> Yeah. And for child care. I was so mad that it passed. >> Um and actually just just to have that go I should actually the appointed delegated alternate delegate may vote in accordance with the consensus reached at the district's board meeting. So >> we're in compiance. >> We are in compliance. Um however on that note you also have to nominate Becky and I to be delegate and alternative delegates so we can actually vote. >> I move. Are you moving? >> Second. It's already it's moved. It's seconded. >> Oh, I think is that good enough for >> really action? Yeah, it's >> clear consensus and support. >> Great. Go
069forth. >> All right. >> Thank you. We shall go forth and vote on behalf of the >> the board can be great. >> That is that is it. I had a board remark just on positive, you know, praise for PTO's in our school districts right now or in our school district in regards to like the collaboration with social workers um raising angel funds for just like families in need during the SNAP um and government shutdown. Um so I do feel like there are some resources that are being put together, fundraisers that are occurring. Um, shout out to those PTO kind of, you know, leaders that have taken that on. I know that's been very present in our elementary schools. For those that have middle school kids, I'd be curious how that's going. Um, social workers,
070I think, have like been the main collaborator or contact for families. And I think, um, there's been a lot of communication also from our interims. So, I've really appreciated that. So, I do want to, you know, reiterate, we are in in good hands with the people that are working in the community. Um, so I'm hoping that that goes across all of our buildings. >> Thank you. >> Are we going in order? >> I have a board remark, but I thought remarks came after committee, so I it's it's I'm saying it a little out of order. Um, I was just going to highlight that we are starting to talk about the facilities along with the fork and and fact will be meeting together and those meetings are very informative about the needs of our buildings and
071have really big financial implications and we need things like roofs and like um HVAC systems and I'm not talking about air conditioning like um just kind of we need we have some some repairs that are going to be talked about and some needs that are going to be talked about that I think that I would encourage the community to look for those meetings and come out to them and listen firsthand. Um I know that leading up to the referendum was kind of the last time we had a 10-year plan. The referendum was in 2017, so we're going to 2026. We would have a 10-year plan that those 10-year plans lead to large financial conversations. And so, um we got folks to come out back then. I'm not suggesting that that's what it is, but we
072are doing the 10ear plan and that's a important time for people to come and hear about the needs of our buildings. >> Thank you, Holly. Um, has the first date been? >> Okay. >> Um, anybody else for remarks? I just want to uh take time to address public comment today regarding uh the policies around ICE. Um, I know Amanda and team have done an amazing job in trying to get the information out. And so for those folks who uh feel like there's not a lot of information, I will always always always advise people to start with their building um to uh talk to building leaders about those resources. It shouldn't be on the PTO's to have to uh provide those resources. And again, I think um you know, there's so much information coming out coming
073at us. I I know someone was like, "Did you read the school report card?" I'm like, "Oh my god." Um one more thing. So, I know that we're all busy, but um the effort to make sure that our community is um is educated and aware of like what our policy is. Um I think we've done a really good job of that. um and seeing that, you know, and and not only our communication, but the the high school's communication, the villages communication, partnering together to make sure it is it is consistent. And so, I just wanted to um share my appreciation for the for the PTO's, for Amanda, for building leaders, for sharing out the information. Um and then secondly to that point I just want to send a big shout out to our um to
074our teachers as they are holding a lot of space for our students as we are all going through you know I I I hate every time I log into social media and I see something new and I'm like why am I rage baiting myself? Um but I know that it's it's a lot. I have middle schoolers and they're telling me the conversations they're having um and students in their class whose parents lost their jobs and my daughter's like, "What what are we going to do?" I'm like, "Uh, that's a big question." So, I just want to thank the teachers for holding that space for our students. Um, all right. And so, committees, first up is FAT. So, you kind of already addressed some of those pieces. Um the FET committee has been um working to
075develop initial budget numbers by priorities through 2030 actually. Um so with options with um electrification, elevators at hatch and man which are are needed AC and LED lighting but not considering those pieces. So preliminary highest priority items for the years between 2027 through 2030 is estimated at about 29 million and that um does not include options for electrification, elevators, AC or LED lighting. So we have made considerations in regards to infrastructure. What you don't see has been the biggest priority. So when you say roofs and and things that obviously need to be replaced or that have been maintained and are no longer at that stage of like we can only continue to tune up or replace this piece. We're at the point of replacing entire infrastructure. So because of that um I think it's important
076for people to consider those are the where why the numbers look as they do. So, um, you all had an initial meeting. We've got the December 8th date and another one that'll come in January 21st, um, to the board to review maybe about the time frame between January and March 20, I'm sorry, January and March of 2026. So plan is another joint meeting of the two committees back and forth through January 21st before it comes to the board between January and March time frame. >> Hope that was clear, Michael. >> And then we do have on the 9th after the back to bring an update to the board [clears throat] like who's all there what that looks like. So we provide a similar similar update similar information to the full board and >> so it'll
077align with our board meeting on the 9th. So yeah we'll have another summary like this afterwards >> PTAC meeting tomorrow. >> Thank you. uh four. >> Oh, we just and we talked about the levy and um fun fund balance reserves which we more or less just talked about it. So, pretty similar update. Anything else to add? >> Well, and we've we were talking a little bit not in depth but ideas about targeting fundraising around targeting projects. >> Oh, yeah. creating a foundation is >> all right. Uh going out to intergovernmental leazison of course >> I go so we are still working on updating uh mission and values so that will be coming your to your email boxes soon um to be on the lookout for that. Uh we one of the pieces that I believe
078I mentioned before is that IGV is working with the library to create an IGV web page. Um one of the pieces that will be on that again is the um how to run for office for various boards. Um but the other component that they're trying to put on there is for example a list of when all of the boards meet. So you can actually have one place that you can go to see when each of the the governmental bodies are meeting. um as well as any upcoming events that are specifically being hosted. Um so it's really been a nice step up to see how Iv can actually not only share information just between the governments but also help general citizenry find what it is that we're doing. >> All right. uh PTOC. Uh we met
079and um we primarily talked about and Amanda, please help me uh say we primarily talked about the superintendent search. Um that was by far the shortest meeting we had I have ever been to. There were no questions and so that was I think it was a good thing. Um >> it's a good sign. >> Yeah, I think it's a good thing. Did I miss anything? No, there were no questions. We gave an update about ICE and also at the time resources related to SNAP. Um, you know, though that continues to change, but um we are still maintaining that document. So, but we share that I hold true and uh we have a meeting I think right after Thanksgiving and that'll be our last one December 1st. Yeah. Yeah. >> Did anyone mention the participation in
080the survey from the TOC? >> I don't know what the timeline was, but we met at the beginning of the month. So, >> the survey hadn't closed. >> It had not closed, but I don't know how much communication had gone out about it, but no, we did not answer the question. >> Um, so we'll have an update in December. Uh, sustainability task force. Uh I was unfortunately at last minute not able to go to that meeting. So Gavin attended um here so he will give an update next unless Michael wants to throw in a word or two. >> Anything critical Michael? >> Wait for Gavin. >> Uh I mean part of it alignment to the master facility too. So topics that that may be around the energy things or some other action things but we're
081just carrying through uh work from the case. So that group is still operating just more regularly within each of the organizations but still having touch base and check-ins with that. So really working sessions in our groups and um for the next one really pushing to uh outreach to a couple of the middle school student groups. So lunch trays and the uh engagement over at works to also get their collaboration participation as well. I will say I I adding to that um have heard from now members of several other boards um how much they appreciate the fact that fork and sustainability are all coordinating so that we're working smarter with sustainability not trying to tack it on later um or trying to force things through that are budgetarily difficult um instead looking at what are we
082working on and how can we make it the best possible fit with sustainability. So kudos to the team for that. >> Okay. Uh collaboration for early childhood. >> All right. We just had our mini tri board meeting uh which is representatives. Um they are doing well fiscally. Um they are branching out into alternative means of gathering funding like mini fundraisers for your birthday fund raise for CEC and that's actually been going pretty well. um year-to-year roughly still the same that 80% of their budget however comes from us um D200 and the village um they are looking at with the changes in just everything that is going on in the community right now which I'll get to in a minute uh they're adding at smaller discrete projects like they have recently added baby bundles so if
083you have a baby you get a nice package with things like diapers and information on how to connect to resources Um, so you're kind of set when you first have the baby. Here's some starter information and starter stuff uh to go with your child. Um, we are working on a red line of that um intergovernmental agreement as well which will be coming forward. It adds things like provisional roles for the library and for the park district um who are not paying members of the committee, but it would be nice since it's early childhood to have them involved in the discussions about how we can better collaborate for early childhood resources. Um the uh it has been wellreceived to have on our registration um adding questions in uh as people register their kindergarteners to find out
084a little bit more detail about whether or not their child went to preschool and if so if not rather what were the barriers? Um because one of the things that kind of keeps coming up in the data is there's a group that just didn't have preschool. Well, was it because they had grandma? You know, was it because they couldn't find it? Was it because they couldn't afford it? Like, what are the reasons behind that? Are there barriers or was this a choice? Um, so that's been getting us some more information. And there's an upcoming hackathon to really look at the data um to see what we might do to actually better provide access to early childhood resources. Um uh related to that and rel what I said before um they have been hearing from nannies
085from caregivers that given the current climate there is fear about attending events in person. There were 150 fewer families who or yeah sorry 50 fewer families at the kindergarten kickoff this year. Um they don't officially have this information but it is likely that fear kept families away. Um so they have been shifting how they work to do more virtual offerings and um inhome goto families rather than making families come to to really try and address getting resources and getting people connected while also understanding why there might be barriers right now to that. Um, the final thing I'll throw in is that they pulled out common commonalities from the three boards, the village, D200, and D97. And to kind of show where they fit into this and the commonalities were equity, uh, databased um, development, community
086engagement, um, holistic looking at the child, um, and promotion and prevention rather than remediation. So, I think that's one of the key things with um early childhood is we are setting kids up. The idea is to set kids up so they're ready to start kindergarten and ready to progress through the system instead of addressing issues later on. And that is my update. >> Thank you. >> LPF >> um I was not able to attend meeting last week. >> All right. Oak Park forest community council. >> Oh, that's what I meant on OPF. >> I was like, I thought that was [laughter] >> OPF is young. So, she is not here. >> Yeah. >> So, I was 11.1 I mean 11.9. >> Okay. You are not able to attend Park Forest Community Council. All right. Let's
087look at the agenda. Proposed items. Approval of the FY26 school maintenance grant application. Approval of tax levy recommendations. uh student services K through eight update, master facilities planning update and uh we are there is no need to go into executive close session. Um >> I assume we will also have IASB on that December 9th agenda. >> Yes. And I will send out something to see uh number one just to confirm what the focus groups are going to be um as well [sighs] uh to see if we can find time or what the process is going to be so that the board can have that input and discussion. Um Holly, I'll talk to you offline about what some dates that might work for you. Um, and I sent you an email about a proposed agenda item
088as well. >> Okay. >> Anything else? >> All right. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? The voice mode.